Nekhalkidon churches in Iraq

The emergence of Christianity in Iraq

Christianity in the territory of present-day Iraq appeared in the first century . According to Christian tradition, the apostle Thomas preached here. ^[1] The Assyrian Christian community is one of the oldest in the world. Indigenous Assyrians adopted Christianity in the first century AD ^[2] . The earliest archaeological evidence of the presence of Christians in Mesopotamia dates back to the first decades of the second century . In the III century, the church in Mesopotamia lost contact with the universal Christianity and began to develop independently. In the 4th century , the first local council was held in Mesopotamia. Christians in Mesopotamia mainly settled and lived in Baghdad , Kirkuk , Mosul and Basra .

Middle Ages

Assyria became the center of Eastern Christianity in Mesopotamia from the first century AD to the Middle Ages . The head of Syrian Christians in Mesopotamia wore the title Mafrians , which was adopted in 629, in order to distinguish the Miafisite hierarchs from the Nestorian .

In 991, his throne was transferred to Tikrit , from 1089 to 1112 he remained in Mosul , and after the destruction of Tikrit in 1156, he was finally transferred to Mosul, in the Mor Mattai monastery. With the advent of mafriante in Turabdin, the mafrians of the East began to call themselves the mafrians of Mosul (in order to be different from the turabdins) and always began to add the name Baselios to the beginning. In 1860, the throne of the mafrians of the East (Mosul) was abolished.

In the first centuries after the Arab conquest , Christian scholars and doctors played an important role in Mesopotamia, however, from the end of the 13th century to the beginning of the 16th century, Christians were often subjected to persecution and massacres ^[3] .

Newest History

The number of Orthodox Christians increased at the beginning of the 20th century. A number of Armenian Christians fled to Mesopotamia , fleeing from the genocide carried out by the Ottoman authorities during the First World War ^[2] .

In 1932, the Iraqi military carried out large-scale massacres of Assyrian Christians in Sumayil ^[2] . Before the Gulf War in 1991 , Christians were not persecuted.

In 1964, part of the clergy of the Assyrian Church of the East turned out to be opposed to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar . Caused disapproval of the custom inheritance of the patriarchate and the location of the patriarchal residence abroad. The head of the opposition was the Assyrian Metropolitan of India Mar Thomas Darmo . In 1968, he arrived from India in Baghdad and ordained three bishops. At the council assembled after this, they elected him a new patriarch. The schismatics called themselves the Ancient Assyrian Church of the East . After the death of Map Thomas, Thomas Darmo was replaced by Mar Addai II .

The regime of Saddam Hussein did not allow the manifestations of anti-Christian violence ^[2] . In connection with the war in Iraq, a significant number of the Orthodox population fled from Iraq ^[4] . In central and southern Iraq, Orthodox women do not dare to appear on the street without a veil ^[4] . In Iraqi Kurdistan, the position of Orthodox Christians is the most secure in the country ^[4] .

The territory of Iraq is part of the Baghdad-Kuwaiti Metropolis of the Antioch Orthodox Church. The residences of the Archbishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Metropolitan of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church are in Baghdad ^[5] .

The pursuit of Orthodoxy in modern Iraq

In 2003, after the invasion of Iraq, acts of violence against Christians became regular. There were reports of abductions, torture, explosions and murders ^[6] . Some Christians were forced to convert to Islam under threat of death or exile, and women were forced to wear Islamic clothing. ^[7] In November 2004, an Orthodox church was blown up in Baghdad ^[8] .

On July 30, 2006, a group of unknown people in the city of Baakuba blew up the tomb of the Old Testament prophet Daniel . As a result of the explosion, the tomb was completely destroyed ^[9] .

On October 9, 2006, a cleric of the Syrian Orthodox Church Pavel Eskander was killed in Mosul . Unknown priest kidnappers demanded a huge ransom for his release and, as a result, they killed him ^[10] .

August 14, 2011 in Kirkuk near the Orthodox Church of Ephraim, an explosion thundered. The temple suffered significant damage. Most of the temple was destroyed, including the grave and the altar ^[11] .

• Assyrian Church of the East
• Syro-Jacobite Orthodox Church
• Armenian Apostolic Church
• Ancient Assyrian Church of the East

According to the International Orthodox Charity IOCC, there are about 140,000 members of the Orthodox and non-Chalcedonian Churches in Iraq, which belong to the Patriarchate of Antioch , the Assyrian Church of the East , the Syro-Yakovite and Armenian Apostolic Churches . Also in Baghdad is the residence of the patriarch of the schismatic Ancient Assyrian Church of the East, founded in 1964 . There are also small Greek Orthodox communities in Iraq ^[2] . Christians of all denominations make up about 3% of the 24 million Iraqi population ^[9] . Although in 2003 the Christian community numbered about 1,500,000 people, which was about 5% of the country's population ^[12] .

According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, published in 1998, 58,000 Iraqis belong to the Assyrian Church of the East ^[13] . In the 1990s, about 23,000 people in the country followed the ancient Assyrian Church of the East ^[13] . Before the start of the war in Iraq, there were 45,000 followers of the Syrian Orthodox Church ^[13] . In addition, in the mid-1990s, there were 8,000 members of the Malankara Orthodox Church (immigrants from India ) ^[13] , 1,800 Coptic Orthodox, and about 2,000 adherents of the Antioch Church ^[14] . The number of followers of the Armenian Apostolic Church was estimated from 20,000 ^[15] to 50,000 people ^[16] .

After the start of the Iraq war, half of the Christian population left the country ^[7] . About 330,000 Christians fled to Syria , fewer moved to Jordan ^{[7] [17] [18]} . Some fled to Iraqi Kurdistan in northern Iraq. In addition to emigration, the number of Iraqi Orthodox are also declining due to lower birth rates and higher death rates than their Muslim compatriots . In addition, since the invasion of Iraq, Christians have been targeted by radical Islamic organizations ^[19] .

• Documentary film "Last Assyrians" . History of Aramaic Christians
• Christianity in Iraq (eng.)
• Orthodox Christians of Iraq (English)
• Christianity in Iraq before and after democracy (rus.) . Orthodoxy and Peace (January 22, 2008). Archived October 29, 2012.

• Catholicism in Iraq
• Human rights in iraq
• Arabs Christians
• Assyrians