Abraham the Great of Kashkar (503–586)
Born 503 CE, died 586 CE.
Abraham the Great of Kashkar was the father of the monastic revival in the Church of the East in the 6th century. He is a doctor and saint of the Church of the East. He was born in Kashkar in Persia around 492. He left there to preach the Gospel at Al-Hirah, leaving there to study monastic life at Scetes. Monasticism was very popular in early Syrian and Mesopotamian Christianity. Some held the view that only a life of celibacy could lead to salvation. Initially, all monks and nuns were hermits, but in about 350 Mar Awgin founded the first cenobitic monastery of Mesopotamia on Mount Izla above the city Nisibis, patterned upon the Egyptian model. Soon there were many monasteries. But at the synod of Beth Lapat the Church of the East decided that all monks and nuns should marry. Obviously, this was in order to please the Zoroastrian rulers, who held family life sacred. The decision severely weakened the church. The decision was reverted in 553. In 571 Abraham founded and governed a new monastery on Mt. Izla. This became the famous monastery called the "Great Convent".
Text from the Wikipedia article Abraham_the_Great_of_Kashkar, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.