Chaldean Catholic Church


Chaldean Catholic Church
ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ
ClassificationEastern Catholic
OrientationSyriac Christianity
ScripturePeshitta[1]
TheologyCatholicism
PopeLeo XIV
PatriarchLouis Raphaël I Sako
RegionIraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Assyrian diaspora
LanguageClassical Syriac (Liturgical)
HeadquartersBaghdad
Origin1552
Separated fromChurch of the East
Official websitechaldeanpatriarchate.com

The Chaldean Catholic Church, also known as the Chaldean Church of Baghdad and formerly known as the Chaldean Church of Babylon (Arabic: الكنيسة الكلدانية, al-kanīsä 'l-kaldāniyyä, Classical Syriac: ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ) is an Eastern particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the church. The church is a denomination in Syriac Christianity, being part of the East Syriac Rite and employing Classical Syriac as its language of liturgy.

The Chaldean Catholic Church presently has an estimated 600,000 - 700,000 adherents.[2] Many Chaldo-Assyrian Christians are from Iraq, where they made up 80% of its Christian population.[3] Other communities exist in Iran, Turkey, Syria, and countries in the Middle East and the Assyrian diaspora.

Terminology

Identity

In 1881, the Assyriologist Hormuzd Rassam stated: “The inhabitants of Assyria consist now of mixed races, Arabs, Turkomans, Koords, Yezeedees, Jews, and Christians called Chaldeans and Syrians. The last two-named denominations doubtless belong to one nationality, the Assyrian, and they were only distinguished by these two names when they separated consequent upon the theological dispute of the age, namely, Monophisites or Jacobites, and Nestorians.”[4]

Before the Assyrian genocide in 1908, an entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia writes "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 Kirkuk, Erbil, and Mosul, in the heart of the Tigris, in the valley of the Zab, and 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]

Former Patriarch of the Church, Raphael I Bidawid, stated in an interview, "When a portion of the Church of the East became Catholic in the 17th Century, the name given to the church was 'Chaldean' based on the Magi kings who were believed by some to have come from what once had been the land of the Chaldean, to Bethlehem. The name 'Chaldean' does not represent an ethnicity, just a church...We have to separate what is ethnicity and what is religion...I myself, my sect is Chaldean, but ethnically, I am Assyrian."[6]

History

The Chaldean Catholic Church formed after an event called the Schism of 1552. In this year, a number of bishops elected Yohannon Sulaqa as a rival patriarch, and sent him to Rome to negotiate a new union with the Pope.[7] The church was first formed in 1553, when Pope Julius III proclaimed the first patriarch as Patriarch of "Mosul and Athor".[8] Sulaqa returned home the same year, and began to live in Amid because he was unable to take the traditional seat of the patriarch in Alqosh. Before he was put to death, Sulaqa ordained two metropolitans and three bishops.[9]

Organization

Dioceses

The Chaldean Catholic Church has several dioceses:

Daughters of Mary Immaculate

In 1922, the Patriarch of the Church, Yousef Emmanuel II Thomas established the Daughters of Mary Immaculate apostolic order in Baghdad.[10] The original organization, Chaldean Sisters, was founded in 1883.

Liturgy

The Chaldean Catholic Church uses the East Syriac rite for its liturgy. In 2007, the liturgy was changed in order to remove influence from the Roman Catholic Church and to unite all the different dioceses with their methods of liturgy.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Introduction To Bibliology: What Every Christian Should Know About the Origins, Composition, Inspiration, Interpretation, Canonicity, and Transmission of the Bible
  2. ↑ Who Are the Christians in the Middle East? - Page 163 by J. Martin Bailey, Betty Jane Bailey
  3. ↑ "Chaldean Catholic Church | Catholics & Cultures". www.catholicsandcultures.org. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
  4. ↑ Britain), Victoria Institute (Great (1881). Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Or Philosophical Society of Great Britain. Victoria Institute. p. 207.
  5. ↑ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Chaldean Christians". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
  6. ↑ Mar Raphael J Bidawid. The Assyrian Star. September–October, 1974:5.
  7. ↑ O'Mahony & Loosley (2009), p. 45.
  8. ↑ Rabban, "Chaldean Rite", Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. III, pp.427-428
  9. ↑ Winkler, Dietmar W. (2018-12-12). "7. The Syriac Church Denomination: An overview". The Syriac World. Routledge. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-317-48211-6.
  10. ↑ "DMI | بنات مريم الكلدانيات" (in Arabic). Retrieved 2025-06-15.
  11. ↑ "Q & A ON THE REFORMED CHALDEAN MASS". www.kaldu.org. San Diego: Chaldean Catholic Diocese of St. Peter the Apostle. Archived from the original on 28 January 2014. Retrieved 2025-06-15.

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Bibliography

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