'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎132] (141/568)

132
RELIGIONS
siderable number of leading Armenians belonging to other sects
have been educated at the American college—Eoberts College—at
Constantinople. ^ ~ ^ ™ ,1
(d) Some Armenians belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, but
•they do not appear to be represented in any appreciable numbers in
Mesopotamia. . „ , ™ u i
(e) The Nestorians or East Syrians (also called Chaldaeans, or by
foreigners Assyrians, or by themselves Easterns 01 Syrians) foim
a fairly united body in the mountains of central Kurdistan, between
Lake Van and Urmia in the north, and Mosul in the south. They
are for the most part Syriac-speaking highland tribesmen of the
ordinary half-civilized type. (For their history see p. 129.) They
constitute a millet in the Turkish Empire, and are an independent
Church not in communion with Eome. They themselves dislike
bellicalled Nestorians. Their Patriarch (called Mai Shimum) is
paramount chief of the tribes into which they are divided. He
is elected from the members of a family in which the office is
hereditary. Before the war he resided at Kochannes near Julamerk.
The parish priest is usually the chief man in his village, and is held
in great honour. Priests and deacons are allowed to marry. There
are a few monks and nuns. Fasts are long and severe, the chief
being the Advent Fast (25 days) and the Lent Fast (50 days), 3 days
at the end of the winter, and Fridays. An English mission has
been established among the East Syrians for about 30 years (the
Archbishop of Canterbury's Mission to the Assyrian Christians).
Its efforts have been directed towards education, medical work, and
support of the East Syrian Church.
(/) The Chaldaeans (East Syrian Uniates, see p. 129) are in com
munion with the Roman Catholic Church. Iheir numbeis aie
perhaps about 30,000. They are found chiefly in and around Mosul,
where their Patriarch resides, though he retains the title of Patriarch
of Baghdad and Babylon. A community of Chaldaeans exists at
Baghdad. Many of their priests have been educated at the Dominican
mission at Mosul and can speak French. (For the occupations of the
Chaldaean laity see p. 115.) Most of them speak Arabic, a few
Syriac.
A body of some 2,000 Chaldaeans seceded in 1869 on the question
of Papal Infallibility. It does not seem certain whether this so-called
New Chaldaean community still exists.
(g) There are a very few converts to Protestantism from the
Nestorian and Chaldaean Churches. Most of them live at Mosul.
They have been proselytized by American Baptist and Congrega-
tionalist missionaries.