鲍默《东方教会：亚述基督教图史》第十二章：亚述东方教会的复兴（中英文对照版）

The Renaissance of the

Assyrian Church of the East XII

Rebuilding in exile

His efforts for the Church are all the more admirable given that he never chose this difficult path but had it imposed on him when he was still a child.

When the 25-year-old patriarch Mar Shimun XXI was deported to Cyprus in 1933 as stateless, he faced a Herculean task. His community was dispersed throughout the world, the few surviving bishops and priests had little access to higher education, and he himself was separated from the faithful in Iraq, Iran and Syria. The Church faced dissolution or the threat of another schism if the East Syrians remaining in Iraq elected another leader. In order to save the Church, Mar Shimun had to hold together the scattered diaspora, ease the acute shortage of priests and establish a new Church hierarchy, no longer tied to tribal structures. At the same time, he had to perform the difficult balancing act of finding a long-term compromise with the Iraqi govern-ment, without forfeiting the favour of the groups living abroad and fighting for a sovereign Assyrian nation. Equally complex were the attempts to reach a rapprochement with the Chaldean sister Church. Although Mar Shimun did not succeed in freeing the Church entirely from the demands of politics and tribal pressures, which contributed to bring about the tragic schism of 1968, his achievements remain undisputed, for during his 55-year patriarchate – one of the longest in history – he rebuilt the Church and promoted the translation and dissemination of classical theological writings.

After a long odyssey, Mar Shimun settled in Chicago in 1940, where he received American citizenship in 1949. He chose Chicago, where a large diaspora community lived and where the Indian metropolitan Timothy had already established a parish in 1924, as the patriarchal see. At first, during appearances before the League of Nations, the world security conference in 1945 and the United Nations in 1947, the patriarch argued again in vain to secure an Assyrian territorial homeland. Presumably the failure of the short-lived autonomous Kurdish Republic of Mahabad, which existed by the grace of Stalin, led to rethinking, as the Assyrians formerly living in the Soviet Union, who had supplied loyal troops in the Second World War and actively helped in the creation of the Republic of Mahabad, were in 1947/1948 the victims of brutal Iranian repression, after the United States and Great Britain gave Stalin an ultimatum, demanding withdrawal of his troops from Iranian Azerbaijan. The intervention of the patriarch at the United Nations had no effect – just like the subsequent appeals for aid by Tibet in 1950 and 1959. Unlike the Dalai Lama, who to this day hopes for a victory for justice, Mar Shimun recognized that all appeals to the Western great powers and to

the international institutions they created, as well as the insistence on fulfilment of past promises, would be for naught. Thus he executed a radical about-face: he guaranteed his loyalty to the Shah of Iran and in 1948 ordered all Assyrians, especially those living in Iraq, to maintain loyalty to the governments of their respective homes.1 This meant nothing less than the abandonment of the demand for an independent state.

Mar Shimun’s concessions at first had no effect, but the Baath Party, which came to power in 1968, returned to him his Iraqi citizenship after he called upon the Assyrians of Iraq, in another pastoral letter in early 1970, to recognize the Iraqi authorities. Following this the government invited him to return to Baghdad, where he met President Al-Bakr and party leader Saddam Hussein.

Al-Bakr – as the Abbasid caliphs once had done – acknowledged Mar Shimun, according to the presidential decree No 286 of 21 May 1970, as ‘patriarch of the (Nestorian) Church of the East and supreme head of the Assyrian people in the Republic of Iraq’.2 This recognition constituted an invaluable breakthrough, for a year earlier Al- Bakr had acknowledged the anti-patriarch Mar Thoma Darmo as the legitimate head of the Church and branded Mar Shimun as ‘leader of a dangerous political movement that is cooperating with foreigners’. Now Mar Shimun was welcomed as an official dialogue partner with the govern- ment, and most of the property that had been confiscated by the government for the rival Church was restored to his Church.3 However, Mar Shimun did not accept the offer to remain in Iraq and transfer the patriarchal residence to Baghdad, because he feared becoming involved in the government’s struggle against the Kurds. In any case, many Assyrians never forgave Mar Shimun for passing up this historic opportunity. Today, in 2005, this history is repeating itself, as now Patriarch Mar Dinkha must decide if he will return to Iraq or remain in Chicago. Discussions held at the end of October 2005 between the

Patriarch and Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, indicate that a new patriarchal residence will be constructed at Ankawa, near Abil, northern Iraq. Hence the patriarch plans to return to Iraq in the near future.4

The Nestorian Chapel of St Stephen, built after 1950 on the ruins of a considerably older church, in Diana, northern Iraq.

Earlier, in 1964, two important events occurred. Pope John XXIII invited non-Catholic churches to send observers to the Second Vatican Council, whereupon Mar Shimun sent two delegates. It was an historic moment, as, for the first time since the Council of Ephesus of 431, East Syrian Christians again took part in a Western council. Unfortunately, in the same year there began a patriarchal schism brought about by old tribal conflicts. The occasion of this schism was provided by the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, instituted by Mar Shimun in March, which was to enable the East Syrians to celebrate the great liturgical feasts at the same time as Catholics and Protestants. The tribal group of the Tyari, which was hostile to Mar Shimun’s family, took advantage of this reform

The Renaissance of the Assyrian Church of the East | 271 and accused him of ‘selling out’ the Church to Rome. At first the tribal leaders persuaded a priest of Baghdad from the Tyari tribe by the name of Ishaq Nwiya to rebel, whereupon they won the support of the Indian metropolitan Mar Thoma Darmo, who was a firm opponent of hereditary succession to the patriarchate. In autumn 1968 the dissident metropolitan of India travelled to Baghdad, where he appointed as bishops two priests and an archdeacon, and they, for their part, immediately deposed Mar Shimun and consecrated Mar Thoma Darmo as the new patriarch. [^5] The new Church chose the name Ancient Church of the East, and upon the death of their first patriarch, in 1969, they named Mar Addai II as his successor. It was these ancient and unfortunate conflicts which caused the attempts at reunion made by Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV to fail, when he proposed in 1980 the acknowledge- ment of ordinations carried out by bishops of either Church and offered Mar Addai the role of vice-patriarch in the reunited Church. [^6]

In early 1973 the Church of the East encountered further turbulence, as Mar Shimun announced his resignation after 53 years of service. Acceding to the plea of his bishops, he remained in office for another six months. But, when the bishops did nothing to arrange for succession, he announced in August his marriage to the Assyrian Emama Yukhanan. The subsequent episcopal synod resolved not only the abolition of patriarchal hereditary succession but also the revocation of the title of priest from the departing patriarch, his return to the lay state and the removal of his name from the official list of patriarchs. These measures were surely unjustified, since Mar Shimun had served the Church with devotion for more than half a century. Mar Shimun reacted angrily to this provocation; he reminded the bishops of the canon of the synod of 424, according to which the patriarch is accountable only to the tribunal of Christ, and withdrew his resignation. In order to avoid another schism, the bishops yielded and withdrew their resolutions. It was agreed that all the disputed questions would be settled at a synod to be held in Seattle, at the end of 1975. This synod did not take place, because on

6 November 1975 the young Assyrian David Malik Ismael, from the Tyari tribe, assassinated the patriarch. Even if personal motives were officially blamed for the murder, there are many indications that the patriarch was killed for political reasons, namely because of his recon- ciliation with Iraq. The murderer was sentenced in 1976 to life in prison, but was freed in 1988.7 The tragic death of Mar Shimun paved the way for a return to the system of synodal patriarchal elections.

On 17 October 1976 the bishops’ conference elected the metropolitan of Teheran and Iran as their new leader, who took the name Mar Dinkha IV Khanaya. The patriarch, who had been born in 1935 in the Iraqi village of

Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV Khanaya was in office from 1976 until March 2015.

Derbenduk, near Arbil, came from a family that had already supplied 18 bishops. He studied with Metropolitan Mar Yosip Khananisho, who ordained him priest in 1957 and sent him to Teheran. In 1962 Mar Shimun elevated him to bishop, and in 1968 to metropolitan of Teheran and Iran. In this capacity he distinguished himself with various initiatives, such as ecumenical worship services and the founding of a seminary to address the chronic shortage of priests. Until the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) Mar Dinkha resided in Teheran, but he then moved his residence to Chicago. together peacefully with the governments of the Middle East, thus rejecting Assyrian claims to the creation of their own territory.10 Third, he wants to raise the level of theological education among his clergy. Thanks to successful ecumenical dialogue, Assyrians can study at the Chaldean Catholic College in Baghdad, and unmarried deacons and priests can study at the Catholic universities in Rome. It is Mar Dinkha’s goal to appoint only theologians with doctorates as bishops, so that the ancient aura of scholarship will again surround the Church of the East. Fourth, he is working to overcome the unfort- unate schism of 1968, an effort in which he has partially succeeded with the return of the important metropolitan see of India.

The new patriarch pursues the following four goals. First, he consistently advances the course begun by Mar Shimun XXI to lead the Church out of its isolation, but without denying its rich heritage. Thus, for instance, immediately upon his inauguration, while he confirmed his predecessor’s decision to abandon the term ‘Nestorian’, he steadfastly refused, to give in to pressure from other institutions, namely the Coptic Church, and condemn Nestorius himself. Mar Dinkha uses the membership in the World Council of Churches, which had existed since 1948, to engage in various bi- and multilateral dialogues, with notable success. The later Common Christological Declaration, issued in 1994 with the Roman Catholic Church, the Joint Synodal Decree for Promoting Unity, in 1996 with the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Pastoral Guidelines for Admission to the Eucharist between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Church, in 2001, and the Common Statement on Sacramental Life, in 2002 with the Roman Catholic Church, represent the most important milestones.8 Another highpoint in the ecumenical dialogue was the joint consecration of the new patriarchal cathedral of Chicago together with the Chaldean patriarch Raphael Bidawid on 16 August 1997.9

Assyrian Christians in the twenty- first century: a brief overview

By the year 2005 the Assyrian Church of the East numbered about 400,000 members and the Ancient Assyrian Church some 50,000–70,000. The leading clergy of the mother Church consisted of Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV, three metropolitans, eight bishops and Chorepiscopus Benjamin, who is acting head of the diocese of Iran. In Iraq at this time a few dioceses were not occupied, for political reasons. The Ancient Church, for its part, is led by Patriarch Mar Addai II, under whom serve four metropolitans and one bishop.11 To these are added a few small Protestant groups, which include a total of about 10,000 members. In comparison, the Chaldean Catholic sister Church has some 650,000 members and its leading clergy eleven archbishops and bishops.

From a global perspective, the Church of the East remains endangered in its identity and its existence, despite the reforming efforts of Mar Shimun and Mar Dinkha. The reasons for this are of a political, organizational and spiritual

Second, in his patriarchal inaugural address Mar Dinkha reaffirmed the intention to work

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The new Church of St George in Bidial, Iraq, was erected in 2000, thanks to the financial support of the Kurdish leader Nechirvan Barzani, the Kurdish Organization for Reconstruction and German donors. nature. The greatest cause for concern is the inexorable emigration of young people to the West – today more Assyrians live in the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Australia than in the Church’s homeland of Mesopotamia and Iran. The political uncertainties there will not check this trend – quite the opposite. Only the return of the patriarch to Iraq will provide a powerful symbol to remain in their own land. Through this gradual uprooting, the Church is threatened with the loss of its cultural unique- ness. Even if the diaspora communities retain a high level of inner cohesion, adaptation to the Western environment leads inevitably among the second or third generation to the ‘Westernization’ of the exile communities. Consciousness of a singular history loses intensity, and the unifying bond of the East Syriac language loses effective- ness, as not all young Assyrians know it. The unfortunate schism of 1968 further weakened the East Syrian community; other divisions occurred in Sydney, Australia, in 1987 and in Modesto, California, in 1992.12

Still more serious for the future of the Church is a certain flagging of spiritual intensity, of which the extinction of monasticism at the beginning of the twentieth century is one of the most tragic signs. The last Nestorian hermit was the ascetic Rabban Yonan, who enjoyed the highest esteem as a calligrapher, clairvoyant and healer; he died in 1886. As the last monk, Rabban Werda died before the First World War.13 The Church of the East once possessed hundreds of monasteries, but now it has not a single one.

However, a handful of nuns are again active in Kerala and Baghdad, which could signal the kernel of a monastic renaissance. A renewal of monasticism could kindle a new inner fire, which would place religious matters firmly in the foreground. Today many members of the diaspora expect the Church to engage increasingly in political debates. Patriarch Mar Dinkha is well aware of the corresponding traps: ‘We want neither to become a museum of religious archae- ology nor to serve politics, but rather we want to remain open to the revelation of the Holy Spirit.’14 That this goal is not unrealistic is shown by the small East Syrian congregation of Kerala, which leads a vibrant, flourishing life in a stable environment.

The facade of the Chaldean al- Tahra Church in Mosul, northern Iraq, was rebuilt in 1996/1997. The church, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, was founded in the seventh century and rebuilt in the thirteenth century. On 7 December 2004 the church and the neighbouring palace of the archbishop were attacked by terrorists and badly damaged by several bombs. The church was plundered and destroyed by jihadists of the Islamic State in early 2015.

Let us take just a brief look at the individual regions. About 90,000 Orthodox Assyrians, as well as 25,000 members of the Ancient Church, live in Iraq. In the secular Republic of Iraq (1958–2003), Article 19 of the constitution of 1958 guaranteed equality before the law to all citizens, regardless of language, ethnicity and religion. However, Article 4 of the constitution of 1970 elevated Islam to the state religion.15 In the 250-member parliament in the 1980s, four seats were reserved for Christians of all denominations, who made up 3.4 per cent of the overall population. As in other Muslim states, the nominal equality of the Christians ran up against the strict limitations of Islamic social life and its codes of behaviour. In general, the Assyrians and Chaldeans remained loyal to Saddam Hussein, but not out of affection for the dictator but rather out of fear of renewed Kurdish violence and of a Shi’ite Islamic republic. For the Christians, Hussein’s regime was the lesser evil. It was clear to the Christians that their relative security was due not to a particular Muslim tolerance but rather to the efficiency of the Iraqi security apparatus, which tolerated no socio-religious tensions.16 they fell between the fronts of the Kurds, who were seeking a broad autonomy, and the central government. As a result of the Iraqi purges in Kurdistan, over 200 Assyrian villages, churches and monasteries were destroyed, especially during the ruthless so-called Anfal campaign of 1988, after which countless Assyrians fled to the large cities of Mosul and Baghdad. After the United States created a Kurdish protective no-fly zone in the region north of the thirty- sixth parallel, beyond the area ruled by Saddam Hussein, in 1992, the Assyrians were again victims of numerous Kurdish attacks. The crimes, documented in part in reports by Amnesty International in 1995, 1997 and 1998, ranged from arbitrary seizure of property, extortion, the abduction of women, torture and murder

Nevertheless, the Assyrians and Chaldeans also suffered under the republic. Beginning in 1963

The Renaissance of the Assyrian Church of the East | 275 to the assassination of the Assyrian governor of Arbil on 18 February 2001. But also in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, atrocities were carried out with ever greater frequency against the Christians, who were becoming increasingly associated with the Americans. One of the three Assyrian nuns suffered martyrdom in her residence in Baghdad when she was brutally murdered and beheaded on 15 August 2002.17 Since the first Gulf War of 1990/1991 about 20 per cent of the Christians of Iraq – that is, almost 200,000 people – have left their homeland.18 distribution of aid, the arrangement of employ- ment and the promise of visas for migration – not only weaken the local Churches but also make the American military campaign appear in the eyes of many Muslims as a religiously motivated crusade. The series of bombings carried out against Christian churches as of 1 August 2004, which resulted in dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded, accelerated the flight of Christians into exile, with about 50,000 Christians leaving Iraq after August 2004.20 The Chaldean arch- bishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk described the situation thus: ‘Earlier [under Saddam Hussein] we were not free, but we were secure. Today we are free, but not safe.’ 21 Despite gross irregularities in the 30 January 2005 elections to the 275-seat Iraqi National Assembly, which deprived about 150,000 Christians from the region of Mosul of their vote, six representatives from the Assyrian- Chaldean community were elected. In the government it is represented by Mrs Basima Yousif Potrus from the Assyrian Democratic Movement; she serves as Minister of Science and Technology. The results of the referendum on the new Iraqi constitution on 15 October 2005 are for the Christians ambiguous. While it guarantees important civil rights and freedom of religion, it also stresses that no civil law may contradict Islam. In the long run it may undermine Iraq’s territorial integrity. Finally, the Christians suffer from the fact that they make up only 3 per cent of the population and command no significant armed militia, as do the Kurds or Shi’ites.

The fall of Saddam Hussein in the spring of 2003 awoke among the Assyrians both hope and fear. They hope to be able finally to live a ‘normal’ life in a secular and somewhat democratic state, without religiously motivated discrimination. The appointment on 13 July 2003 of the secretary general of the Assyrian Democratic Movement, Yonathan Kanna, as representative of all Iraqi Christians in the provisional governing council gave further impetus to these aspirations. But there are worrying signs that the spirit of uncompromising Islamic militancy has been released from Pandora’s box. In the Shi’ite south merchants who sell alcohol or music cassettes have been murdered, and Christian women forced to wear veils, as Muslim women do; in the Kurdish north abductions of young women are increasing. Christian women who do not wear veils are threatened with having their faces doused with caustic chemicals.19 Official protests on the part of high-ranking Islamic notables help little, since speakers operating in the underground announce that it is no sin to kill Christians or to extort money from the relatives of kidnapped hostages. Additionally, the hatred of the defeated Sunnis towards the American and British occupying forces is extending to the Iraqi Christians. The aggressive missionary efforts on the part of at least nine American evangelical Churches, which seek to convert Iraqi Christians as well as Muslims – not least through the free

In Iran, after the repressions of 1947/1948, the Christians experienced a relatively peaceful period under the rule of Mohammed Reza Shah (ruled 1941–1979), but this came to an abrupt end with the seizure of power by Imam Khomeini (1900–1989) in 1979. The new constitution declared Islam the state religion but granted parliamentary representation to recognized minorities: the Armenians have two seats, the Assyrians and Chaldeans together have one, the

Zoroastrians and Jews have one each. Although the Christians of Iran, unlike their Iraqi brothers, were not called up for military service in the Iran–Iraq War, the Shi’ite Islamicization of all aspects of society was so radical that a genuine exodus took place – more than half the 250,000 Christians left Iran after 1979.

Mr Yonathan Bet Kolia represents the interests of the Assyrians and Chaldeans of Iran in the Iranian National Parliament; in February 2004 he was re-elected to a second term in office with 75 per cent of the votes cast. The outstanding result is attributable to his successful efforts to abolish the blood money laws that had discriminated against Christians.

The thorough Islamicization of Iran led as early as August 1979 to the expulsion of all non- Iranian Catholic priests, monks and nuns, so the Latin clergy was reduced within a month from 150 priests to six.22 In the area of education, the control of the Islamic theocracy was especially overwhelming. Beginning in 1983 Christian religious education was forbidden in the remaining Christian schools and restricted to the churches; at the same time, a standardized catechism, which glorified Islam, was imposed on all Christian groups. The import of Christian books is also banned.23

But these conversions, which are extremely rare, seldom lead to official charges; the individuals in question are ‘simply’ murdered or suffer traffic accidents. Efforts promoting conversion are also strictly forbidden, so Christian communities are highly suspicious of potential converts, out of fear of agents provocateurs. On the other hand, a Christian who converts to Islam can claim the entire inheritance of deceased relatives if the other heirs remain Christian. Political offices and civil service positions are unattainable for Christians. However, the discriminatory law according to which the blood money to be paid for a killed Christian amounted to only one- thirteenth of that for a Muslim man, and for a Christian woman just one-twenty-sixth, was repealed by the National Parliament on

29 December 2003.24

Today almost twenty-five thousand Assyrians, two thousand Assyrian Protestants, one thousand five hundred Assyrian members of the Pentecostal mission and fewer than ten thousand Chaldeans lead a secluded, marginalized life, mostly in Teheran and the region around Urmiah. To the Assyrians and Chaldeans are added about 80,000 Armenians, although a cultural divide separates the two groups from one another. Today the Christians constitute only 0.2 per cent of the general population; in light of the ongoing emigration of young Christians, it is feared that Iran will soon be devoid of any Christian presence. The election of the conservative hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the new president of Iran on 24 June 2005 could further add pressure on the Christians.

In the once purely Christian land of Turkey, Christians constitute some 0.1 per cent of the population, concentrated in the major cities of Istanbul and Izmir. Fewer than 3000 Syrian- Orthodox live in Tur Abdin, and fewer than 1000 Nestorians in Hakkari. In the case of Turkey, it is especially scandalous that in this formally secular state persecutions of Christians still occurred between 1970 and 2000. The Christian farmers of Tur Abdin were brutally repressed by both the

Although the constitution proclaims the equality of all Iranian citizens, Christians and Christianity are subject to numerous discrimi- natory measures. For instance, according to sharia, Islamic law, conversion from Islam to Christianity should result in the death penalty.

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In the foreground the old Church of the Virgin Mary, and behind it the new church, built in 1965, in the city of Urmiah, Iran. The Church of the Virgin Mary is one of the oldest in the region and is said to date back to the fourth century. The church, remodelled in the Russian Orthodox style in 1898, was destroyed by the Kurds in 1918, after which it was rebuilt on a more modest scale. The entrance leads first into a deep crypt and only then into the nave of the church.

Assembly took the same step in December 2003 the long-planned visit to Turkey by the Swiss foreign minister was called off at short notice. In Tur Abdin the situation eased somewhat after the arrest of the Kurdish leader Öcalan in 1999 and the subsequent renunciation of violence by the PKK. In addition, the upcoming negotiations regarding entry into the European Union have motivated the Turkish government to uphold the constitutional rights of Turkish Christians in Tur Abdin. However, this policy of reconciliation suffered a setback on 17 July 2004, when the Christian mayor of the village of Dayro Daslibo – which means in the Syriac Turoyo dialect ‘Monastery of the Cross’ – was murdered because he refused to sign over to her kidnappers the land belonging to a Christian woman who had been abducted and forced to convert to Islam.26 This murder continued the strategy, used in the 1980s and 1990s, of murdering Christians who would

Turkish army and the Kurdish workers’ party, the PKK, so that the Christian population there emigrated and shrank from about 50,000 to fewer than 3000. That a narrow-minded nationalism, which negates all non-Turks, still predominates is shown by the decree issued on 6 October 1997 by the governor of Mardin, according to which the teaching of the Old Syriac language in monasteries is strictly forbidden.25

To this day the Turkish state steadfastly denies the massacres carried out against the Armenians, Syrian Orthodox and Assyrians; it speaks of ‘normal’ warfare. That this matter is highly sensitive for the Turkish government is shown by the brusque reactions to advances from foreign countries: when the French National Assembly publicly acknowledged the Armenian genocide in 2001 the Turkish government cancelled contracts with French industry on the scale of US$600 million, and when the Swiss National

not cede their land to Muslims. fortunate of the Nestorian communities, as its members, like those in the Western diaspora, are subject to no – at least no serious – discriminatory measures; at the same time, they live in their ancestral homeland. They are cared for not only pastorally but also socially by 73 priests and deacons, two deaconesses and a few nuns, under the leadership of the very active metropolitan

Dr Dr Mar Aprem, and the Church operates a seminary, three schools, two kindergartens, an orphanage and a home for the elderly. The East Syrian Church of South India feels justifiably proud to be the descendant of one of the most ancient Christian communities.

The approximately 25,000 Assyrians living in Syria enjoy a freedom and security uncommon for Christians in the Middle East. Since Syrian independence in 1946, Christians have been able to participate in public life within the framework of the leadership of President Hafez Assad (in office 1971–2000) and his son and successor Bashar Assad (in office from 2000). The relatively liberal climate is revealed not least by the fact that four patriarchates have their seats in Damascus.27 In Syria, where the government is strongly supported by the military, there is no state religion; only the president must be Muslim. Syria is a multi-religious state with 18 more or less large and active religious groups, of which the eleven Christian Churches together number almost a million faithful, constituting about 5 per cent of the general population.28 Since Syria rejects confessionalism, no religious minority has claim to fixed parliamentary representation, which leads to clear under-representation. Additionally, Christians living in outlying rural areas often suffer discrimination, which has led to an inexorable flight to Damascus and into foreign exile. Unlike the Assyrians of Syria living in the region of Khabur and in Damascus, the 5000 Assyrians living in Lebanon are less well integrated into society, as for many of these refugees, who are often illegal immigrants, Lebanon is only a way station on the journey to Western Europe or the United States.

The official Assyrian flag. The golden circle in the centre of the blue star symbolizes the ancient sun god Shamash, and the three broadening lines flowing out from the centre represent the three most important rivers of Assyria: blue, the Euphrates; white, the Great Zab; and red, the Tigris. Above the cross there sits enthroned Ashur, the highest god in ancient Assyria.

The identity of the Church of the East

The Church of the East stands before two fundamental questions: what can it do to preserve the identity of its membership?

While the Assyrians remaining in the Middle

East are bound to and dependent on one another because of their shared experiences, often of suffering, in their difficult environment, which nourishes their identity, members of the second and third generations of expatriates were mostly born in exile. They adopt the local culture and often no longer know Syriac. How can the Church address these heterogeneous groups? Thus is revealed the second basic question: how should the Church define its purpose, its reason for existence?

With regard to the widely scattered Assyrian diaspora, the largest communities are found in the United States, with over 100,000; Canada, with 20,000; Australia and New Zealand, with 25,000; Europe, with 30,000; and Russia, Armenia and Georgia, with 50,000 members. Within Europe, Sweden, France and Germany have small clusters of Assyrians.29

The patriarch answers the question thus: ‘Two paths are open to the Church. Either it defines itself according to the ethnic component, the Assyrian identity and its history. Then it will become the instrument of worldly objectives. Or it perceives its task as religious. Then its purpose consists in spreading the Good News, whether in Syriac, English or any other language. Although the Old Syriac language is an important factor in

The East Syrian Church of Kerala, numbering 30,000 members and concentrated around the region of Trichur, is undoubtedly the most

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Modern Assyrians celebrating the Assyrian New Year 6752 in the region of Khabur, north-eastern Syria, at the same time as a mass wedding of 16 couples. The Assyrian appearance of the scenery and the escorts dressed as Assyrian royal couples, priestesses and warriors express the desire to connect with the ancient Assyrian national conscious-ness. The beginning of the Assyrian year 6752 fell on 1 April 2002. our solidarity, it is only an instrument, not the religion itself. We want to avoid the fate that our Church once suffered in China. Then it refused to integrate itself into Chinese culture, insisting on the use of the Syriac language. For this reason we translate our sacred texts into local languages, so that the faithful can read the liturgical texts and follow the traditional customs.’30 in vitro fertilization, both of which we reject, or organ transplants, which we approve, for Christ also sacrificed his body for human beings. We may not leave our faithful alone with these difficult questions; we must be engaged and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, define our positions. We must be open to new questions and to the continual revelation of the Holy Spirit.’31

While this response rejects the concept of a politically active national Church, Mar Dinkha is aware that it must also speak to people in their everyday lives: ‘The faithful are less interested in theological discourse than in advice, guidance and help. This is the task of the priest; he should lead the faithful to a Christian life and to spirituality. We are also confronted with new questions, such as, for instance, abortion and

By viewing the work of the Church primarily not in the ethnic-political realm but rather along religious, pastoral and cultural vectors, Mar Dinkha consciously breaks with centuries of tradition, according to which the patriarch also takes on a leading political role. The arena of the Church is not political but existential. Limiting the Church of the East to an Assyrian national Church would not only exclude

the Indian community but also deny its own glorious past, when East Syrian missionaries travelled to Central Asia, China and Mongolia. Such a narrower focus would also make more difficult the ecumenical dialogue promoted by the patriarch. Finally, one can speculate that one day Islam could lose its status as state religion in the nations of the Middle East. At such a moment it would be conceivable that those people who were oppressed in the name of Islam might prefer another religion. In this case, a universal Church of the East, with roots in the Orient, would have a greater chance of success than an Assyrian national Church. important sections of the text read: ‘[the under- signed] consider this meeting as a basic step on the way towards the full communion to be restored between their Churches. […] As heirs and guardians of the faith received from the Apostles as formulated by our common Fathers in the Nicene Creed, we confess one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten of the Father from all eternity who, in the fullness of time, came down from heaven and became man for our salvation. The Word of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, became incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit in assuming from the holy Virgin Mary a body animated by a rational soul, with which he was indissolubly united from the moment of his conception. Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ is true God and true man, perfect in his divinity and perfect in his humanity, consubstantial with the Father and consubstantial with us in all things but sin. His divinity and his humanity are united in one person, without confusion or change, without division or separation. […] [The] Assyrian Church of the East is praying the Virgin Mary as “the Mother of Christ our God and Saviour”. In the light of this same faith the Catholic tradition addresses the Virgin Mary as “the Mother of God” and also as “the Mother of Christ”. We both recognize the legitimacy and rightness of these expressions of the same faith and we both respect the preference of each Church in her liturgical life and piety. […] The Lord’s Spirit permits us to understand better today that the divisions brought about in this way were due in large part to misunderstandings. […] The par-ticular Catholic Churches and the particular Assyrian Churches can recognize each other as sister Churches. To be full and entire, communion presupposes the unanimity concerning the content of the faith, the sacraments and the constitution of the Church.’34 A declaration similar in spirit had been signed in 1984 between the Syrian Orthodox patriarch Ignatius Zakka I

Ecumenical dialogue

One of the chief goals of Mar Dinkha IV is finally to lead the Church of the East out of its historical isolation. Over the course of this process he has had a few spectacular successes, which represent milestones in the history of the Church. In his efforts at ecumenical dialogue, the patriarch has a famous forerunner in Mar Odisho (†1318), the last outstanding theologian of the Church. He was convinced that the differences and disputes among the three great Christian communities of his time were founded only on words and terms, not in the religious ideas they expressed.32 The Dominican Riccoldo da Monte di Croce, who lived in Baghdad from 1290 to 1300, was of the same opinion: ‘One must not debate the distinctions among the rites, but rather one should seek common ground in faith. There is no Nestorian, Greek or Latin faith, but a single Christian faith.’33

An initial breakthrough occurred on

11 November 1994, when Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV concluded with the signing in Rome of the Common Christological Declaration the first step in the theological dialogue that had begun in 1984. The most

The Renaissance of the Assyrian Church of the East | 281 audience and then in his discourse to the patriarch: ‘This will settle and definitely put an end to more than fifteen centuries of misunder- standings that afflict our faith in Christ, true God and true Man, born to the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. […] We all recognize that it is of supreme importance to understand, venerate, preserve and foster the rich heritage of each of our Churches, and that a diversity of customs and observances is in no way an obstacle to unity.’37 Mar Dinkha responded: ‘Today the time has come to bring down the walls which have separated us and kept us apart for fifteen centuries.’38

This common Catholic–Assyrian declaration prepared the way for a deeper dialogue with the Chaldean sister Church, which led in November 1996 to the Joint Synodal Decree for Promoting Unity. In this Mar Dinkha IV and Mar Raphael I Bidawid affirmed the following goal: ‘In the service of our Lord and the People of God, we, the bishops of the two branches of the ancient Church of the East, declare the noble quest for restoring Christian unity remains, for us and for our Churches, a profound Christian obligation.’ Among the action plans were the establishment of a joint commission for unity, creation of a common catechism, the founding of shared seminaries, promotion of the Aramaic liturgical language, and ecclesiastical and cultural cooper- ation in dioceses and parish congregations. This goal and the strategies to reach it were confirmed on 15 August 1997 at a joint synod, led by both patriarchs, in which 17 Chaldean and ten Assyrian bishops participated. In the synodal concluding document, the most significant hurdles on the path to unity were precisely formulated. The Assyrian Church demanded the ‘preservation of her ecclesial identity as expressed in her liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony […] and the recognition of her freedom and self- governance’, while the Chaldean Church requested ‘the full preservation of her full communion with the Roman See’.39 It is the papal claim to

Paper collage painted over with pigments by the Christian artist Farashta Nadir Khani from Teheran, Iran, 2001. The work shows the sudarium of Christ and the standing Saviour. Thus does the artist not only unite the aspects of Christ’s passion and resurrection but also builds a bridge to the legendary origins of the Church of the East in Edessa. According to a tradition from the sixth century, Jesus pressed an image of his face onto a linen cloth and gave it to Abgar’s ambassador Hanan, so that he might present it to the king. Private collection. and Pope John Paul II.35

The common declaration of 1994 is based on the formula of reconciliation from 433.36 Against this background, it is clear that the formula of reconciliation of 433, which was signed by all parties directly involved in the conflict, would have enabled the avoidance of the division of the Christian community into three separate and mutually hostile Churches, had not purely political factors stood in the foreground. The Christological formula of 433 failed not for theological reasons but because a few of the protagonists did not want reconciliation but, rather, the humiliation of their opponents.

In their addresses, both Church leaders stressed the significance of the newly signed declaration. Pope John Paul emphasized first in the general

authority that makes the reconciliation of the two claims immensely difficult. In the political and social arena, however, the idea of an Assyrian- Chaldean people forms a strong, shared platform.

The sacraments form the second great theme within the Assyrian–Catholic dialogue. An initial result was achieved in October 2001 with the Pastoral Guidelines for Admission to the Eucharist between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Church. This permits Assyrians to participate in the Eucharist in Chaldean liturgies in emergency situations, and vice versa.40 This intercommunion primarily enables those Iraqi and Assyrian Christians whose congregations have no priests of their own to participate in communion. Along these same lines there followed in November 2002 the Common Statement on Sacramental Life between the Catholic Church and the Church of the East, which ensures the full theological recognition by each Church of the sacraments of the other; however, ratification by the two synods is still pending.41 With the new Chaldean patriarch Mar Emmanuel III, who sympathizes with the Assyrians, cooperation is expected to deepen further. Like Mar Dinkha, he wants to maintain the East Syrian rite and rejects both any Latinization of the liturgy and the replacement of Syriac with Arabic as the liturgical language, as advocated by the Dominicans.42 the Church Council of the Middle East by the Coptic Church. Back in 1984 the Coptic Church rejected the Assyrian request for membership, and ten years later renewed negotiations were begun. Although in the summer of 1997 the East Syrian bishops’ synod unilaterally and uncon- ditionally repealed the anathemata against the Miaphysite patriarchs Cyril of Alexandria and Severus of Antioch, which dated back to the fifth and sixth centuries,43 the Coptic pope Shenouda III (in office 1971–2012) rejected the renewed Assyrian application for membership in October 1998.44 Shenouda’s precondition that the Church of the East should first condemn its own Church Fathers, Nestorius, Theodore and Diodore, who are celebrated in the East Syrian calendar on 4 February on the ‘Commemoration of the Three Greek Fathers’, is entirely unacceptable to Mar Dinkha.45 The Church of the East rejected as unsatisfactory the observer status offered as an alternative to membership. That a quarrel some 1570 years old still today stands in the way of ecclesiastical reconciliation is beyond understanding.46 Fortunately, the chilly attitude of the Copts has not prevented the other Miaphysite

Dance performance at an Assyrian New Year’s festival for the year 6752 (1 April 2002) and mass wedding in Khabur, north-eastern Syria.

The third theme, not yet taken up, concerns Church organization. One hopes that the Roman Catholic claims of papal primacy and infallibility will not cause the efforts towards unity between the two East Syrian sister Churches to founder.

While, in the Catholic–Assyrian dialogue, results as spectacular as they were unexpected have been achieved, discussions with the Coptic Orthodox Church have proved significantly more difficult; they reached a dead end in 1998. Although the Church of the East has been a member of the World Council of Churches since 1948, it has been barred membership in

The Renaissance of the Assyrian Church of the East | 283 with the numerically stronger Chaldean Catholic Church is indispensable, as is a massive and rapid increase in clergy. The second task consists in caring for the diaspora, a rapidly growing pro- portion of the Church, in such a way that people can preserve their unique identity.

The path adopted by Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV of a renewal of the dimensions of religiosity, spirituality, pastoral care, humanitarianism and cultural work is the only correct one. The Church has enough exceptional features to work out its unique profile. Among these are: first, its primordial, almost archaic liturgy; second, the use of a liturgical language closely related to the language of Jesus; third, a rich mysticism; fourth, the lack of the always problematic priestly celibacy; and, fifth, the absence of the stifling idea of original sin, which leads to, sixth, an emphasis on free will. The patriarch outlines it thus: ‘An important characteristic of our faith is the emphasis on free will. As the man Jesus Christ died on the cross out of free will, so do human beings have free choice between the wide streets of hell and the narrow path to paradise. We reject the concepts of original sin and pre- destination. All people are called, but everyone must make his or her own choices in life, the journey from birth to death; the Church can only lead and help the people.’47

Churches from establishing good and cooperative relations with the Church of the East.

The former Mar Shalita Cathedral of Kotchannes, abandoned since 1915, in the Turkish Hakkari Mountains, is symbolic for the Church of the East. The faithful were driven out, but the church walls still stand like a lonely Christian watchtower. It is to be hoped that, upon the eventual admission of Turkey into the European Union, the domestic political situation will improve to the point that the former patriarchal basilica may be rebuilt and the Assyrians living in Syrian, European and American exile may return to the homeland of their forefathers. The return of the descendants of the one-time mountain Nestorians of Hakkari and the reconstruction of the Mar Shalita Cathedral would be clear signs of the guarantee of genuine religious freedom in Turkey.

The relevance of the Church of the East and its theology

The Church of the East is the martyr Church of history. No other Church has made so many sacrifices through the steadfastness of its confessing members, who countered oppression and persecution with the strength of their faith. It is also a confessors’ Church, insofar as its missionaries poured out to the borders of the world then known in Mesopotamia – to India, Central Asia, Tibet and China, and to the Mongols. The Church can rightly be proud of its past; one hopes that it can create from this consciousness the inner strength to withstand further trials.

The Church of the East is an Asian Church, which has preserved its Oriental roots. As such it has the potential to attract those people in Asia for whom the Catholic and Protestant Churches have less appeal. It is acceptable to fantasize that the grip Islam holds on the legislation of many states will one day be released. This would return to the people the option to choose which religion best accords with their ideas. In this moment, a politically independent and self-conscious Church of the East, with a strong presence in its Mesopotamian homeland, would be ideally positioned to offer seekers a new answer.

At this time it faces two immense tasks. First, it must build up in its homeland of Mesopotamia – that is, Iraq – sufficient presence that the Iraqi Assyrians remain in their land and do not choose exile. For this, the closest possible cooperation

Silver cross on a Syrian manuscript, Khabur, north-eastern Syria.