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WHEN CHURCHES JOIN - 6. General Documents

Local Ecumenism Information Kit
- Developed by the Local Ecumenism Working Group, NSW Ecumenical Council, October 2000
Phone (02) 9299 2215 for more information.

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Appendix 2. Understanding the Member Churches of the NSW Ecumenical Council

2.4 Assyrian Church of the East

The church furthest away from imperial influence (the ancient "Church of the East") was the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. Christians in the region of the Persian empire had to make their own life there, and it has remained, until recently, almost unknown in the West. It is only during the last century, and through the writings of various Anglican, Catholic and Protestant missionaries, travellers, and secular historians, that the West has become finally aware of the existence of the Church of the East.

The history of the Christian Church to the close of the Fourth General Council (Chalcedon, 451) is incomplete if it takes no notice of the progress of the Faith in countries beyond the frontiers of the Roman Empire and among peoples employing neither the Greek nor the Latin language. And if we are to understand the Syriac Christianity of the 4th and 5th centuries, we ought to have some idea of the early development of the Church in Edessa (Turkey), the first centre of Christianity in the Syriac-speaking world.

It was believed that the city had been evangelised by Addai, 'St Thaddeus', one of the Seventy disciples. Spreading Christianity to Seleucia (Iraq-Iran), after preaching in Edessa, Thaddeus went further into the heart of Persia. While he was working in Edessa, St Thomas was preparing Persians for Christ. Another factor concerning the spread of the Gospel in Persia was the missionary activity of Mar Mari, one of the Seventy disciples, a helper-disciple of St Thaddeus and Mar Bartholomew of the Twelve. It may have been during this time that St Peter visited Babylon and established the headquarters of the Church of the East in Seleucia-Ctesephon, the capital city of Persia, a few miles south of present Baghdad, Iraq, from where he wrote his Catholic Epistle.

The reason behind the non-participation of the Church of the East in the Nicean Council (325) may have been the hostile political situation between the Roman and the Persians empires. The Assyrian Church of the east knew nothing of the Arian heresy, which was waging war in other parts of the Church. Therefore, the Church of the East was quite slow to accept the Nicean Creed when submitted to her for acceptance. It was only in the Council of Seleucia (410) under Mar Issac, the Catholicos Patriarch, that the formulated Creed of Nicaea was accepted.

The Assyrian Church is a victim of christological debates, philosophical interpretations, policies and jealousies of the 4th and 5th centuries. Therefore, to this day, the Church of the East is commonly known as the "Nestorian" Church. This misnomer has led many to think that this Church was established by Nestorius, the deposed Patriarch of Constantinople, and that it received its teachings from his followers. The Church of the East does confess that 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. The Godhead and Manhood subsist in Him without co-mingling, without change, without mixture, without separation and without division.

From 1881 to 1915, the Assyrian Church was closely linked and communicated with the missionaries of the Anglican Church. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Edward W Benson, in 1894 established a permanent mission amongst the Assyrians. Meanwhile, a number of ancient Syriac liturgical, theological and christological books were translated in English.

At the turn of the 20th century, and during the First World War, Assyrians entered an era of new hostilities. Their Patriarch, Mar Benyamin Shimon, was assassinated by Kurds in collaboration with the Turks: villages were burned, churches plundered, and hundreds of precious old christological books looted and destroyed.

Today, the Assyrian Church of the East is headed by His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos Patriarch of the East, consecrated in 1976. He lives in Chicago, but regularly visits his people throughout the world, located in ten dioceses - four in the Middle East, three in North America, one in Europe, one in India and one for Australia and New Zealand. Here, the Patriarch is represented by His Grace Bishop Mar Meelis Zaia, who lives in Sydney, where there is a Cathedral and another parish church. The language of the Liturgy (the Liturgy of Saints Adai and Mari) is Aramaic.

The Assyrian Church, as a member of the World Council of Churches and the ecumenical bodies in Australia, embraces the Ecumenical Movement with joy and enthusiasm. It sees in it an awakening to the tragic situation of division that existed for many centuries in the one body of Christ, for the unity of which he so fervently prayed to His Father, saying, "so that they may be one just as we are one".