The Chaldean Assyrian Syriac People of Iraq: An Ethnic Identity Problem – Shak Hanish
Abstract (Summary) King Sennacherib built Nineveh on the Tigris River, as a new capital, destroyed Babylon (where citizens had risen in revolt), and made Judah a vassal state. Chaldea, which is a land in southern Babylon, was first mentioned in the annals of the Assyrian King, Ashur Nasirpal II (reigned 883-859 B.C.). King Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 B.C.) conquered the Kingdom of Judah and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was built during that period. Akkadian was the lingua franca of Mesopotamia, with its...
Read MoreMar George, Bishop of the Arabs (d. 725) – BIOGRAPHIES OF SYRIAN SCHOLARS AND WRITERS – Mor Ignatius Aphram Barsoum – Translated : By Dr. Matti Moosa
Mar George, Bishop of the Arabs (d. 725) Mar George or Georgi, bishop of the Arabs was a scholar, a church dignitary, a student of philosophy, an excellent critic and an authority who was deeply versed in both poetry and prose. In the prime of his life, he studied at Qinnesrin under Severus Sabukht shortly before the latter’s death, and later under other professors. He acquired all that the brilliant mind could absorb of the Syriac philological sciences as well as philosophical, astronomical, theological sciences and history. He assumed the monastic habit and pursued godliness. He was...
Read MoreMar George, Bishop of the Arabs (d. 725) – Mor Ignatius Aphram Barsoum – Translated : By Dr. Matti Moosa
Mar George, Bishop of the Arabs (d. 725) Mar George or Georgi, bishop of the Arabs was a scholar, a church dignitary, a student of philosophy, an excellent critic and an authority who was deeply versed in both poetry and prose. In the prime of his life, he studied at Qinnesrin under Severus Sabukht shortly before the latter’s death, and later under other professors. He acquired all that the brilliant mind could absorb of the Syriac philological sciences as well as philosophical, astronomical, theological sciences and history. He assumed the monastic habit and pursued godliness. He was...
Read MoreMar Ahudemeh (d. 575) – Mor Ignatius Aphram Barsoum – Translated : By Dr. Matti Moosa
Mar Ahudemeh (d. 575) Ahudemeh is the pride of the Church of the East and one of its noblest dignitaries because of his intelligence, knowledge, piety, and support of Orthodoxy. Born at Balad,228 he was consecrated a bishop for the diocese of Baarbaya, situated between Nisibin and Sinjar. In 559, he was elevated by Mar Jacob Baradaeus to the office of the Metropolitan of the lands of the East, and set to work briskly in calling the nomad Arabs who dwelt in that region and in the abodes of Rabia to Christianity. He converted a great number of them to Christianity and built two monasteries and...
Read MoreThe Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch At A Glance / Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, 1983 / Translated by: Emmanuel H. Bismarji.
The Syrian Orthodox Church is the Church of Antioch, whose foundation goes back to the very dawn of Christianity, when Antioch was the capital of Syria1 and one of the three capital cities in the Roman Empire.2 The gospel was first preached in Antioch by some of Christ’s own disciples who fled Jerusalem after the Jewish persecution. Following the martyrdom St. Stephen the deacon ca. 34 AD., Antioch was visited by Barnabas, one of the seventy preachers, as well as St. Paul the Apostle. Both stayed in Antioch for an entire year preaching the gospel after St. Peter who preached the gospel...
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