'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎226v] (457/862)

PEOPLE
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in 1918, survivors of the once widespread Nestorian church of
central Asia (p. 247), this has been the second largest church in Iraq.
Previously Nestorians were confined to the Barwar-i-Bala district
along the northern frontier of the Mosul vilayet (p. 383). The
church, which was established by the disciples of the theologian
Nestorius in the fifth century, retains forms of worship used at a
very early period in Christian history, including the most ancient
liturgy in Christendom. The head of the community is an hereditary
patriarch, the Mar Shimun, who is also the paramount chief. Each
village has its priest, who is allowed to marry. Nestorian fasts are
long and severe, the chief being in Advent (25 days) and throughout
Lent; there are weekly fasts on Fridays, and a 3-days fast at the end
of winter. Much was done to assist the Nestorians of Hakari before
1914 by an English mission sent by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
since when much interest has always been taken in them by English
men. Their recent political history is described on p. 312 ff.
The ‘Assyrians’, or Easterners as they call themselves, are a
tribally organized agricultural and pastoral people by origin, though
the pre-1914 Nestorians of Iraq had lost their tribal organization and
were known as Tayat. Like the Kurds, they have proved adequate
technicians and mechanics, and since 1941 the community has drawn
its livelihood mainly from service in the Levies and other employment
with the R.A.F. Their native and ecclesiastical language is Syriac,
though many speak Arabic (photo. 146).
Jacobites. This is a ‘monophysite’ community first organized by
Jacob Bardaeus in Syria and northern Mesopotamia in the sixth
century (p. 239). They use an ancient liturgy known as that of
St. James the Less and their liturgical and national language is
Syriac. Parish priests marry before ordination, but bishops are
celibates or widowers. The order of deacons is extensive and in
fluential, providing a link between laity and clergy, as many deacons
follow secular occupations. The head of the church is called Patriarch
of Antioch and has lived at Mosul since his expulsion from Tur
Abdin by the Turks in 1924. A second dignitary is the ‘Maphrian’ of
Mosul, or senior bishop. There are some monks, and there is a famous
monastery (Deir) at Mar Mattai in the Jabal Maqlub where the
great Jacobite scholar, Gregory Bar Hebraeus (1225-1286), is buried
(photo. 147). The Jacobites are a peasant people whose agricultural
villages are found in the Mosul plain and in Jabal Maqlub.
Syrian Catholics are Jacobites who became Uniates for much the
same reasons as the Chaldeans. Their head, another Patriarch of