SW News: Christian believers in the historic city of Mosul in Iraq are exulting over the discovery of priceless relics of two Apostles and other saints from an ancient church. As many as 12 reliquaries and parchment scrolls were discovered from the Mar Thomas Syrian Orthodox Church in the city which is in the process of being restored after being ravaged by the Islamic State fighters.

Last week, workers stumbled upon clues to hidden relics in various parts of the ancient church. They lost no time in alerting Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan of Mosul Mor Nicodemos Sharaf and other Church leaders. A video circulating on social media shows workers opening a niche in one of the pillars of a stone arch on June 4. The  archbishop was seen retrieving a stone casket containing relics. He was moved to tears as he deciphered the East Syriac description on the box which revealed that it contained bone fragments of third-century martyr St Theodore. He kissed it and opened it to reveal bone fragments of the saint, which were then venerated by those present.

The metropolitan also contacted Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Mor Ephrem II via video call to inform him of the glad news of the discovery of the relics. Later, workers stumbled upon reliquaries containing bone fragments of St Simon the Apostle; St John the evangelist, St Simeon the Wise, the holy man who received the Infant Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem; Mor Gabriel, a bishop of Tur Abdin (AD 593-668) in modern-day Turkey and; St Gregorios Bar Hebraeus (1226-1286). He served as the Maphrian (regional primate) of the Church from 1264 to 1286. He is much acclaimed for his works in theology, philosophy, history and Syriac linguistics.

From the ruins of the church, workmen were also able to retrieve priceless parchments written in Syriac, Armenian and Arabic. They were found wrapped and protected in glass bottles. This discovery has been welcomed by the Christian community in the city, which is slowly beginning life anew after recovering from the onslaught of the Islamic State hordes.