Chaldean Christians Totally Explained

Everything about Chaldean Christians totally explained

ť "Chaldean people" redirects here. For the ancient people, see Chaldea, Babylonia.

(ܟܠܕܝܐ Keldani) | image= | caption =Chaldean Catholics from Mardin, 19th century. |poptime = roughly 0.9 million |langs = Chaldean Neo-Aramaic |rels = Syriac Christianity (in union with Rome) | scrips = The Bible. }} The Chaldean Christians (also known as Chaldean Assyrians, Chaldo-Assyrians, Assyro-Chaldeans; Neo-Aramaic: ܟܠܕܝܐ Keldani), adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, form a subset of the Assyrian people. Many Chaldean Catholics refute this as they don't consider themselves to be Assyrians. This is due in part to the Church identity promoted by the Chaldean Catholic Church. Chaldeans call themselves Sūrāyā (Syrian) in singular and Sūrāyē in plural , which is considered to be a synonym of Aššūrāye (Assyrians) They have been settling primarily in Iraq, with smaller communities in Turkey and Iran, for the most part speaking the Chaldean Neo-Aramaic language. A formerly Nestorian denomination, they were reunited with the Roman Catholic Church in 1553.
   Chaldean Catholics have no direct or absolute lineage with the Neo-Babylonian Empire "Chaldeans", but were designated with the name Chaldean in the 16th century when they reunited with the Catholic Church to distinguish from the adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East. counted 233 parishes and 177 churches or chapels. The Catholic Chaldean Clergy numbered 248 priests; they're assisted by the religious of the Congregation of St. Hormizd (Rabban-Hormizd) who numbered about one hundred. There were about 52 Chaldean schools (not counting those conducted by Latin nuns and missionaries). At Mosul there was a patriarchal seminary, distinct from the Syro-Chaldean seminary directed by the Dominicans. The total number of the Chaldeans according to the above-mentioned authority was nearly 78,000, 24,000 of whom are in the Diocese of Mosul. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 preferred a number of about 66,000 as against 140,000 Nestorians. According to Joseph Tfinkdji, a Chaldean priest from Mardin, who collected statistics for the entire Chaldean Church in 1913, the size of the Chaldean Church in June 1913 was totally 101,610. As of 2003, the Chaldean Catholic Church estimated a total of 600,000 - 700,000 faithful.
   The patriarch considers Baghdad as the principal city of his see. His title of "Patriarch of Babylon" results from the erroneous identification (in the seventeenth century) of modern Baghdad with ancient Babylon. As a matter of fact the Chaldean patriarch resides habitually at Mosul and reserves for himself the direct administration of this diocese and that of Baghdad. There are five archbishops (resident respectively at Bassora, Diarbekir, Kerkuk, Salamas, and Urmia) and seven bishops. Eight patriarchal vicars govern the small Chaldean communities dispersed throughout Turkey and Persia. The Chaldean clergy, especially the monks of Rabban-Hormizd, have established some missionary stations in the mountain districts inhabited by Nestorians. Three dioceses are in Persia, the others in Turkey.
   The liturgical language of the Chaldean Church is Syriac. Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Kurd are variously spoken by the people; in some districts the vernacular is neo-Syriac. The liturgical books are those of the ancient Nestorian Church, corrected in the sense of Catholic orthodoxy. Unfortunately, without doctrinal necessity, they've in some places been made to conform with Latin usage.
   The literary revival in the early 20th century was mostly due to the Lazarist, Pere Bedjan, a Persian Chaldean, who devoted much industry and learning to popularizing among his people, both Catholics and Nestorians, their ancient chronicles, the lives of Chaldean saints and martyrs, even works of the ancient Nestorian doctors.

Current situation

Today, Chaldo-Assyrians suffer discrimination in Iraq and were deported from the Nineveh plains under Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist rule.
In mid-March 2008, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho was found dead, having been kidnapped two weeks earlier. Pope Benedict XVI condemned his death, by saying it was an act of inhuman violence. Sunni and Shia Muslim also expressed their condemnation.

Political organizations

Chaldean Democratic Union
Chaldean Democratic Forum
Chaldean National Congress
Chaldean Federation of America
Chaldean Federation of Australia
Chaldean Society of Auckland, New Zealand
National Chaldean Movement, Iraq
UR Chaldean Academic Society
UR Chaldean Association, Denmark
Deutsch-Mesopotamien Kulturverien e. V., Germany

Designed by Amer Hanna Fatuhi in Beth Nahrain, Iraq in 1985, the Chaldean flag has been registered by various international bodies, and by the USA (1997). "Flag day" is 17 March.

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