According to the Acts of Saint Mari, it was his disciple St. Ţomīs who was the first to bring Christianity to the region of Gawar and Zozān (including Jīlū) in the 1st century AD.The text also mentions that he was martyred somewhere in the Gawar plain, not far from Jīlū, and that later on a church was established on his burial site. Indeed, the ancient church in the Jīlū village of Sāţ (modern-day İkiyaka) is dedicated to St. Mārī, and is the only church in the Hakkari region or northern Iraq historically known to have had been. Mārī was also the name of one of the area's earliest bishops. He was among the signatories of the acts of the synod of Catholicos Mār Dādīshoʿ in 424 AD.