The Triumph of Orthodoxy on 25 March 1898. – The Conversion of the Syro-Chaldean Delegation to Orthodoxy and Interest in Its People. – Brief Historical Notes. – Dependence on Antioch. – The Church Under the Persian Monarchy. – Tamerlane. – Internal Discord. – Present Geographical and Political Divisions. – Ashirets and Raya

The joining of a delegation of Syro-Chaldean Nestorians, headed by His Grace Bishop Mar-Iona of Supurghan, to the Orthodox Church—an event that took place in the spring of 1898 on the momentous feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos—naturally arouses keen interest in this Eastern branch of the Christian world. For a thousand and a half years this branch had lived in complete estrangement from the universal Church, following its own peculiar path. It had known times of flourishing, when its wealth, territorial extent, and numbers surpassed the Eastern and Western Churches combined; but then it was overtaken by terrible calamity, and for centuries it could scarcely maintain its wretched existence against the fierce fanaticism of Islam, under whose yoke it languishes to this day. Upon this branch of Christianity there rests the age-old stain of a dark heresy—Nestorianism—which was precisely what led it into estrangement from the Orthodox Church; yet the centuries of trial have not passed without trace: they strengthened the moral spirit of the people, purified their religious consciousness, and thus there arose in them a heartfelt desire to reunite with that mother-Church from which they had once fallen away through the imprudence and pride of their leaders. The joining of the delegation on the twenty-fifth of March, at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, is of course only the beginning of this momentous movement, which can achieve its desired goal only through the concerted and loving co-operation of Church and society. At the earnest request of the newly united Syro-Chaldeans, a properly organized Russian ecclesiastical mission has been appointed to Urmia—a mission that inspires many hopes, but which can labor successfully only on the condition that it receives the living attention and interest of all Russian society. Unfortunately, for our society this entire movement among the Syro-Chaldeans has arisen with such suddenness that for many the whole matter seems very obscure—the more so as even the most basic information about the Syro-Chaldean people is lacking. With the aim of acquainting our readers more closely with this people, who have so sincerely declared their drawing toward the Orthodox Russian Church—which has received their representatives into its bosom with a mother’s loving heart—we shall present several sketches in which the outward and inward life of this people, and above all its ecclesiastical and religious life, will be depicted in greater or lesser detail. That life contains so much that is distinctive, and many of its features carry such a patriarchal character reminiscent of purely biblical times, that quite apart from any practical considerations, acquaintance with it may be far from uninteresting—especially for our pastors, as these sketches will afford an opportunity to become familiar with a way of life that rests upon the ancient Eastern patriarchalism, which has been substantially preserved there to the present day.

The people who form the subject of these sketches represent the remnant of a great and widely extended church, which now constitutes only a shadow of its former greatness. Founded, as Tradition holds, by the holy Apostle Thomas, in collaboration with the holy Addai—one of the seventy apostles—and his disciple the holy Mari, this church in the Middle Ages embraced all of central Asia and gave Europe the tale of Prester John. In the early centuries this “Church of the East,” as it called itself, was dependent upon the Patriarchate of Antioch, as its own historical chronicles attest. It was founded in the eastern district of the Roman Empire, with its principal residence at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the twin capital of Persia. Its bishops were subordinate to Antioch; but with the passage of time, political division made ecclesiastical union equally impossible. Owing to the difficulty of sending an elect to the metropolitan city on the banks of the Orontes for consecration, as the custom of earlier times required, Seleucia was granted a measure of independence, and its metropolitan henceforth became known by the title of catholicos. This division suited the Persian government well; and so when the Nestorian heresy arose in the Roman Empire and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Persians gladly seized the favorable opportunity to draw a firm line of separation between Christians, inducing the Christians under their dominion to sever all communion with their Western co-religionists. Whatever the reasons may have been, in any case the see of Seleucia definitively sided with Nestorius and refused to recognize the council that had condemned him. At the same time, or shortly afterwards, the catholicos assumed the title of patriarch.

From that time the Syro-Chaldean Church began its life estranged from the rest of the Christian world. There was a period of high flourishing and might in its history, such that in the ninth through eleventh centuries its influence extended to China, India, central Asia, and other lands of the East, and the Nestorians constituted the most numerous church in the Christian world.

But in the fourteenth century a terrible calamity befell them at the hands of Tamerlane, or Timur. It is true they had often endured cruel persecutions from their earlier rulers, who alternately extended patronage and inflicted oppression upon them; but all of this was as nothing compared to that later scourge. Only a small remnant survived the terrible devastation. Under the influence of disaster, internal disorders began as well, which completed the ruin of this once flourishing church. On account of a dispute over the patriarchal throne, they divided in the sixteenth century into two parties; of these, the larger party—namely the inhabitants of Kurdistan and north-western Persia—accepted the headship of Mar-Shimun, who is called “Patriarch of the East,” while the smaller party, consisting of the inhabitants of the plain of Mosul and the surrounding hills, accepts Mar-Eliya, who is called “Patriarch of Babylon.” This latter party, after prolonged wavering, eventually united with the Roman Church and is known by the name of the “Uniate Chaldean Church.”

In these sketches we intend to acquaint readers only with the fate and life of the first of these two communities—namely the people who recognize the spiritual and in part civil headship of their hereditary patriarch, who always bears one and the same name: Mar-Shimun, that is, “lord” or Kyrios Simon. In our sketches we shall call this people Syro-Chaldeans, or, as they more commonly call themselves, Syrians; but since confusion may arise between them and the Jacobites—that is, the western Syrians—we shall add when necessary the other name also used by the people themselves, namely “Eastern Syrians.” This double designation is also sometimes used by the people themselves when they need to distinguish themselves from the Jacobites.

In order to make what follows more intelligible, it is necessary to explain that the Eastern Syrians (those who are under the authority of Mar-Shimun) are divided into two parts, of which some live in Turkey and others in north-western Persia, in the province of Azerbaijan. The life of these two parts is very different, although the ecclesiastical organization and the worship of the whole people are the same. The Azerbaijani Syrians live chiefly in the plains adjoining Lake Urmia, as well as in the hilly country between those plains and the Persian-Turkish border. That portion of the people which is under the authority of the Turkish Sultan lives in Kurdistan, and chiefly in the district or sanjak of Hakkiari, in the vilayet of Van. They are in turn divided into ashirets—that is, tribal Syrians—and raya, that is, subjects. The former are semi-independent of the Turkish government, dwell in the mountain strongholds of Tiari-Thuma and the neighboring districts, and pay tribute only occasionally. The Turks have little power over them, and can keep them in subjection and collect tribute only through the intermediacy of Mar-Shimun. They are very warlike and can often hold their own against the Kurds, unless the latter bring overwhelming force against them, as happened in 1843 when Bedr Khan Beg wrought great slaughter among them. The Turkish authorities can enter their territory only with their willing consent. The raya, on the other hand, living in more open country, are under the direct administration of the Turks and lead an extremely wretched life, being entirely dependent not only on the Kurds but on every predatory Turkish official who wishes to make money by one means or another. Both the patriarch Mar-Shimun and the metropolitan Mar-Khanisho live in raya country, although the former’s residence of Kochanes is considered to belong to the ashirets.

After these preliminary remarks, let us enter into the very residence of the catholicos Mar-Shimun and see how he lives there and what condition his flock is in.