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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [133] (142/568)
The record is made up of 1 volume (282 folios). It was created in 1918. It was written in English, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish and Syriac. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
EELIGrlONS
133
[h]The Jacobites or West Syrians are found in the country in
and near Mosul, in the vilayet of Diarbekr, and in the northern part
of Syria. There is a Jacobite community at Baghdad. Their Church
is independent, professing Monophysite doctrine, and is recognized as
a millet. The Patriarch (called Patriarch of Antioch) resides at
Mardln, while the Maphrian, or first bishop, has his see at Mosul.
The Patriarch is generally chosen by the bishops, though there have
been cases of election by lot. Bishops-elect must be monks or
widowers. There are three orders of priests—monks, parish priests,
and chor-episcopi (the leading priests in large towns). Parish priests
must marry before ordination, and may not remarry. As the popular
feeling is strongly against unmarried parish priests, a widower, unless
he becomes a bishop, usually retires into a monastery. A priest is
chosen by a council, composed of the deacons and lay representatives
of his congregation. He is usually influential. The order of deacons
is large and important. Education is provided by the Church, and
most of those who remain in Jacobite schools till the age of fifteen
become deacons, but the greater number do not become priests, but
are occupied in secular business. Jacobites keep five yearly fasts.
(i) Jacobite Uniates are found in Mosul, Diarbekr, and Baghdad,
as well as in Syria. They have a bishop at Mosul. Their Patriarch
resides at Baghdad.
(j) There are a few Protestant converts from the Jacobite Church
(mostly Congregationalists and Baptists) who have been proselytized
by American missionaries.
Yezidis
A Shiah theory that the founder of the Yezidi sect was Yazid, the
murderer of Husein, is doubtless based on little save a desire to dis
credit them in the eyes of Mussulmans. The oldest Yezidi traditions
centre round the shrine of Sheikh Adi, their saint and prophet, in
the hills 30 miles NNE. of Mosul. The Sheikh appears to have been
outwardly a Moslem, but his shrine is built on the site of an old
Nestorian church, which may account for some of the Christian
elements in their sacred writings.
The Yezidis have suffered much persecution, and are still regarded
as idolaters beyond the pale. Yezidism has points of resemblance
with old Iranian and Assyrian beliefs, as well as with Manichaeism
and Nestorianism. Thus they regard the Devil as the creative
agent of the Supreme Being, a reinstated fallen angel who is the
author of evil. He is never mentioned except as the Peacock King
(MaliJc-i-taus). As for their traditions regarding the Deluge, Crea-
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume I, General (Naval Staff, Intelligence Department: November 1918). This is an updated and expanded edition of A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume I, General (Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Department: August 1916) (IOR/L/MIL17/15/41/1). This is an introductory volume containing matter of a general nature giving an account of conditions in Mesopotamia, for the most part as they were before the First World War.
The volume includes a note on official use, a title page and 'Note'. There is a page of 'Contents' that includes the following chapters and sections:
- Chapter 1: Boundaries and Physical Features;
- Chapter 2: Climate;
- Chapter 3: Minerals;
- Chapter 4: Fauna and Flora;
- Chapter 5: Hygiene;
- Chapter 6: History;
- Chapter 7: Inhabitants;
- Chapter 8: Religions;
- Chapter 9: Administration;
- Chapter 10: Irrigation of Irak [Iraq];
- Chapter 11: Agriculture and Land Tenure;
- Chapter 12: Commerce and Industry;
- Chapter 13: Currency, Weights, and Measures;
- Chapter 14: Communications and Transport;
- Vocabularies;
- Index.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (282 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged in numbered chapters. There is a contents page and an alphabetically arranged index.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the first folio and terminates at the last folio; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of the folio.
Pagination: The volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish and Syriac in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/2
- Title
- 'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:556, ii-r:ii-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence