"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [و‎‎٢‎٢‎٦] (٨٦٢/٤٥٦)

PEOPLE
333
Christians are found in northern Iraq. There they live partly in
urban communities, of which that of Mosul with its numerous
archbishoprics is the most notable, and partly as peasants in agri
cultural villages in the Mosul plain, the members of each village
often belonging to a single communion (p. 382); often they are the
tenants of Kurdish aghas; and individual families are also found in
the mountain regions working as craftsmen in Kurdish villages.
Originally two autonomous churches existed in Mesopotamia to
represent eastern or Orthodox—as distinct from Latin or Roman
Catholic—Christianity: the Nestorians and the Jacobites or Syrian
‘monophysites’. But each of these suffered a schism through the
influence of the Roman Church and now has a ‘Uniate’ branch in
communion with Rome: the Nestorian Chaldeans and the Syrian
Catholics. Communities which became Uniate brought their prop
erty, customs, and beliefs with them. Thus the change was nominal
in local effect, and was usually made for the sake of the protection
given by European consulates against the Ottoman authorities.
In addition to these four churches, which represent the pre-Moslem
native population, there are also the Armenian churches which
contain a now numerous element that has drifted into Iraq from
Anatolia. The ecclesiastical situation is somewhat less complicated
than in Syria because the Greek Orthodox and the ‘Latin’ Church
proper are represented only by individuals; the Protestant element,
mainly the work of American Baptist and Congregational missions,
is negligible.
Chaldeans. These form the largest Christian church in Iraq, which
originated when the more exposed Nestorian communities of the
Mosul vilayet accepted the supremacy of the Pope in 1778 in order
to gain French protection against Kurds and Turks. They have the
benefit of a Dominican mission and school at Mosul which has
raised their standard of education. There are some Chaldean monks,
and a notable monastery at A 1 Qosh village. Their head, the
‘Patriarch of Babylon’, lives at Mosul. An Apostolic Delegate of
Mesopotamia is appointed by the Pope to act as liaison agent with
the Chaldean and other Uniates.
The Chaldeans are mostly peasants in villages of the Mosul plain,
but they also provide the main supply of deckhands and firemen on
the river steamers of Iraq and work as raftsmen on the Tigris. A
few are doctors, lawyers, and journalists. Like the Nestorians,
their native tongue is Syriac.
Nestorians. Since the arrival of the Assyrian refugees from Hakari