Source: Suryoyo-Online News (August 25, 2000)

The Monastery of Mor Ya`qub of Sarug in the Westfalian city of Warburg, Germany was bought from the Dominicans of the province of ‘Teutonia’ on 28th of August 1996 by the Syriac Orthodox Church in Middle Europe for DM 1.9 million, pre-empting a plan to convert it to a hotel. Its interior was renovated to enlarge the rooms. The monastery has a church seating 400, 2 chapels, 66 furnished rooms, a large library area with reading and teaching rooms, 2 conference rooms, a refectory, a large communal kitchen, the bishop’s administrative office, many visitor’s rooms and a large garden. The total surface area of the monastery is 22,456 m². The founding of the monastery, which has had several periods of building, dates back to the end of the 12th century. The current façade dates from the beginning of the 20th century. The interior was renovated in 1955-56. Since the founding of the new diocese of Germany in 1997, the monastery has been the residence of the diocesan bishop Mor Dionysius Isa Gürbüz. In 1998, a theological seminary was founded here with 25 seminarians who are taught Syriac theology by the 3 monks and other teachers. On August 25, 2000, His Holiness Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas consecrated the monastery. There are 43 parishes in the Syriac Orthodox diocese of Germany, with 28 church buildings and around 60,000 Syriac Orthodox faithful.