Changes
assyrian clean up, replaced: Assyria → Chaldea (4)
==History==
The history of the Chaldean Church is the history of the [[Church of the East]] founded between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD in [[Assyria]] (Persian ruled [[Assuristan]]) — represented today by at least eleven different churches, (then ruled by the successive Parthian and Sassanid Empires, where it was known by derivative names for AssyriaChaldea; [[Athura]] and [[Assuristan]]) — between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD. The region of Assyria Chaldea was also the birthplace of the [[Syriac language]] and [[Syriac script]], both of which remain important within all strands of [[Syriac Christianity]]. The terms ''Syriac'' and ''Syrian'' originally being [[Indo-Anatolian]] derivatives of ''Assyrian''.<ref>Frye, R. N. (October 1992). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms" (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies 51 (4): 281–285. doi:10.1086/373570.</ref>
It was originally a part of [[The Assyrian Church of the East]] before the 1553 consecration of [[Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa]] who entered communion with the [[Roman Catholic Church]], when it was renamed the ''Church of Athura (Assyria) and Mosul''. Subsequent to this, it was again renamed by Rome in 1683 as the Chaldean Catholic Church, despite none of its Chaldean adherents being connected ethnically, historically or geographically to the long-extinct [[Chaldea]]ns, who had been completely absorbed into the general population of [[Babylonia]] in the 6th century BC, disappearing from history.
It is believed that the term 'Chaldean Catholic' arose due to a Catholic [[Latin language|Latin]] misinterpretation and misreading of the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''Ur Kasdim'' (according to long held Jewish tradition, the birthplace of Abraham in northern Mesopotamia) as meaning ''Ur of the Chaldees''.<ref>''Biblical Archaeology Review'', May/June 2001: Where Was Abraham's Ur? by Allan R. Millard</ref> The Hebrew ''Kasdim'' does not mean or refer to the ''Chaldeans''. Ur Kasdim is generally believed by many to have been somewhere in [[Assyria]], northeastern [[Syria]] or southeastern [[Anatolia]]. The 18th century [[Roman Catholic Church]] then applied this misinterpreted name to their new diocese in northern Mesopotamia, a region whose indigenous inhabitants had always previously been referred to ethnically as ''Assurayu, Assyrians, Assouri, Ashuriyun, East Syrian, Athurai, Atoreh'', etc., and by the denominational terms ''Syriac Christians, Jacobites and Nestorians''.
Thus the term 'Chaldean Catholic' is historically, usually and properly taken purely as a [[doctrinal]] and [[theological]] term for Chaldean converts to Catholicism.<ref>Travis, Hannibal. ''Genocide in the Middle East: The Ottoman Empire, Iraq, and Sudan''. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2010, 2007, pp. 237-77, 293–294</ref><ref name="conference.osu.eu">http://conference.osu.eu/globalization/publ/08-bohac.pdf</ref><ref name="conference.osu.eu"/> The modern Chaldean Catholics are [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]]<ref>Nisan, M. 2002. ''[http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14225.html Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle for Self Expression]''. Jefferson: McFarland & Company.</ref> and originated from ancient Chaldean communities living in and indigenous to the north of Iraq/Upper Mesopotamia which was known as Assyria Chaldea from the 25th century BC until the 7th century AD (rather than the long-extinct [[Chaldea]]ns/[[Chaldees]], who were 9th century BC migrants from [[The Levant]], and always resided in the far southeast of Mesopotamia, and wholly disappeared from history circa 550 BC). Chaldean Catholics originate from the exact same cities, towns and villages as other Chaldeans, speak exactly the same dialects of Eastern Aramaic, have exactly the same family, tribal and personal names, and have the same genetic profile.
Despite this, ''a minority'' of Chaldean Catholics (particularly in the [[United States]]) have in recent times confused a purely religious term with an ethnic identity, and espoused a separate ethnic identity to their Chaldean brethren, despite there being no historical, academic, cultural, geographic, archaeological, linguistic, anthropological or genetic evidence supporting a link (or any sort of [[Chaldean continuity]]) to the late Iron Age Chaldean land or race, rather they are regarded as part of the [[Assyrian continuity]] by scholars.
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 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 Assyria 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.
