Assyrian Patriarch Plans Visits to Turkey, China

Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV (Khnanya) of Seleucia-Ctesiphon has received invitations to visit both Turkey, where efforts have begun to preserve historic Assyrian churches and monasteries in its southeastern districts, and the People's Republic of China, where discussions are underway to reestablish the Church of the East in the country. (Christians were historically a significant religious minority in the Chinese Empire, and were members of the Church of the East.) More here.

Assyrian Patriarch Meets with Chinese Christians

Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV (Khnanya) of the Church of the East has met in Chicago with the director of Hong Kong's Jingjiao Fellowship to discuss relations between the Assyrian Church and the Fellowship, which was founded to promote awareness of the ancient presence and activity of the Church of the East in China. During the meeting the Fellowship's head presented the Assyrian patriarch with a copy of the first translation of the Assyrian Divine Liturgy into Chinese. More here.

Assyrian Holy Synod Meets, Consecrates New Bishop

A session of the full Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East has been held under Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV (Khnanya) of Seleucia-Ctesiphon at the seat of the Church in Chicago. During the course of session the assembled hierarchs discussed the current challenges facing the Assyrian Church in Iraq and Syria as well as in the Assyrian Diaspora. A new bishop for the eastern United States, Bishop Mar Paul (Benyamin), was consecrated following the close of the session. Prior to his consecration Bishop Mar Paul, a native of northwestern Iran, served in Assyrian parishes in Tehran and Chicago. More here and here.

Assyrian Patriarch Begins Australia Visit

Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV (Khananya) of Seleucia-Ctesiphon has begun a pastoral visit to the Assyrian Church of the East in Australia. More here.

Assyrian Patriarch Visits Canada

Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV (Khananya) of the Assyrian Church of the East has begun a pastoral visit to the Church of the East in Toronto, concelebrating the Divine Liturgy at the city's Cathedral of St. Mary with Bishop Mar Ammanuel (Yosip) of Toronto and afterwards exhorting the cathedral's parishioners to remain strong in their faith and their Assyrian culture. Patriarch Mar Dinkha will also be visiting several other Assyrian parishes in Ontario while in Canada. More here.

Assyrian Patriarch Meets with Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan in New York

Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV of the Assyrian Church of the East has received Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan Mor Cyril (Aphrem) of Teaneck during his pastoral visit to Assyrian parishes in metropolitan New York. During their meeting the two hierarchs discussed the past and present trials faced by their churches as well as their hopes for future rapproachement between the two sister churches. More here.

Assyrian, Ancient Church of the East Hierarchs Concelebrate Funeral in Baghdad

Hierarchs of the Assyrian and Ancient Churches of the East have concelebrated the funeral of a newly reposed parish priest, Fr. Oraham Dinkha, who had served the Church of St. Zaia in Baghdad. The Baghdad-based Ancient Church of the East was formed in opposition to the switch of the Chicago-based Assyrian Church of the East to the Gregorian calendar and the hereditary passing of the patriarchate from uncle to nephew, but has entered into dialogue with the Assyrian Church of the East (whose patriarchate is no longer hereditary) and recently adopted the Gregorian calendar. More here.

Syriac Orthodox, Assyrian Christian Hierarchs Meet in California

Metropolitans Mor Clemis (Eugene) of Burbank and Mor Cyril (Aphrem) of Teaneck of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the United States have met with Bishop Mar Awa (Royel) of Modesto of the Assyrian Church of the East to discuss the ongoing theological dialogues between the two churches aimed at overcoming their Christological differences so that the Assyrian and Suryoyo people, who speak dialects of the same Syriac language, can be united again in faith. More here.

"Christ...Has Drawn Us Closer to Him"

Three parishes of the Assyrian Church of the East in Baghdad have gathered to celebrate the Divine Liturgy together and encourage one another as Iraqi Christians continue to live daily with the threats of Islamists seeking to purge the country of its non-Muslim minorities. More here.

Assyrian Church Planned for Auckland

The Assyrian Church of the East in New Zealand will shortly begin the construction of a permanent church for its parish in Auckland with the blessing of Metropolitan Mar Meelis (Zaia) of Sydney. More here.

Assyrian Patriarch to Visit Australia

Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV (Khananya) of Seleucia-Ctesiphon will be visiting the Church of the East's Archdiocese of Sydney and Australia this coming September. More on his upcoming visit can be found here.

Russian Orthodox, Assyrian Hierarchs Meet

Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk of the Russian Orthodox Church has met with Bishop Mar Iskhaq (Yosip) of Nohadra, who serves in the Diocese of Northern Iraq and Russia of the Assyrian Church of the East.

During the meeting Bishop Mar Isaac asked Metropolitan Hilarion to greet Patriarch Kirill (Gundyayev) of Moscow on behalf of the head of the Church of the East, Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, and to help the Church of the East in raising awareness of the plight of Iraq's Christians.

More here.

Ecumenical Patriarch Meets with Assyrian Bishop

The secretary of the Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East, Bishop Mar Awa (Royel) of Modesto, has met with Patriarch Bartholomew (Arhondonis) of Constantinople at the Phanar to deliver a letter to him from Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV (Khananya) of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. More here.

"Defying Deletion"

An excellent review of a new documentary on the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Iraq's Assyrians can be found here.

Chicago Assyrian Priest Made Corbishop

Priest Paulus Benjamin has been elevated to the rank of corbishop (a priestly rank in the East and West Syrian Rites as opposed to an episcopal one in the Byzantine Rite) by Bishop Mar Awa (Royel) of California of the Assyrian Church of the East in Chicago's Mar Gewargis Cathedral. More here.

Iraqi Christian Leaders Appeal to WCC

A delegation of various Iraqi Christian leaders including Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Addai II of Seleucia-Ctesiphon of the Ancient Church of the East, Archbishop Avak (Asadourian) of Baghdad of the Armenian Orthodox Church, and Metropolitan Mar Gewargis (Sliwa) of Baghdad of the Assyrian Church of the East has gone to the World Council of Churches to ask for help in improving the security situation of Christians in Iraq. More here.

Metropolitan Mar Meelis Visits Lebanon, UAE

Metropolitan Mar Meelis (Zaia) of Sydney has concluded a month-long visit to the Assyrian faithful in Lebanon, who since the repose of Metropolitan Mar Narsai (D'Baz) a year ago have been under the Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand, and Lebanon of the Assyrian Church of the East.

During the course of his stay Metropolitan Mar Meelis supervised the efforts of the Church of the East in Lebanon to care for incoming refugees from Iraq and met with Metropolitan Mar Thephilos (Saliba) of Mount Lebanon of the Syriac Orthodox Church to discuss the common heritage of the two churches. More on his time in Lebanon can be found here.

On his way back to Australia from Lebanon Metropolitan Mar Meelis visited the faithful of the Church of the East in the United Arab Emirates. His flock there consists of both Assyrians and Indians who remained faithful to the Church of the East following the arrival of Roman Catholicism and Syriac Orthodoxy in Kerala. More on that visit here.

Fast of Nineveh

Today is the first day of the Fast of Nineveh. While the Roman Orthodox world (Arabs, Greeks, Russians, et cetera) celebrates this as a fast-free week the Copts, Ethiopians, Syrians, Eritreans, and Indians fast for three days in memory of God's mercy to the city of Nineveh and the preaching of St. Jonah there. The Fast originated amongst the Assyrians living around the site of ancient Nineveh and spread westwards from the Church of the East to the Syriac Orthodox Church and its sister churches in Africa. More here. God help you all whatever you are doing this week as we draw closer to the Great and Holy Fast!

Assyrian Bishop Participates in Roman Catholic Ecumenical Service

Bishop Mar Aprim (Khamis) of the Western United States of the Assyrian Church of the East participated recently in a prayer service for Christian unity with Tod Brown, Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange County. More here.

St. Isaac of Nineveh

Joyous feast! St. Isaac is another great father of the Church, but of the Church of the East, not the Church of Antioch as many assume (he is commonly called "of Syria" or "the Syrian" by the Orthodox). Although belonging to a church accused of Nestorianism, St. Isaac held to a Christology like that of St. Babai the Great, Catholicos-Patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and the East, and has become widely loved amongst the Orthodox of the seven councils. His writings have also been translated into Gi'iz and are, I am told, popular in strongly anti-Nestorian Ethiopia, albeit under a different name. More on his life can be found here. May his blessing and prayers be with us all!