Changes

Jump to: navigation, search

Chaldean Catholic Church

1,355 bytes removed, 9 years ago
In 1846 the Chaldean Church was recognized by the [[Ottoman Empire]] as a '[[millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet]]', a distinctive 'religious community' in the Empire, thus obtaining its civic emancipation.<ref name="angold">Michael Angold ''Eastern Christianity'', Cambridge University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-521-81113-9 pag 528</ref> The most famous patriarch of the Chaldean Church in the 19th century was [[Joseph Audo|Joseph VI Audo]] who is remembered also for his clashes with [[Pope Pius IX]] mainly about his attempts to extend the Chaldean jurisdiction over the Indian [[Syro-Malabar Catholic Church]]. This was a period of expansion for the Chaldean Catholic Church.
In the early 20th century [[Russian Orthodox]] missionaries established two dioceses in north [[Assyria]]. Many Chaldean leaders believed that the [[Russian Empire]] would be more interested in protecting them than the [[British Empire]] and the [[French colonial empire|French Empire]].<ref name="Wilm"/>{{rp|36}} Hoping for the support of the Russians, [[World War I]] and the subsequent [[Assyrian Genocide]] was seen as the right time to rebel against the Ottoman Empire. An [[Assyrian War of Independence]] was launched, led by [[Agha Petros]] and [[Malik Khoshaba]]. On 4 November 1914 the Turkish [[Enver Pasha]] announced the [[Jihad]], the holy war, against the Christians.<ref name="Bauer">{{cite book|first=Baumer|last=Christoph|year=2006|title=The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity|isbn=978-1-84511-115-1|publisher=I B Tauris & Co}}</ref>{{rp|161}} Chaldean forces fought successfully against overwhelming odds in northern Iraq, southeast Turkey and northwest Iran for a time. However, the [[Russian Revolution]] in 1917 and the collapse of [[Armenia]]n resistance left the Chaldeans cut off from supplies of food and ammunition, vastly outnumbered and surrounded. Chaldean territories were overrun by the [[Ottoman Empire]] and their [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] and [[Arab]] allies, and the people forced to flee: most who escaped the massacres and continuation of the [[Assyrian Chaldean Genocide]] died from cold in the winter or hunger. The disaster struck mainly the regions of the Chaldean Church of the East and the Chaldean dioceses in north Chaldea (Amid, [[Siirt]] and [[Gazarta]]) were ruined (the Chaldeans metropolitans [[Addai Scher]] of [[Siirt]] and [[Philip Abraham]] of [[Gazarta]] were killed in 1915).<ref name="Wilm"/>{{rp|37}}
A further massacre occurred in 1933 at the hands of the [[Iraqi Army]], in the form of the [[Simele massacre]], which resulted in thousands of deaths.