Translated
by: Aziz Emmanule Zebari
It
is an ancient archaeological village which lies 45 km to the north of Mosul and
5km south of the sub-District of Elqosh. It is among the villages that lie in
the Plain of Nineveh. Its inhabitants main profession is agriculture and cattle
breeding. The lands of the village are a property of the two Monasteries of
al-Sayida and Rabban Hormez in Elqush.
Being
an ancient village, archaeological remains and findings can be seen on eastern
side of the village such as clay and pottery containers and remains of bones
and skulls buried in ovens of baked clay, that surface sometimes during soil
erosion or else on digging for building foundations. This is an indication that
the village was inhabited since the ancient pottery age.
Inhabitants
Based
on statements made by our forefathers and ancestors, many peoples dwelled in
the village, such as Yezidis and tribes named Saranaye who are Christians in
addition to some other tribes from Elqosh. The village was later inhabited by
the present dwellers since 1938. They are the people who were displaced from
the Hakari area in the mountains of Tyari (Ashitha) now in Turkey.
Name
It
is a common knowledge amongst the people of the village that the name most probably
comes from a Yezidi shrine whose remains can still be seen called Shekh Sharaf
or Sharafu-ddin. Other, however, say that the name refers to the Arabic verb “
to overlook” (tashrifu), because the village overlooks the surrounding
agricultural lands irrigated by rain.
Churches
There
were no proper churches when village was first inhabited apart from a house
that was used to carry out religious ceremonies and Christian liturgical rites.
Later, a church was built from adobe named the church of Mar Gewargis in the
west side of the village that was large enough to carry out all the ceremonies.
Then
a modern church with its annexes was built from stone, gypsum, and cement by
the name of Virgin Mary’s Church in the east side of the village that is still
standing today. After that a modern church with all its annexes was built
through support from the Iraqi government in the west side of the village named
the Church of Mar Gewargis.
The
village of Sharafiya was also covered by the reconstruction campaign launched
by Mr. Sarkis Aghajan whereby the church of village was completely renovated by
the Higher Committee for Christian Affairs (HCCA) which also built a house for
the priest and a multi-purpose hall to offer various services to the people of
the village. The committee also built a school called al-Ruha school for
catechism. The committee also supplied the village with a big power supply
generator.
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