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Mor Behnam saint and martyr

Mor Behnam was born in the 4th century to Sennaherib II, the Zoroastrian Assyrian king of Adiabene. During a hunting trip at Mount Alfaf, he met Mor Mattai (St. Matthew the elder) where he was converted to Christianity and became a disciple of Mor Mattai. He later brought his sister Sara to be healed of leprosy and they were both baptized alongside Behnam's forty companions.

Upon learning of his children's conversion, Sennacherib attempted to convince them to denounce their faith; however, they fled to Mor Behnam's hermitage. The king sent soldiers to intercept them who killed his children and their forty companions on a hill near Nimrud. The king later regretted his actions and was himself baptized by Mor Mattai. He also built a monastery on the mount where Mor Mattai healed his daughter.

In the 6th century, a Persian merchant built a shrine on the hill where Mar Behnam died; this later became a large monastery that belong to our Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch until 1839 when it was passed to Syriac Catholics by the French consul.

Saint Behnam and his sister Sara, are honored by the Syriac Orthodox Church as martyrs on 10 December.