Faithful: 200.000 in Iran (10-15000), Iraq (50-70 000) - BAR

RELATIONS WITH THE APOSTOLIC
(ASSYRIAN) CHURCH OF THE EAST
General:
Faithful: 200.000 in Iran (10-15000), Iraq (50-70 000), Lebanon (5-10 000), S} (7-10 000), India, America, Europe and Australia (100 000)
Mother Tongue: Aramaic (East Syriac), Arabic, Persian, English
~Church Administration:
Catholicosate of the East, two Patriarchs, as the Church is
split on the question of the calendar.
a) New Calendarians: 8 dioceses (3 in the Middle East, one in India, 4 in America
and Australia)
b) Old Calendarians: 6 dioceses (4 in the Middle East, one each in India and
America), two monasteries
Rite: East Syriac
Heads:
a) New Calendarians: H.H. Mar Dinkha IV Khanania, Patriarch of the Apostolic
Church of the East (elected on 17th October 1976 in London by 6 (8) bishops)
Seat: Teheran, currently Morton Grove, Illinois, USA
b) Old Calendarians: H.H. Mar Addai 11 Givarghis, Patriarch of the Apostolic
Church of the East (elected on 20th February 1972 in Baghdad by 5 bishops)
Seat: Baghdad
Predecessors: Mar Shimun XXIII (emigrated to the US in 1961 and was deposed,
he died 1975 in a car accident), opposition patriarch in Baghdad was Mar Thoma
(Darmo) (1961 - 69)
Signing of a Common Christological Declaration between H.H. Pope John Paul 11
and H.H. Mar Dinkha IV in Rome on 11th November 1994 (see p.224-226)
Relations with PRO ORIENTE:
8th April 1982: Audience with H.H. Mar Addai 11Givarghis in the Assyrian Patriarchate of Baghdad (president Theodor Piffl-Percevic, Prof. Ernst-Christoph
Suttner, Alfred Stirnemann) (Old Calendarians)
11th June 1988: Encounter with H.H. Mar Dinkha IV in Moscow on the occasion of
the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of the Kievan Rust
(Franciscus Cardinal Konig, President Theodor Piffl-Percevic, Alfred Stirnemann)
(New Calendarians)
18th June 1990: 59th Ecumenical Symposium on "Was Nestorius a Nestorian?"
with Metropolitan Mar Aprem of Trichur of the Apostolic and Catholic Church of
the East in the Beethoven Hall of the Palais Paltry in Vienna (Old Calendarians),
published in this volume, pp.216-223
30th September to 4th October 1993: "Kerala Regional Symposium/Kottayam" at
the St Thomas Apostolic Seminary in Vardavathoor (Kottayam) for promoting the
results of the five Vienna Consultations with Oriental Orthodoxy in India. Participation of 25 bishops of eleven different Churches, among them Mar Aprem of Trichur
together with priests and lay people of both jurisdictions (New Calendarians and
Old Calendarians), published in Booklet No. 6 (Vienna 1995)
232
Assyrian participants from right to left: Mar Narsai de Baz (Beyrout), Mar Bawai Soro of Western
Mar Aprem ofTrichur, Archdeacon Yonan, Fr. Odiso R. Oraham
Si Stephan's Cathedral for the final liturgy, from right to left: Archdeacon Yonan, Fr. Odiso R.
Fr. Emmanuel Aydin, Mar Aprem of Trichur, Mar Severios of Kandanadu, Mar Eustathios of
Mar Gregorios of Aleppo, Mar Bawai Soro ofWestem USA
In the sacristy of St. Stephan's Cathedral from left to right: Mar Aprem of Trichur (Assyrian), Patriarchal
Vicar Bishop Boulos Matar (Maronite), President Alfred Stirnemann
In the sacristy ofSt. Stephan's Cathedral from left to right: Patriarchal Vicar Archbishop Emmanuel Delly
(Chaldean), Mar Bawai Soro (Assyrian), Prof Fr. Sarhad Jammo (Chaldean)
SYRIAC DIALOGUE
FIRST NON-OFFICIAL CONSULTATION
ON DIALOGUE WITHIN THE
SYRIAC TRADITION
Vienna: June 1994