Editing Mar Awgin (section)

===In Mesopotamia===
About 70 monks accompanied him when he left Egypt for [[Mesopotamia]], where he founded a monastery on [[Mt. Izla]] above the city of [[Nisibis]].{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

The location was well chosen, for Nisibis lay on the eastern edge of the [[Roman Empire]], which had just embraced [[Christianity]] as the official religion. The rest of Mesopotamia was under [[Sassanid]] rule, which tried to revive the [[Zoroastrian]] religion and occasionally persecuted the [[Christians|Christian]] population.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

The community on Mt. Izla grew rapidly, and from here other monasteries were founded throughout Mesopotamia, [[Iran|Persia]], [[Armenia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], and even [[India]] and [[China]].{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

A crisis occurred during the 6th century: to please the [[Zoroastrian]] rulers, the [[Assyrian Church of the East|Assyrian Church]] decided all monks and [[nun]]s should marry. Many subsequently transferred into the [[Miaphysite]] Church that followed [[West Syriac Rite]], and spiritual life declined in the Assyrian Church as a result. But the reforms were soon reverted. [[Abraham the Great of Kashkar]] founded a new monastery on [[Mt. Izla]], and he and his successor [[Babai the Great]] revived the strict monastic movement. Married monks were driven out, the teaching of the church was set on a firm orthodox basis, and Assyrian monasticism flourished for another thousand years.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}