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The Patriarch of the Church of the East (also known as Patriarch of the East, Patriarch of Babylon, the Catholicose of the East or the Grand Metropolitan of the East) is the
patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in c ...
, or leader and head
bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
(sometimes referred to as
Catholicos Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient ...
or universal leader) of the
Church of the East The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...
. The position dates to the early centuries of
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
within the
Sassanid Empire The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...
, and the Church has been known by a variety of names, including the
Church of the East The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...
,
Nestorian Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian ...
Church, the Persian Church, the Sassanid Church, or ''East Syrian''. Since 1552, rival patriarchal lines were established, traditionalist on one side and pro-Catholic on the other. In modern times, patriarchal succession is claimed from this office to the patriarchal offices of the successor churches: the
Chaldean Catholic Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = Assyrian Church.png , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows Baghdad, Iraq , abbreviation = , type ...
, the
Assyrian Church of the East The Assyrian Church of the East,, ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية sometimes called Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East,; ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية الرسول� ...
, and the
Ancient Church of the East The Ancient Church of the East is an Eastern Christian denomination. It branched from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964, under the leadership of Mar Thoma Darmo (d. 1969). It is one of three Assyrian Churches that claim continuity with t ...
.


Early history of the Patriarchate of the East

The geographic location of the patriarchate was first in
Edessa Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroe ...
and then transferred to the Persian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in central Mesopotamia during the Roman conquest of Edessa. In the 9th century the patriarchate moved to
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
and then through various cities in what was then
Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
( Assuristan/
Athura Athura ( peo, 𐎠𐎰𐎢𐎼𐎠 ''Aθurā''), also called Assyria, was a geographical area within the Achaemenid Empire in Upper Mesopotamia from 539 to 330 BC as a military protectorate state. Although sometimes regarded as a satrapy, Ac ...
) and is now northern
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, south east
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
and northwest
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, including,
Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quru River valley in Iran's historic Azerbaijan region between long ridges of vo ...
,
Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...
, and
Maragheh Maragheh ( fa, مراغه, Marāgheh or ''Marāgha''; az, ماراغا ) is a city and capital of Maragheh County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. Maragheh is on the bank of the river Sufi Chay. The population consists mostly of Iranian Azerba ...
on
Lake Urmia Lake Urmia; az, اۇرمۇ گؤلۆ, script=Arab, italic=no, Urmu gölü; ku, گۆلائوو رمیەیێ, Gola Ûrmiyeyê; hy, Ուրմիա լիճ, Urmia lich; arc, ܝܡܬܐ ܕܐܘܪܡܝܐ is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is l ...
. Following the Chaldean Catholic Church split from the Assyrian Church, the respective patriarchs of these churches continued to move around northern Iraq. In the 19th century, the patriarchate of the Assyrian Church of the East was in the village of Qudshanis in southeastern
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
. In the 20th century, the Assyrian patriarch went into exile, relocating to
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
, United States. Another patriarchate, which split off in the 1960s as the
Ancient Church of the East The Ancient Church of the East is an Eastern Christian denomination. It branched from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964, under the leadership of Mar Thoma Darmo (d. 1969). It is one of three Assyrian Churches that claim continuity with t ...
, is in Baghdad. The patriarchate of the Church of the East evolved from the position of the leader of the Christian community in Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian capital. While Christianity had been introduced into
Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
then largely under the rule of the
Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conqu ...
in the first centuries AD, during the earliest period, leadership was unorganized and there was no established succession. In 280,
Papa bar Aggai Papa bar Aggai (died c. 327/328) was Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital of Sassanid Persia, in the late 3rd and early 4th century. An important figure in the early history of the Church of the East, he was first in the generally recognized ...
was consecrated as Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon by two visiting bishops, Akha d'abuh' of Arbela and Hai-Beël of
Susa Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo- Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...
, thereby establishing the generally recognized succession. Seleucia-Ctesiphon thus became its own
episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...
, and exerted some ''de facto'' control over the wider Persian Christian community. Papa's successors began to use the title of ''
Catholicos Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient ...
'', a Roman designation probably adopted due to its use by the
Catholicos of Armenia The Catholicos of All Armenians (plural Catholicoi) ( hy, Ամենայն Հայոց Կաթողիկոս; see #Other names), is the chief bishop and spiritual leader of Armenia's national church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the worldwide Arme ...
, though at first it carried no formal recognition. In 409 the Church of the East received state recognition from the
Sassanid Emperor The Sasanian monarchs were the rulers of Iran after their victory against their former suzerain, the Parthian Empire, at the Battle of Hormozdgan in 224. At its height, the Sasanian Empire spanned from Turkey and Rhodes in the west to Pakistan in ...
Yazdegerd I Yazdegerd I (also spelled Yazdgerd and Yazdgird; pal, 𐭩𐭦𐭣𐭪𐭥𐭲𐭩) was the Sasanian King of Kings () of Iran from 399 to 420. A son of Shapur III (), he succeeded his brother Bahram IV () after the latter's assassination. Yazde ...
, and the
Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon The Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, also called the Council of Mar Isaac, met in AD 410 in Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital of the Persian Sassanid Empire. Convoked by King Yazdegerd I (399–421), it organized the Christians of his empire into a ...
was called, at which the church's hierarchy was formalized. Bishop Mar Isaac was the first to be officially styled Catholicos over all of the Christians in Persia. Over the next decades, the Catholicoi adopted the additional title of
Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in c ...
, which eventually became the better known designation. The conventional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East includes around 130 patriarchs. A number of these patriarchs are legendary, or have been included in the standard lists on dubious evidence according to some historians like
Jean Maurice Fiey Jean Maurice Fiey (30 March 1914 – 10 November 1995) was a French Dominican Father and prominent Church historian and Syriacist. Biography Fiey was born in Armentières on 30 March 1914, he entered the Dominican Order at an early age and rece ...
. According to him, the Church of the East, although separated from the
State church of the Roman Empire Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire when Emperor Theodosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica in 380, which recognized the catholic orthodoxy of Nicene Christians in the Great Church as the Roman Empire's state religion ...
, was not immune to its fashions. One such fashion was to fill in the inevitable gaps in the historical record to trace a succession of bishops in individual dioceses right back to the 1st century, preferably to an apostolic founder. This fashion found particular favour in the case of the diocese of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. The first bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon for whom incontestable evidence exists was Papa, who was consecrated around 280. During the 6th century ingenious attempts were made to link Papa with Mari, the legendary apostle of Babylonia. The author of the 6th-century ''Acts of Mari'' simply ignored the gap of two and a half centuries that separated the two men and declared that Mari had founded the diocese of Seleucia-Ctesiphon shortly before his death and consecrated Papa as his successor. According to Fiey, later writers were more cunning with their inventions. Shahlufa and Ahadabui, two late-3rd-century bishops of Erbil who had played a notable part in the affairs of the church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, were 'converted' retrospectively into early patriarchs. Ahadabui was said to have governed the church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon from 204 to 220, and Shahlufa from 220 to 224. However the ''
Chronicle of Seert The ''Chronicle of Seert'', sometimes called the , is an ecclesiastical history written in Arabic by an anonymous Nestorian writer, at an unknown date between the ninth and the eleventh century. There are grounds for believing that it is the wor ...
'', names Shahloopa (Shahlufa) as a Patriarch of the Church of the East. Fiey also claims that, for the 2nd century, three patriarchs were frankly invented:
Abris Abris, also called Abres, Abrosius and Abrisius, was a legendary Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in Persia, who is conventionally said to have sat from 121–137. He is said to have been from the family of Saint Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus. ...
(121–37),
Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...
(159–71) and Yaqob (190). All three men were declared to be relatives of Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, and given plausible backstories. Fiey also claims these five phantom 'patriarchs' were included in all the later histories of the Church of the East, and by the 12th century their existence was an article of faith for the historian Mari bin Sulaiman. According to Feiy, they are still included by courtesy in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East, even though most scholars agree that they never existed. However not all historians and ecclesiastical scholars regard Fiey's opinion to be correct.E. Tisserant, ‘L’Église nestorienne’, in Dictionnaire de théologie catholique XI.1 (1931), col. 260–63.


Uncertain patriarchal succession, 1318–1552

The patriarch
Yahballaha III Yahballaha III ( 1245–13 November 1317), known in earlier years as Rabban Marcos (or Markos) or Yahballaha V, was Patriarch of the East from 1281 to 1317. As patriarch, Yahballaha headed the Church of the East during the severe persecut ...
died in November 1317, probably on Saturday 12 November. His successor Timothy II, according to the acts of his synod, was consecrated in February 1318. He was still alive in 1328, but probably died two or three years later, to be succeeded after an uncertain interval by
Denha II Mar Denha II (also written Dinkha II) was patriarch of the Church of the East from 1336/7 to 1381/2. Although no history of his reign has survived, references in a number of Nestorian, Jacobite and Moslem sources provide some details of his patri ...
in 1336/7, who himself died in 1381/2. Denha II is known to have been consecrated in Baghdad, thanks to the patronage of the Christian emir Haggi Togai, but may have been normally resident in the Mosul plain village of Karamlish. Three ceremonial contacts between Denha II and the Jacobite church are recorded by the continuator of Bar Hebraeus's ''Ecclesiastical Chronicle'' between 1358 and 1364, and on each occasion Denha was living in Karamlish. Denha II is conventionally believed to have been succeeded by the patriarchs
Shemʿon II Mar II (sometimes written Shimun II) was the patriarch of the Church of the East from  1385 until  1405. He succeeded Denha II, who died in 1381/2, and his reign corresponds to the beginning of a period of obscurity in the Church of the ...
, Shemʿon III and
Eliya IV Mar Eliya IV (or IV) was the patriarch of the Church of the East from  1405 until  1425. His reign falls in a period of obscurity owing to the limited contemporary evidence. He appears in a contemporary list of patriarchs in a 15th-cen ...
, but a 15th-century list of patriarchs mentions only a single patriarch named Shemon between Denha II and Eliya IV, and is probably to be preferred. Eliya IV was succeeded by Shemon IV at an unknown date in the first half of the 15th century. Eliya's death has conventionally been placed in 1437 but must have been earlier, as a patriarch named Shemon is mentioned in a colophon of 1429/30.
Shemʿon IV Mar Shemon IV Basidi (died 20 February 1497) was the patriarch of the Church of the East in the last quarter of the 15th century. Traditionally his reign is said to have begun in 1437, but this results in an improbably long tenure and has been revi ...
died on 20 February 1497 and was buried in the monastery of Rabban Hormizd near the Mosul village of Alqosh. He was succeeded by two short-reigned patriarchs: Shemon V, first mentioned in a colophon of 1500/1, who died in September 1502 and was buried in the monastery of Mar Awgin; and Eliya V, elected in 1503, who died in 1504 and was buried in the church of Mart Meskinta in Mosul. Eliya V was succeeded by the patriarch Shemon VI (1504–38), who died on 5 August 1538 and was buried in the monastery of Rabban Hormizd. According to the colophon of a contemporary manuscript, the patriarchal throne was still vacant on 19 October 1538. Shemon's brother the metropolitan Ishoyahb Bar Mama, who had been ''
natar kursya The ''nāṭar kursyā'' (or ''nāṭar kursi'', Syriac ܢܛܪ ܟܘܪܣܝܐ, meaning "guardian of the throne") was an officer of the Church of the East. Originally charged with administering the church in the interim between the death of one patri ...
'' throughout his reign, is first mentioned as patriarch in a colophon of 1539. Shemon VII Ishoyahb died on 1 November 1558 and was buried, like his predecessor, in the monastery of Rabban Hormizd near
Alqosh Alqosh ( syr, ܐܲܠܩܘܿܫ, Judeo-Aramaic: אלקוש, ar, ألقوش, alternatively spelled Alkosh or Alqush) is a town in the Nineveh Plains of northern Iraq, a sub-district of the Tel Kaif District and is situated 45 km north of the ...
. His reign saw the schism of 1552 that resulted in the creation of the ''Shimun line'' in 1553.


'Shemon VIII Denha' and the schism of 1552

In 1552 a section of the Church of the East, angered by the appointment of minors to important episcopal positions by the patriarch Shemon VII Ishoyahb, revolted against his authority. The rebels elected in his stead Sulaqa, the superior of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd near Alqosh, but were unable to consecrate him as no bishop of metropolitan rank was available, as canonically required. Franciscan missionaries were already at work among the Nestorians, and they persuaded Sulaqa's supporters to legitimize their position by seeking Sulaqa's consecration by
Pope Julius III Pope Julius III ( la, Iulius PP. III; it, Giulio III; 10 September 1487 – 23 March 1555), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 February 1550 to his death in March 155 ...
(1550–5). Sulaqa went to Rome, where he made a satisfactory Catholic profession of faith and presented a letter, drafted by his supporters in Mosul, which set out his claims to be recognized as patriarch. This letter, which has survived in the Vatican archives, grossly distorted the truth. The rebels claimed that the Nestorian patriarch Shemon VII Ishoyahb had died in 1551 and had been succeeded illegitimately by 'Shemon VIII Denha' (1551–8), a non-existent patriarch invented purely for the purpose of bolstering the legitimacy of Sulaqa's election. The Vatican was taken in by this fraud, and recognised Sulaqa as the founding patriarch of the
Chaldean Catholic Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = Assyrian Church.png , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows Baghdad, Iraq , abbreviation = , type ...
in April 1553, thereby creating a lasting schism in the Church of the East. It was only several years later that the Vatican discovered that Shemon VII Ishoyahb was still alive.


Patriarchal succession, 16th to 18th centuries

The patriarchal succession after the schism of 1552 is certain in the case of the Mosul patriarchate, because up to the beginning of the 19th century all but one of its patriarchs were buried in the monastery of Rabban Hormizd and their epitaphs, which give the date of their deaths, have survived. Shemon VII's successor Eliya VI died on 26 May 1591, after having been a metropolitan for 15 years and patriarch for 32 years; Eliya VII on 26 May 1617;
Eliya VIII Eliya VIII ( syr, ܐܠܝܐ / ''Elīyā'', d. 18 June 1660) was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1617 to 1660, with residence in Rabban Hormizd Monastery, near Alqosh, in modern Iraq. On several occasions (1619, 1629, 1638, 1653) he was a ...
on 18 June 1660;
Eliya IX Eliya IX ( syr, ܐܠܝܐ / ''Elīyā'', died 17 May 1700) was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1660 to 1700, with his residence in Rabban Hormizd Monastery, near Alqosh, in modern Iraq. He was a "vigorous defender of the traditional fait ...
Yohannan on 17 May 1700; Eliya X Marogin on 14 December 1722; and Eliya XII Ishoyahb in 1804.
Eliya XI Eliya XI ( syr, ܐܠܝܐ / ''Elīyā'', 1700 - April 1778) was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1722 to 1778, with his residence in Rabban Hormizd Monastery, near Alqosh, in modern Iraq. His father, the priest Hoshaba, was the brother of ...
Denha died of plague in Alqosh on 29 April 1778, and was exceptionally buried in the town rather than the monastery, which had been abandoned and locked up following a Persian attack in 1743. The information available on Sulaqa and his successors is much less exact. The date of Sulaqa's election in 1552 is not known, but he was confirmed as 'patriarch of Mosul' by the Vatican on 28 April 1553, and was martyred at the beginning of 1555, probably (according to a contemporary poem of Abdisho IV) on 12 January. The date of Abdisho IV’s succession in 1555 is not known, but a colophon mentions that he died on 11 September 1570. The dates of Shemon VIII Yahballaha's succession and death (presumably in 1570 and 1580 respectively) are not known. Shemon IX Denha was elected patriarch in 1580 and (according to Assemani) died in 1600. Shemon X, elected in 1600, is said to have died in 1638, according to a later letter of Eliya XII (d. 1804) cited by Tisserant. Information on the patriarchal succession in the Qudshanis patriarchate for the remainder of the seventeenth and the whole of the 18th century is equally scanty. Several of the Qudshanis patriarchs who succeeded Shemon X corresponded with the Vatican, but the surviving correspondence does not enable individual patriarchs to be distinguished. The following list of 17th- and 18th-century Qudshanis patriarchs has conventionally been adopted, most recently by Fiey and (provisionally) by Wilmshurst: Shemon XI (1638–56), Shemon XII (1656–62), Shemon XIII Denha (1662–1700), Shemon XIV Shlemun (1700–40), Shemon XVI Mikhail Mukhtas (1740–80), and Shemon XVI Yohannan (1780–1820). These names and reign-dates were first given towards the end of the 19th century by the Anglican missionary William Ainger Wigram. A recently discovered list of Qudshanis patriarchs compiled after the First World War by the bishop Eliya of Alqosh, however, gives a completely different set of dates: Shemon X (1600–39); Shemon XI (1639–53); Shemon XII (1653–92); Shemon XIII Denha (1692–1700); and Shemon XIV Shlemun (1700–17).


Catholic

In 1681 a Catholic line of patriarchs who took the name Joseph was founded at Amid (Diyarbakr). The Patriarch of this church were:
Joseph I Joseph I or Josef I may refer to: *Joseph I of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch in 1266–1275 and 1282–1283 * Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (1678–1711) *Joseph I (Chaldean Patriarch) (reigned 1681–1696) *Joseph I of Portugal (1750–1777) ...
(1681–95);
Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...
(1696–1712); Joseph III (1713–57); Joseph IV (patriarch, 1757–80; patriarchal administrator, 1781–96); and
Joseph V Patriarch Joseph V may refer to: * Joseph Dergham El Khazen, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch in 1733–1742 * Joseph V Augustine Hindi Mar Joseph V Augustine Hindi was the patriarchal administrator of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1781 to 1827 ...
(1804–28). Strictly speaking, Augustine Hindi, who styled himself Joseph V, was merely the patriarchal administrator of the Amid and Mosul patriarchates, but he liked to think of himself as a patriarch and the Vatican found it politic to indulge him in this fantasy.


Patriarchal succession, 19th and 20th centuries and at present

There were three Qudshanis patriarchs in the decades leading up to the First World War: Shemon XVII Abraham (1820–61), Shemon XVIII Rubil (1861–1903), and Shemon XIX Benjamin (1903–18), who was consecrated at an uncanonically early age. Shemon XIX Benjamin (1903–18) was murdered in the village of Kohnashahr in the Salmas district in 1918, and was succeeded by the feeble Shemon XX Paul (1918–20). Paul died only two years after taking office. As there were no other qualified members of the patriarchal family available, he was succeeded by his twelve-year-old nephew Eshai, who was consecrated patriarch on 20 June 1920 under the name Shemon XXI Eshai. Shemon XXI Eshai was murdered in the United States in 1975 and succeeded in 1976 by Dinkha IV Hnanya, the first non-Patriarch of the Church of the East to be appointed not by hereditary succession since the 15th century. Dinkha IV was succeeded by Gewargis III. Following the resignation of Gewargis III on 6 September 2021, he was succeeded by Awa IIl.


Catholic

The recognition of the Mosul patriarch
Yohannan VIII Hormizd Yohannan VIII Hormizd (often referred to by European missionaries as ''John Hormez'' or ''Hanna Hormizd'') (1760–1838) was the last hereditary patriarch of the Eliya line of the Church of the East and the first patriarch of a united Chalde ...
of the by the Vatican in 1830 marked the birth of the
Chaldean Catholic Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = Assyrian Church.png , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows Baghdad, Iraq , abbreviation = , type ...
. Yohannan Hormizd died in 1838, and was succeeded by Joseph VI Audo (1848–1878),
Nicholas I Zaya Mar Nicholas I Zaya (or ''Zaya'' or ''Eshaya'') was the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1839 to 1847. He succeeded Yohannan VIII Hormizd, the last of the Mosul patriarchs who traced their descent from Eliya VI (1558–1591), and h ...
(1840–1847),
Eliya Abulyonan Mar Eliya XIV IIIAbulyonan (or ''Abolionan'') (1840 - June 27, 1894) was the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1878 to 1894. Life Eliya Peter Abulyonan was born in 1840 in Mosul to an Assyrian family. He studied three years in the ...
(1879–1894), Abdisho V Khayyat (1895–1899), Emmanuel II Thomas (1900–1947), Joseph VII Ghanima (1947–1958),
Paul II Cheikho Mar Paul II Cheikho † ( syr, ܦܘܠܘܣ ܬܪܝܢܐ ܫܝܟܘ, Arabic: بولس الثاني شيخو) (November 19, 1906–April 13, 1989) was the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1958 until his death in 1989. Life An ethniC ...
(1958–1989) and Raphael I Bidawid (1989–2003). Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly was consecrated in 2003 and abdicated on 19 December 2012. He was succeeded by
Louis Raphaël I Sako Louis Raphaël I Sako ( ar, لويس روفائيل ساكو; born 4 July 1948) is a Chaldean Catholic prelate who has served as Patriarch of Baghdad since 1 February 2013. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 28 June 2018. Biography Early l ...
since 31 January 2013 to the present as the Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon.


See also

* Ancient Christianity in the Indian subcontinent *
East Syriac Rite The East Syriac Rite or East Syrian Rite, also called the Edessan Rite, Assyrian Rite, Persian Rite, Chaldean Rite, Nestorian Rite, Babylonian Rite or Syro-Oriental Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturg ...
* List of patriarchs of the Church of the East * Patriarchal Province of Seleucia-Ctesiphon *
Church of the East The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...
*
Schism of 1552 The schism of 1552 was an important event in the history of the Church of the East. It divided the church into two factions, of which one entered into communion with Rome becoming part of the Catholic Church at this time and the other remained in ...
*
Chaldean Catholic Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = Assyrian Church.png , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows Baghdad, Iraq , abbreviation = , type ...
*
Assyrian Church of the East The Assyrian Church of the East,, ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية sometimes called Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East,; ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية الرسول� ...
*
Ancient Church of the East The Ancient Church of the East is an Eastern Christian denomination. It branched from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964, under the leadership of Mar Thoma Darmo (d. 1969). It is one of three Assyrian Churches that claim continuity with t ...
*
India (East Syriac ecclesiastical province) Metropolitanate of India ( Syriac: ''Beth Hindaye'') was an East Syriac ecclesiastical province of the Church of the East, at least nominally, from the seventh to the sixteenth century. The Malabar region (Kerala) of India had long been home to a ...
*
Primate of the East Indies The Titular Patriarch of the East Indies ( la, Patriarcha Indiarum Orientalium; for Titular Patriarchate of the East Indies) in the Catholic hierarchy is the title of the Archbishop of Goa and Daman in India; another of his titles is the Prim ...
* Synod of Diamper *
Syro-Malabar Church lat, Ecclesia Syrorum-Malabarensium mal, മലബാറിലെ സുറിയാനി സഭ , native_name_lang=, image = St. Thomas' Cross (Chennai, St. Thomas Mount).jpg , caption = The Mar Thoma Nasrani Sl ...
*
Church of the East in China The Church of the East (also known as the Nestorian Church) historically had a presence in China during two periods: first from the 7th through the 10th century in the Tang dynasty, when it was known as ''Jingjiao'' ( zh, t=景教, w=Ching3-chiao4 ...
* List of Chaldean Catholic patriarchs of Babylon * List of patriarchs of the Assyrian Church of the East *
List of patriarchs of the Ancient Church of the East The Ancient Church of the East is an Eastern Christian denomination. It branched from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964, under the leadership of Mar Thoma Darmo (d. 1969). It is one of three Assyrian Churches that claim continuity with th ...


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patriarchs Of The Church Of The East Assyrian Church of the East-related lists