Urmia

Urmia stands west of the great salt lake that bears its name, on a plain watered by streams from the mountains. A community of the Church of the East lived here for centuries; Syriac sources mention Urmia in 1111. In 1284 the patriarch Yahbalaha III visited the Church of Mart Maryam. Bishops of Urmia are regularly recorded from the sixteenth century, reflecting the endurance of the city's Christian community.