CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ

THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN IRAQ

In the first-century AD, the land of present-day Iraq was part of Mesopotamia, a region home to the world’s oldest civilisations. Tradition says Christianity was brought to the Assyrian people living there by St Thomas the Apostle in the early 1st century. There is no definite evidence for this, but it was certainly one of the earliest Christian communities. Christianity quickly became the main Assyrian religion and by the 3rd century the cities of Arbela (modern day Erbil) and Kirkuk were important Christian centres. 

Early Christian sites in Iraq include the Monastery of the Martyrs Mar Behnam and Marth Sarah in northern Iraq and Mor Mattai Monastery near the city of Mosul. According to tradition, both were founded in the 4th century and are linked with the legend of Saints Behnam and Sarah (children of Sennacherib, King of Assyria) who converted to Christianity. 

Mesopotamia’s Churches participated in the early ecumenical councils where denominations met to define the core beliefs of Christian faith. However, in time they asserted their independence from the Western Church. Disagreements about the nature of Mary at the Council of Ephesus in 431 led to a schism, and the Church of the East severed from the rest of the Churches. It went on to develop its own distinct liturgies in the Syriac language (a form of Aramaic). Meanwhile after the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, the Eastern (Oriental) Orthodox Church also separated from the Western Churches over differing understandings of the nature of Christ. This later became the Syriac Orthodox Church.  

The spread of Islam into the region in the 7th century meant the Christians were relegated to dhimmi status – meaning they had to live under certain regulations and pay taxes. But they were allowed to practise their religion. However, when the Turko-Mongol warlord Timur conquered the land in the 14th century, the Assyrian Christians faced severe persecution. Tens of thousands of Assyrians were killed and they became an ethnic and religious minority. 

In the 16th century, during the Ottoman Empire, the Church of the East re-established ties with the Catholic Church in Rome. Disagreement over the election of a new Patriarch in 1552/3 resulted in the church splitting into two Patriarchal lines. One line, known as the Shimun Patriarchal line, broke ties with Rome in 1672, becoming the Assyrian Church of the East. The other, the Eliya Patriarchal line, forged full communion with the Rome, becoming the Chaldean Catholic Church. This split again in 1964, when a switch to the Gregorian Calendar led to the formation of the Ancient Church of the East, which continues to use the traditional Julian Calendar. 

The Christian community in Iraq faced further, widespread persecution in the early 20th century, including the Assyrian genocide during the First World War, in which 65% of the Assyrian population was killed. 

Under the secular regime of Saddam Hussein, Christians were not specifically persecuted for their religion, but many did face oppression for being part of an ethnic and cultural minority. In the turmoil that followed the US/UK invasion in 2003, reports of violence against Christians rose; and they faced systematic persecution during the control of ISIS. Most fled to the Christian communities in the more secure Kurdistan region of Iraq, where some remain today, though many have migrated to Europe, North America or Australia.  

Today, the Chaldean Catholic Church is the largest denomination in Iraq. The Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East, and Syriac Orthodox Church all persist too, albeit in smaller numbers.