Assyrian Church of the East

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

Assyrian Church of the East
Emblem of the Assyrian Church of the East
Founder	Traces origins to Saints Thomas, Bartholomew, Thaddeus (Addai) and Mari. Saint Peter also blessed it by calling it the "elect church".[1]
Independence
Recognition	Assyrian Church of the East
Primate	Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV Khanania
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Territory	Middle East, India, North America, Oceania, and Europe.
Possessions	—
Language	Syriac,[2]Aramaic
Adherents	400,000[3][4]
Website	www.assyrianchurch.com/

The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East^[5] Syriac: ܥܕܬܐ ܩܕܝܫܬܐ ܘܫܠܝܚܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ ܕܐܬܘܪܝܐ‎ 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 Patriarchate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon – the Church of the East. Unlike most other churches that trace their origins to antiquity, the modern Assyrian Church of the East is not in communion with any other churches, either Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, or Catholic.

The church is headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV, who currently presides from Chicago, Illinois, United States. Below the Catholicos-Patriarch are a number of metropolitan bishops, diocesan bishops, priests, and deacons who serve dioceses and parishes throughout the Middle East, India, North America, Oceania, and Europe (including the Caucasus and Russia). Theologically, the church is associated with the doctrine of Nestorianism, leading to the church also being known as the "Nestorian Church", though church leadership has at times rejected the Nestorian label. The church employs the Syriac dialect of the Aramaic language in its liturgy, the East Syrian Rite, which includes three anaphoras, attributed to Saints Addai and Mari, Theodore of Mopsuestia and Nestorius.^[6]

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

History

Main articles: Church of the East and Nestorianism

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Early years of the Church of the East

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

Official recognition was first granted to the Christian faith in the 4th century with the accession of Yazdegerd I to the throne of the Sassanid Empire. In 410, the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, held at the Sassanid capital, allowed the Church's leading bishops to elect a formal Catholicos, or leader. The Catholicos, Mar Isaac, was required both to lead the Christian community, and to answer on its behalf to the Sassanid Emperor.^[7][8]

Under pressure from the Sassanid Emperor, the Church of the East sought increasingly to distance itself from the western (Roman Empire) Catholic Church. In 424, the bishops of the Sassanid Empire met in council under the leadership of Catholicos Mar Dadisho I (421-456) and determined that they would not, henceforth, refer disciplinary or theological problems to any external power, and especially not to any bishop or Church Council in the Roman Empire.^[9]

As such, the Mesopotamian and Persian Churches were not represented at the various Church Councils attended by representatives of the Western Church. Accordingly, the leaders of the Persian Church did not feel bound by any decisions of what came to be regarded as Roman Imperial Councils. Despite this, the Creed and Canons of the first Council of Nicea (325); affirming the full divinity of Christ; were formally accepted at the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.^[10] The Church's understanding of the term 'hypostasis' differs from the definition of the term offered at the Council of Chalcedon. For this reason, the Assyrian Church has never approved the Chalcedonian definition.^[10]

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

The Sassanid Emperor, hostile to the Roman Empire, saw the opportunity to ensure the loyalty of his Christian subjects and lent support to the Nestorian schism. The Sassanid Emperor took steps to cement the primacy of the Nestorian party within the Persian church, granting its members his protection,^[11] and executing the pro-Roman Catholicos Babowai, replacing him with the Nestorian Bishop of Nisibis, Barsauma. The Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Babai I (497–503) confirmed the association of the Persian Church with Nestorianism.

Eastern expansion

During the medieval period the geographical horizons of the Church of the East extended well beyond its heartland in present-day Iraq. Nestorian communities sprang up throughout Central Asia, and missionaries took the Christian faith as far as China and the Malabar Coast of India.^[12]

Yohannan Sulaqa and the Chaldean Catholic Church

Main article: Chaldean Catholic Church

The massacres of Tamerlane (1336–1405) destroyed many bishoprics. The Church of the East, which had previously extended as far as China, was reduced to a remnant living in the triangular area^[13] between Amid, Salmas and Mosul. The See was moved to Alqosh, in the Mosul region, and Mar Shimun IV Basidi (1437–1493) appointed Patriarch, establishing a new, hereditary, line of succession.^[14]

Growing dissent in the church's hierarchy over hereditary succession came to a head in 1552, when a group of bishops from the Northern regions of Amid and Salmas elected Mar Yohannan Sulaqa as a rival Patriarch. Seeking consecration as Patriarch by a Bishop of Metropolitan rank, Sulaqa traveled to Rome in 1553, and entered into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. On being appointed Patriarch, Sulaqa took the name Mar Shimun VIII and was granted the title of "Patriarch of Mosul and Athur (Assyria)". Later this title became "Patriarch of the Chaldeans".^[15]

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

Sees in Qochanis, Amid, and Alqosh

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

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

Josephite line of Amid

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

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

The Shimun line of Patriarchs, based in Qochanis, remained independent of the Chaldean Church. The Patriarchate of the present-day Assyrian Church of the East, with its see in Chicago, forms the continuation of this line.^[16]

20th century

The British Empire employed Assyrian troops to put down Arab and Kurdish rebellions in the aftermath of World War I. In consequence, Assyrians endured persecution under the Hashemite monarchy, leading many to flee to the West, in particular to the United States, where Chicago became the center of the diaspora community. During this period the British-educated Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, born into the line of Patriarchs at Qochanis, agitated for an independent Assyrian state. Following the end of the British mandate in 1933^[17] and a massacre of civilians at Simele by the Iraqi Army, the Patriarch was forced to take refuge in Cyprus.^[18] There, Shimun petitioned the League of Nations regarding his peoples' fate, but to little avail, and he was consequently barred from entering Syria and Iraq. He traveled through Europe before moving to Chicago in 1940 to join the growing Assyrian diaspora community there.^[18]

The Church and the Assyrian community in general faced considerable fragmentation and upheaval as a result of the conflicts of the 20th century, and Patriarch Shimun was forced to reorganize the church's structure in the United States. He transferred his residence to San Francisco, California in 1954, and was able to travel to Iran, Lebanon, Kuwait, and India, where he worked to strengthen the church.^[19] In 1964 he decreed a number of changes to the church, including liturgical reform, the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, and the shortening of Lent. These changes, combined with Shimun's long absence from Iraq, caused a rift in the community which led to another schism. In 1968 traditionalists within the church elected Mar Thoma Darmo as a rival patriarch to Shimun, creating the Ancient Church of the East.^[20]

In 1972, Shimun decided to step down as Patriarch, and the following year, he married, in contravention to longstanding church custom. This led to a synod in 1973 in which further reforms were introduced, most significantly including the permanent abolition of hereditary succession a practice introduced in the middle of the fifteenth century by the patriarch Shemʿon IV Basidi who had died in 1497); however, it was decided that Shimun should be reinstated. This matter was to be settled at additional synods in 1975, however Shimun was assassinated by an estranged relative before this could take place.^[21]

In 1976, the current Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV, was elected as Shimun's successor. The 33-year old Dinkha had previously been Metropolitan of Tehran, and operated his see there until the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. Thereafter, Mar Dinkha IV went into exile in the United States, and transferred the patriarchal see to Chicago.^[22] Much of his patriarchate has been concerned with tending to the Assyrian diaspora community in the wake of Saddam Hussein's attacks on the Kurds during and after the Iran–Iraq War and with ecumenical efforts to strengthen relations with other churches.^[22]

Assyrian Church of the East and Nestorianism

The Nestorian nature of Assyrian Christianity remains a matter of contention. Elements of the Nestorian doctrine were explicitly repudiated by Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV on the occasion of his accession in 1976.^[23]

The Christology of the Church of the East has its roots in the Antiochene theological tradition of the early Church. The founders of Assyrian theology are Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, both of whom taught at Antioch. 'Antiochene' is a modern designation given to the style of theology associated with the early Church at Antioch, as contrasted with the theology of the church of Alexandria.^[24]

Antiochene theology emphasised Christ's humanity and the reality of the moral choices he faced. In order to preserve the impassibility of Christ's Divine Nature, the unity of His person was defined in a looser fashion than in the Alexandrian tradition.^[24] The normative Christology of the Assyrian church was written by Babai the Great (551–628) during the controversy that followed the First Council of Ephesus (451). Babai held that within Christ there exist two qnome (essences, or hypostases), unmingled, but everlastingly united in the one parsopa (personality).

The precise Christological teachings of Nestorius are shrouded in obscurity. Wary of monophysitism, Nestorius rejected Cyril's theory of a hypostatic union, proposing instead a union of will. Nestorianism has come to mean dyaphysitism, in which Christ's dual natures are eternally separate, though it is doubtful whether Nestorius ever taught such a doctrine. Nestorius' rejection of the term Theotokos ('God-bearer', or 'Mother of God') has traditionally been held as evidence that he asserted the existence of two persons – not merely two natures – in Jesus Christ, but there exists no evidence that Nestorius denied Christ's oneness.^[25] In the controversy that followed the Council of Ephesus, the term 'Nestorian' was applied to all upholding a strictly Antiochene Christology. In consequence the Church of the East was labelled 'Nestorian', though its theology is not dyaphisite.

Structure

See also: Dioceses of the Church of the East to 1318

See also: Dioceses of the Church of the East, 1318–1552

See also: Dioceses of the Church of the East, 1552–1913

The Church is governed by an episcopal polity, which is the same as other Catholic churches. The church maintains a system of geographical parishes organized into dioceses and archdioceses. The Patriarch is head of the church, and under him there are four archdioceses in the Assyrian Church: one for Australia and New Zealand, one for Lebanon, Syria, and Europe, another for India, and one that serves Iraq and Russia. Individual dioceses exist in the eastern United States (including Chicago), the western United States, California, Canada, Syria, Iran and Europe. Several congregations exist in Georgia, India, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria. A single parish exists in Moscow.^[26] The present Patriarch, Mar Dinkha IV, has his headquarters (along with four other houses of worship) in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Archdiocese of Australia & New Zealand

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Overseen by Metropolitan Mar Meelis Zaia – The Archdiocese of Australia & New Zealand consists of 4 Churches, a Mission, Ss Peter and Paul English Parish,and an Assyrian Primary School. It is the first ever archdiocese outside the Middle East, in the western hemisphere. The [St. Hurmizd Assyrian Primary School] provides education for about 600 students. Mar Narsai Assyrian college was also established in Sydney (the first Assyrian high school) and land has been bought for the construction of the multimillion dollar high school.^[27] Currently, the Assyrian Church in Australia is working on building an Assyrian Medical Centre, a retirement village, Mar Narsai Assyrian College, and a church building for the rapidly growing Ss. Peter and Paul English Parish under Reverend Father Genard Lazar.^[28] The Archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand under the leadership of Metropolitan Mar Meelis Zaia is the fastest growing Assyrian church diocese and community in the world.

Archdiocese of Lebanon, Syria & Europe

Previously overseen by Metropolitan Mar Narsai D'Baz, but as no successor has been appointed, the current bishops oversee their individual dioceses until a new Metropolitan is appointed.

• Diocese of Europe – Overseen by Bishop Mar Odisho Oraham. The Diocese of Europe consists of nine churches and three missions.
• Diocese of Syria – Overseen by Bishop Mar Aprem Natniel.

Archdiocese of India

Overseen by Metropolitan Mar Aprem and two Episcopas, Mar Yohannan Joseph and Mar Augin Kuriakose, the Archdiocese of India consists of over 24 churches in Kerala and five churches outside Kerala (one each at Coimbatore, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi). The only parish outside India which comes under the Archdiocese of India is in the United Arab Emirates. In India, this church is known by the name Chaldean Syrian Church of the East. The Archdiocese in India has about than 30,000 faithful in South India and headquartered at Thrissur in Kerala. This church traces back its origin from St. Thomas who is believed to have established Christianity in India.

Archdiocese of Iraq & Russia

Overseen by Metropolitan Mar Gewargis Sliwa, who resides in Baghdad, Iraq.

• Diocese of Baghdad – Overseen by Bishop Mar Sargis Yosip.
• Diocese of Nohadra and Russia – Overseen by Bishop Mar Iskhaq Yosip.

Individual dioceses

Yonkers, New York

• Diocese of Canada – Overseen by Bishop Mar Emmanuel Yosip. The Dioceses of Canada consists of four churches and a mission.
• Diocese of the Eastern United States – Overseen by Mar Dinkha IV Catholicos Patriarch. The Diocese of the Eastern United States consists of nine churches.
• Diocese of Iran – Overseen by Mar Narsai Benjamin.^[29] The Diocese of Iran consists of three churches and fifteen missions.
• Diocese of California – Currently overseen by Bishop Mar Awa Royel. The Diocese of California consists of five churches.
• Diocese of the Western United States – Overseen by Bishop Mar Aprim Khamis. The Diocese of the Western United States consists of over six churches and a mission.

Ecumenical relations

Pope John XXIII invited many other Christian denominations, including the Assyrian Church of the East, to send "observers" to the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). These observers, graciously received and seated as honored guests right in front of the podium on the floor of the council chamber, did not formally take part in the Council's debate, but they mingled freely with the Catholic bishops and theologians who constituted the council, and with the other observers as well, in the break area during the council sessions. There, cordial conversations began a rapproachment that has blossomed into expanding relations among the Catholic Church, the Churches of the Orthodox Communion led by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, and the other Ancient Churches of the East.

On November 11, 1994, a historic meeting between Mar Dinkha IV and John Paul II took place in Rome. The two patriarchs signed a document titled "Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East". One side effect of this meeting was that the Assyrian Church's relationship to the Chaldean Catholic Church began to improve.^[30]

In 1996, Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV signed an agreement of cooperation with the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Baghdad, Raphael I Bidawid, in Southfield, Michigan. In 1997, he entered into negotiations with the Syrian Orthodox Church and the two churches ceased anathematizing each other.

The lack of a coherent institution narrative in the Anaphora of Addai and Mari, which dates to apostolic times, has caused many Western Christians, and especially Roman Catholics, to doubt the validity of this anaphora, used extensively by the Assyrian Church of the East, as a prayer of consecration of the eucharistic elements. In 2001, after a study of this issue, the Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith promulgated a declaration approved by Pope John Paul II stating that this is a valid anaphora. This declaration opened the door to a joint synodal decree officially implementing the present Guidelines for Admission to the Eucharist between the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East which the synods of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church signed and promulgated on 20 July 2001. This joint synodal decree provides that (1) Assyrian faithful may participate and receive Holy Communion in a Chaldean celebration of the Holy Eucharist, (2) Chaldean faithful may participate and receive Holy Communion in an Assyrian celebration of the Holy Eucharist, even if celebrated using the Anaphora of Addai and Mari in its original form, and (3) Assyrian clergy are invited (but not obliged) to insert the institution narrative into the Anaphora of Addai and Mari when Chaldean faithful are present. Far from expressing a relationship of Full Communion between these churches, however, the joint synodal decree actually identifies several issues that require resolution to permit a relationship of full communion.

From a Catholic canonical point of view, provisions of the joint synodal decree are fully consistent with the provisions of canon 671 of the 1991 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, which states: "If necessity requires it or genuine spiritual advantage suggests it and provided that the danger of error or indifferentism is avoided, it is permitted for Catholic Christian faithful, for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic minister, to receive the sacraments of penance, the Eucharist and anointing of the sick from non-Catholic ministers, in whose Churches these sacraments are valid. 3. Likewise Catholic ministers licitly administer the Sacraments of Penance, the Eucharist and Anointing of the Sick to Christian faithful of Eastern Churches, who do not have full communion with the Catholic Church, if they ask for them on their own and are properly disposed." Canons 843 and 844 of the Code of Canon Law make similar provisions for the Latin Church. The Assyrian Church of the East follows an Open Communion approach allowing any baptized Christian to receive its Eucharist,^[31] so there is also no alteration of Assyrian practice. Nonetheless, from an ecumenical perspective, the joint synodal decree marks a major step toward full mutual collaboration of both churches in the pastoral care of their members.

See also

	Assyrians portal
	Syriac Christianity portal

• East Syrian Rite
• List of Patriarchs of the Church of the East
• Ancient Church of the East
• Chaldean Syrian Church in India (also known as Assyrian Church of the East in India)

References

Bibliography

• Christoph Baumer, The Church of the East, an Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity (London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2006), ISBN 184511115X
• Baum, Wilhem, and Dietmar Winkler, The Church of the East: A Concise History (London and New York: Routledge Curzon, 2003)
• Mar Aprem Mooken, The Assyrian Church of the East in the Twentieth Century. Mōrān ’Eth’ō, 18. (Kottayam: St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute, 2003).
• Jenkins, Phillip "The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia — and How It Died (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2008)
• Weatherford, Jack (2004). Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-609-80964-4.
• Erica Hunter, "The Church of the East in Central Asia," Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 78, no.3 (1996), 129–142.
• W. Klein, Das Nestorianische Christentum an den Handelswegen durch Kyrgyzstan, Silk Road Studies 3 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000).
• A. C. Moule, Christians in China before the year 1550, (London: SPCK, 1930).
• P. Y. Saeki, Nestorian Documents and Relics in China, 2nd ed., (Tokyo: Maruzen, 1951).
• Seleznyov, Nikolai N., "Nestorius of Constantinople: Condemnation, Suppression, Veneration, With special reference to the role of his name in East-Syriac Christianity" in: Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 62:3-4 (2010): 165-190.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/regions/north-america/united-states-of-america/holy-apostolic-catholic-assyrian-church-of-the-east.html
2. ^ http://www.cnewa.us/default.aspx?ID=1&pagetypeID=9&sitecode=US&pageno=3
3. ^ "Nestorian". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
4. ^ http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg-us.aspx?eccpageID=1
5. ^ An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches, By John Binns, page 28 [1]
6. ^ Cross, F. L. & Livingstone E.A. (eds), Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1997, p.351-352
7. ^ J.-M. Fiey, Jalons pour une histoire de l'eglise en Iraq, (Louvain: Secretariat du CSCO, 1970)
8. ^ M.-L. Chaumont, La Christianisation de l'empire Iranien, (Louvain: Peeters, 1988).
9. ^ Henry Hill, Light from the East, (Toronto Canada: Anglican Book Centre, 1988) p. 105.
10. ^ ^{a b} Cross, F.L. & Livingstone E.A. (eds), Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 351
11. ^ Leonard M Outerbridge, The Lost Churches of China, (Westminster Press, USA, 1952)
12. ^ "NSC NETWORK – Early references about the Apostolate of Saint Thomas in India, Records about the Indian tradition, Saint Thomas Christians & Statements by Indian Statesmen". Nasrani.net. http://nasrani.net/2007/02/16/references-about-the-apostolate-of-saint-thomas-in-india-records-of-indian-tradition-of-thomas-statements/. Retrieved 2010-03-31. 
13. ^ Charles A. Frazee, Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453–1923, Cambridge University Press, 2006 ISBN 0521027004
14. ^ Chaldean Catholic Church (Eastern Catholic), The new Catholic Encyclopedia, The Catholic University of America, Vol. 3, 2003 p. 366.
15. ^ George V. Yana (Bebla), "Myth vs. Reality" JAA Studies, Vol. XIV, No. 1, 2000 p. 80
16. ^ Heleen H.L. Murre. "The Patriarchs of the Church of the East from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries". Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies. http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol2No2/HV2N2Murre.html. Retrieved 2009-02-04. 
17. ^ Cross, F. L. & Livingstone E.A. (eds), Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1997, p.351
18. ^ ^{a b} Baum, Wilhelm Baum; Dietmar W. Winkler (2003). The Church of the East: A Concise History. Routledge. p. 144. ISBN 0415297702. http://books.google.com/books?id=yt0X840SjpEC&dq=Baum+Church+of+the+East&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved September 22, 2010. 
19. ^ Baum, Wilhelm Baum; Dietmar W. Winkler (2003). The Church of the East: A Concise History. Routledge. pp. 147–148. ISBN 0415297702. http://books.google.com/books?id=yt0X840SjpEC&dq=Baum+Church+of+the+East&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved September 22, 2010. 
20. ^ Baum, Wilhelm Baum; Dietmar W. Winkler (2003). The Church of the East: A Concise History. Routledge. pp. 148–149. ISBN 0415297702. http://books.google.com/books?id=yt0X840SjpEC&dq=Baum+Church+of+the+East&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved September 22, 2010. 
21. ^ Baum, Wilhelm Baum; Dietmar W. Winkler (2003). The Church of the East: A Concise History. Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 0415297702. http://books.google.com/books?id=yt0X840SjpEC&dq=Baum+Church+of+the+East&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved September 22, 2010. 
22. ^ ^{a b} Baum, Wilhelm Baum; Dietmar W. Winkler (2003). The Church of the East: A Concise History. Routledge. pp. 150–155. ISBN 0415297702. http://books.google.com/books?id=yt0X840SjpEC&dq=Baum+Church+of+the+East&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved September 22, 2010. 
23. ^ Henry Hill, Light from the East, (Toronto Canada: Anglican Book Centre, 1988) p107.
24. ^ ^{a b} Cross, F.L. & Livingstone E.A. (eds), Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1997, p.78
25. ^ Cross, F.L. & Livingstone E.A. (eds), Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1997, p.1339
26. ^ Video showing service at the Moscow church in 2008
27. ^ St. Hurmizd Assyrian Primary School – About Us
28. ^ Assyrian Church of the East – Church projects
29. ^ "Ordination ceremony for bishop held in Tehran", Mehrnews.com. Tehran, Iran:18:53, 2010/09/13
30. ^ Mar Aprem Mooken, p.18
31. ^ see for example

External links

• Official Website of the Assyrian Church of the East
• An Unofficial Website on the Church of the East – An informational site
• Article on the Assyrian Church of the East – from the Catholic Near East Welfare Association
• Documentary film 'The last Assyrians', a history of Aramaic speaking Christians
• Qambel Maran- Syriac chants from South India- a review and liturgical music tradition of Syriac Christians revisited
• Traditions and rituals among the Syrian Christians of Kerala
• Common Christological Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East from Vatican.va
• Guidelines for Chaldean Catholics receiving the Eucharist in Assyrian Churches
• Dialogue between the Syrian and Assyrian Churches
• Khader Khano, the first native-born Assyrian to be ordained priest in Jerusalem in over 100 years