- Shimun XXIII Eshai
-
Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII His Holiness
Mar Eshai Shimun XXIIIChurch Assyrian Church of the East Diocese Patriarchal Diocese of the Eastern United States See Apostolic See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (in exile in San Jose and Chicago) Enthroned 1920 Reign ended 5 November 1975 Predecessor Mar Shimun XXII Paulos (1918–1920) Successor Mar Dinkha IV (since 1976) Opposed to Mar Thoma Darmo (1968–1969) and Mar Addai II (1970–1975) (Ancient Church of the East) Orders Rank Catholicos-Patriarch Personal details Born 28 February 1908
Konak, Hakkari, TurkeyDied 6 November 1975 (aged 67)
San Jose, California, United StatesNationality Assyrian (Iraqi) Denomination Christian, Assyrian Church of the East Residence Chicago, Illinois, United States Spouse Wife (married 1973) Children Two Occupation Cleric Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII (born 28 February 1908, Konak, Hakkari, Turkey - assassinated 6 November 1975, San Jose, California, United States), sometimes known as Mar Shimun XXI Ishaya, Mar Shimun Ishai, or Simon Jesse,[1] was Catholicos Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East from 1920, when he was a youth, until his assassination on 6 November 1975. (The difference in regnal numbers depends on which members of the Shimun family one counts as Patriarchs; Mar Eshai chose to use the regnal number XXIII.)
Contents
Biography
Because of the mass killings, Mar Eshai was chosen as a Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East at only 11 years oldBorn into the patriarchal family in Qudshanis, in the village of Van, in Ottoman Turkey in 1908, at the age of 11 Mar Eshai was chosen as patriarch after the death of his uncle during the Assyrian Genocide. He was educated in England, studying theology at Canterbury and at Westcott House, University of Cambridge.[1] He was the translator or author of several books on the theology and history of the Church of the East. The volatile political environment and uncertainties for the church caused in 1933 by the independence of Iraq from colonial rule forced the patriarch's relocation to Cyprus. In 1940, he relocated again, to Chicago, Illinois in the United States. Mar Eshai became an American citizen about 1949 and settled in the San Francisco area in 1954.
In 1964, a dispute over hereditary succession and church calendars caused the metropolitan of the Church of the East in India (known there as the Chaldean Syrian Church) to break away. In 1995 Mar Eshai's successor, Mar Dinkha IV, was able to heal the rift. A small group (the Ancient Church of the East) remains separated from the main body of the Church of the East.
Mar Eshai sought to resign as patriarch for health reasons in the late 1960s, but he was persuaded to remain in office. Some activists within the church wanted the patriarch to take a more active role in pushing for a homeland for the Assyrian people, as he had before 1933.
On a separate track, the patriarch became convinced that nothing in the canon law of the Church of the East prohibited the patriarch from marrying. He married in August 1973. Following his marriage, church leaders called for a council to decide the future of the patriarchate. The council was scheduled for 19 November 1975, but was rescheduled for 5 January 1976. On 6 November 1975, the patriarch was shot and killed at the door of his home in San Jose, California, by David Malek Ismail.[2] According to trial records, Ismail said he was upset over the patriarch's marriage; however, the records suggest links between Ismail and church dissidents. According to Deputy District Attorney Brian Madden, the murder of the patriarch Mar Shimun was the outcome of a plot among church dissidents.[citation needed]
When the church council met in London on 17 October 1976, it elected as patriarch Mar Dinkha IV (who had been bishop of Tehran).
See also
References
- ^ a b Foster, p. 34
- ^ Public Proceedings on the Murder of Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII
- Foster, John (1939). The Church of the T'ang Dynasty. Great Britain: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
External links
- Mar Shimun website
- "Patriarchs of the East" at friesian.com
- Biography of Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII to 1970
- Summary of the trial record for the patriarch's murder
Preceded by
Mar Shimun XXII PaulosCatholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East
1920–1975Succeeded by
Mar Dinkha IV KhananiaCategories:- 1908 births
- 1975 deaths
- 20th-century bishops
- American Christians
- American clergy
- Assassinated Iraqi people
- Assassinated religious leaders
- American people of Assyrian descent
- Assyrian diaspora
- Catholicos Patriarchs of the Assyrian Church of the East
- Deaths by firearm in the United States
- Iraqi Assyrian people
- Iraqi Christians
- Iraqi clergy
- Iraqi emigrants to the United States
- People from İzmir Province
- People from San Jose, California
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.