The
Chaldean Catholic Church , is an Eastern
SyriacSyriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining
full communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church. The Chaldean Catholic Church presently comprises an estimated 1,500,000
Chaldean ChristiansChaldean Christians are ethnic Assyrian adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, most of whom entered communion with the Catholic Church from the Church of the East, which was already Catholic, but most wanted to stray away from the Catholic Church, causing the split in the 17th and 18th...
who are ethnic
AssyriansThe Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
.
History
The ancient history of the Chaldean Church is the history of the
Church of the EastThe Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia...
. It was originally named
The Church of the East. Before the 1553 consecration of
Shimun VIII Yohannan SulaqaMar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa was the first Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, from 1553 to 1555....
, the term Chaldeans had only been officially used previously by the
Council of FlorenceThe Council of Florence was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It began in 1431 in Basel, Switzerland, and became known as the Council of Ferrara after its transfer to Ferrara was decreed by Pope Eugene IV, to convene in 1438...
in 1445 as a new name for a group of
GreekThe Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
NestorianNestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius's studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus...
s of
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
who entered in
Full CommunionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with the Catholic Church.
After the massacres of Tamerlane around 1400 had devastated several bishoprics, the Church of the East, which had previously extended as far as
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, was reduced to a handful of survivors who lived in the triangular area between
Amid (Diyarbakır)Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
,
SalmasSalmas is a city in and the capital of Salmas County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 79,560, in 19,806 families....
and
MosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
. The
SeeAn episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
was moved to
AlqoshAlqōsh or Alqūsh is one of the most famous Assyrian towns of the mainly East Syrian rite in Iraq. It is located north of Mosul. The name Alqosh is derived from an Akkadian name Eil-Kushtu, where "Eil" means God and "Kushtu" means righteousness or power...
, in the Mosul region and Patriarch Mar Shimun IV Basidi (1437–1493) made the office of patriarch hereditary within his own family.
1552: Yohannan Sulaqa
Dissent over the hereditary succession grew until in 1552, when a group of bishops, from the Northern regions of Amid and Salmas, elected Mar
Yohannan SulaqaMar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa was the first Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, from 1553 to 1555....
as a rival Patriarch. To look for a bishop of
metropolitanIn Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
rank to consecrate him patriarch, Sulaqa traveled to the
popeThe Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
in Rome, entered into communion with the Catholic Church and in 1553 he was consecrated bishop and elevated to the rank of patriarch taking the name of Mar Shimun VIII. He was granted the title of "Patriarch of Mosul and Athur (
AssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
)", a title soon changed in "Patriarch of the Chaldeans".
Mar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa returned in the
Near EastThe Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
in the same year and fixed his seat in Amid. Before to be put to death by the partisan of the patriarch of Alqosh, he ordained five metropolitan bishops thus beginning a new ecclesiastical hierarchy, the patriarchal line known as Shimun line. The area of influence of this patriarchate soon moved from Amid towards East, fixing the See, after many places, in the isolated village of
QochanisQodchanis was the capital of Hakkari and the seat of the Assyrian bishops before 1915.Its ruins are currently north of Hakkâri Province, near the borders of Iran and Iraq, and about 20 km north-east of the provincial capital Hakkâri, in the southeastern of modern Turkey.The town was inhabited by...
.
The connections with Rome loosened up under Sulaqa's successors: the last patriarch to be formally recognized by the Pope died in the 1600, the hereditary of the office was reintroduced and in 1692 the
communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome was formally broken.
1672: The Josephite line of Amid
A new start of the Chaldean Patriarchate happened in 1672 when
Mar Joseph IMar Joseph I was the first incumbent of the Josephite line of Church of the East, thus being considered the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1681 to 1696.-Background situation:...
, Archbishop of Amid, entered in
communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome, separating from the Patriarchal see of Alqosh. In 1681 the
Holy SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
granted him the title of "Patriarch of the Chaldeans deprived of its patriarch".
All Joseph I's successors took the name of Joseph. The life of this patriarchate was difficult: at the beginning due to the vexations from the traditionalists, under which they were subject from a legal point of view, and later it struggled with financial difficulties due to the tax burden imposed by the
TurkishThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
authorities.
Nevertheless its influence expanded from the original towns of Amid and
MardinMardin is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for its Arabic-like architecture, and for its strategic location on a rocky mountain overlooking the plains of northern Syria.-History:...
towards the area of Mosul. The Josephite line merged in 1830 with the Alqosh patriarchate that in the meantime entered in
full communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome.
The Alqosh Patriarchate in Communion with Rome
The largest and oldest
patriarchal seeAn episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of the Church of the East was based at the
Rabban HormizdRabban Hormizd Monastery is an important monastery of the Chaldean Church. It is carved out in the mountains about 2 miles from Alqosh, Iraq, 28 miles north of Mosul...
monastery of Alqosh. It spread from
AqrahAqrah is a city and district in Iraq which is located in the Ninawa Governorate. The total area of the district is km2...
up to
Seert- External links :* * * *...
and Nisibis, covering in the South the rich plain of
MosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
. Already in the short period between 1610 and 1617 it entered in
communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome, and in 1771 the patriarch Eliya Denkha signed a Catholic confession of faith, but no formal union resulted. When Eliya Denkha died, his succession was disputed by two cousins: Eliyya Isho-Yab, who was recognized by Rome but soon broke the communion, and
Yohannan HormizdMar Yohannan VIII Hormizd was the last hereditary patriarch of the Eliya line of the Church of the East and the first patriarch of a united Chaldean Church...
, who considered himself a Catholic.
In 1804 after Eliyya Isho-Yab's death, Yohannan Hormizd remained the only patriarch of Alqosh. There were thus two patriarchates in Communion with Rome, the larger one in Alqosh, and in Amid that ruled by
Augustine (Yousef V) HindiMar Joseph V Augustine Hindi † was the patriarchal administrator of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1781 to 1827, since 1804 he considered himself Patriarch with the name of Joseph V and from 1812 to his death he actually governed both the patriarchal sees of Alqosh and Amid of the Church of the...
. Rome chose not to choose between the two candidates, and granted neither the title of Patriarch, even if from 1811 it was Augustine Hindi who in reality ruled the Church. After Hindi's death, on the July 5, 1830, Yohannan Hormizd was formally confirmed Patriarch by
Pope Pius VIIIPope Pius VIII , born Francesco Saverio Castiglioni was Pope in 1829 and 1830.-Biography:He was born in Cingoli, Marche, the son of Count Ottavio Castiglioni and his wife Sanzia Ghislieri. He studied Canon law and, in 1800 became bishop of Montalto...
with the title of Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, and the merger of the patriarchates of Alqosh and Amid was completed.
On the other hand, the Shimun line of Patriarchs, based in
QochanisQodchanis was the capital of Hakkari and the seat of the Assyrian bishops before 1915.Its ruins are currently north of Hakkâri Province, near the borders of Iran and Iraq, and about 20 km north-east of the provincial capital Hakkâri, in the southeastern of modern Turkey.The town was inhabited by...
, remained independent of the Chaldean Church. The Patriarchate of the present-day
Assyrian Church of the EastThe Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
, with its current see in Chicago, forms the continuation of that line.
19th century: Expansion and Disaster
The following years of the Chaldean Church were marked by externally originating violence: in 1838 the monastery of
Rabban HormizdRabban Hormizd Monastery is an important monastery of the Chaldean Church. It is carved out in the mountains about 2 miles from Alqosh, Iraq, 28 miles north of Mosul...
and the town of Alqosh was attacked by the Kurds of
SoranSoran was a Kurdish emirate that was established in 1816. It ruled over the northeastern part of Kurdistan until it was removed by Ottoman troops in 1835. Its capital for most of that time was the city of Rawanduz....
and hundreds of Christian Syrians died and in the 1843 the Kurds started to collect as much money as they could from Christian villages, killing those who refused: more than ten thousand Christians were killed and the icons of the Rabban Hormizd monastery defaced.
In 1846 the Chaldean Church was recognized by the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
as a
milletMillet is a term for the confessional communities in the Ottoman Empire. It refers to the separate legal courts pertaining to "personal law" under which communities were allowed to rule themselves under their own system...
, a distinctive religious community within the Empire, thus obtaining its civic emancipation. The most famous patriarch of the Chaldean Church in the 19th century was
Joseph VI AudoMar Joseph VI Audo † was the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1847 to 1878.Joseph VI Audo was born in 1790 in Alqosh and in 1814 he became a monk of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd. He was ordained priest in 1818 and consecrated bishop of Mosul on the March 25, 1825 by the...
who is remembered also for his clashes with
Pope Pius IXBlessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
mainly about his attempts to extend the Chaldean jurisdiction over the Indian
Syro-Malabar Catholic ChurchThe Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India is an East Syrian Rite, Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Catholic Church. It is one of the 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations with more than 3.6...
. This time was anyway a period of expansion for the Chaldean Catholic Church.
In the early 20th century Russian Orthodox missionaries established two dioceses in North
AssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
, and many people believed that the Russians could have protected them better than the English and the French. Hoping in the support of Russians, the
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
was seen as the right time to rebel against the Ottoman Empire, which answered fighting the Assyrians as military enemies. On 4 November 1914 the Turkish Enver Pasha announced the
JihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
, the holy war, against the Christians. The defeat of Russia in 1917 called a halt to the hope of political freedom. All the North Assyria was overrun by the Turkish army and the people forced to flee: most who escaped the massacres died from winter cold or hunger. The disaster struck mainly the regions of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean dioceses in North Assyria (Amid,
Siirt- External links :* * * *...
and Gazarta) were ruined (the Chaldeans metropolitans
Addai ScherAddai Scher Also written Addai Sher, Addaï Scher and Addai Sheir , was the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Siirt. He was killed by the Ottomans during the Assyrian Genocide.-Early life:...
of
Siirt- External links :* * * *...
and Philip Abraham of Gazarta were both killed in 1915).
21st century: Eparchies around the world
A recent development in the Chaldean Catholic Church has been the creation in 2006 of the
Eparchy of OceaniaThe Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle is in Sydney, Australia, and is immediately subject to the Holy See. The bishop is Djibrail Kassab, appointed in 2006. His bishopric currently sits as St. Thomas the Apostle Chaldean Catholic Church, Bossley Park, New South Wales.-External...
, with the title of 'St Thomas the Apostle of Sydney of the Chaldeans'. This jurisdiction includes the Chaldean Catholic communities of
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and the first Bishop, named by
Pope Benedict XVIBenedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
on 21 October 2006, is Archbishop Djibrail Kassab, until this date, Archbishop of Bassorah in Iraq.
There has been a large immigration to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
particularly to
Southeast MichiganSoutheast Michigan, also called Southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are concentrated in Metro...
. Although the largest population resides in Southeast Michigan, there are populations in parts of
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
as well.
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in recent years has shown growing communities in both eastern provinces, such as
OntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, and in western Canada, such as
SaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
.
On Friday, June 10, 2011,
Pope Benedict XVIBenedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
, erected a new Chaldean Catholic eparchy in Toronto, Canada and named
ArchbishopAn archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
Mar Yohannan Zora, who has worked alongside four priests with Catholics in Toronto (the largest community of Chaldeans) for nearly 20 years and who was previously an ad personam
ArchbishopAn archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
(he will retain this rank as head of the eparchy) and the Archbishop of the Archdiocese (Archeparchy) of Ahwaz, Iran (since 1974). The new eparchy, or diocese, will be known as the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Mar Addai. There are 38,000 Chaldean Catholics in Canada. Archbishop Zora was born in Batnaia, Iraq, on March 15, 1939. He was ordained in 1962 and worked in various Iraqi parishes before being transferred to Iran in 1969.
Persecution In Iraq
Chaldeans and other religious minorities in Iraq have endured extensive persecution since 2003, including the abductions and murders of their religious leaders, threats of violence or death if they do not abandon their homes and businesses, and the bombing or destruction of their churches and other places of worship. All this has occurred as anti-Christian emotions rise within Iraq. It reached its peak after the fall of Saddam and the rise of Shiite Muslims in the Iraqi government.
Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni, pastor of the Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit, was killed on 3 June 2007 in
MosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, Iraq alongside the subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed, after he celebrated mass.
Chaldean Archbishop
Paulos Faraj RahhoArchbishop Mar Paulos Faraj Rahho was the Chaldean Catholic Archeparch of Mosul, in the northern part of Iraq.Also known as Paul Faraj Rahho and Paulos Faradsch Raho he was born into an ethnic Assyrian family, he lived almost his entire life in Mosul, Iraq, which has a long established community...
and three companions were abducted on 29 February 2008, Mosul, Iraq, and murdered a few days later.
Ecumenical relations
The Church's relations with the
Assyrian Church of the EastThe Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
have improved in recent years. In 1994
Pope John Paul IIBlessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
and Patriarch Dinkha IV of the Assyrian Church of the East signed a
Common Christological DeclarationThe Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East was signed on November 11, 1994, by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Dinkha IV...
. On the 20 July 2001, the
Holy SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
issued a document, in agreement with the Assyrian Church of the East, named Guidelines for admission to the
EucharistThe Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
between the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, which confirmed also the validity of the
Anaphora of Addai and MariThe Holy Qurbana of Addai and Mari belongs to the East Syrian liturgical family and is in regular use in the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Chaldean Catholic Church. Saint Addai and Saint Mari are credited with having written it...
.
Structure
The Chaldean Catholic Church has the following dioceses:
- Patriarchate of Babylon
The Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon is based in Iraq and is the only patriarchy of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The current Patriarch is Cardinal Patriarch Mar Emmanuel III Delly. The auxiliary bishops are Bishop Shlemon Warduni and Archbishop Jacques Ishaq.The cathedral church is the...
- Metropolitan Archdioceses of Baghdad, Kirkuk, Tehran
The Chaldean Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tehran is a church in Tehran. The Church was erected in 1853 in the city of Sanandaj, Iran for the Iranian Christian Senaya...
, Urmya
- Archdioceses of Ahwaz, Basra, Diyarbakir, Erbil, Mosul
The Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Mosul is an Eastern sui juris particular church of the Catholic Church, located in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Its followers are ethnic Assyrians and speakers of Aramaic. The diocese comprises the city of Mosul. The territory is subdivided in 12 parishes...
- Eparchies of Aleppe, Alquoch, Amadia, Akra, Beirut, Cairo
The Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Cairo is an eparchy located in the city of Cairo in Egypt.-Leadership:* Bishops of Cairo ** Bishop Youssef Ibrahim Sarraf, February 6, 1984 - December 31, 2009...
, St Peter the Apostle of San DiegoChaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Peter the Apostle is located in El Cajon, California and is immediately subject to the Holy See. The bishop since its inception is Mar Sarhad Yawsip Jammo. It was created by Pope John Paul II in 2002. His bishopric currently sits at St...
, St Thomas the Apostle of Detroit, Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Mar Addai of Toronto, St Thomas the Apostle of SydneyThe Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle is in Sydney, Australia, and is immediately subject to the Holy See. The bishop is Djibrail Kassab, appointed in 2006. His bishopric currently sits as St. Thomas the Apostle Chaldean Catholic Church, Bossley Park, New South Wales.-External...
, Salmas, Sulaimaniya, Zaku
- Territories dependent on the Patriarch: Jerusalem, Jordan
Hierarchy
The current Patriarch is Cardinal
Mar Emmanuel III DellyMar Emmanuel III Delly is the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and Primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui juris Particular church of the Catholic Church and a Cardinal. He was born on October 6, 1927 in Tel Keppe and was ordained a priest on December 21, 1952. He was...
, elected in 2003 on the death of
Mar Raphael I BidawidMar Raphael I Bidawid † was the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1989-2003. He was also a Syriac scholar.-Life:He was born on April 17, 1922 in northern Iraqi city of Mosul into an ethnic Assyrian family, and took his school and seminar training in Mosul...
. In October 2007 Delly became the first Chaldean Catholic to be elevated to the rank of
CardinalA cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
within the Catholic Church.
The present Chaldean episcopate (February 2011) is as follows:
- Emmanuel III Delly
Mar Emmanuel III Delly is the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and Primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui juris Particular church of the Catholic Church and a Cardinal. He was born on October 6, 1927 in Tel Keppe and was ordained a priest on December 21, 1952. He was...
, patriarch of Babylon (since 2003);
- Emil Shimoun Nona
Emil Shimoun Nona is the current Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul in the northern part of Iraq since the consent of Pope Benedict XVI to his election on 13 November 2009. He took over the archeparchy after the murder of Paulos Faraj Rahho in early 2008.Nona, an ethnic Assyrian, was born in...
, archbishop of Mosul (since November 2009);
- Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk (since October 2002);
- Bashar Warda, archbishop of Arbil
Arbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
/AnkawaAnkawa , is an Iraqi Christian town of about 30,000 people, in practice a suburb of Arbil, Erbil Governorate in Iraqi Kurdistan, northern Iraq...
(since July 2010);
- Ramzi Garmo, archbishop of Teheran (since February 1999);
- Thomas Mayram, archbishop of Urmia and Salmas (since 1973);
- Yohannan Zora, archbishop ad personam and bishop of Toronto (since June 2011);
- Paul Karatash, archbishop of Diyarbakr (since 1977 - deceased in Istanbul, January 16, 2005) - presently vacant see);
- Jibrail Kassab
His Excellency Archbishop Jibrail Kassab is a prelate of the Chaldean Catholic Church who presides over the Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Sydney in Australia. He has been the bishop of this diocese since its inception on 21 October 2006. His bishopric currently sits as St. Thomas the...
, archbishop of Sydney (since October 2006);
- Yaqob Ishaq, bishop of the Curia of Babylon and titular archbishop of Nisibis (since December 2005);
- Andraos Abouna
Andraos Abouna was the Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of Hirta and the auxiliary bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon. He is an ethnic Assyrian....
, bishop of the Curia of Babylon and titular archbishop of Hirta (since January 2003);
- Mikha Pola Maqdassi, bishop of Alqosh (since December 2001);
- Antony Audo, bishop of Aleppo (since January 1992);
- Joseph Sarraf, bishop of Cairo (since 1984);
- Michael Kassarji, bishop of Lebanon (since 2001);
- Rabban Al-Qas, bishop of
{{About|Chaldean church in the Middle East|Assyrian Church of the East in India|Chaldean Syrian Church}}
{{Eastern Catholicism}}
The Chaldean Catholic Church ({{lang-syr|ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ}}; ʿītha kaldetha qāthuliqetha), is an Eastern SyriacSyriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church. The Chaldean Catholic Church presently comprises an estimated 1,500,000 Chaldean ChristiansChaldean Christians are ethnic Assyrian adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, most of whom entered communion with the Catholic Church from the Church of the East, which was already Catholic, but most wanted to stray away from the Catholic Church, causing the split in the 17th and 18th...
who are ethnic AssyriansThe Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
.
History
The ancient history of the Chaldean Church is the history of the Church of the EastThe Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia...
. It was originally named The Church of the East. Before the 1553 consecration of Shimun VIII Yohannan SulaqaMar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa was the first Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, from 1553 to 1555....
, the term Chaldeans had only been officially used previously by the Council of FlorenceThe Council of Florence was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It began in 1431 in Basel, Switzerland, and became known as the Council of Ferrara after its transfer to Ferrara was decreed by Pope Eugene IV, to convene in 1438...
in 1445 as a new name for a group of GreekThe Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
NestorianNestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius's studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus...
s of CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
who entered in Full CommunionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with the Catholic Church.
After the massacres of Tamerlane around 1400 had devastated several bishoprics, the Church of the East, which had previously extended as far as ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, was reduced to a handful of survivors who lived in the triangular area{{rp|55}} between Amid (Diyarbakır)Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
, SalmasSalmas is a city in and the capital of Salmas County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 79,560, in 19,806 families....
and MosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
. The SeeAn episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
was moved to AlqoshAlqōsh or Alqūsh is one of the most famous Assyrian towns of the mainly East Syrian rite in Iraq. It is located north of Mosul. The name Alqosh is derived from an Akkadian name Eil-Kushtu, where "Eil" means God and "Kushtu" means righteousness or power...
, in the Mosul region and Patriarch Mar Shimun IV Basidi (1437–1493) made the office of patriarch hereditary within his own family.
1552: Yohannan Sulaqa
{{main|Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa}}
Dissent over the hereditary succession grew until in 1552, when a group of bishops, from the Northern regions of Amid and Salmas, elected Mar Yohannan SulaqaMar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa was the first Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, from 1553 to 1555....
as a rival Patriarch. To look for a bishop of metropolitanIn Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
rank to consecrate him patriarch, Sulaqa traveled to the popeThe Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
in Rome, entered into communion with the Catholic Church and in 1553 he was consecrated bishop and elevated to the rank of patriarch taking the name of Mar Shimun VIII. He was granted the title of "Patriarch of Mosul and Athur (AssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
)", a title soon changed in "Patriarch of the Chaldeans".
Mar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa returned in the Near EastThe Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
in the same year and fixed his seat in Amid. Before to be put to death by the partisan of the patriarch of Alqosh{{rp|57}}, he ordained five metropolitan bishops thus beginning a new ecclesiastical hierarchy, the patriarchal line known as Shimun line. The area of influence of this patriarchate soon moved from Amid towards East, fixing the See, after many places, in the isolated village of QochanisQodchanis was the capital of Hakkari and the seat of the Assyrian bishops before 1915.Its ruins are currently north of Hakkâri Province, near the borders of Iran and Iraq, and about 20 km north-east of the provincial capital Hakkâri, in the southeastern of modern Turkey.The town was inhabited by...
.
The connections with Rome loosened up under Sulaqa's successors: the last patriarch to be formally recognized by the Pope died in the 1600, the hereditary of the office was reintroduced and in 1692 the communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome was formally broken.
1672: The Josephite line of Amid
A new start of the Chaldean Patriarchate happened in 1672 when Mar Joseph IMar Joseph I was the first incumbent of the Josephite line of Church of the East, thus being considered the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1681 to 1696.-Background situation:...
, Archbishop of Amid, entered in communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome, separating from the Patriarchal see of Alqosh. In 1681 the Holy SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
granted him the title of "Patriarch of the Chaldeans deprived of its patriarch".
All Joseph I's successors took the name of Joseph. The life of this patriarchate was difficult: at the beginning due to the vexations from the traditionalists, under which they were subject from a legal point of view, and later it struggled with financial difficulties due to the tax burden imposed by the TurkishThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
authorities.
Nevertheless its influence expanded from the original towns of Amid and MardinMardin is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for its Arabic-like architecture, and for its strategic location on a rocky mountain overlooking the plains of northern Syria.-History:...
towards the area of Mosul. The Josephite line merged in 1830 with the Alqosh patriarchate that in the meantime entered in full communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome.
The Alqosh Patriarchate in Communion with Rome
{{main|Yohannan Hormizd}}
The largest and oldest patriarchal seeAn episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of the Church of the East was based at the Rabban HormizdRabban Hormizd Monastery is an important monastery of the Chaldean Church. It is carved out in the mountains about 2 miles from Alqosh, Iraq, 28 miles north of Mosul...
monastery of Alqosh. It spread from AqrahAqrah is a city and district in Iraq which is located in the Ninawa Governorate. The total area of the district is km2...
up to Seert- External links :* * * *...
and Nisibis, covering in the South the rich plain of MosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
. Already in the short period between 1610 and 1617 it entered in communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome, and in 1771 the patriarch Eliya Denkha signed a Catholic confession of faith, but no formal union resulted. When Eliya Denkha died, his succession was disputed by two cousins: Eliyya Isho-Yab, who was recognized by Rome but soon broke the communion, and Yohannan HormizdMar Yohannan VIII Hormizd was the last hereditary patriarch of the Eliya line of the Church of the East and the first patriarch of a united Chaldean Church...
, who considered himself a Catholic.
In 1804 after Eliyya Isho-Yab's death, Yohannan Hormizd remained the only patriarch of Alqosh. There were thus two patriarchates in Communion with Rome, the larger one in Alqosh, and in Amid that ruled by Augustine (Yousef V) HindiMar Joseph V Augustine Hindi † was the patriarchal administrator of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1781 to 1827, since 1804 he considered himself Patriarch with the name of Joseph V and from 1812 to his death he actually governed both the patriarchal sees of Alqosh and Amid of the Church of the...
. Rome chose not to choose between the two candidates, and granted neither the title of Patriarch, even if from 1811 it was Augustine Hindi who in reality ruled the Church. After Hindi's death, on the July 5, 1830, Yohannan Hormizd was formally confirmed Patriarch by Pope Pius VIIIPope Pius VIII , born Francesco Saverio Castiglioni was Pope in 1829 and 1830.-Biography:He was born in Cingoli, Marche, the son of Count Ottavio Castiglioni and his wife Sanzia Ghislieri. He studied Canon law and, in 1800 became bishop of Montalto...
with the title of Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans{{rp|528}}, and the merger of the patriarchates of Alqosh and Amid was completed.
On the other hand, the Shimun line of Patriarchs, based in QochanisQodchanis was the capital of Hakkari and the seat of the Assyrian bishops before 1915.Its ruins are currently north of Hakkâri Province, near the borders of Iran and Iraq, and about 20 km north-east of the provincial capital Hakkâri, in the southeastern of modern Turkey.The town was inhabited by...
, remained independent of the Chaldean Church. The Patriarchate of the present-day Assyrian Church of the EastThe Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
, with its current see in Chicago, forms the continuation of that line.
19th century: Expansion and Disaster
The following years of the Chaldean Church were marked by externally originating violence: in 1838 the monastery of Rabban HormizdRabban Hormizd Monastery is an important monastery of the Chaldean Church. It is carved out in the mountains about 2 miles from Alqosh, Iraq, 28 miles north of Mosul...
and the town of Alqosh was attacked by the Kurds of SoranSoran was a Kurdish emirate that was established in 1816. It ruled over the northeastern part of Kurdistan until it was removed by Ottoman troops in 1835. Its capital for most of that time was the city of Rawanduz....
and hundreds of Christian Syrians died{{rp|32}} and in the 1843 the Kurds started to collect as much money as they could from Christian villages, killing those who refused: more than ten thousand Christians were killed and the icons of the Rabban Hormizd monastery defaced{{rp|298}}.
In 1846 the Chaldean Church was recognized by the Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
as a milletMillet is a term for the confessional communities in the Ottoman Empire. It refers to the separate legal courts pertaining to "personal law" under which communities were allowed to rule themselves under their own system...
, a distinctive religious community within the Empire, thus obtaining its civic emancipation. The most famous patriarch of the Chaldean Church in the 19th century was Joseph VI AudoMar Joseph VI Audo † was the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1847 to 1878.Joseph VI Audo was born in 1790 in Alqosh and in 1814 he became a monk of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd. He was ordained priest in 1818 and consecrated bishop of Mosul on the March 25, 1825 by the...
who is remembered also for his clashes with Pope Pius IXBlessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
mainly about his attempts to extend the Chaldean jurisdiction over the Indian Syro-Malabar Catholic ChurchThe Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India is an East Syrian Rite, Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Catholic Church. It is one of the 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations with more than 3.6...
. This time was anyway a period of expansion for the Chaldean Catholic Church.
In the early 20th century Russian Orthodox missionaries established two dioceses in North AssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
, and many people believed that the Russians could have protected them better than the English and the French{{rp|36}}. Hoping in the support of Russians, the World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
was seen as the right time to rebel against the Ottoman Empire, which answered fighting the Assyrians as military enemies. On 4 November 1914 the Turkish Enver Pasha announced the JihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
, the holy war, against the Christians{{rp|161}}. The defeat of Russia in 1917 called a halt to the hope of political freedom. All the North Assyria was overrun by the Turkish army and the people forced to flee: most who escaped the massacres died from winter cold or hunger. The disaster struck mainly the regions of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean dioceses in North Assyria (Amid, Siirt- External links :* * * *...
and Gazarta) were ruined (the Chaldeans metropolitans Addai ScherAddai Scher Also written Addai Sher, Addaï Scher and Addai Sheir , was the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Siirt. He was killed by the Ottomans during the Assyrian Genocide.-Early life:...
of Siirt- External links :* * * *...
and Philip Abraham of Gazarta were both killed in 1915).{{rp|37}}
21st century: Eparchies around the world
A recent development in the Chaldean Catholic Church has been the creation in 2006 of the Eparchy of OceaniaThe Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle is in Sydney, Australia, and is immediately subject to the Holy See. The bishop is Djibrail Kassab, appointed in 2006. His bishopric currently sits as St. Thomas the Apostle Chaldean Catholic Church, Bossley Park, New South Wales.-External...
, with the title of 'St Thomas the Apostle of Sydney of the Chaldeans'. This jurisdiction includes the Chaldean Catholic communities of AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and the first Bishop, named by Pope Benedict XVIBenedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
on 21 October 2006, is Archbishop Djibrail Kassab, until this date, Archbishop of Bassorah in Iraq.
There has been a large immigration to the United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
particularly to Southeast MichiganSoutheast Michigan, also called Southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are concentrated in Metro...
. Although the largest population resides in Southeast Michigan, there are populations in parts of CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
as well. CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in recent years has shown growing communities in both eastern provinces, such as OntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, and in western Canada, such as SaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
.
On Friday, June 10, 2011, Pope Benedict XVIBenedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
, erected a new Chaldean Catholic eparchy in Toronto, Canada and named ArchbishopAn archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
Mar Yohannan Zora, who has worked alongside four priests with Catholics in Toronto (the largest community of Chaldeans) for nearly 20 years and who was previously an ad personam ArchbishopAn archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
(he will retain this rank as head of the eparchy) and the Archbishop of the Archdiocese (Archeparchy) of Ahwaz, Iran (since 1974). The new eparchy, or diocese, will be known as the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Mar Addai. There are 38,000 Chaldean Catholics in Canada. Archbishop Zora was born in Batnaia, Iraq, on March 15, 1939. He was ordained in 1962 and worked in various Iraqi parishes before being transferred to Iran in 1969.
Persecution In Iraq
Chaldeans and other religious minorities in Iraq have endured extensive persecution since 2003, including the abductions and murders of their religious leaders, threats of violence or death if they do not abandon their homes and businesses, and the bombing or destruction of their churches and other places of worship. All this has occurred as anti-Christian emotions rise within Iraq. It reached its peak after the fall of Saddam and the rise of Shiite Muslims in the Iraqi government.
Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni, pastor of the Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit, was killed on 3 June 2007 in MosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, Iraq alongside the subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed, after he celebrated mass.
Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj RahhoArchbishop Mar Paulos Faraj Rahho was the Chaldean Catholic Archeparch of Mosul, in the northern part of Iraq.Also known as Paul Faraj Rahho and Paulos Faradsch Raho he was born into an ethnic Assyrian family, he lived almost his entire life in Mosul, Iraq, which has a long established community...
and three companions were abducted on 29 February 2008, Mosul, Iraq, and murdered a few days later.
Ecumenical relations
The Church's relations with the Assyrian Church of the EastThe Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
have improved in recent years. In 1994 Pope John Paul IIBlessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
and Patriarch Dinkha IV of the Assyrian Church of the East signed a Common Christological DeclarationThe Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East was signed on November 11, 1994, by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Dinkha IV...
. On the 20 July 2001, the Holy SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
issued a document, in agreement with the Assyrian Church of the East, named Guidelines for admission to the EucharistThe Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
between the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, which confirmed also the validity of the Anaphora of Addai and MariThe Holy Qurbana of Addai and Mari belongs to the East Syrian liturgical family and is in regular use in the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Chaldean Catholic Church. Saint Addai and Saint Mari are credited with having written it...
.
Structure
The Chaldean Catholic Church has the following dioceses:
- Patriarchate of Babylon
The Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon is based in Iraq and is the only patriarchy of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The current Patriarch is Cardinal Patriarch Mar Emmanuel III Delly. The auxiliary bishops are Bishop Shlemon Warduni and Archbishop Jacques Ishaq.The cathedral church is the...
- Metropolitan Archdioceses of Baghdad, Kirkuk, Tehran
The Chaldean Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tehran is a church in Tehran. The Church was erected in 1853 in the city of Sanandaj, Iran for the Iranian Christian Senaya...
, Urmya
- Archdioceses of Ahwaz, Basra, Diyarbakir, Erbil, Mosul
The Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Mosul is an Eastern sui juris particular church of the Catholic Church, located in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Its followers are ethnic Assyrians and speakers of Aramaic. The diocese comprises the city of Mosul. The territory is subdivided in 12 parishes...
- Eparchies of Aleppe, Alquoch, Amadia, Akra, Beirut, Cairo
The Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Cairo is an eparchy located in the city of Cairo in Egypt.-Leadership:* Bishops of Cairo ** Bishop Youssef Ibrahim Sarraf, February 6, 1984 - December 31, 2009...
, St Peter the Apostle of San DiegoChaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Peter the Apostle is located in El Cajon, California and is immediately subject to the Holy See. The bishop since its inception is Mar Sarhad Yawsip Jammo. It was created by Pope John Paul II in 2002. His bishopric currently sits at St...
, St Thomas the Apostle of Detroit, Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Mar Addai of Toronto, St Thomas the Apostle of SydneyThe Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle is in Sydney, Australia, and is immediately subject to the Holy See. The bishop is Djibrail Kassab, appointed in 2006. His bishopric currently sits as St. Thomas the Apostle Chaldean Catholic Church, Bossley Park, New South Wales.-External...
, Salmas, Sulaimaniya, Zaku
- Territories dependent on the Patriarch: Jerusalem, Jordan
Hierarchy
The current Patriarch is Cardinal Mar Emmanuel III DellyMar Emmanuel III Delly is the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and Primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui juris Particular church of the Catholic Church and a Cardinal. He was born on October 6, 1927 in Tel Keppe and was ordained a priest on December 21, 1952. He was...
, elected in 2003 on the death of Mar Raphael I BidawidMar Raphael I Bidawid † was the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1989-2003. He was also a Syriac scholar.-Life:He was born on April 17, 1922 in northern Iraqi city of Mosul into an ethnic Assyrian family, and took his school and seminar training in Mosul...
. In October 2007 Delly became the first Chaldean Catholic to be elevated to the rank of CardinalA cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
within the Catholic Church.
The present Chaldean episcopate (February 2011) is as follows:
- Emmanuel III Delly
Mar Emmanuel III Delly is the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and Primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui juris Particular church of the Catholic Church and a Cardinal. He was born on October 6, 1927 in Tel Keppe and was ordained a priest on December 21, 1952. He was...
, patriarch of Babylon (since 2003);
- Emil Shimoun Nona
Emil Shimoun Nona is the current Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul in the northern part of Iraq since the consent of Pope Benedict XVI to his election on 13 November 2009. He took over the archeparchy after the murder of Paulos Faraj Rahho in early 2008.Nona, an ethnic Assyrian, was born in...
, archbishop of Mosul (since November 2009);
- Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk (since October 2002);
- Bashar Warda, archbishop of Arbil
Arbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
/AnkawaAnkawa , is an Iraqi Christian town of about 30,000 people, in practice a suburb of Arbil, Erbil Governorate in Iraqi Kurdistan, northern Iraq...
(since July 2010);
- Ramzi Garmo, archbishop of Teheran (since February 1999);
- Thomas Mayram, archbishop of Urmia and Salmas (since 1973);
- Yohannan Zora, archbishop ad personam and bishop of Toronto (since June 2011);
- Paul Karatash, archbishop of Diyarbakr (since 1977 - deceased in Istanbul, January 16, 2005) - presently vacant see);
- Jibrail Kassab
His Excellency Archbishop Jibrail Kassab is a prelate of the Chaldean Catholic Church who presides over the Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Sydney in Australia. He has been the bishop of this diocese since its inception on 21 October 2006. His bishopric currently sits as St. Thomas the...
, archbishop of Sydney (since October 2006);
- Ya{{transl|ar|DIN|ʿ}}qob Ishaq, bishop of the Curia of Babylon and titular archbishop of Nisibis (since December 2005);
- Andraos Abouna
Andraos Abouna was the Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of Hirta and the auxiliary bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon. He is an ethnic Assyrian....
, bishop of the Curia of Babylon and titular archbishop of Hirta (since January 2003);
- Mikha Pola Maqdassi, bishop of Alqosh (since December 2001);
- Antony Audo, bishop of Aleppo (since January 1992);
- Joseph Sarraf, bishop of Cairo (since 1984);
- Michael Kassarji, bishop of Lebanon (since 2001);
- Rabban Al-Qas, bishop of
{{About|Chaldean church in the Middle East|Assyrian Church of the East in India|Chaldean Syrian Church}}
{{Eastern Catholicism}}
The Chaldean Catholic Church ({{lang-syr|ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ}}; ʿītha kaldetha qāthuliqetha), is an Eastern SyriacSyriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church. The Chaldean Catholic Church presently comprises an estimated 1,500,000 Chaldean ChristiansChaldean Christians are ethnic Assyrian adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, most of whom entered communion with the Catholic Church from the Church of the East, which was already Catholic, but most wanted to stray away from the Catholic Church, causing the split in the 17th and 18th...
who are ethnic AssyriansThe Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
.
History
The ancient history of the Chaldean Church is the history of the Church of the EastThe Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia...
. It was originally named The Church of the East. Before the 1553 consecration of Shimun VIII Yohannan SulaqaMar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa was the first Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, from 1553 to 1555....
, the term Chaldeans had only been officially used previously by the Council of FlorenceThe Council of Florence was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It began in 1431 in Basel, Switzerland, and became known as the Council of Ferrara after its transfer to Ferrara was decreed by Pope Eugene IV, to convene in 1438...
in 1445 as a new name for a group of GreekThe Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
NestorianNestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius's studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus...
s of CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
who entered in Full CommunionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with the Catholic Church.
After the massacres of Tamerlane around 1400 had devastated several bishoprics, the Church of the East, which had previously extended as far as ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, was reduced to a handful of survivors who lived in the triangular area{{rp|55}} between Amid (Diyarbakır)Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
, SalmasSalmas is a city in and the capital of Salmas County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 79,560, in 19,806 families....
and MosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
. The SeeAn episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
was moved to AlqoshAlqōsh or Alqūsh is one of the most famous Assyrian towns of the mainly East Syrian rite in Iraq. It is located north of Mosul. The name Alqosh is derived from an Akkadian name Eil-Kushtu, where "Eil" means God and "Kushtu" means righteousness or power...
, in the Mosul region and Patriarch Mar Shimun IV Basidi (1437–1493) made the office of patriarch hereditary within his own family.
1552: Yohannan Sulaqa
{{main|Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa}}
Dissent over the hereditary succession grew until in 1552, when a group of bishops, from the Northern regions of Amid and Salmas, elected Mar Yohannan SulaqaMar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa was the first Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, from 1553 to 1555....
as a rival Patriarch. To look for a bishop of metropolitanIn Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
rank to consecrate him patriarch, Sulaqa traveled to the popeThe Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
in Rome, entered into communion with the Catholic Church and in 1553 he was consecrated bishop and elevated to the rank of patriarch taking the name of Mar Shimun VIII. He was granted the title of "Patriarch of Mosul and Athur (AssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
)", a title soon changed in "Patriarch of the Chaldeans".
Mar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa returned in the Near EastThe Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
in the same year and fixed his seat in Amid. Before to be put to death by the partisan of the patriarch of Alqosh{{rp|57}}, he ordained five metropolitan bishops thus beginning a new ecclesiastical hierarchy, the patriarchal line known as Shimun line. The area of influence of this patriarchate soon moved from Amid towards East, fixing the See, after many places, in the isolated village of QochanisQodchanis was the capital of Hakkari and the seat of the Assyrian bishops before 1915.Its ruins are currently north of Hakkâri Province, near the borders of Iran and Iraq, and about 20 km north-east of the provincial capital Hakkâri, in the southeastern of modern Turkey.The town was inhabited by...
.
The connections with Rome loosened up under Sulaqa's successors: the last patriarch to be formally recognized by the Pope died in the 1600, the hereditary of the office was reintroduced and in 1692 the communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome was formally broken.
1672: The Josephite line of Amid
A new start of the Chaldean Patriarchate happened in 1672 when Mar Joseph IMar Joseph I was the first incumbent of the Josephite line of Church of the East, thus being considered the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1681 to 1696.-Background situation:...
, Archbishop of Amid, entered in communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome, separating from the Patriarchal see of Alqosh. In 1681 the Holy SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
granted him the title of "Patriarch of the Chaldeans deprived of its patriarch".
All Joseph I's successors took the name of Joseph. The life of this patriarchate was difficult: at the beginning due to the vexations from the traditionalists, under which they were subject from a legal point of view, and later it struggled with financial difficulties due to the tax burden imposed by the TurkishThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
authorities.
Nevertheless its influence expanded from the original towns of Amid and MardinMardin is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for its Arabic-like architecture, and for its strategic location on a rocky mountain overlooking the plains of northern Syria.-History:...
towards the area of Mosul. The Josephite line merged in 1830 with the Alqosh patriarchate that in the meantime entered in full communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome.
The Alqosh Patriarchate in Communion with Rome
{{main|Yohannan Hormizd}}
The largest and oldest patriarchal seeAn episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of the Church of the East was based at the Rabban HormizdRabban Hormizd Monastery is an important monastery of the Chaldean Church. It is carved out in the mountains about 2 miles from Alqosh, Iraq, 28 miles north of Mosul...
monastery of Alqosh. It spread from AqrahAqrah is a city and district in Iraq which is located in the Ninawa Governorate. The total area of the district is km2...
up to Seert- External links :* * * *...
and Nisibis, covering in the South the rich plain of MosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
. Already in the short period between 1610 and 1617 it entered in communionIn Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....
with Rome, and in 1771 the patriarch Eliya Denkha signed a Catholic confession of faith, but no formal union resulted. When Eliya Denkha died, his succession was disputed by two cousins: Eliyya Isho-Yab, who was recognized by Rome but soon broke the communion, and Yohannan HormizdMar Yohannan VIII Hormizd was the last hereditary patriarch of the Eliya line of the Church of the East and the first patriarch of a united Chaldean Church...
, who considered himself a Catholic.
In 1804 after Eliyya Isho-Yab's death, Yohannan Hormizd remained the only patriarch of Alqosh. There were thus two patriarchates in Communion with Rome, the larger one in Alqosh, and in Amid that ruled by Augustine (Yousef V) HindiMar Joseph V Augustine Hindi † was the patriarchal administrator of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1781 to 1827, since 1804 he considered himself Patriarch with the name of Joseph V and from 1812 to his death he actually governed both the patriarchal sees of Alqosh and Amid of the Church of the...
. Rome chose not to choose between the two candidates, and granted neither the title of Patriarch, even if from 1811 it was Augustine Hindi who in reality ruled the Church. After Hindi's death, on the July 5, 1830, Yohannan Hormizd was formally confirmed Patriarch by Pope Pius VIIIPope Pius VIII , born Francesco Saverio Castiglioni was Pope in 1829 and 1830.-Biography:He was born in Cingoli, Marche, the son of Count Ottavio Castiglioni and his wife Sanzia Ghislieri. He studied Canon law and, in 1800 became bishop of Montalto...
with the title of Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans{{rp|528}}, and the merger of the patriarchates of Alqosh and Amid was completed.
On the other hand, the Shimun line of Patriarchs, based in QochanisQodchanis was the capital of Hakkari and the seat of the Assyrian bishops before 1915.Its ruins are currently north of Hakkâri Province, near the borders of Iran and Iraq, and about 20 km north-east of the provincial capital Hakkâri, in the southeastern of modern Turkey.The town was inhabited by...
, remained independent of the Chaldean Church. The Patriarchate of the present-day Assyrian Church of the EastThe Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
, with its current see in Chicago, forms the continuation of that line.
19th century: Expansion and Disaster
The following years of the Chaldean Church were marked by externally originating violence: in 1838 the monastery of Rabban HormizdRabban Hormizd Monastery is an important monastery of the Chaldean Church. It is carved out in the mountains about 2 miles from Alqosh, Iraq, 28 miles north of Mosul...
and the town of Alqosh was attacked by the Kurds of SoranSoran was a Kurdish emirate that was established in 1816. It ruled over the northeastern part of Kurdistan until it was removed by Ottoman troops in 1835. Its capital for most of that time was the city of Rawanduz....
and hundreds of Christian Syrians died{{rp|32}} and in the 1843 the Kurds started to collect as much money as they could from Christian villages, killing those who refused: more than ten thousand Christians were killed and the icons of the Rabban Hormizd monastery defaced{{rp|298}}.
In 1846 the Chaldean Church was recognized by the Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
as a milletMillet is a term for the confessional communities in the Ottoman Empire. It refers to the separate legal courts pertaining to "personal law" under which communities were allowed to rule themselves under their own system...
, a distinctive religious community within the Empire, thus obtaining its civic emancipation. The most famous patriarch of the Chaldean Church in the 19th century was Joseph VI AudoMar Joseph VI Audo † was the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1847 to 1878.Joseph VI Audo was born in 1790 in Alqosh and in 1814 he became a monk of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd. He was ordained priest in 1818 and consecrated bishop of Mosul on the March 25, 1825 by the...
who is remembered also for his clashes with Pope Pius IXBlessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
mainly about his attempts to extend the Chaldean jurisdiction over the Indian Syro-Malabar Catholic ChurchThe Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India is an East Syrian Rite, Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Catholic Church. It is one of the 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations with more than 3.6...
. This time was anyway a period of expansion for the Chaldean Catholic Church.
In the early 20th century Russian Orthodox missionaries established two dioceses in North AssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
, and many people believed that the Russians could have protected them better than the English and the French{{rp|36}}. Hoping in the support of Russians, the World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
was seen as the right time to rebel against the Ottoman Empire, which answered fighting the Assyrians as military enemies. On 4 November 1914 the Turkish Enver Pasha announced the JihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
, the holy war, against the Christians{{rp|161}}. The defeat of Russia in 1917 called a halt to the hope of political freedom. All the North Assyria was overrun by the Turkish army and the people forced to flee: most who escaped the massacres died from winter cold or hunger. The disaster struck mainly the regions of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean dioceses in North Assyria (Amid, Siirt- External links :* * * *...
and Gazarta) were ruined (the Chaldeans metropolitans Addai ScherAddai Scher Also written Addai Sher, Addaï Scher and Addai Sheir , was the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Siirt. He was killed by the Ottomans during the Assyrian Genocide.-Early life:...
of Siirt- External links :* * * *...
and Philip Abraham of Gazarta were both killed in 1915).{{rp|37}}
21st century: Eparchies around the world
A recent development in the Chaldean Catholic Church has been the creation in 2006 of the Eparchy of OceaniaThe Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle is in Sydney, Australia, and is immediately subject to the Holy See. The bishop is Djibrail Kassab, appointed in 2006. His bishopric currently sits as St. Thomas the Apostle Chaldean Catholic Church, Bossley Park, New South Wales.-External...
, with the title of 'St Thomas the Apostle of Sydney of the Chaldeans'. This jurisdiction includes the Chaldean Catholic communities of AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and the first Bishop, named by Pope Benedict XVIBenedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
on 21 October 2006, is Archbishop Djibrail Kassab, until this date, Archbishop of Bassorah in Iraq.
There has been a large immigration to the United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
particularly to Southeast MichiganSoutheast Michigan, also called Southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are concentrated in Metro...
. Although the largest population resides in Southeast Michigan, there are populations in parts of CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
as well. CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in recent years has shown growing communities in both eastern provinces, such as OntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, and in western Canada, such as SaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
.
On Friday, June 10, 2011, Pope Benedict XVIBenedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
, erected a new Chaldean Catholic eparchy in Toronto, Canada and named ArchbishopAn archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
Mar Yohannan Zora, who has worked alongside four priests with Catholics in Toronto (the largest community of Chaldeans) for nearly 20 years and who was previously an ad personam ArchbishopAn archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
(he will retain this rank as head of the eparchy) and the Archbishop of the Archdiocese (Archeparchy) of Ahwaz, Iran (since 1974). The new eparchy, or diocese, will be known as the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Mar Addai. There are 38,000 Chaldean Catholics in Canada. Archbishop Zora was born in Batnaia, Iraq, on March 15, 1939. He was ordained in 1962 and worked in various Iraqi parishes before being transferred to Iran in 1969.
Persecution In Iraq
Chaldeans and other religious minorities in Iraq have endured extensive persecution since 2003, including the abductions and murders of their religious leaders, threats of violence or death if they do not abandon their homes and businesses, and the bombing or destruction of their churches and other places of worship. All this has occurred as anti-Christian emotions rise within Iraq. It reached its peak after the fall of Saddam and the rise of Shiite Muslims in the Iraqi government.
Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni, pastor of the Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit, was killed on 3 June 2007 in MosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, Iraq alongside the subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed, after he celebrated mass.
Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj RahhoArchbishop Mar Paulos Faraj Rahho was the Chaldean Catholic Archeparch of Mosul, in the northern part of Iraq.Also known as Paul Faraj Rahho and Paulos Faradsch Raho he was born into an ethnic Assyrian family, he lived almost his entire life in Mosul, Iraq, which has a long established community...
and three companions were abducted on 29 February 2008, Mosul, Iraq, and murdered a few days later.
Ecumenical relations
The Church's relations with the Assyrian Church of the EastThe Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
have improved in recent years. In 1994 Pope John Paul IIBlessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
and Patriarch Dinkha IV of the Assyrian Church of the East signed a Common Christological DeclarationThe Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East was signed on November 11, 1994, by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Dinkha IV...
. On the 20 July 2001, the Holy SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
issued a document, in agreement with the Assyrian Church of the East, named Guidelines for admission to the EucharistThe Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
between the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, which confirmed also the validity of the Anaphora of Addai and MariThe Holy Qurbana of Addai and Mari belongs to the East Syrian liturgical family and is in regular use in the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Chaldean Catholic Church. Saint Addai and Saint Mari are credited with having written it...
.
Structure
The Chaldean Catholic Church has the following dioceses:
- Patriarchate of Babylon
The Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon is based in Iraq and is the only patriarchy of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The current Patriarch is Cardinal Patriarch Mar Emmanuel III Delly. The auxiliary bishops are Bishop Shlemon Warduni and Archbishop Jacques Ishaq.The cathedral church is the...
- Metropolitan Archdioceses of Baghdad, Kirkuk, Tehran
The Chaldean Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tehran is a church in Tehran. The Church was erected in 1853 in the city of Sanandaj, Iran for the Iranian Christian Senaya...
, Urmya
- Archdioceses of Ahwaz, Basra, Diyarbakir, Erbil, Mosul
The Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Mosul is an Eastern sui juris particular church of the Catholic Church, located in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Its followers are ethnic Assyrians and speakers of Aramaic. The diocese comprises the city of Mosul. The territory is subdivided in 12 parishes...
- Eparchies of Aleppe, Alquoch, Amadia, Akra, Beirut, Cairo
The Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Cairo is an eparchy located in the city of Cairo in Egypt.-Leadership:* Bishops of Cairo ** Bishop Youssef Ibrahim Sarraf, February 6, 1984 - December 31, 2009...
, St Peter the Apostle of San DiegoChaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Peter the Apostle is located in El Cajon, California and is immediately subject to the Holy See. The bishop since its inception is Mar Sarhad Yawsip Jammo. It was created by Pope John Paul II in 2002. His bishopric currently sits at St...
, St Thomas the Apostle of Detroit, Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Mar Addai of Toronto, St Thomas the Apostle of SydneyThe Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle is in Sydney, Australia, and is immediately subject to the Holy See. The bishop is Djibrail Kassab, appointed in 2006. His bishopric currently sits as St. Thomas the Apostle Chaldean Catholic Church, Bossley Park, New South Wales.-External...
, Salmas, Sulaimaniya, Zaku
- Territories dependent on the Patriarch: Jerusalem, Jordan
Hierarchy
The current Patriarch is Cardinal Mar Emmanuel III DellyMar Emmanuel III Delly is the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and Primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui juris Particular church of the Catholic Church and a Cardinal. He was born on October 6, 1927 in Tel Keppe and was ordained a priest on December 21, 1952. He was...
, elected in 2003 on the death of Mar Raphael I BidawidMar Raphael I Bidawid † was the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1989-2003. He was also a Syriac scholar.-Life:He was born on April 17, 1922 in northern Iraqi city of Mosul into an ethnic Assyrian family, and took his school and seminar training in Mosul...
. In October 2007 Delly became the first Chaldean Catholic to be elevated to the rank of CardinalA cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
within the Catholic Church.
The present Chaldean episcopate (February 2011) is as follows:
- Emmanuel III Delly
Mar Emmanuel III Delly is the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and Primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui juris Particular church of the Catholic Church and a Cardinal. He was born on October 6, 1927 in Tel Keppe and was ordained a priest on December 21, 1952. He was...
, patriarch of Babylon (since 2003);
- Emil Shimoun Nona
Emil Shimoun Nona is the current Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul in the northern part of Iraq since the consent of Pope Benedict XVI to his election on 13 November 2009. He took over the archeparchy after the murder of Paulos Faraj Rahho in early 2008.Nona, an ethnic Assyrian, was born in...
, archbishop of Mosul (since November 2009);
- Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk (since October 2002);
- Bashar Warda, archbishop of Arbil
Arbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
/AnkawaAnkawa , is an Iraqi Christian town of about 30,000 people, in practice a suburb of Arbil, Erbil Governorate in Iraqi Kurdistan, northern Iraq...
(since July 2010);
- Ramzi Garmo, archbishop of Teheran (since February 1999);
- Thomas Mayram, archbishop of Urmia and Salmas (since 1973);
- Yohannan Zora, archbishop ad personam and bishop of Toronto (since June 2011);
- Paul Karatash, archbishop of Diyarbakr (since 1977 - deceased in Istanbul, January 16, 2005) - presently vacant see);
- Jibrail Kassab
His Excellency Archbishop Jibrail Kassab is a prelate of the Chaldean Catholic Church who presides over the Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Sydney in Australia. He has been the bishop of this diocese since its inception on 21 October 2006. His bishopric currently sits as St. Thomas the...
, archbishop of Sydney (since October 2006);
- Ya{{transl|ar|DIN|ʿ}}qob Ishaq, bishop of the Curia of Babylon and titular archbishop of Nisibis (since December 2005);
- Andraos Abouna
Andraos Abouna was the Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of Hirta and the auxiliary bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon. He is an ethnic Assyrian....
, bishop of the Curia of Babylon and titular archbishop of Hirta (since January 2003);
- Mikha Pola Maqdassi, bishop of Alqosh (since December 2001);
- Antony Audo, bishop of Aleppo (since January 1992);
- Joseph Sarraf, bishop of Cairo (since 1984);
- Michael Kassarji, bishop of Lebanon (since 2001);
- Rabban Al-Qas, bishop of {{transl
Amadiya was a diocese of the Chaldean Church for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The diocese was named for the hilltop city of Amadiya in northern Iraq, and in 1913 included Amadiya itself and sixteen villages in the Tigris plain near the town of Dohuk and in the Sapna and Gomel...
(since December 2001) and apostolic administrator of Erbil;
- Petros Hanna Issa al-Harboli, bishop of Zakho
Zakho was a diocese of the Chaldean Church in the second half of the 19th century and for most of the 20th century. The diocese of Zakho was merged with the Chaldean diocese of Amadiya in 1987.- Background :The diocese of Zakho was founded in 1851...
(since December 2001);
- Ibrahim Ibrahim, bishop of the Eastern United States (since April 1982);
- Sarhad Joseph Jammo
Mar Sarhad Yawsip Hermiz Jammo is a prelate of the Chaldean Catholic Church who presides over the Eparchy of St. Peter The Apostle in the United States. He has been the bishop of this diocese since its inception on July 25, 2002. His bishopric currently sits at St. Peter's Chaldean Catholic...
, bishop of the Western United States (since July 2002); and
- Shlemon Warduni
Bishop Mar Shlemon Warduni is Auxiliary Bishop of the Patriarchate of Babylon, Iraq, of the Chaldean Catholic Church. In 2003 he was the Locum tenens of the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans.-Life:...
, patriarchal auxiliary of Baghdad (since 2001).
The Chaldo-Assyrian Catholic Church in Iran is governed by the Chaldean Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of TehranThe Chaldean Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tehran is a church in Tehran. The Church was erected in 1853 in the city of Sanandaj, Iran for the Iranian Christian Senaya...
It has Archdioceses in Tehran, Urmih, and Ahwaz (Ahwaz is vacant), and a diocese of Sanandaj.
Liturgy
The Chaldean Catholic Church uses the East Syrian RiteThe East Syrian Rite is a Christian liturgy, also known as the Assyro-Chaldean Rite, Assyrian or Chaldean Rite, and the Persian Rite although it originated in Edessa, Mesopotamia...
.
A slight reform of the liturgy was effective since 6 January 2007. The aims are to uniform the many different uses of each parish, to clean up the things added in the centuries simply to imitate the Roman riteThe Roman Rite is the liturgical rite used in the Diocese of Rome in the Catholic Church. It is by far the most widespread of the Latin liturgical rites used within the Western or Latin autonomous particular Church, the particular Church that itself is also called the Latin Rite, and that is one of...
, and for pastoral reasons. The main elements of variations are: the AnaphoraThe Anaphora is the most solemn part of the Divine liturgy, Mass, or other Christian Communion rite where the offerings of bread and wine are consecrated as the body and blood of Christ. This is the usual name for this part of the Liturgy in Eastern Christianity, but it is more often called the...
said aloud by the priest, the return to the ancient architecture of the churches, the restoration of the ancient use which is to prepare the bread and wine before the beginning of the service, the removal from the creedA creed is a statement of belief—usually a statement of faith that describes the beliefs shared by a religious community—and is often recited as part of a religious service. When the statement of faith is longer and polemical, as well as didactic, it is not called a creed but a Confession of faith...
of the words Filioque.
Notable Chaldean Catholics
The best-known figures include Iraqi former foreign minister and deputy prime minister Tariq AzizTariq Aziz and Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq and a close advisor of former President Saddam Hussein. Their association began in the 1950s when both were activists for the then-banned Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party...
, as well as Anna EshooAnna Georges Eshoo is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, which includes part of Silicon Valley, includes the cities of Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto...
, who is a member of the United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
.
see also List of Assyrians
See also
{{Portal|Assyrians|Syriac Christianity}}
- List of Chaldean Catholic Patriarchs of Babylon
- Eastern Catholicism
- Liturgies: East Syrian Rite
The East Syrian Rite is a Christian liturgy, also known as the Assyro-Chaldean Rite, Assyrian or Chaldean Rite, and the Persian Rite although it originated in Edessa, Mesopotamia...
, Holy Qurbana of Addai and MariThe Holy Qurbana of Addai and Mari belongs to the East Syrian liturgical family and is in regular use in the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Chaldean Catholic Church. Saint Addai and Saint Mari are credited with having written it...
- Assyrian People
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
- Names of Syriac Christians
The various communities of indigenous pre-Arab Neo-Aramaic-speaking people of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Territories and the surrounding areas advocate different terms for ethnic self-designation...
External links
{{Commons category}}
{{Chaldean Catholic Hierarchy}}
{{Syriacs}}
{{Catholicism}}