CHRISTIANSDuring this period, new monasteries were founded at Beth 'Abhe in
Marga; across the Tigris from Nineveh; in Beth Nuhadhra, Adiabene,
and Beth Garme; on Mt. Sinjar; near Niffar; and at Anbar.126
Not only did the monastic communities founded in this period sur-
vive into the Islamic period as important centers, but the momentum
of new foundations carried over into the second half of the seventh
century. New monasteries were still being founded, shortly after the
conquest, in Adiabene, Beth Garme, and in the vicinity of Hira and
Anbar,127 New monasteries continued to be founded in the region
around Kaskar and in Adiabene and Beth Garme throughout the sev-
enth century until about the middle of the eighth century, when the
movement began to die down.^128
The movement to spread coenobitic discipline and to found new
monasteries lasted from the mid-sixth century until the mid-eighth
century and created monastic institutions which were at least as im-
portant as the ecclesiastical organization in creating and preserving
the Nestorian community. Monasteries ranged in size from about fifty
or sixty monks to over one hundred.^129 A monastic vocation served
to intensify the Nestorian identity. The monasteries became the focus
of local lay patronage, and they acquired property, and provided local
social services. They were centers of education and training that began
to provide leadership for the Nestorian Church by the late sixth cen-
tury.
The growing emphasis on monastic discipline was extended to the
regulation of lay orders and opposed the presence of unorganized
ascetics in towns and villages. As a form of piety, the vows of chastity
taken by the Sons and Daughters of the Covenant (or Resurrection)
antedate the appearance of monasticism in the east and this institution
was still alive in the sixth century.13D The Synod of Gregory I, held in
605, condemned clergy and monks who had no fixed places in churches,
126 Chabot, "Chastete," pp. 37, 41, 256, 259; Fiey, Assyrie chretienne, I, 139; Ill,
224,237; Guidi, Chronica Minora I, I, 18,23-24; II, 17,21; Scher, "Histoire nesto-
rienne," II(2), 445, 463, 512-13; Thomas of Margha, Governors, I, 38, 46; II, 68-69,
79-80; Viiiibus, Syriac and Arabic Documents, p. 185-86.
127 Chabot, "Chastete," pp. 45-46, 63,262-63,277; Fiey, Assyrie chritienne, I, 179,
206; II, 533-34, 538; Ill, 222-23; Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," 1I(2), 590-94.
128 G. Awad, "Historical, Geographical Researches in the Region East of Mosul,"
Sumer 17 (1961), 84; Fiey, Assyrie chretienne, Ill, 60, 93, 170-72.
129 Budge, Rabban H6rmizd, I, 83, 153-54; II, 123,230-1; Chabot, "Chastete," pp.
37,41,46,256,259,263; Fiey, Assyrie chretienne, Ill, 60.
130 E. W. Brooks, "John of Ephesus, Lives of the Eastern Saints." PO 18 (1924),
625-26; Chabot, Synodicon, pp. 116, 375.