Ancient Church of the East

The Ancient Church of the East ( Syrian aramäsich: ܥ ܕ ܬ ܐ ܥ ܬ ܝ ܩ ܬ ܐ ܕ ܡ ܕ ܢ ܚ ܐ, full name: Old Holy Catholic Apostolic and Church of the East ) is an autocephalous Church of the East Syrian Rite. Their spiritual leader is entitled: Catholicos - Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East and has its headquarters in Baghdad. Incumbent since 1972, His Holiness Mar Addai II liturgy and your native language is the Syriac - Aramaic.

Past and present

The Ancient Church of the East cites as competing with their Assyrian Church of the East to the tradition of the Apostle Thaddeus ( Aramaic: Mar Addai ) founded the Christian community in Edessa.

It was created by a schism within the Assyrian Church in 1968. Their founder, Mar Thomas Darmo, Metropolitan of the " Church of the East " in India, did not accept the 1964 decreed the introduction of the Gregorian calendar and held at the Julian calendar. His then Patriarch Shimun XXIII. decreed he did not accept impeachment also. Other reasons were the elimination of the holding of the Assyrian Church of the heritability of the Patriarch Office ( from uncle to nephew ) and the desire to return the patriarch from the United States to the Orient. 1968 ordained Darmo in Baghdad three new bishops, who then formed a synod and chose him as their patriarch. He died the following year. Mar Addai II, bishop of Baghdad, was elected in 1970 to his successor, but not consecrated until 1972.

The church belong to 70000-100000 believers. In addition to the patriarchal diocese of Baghdad has Archdioceses in Kirkuk, Nineveh, Syria, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, and a diocese in North America (USA and Canada). Headquarters of the European Archdiocese is Mainz -Kastel, the incumbent is Timothy Mar Shalita. Most members of the church are members of Tiyari tribe who lived until the expulsion of the Assyrians of Hakkari in the First World War in the area of the diocese of the Assyrian Patriarch in Qudshanis. Therefore His family gained no episcopal ordination. After her own self-image, however, the Church is not a " tribal church ".

Since 1994 takes the " Ancient Church of the East" at the Syriac Dialogue in part, an ecumenical discussion series, which was launched by the Pro Oriente Foundation, an institution of the Catholic Diocese of Vienna, to life. Other participants in this dialogue are the other churches of the West Syrian and East Syrian Rite, which emerged from them united with Rome churches and the Catholic Maronites likewise.