Michael the Syrian reconsecrates the Mor Bar Sauma Monastery, which he reconstructed after its destruction by a fire. The monastery stays a center of the Syriac Orthodox Church until the end of the thirteenth century.

Michael the Syrian ,(Classical Syriac: ܡܺܝܟ݂ܳܐܝܶܠ ܣܽܘܪܝܳܝܳܐ, romanized: Mīkhoʾēl Sūryoyo), died AD 1199, also known as Michael the Great or Michael Syrus or Michael the Elder, to distinguish him from his nephew, was a patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1166 to 1199. He is best known today as the author of the largest medieval Chronicle, which he wrote in the Syriac language. Some other works and fragments written by him have also survived.

The Mor Bar Sauma Monastery was a Syriac Orthodox monastery located between Gargar and Malatya in Turkey. The monastery served as the regular patriarchal residence from the eleventh century until the thirteenth century, and was eventually abandoned in the seventeenth century. It produced five patriarchs and forty-three metropolitan bishops. Between 1074 and 1283 several synods took place at the monastery.

The Syriac Orthodox Church, also informally known as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox denomination that originated from the Church of Antioch. The church currently has around 1.5 million followers worldwide. The church upholds the Miaphysite doctrine in Christology and employs the Liturgy of Saint James, associated with James the Just. Classical Syriac is the official and liturgical language of the church.

May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 230 days remain until the end of the year.