Iraq
العراق
The Church of the East and the Nineveh Plains
Mesopotamia is the cradle of the Church of the East, which sent missionaries to India and China and whose scholars translated philosophy and medicine into Arabic. Syriac remains both a liturgical and a living language in the Nineveh Plains, but Iraq's Christian community has shrunk sharply since 2003.
Christian population
About 150,000–250,000 today
Estimates; there were roughly 1.2–1.4 million before 2003.
Languages of liturgy and life
Syriac (Eastern Aramaic) as a liturgical language, with Sureth as an everyday language for many, alongside Arabic and Kurdish.
Churches and denominations
Chaldean Catholic Church
الكنيسة الكلدانية الكاثوليكية
The largest denomination; its see is in Baghdad, in communion with Rome.
Assyrian Church of the East
كنيسة المشرق الآشورية
A direct continuation of the ancient Church of the East.
Ancient Church of the East
كنيسة المشرق القديمة
Separated in 1968 over the question of the calendar.
Syriac Orthodox & Syriac Catholic
السريان الأرثوذكس والسريان الكاثوليك
A core presence in Mosul, the Nineveh Plains and Baghdad.
Armenian Apostolic Church
الأرمن الأرثوذكس
A small community in Baghdad, Basra and Mosul.
Historical milestones
1st–2nd century
The tradition of missions by Mar Thoma, Mar Addai and Mari in Mesopotamia, and the rise of communities at Edessa and Erbil.
410
The Synod of Kokhe at Ctesiphon organises the Church of the East and confirms its independent episcopal structure.
5th–6th century
The School of Nisibis becomes a centre of Syriac learning and theology.
781
The Xi'an Stele in China attests to the missions of the Church of the East across Central Asia and China.
8th–10th century
Syriac translators such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq render Greek philosophy and medicine into Arabic in Baghdad.
1258 onwards
The Mongol invasion, and later the campaigns of Timur, reduce the church across the East.
2003 and 2014
The Iraq war, then the ISIS occupation of the Nineveh Plains and the displacement of its people; a partial return after 2017.
Places and heritage sites
Alqosh & Rabban Hormizd Monastery
ألقوش ودير الربان هرمزد
North of Mosul
A monastery carved into the mountain, dating to the seventh century.
Mar Mattai Monastery
دير مار متّى
Mount Alfaf
One of the oldest working monasteries in the world, holding a collection of Syriac manuscripts.
Qaraqosh (Bakhdida)
قره قوش (بغديدا)
Nineveh Plains
The largest Christian town in Iraq; its churches were rebuilt after 2017.
Bartella & Karamlesh
برطلة وكرمليس
Nineveh Plains
Two ancient Syriac towns in the surroundings of Mosul.
Ainkawa
عنكاوا
Erbil
A large Christian district that became the main refuge for the displaced after 2014.
On the map
Related articles
- Sayfo: the Syriac genocide of 1915“Sayfo” means the sword in Syriac, and is the name by which Syriac communities know what befell them in and after 1915, alongside the Armenian genocide.
- The translators of Baghdad: how philosophy crossed into ArabicBetween the eighth and tenth centuries, Syriac scholars carried Greek medicine and philosophy into Arabic, often by way of Syriac — a decisive role in the flowering of the sciences in the Islamic world.
References
General further reading, not citations to specific pages.
Further reading
- Christoph Baumer. The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. I.B. Tauris, 2006
- Sebastian P. Brock. An Introduction to Syriac Studies. Gorgias Press, 2006
- Philip Jenkins. The Lost History of Christianity. HarperOne, 2008
- Anthony O'Mahony and Emma Loosley (eds.). Eastern Christianity in the Modern Middle East. Routledge, 2010
- Pew Research Center. Religious composition reports for the Middle East and North Africa. www.pewresearch.org