Chaldean Christians & America's Misadventure in Iraq

One of the earliest Christian groups was known as the Nestorians. There is evidence they go back to the first century and had their own gospel, the Gospel of Thomas, a copy of which was found in a cave in Egypt about 50 years ago and is similar in many respects to the New Testament gospels.

The Nestorians fought with the Orthodox over the nature of Christ. This came to a head in the fifth century. The Nestorians believed that Christ had two natures, the divine and the human, and they were distinct. Thus, one could not use the term, "Theotokos" (Mother of God) for Mary, as she was the mother of the human Jesus only.

In June of 431, the Emporer Theodosius called a church council at Ephesus. The council decided that while Christ had two natures, they were united in one person and thus Mary could indeed be called Theotokos. The Nestorians were wrong and Nestorius, the father of the Nestorians, was condemned.

This was not the end of it, however, as his doctrine became popular in Persia (Iran) and Mesopotamia (Iraq).

Some of the descendants of the Nestorians live in Iraq today and are known as Chaldean Christians. Nobody seems to know exactly how many Christians there are in Iraq -- I've seen figures ranging from 550,000 to 750,000. It's probably somewhere inbetween. They are a small percentage of the population, however, maybe two or two and a half percent.

The Chaldean spiritual leader is Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly and he's based in Baghdad. The Chaldeans are a separate Catholic church with their own liturgy and tradition, but live under the authority of the pope. Pope Benedict XVI made Delly a cardinal in 2007.

Unfortunately, many of these Chaldean Christians (maybe 60,000 or more) have fled Iraq because persecution of Christians has been steady and relentless. A number of Christian clergy have been kidnapped or killed by Sunni Muslims and several churches and monasteries have been bombed.

Just recently, Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, of Mosul was kidnapped and three of his aides were killed.

The Chaldeans say that under the Baathist regime (Hussein) they were not persecuted, although they did suffer occasional "random acts of violence" from the Muslim majority. Today, the Chaldeans report, the American military action called "Iraqi Freedom" "appears to be emerging as a civil war between the minority, formerly dominant, Sunni Muslims who seek through violence to prevent the inevitable emergence of the majority Shia Muslims to the position of power and control of the state and its oil and gas reserves." [I wonder if the Bushites, who keep saying there is no civil war in Iraq, have talked to these people?]

The Chaldeans also say that Christian minorities are considered infidels and their situation grows ever more precarioius. "Christians are publicly harassed; their women are insulted for not dressing as Muslims; their businesses destroyed; and their churches are bombed, with the result that many are fleeing abroad."

The Shia power bloc intends to write a new constitution based on the sharia (Muslim law code) and "it appears to us highly likely that in the future Iraq will resemble the Islamic Republic of Iran. America's misadventure in Iraq is bearing bitter fruit."

What irony! Bush invades Iraq. The last reason given was, I think, to force a regime change and bring democracy to the Iraqi people. It doesn't appear that is what is happening. Instead, Iraq, because of what the Chaldean church leadership calls "America's misadventure," is ending up another Iran, an "axis of evil."

Holy Mother of God!