File 5655/1918 Pt 2 'Mesopotamia: Refugee Camp at Baqubah (1920 – papers)' [‎114r] (233/946)

B. 352.
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Xote on the Christian Communities .in and around Mesopotamia.
'/ ^ ,
A. Groups. Reference may be made to “ A Handbook of Mesopotamia”
(ID. Ill 8a), Vol. I., November 1918, prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and the
War Office, from which the following summary has been extracted. Vide especially
pp. 128-133.
The Christians are divided into three groups :—
I. Independent Asiatic Churches.
II. Uniate Churches—in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
III. Miscellaneous groups.
I. are divided into the following three classes :—
(a) Gregorian.
ib) Nestorian or East Syrian.
(c) Jacobite or West Syrian.
II. are divided into :—
(а) Armenian Uniate.
(б) Chaldean (East Syrian Uniates).
(c) Jacobite Uniates (West Syrian Uniates), officially called Syrian Catholics.
(J) Maronites.
B. Millets—These Churches were recognised as Millets by the Turkish Govern
ment, each with its civil head appointed by the Government, though in practice the
spiritual head of the Church was chosen. It is believed that all enjoyed this privilege,
though the official handbook only mentions I. (a), I. (6), I. (c), and II. (a) as Millets.
C. Geographical Position :—
I. (a) are to be found in Armenia and Mesopotamia. They have three “ Catholic! ”
in theory, the chief of whom is at Echmiadsin, near Erivan. They have also a
patriarch (a rank which in their Church is counted lower than Catholicos) who resides
in Constantinople for governmental business. The Catholici of Sis and Akhtamar are
merely titulars. The Gregorian Church is the National Church of Armenia.
(6) overlap the borders of Persia and Turkey : at Urmia, Julamerk, &c., in the
Hakkiari and Tiari districts of Turkish Kurdistan and the Urmia district of Persia.
Their patriarch resided near Julamerk in pre-war times.
(c) are scattered and to be found in North Syria, Diarbekr, Mardin ; also some
in Mosul and Baghdad.
They have a patriarch at Mardin and first bishop called “ Maphrian ” at Mosul.
II. (a) Mardin and elsewhere: chiefly in West Kurdistan and south-east Anatolia Peninsula that forms most of modern-day Turkey. .
Archbishop at Mardin.
(b) At and near Mosul; also Baghdad.
Patriarch at Mosul.
(c) At Iflarbekr, Syria, Mosul and Baghdad.
Patriarch at Baghdad, Antioch, or Uamascus (?).
(d) Lebanon.
D. History and Tenets :—
I. (a) Called after St. Gregory the Illuminator, who converted the main part of
the Armenian nation to Christianity between 250-330 A.D. The Armenian Church
gradually lost connection with the Byzantine Ecclesiastical organisation and doctrine
and became a national Armenian Church.
(6) A remnant of the great body of Nestorian Christians who in the Middle Ages
were to be found in many parts of Asia. Their doctrine dates back to the 5th century.
They were accused of holding that Christ was not one person, but two—divine and
human. This doctrine was condemned as a heresy at the Council of Ephesus
A.D. 431, and its adherents were forced to take refuge beyond the borders of the
Roman Empire. They then spread into Mesopotamia and Persia. They were
— persecuted by Tamberlane in 1400. A remnant lingered in the plains of Assyria,
near Mosul, and among the mountains south of Lakes Van and Urmia. In the
16th century the plain-dwellers joined the Church of Rome. They now dwell mostly
in the mountains. They deny that they are Nestorians in the heretic sense.