Rabban Hormizd was a seventh-century monk born in Beth Lapat to a wealthy or noble family. After traveling to Scetes at the age of eighteen, he spent thirty-nine years living at the Bar Idta monastery. Following a brief period at the Abba Abraham monastery, he relocated near Alqosh when he was sixty-five years old. There, he established the monastery that now bears his name, which eventually functioned as the seat for the Church of the East patriarchate.