Chaldean Christians

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Chaldean Christians [1]
(ܟܠܕܝܐ Keldaya)
Chaldean Catholics from Mardin, 19th century.
Total population

roughly 0.9 million [2]
Regions with significant populations
Religions
Syriac Christianity (in union with Rome)
Scriptures
The Bible.
Languages
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic

The Chaldean Christians (also known as Chaldean Assyrians, Chaldo-Assyrians, Assyro-Chaldeans; Neo-Aramaic: ܟܠܕܝܐ Keldani), adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, form a subset of the Assyrian people.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Many Chaldean Catholics refute this as they do not consider themselves to be Assyrians.[11] This is due in part to the Church identity promoted by the Chaldean Catholic Church.[11] However, some religious officials within the Chaldean Church, such as Patriarch Mar Raphael I Bedawid, advocate the Assyrian ethnicity.[12] Chaldeans call themselves Sūrāyā (Syrian) in singular and Sūrāyē in plural [13], which is considered to be a synonym of Aššūrāye (Assyrians) They have been settling primarily in Iraq, with smaller communities in Turkey and Iran, for the most part speaking the Chaldean Neo-Aramaic language. A formerly Nestorian denomination, they were reunited with the Roman Catholic Church in 1553.[3][9] Chaldean Catholic Church was established, its first patriarch was proclaimed patriarch of "Mosul and Athur" (Nineveh and Assyria) on Feb. 20, 1553 by Pope Julius III.[14]

Chaldean Catholics have no direct or absolute lineage with the Neo-Babylonian Empire "Chaldeans", but were designated with the name Chaldean in the 16th century when they reunited with the Catholic Church to distinguish from the adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East.[4][9]

Also sometimes known as "Chaldean Christians" are the Christians of St. Thomas of India (also called the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church), ethnically Nasrani (speakers of Malayalam).

Contents

[edit] Name and territory

Strictly, the name of Chaldeans is no longer correct; in Chaldea proper, apart from Baghdad, there are now very few adherents of this rite, most of the Chaldean population being found in the cities of Kerkuk, Arbil, and Mosul, in the heart of the Tigris valley, in the valley of the Zab, in the mountains of northern Iraq. It is in the former ecclesiastical province of Ator (Assyria) that are now found the most flourishing of the Catholic Chaldean communities. There are also significant communities of Chaldean Catholics in other Middle eastern countries (for instance Iran and Lebanon) and in the United States (where there are two dioceses). The native population accepts the name of Atoraya-Kaldaya (Assyro-Chaldeans) while in the neo-Syriac vernacular Christians generally are known as Syrians. The territory now occupied by these Chaldeans belonged once to the Sassanid Empire of Persia, later Umayyad and then the Abbassid caliphs of Islam. Turkish and Mongol invasions, and later efforts to reconstruct the former Kingdom of Persia shattered effectually the earlier political unity of this region; since the end of the 16th century the territory of the Chaldeans has been under Turkish or Persian rule. In fact, however, a number of the mountain tribes are only nominally subject to either.

[edit] Chaldean Catholics in Turkey and Iraq

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[edit] Present status

A proposed flag for the Chaldean people.
A proposed flag for the Chaldean people.

The 1896 Statistics of the Catholic Chaldeans[15] counted 233 parishes and 177 churches or chapels. The Catholic Chaldean Clergy numbered 248 priests; they are assisted by the religious of the Congregation of St. Hormizd (Rabban-Hormizd) who numbered about one hundred. There were about 52 Chaldean schools (not counting those conducted by Latin nuns and missionaries). At Mosul there was a patriarchal seminary, distinct from the Syro-Chaldean seminary directed by the Dominicans. The total number of the Chaldeans according to the above-mentioned authority was nearly 78,000, 24,000 of whom are in the Diocese of Mosul. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 preferred a number of about 66,000 as against 140,000 Nestorians. According to Joseph Tfinkdji, a Chaldean priest from Mardin, who collected statistics for the entire Chaldean Church in 1913, the size of the Chaldean Church in June 1913 was totally 101,610.[16] As of 2003, the Chaldean Catholic Church estimated a total of 600,000 - 700,000 faithful. [17]

The patriarch considers Baghdad as the principal city of his see. His title of "Patriarch of Babylon" results from the erroneous identification (in the seventeenth century) of modern Baghdad with ancient Babylon. As a matter of fact the Chaldean patriarch resides habitually at Mosul and reserves for himself the direct administration of this diocese and that of Baghdad. There are five archbishops (resident respectively at Bassora, Diarbekir, Kerkuk, Salamas, and Urmia) and seven bishops. Eight patriarchal vicars govern the small Chaldean communities dispersed throughout Turkey and Persia. The Chaldean clergy, especially the monks of Rabban-Hormizd, have established some missionary stations in the mountain districts inhabited by Nestorians. Three dioceses are in Persia, the others in Turkey.

The liturgical language of the Chaldean Church is Syriac. Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Kurd are variously spoken by the people; in some districts the vernacular is neo-Syriac. The liturgical books are those of the ancient Nestorian Church, corrected in the sense of Catholic orthodoxy. Unfortunately, without doctrinal necessity, they have in some places been made to conform with Latin usage.

The literary revival in the early 20th century was mostly due to the Lazarist, Pere Bedjan, a Persian Chaldean, who devoted much industry and learning to popularizing among his people, both Catholics and Nestorians, their ancient chronicles, the lives of Chaldean saints and martyrs, even works of the ancient Nestorian doctors.

[edit] Current situation

Today, Chaldo-Assyrians suffer discrimination in Iraq and were deported from the Nineveh plains under Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist rule.[18]

In mid-March 2008, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho was found dead, having been kidnapped two weeks earlier. Pope Benedict XVI condemned his death, by saying it was an act of inhuman violence. Sunni and Shia Muslim also expressed their condemnation. [19]

[edit] Political organizations

  • Chaldean Democratic Union
  • Chaldean Democratic Forum
  • Chaldean National Congress
  • Chaldean Federation of America
  • Chaldean Federation of Australia
  • Chaldean Society of Auckland, New Zealand
  • National Chaldean Movement, Iraq
  • UR Chaldean Academic Society
  • UR Chaldean Association, Denmark
  • Deutsch-Mesopotamien Kulturverien e. V., Germany

Designed by Amer Hanna Fatuhi in Beth Nahrain, Iraq in 1985, the Chaldean flag has been registered by various international bodies, and by the USA (1997). "Flag day" is 17 March.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ye'or, Bat; Miriam Kochan, David Littman (2002). Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide (in English). Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, pp. 148. ISBN 0838639437. OCLC 47054791. 
  2. ^ J. Martin Bailey, Betty Jane Bailey, Who Are the Christians in the Middle East? p. 163: "more than two thirds" out of "nearly a million" Christians in Iraq.
  3. ^ a b Parpola, Simo. Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today (PDF) (English). Assyriologist. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. “Today, the Assyrian nation largely lives in diaspora, split into rivaling churches and political factions. The fortunes of the people that constitute it have gone different ways over the millennia, and their identities have changed accordingly. Ironically, as members of the Chaldean Catholic Church (established in 1553 but effectively only in 1830), many modern Assyrians originating from central Assyria now identify with "Chaldeans", a term associated with the Syriac language in the 16th century but ultimately derived from the name of the dynasty that destroyed Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire!”
  4. ^ a b Chaldean Christians (HTML) (English). Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 1908-11-01. “The name of former Nestorians now reunited with the Roman Church. Strictly, the name of Chaldeans is no longer correct; in Chaldea proper, apart from Baghdad, there are now very few adherents of this rite, most of the Chaldean population being found in the cities of Kerkuk, Arbil, and Mosul, in the heart of the Tigris valley, in the valley of the Zab, in the mountains of Kurdistan. It is in the former ecclesiastical province of Ator (Assyria) that are now found the most flourishing of the Catholic Chaldean communities. The native population accepts the name of Atoraya-Kaldaya (Assyro-Chaldeans) while in the neo-Syriac vernacular Christians generally are known as Syrians.”
  5. ^ "Origin and Identity of the Arabs" (HTML), ImNin'alu.net. (English) "Akkadians, Assyrians and Arameans: These are the only peoples in this region that were fully and originally Semitic. The term Akkadians refers to the early historic period of the peoples that later were identified as Hebrews in Canaan and Assyrians in Mesopotamia, while the Arameans constituted the western branch of the same stock. Assyrians eventually split into two branches, of which the southern is more commonly known as Chaldeans or Babylonians. These peoples were NOT Arabs. The Assyrians became Christians in the first century c.e. and did never accept Islam, so they have been persecuted and the largest majority of them are still in exile, though there has been a permanent Assyrian presence in the area. They speak their own ancient language and their homeland is until now usurped by an Arab entity called Iraq. Consequently, since Assyrians still exist and are not Arabs, the Arab nationalists cannot ascribe an Arab identity to the ancient Semitic peoples of Mesopotamia." 
  6. ^ Strickert, Fred. "Christianity in Iraq: A Small But Respected and Multi-Faceted Population", Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 1999, pp. 81-82. (English) 
  7. ^ Jonathan Eric Lewis, "Iraqi Assyrians: Barometer of Pluralism," The Middle East Quarterly, Vol. 10 (Summer 2003).
  8. ^ Al-Machriq, “Revue Catholique Orientale Mensuelle,” 2, no. 3 (Beyrouth, 1899): 97. [1]
  9. ^ a b c Iraq's Church Bombers vs. Muhammad (HTML) (English). Christianity Today. “In the 16th century, a major segment of the Nestorian church united with Rome while retaining its ancient liturgy. They are now called the Chaldean Church, to which most Assyrian Christians belong.”
  10. ^ Assyrian people
  11. ^ a b Why Chaldean Church Refuses to Acknowledge its Assyrian Heritage? When Religion Becomes Divisive (HTML) (English). Christians of Iraq.
  12. ^ Mar Raphael I Bedawid (2004). National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times (English). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol 18, N0. 2. “I personally think that these different names serve to add confusion. The original name of our Church was the ‘Church of the East’ ... When a portion of the Church of the East became Catholic, the name given was ‘Chaldean’ based on the Magi kings who came from the land of the Chaldean, to Bethlehem. The name ‘Chaldean’ does not represent an ethnicity... We have to separate what is ethnicity and what is religion... I myself, my sect is Chaldean, but ethnically, I am Assyrian.”
  13. ^ "The Assyrians, A Historical and Current Reality" by Efrem Yildiz, Ph.D. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. p 10.
  14. ^ Rabban, "Chaldean Rite", Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. III, pp.427-428
  15. ^ by Mgr. George 'Abdisho' Khayyath to the Abbé Chabot (Revue de l'Orient Chrétien, I, no. 4)
  16. ^ Gaunt, David (2006), Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War 1, p. 24-25
  17. ^ J. Martin Bailey, Betty Jane Bailey, Who Are the Christians in the Middle East? (203), p. 163
  18. ^ David L. Phillips (April 2005). Power-Sharing in Iraq pp. 20. COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS. “Chaldo-Assyrians are a Christian, Aramaic-speaking community with a distinct culture and proud ancient history as an indigenous population of Iraq. Assyrians are concentrated in mostly rural communities on the Nineveh Plain (north and northeast of Mosul). Under Ba’athist rule, Assyrians were forcibly deported from villages and towns where they had resided for centuries in order to diffuse their resistance to Baghdad and break up their ethnic concentration. Today, most Assyrians, including the Patriarch, live overseas. Voting materials never made it to a Christian enclave northwest of Mosul, and Assyrians have protested their single seat in the assembly.”
  19. ^ Iraqi archbishop death condemned. from BBC News

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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