Mar Dinkha IV
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Mar Dinkha IV (Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܕܢܚܐ ܪܒܝܥܝܐ) is the current Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. He was born on September 15, 1935 in the village of Darbandokeh, Iraq and was baptized in the Church of Mar Qaryaqos located in the village of his birth. He is the fourth in the line of succession to the Bishopric of Urmia, bearing the honorable title of Mar Dinkha.
He gained his elementary education under the tutorship of his grandfather, Rev. Benyamin Soro. In 1947, at the age of twelve, he was entrusted to the care of His Beatitude, Mar Yousip Khnanisho, Metropolitan and the Patriarchal representative for all of Iraq.
After two years of study, he gathered the basic knowledge in theology to qualify him to undertake an active role in the service of the Church. On September 12, 1949, he was ordained deacon in the church of Mar Youkhana in Harir by the second highest ranking ecclesiastic of the Assyrian Church of the East. Eight years later, on August 15, 1957, deacon Khananya was ordained to the priesthood, once again, by the religious scholar Mar Yousip Khnanisho.
Due to the political upheavals during and after World War I, a large number of the clergy had lost their lives. For the next several decades the Church was on the threshold of disintegrating for lack of viable Church organization or priesthood. His Beatitude Mar Yousip Khnanisho was aware of the dire circumstances prevalent in the Middle East. This deplorable situation was on his mind when he carefully selected young priest Khananya, trained him for the difficult task ahead and assigned him as a priest in Tehran, Iran, in 1957. As a young priest, he quickly built a very viable, well organized and progressive institution that attracted its strayed adherents by the thousands.
Consenting to overwhelming popular demand, His Holiness, Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII consecrated Rev. Khananya as bishop on Sunday, October 17, 1968, in the church of Martyr Mar Gewargis in Tehran.
After the assassination of Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, the Church of the East had an urgent need to restore the leadership. In 1976 the prelates of the church convened in London to elect a new Catholicos Patriarch. At this historic meeting, the conscientious choice of all the prelates in session was Mar Dinkha as the most qualified candidate to fill this sublime post. After his consecration, Mar Dinkha IV became the 120th successor in this line to the Apostolic See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, Babylon.
In 1994, he agreed to a Joint Christological Declaration with the Vatican. In 1996 he signed an agreement of cooperation with the Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Raphael I Bidawid, in Southfield, Michigan. In 1997, he entered into negotiations with the Syrian Orthodox Church and the two stopped anathemizing each other.
In September 2006, Mar Dinkha IV paid a historic visit to northern Iraq to give oversight to the churches there and to encourage the governor of the Kurdish region to open a Christian school in Arbil.
