Assyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East known officially as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East[2][3] (in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic ܥܕܬܐ ܩܕܝܫܬܐ ܘܫܠܝܚܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ ܕܐܬܘܪ̈ܝܐ, ‘Ittā Qaddishtā wa-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē, in Arabic كنيسة المشرق الآشورية الرسولية الكاثوليكية المقدّسة, in Persian القدس وابسته به پاپ کاتولیک آشوری کلیسای شرق), which is presently presided over by Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV, is a Christian particular church and one of the oldest. It is the modern successor of the historical Persian Church, tracing its origins to the See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in central Mesopotamia, which tradition holds was founded by Saint Thomas the Apostle (Tooma Shlikha) as well as Saint Mari and Saint Addai in 33 AD as asserted in the Doctrine of Addai. It is the principal surviving remnant of the historical Nestorian Church, also known as the Church of the East, though the modern establishment has at times shunned the Nestorian label. It is one of the three Churches of the East that hold themselves distinct from Oriental and Eastern Orthodoxy. The church itself does not use the word "Orthodox" in any of its service books or in any of its official correspondence, nor does it use any word which can be translated as "correct faith" or "correct doctrine", the rough translation of the word Orthodox. The Holy, Apostolic and Catholic adjectives were officially added to the Assyrian Church of the East's title in part by the general agreement with the Nicene Creed which declares that "We believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic church." Holy as in set apart for a purely sacred purpose. Apostolic as in founded by one of Jesus's own apostles. Catholic as in catholicos, Greek for "universal" referring to a worldwide church. In India, it is more often called the Chaldean Syrian Church. In the West it is often called the Nestorian Church, due to its historical associations with Nestorianism, though the church itself considers the term pejorative and argues that this identification is incorrect. The church declares that no other church has suffered as many martyrdoms as the Assyrian Church of the East.[4] The founders of Assyrian theology are Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, who taught at Antioch. The normative Christology of the Assyrian church was written by Babai the Great (551–628) and is clearly distinct from the accusations directed toward Nestorius: his main christological work is called the 'Book of the Union', and in it Babai teaches that the two qnome (essences, or hypostases) are unmingled but everlastingly united in the one parsopa (personality) of Christ.
HistoryMain articles: Nestorianism and History of the Church of the East in Asia
The history of the Assyrian Church of the East has its roots in the early centuries of Christianity, though it was not specifically referred to as the "Assyrian Church of the East" until the 15th century or so. As with many Christian churches, there was great overlap between one church and the next, so the history of the Assyrian Church of the East reaches back into the history of the Persian Sassanid Empire, Nestorianism, the Ottoman Empire, and other eras until the modern day. Early years of the Church of the East
As early as the 2nd century, Christian communities existed in the regions of Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia. Various schisms in the church) took place in the early centuries of Christianity, dividing Eastern Christianity from Western Christianity. As Christians were persecuted in one area, they would emigrate to another, but were not always able to worship openly. A turning point came in the fourth century, when King Yezdegerd of the Persian Sassanid Empire was open to authorizing the Christians as a valid sect. Christians were still very much a minority in the predominantly Zoroastrian Empire, but in 410, the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon was held at the Sassanid capital, to allow the leading bishops to select a formal Catholicos, or leader. The Catholicos, Mar Isaac was both to lead the Christian community, and be answerable for it to the King.[5][6] The King also sought to make the Christian Church in Persia separate from that of the Roman Empire, the better to ensure against popular influence from Persia's great rival power. In 424 the bishops of Persia met in council under the leadership of Catholicos Mar Dadisho I (421-456) and determined that there would be no reference of their disciplinary or theological problems to any other power, especially not to any bishop or church council in the Roman Empire.[7] Because of their independence, there were no representatives of the Persian Church at various church councils which were attended by representatives of Western Christianity. As such, the leaders of the Persian Church did not feel bound by any decisions of what they regarded as Roman Imperial councils. Another major turning point came in 431, at the First Council of Ephesus. One of the key issues discussed there was the question of the title of the mother of Jesus. Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who preached the dual nature of Jesus, was branded as heretic at the Council, and deposed, because he declined to call the Virgin Mary 'mother of God' ("Theotokos" in Greek). He preferred to call her 'mother of Christ' ("Christotokos" in Greek). The Persian kings, who were at constant war with the Roman Empire, saw the opportunity to assure the loyalty of their Christian subjects and supported the Nestorian schism, by granting protection to Nestorians,[8] executing the pro-Roman Catholicos Babowai, and replacing him with the Nestorian Bishop of Nisibis, Barsauma. The Persians also allowed the transfer of the School of Edessa from Mesopotamia back to its original home, in the Persian city of Nisibis. The Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Babai I (reigned 497 – 503) solidified the association of the Persian Church with Nestorianism. Eastern ExpansionDuring the medieval period, the geographical horizons of the Church of the East stretched well beyond its heartland in Iraq. Nestorian communities sprang up across Central Asia, and missionaries took the Christian faith as far as China and the Malabar Coast of India.[9]. Formation of the Chaldean Catholic ChurchIn the 15th century, the church decreed[clarification needed] that the title of Patriarch could pass only to relatives of then-patriarch Mar Shimun IV. This upset many in the church's hierarchy, and in 1552 a rival Patriarch, Mar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa, was elected. This rival Patriarch met with the Pope and entered into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Church of the East now had two rival leaders, a hereditary patriarch in Alqosh (in modern-day northern Iraq), and the pro-Latin patriarch in Diyarbakır. This situation lasted until 1662 when the Patriarch in Diyarbakır, Mar Shimun XIII Denha, broke communion with Rome, resumed relations with the line at Alqosh, and moved his seat to the village of Qochanis in the Turkish mountains. The Holy See responded by appointing a new patriarch to Diyarbakır to govern the Assyrian people who stayed in communion with Rome. This latter group became known as the Chaldean Catholic Church. In 1804 the hereditary line of Patriarchs in Alqosh died out, and that church's hierarchy decided to accept the authority of the Chaldean Catholic Church patriarchs. The line of patriarchs at Qochanis remained independent. 20th CenturyAssyrians faced reprisals under the Hashemite monarchy for co-operating with Britain during the years after World War I, and most fled to the West. The Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, though born into the line of Patriarchs at Qochanis, was educated in Britain. For a time he sought a homeland for the Assyrians in Iraq but was forced to take refuge in Cyprus in 1933, later moving to Chicago, Illinois, and finally settling near San Francisco, California. Mar Shimun XXIIIIn 1964, the issue of hereditary succession again caused a schism, with the establishment of the Ancient Church of the East in 1974 and the subsequent election of Mar Thoma Darmo as a rival catholicos-patriarch in the newly established church in opposition to the hereditary Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII. Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimun became convinced that nothing in the Canon Law of the Church of the East prohibited the Patriarch from marrying. He therefore married in August 1973 and also announced his resignation in that year, but was asked to stay in office. He was assassinated in 1975 while negotiations were being carried out over the conditions of his reinstatement. Mar Dinkha IVIn 1976, the current Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV, was elected as Shimun's successor. He announced the permanent end of the hereditary succession, which removed the underlying dispute, but the rift between the rival Patriarchs of the Assyrian Church of the East and the rival Ancient Church of the East still exists, with Mar Addai II as the successor to Mar Thoma Darmo at the head of the rival Ancient Church of the East. Mar Dinkha also explicitly rejected the term Nestorian, on the occasion of his consecration in 1976.[10] MembershipToday less than 1 million of the world's 4.5 million Assyrians remain in Iraq. StructureThe Church is governed by Episcopal polity, which is the same as other Catholic churches. The church maintains a system of geographical parishes organized into archdioceses and dioceses. The patriarch is head of the church, and under him there are four archdioceses in the Assyrian Church: one for Australia and New Zealand, one for Lebanon, Syria, and Europe, another for India, and one that serves Iraq and Russia. Individual dioceses exist in the eastern USA (including Chicago), western USA, California, Canada, Syria, Iran and Europe. Several congregations exist in Georgia, India, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria. A single parish exists in the People's Republic of China, whose existence stretches back to antiquity, and another in Moscow. The present Patriarch, Mar Dinkha IV, has his headquarters (along with four other houses of worship) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Archdiocese of Australia & New ZealandOverseen by Metropolitan Mar Meelis Zaia - The Archdiocese of Australia & New Zealand consists of 4 Churches, a Mission, Ss Peter and Paul English Parish,and an Assyrian Primary School. It is the first ever archdiocese outside the Middle East, in the western hemisphere.[11] The St. Hurmizd Assyrian Primary School provides education for over 3,600 students. Mar Narsai Assyrian college was also established in Sydney (the first Assyrian high school) and land has been bought for the construction of the multimillion dollar high school.[12] Currently, the Assyrian Church in Australia is working on building an Assyrian Medical Centre, a retirement village, Mar Narsai Assyrian College, and a church building for the rapidly growing Ss. Peter and Paul English Parish under Reverend, Father Genard Lazar.[13] The Archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand under the leadership of Metropolitan Mar Meelis Zaia is the fastest growing Assyrian church diocese and community in the world. Archdiocese of Lebanon, Syria & EuropeUnder Metropolitan Mar Narsai D'Baz
Archdiocese of IndiaOverseen by Metropolitan Mar Aprem, the Archdiocese of India consists of over 28 Churches and 1 Mission.[15] In India this church known as the Chaldean Syrian church of the east. It has more than 35000 population in India mostly in south India. Head Quartered at Thrissur in Kerala. Two new Bishops Mar. Yohannan Joseph and Mar. Augin Kuriakose got consecrated on 17 January 2010 by Mar Dinkha IV at a Thrissur. Archdiocese of Iraq & RussiaOverseen by Metropolitan Mar Gewargis Sliwa who resides in Baghdad, Iraq.
Individual Dioceses
Ecumenical RelationsOn November 11, 1994, a historic meeting of Mar Dinkha IV and Pope John Paul II took place in Rome. The two patriarchs signed a document titled Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East. One side effect of this meeting was that the Assyrian Church's relationship to the Chaldean Catholic Church was improved.[20] In 1996, Mar Dinkha IV signed an agreement of cooperation with the Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Raphael I Bidawid, in Southfield, Michigan. In 1997, he entered into negotiations with the Syrian Orthodox Church and the two churches ceased anathematizing each other. The lack of the Words of Institution used by Jesus at the Last Supper ("This is my body"..."This is [the cup of] my blood") in some liturgies of the Church has caused many Western Christians (especially Roman Catholics) to consider them invalid. However, in 2001, after a study of this issue, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, then being prefect) declared that this was a valid liturgy and that Chaldean Catholics could receive the Eucharist in an Assyrian Church if unable to attend their own churches. This declaration was approved by Pope John Paul II. See also
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