Who are the Chaldean Christians?

[Truth Bearer]

Who are the Chaldean Christians?

Chaldeans are members of an autonomous Catholic Church that retains its own unique liturgy and tradition while recognising the Pope's authority.

Chaldeans form the majority of Iraq's estimated 550,000 Christians - around 2.5% of the country's population.

Their spiritual leader, Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, is based in Baghdad. He was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.

His Church originally comprised members of the Nestorian Church, and has had a presence in the country now known as Iraq since the 2nd Century.

Nestorianism ascribes to the belief that Jesus Christ has two natures - that of a divine being, the Son of a God, and that of a mortal human.

The Eastern-rite Church the Chaldeans belong to has a traditional liturgical language, Syriac - a linguistic descendant of Aramaic, the language thought by most scholars to have been spoken by Jesus and his disciples.

Extremist targets

There are an estimated 50,000 Christians in Mosul, Iraq's third largest city.

While traditionally ethnically and religiously diverse, Mosul is also a centre of the country's oil industry.

A rise in religiously-motivated attacks since the US-led invasion in 2003 has prompted many Christians to leave Iraq.


A number of Christian clergy have been kidnapped or killed by Sunni extremist groups, and several religious institutions have been targeted by bombings.

Estimates suggest as many as 60,000 Christians have fled the country.

Thursday's abduction of Archbishop Rahho came little more than six months after a Chaldean priest and three subdeacons were gunned down outside the same Mosul church.

In January, bombs exploded outside two Chaldean churches, an Assyrian church and a monastery in Mosul, wounding four people.

Although Iraq's new constitution enshrines the rights of the country's religious minorities, the precarious security situation makes the constitution difficult to enforce.

Perhaps the best known Iraqi Chaldean is Saddam Hussein's former deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...st/7271828.stm

Published: 2008/02/29 21:44:12 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

[Draco]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldean_Christians