'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎130] (139/568)

130
RELIGIONS
points in common, viz. that they acknowledge the spiritual supremacy
of the Pope, and that they accept the decrees of the Councils of
Ephesus, a. d . 431, and of Chalcedon, a. d . 451, which respectively
condemned the heresies of Nestorianism and of Monophysitism. In
other matters—ritual, liturgy, ecclesiastical laws and customs each
community is independent of the others and ot the Roman Catholic
Church ; each has its own separate hierarchy, although the^ Pope
exercises some limited power in the appointment of the bishops
and patriarchs. Within the Uniate Churches there is apparently
a tendency to resent an assertion of Roman authority.
Millets. —From time to time the most important of these Christian
religious bodies have obtained recognition from the Turkish Govern
ment, and have been constituted into millets. Each of these millets
has its own civil head, appointed by the Turkish Government; in
practice the Turkish Government appoints to this post the spiritual
head of the Church. Originally the head of the millet was respon
sible for the civil government of his people, collecting taxes from it
and administering civil justice. Of late years the administrative
functions of the heads of millets have been much reduced. Collection
of taxes has been taken over by Turkish, officials, and, though
a Patriarch who is respected may still be much appealed to as an
arbitrator by his own people. Christians appear recently to have
been made liable, at least in most respects, to the Turkish Courts,
where law modelled on Occidental models has to a considerable
extent replaced in practice the old Mohammedan code. Before the
war the Patriarch who wielded most secular authority was Mar
Shimum. the hereditary chief of the Nestorian highlanders. But in
all Churches the Patriarch has been highly influential in secular
matters ; and he has remained primarily responsible to the Govern
ment for the political management of his millet.
French Dominican Mission in Mosul. —An Italian Dominican mission
was established in Mesopotamia in the thirteenth century, and had
its head-quarters at Mosul in the sixteenth century. This mission
was abandoned in a. d . 1730, and was re-established in 1750 by
three Dominicians. This, too, was abandoned in its turn from 1805
to 1840, but from the latter date the Dominicans have continued
their mission either at Mosul itself or in its near neighbourhood.
At the present time there are a Dominican community and some
nuns at Mosul, together with schools for boys and girls, and
a printing-press from which religious books are issued in various
languages. For the neighbourhood of the town there are a dozen or
more schools conducted by this mission. They carry on educational
work among the Chaldaeans and other Uniates. The Dominicans of