The Assyrian Church Of The East

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Assyrian(eastern syriac) Church of the East




Emblem of the Assyrian Church of the East

Founder Traces ultimate origins to Thomas the Apostle, Addai and Mari; emerged from a schism in the Church of the East in 1552.

Independence Apostolic Era;[1][2] 1552

Recognition Assyrian Church of the East

Primate Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV Khanania

Headquarters Morton Grove, Cook County, Illinois, United States of America

Territory Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Europe, Russia, Georgia, Australia & New Zealand, United States, Canada, India, People's Republic of China.

Possessions —

Language Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

Adherents 400,000[3][4]

Website http://www.assyrianchurchnews.com/



Assyrian Church of the East


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"Assyrian Christian" redirects here. For other uses, see Assyrian (disambiguation).



The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East,[5] (in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic ܥܕܬܐ ܩܕܝܫܬܐ ܘܫܠܝܚܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ ܕܐܬܘܪ̈ܝܐ, ‘Ittā Qaddishtā wa-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē) (in Arabic كنيسة المشرق الاشورية الرسولية الجاثلقية المقدسة), is an ancient Christian church currently centered in Chicago, Illinois, United States, but with most members in Mesopotamia. One of the modern churches that claim continuity with the historical Patriarchate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon – the Church of the East – the Assyrian Church emerged as a distinct body following a schism in the Church of the East in 1552. Unlike most other churches that trace their origins to antiquity, the modern Assyrian Church of the East is not in communion with any other churches, either Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, or Catholic.



The church is headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, currently Mar Dinkha IV. Since 1940 the Catholicos-Patriarch's residence has been in Chicago, but had historically been located in various cities in Iraq. Below the Catholicos-Patriarch are a number of metropolitan bishops, diocesan bishops, priests, and other religious who serve dioceses and parishes in the Middle East, North America, India, Australia, New Zealand, and the rest of the world. Theologically, the church is associated with the doctrine of Nestorianism, leading to the church also being known as the "Nestorian Church", though church leadership has at times rejected the Nestorian label. The church employs the Syriac language in its liturgy, the East Syrian Rite, which includes three anaphoras, attributed to Theodore of Mopsuestia, Nestorius, and Addai and Mari.[6]



The Church of the East developed from the early Christian communities in Persia, and at its height had spread from its Mesopotamian heartland as far as China and India. In 1552 a dispute over patriarchal succession led to a schism, resulting in there being two rival Patriarchs. One of the factions that emerged from this split became the modern Assyrian Church of the East, while the other became the church now known as the Chaldean Catholic Church, which entered into communion with the Catholic Church.

History

Early years of the Church of the East

The Church of the East originally developed during the 1st century in the Aramaic speaking regions of Assyria, Babylonia, and northwestern Persia (today's Iraq, southeast Turkey, northeast Syria and western Iran), to the east of the Roman-Byzantine empire. It is an Apostolic church, established by the apostles St Thomas (Mar Toma), St Thaddeus (Mar Addai), and St Bartholomew (Mar Bar Tulmay). St Peter (Mar Shimun Keepa), the chief of the apostles added his blessing to the Church of the East at the time of his visit to the see at Babylon, in the earliest days of the church when stating, "The elect church which is in Babylon, salutes you; and Mark, my son (1 Peter 5:13).[7]



Official recognition was first granted to the Christian faith in the 4th century with the accession of King Yezdegerd to the throne of the Persian Sassanid Empire. In 410, the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, held at the Sassanid capital, allowed the Church's leading bishops to elect a formal Catholicos, or leader. The Catholicos, Mar Isaac, was required both to lead the Christian community, and to answer on its behalf to the King.[8][9]



Under pressure from the King of Persia, the Assyrian Church sought increasingly to distance itself from the Roman Catholic Church. In 424 the bishops of the Persian Empire met in council under the leadership of Catholicos Mar Dadisho I (421-456) and determined that they would not, henceforth, refer disciplinary or theological problems to any external power, and especially not to any bishop or Church Council in the Roman Empire.[10]



As such the Mesopotamian and Persian Churches were not represented at the various Church Councils attended by representatives of the Western Church. Accordingly the leaders of the Persian Church did not feel bound by any decisions of what came to be regarded as Roman Imperial Councils. Despite this, the Creed and Canons of the first Council of Nicea (325); affirming the full divinity of Christ; were formally accepted at the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.[11] The Church's understanding of the term 'hypostasis' differs from the definition of the term offered at the Council of Chalcedon. For this reason, the Assyrian Church has never approved the Chalcedonian definition.[11]



The theological controversy that followed the First Council of Ephesus, in 431, proved a turning point in the Church's history. The Council condemned as heretical the Christology of Nestorius, whose reluctance to accord the Virgin Mary the title 'Theotokos' ('God-bearer' or 'Mother of God') was taken as evidence that he believed two separate persons (as opposed to two united natures) to be present within Christ. For the theological issues at stake, please see Is the Assyrian Church Nestorian?



The King of Persia, hostile to the Roman Empire, saw the opportunity to ensure the loyalty of his Christian subjects and lent support to the Nestorian schism. The King took steps to cement the primacy of the Nestorian party within the Assyrian Church, granting its members his protection,[12] and executing the pro-Roman Catholicos Babowai, replacing him with the Nestorian Bishop of Nisibis, Barsauma. The Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Babai I (497–503) confirmed the association of the Persian Church with Nestorianism.



Eastern Expansion

During the medieval period the geographical horizons of the Church of the East extended well beyond its heartland in present-day Iraq. Assyrian and Nestorian communities sprang up throughout Central Asia, and missionaries took the Christian faith as far as China and the Malabar Coast of India.[13]



Yohannan Sulaqa and the Chaldean Catholic Church

Main article: Chaldean Catholic Church

The massacres of Tamerlane (1336–1405) devastated several bishoprics. The Church of the East, which had previously extended as far as China, was reduced to a remnant living in the triangular area[14] between Amid, Salmas and Mosul. The See was moved to Alqosh, in the Mosul region, and Mar Shimun IV Basidi (1437–1493) appointed Patriarch, establishing a new, hereditary, line of succession.[15]



Growing dissent in the church's hierarchy over hereditary succession came to a head in 1552, when a group of bishops from the Northern regions of Amid and Salmas elected Mar Yohannan Sulaqa as a rival Patriarch. Seeking consecration as Patriarch by a Bishop of Metropolitan rank, Sulaqa traveled to Rome in 1553, and entered into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. On being appointed Patriarch, Sulaqa took the name Mar Shimun VIII and was granted the title of "Patriarch of Mosul and Athur (Assyria)". Later this title became "Patriarch of the Chaldeans".[16]



Mar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa returned to the Near East the same year, establishing his seat in Amid. Before being put to death by partisans of the Patriarch of Alqosh [12], he ordained five metropolitan bishops, thus establishing a new ecclesiastical hierarchy, a line of patriarchal descent known as the Shimun line.



Sees in Qochanis, Amid, and Alqosh

Relations with Rome weakened under Shimun VIII's successors, all of whom took the name Shimun. The last of this line of Patriarchs to be formally recognized by the Pope died in the early 17th century. Hereditary accession to the office of Patriarch was reintroduced, and by 1660 the Church of the East had become divided into two Patriarchates; the Eliya line, based in Alqosh (comprising that portion of the faithful which had not entered into Communion with Rome), and the Shimun line. In 1672[15] the Patriarch of the Shimun line, Mar Shimun XIII Denha, moved his seat to the village of Qochanis in the mountains of Hakkari. In 1692 the Patriarch formally broke communion with Rome and allegedly resumed relations with the line at Alqosh[citation needed], though retaining the independent structure and jurisdiction of his line of succession.



The Chaldean Patriarchate was revived in 1672 when Mar Joseph I, then metropolitan of Amid, entered into communion with Rome, thus separating from the Patriarchal See of Alqosh. In 1681 the Holy See granted Mar Joseph the title of "Patriarch of the Chaldeans deprived of its Patriarch", thus forming the third Patriarchate of the Church of the East. It was this third Patriarchate that was to become known as the Chaldean Catholic Church.



The Josephite line of Amid

Each of Joseph I's successors took the name Joseph. The life of this Patriarchate was difficult; stricken early on with internal dissent, the Patriarchiate later struggled with financial difficulties due to the tax burden imposed by Turkish authorities. Despite these difficulties, the influence of the Patriarchate expanded from its original base of Amid and Mardin towards the area of Mosul, where ultimately the See was relocated.



Yohannan Hormizd, the last of the Eliya hereditary line in Alqosh, made a Catholic profession of faith in 1780. Though entering full communion with the Roman See in 1804, he was not recognized as Patriarch by the Pope until 1830. This move merged the majority of the Patriarcate of Alqosh with the Josephite line of Amid, thus forming the modern Chaldean Catholic Church.



The Shimun line of Patriarchs, based in Qochanis, remained independent of the Chaldean Church. The Patriarchate of the present-day Assyrian Church of the East, with its see in Chicago, forms the continuation of this line.[17]



20th century

The British Empire employed Assyrian troops to put down Arab and Kurdish rebellions in the aftermath of World War I. In consequence, Assyrians endured persecution under the Hashemite monarchy, leading many to flee to the West, in particular to the United States, where Chicago became the center of the diaspora community. During this period the British-educated Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, born into the line of Patriarchs at Qochanis, agitated for an independent Assyrian state. Following the end of the British mandate in 1933[18] and a massacre of civilians at Simele by the Iraqi Army, the Patriarch was forced to take refuge in Cyprus.[19] There, Shimun petitioned the League of Nations regarding his peoples' fate, but to little avail, and he was consequently barred from entering Syria and Iraq. He traveled through Europe before moving to Chicago in 1940 to join the growing Assyrian diaspora community there.[19]



The Church and the Assyrian community in general faced considerable fragmentation and upheaval as a result of the conflicts of the 20th century, and Patriarch Shimun was forced to reorganize the church's structure in the United States. He transferred his residence to San Francisco, California in 1954, and was able to travel to Iran, Lebanon, Kuwait, and India, where he worked to strengthen the church.[20] In 1964 he decreed a number of changes to the church, including liturgical reform, the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, and the shortening of Lent. These changes, combined with Shimun's long absence from Iraq, caused a rift in the community which led to another schism. In 1968 traditionalists within the church elected Mar Thoma Darmo as a rival patriarch to Shimun, creating the Ancient Church of the East.[21]



In 1972 Shimun decided to step down as Patriarch, and the following year, he married, in contravention to longstanding church custom. This led to a synod in 1973 in which further reforms were introduced, most significantly including the permanent abolition of hereditary succession, however, it was decided that Shimun should be reinstated. This matter was to be settled at additional synods in 1975, however Shimun was assassinated by an estranged relative before this could take place.[22]



In 1976, the current Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV, was elected as Shimun's successor. The 33-year old Dinkha had previously been Metropolitan of Tehran, and operated his see there until the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. Thereafter Dinkha went into exile in the United States, and transferred the patriarchal see to Chicago.[23] Much of his patriarchate has been concerned with tending to the Assyrian diaspora community in the wake of Saddam Hussein's attacks on the Kurds during and after the Iran–Iraq War and with ecumenical efforts to strengthen relations with other churches.[23]



Assyrian Church and Nestorianism

The Nestorian nature of Assyrian Christianity remains a matter of contention. Elements of the Nestorian doctrine were explicitly repudiated by Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV on the occasion of his accession in 1976.[24]



The Christology of the Church of the East has its roots in the Antiochene theological tradition of the early Church. The founders of Assyrian theology are Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, both of whom taught at Antioch. 'Antiochene' is a modern designation given to the style of theology associated with the early Church at Antioch, as contrasted with the theology of the church of Alexandria.[25]



Antiochene theology emphasised Christ's humanity and the reality of the moral choices he faced. In order to preserve the impassibility of Christ's Divine Nature, the unity of His person was defined in a looser fashion than in the Alexandrian tradition.[25] The normative Christology of the Assyrian church was written by Babai the Great (551–628) during the controversy that followed the First Council of Ephesus (451). Babai held that within Christ there exist two qnome (essences, or hypostases), unmingled, but everlastingly united in the one parsopa (personality).



The precise Christological teachings of Nestorius are shrouded in obscurity. Wary of monophysitism, Nestorius rejected Cyril's theory of a hypostatic union, proposing instead a union of will. Nestorianism has come to mean dyaphysitism; in which Christ's dual natures are eternally separate; though it is doubtful whether Nestorius ever taught such a doctrine. Nestorius' rejection of the term Theotokos ('God-bearer', or 'Mother of God') has traditionally been held as evidence that he asserted the existence of two persons - not merely two natures - in Jesus Christ; but there exists no evidence that Nestorius denied Christ's oneness.[26] In the controversy that followed the Council of Ephesus, the term 'Nestorian' was applied to all upholding a strictly Antiochene Christology. In consequence the Church of the East was labelled 'Nestorian', though its theology is not dyaphisite.