An Annotated Succesion of Church of the East: From the Apostle Thomas
Seat of Apostle Toma (Thomas)
The Church of the East
These two Peter and Paul filled the history of the Church in the boundaries of the Roman Empire and more later. But there are at least 37 Apostolic Churches today which claim to have a direct line from Yeshua the Nazarene and the Apostles to this day. This like the lines of the sons of David run consecutively in history. In the fourth century AD Theodesius the Great ascended to the throne of the Roman Empire. He was the last ruler to rule over the whole empire. “He proclaimed the Catholic faith to be the state religion in 380 (56 years after the Council of Nicea in turkey). Just before he died he divided the Empire into East and West. The West had its capital in Rome and the East in Constantinople.
At that time the Church accepted the civic restructuring of the Empire and divided accordingly. In the civic restructuring each Empires was divided into diocese and each diocese had many provinces and each province many towns and villages.
“The Church accepted this civic restructuring. The ecclesiastical organization had the Patriarchate for a large part of the empire with one or more dioceses. The metropolitate for one province; and the bishopric for a well known town including the surrounding area”
In this administration the Western Empire had only one Patriarchate, that of Rome. The term Pope only coming in the sixth century. Just before the year 400 the Eastern Church was divided into five large administrative dioceses.
Alexandria, Antioch for the East, Constantinople (Pontus Asia minor and Thrace). In 451 the Council of Chalcedon separated out the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
We will follow one line in the Church of the East of those and this Church is called:
The Autocephalous Syro Chaldean Church of North America
It has branches in North America and in Jerusalem. It returned to Jerusalem only in the last twenty years under its present Bishop Mar Uzziah bar Evyon. We need to understand this well. This Church is a branch of the Church of the East. That is it is just as old as any Church on earth today but is completely independent or self governing. It has through it apostolic succession a direct link through the laying on of hand which Paul spoke about, and Moses practiced, to Yeshua the Mashiach. Praise be to Yahwah for preserving his witness, despite hundreds of years of persecution in the Muslim world, preceded by persecution in the Zoroastrian world in Persia, preceded by persecution in the Roman world by the Romans. The Mar (Lord in Aramaic, Bishop) sits in the seat of Toma. The language of the Church over the ages had been Aramaic. The very language Yeshua spoke when he was on the cross and cried “Eloi Eloi Lam Shevaqtani” The language Yeshua spoke when he said “Talitha Kumi” Little girl I say to you arise”. The gospel was preached in Aramaic and translated into Greek. The Church speaks the Aramaic of Yeshua. The Church is
“Autocepahalous and Syro-Chaldean in that it is totally self-governing and canonically independent daughter, in apostolic succession and liturgical heritage, of the Ancient Holy Apostolic and Catholic Church of the East. The Church had its ancient centers of authority in Syria and Mesopotamia (Chaldea,)” That is Syria including Antioch and Iraq, ancient Sumer where civilization first began. Just east of the Roman Empires was an Empire called the Parthian Empire. This Empire covered Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan Turkmenistan. Here we will not find the history of the Church under Roman Emperors but under Parthian rulers who followed the Zoroastrian religion whose first great ruler was Cyrus the Great. Then we will find the history of Christians under the Muslims not under the Roman Catholic. It is the Church of the East. This is the Church which brought the gospel to India and China, whose bishops were Chinese, Iranian, Arab or Iraqi. This is the Church with language of Aramaic whose main version of the scriptures were not Greek but Aramaic, the language of Yeshua and the Apostles.
We begin where Matthew and Luke leave off:
(1)Yeshua bar Eloah
Tooma Shlika of Yeshua Thomas the Apostle: 33-73 AD- The Apostle Thomas established Churches in Mesopotamia that is between the river Euphrates and the river Tigris in present day Iraq. This land is the land of the first civilizations established by men, the Sumerian civilization, established even before Noah flood. It is the land of Nimrod and the tower of Babel. It is also the land where Abraham originated and first received his call.
Thomas then continued Eastward into the Persian Empire. At that time actually the whole Empire to the east of the river Euphrates would have been the Parthian Empire. They were often at war with the Roman Empire. The languages of the Church established by Thomas in the East is Aramaic and their scripture is called the Peshitta. Says the Editor’s note to a modern edition of the Peshitta text
“ In the Mediterranean regions of the Roman Empire, the New Covenant writings of the Gospel, Acts and Epistles and Revelation were handed down in Greek , lingua franca of the West. In the Holy land, Syria, Mesopotamia, and other countries of the Parthian empires, these writings were circulated in Aramaic, lingua franca of the East.” We need to remember that Yeshua would have been with all twelve of the apostles as they spread the gospel even if the writings we have the in the New Covenant cover mainly Peter, James John and Paul and the Church as it ministered West of the River Euphrates, in Turkey, Greece, Italy and northern Africa. There are ample clues in the New Testament of the eastward movement of the apostolic witness but the story of the other apostles is preserved in Church traditions, written and unwritten. On the day of Pentecost the Parthians and their neighbors are the first group of people mentioned by Doctor Luke.
“And there were dwelling in at Jerusalem Jews, devout men , out of every nation under heaven…..And they were all amazed and marveled saying one to another , Behold are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every men in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthian, and Medes, and Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia”
So we see Luke starts by listing the Aramaic speaking communities of the East. The places he listed are the very regions the 10 lost tribes were taken to by the king of Assyria and the area where the tribe of Judah was deported by Nebuchadnezzar. Thus the gospel got to these eastern nation beyond the river Euphrates on Pentecost through tongues. There is no doubt about it the first Church of the East was a tongues talking Charismatic Church of devout Jews who heard Aramaic tongues in their own dialect of Aramaic.
Paul or taught everything orally and by writing saying at times in his letters, “Don’t you remember I told you these things when I was with you”.
The other ancient Jewish writings, such as the Talmud of Babylon were also written in Aramaic. It was also the case that the weekly sidrot and haftorah readings in the synagogues were commonly followed by an Aramaic commentary or paraphrase being read and these are called the Targumim.
“The Aramaic in which the Bible is written is called “Assahta Peshitta, known as the Peshitta text, is in the dialect of northwest Mesopotamia as it evolved and was a highly perfected in Orhai (Osrhoene), once a city-kingdom, later called Edessa by the Seleucids, and now called Urfa in Turkey. Haran, the city of Abraham’s brother Nahor , lies 38 kilometers south east of Orhai. The large colony of Orhai Jews, and the Jewish colonies in Assyria in the kingdom of Adiabene whose royal house had converted to Judaism, possessed most of the Bible in this dialect”. The queen of the kingdom of Adiabene, Shlomzion Hamalkha has a street named after her in present day Jerusalem, following on from King David street and leading to Zion square. Her kingdom was converted in the first century and was Jewish between 40 and 70 AD.
Thomas ministered in this region and sent Addai an apostle to minister in that kingdom. You can see the note in Addai below under number three in our list. Some of this kingdom became believers and used the Aramaic Tanakh and added the New Covenant and later deuterocanonical books.
After Thomas finished in Mesopotamia and Persia it has been brought down that he sold himself as a slave carpenter and caught a boat southern India. No doubt he would have caught the ship in southern Iran or Pakistan. And sailed south east along the Persian gulf, through the Gulf of Oman and south along the West Coast of India that is the Malabar Coast until he got to present day Keralla and Fort Cochin, in southern India.
In the south of India, tradition teaches that he established seven Churches in Keralla in south west India and then over in Madras on the southeast coast of India below the Bay of Bengal. Having established several Churches, he was martyred by being run through with a spear while in prayer. This occurred on a high hill outside Mylapore near Madras.
Another ancient tradition about where Thomas went in India, has him travelling to the north, the Punjab” (This is now the border with Pakistan and has the Sikh city of Amritsar, where they have their golden temple). “and preaching to Gundaphar, king of all Northern India”. This area Punjab is south of Afghanistan where there mountains are called the Hindu Kush mountains. It is reckoned that Thomas arrived in India in about 50-52 AD. This would be about the time the Apostle Paul was writing his letters to the Thessalonian Church to encourage them despite persecution. It would also have been after the council of Jerusalem, which took place in 49 AD where Yacov brother of Yeshua was presiding. Peter, Paul and Barnabus the main speakers and the rest of the Apostles including Thomas and Barnabus were present.
In my travels in Cochin I can say that they have the best Strawberry milkshakes in all of India. It is also the cleanest and most educated and most successful region of India. “There remains a Christian community in the Cochin area that, to this day looks back to Thomas.” It is quite feasible that Thomas went to both regions even as I did in 1997. If he could get his way all the way over to India , he would have no problem going north. “In recent years the previously unknown Gundaphar has become known to history as a great king living at precisely the time and place to the tradition.” No doubt Thomas like Paul went to the south of India and first witnessed to the Jews who were there. These Jews were lost tribes of Israel who had been moved East by Assyria at the fall of Israel. They were placed below the Caspian sea.
Yacov the brother of Yeshua was Bishop over seer of Jerusalem and physical Zion.
Bar Talmai Shlikha of Yeshua: 33- The Apostle Batholomew, according to tradition was an apostle to India and to Lycaonia and Armenia which is to the north East of Turkey. In the land of Lystra where Paul ministered in his first missionary journey they spoke the Lycaonian language and Armenia is the very part of the world where civilization re began after the flood in the days of Noah. Nearby here we find the mountains of Ararat.
The Seat of the Church in Edessa first Church plant Arbela
These two cities were west and east of the River Euphrates which acted generally as the moveable boundary between the Roman and the Parthian empires. The River Euphrates is the one most significant boundaries in the history of the Church from Abraham to this day. It is the north east boundary of the land promised to Abraham and is often referred in the scripture as the River. From it is the dominion of the king of Zion measured from the River Euphrates to the end of China, east from the river Euphrates to the UK west. He shall have dominion from The River to the ends of the earth. In the Apocalypse of Yohanan the River is mentioned at least twice. In the first case there are four angels bound there with a specific historical assignment for a specific point in time, this is the sixth trumpet. In the second it is a time when the River is died up. This is the sixth vial or bowl. The great river Euphrates is dried up ; and the water thereof was dried up; that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. The River Euphrates is in the land of Assyria from the days of Nimrod after Noah. This whole area includes the lands to which both exiles took place, the northern tribes of Israel and the southern tribes of the Kingdom of Judah. Since not all the families came back from the Babylonian and the Assyrian captivity is still onto this day, many of the sons of David and Israel live to the east of the river Euphrates in Assyrian lands and further east. Assyria is called the rod of Yahwah anger and is now Islam and its way of violence and terror. But Yahwah promises “And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand a second time to recover the remnant of his people from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam and from Shinar, and from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.”
Every one of these places mentioned is in the area of ministry connected with the Church of the East. Hid dominion will be from sea to sea. This are is covered if we move from the Mediterranean sea to the Black sea to the Caspian sea, to the Arabian sea to the Red sea. From Spain to China and Norway to South Africa. And the Islands of the sea, Ireland to Japan and Iceland to Madagascar.
Addai Shlikah Apostle Addai :33-45 AD Under the direction of Thomas, Addai preached the gospel in Orhai ( later Osrhoene) , the small Syriac speaking , Arabian buffer kingdom between the Roman Empire and Persia. The Church was founded in it’s capital Edessa which is modern Urfa in south west Turkey. This became on of the greatest centers of the Church of the Ease otherwise known as the Nestorian Church. It is brought down as a tradition that he died there after appointing his successor Aggai. Addai is also believed to have founded the Church in Nisibus and ministered in Mesopotamia proper as well. It is likely either that Addai was Thaddeus the Apostle or Thaddeus one of the seventy appointed by Yeshua.
Aggai (Haggai) bar Addai: 45-81 (one of the 70 commissioned by Yeshua) Haggai was one of the seventy appointed by Yeshua and succeeded Addai in Edessa as Timothy did Paul in Ephesus.
During this period in 62 AD Simeon I succeeded Yacov as Bishop of Jerusalem Zion.
(6) Mari: 48-81 Mari is also one of the Seventy and gave to the Eastern Church it’s major structure of worship or Liturgy along with Addai. In the Western Church they are remembered by a feast day. He did outreach to Adiabene a Persian kingdom neighboring Edessa in the east whose capital was Arbela which is modern Irbil in Iraq. Irbil is the only Assyrian city to be populated continually populated from ancient times to the present day. Addai and Mari are believed to have continued evangelistic outreach through the Persian Empire as far as the borders of India, modern day Pakistan.
Abris: 90-107: A relative of the Mary mother of Yeshua. So we have in our line here some one physically from the seed of David like Yeshua. And he is the three generation from Yeshua. Whilst he was ministering the Pharisees were meeting in Yavneh to work out how to keep the Torah of Moses with no Jerusalem and no temple. Unfortunately due to their rejection of Yeshua they had no prophets to guide them. Yohanan son of Zebedee was on Patmos somewhere between Greece and Turkey receiving a vision of the future of the world of Romans and the Parthians. And the future of the Church. Yohanan was on Patmos but his vision was clearly pointing eastward for he was told to write to the seven Churches eastward from him in Turkey. He had earlier on ministered in Ephesus. Domitian was ruling Rome and Herod Agrippa II over Judea.
The Odes of Solomon, the earliest Christian hymn book found to date, was discovered in 1909. It could possibly be from as early as 80 AD and includes psalms written to the glory of Mashiach. It also contains prophecies with Mashiach speaking in the first person and so it charismatic in its expression, showing the operation of prophecy in the early church in the midst of praise, even as to day.
Osrhoene was under Rome in those days for this whole area was the borderland between the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire.
The second bishop overseer of Arbela of Iraq, the Church planted by Addai and Mari was martyred by the Parthian Zoroastrian king Xosroes in 107. Eight years later the Romans invaded Adiabene and named it Assyria.
(8) Oraham I: 130-152 Native of Kashkar , a city in western China. Who
knows maybe Oraham (Abraham) was the first Chinese Bishop in the
Church. During his time Bar Kochba arose in Jerusalem and with the full support of the greatest Rabbi of the Talmud and that generation, convinced many Jews that he was the Mashiach. This caused the Jewish followers of Mashiach to withdraw from the battle because they were under the Spirit of Truth. Bar Kochba and Akiva initially had some successor and took Jerusalem for three and a half years, they even struck coins. But then as in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, the lie of rebellion was exposed and the Jewish kingdom crushed. Bar Kochba Son of the Star became Bar Kosiba son of the liar. And the Church and the Pharisaic Jews went there separate ways. You can almost here the Church of the Circumcision crying out to Rabbi Akiva and Bar Kochba the words of Abiyah son of Rehoboam
“And behold Elohim himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with the sounding of trumpets, to cry alarm against you. O Children of Israel, fight ye not against Yahwah your Elohim of your fathers; for ye shall not proper” But like Zedekyah before them Akiva and Bar Kochba refused to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit in the Church. As a result of them not knowing the things which were for their peace Jerusalem was renamed Aeolia Capitolina and Jews were banished from Israel. It was only in the Council of Nicea, central Turkey that Jerusalem regained it name and the Council of Chalcedon when it regain a high Authority in the Church.
(9) Yacob I : 171-190 a relative of Joseph the carpenter, earthly father of
Yeshua. So we move again the physical line of the sons of David, although we are following the spiritual line of the sons of Elohim. In the year 172 Tatian the Assyrian returned from a 20 year discipleship training course with Justin Martyr. He returned to the area of Adiabene of Iraq, whose capital is Arbela. There he founded a Bible school . His writings and teaching have had a profound and long-lasting effect on the Syriac Church. He wrote the famous Syriac harmony of the gospels called the Diatessaron.
This is a very important document because it is the first known translation of a major part of the New Testament into another language.
In AD 177 Abgar VIII ascended to the throne of Osrhoene (Edessa). He may have been a Christian , for though he was known as a “friend of Rome” he protected the Christians during the periods of Romen persecution of the Church.
Abgar close friend from his youth , Bardaisan, became a deacon in the Church. He wrote a book called the “Laws of Countries” and relates in it the testimony of when King Abgar came to faith. Bardaisan was born in Edessa on July 11th 154. He left Edessa after it was conquered by Caracalla in 216 and he moved to Armenia, he composed hymns and understood the heavens.
“And what shall we say of the new race of us Anointed ones, whom the Anointed one at his advent placed in every country and in every region? For lo, wherever we are, we are called after the one name the Anointed one- namely Anointed ones. On one day the first day of the week we assemble our selves together….The brethren who are in Gaul do not take males for wives, nor those in Parthia two wives; nor do those in Judea circumcise themselves, nor do those who are our sisters who are among those in Geli consort with strangers; nor do those of our brethren who are in Persia take there daughters for wives, nor do those in Media abandon their dead or bury them alive, or give them as food to dogs, nor do those who are in Edessa kill their wives who commit adultery, nor their sisters, but they with draw from them, and give them over to the judgement of Elohim; nor do those who are in Hatra stone thieves to death; but wherever they are, and in whatever place they are found the laws of several countries do not hinder them from obeying the law of Mashiach nor does the Fate of celestial governors compel them to make use of things they regard impure”
(A treasury of Early Christianity, Anne Freemantle page 290.
Bardaisan mentioned the conversion of King Abgar in his book and a second witness to this event was Roman historian, Sextus Justus Africanus who visited Edessa, capital of Orhai in AD 195.He refers to Abgar as a holy man which was an unsual comment about Osrhoenians whom Romans usually regarded as deceitful people. It is possible that from this time Edessa was a Christian kingdom
During this period the Charismatic prophet Melito, Bishop of Sardis was also writing. He wrote some beautiful poetic pieces on the Crucifixion of Yeshua.
“Hear ye beloved; thus the mystery of the Pesach is new and old
eternal and transient, corruptible and incorruptible, mortal and immortal.
It is old according to the Torah
But new according to the word
Transient according to the world, but eternal through grace…
Ancient is the word…
Around AD 180 or 190 after the death John Mark the evangelist and co worker of Peter Barnabus (also his cousin) and Paul, Pantaenus of Alexandria was sent to India, by Demetrius Bishop of Alexandria. This was in response to a request that from India for a deputation. He reported on his return to Alexandria that he had met Christians in India that had the gospel of Matthew in Hebrew or Aramaic. The gospel was taken there by Batholomew when he was evangelizing in India. Pantaneaus set up a bible school in Alexandria and was the greatest scholar of his day and had Clement of Alexandria and Origen as his disciples. From him they learned much about the Indians.
(10) Ebed Meshikha: 191-203 In the year 201 it is recorded in the Chronicles of Edessa in Turkey that there was a great flood which destroyed the palace of King Abgar. This is believed to be the earliest historical record of a Church building. . I n the earlier decades the Church had met in house as we see in the New Testament or in lecture halls or large house converted for worship.
(11)Akhu D’awu: 205-220
Church under the Zoroastrian Sassanids of Persia
Shakhlupa:224-244 Of Kaskar in the west of China. In 226 there was a change of government. The Parthians fell to the Persian Sassinids. They appeared to be indifferent to Christianity but became persecutors of the Church. They ruled for about four hundred years.
The Chronicles of Arbela in Iraq the daughter Church of Edessa in Turkey report more than twenty bishops in the Persian empire with jurisdictions from the mountains of Kurdistan which are in the west of Iran and the east of Turkey and the north of Iraq, to the Caspian Sea in the West.
During this period the Didache or the Teaching of the twelve Apostles was written in Syriac. It was written by a bishop living between Antioch now in southern Turkey (then in Northern Syria) and Edessa. It is the oldest manual of church order existent. Although it was composed in the Roman Empire it spread through out the Persian Empire.
The prophet Mani arose during this period and his message spread east to Chin and produced the Manicheans.
The Seat Moves to Seleucia Ctesiphon 20 miles south of Baghdad
Papa bar Gaggai: 247 or 285-326: He was the first to hold the title Catholicos which means holder of all. He was the first holder of the see of Seleucia Ctesiphon, about twenty miles south of Baghdad and fifty miles north of ancient Baghdad. His consecrators were Bishops of Arbela and Susa. To this day the Catholicos of the East has been named primate (Chief bishop in a province) of Seleucia- Ctesiphon.
Papa sought to bring all the Bishoprics into submission to him because he was bishop of the capital city. He called a council to settle the issue. He was rebuked by his consecrator Bishop miles. In flew into anger and pounded on the gospel saying let the gospel speak. As he did so he suffered from a paralyzing stroke. This was considered the judgement of Yahwah and he was removed from office and replaced. The need for one head was seen and the Catholicos continues to this day.
A persecution broke out against Mani. It spilled over to the Church. And in the Syriac, Acts of the Martyrs, this is called the first great persecution.
In 301 Tiridat I King of Armenia converted to Christianity. It is from this that Armenia lays claim to be the first Christian kingdom. As Osrhoene has ceased to be a kingdom or a people Armenia may claim to be the first Christian nation still in existence.
Around 306 Ephrem the Syrian considered by the some the greatest hymn writer in existence was born in Nisibus. In 363 he moved to Edessa which was under Roman rule at the time.
In 313 Constantine ascended the throne of Rome and stopped the persecution of the Christians in the Roman Empire not east of the River Euphrates. And in 325 he convened the council of Nicea in the middle of Turkey. In this council Jerusalem got its name back.
Shapur I died and a Zoroastrian priest Katir, rose to a position of authority.
Shimun Bar Sabbai: 326-341 Under Shapur II a forty year persecution of the Church began. Shapur was at war with Byzantine and imposed a severe tax on the Christians as a means to wages the war and crush the Christian community which was growing steadily.
Shimun bar Sabbai the Catholicos refused to impose the tax on his people and so was accused of being friends with Rome and traitors to the empire.
He was martyred outside of Susa on Good Friday (339, 341 or 345) 5 bishops and one hundred priest were executed and later on Shimon’s sister.
The period from 340-363 and 379 is known as the Great Persian Persecution. It ended with the Death of Shapur II and the death of 16000 named victims and countless whose names were not recorded. It would appear the spirit of murder jumped from Rome to Persian.
Shahdost: 344-345 Shahdost was martyred under Shapur II
Bar Bashmin: 345-346 Tortured and beheaded with many others.
Here they followed a break in the Catholicus but not in the Apostolic succession – there were other bishops to continue that. This was because of the severe persecution the Church suffered in the Persian empire.
Tomarsa: 364-373 In 370 Ephrem celebrated the translation of the bones of Thomas from India to Edessa.
“I stirred up death, the devil howled
but now I am struck all the harder
The Apostle whom I slew in India
Has overtaken me in Edessa”
Qaiyuma: 372-380 Persecution renewed.
Eskhaq: 399-410 A respite from persecution with peace being brought on the Church through the diplomatic support of Mar Maruta. He was sent by the Emperor of Rome to Yezdegard Shah of Iran from 399-410. Yezdegard gave permission for a Synod to be held at Seleucia Cstiphon. Here his Edict of Toleration was read with great rejoicing even as the Western Church was mourning at the fall of Rome to Alaric the Goth. The Shah’s approval for the appointment of successors to the Catholicos was agreed to. Bishops were given official status in the realm. Yezdegard I never embraced Christianity but like Cyrus before him, caused many churches to be rebuilt.
The decrees of the council of Nicea and Council of Constantinople were published and accepted in the council of 410. They are considered the only Ecumenical councils by the Church of the East. The Nicene creed is accepted as the main creedal statement of the faith. The Church also asserted its right to govern itself and not be governed from the Roman Empire. By 431 language and political barriers had permanently separated the Catholic Church in the Persian Empire from the Catholic Church in the West.
Akhi (Akha, Ahai): 411-414
Yoalah I (Yaballaha): 415-420 In 420 the last of Yezdegard reign he who had been a friend of the Church turned to persecution and out did Shapur II in ferocity if not numbers. In 420 a council was called by Yoalah where the canons of Western councils were accepted.
Maana: 420 Maana was banished by the Shah for refusing to rebuke Christians who had burned a Zoroastrian fire temple.
Qarabukht: 421: Forced on the Church by the Shah and was deposed.
Dad Ishu: 421-456 In 422 the war with the Byzantines ended and with it the persecution of the Church. Freedom of religion was declared in both empires for Christians and Zoroastrians. He was imprisoned for being pro Roman and while he was there a Pseudo Catholicos sought to make an alliance with the anti Christian Zoroastrians. Upon his release he refused to govern the Church and went to the mountains to mourn the spiritual fall of the Church of Elohim. Only the persistence of 36 weeping bishops convinced to convene a council to reform the Church.
He was called a Patriarch equal to any one in the West. This was at the council of Markabda, in 424, the third council(previously 410, 420) of the Church of the East.
Upon the death of VarahanV 438-9 persecution swept the land. Yezdegard II started his reign by declaring war on the Byzantines. The war was short and inclusive but the persecution remained. The worst years of the persecution were 445 –448. In the latter year in Kirkuk , a horrendous massacre occurred . 10 bishops and 153000 clergy and laity were slaughtered on a mound outside of town over a period of several days. The Persian executor Tamasgerd, was so moved by the steadfastness of Christians that he finally joined them to be baptized in his own blood.
With in the Byzantine Empire, the 3rd Ecumenical council in the West’s mind, that of Ephesus, condemned Nestorius 431, the Patriarch of Constantinople for the heresy that came to bear his name. For centuries he bore this stigma in the west, his own writings had all been destroyed.
In 1889 a Syrian Priest discovered an 800 year old manuscript of a Syriac translation of Nestorius own account of his conflicts. This manuscript of the Bazaar of Heracliedes, had bee mad about 540. Modern scholarship has come to recognize that Nestorius was much more orthodox than credited.
Coming from a Syrian background and using Aramaic language and being strongly influenced by Theodore Mopsuesta , used terminology that did not translate well into Greek.
The Church of the East was not represented at the council of Ephesus and never accepted its statements. Or any other councils since.
Nestorius was never condemned in the East. Add to this the fact that they used the same terminology as Nestorius , they became know as the Nestorian Church. A complete misnomer. It was not Nestorian in doctrine nor did Nestorius ever rule in it. His jurisdictions were all with in the Byzantine realm.
Bawai I: 457-484
Aqaq: 484-496 In 486 Acacias convened the fourth general council of the Church of the East. This condemned monphyticism and confirmed Nestorius position that Mashiach had two natures. It also confirmed the fact that Christians had the right to marry no matter whether they were laity, priests or bishops. It was special because the four main prelates of the Church maintained the unity despite differing positions. They were Papius of Beit Lapat, Barsauma of Nisibus Acacius and maintained relations with Byzantine.
Bawai II: 496-502 Assumed title Catholicos- Patriarchate as the title of the main Primate of the Church of the East.
Shila (Silas): 505-523 In 519 in Yemen the Church was persecuted. Two thousand were forced into a Church so they couldn’t breath and the church was set on fire.
Elisha: 524- 538 Narsai: 524-535 Elisha appointed by his father. But bishops didn’t accept it and appointed Narsai.
Polos (Paul): 539-540
Aba I: 540-552 A convert from Zoroastrian. Made a pilgrimage
Yosip (Yoseph): 552-567
Khazqiyil (Ezekiel): 570-581
Eshuyow I Arzunaya (Yeshuyab or Yeshua has given):
581-595
Sorishu I (Garmaqaya (Sabr Ishu, Hope of Yeshua): 596-604
Grehgor, Partaya: 605-608
Eshuyow II Gdalaya : AD 628-644, of Arabic origin. Sent by a Persian imperial family to sue for peace with Rome and Negotiated with Mohammad the first agreement for the favorable status of the Church of the East under Islam. He created the first Metropolinate of India and sent the first known mission to China (Peking). During his Patriarchate there began a revitalization of the Church and a flowering of Evangelism.
And in this period did the locust of Islam arise even as it was prophesied in the book of 2 Esdras the fifteenth chapter saying
“Behold a terrifying sight , appearing from the east
the nation of the dragons of Arabia , shall come out with many chariots. And from the day of that they set out , their hissing shall spread over the earth. So that all who hear them fear and tremble. Also the Carmenians, raging in wrath shall go forth like wild boars of the forest, and with great wrath they shall come and engage them in battle, and shall devastate a portion of the land of the Assyrians with their teeth.
And then the dragons remembering their origin
Shall become stronger; and they shall combine in power and turn and pursue them, then shall they be disorganized and silenced by their power” And this can be read in the King James Bible in the 1611 edition wherein is preserved the Apocrypha.
And the Locusts of Arabia came forth even as fore shown by the Midianites (Arabs) in the times of Gideon who came upon the land of Israel like Locusts and as revealed in the Apocalypse of John the fifth trumpet. And let the reader read A. Elliots Horae Apocalypse and gain understanding of the fifth trumpet.
With the coming of Mohamed we enter the fifth trumpet of the Apocalyse of Yohanan.
And the locusts were the armies of the Saracens, and the five months were from 612 to 762 AD approximately. And the scorpion power was the mistreatment and despising of the Christians. “And the command not to hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing” was given in the Koran and was Islamic war policy. And those men without the seal were the idolaters, for they were supposed to leave the people of the book alone. And they did not kill the civilization but did torment it. And the crowns of gold were turbans, and the hair of women was their long hair held by the turbans and the face of men were their beards. And their teeth of lions was their great aggressiveness and bold speeches even unto this day. And their king was Abbadon and where they spread so the desert spread with them. And it can be seen in North Africa.
And the interpretation was historical chronologist and not futurist.
And the interpretation was with John Wesley and some great
reformers of the Western Church.
(40) Immeh
(41) Eshuyow III Kdayawa
(42) Gewargis I : 661-680 The Church suffered persecution under
the Ummayad Caliph Muawiyyah. Mar Gewargis was
imprisoned and many churches destroyed.
(43) Yokhanan I, Bar Marta
(44) Khnanishu I (The mercy of Yeshua)
(45) Yokhanan II Garba
(46) Sliwazkha (The victory of the cross)
(47) Pathyon : 737 Caliph Mahdi decreed that all churches built
since the Muslim conquest be destroyed. Some 5000 Christians
were forced to convert to Islam or die.
(48) Awa
(49) Surin: 752 -754 Was deposed by the new caliph Mansur, the
second of the Abbasid dynasty.
(50) Yacob II : In 762 The Physical seat of the Catholicos- Patriarch
was moved to Baghdad
(51) Khnanishu II
(52) Timotheus I : In 781 a monument, known as the Nestorian
monument was erected in China to commemorate 150 years of
Christianity in China. We remember in was in the reign of
Eshow II that a mission was sent to China, just as the 10 headed
Dragon of Psalm 83 was beginning to encroach on Christianity. The monument was discovered by the Jesuits in 1625 and was still in good condition. It document the early spread of Christianity in China during the Tang dynasty. On the monument is the across above some clouds and a lotus blossom to show the superiority of the cross over the 10 headed dragon and Buddhism. Chinese Christianity may be a key to the defeat of the 10 headed beast and the conversion of its captives.
(53) Eshu Bar Non AD 820-824
(54) Gewargis II: AD 825-832
(55) Soreshu II: AD 832-836
(56) Oraham II Margaya: 837-850 During this period Wu Tsung ,
Emperor of China set about to destroy Buddhism. This was also
the period of Christian missions there. Christianity in the
Chinese mind was equated to Buddhism because of it monks
and monasteries and was eliminated.
(57) Teadasis: 850-852 During this Patriarchate Caliph Mutawakkil
imprisoned the Patriarch on charges of being a Byzantine spy.
He also decreed that Christians wore identifying badges,
(58) Sargis, Suwaya AD 860-872
(59) Annush D’beth Garmay: AD 873-884
(56) Yokhanan III Bar Narsai: AD 884-892
(57) Yokhanan IV: 892-898 : Nephew of Theodosis
(58) Yokhanan V: 900-905 Bar Ogare
(59)Oraham III Abraza: 906-937
(60) Ammanoel I: 937-949
(61) Esrail Karkhaya: 961-962
(62) Odishu Garmaqaya: 963-986 Servant of Yeshua
(63) Mari Aturaya: 967-1000
(64) YokhananVI: 1000-1012
(65) Yokhanan VII: 1013-1022 Bar Nuzuk In 1014 during the reign
of Caliph Qadr, the Church was persecuted , buildings were
destroyed , the people tortured and murdered.
(66) Eshuyow IV bar Khazqiyil: 1023-1027 During his reign Kurds attacked Edessa and took 3000 captive.
(67) Elia I, terhan: 1028-1049
(68) Yokhanan VIII bar Tragala:1049-1057 Togrul Berg the Turk
first crossed the river Euphrates and we enter Trumpet 6 of the
Apocalypse of Yohanan
(69) Sorishu III Bar Zanbur: 1057-1072
(70) Odishu II bar Ars, Aturaya: 1072-1090
(71) Makkika I, bar Ars, Aturaya:1072-1109 Lowly one son of
Solomon
(72) Elia II , Bar Maqli:1111-1132
(73) Bar Soma of Suwa:1133-1135
(74) Bar Gabbara:1135-1136
(75) Odishu III:1138-1147 Nephew of Elia II
(76) Eshuyow V from Bath Zodia, Baladaya : 1148-1175
(77) Elia III, Abukhalim: 1176-1190
(78) Yoalaha II, Bar Qaiyuma:1191-1222 “During this period the
Mongols began there conquests of east northern and central Asia. Jenghiz Khanbegan his conquests in 1206 and continued until his death in 1227. The Mongols, for the most part (until Tamur Lenk) were not hostile to Christians.” Indeed their number included many Christians. Jenghiz Khan had a Christian wife, and the mother of his grandson Kublai Khan, who became emperor of China was also a Christian. Jenghiz Khan treated all religions equally and Christians were caught up in the slaughter.
(79) Sorishu IV: 1222-1226
(80) Sorishu V: 1226-1256, from Baghdad. Jenghis Khan was
succeeded by his son Ogotai Khan. He took his conquests into
Europe and overran Poland and Hungary. He was succeeded by
the election of his Guyuk to be ruler of the Mongols.
Guyuk was a professing Christian and immediately brought an
End to the massacres and devastation that had characterized the
two reigns mentioned. The fact of his faith is probably the single
most important factor in sparing Christian Europe from
destruction at the hand of Mongol armies.
(81) Makikkikha II: 1257-1265 In 1258 the seat of the Catholicus-
Patriarch was moved to Mosul. During that same year , Hulaku
Khan had one of every 20 Christian man and his family put to
death in the city of Tiktrit.
(82) Dinkha I : 1265-1281 In 1268 the Sultan of Egypt slew all
Christians men in Syrian Antioch and had the Churches torn
down. He also took many children into captivity.
(83) Yoalaha III, Bar Turkaye: 1281-1318 Yahbalaha Morkos
Yoalaha “Son of the Turks” was the son of an Uighur (a mongol Tribe) archdeacon. He was born in Koshang, northern China. Around 1255 he went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem with another monk, Bar Sauma. Because of fighting , they were unable to get to Jerusalem so returned to Baghdad where they settled. He was raised to Patriarchate in 1281.
In 1287, Argun, II Khan of Persia sent Rabban bar Sauma, under Yoalaha , on a mission to Western Europe to seek an alliance against the 10 headed dragon of Psalm 83. He met with Andronicus II, Paleogus, Emperor of Byzantium, Philip IV of France and Edward I of England. Because of the press of internal affairs, none were interested.
In 1289, Kurds attacked over 70 Assyrian Christian villages, killing over 500 men and taking over 1000 children captive.
In 1295 the Mongol, Kazan Khan, ordered the destruction of all the Churches of Mesopotamia. Yoalaha was imprisoned and tortured by Arab’s carrying out the Khan’s orders.
In 1297 Ala al din, son of a Mongol, massacred the Christian inhabitants of the city of Amedia and burned the churches. He took over 12000 into captivity.
In 1310 Arabs, with Mongol assistance, captured Arbela and slew all inhabitants that could not be sold into slavery. Many died of starvation in the siege that took place.
And did not the Church see the error of her leaders getting involved in the politics of war?
(84) Timotheus II, Arbilaya: With Timotheus a Hereditary
Patriarchate began. The office of the Catholicos was passed from Uncle to Nephew. This was continued until 1976 when the present Catholicos was elected by the Episcopal college.
(85) Dinkha II: 1329- 1359
(86)Dinkha III: 1359-1364
(87)Shimun III: 1365-1392 During this time , the Mongol Timur
Lenk , rejecting Christianity and embracing Islam , launched a war of extermination against the Church. Within a generation the Church of the East. Numbering 84 million souls at its peak, was reduced to about two million. These were scattered and isolated in Southern India and Kurdestan (Eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq and Northwestern Iran).
Timur Lenk established his power in 1369 after thirteen years he had established his rule through central Asia. Including Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iran. Examples of his policy are the pyramid of 70,000 heads after taking the city of Isfahan in Iran and the 90,000 head pyramid on the ruins of Baghdad. And his total destruction of the Christian city of Tikrit after a weeks long siege, some 72,000 souls.
( Shimun III: 1403- 1407
(88)1437: Elia IV
Shimun IV, Basidi: 1437-1497: He began a new hereditary Patriarchate with in the Bar Mama (Abuna) family, known as the Patriarchate of Hormizd after the monastery where he lived and where he and many of his line were buried.
During the period the Constanopolis the head of Grek Christianity, indeed the greatest city in Christianity was conquered by the Turkish Muslims. This city was the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople considered second only to Rome by some church authorities. This was the end of the Eastern Roman Empire. The West ended in 476 with the attack of Attila the Hun.
“Loose the four angels”
These were Ottoman Turks who destroyed the Eastern part of the Roman empire in 1453. It fell just 396 years and 118 days from when the Seljuk Turk Togrul Berg first crossed the river Euphrates in 1057. And so was fulfilled the decree of Yahwah “Loose the four angels, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay a third part of men” And the Roman Empire had been considered as three parts. The East, the West and Illycrium which passed from East to West. And now was the Eastern third part of men destroyed. And it was counted upon the principle of a day for a year in some prophecies, as with Ezekiel laying on his side 390 days for the 390 years of the sin of Israel and 40 days for the 40 years of the sin of Judah. And as Church in the wilderness who were punished forty years for the forty days the spies spent searching the land. And the calculation was as follows,
“a day” equals 1 year, and a month equals 30 days equals 30 years. For in the revelation 1260 days is also 42 months, that is 30 days a month.
An “hour” is seen as one twelfth of a day even as Yeshua taught “are there not 12 hours in a day?” Even as it is so during the spring and autumn equinoxes. One twelfth of a day is one twelfth of a year in the Apocalypse that is 30 days.
And the “year” In the revelation it is said by A M Elliot in his Horae Apocalypse that the word in the Greek here is not the normal word for year in revelation. Rather it is a words which mean “That which returns back on itself. That is it is one cycle of the sun. That is 365.24 days.
And the total is so 365.24+30+1=396 years 90 days for 0.24 +30 days for the hour. That is 396 years and 120 days.
And it was seen that the Seljuk Turk crossed the river Euphrates in 1057. We add 396 years and we come to 1453 and this is the year when the Eastern Roman Empire fell to the Muslims. Yea and the description of the Turkish war and dress can be seen in the Apocalypse of John the 9th chapter the 6th trumpet and is explained in Horae Apocalypse.
This period is also the time of the discovery of the new world, Christopher Columbus was floating across the Atlantic from August 1492. At the same time King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela of Spain had just completed the defeat of the Muslims and in and Spain was reconquered for the Catholic Church. As a result they banished all from other religions seeking to make Spain Catholic completely. This led to many mystical Jewish Rabbis making a pilgrimage to the Israel and specifically they settled in Safed. From them came the Lurianic Kaballah and the Zohar.
Shimun V: 1497-1502 In 1500 the Portuguese arrived in India , beginning a period of tumultous relations between the Church of the East in India already and the Church of Rome. The first Roman missionaries were Franciscans who worked among non Christian Indians, and for the most part left the Ancient Christian community alone.
Elia V: 1502-1504
Shimun VI: 1504-1538 From this point on to 1976 all Catholicos-Patriarchs of the Church of the East are named Shimun, generally with another name preceding, but the number referring to the generation of Shimun.
This is also the period in the Church of the West when the Reformation took place. The Reformation was linked to the down fall of Constatinopolis in this wise. As the Muslims came in the Greek intellectuals fled to the East. They took with them the New Testament in Greek. Erasmus got hold of it and Theodore Beza and others and began to develop manuscript edition. It was when Martin Luther was reading the Greek that he noticed the errors in the Latin Vulgate of the Roman Catholics. Great Byzantine fell but the Holy Roman Empire of Western Europe continued in sin. The Apocalypse spoke to this situation in ninth chapter:
“And the rest of men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver and brass, and stone and of wood. Which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Neither repented they of their murders (inquisition), nor of their sorceries nor of their thefts” Rev 9
Ehuyow Shimon VIII: 1538-1558 During this period the Patriarchal see was moved from Alkosh, near Mosul Iraq, to Azerbaijan province in north western Iran. It was then moved to Qudshanis , Hakkari , in Turkish Kurdistan. The remnant of the Church hung on in the far mountains of Kurdistan, enduring severe persecution down to and including the present. The Patriarchal see remained in isolated areas until many Chaldeans fled from Turkish persecutions to the United States of American during World War I. At that time the see was translated to San Fransciso
Yolaha Shimun VIII: 1572-1580
Dinkha Shimun IX:1580-1600:
Elia Shimun X:1600-1638
Eshuyow Shimun XI : 1638-1656
Yoalaha Shimun XII:1656-1662
Dinkha Shimun XII:1662-1700
Shlemon Shimun XIV: 1700-1740
Mikhail Shimun XV mukhattis: 1740-1780
Yokhanan Shimun: XVI 1780-1820
Oraham Shimun XVII: 1820-1860
Ruwil Shimun XVII: 1860-1903
Binyamin Shimun XIX :1903-1918
Polos Shimun XX: 1918-1920
Eshai Shimun XXI: 1920-1975
Dinkha IV:1975-
And it is the case that another was started by Ruwil Shimon XVII which led the back to Jerusalem where indeed it started
(104a) Ruwil Shimun XVII: 1860-1903
(105a) Mar Abdisho Antonius: 17-12-1862 Metropolitan of the Syro
Chaldeans Christians of Malabar India
(106a) Mar Basilius :24-07-1899
(107a) Mar Jacobus: 30-11-1902
(108a) Mar Paulos: 28-02-1925
(109a) Mar Georgius: 18-10-1931
(110a) Mar Charles D. Boltwood
(111a) Mar Yokhanan 3-May-1959
(112a) Mar Jacobus 5-March-1969
(113a) Mar Uzziah bar Evyon 31-10-1976
And the Mar Uzziah bar Evyon break’s bread in Jerusalem, every week to this day.
The Church of the East
These two Peter and Paul filled the history of the Church in the boundaries of the Roman Empire and more later. But there are at least 37 Apostolic Churches today which claim to have a direct line from Yeshua the Nazarene and the Apostles to this day. This like the lines of the sons of David run consecutively in history. In the fourth century AD Theodesius the Great ascended to the throne of the Roman Empire. He was the last ruler to rule over the whole empire. “He proclaimed the Catholic faith to be the state religion in 380 (56 years after the Council of Nicea in turkey). Just before he died he divided the Empire into East and West. The West had its capital in Rome and the East in Constantinople.
At that time the Church accepted the civic restructuring of the Empire and divided accordingly. In the civic restructuring each Empires was divided into diocese and each diocese had many provinces and each province many towns and villages.
“The Church accepted this civic restructuring. The ecclesiastical organization had the Patriarchate for a large part of the empire with one or more dioceses. The metropolitate for one province; and the bishopric for a well known town including the surrounding area”
In this administration the Western Empire had only one Patriarchate, that of Rome. The term Pope only coming in the sixth century. Just before the year 400 the Eastern Church was divided into five large administrative dioceses.
Alexandria, Antioch for the East, Constantinople (Pontus Asia minor and Thrace). In 451 the Council of Chalcedon separated out the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
We will follow one line in the Church of the East of those and this Church is called:
The Autocephalous Syro Chaldean Church of North America
It has branches in North America and in Jerusalem. It returned to Jerusalem only in the last twenty years under its present Bishop Mar Uzziah bar Evyon. We need to understand this well. This Church is a branch of the Church of the East. That is it is just as old as any Church on earth today but is completely independent or self governing. It has through it apostolic succession a direct link through the laying on of hand which Paul spoke about, and Moses practiced, to Yeshua the Mashiach. Praise be to Yahwah for preserving his witness, despite hundreds of years of persecution in the Muslim world, preceded by persecution in the Zoroastrian world in Persia, preceded by persecution in the Roman world by the Romans. The Mar (Lord in Aramaic, Bishop) sits in the seat of Toma. The language of the Church over the ages had been Aramaic. The very language Yeshua spoke when he was on the cross and cried “Eloi Eloi Lam Shevaqtani” The language Yeshua spoke when he said “Talitha Kumi” Little girl I say to you arise”. The gospel was preached in Aramaic and translated into Greek. The Church speaks the Aramaic of Yeshua. The Church is
“Autocepahalous and Syro-Chaldean in that it is totally self-governing and canonically independent daughter, in apostolic succession and liturgical heritage, of the Ancient Holy Apostolic and Catholic Church of the East. The Church had its ancient centers of authority in Syria and Mesopotamia (Chaldea,)” That is Syria including Antioch and Iraq, ancient Sumer where civilization first began. Just east of the Roman Empires was an Empire called the Parthian Empire. This Empire covered Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan Turkmenistan. Here we will not find the history of the Church under Roman Emperors but under Parthian rulers who followed the Zoroastrian religion whose first great ruler was Cyrus the Great. Then we will find the history of Christians under the Muslims not under the Roman Catholic. It is the Church of the East. This is the Church which brought the gospel to India and China, whose bishops were Chinese, Iranian, Arab or Iraqi. This is the Church with language of Aramaic whose main version of the scriptures were not Greek but Aramaic, the language of Yeshua and the Apostles.
We begin where Matthew and Luke leave off:
(1)Yeshua bar Eloah
Tooma Shlika of Yeshua Thomas the Apostle: 33-73 AD- The Apostle Thomas established Churches in Mesopotamia that is between the river Euphrates and the river Tigris in present day Iraq. This land is the land of the first civilizations established by men, the Sumerian civilization, established even before Noah flood. It is the land of Nimrod and the tower of Babel. It is also the land where Abraham originated and first received his call.
Thomas then continued Eastward into the Persian Empire. At that time actually the whole Empire to the east of the river Euphrates would have been the Parthian Empire. They were often at war with the Roman Empire. The languages of the Church established by Thomas in the East is Aramaic and their scripture is called the Peshitta. Says the Editor’s note to a modern edition of the Peshitta text
“ In the Mediterranean regions of the Roman Empire, the New Covenant writings of the Gospel, Acts and Epistles and Revelation were handed down in Greek , lingua franca of the West. In the Holy land, Syria, Mesopotamia, and other countries of the Parthian empires, these writings were circulated in Aramaic, lingua franca of the East.” We need to remember that Yeshua would have been with all twelve of the apostles as they spread the gospel even if the writings we have the in the New Covenant cover mainly Peter, James John and Paul and the Church as it ministered West of the River Euphrates, in Turkey, Greece, Italy and northern Africa. There are ample clues in the New Testament of the eastward movement of the apostolic witness but the story of the other apostles is preserved in Church traditions, written and unwritten. On the day of Pentecost the Parthians and their neighbors are the first group of people mentioned by Doctor Luke.
“And there were dwelling in at Jerusalem Jews, devout men , out of every nation under heaven…..And they were all amazed and marveled saying one to another , Behold are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every men in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthian, and Medes, and Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia”
So we see Luke starts by listing the Aramaic speaking communities of the East. The places he listed are the very regions the 10 lost tribes were taken to by the king of Assyria and the area where the tribe of Judah was deported by Nebuchadnezzar. Thus the gospel got to these eastern nation beyond the river Euphrates on Pentecost through tongues. There is no doubt about it the first Church of the East was a tongues talking Charismatic Church of devout Jews who heard Aramaic tongues in their own dialect of Aramaic.
Paul or taught everything orally and by writing saying at times in his letters, “Don’t you remember I told you these things when I was with you”.
The other ancient Jewish writings, such as the Talmud of Babylon were also written in Aramaic. It was also the case that the weekly sidrot and haftorah readings in the synagogues were commonly followed by an Aramaic commentary or paraphrase being read and these are called the Targumim.
“The Aramaic in which the Bible is written is called “Assahta Peshitta, known as the Peshitta text, is in the dialect of northwest Mesopotamia as it evolved and was a highly perfected in Orhai (Osrhoene), once a city-kingdom, later called Edessa by the Seleucids, and now called Urfa in Turkey. Haran, the city of Abraham’s brother Nahor , lies 38 kilometers south east of Orhai. The large colony of Orhai Jews, and the Jewish colonies in Assyria in the kingdom of Adiabene whose royal house had converted to Judaism, possessed most of the Bible in this dialect”. The queen of the kingdom of Adiabene, Shlomzion Hamalkha has a street named after her in present day Jerusalem, following on from King David street and leading to Zion square. Her kingdom was converted in the first century and was Jewish between 40 and 70 AD.
Thomas ministered in this region and sent Addai an apostle to minister in that kingdom. You can see the note in Addai below under number three in our list. Some of this kingdom became believers and used the Aramaic Tanakh and added the New Covenant and later deuterocanonical books.
After Thomas finished in Mesopotamia and Persia it has been brought down that he sold himself as a slave carpenter and caught a boat southern India. No doubt he would have caught the ship in southern Iran or Pakistan. And sailed south east along the Persian gulf, through the Gulf of Oman and south along the West Coast of India that is the Malabar Coast until he got to present day Keralla and Fort Cochin, in southern India.
In the south of India, tradition teaches that he established seven Churches in Keralla in south west India and then over in Madras on the southeast coast of India below the Bay of Bengal. Having established several Churches, he was martyred by being run through with a spear while in prayer. This occurred on a high hill outside Mylapore near Madras.
Another ancient tradition about where Thomas went in India, has him travelling to the north, the Punjab” (This is now the border with Pakistan and has the Sikh city of Amritsar, where they have their golden temple). “and preaching to Gundaphar, king of all Northern India”. This area Punjab is south of Afghanistan where there mountains are called the Hindu Kush mountains. It is reckoned that Thomas arrived in India in about 50-52 AD. This would be about the time the Apostle Paul was writing his letters to the Thessalonian Church to encourage them despite persecution. It would also have been after the council of Jerusalem, which took place in 49 AD where Yacov brother of Yeshua was presiding. Peter, Paul and Barnabus the main speakers and the rest of the Apostles including Thomas and Barnabus were present.
In my travels in Cochin I can say that they have the best Strawberry milkshakes in all of India. It is also the cleanest and most educated and most successful region of India. “There remains a Christian community in the Cochin area that, to this day looks back to Thomas.” It is quite feasible that Thomas went to both regions even as I did in 1997. If he could get his way all the way over to India , he would have no problem going north. “In recent years the previously unknown Gundaphar has become known to history as a great king living at precisely the time and place to the tradition.” No doubt Thomas like Paul went to the south of India and first witnessed to the Jews who were there. These Jews were lost tribes of Israel who had been moved East by Assyria at the fall of Israel. They were placed below the Caspian sea.
Yacov the brother of Yeshua was Bishop over seer of Jerusalem and physical Zion.
Bar Talmai Shlikha of Yeshua: 33- The Apostle Batholomew, according to tradition was an apostle to India and to Lycaonia and Armenia which is to the north East of Turkey. In the land of Lystra where Paul ministered in his first missionary journey they spoke the Lycaonian language and Armenia is the very part of the world where civilization re began after the flood in the days of Noah. Nearby here we find the mountains of Ararat.
The Seat of the Church in Edessa first Church plant Arbela
These two cities were west and east of the River Euphrates which acted generally as the moveable boundary between the Roman and the Parthian empires. The River Euphrates is the one most significant boundaries in the history of the Church from Abraham to this day. It is the north east boundary of the land promised to Abraham and is often referred in the scripture as the River. From it is the dominion of the king of Zion measured from the River Euphrates to the end of China, east from the river Euphrates to the UK west. He shall have dominion from The River to the ends of the earth. In the Apocalypse of Yohanan the River is mentioned at least twice. In the first case there are four angels bound there with a specific historical assignment for a specific point in time, this is the sixth trumpet. In the second it is a time when the River is died up. This is the sixth vial or bowl. The great river Euphrates is dried up ; and the water thereof was dried up; that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. The River Euphrates is in the land of Assyria from the days of Nimrod after Noah. This whole area includes the lands to which both exiles took place, the northern tribes of Israel and the southern tribes of the Kingdom of Judah. Since not all the families came back from the Babylonian and the Assyrian captivity is still onto this day, many of the sons of David and Israel live to the east of the river Euphrates in Assyrian lands and further east. Assyria is called the rod of Yahwah anger and is now Islam and its way of violence and terror. But Yahwah promises “And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand a second time to recover the remnant of his people from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam and from Shinar, and from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.”
Every one of these places mentioned is in the area of ministry connected with the Church of the East. Hid dominion will be from sea to sea. This are is covered if we move from the Mediterranean sea to the Black sea to the Caspian sea, to the Arabian sea to the Red sea. From Spain to China and Norway to South Africa. And the Islands of the sea, Ireland to Japan and Iceland to Madagascar.
Addai Shlikah Apostle Addai :33-45 AD Under the direction of Thomas, Addai preached the gospel in Orhai ( later Osrhoene) , the small Syriac speaking , Arabian buffer kingdom between the Roman Empire and Persia. The Church was founded in it’s capital Edessa which is modern Urfa in south west Turkey. This became on of the greatest centers of the Church of the Ease otherwise known as the Nestorian Church. It is brought down as a tradition that he died there after appointing his successor Aggai. Addai is also believed to have founded the Church in Nisibus and ministered in Mesopotamia proper as well. It is likely either that Addai was Thaddeus the Apostle or Thaddeus one of the seventy appointed by Yeshua.
Aggai (Haggai) bar Addai: 45-81 (one of the 70 commissioned by Yeshua) Haggai was one of the seventy appointed by Yeshua and succeeded Addai in Edessa as Timothy did Paul in Ephesus.
During this period in 62 AD Simeon I succeeded Yacov as Bishop of Jerusalem Zion.
(6) Mari: 48-81 Mari is also one of the Seventy and gave to the Eastern Church it’s major structure of worship or Liturgy along with Addai. In the Western Church they are remembered by a feast day. He did outreach to Adiabene a Persian kingdom neighboring Edessa in the east whose capital was Arbela which is modern Irbil in Iraq. Irbil is the only Assyrian city to be populated continually populated from ancient times to the present day. Addai and Mari are believed to have continued evangelistic outreach through the Persian Empire as far as the borders of India, modern day Pakistan.
Abris: 90-107: A relative of the Mary mother of Yeshua. So we have in our line here some one physically from the seed of David like Yeshua. And he is the three generation from Yeshua. Whilst he was ministering the Pharisees were meeting in Yavneh to work out how to keep the Torah of Moses with no Jerusalem and no temple. Unfortunately due to their rejection of Yeshua they had no prophets to guide them. Yohanan son of Zebedee was on Patmos somewhere between Greece and Turkey receiving a vision of the future of the world of Romans and the Parthians. And the future of the Church. Yohanan was on Patmos but his vision was clearly pointing eastward for he was told to write to the seven Churches eastward from him in Turkey. He had earlier on ministered in Ephesus. Domitian was ruling Rome and Herod Agrippa II over Judea.
The Odes of Solomon, the earliest Christian hymn book found to date, was discovered in 1909. It could possibly be from as early as 80 AD and includes psalms written to the glory of Mashiach. It also contains prophecies with Mashiach speaking in the first person and so it charismatic in its expression, showing the operation of prophecy in the early church in the midst of praise, even as to day.
Osrhoene was under Rome in those days for this whole area was the borderland between the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire.
The second bishop overseer of Arbela of Iraq, the Church planted by Addai and Mari was martyred by the Parthian Zoroastrian king Xosroes in 107. Eight years later the Romans invaded Adiabene and named it Assyria.
(8) Oraham I: 130-152 Native of Kashkar , a city in western China. Who
knows maybe Oraham (Abraham) was the first Chinese Bishop in the
Church. During his time Bar Kochba arose in Jerusalem and with the full support of the greatest Rabbi of the Talmud and that generation, convinced many Jews that he was the Mashiach. This caused the Jewish followers of Mashiach to withdraw from the battle because they were under the Spirit of Truth. Bar Kochba and Akiva initially had some successor and took Jerusalem for three and a half years, they even struck coins. But then as in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, the lie of rebellion was exposed and the Jewish kingdom crushed. Bar Kochba Son of the Star became Bar Kosiba son of the liar. And the Church and the Pharisaic Jews went there separate ways. You can almost here the Church of the Circumcision crying out to Rabbi Akiva and Bar Kochba the words of Abiyah son of Rehoboam
“And behold Elohim himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with the sounding of trumpets, to cry alarm against you. O Children of Israel, fight ye not against Yahwah your Elohim of your fathers; for ye shall not proper” But like Zedekyah before them Akiva and Bar Kochba refused to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit in the Church. As a result of them not knowing the things which were for their peace Jerusalem was renamed Aeolia Capitolina and Jews were banished from Israel. It was only in the Council of Nicea, central Turkey that Jerusalem regained it name and the Council of Chalcedon when it regain a high Authority in the Church.
(9) Yacob I : 171-190 a relative of Joseph the carpenter, earthly father of
Yeshua. So we move again the physical line of the sons of David, although we are following the spiritual line of the sons of Elohim. In the year 172 Tatian the Assyrian returned from a 20 year discipleship training course with Justin Martyr. He returned to the area of Adiabene of Iraq, whose capital is Arbela. There he founded a Bible school . His writings and teaching have had a profound and long-lasting effect on the Syriac Church. He wrote the famous Syriac harmony of the gospels called the Diatessaron.
This is a very important document because it is the first known translation of a major part of the New Testament into another language.
In AD 177 Abgar VIII ascended to the throne of Osrhoene (Edessa). He may have been a Christian , for though he was known as a “friend of Rome” he protected the Christians during the periods of Romen persecution of the Church.
Abgar close friend from his youth , Bardaisan, became a deacon in the Church. He wrote a book called the “Laws of Countries” and relates in it the testimony of when King Abgar came to faith. Bardaisan was born in Edessa on July 11th 154. He left Edessa after it was conquered by Caracalla in 216 and he moved to Armenia, he composed hymns and understood the heavens.
“And what shall we say of the new race of us Anointed ones, whom the Anointed one at his advent placed in every country and in every region? For lo, wherever we are, we are called after the one name the Anointed one- namely Anointed ones. On one day the first day of the week we assemble our selves together….The brethren who are in Gaul do not take males for wives, nor those in Parthia two wives; nor do those in Judea circumcise themselves, nor do those who are our sisters who are among those in Geli consort with strangers; nor do those of our brethren who are in Persia take there daughters for wives, nor do those in Media abandon their dead or bury them alive, or give them as food to dogs, nor do those who are in Edessa kill their wives who commit adultery, nor their sisters, but they with draw from them, and give them over to the judgement of Elohim; nor do those who are in Hatra stone thieves to death; but wherever they are, and in whatever place they are found the laws of several countries do not hinder them from obeying the law of Mashiach nor does the Fate of celestial governors compel them to make use of things they regard impure”
(A treasury of Early Christianity, Anne Freemantle page 290.
Bardaisan mentioned the conversion of King Abgar in his book and a second witness to this event was Roman historian, Sextus Justus Africanus who visited Edessa, capital of Orhai in AD 195.He refers to Abgar as a holy man which was an unsual comment about Osrhoenians whom Romans usually regarded as deceitful people. It is possible that from this time Edessa was a Christian kingdom
During this period the Charismatic prophet Melito, Bishop of Sardis was also writing. He wrote some beautiful poetic pieces on the Crucifixion of Yeshua.
“Hear ye beloved; thus the mystery of the Pesach is new and old
eternal and transient, corruptible and incorruptible, mortal and immortal.
It is old according to the Torah
But new according to the word
Transient according to the world, but eternal through grace…
Ancient is the word…
Around AD 180 or 190 after the death John Mark the evangelist and co worker of Peter Barnabus (also his cousin) and Paul, Pantaenus of Alexandria was sent to India, by Demetrius Bishop of Alexandria. This was in response to a request that from India for a deputation. He reported on his return to Alexandria that he had met Christians in India that had the gospel of Matthew in Hebrew or Aramaic. The gospel was taken there by Batholomew when he was evangelizing in India. Pantaneaus set up a bible school in Alexandria and was the greatest scholar of his day and had Clement of Alexandria and Origen as his disciples. From him they learned much about the Indians.
(10) Ebed Meshikha: 191-203 In the year 201 it is recorded in the Chronicles of Edessa in Turkey that there was a great flood which destroyed the palace of King Abgar. This is believed to be the earliest historical record of a Church building. . I n the earlier decades the Church had met in house as we see in the New Testament or in lecture halls or large house converted for worship.
(11)Akhu D’awu: 205-220
Church under the Zoroastrian Sassanids of Persia
Shakhlupa:224-244 Of Kaskar in the west of China. In 226 there was a change of government. The Parthians fell to the Persian Sassinids. They appeared to be indifferent to Christianity but became persecutors of the Church. They ruled for about four hundred years.
The Chronicles of Arbela in Iraq the daughter Church of Edessa in Turkey report more than twenty bishops in the Persian empire with jurisdictions from the mountains of Kurdistan which are in the west of Iran and the east of Turkey and the north of Iraq, to the Caspian Sea in the West.
During this period the Didache or the Teaching of the twelve Apostles was written in Syriac. It was written by a bishop living between Antioch now in southern Turkey (then in Northern Syria) and Edessa. It is the oldest manual of church order existent. Although it was composed in the Roman Empire it spread through out the Persian Empire.
The prophet Mani arose during this period and his message spread east to Chin and produced the Manicheans.
The Seat Moves to Seleucia Ctesiphon 20 miles south of Baghdad
Papa bar Gaggai: 247 or 285-326: He was the first to hold the title Catholicos which means holder of all. He was the first holder of the see of Seleucia Ctesiphon, about twenty miles south of Baghdad and fifty miles north of ancient Baghdad. His consecrators were Bishops of Arbela and Susa. To this day the Catholicos of the East has been named primate (Chief bishop in a province) of Seleucia- Ctesiphon.
Papa sought to bring all the Bishoprics into submission to him because he was bishop of the capital city. He called a council to settle the issue. He was rebuked by his consecrator Bishop miles. In flew into anger and pounded on the gospel saying let the gospel speak. As he did so he suffered from a paralyzing stroke. This was considered the judgement of Yahwah and he was removed from office and replaced. The need for one head was seen and the Catholicos continues to this day.
A persecution broke out against Mani. It spilled over to the Church. And in the Syriac, Acts of the Martyrs, this is called the first great persecution.
In 301 Tiridat I King of Armenia converted to Christianity. It is from this that Armenia lays claim to be the first Christian kingdom. As Osrhoene has ceased to be a kingdom or a people Armenia may claim to be the first Christian nation still in existence.
Around 306 Ephrem the Syrian considered by the some the greatest hymn writer in existence was born in Nisibus. In 363 he moved to Edessa which was under Roman rule at the time.
In 313 Constantine ascended the throne of Rome and stopped the persecution of the Christians in the Roman Empire not east of the River Euphrates. And in 325 he convened the council of Nicea in the middle of Turkey. In this council Jerusalem got its name back.
Shapur I died and a Zoroastrian priest Katir, rose to a position of authority.
Shimun Bar Sabbai: 326-341 Under Shapur II a forty year persecution of the Church began. Shapur was at war with Byzantine and imposed a severe tax on the Christians as a means to wages the war and crush the Christian community which was growing steadily.
Shimun bar Sabbai the Catholicos refused to impose the tax on his people and so was accused of being friends with Rome and traitors to the empire.
He was martyred outside of Susa on Good Friday (339, 341 or 345) 5 bishops and one hundred priest were executed and later on Shimon’s sister.
The period from 340-363 and 379 is known as the Great Persian Persecution. It ended with the Death of Shapur II and the death of 16000 named victims and countless whose names were not recorded. It would appear the spirit of murder jumped from Rome to Persian.
Shahdost: 344-345 Shahdost was martyred under Shapur II
Bar Bashmin: 345-346 Tortured and beheaded with many others.
Here they followed a break in the Catholicus but not in the Apostolic succession – there were other bishops to continue that. This was because of the severe persecution the Church suffered in the Persian empire.
Tomarsa: 364-373 In 370 Ephrem celebrated the translation of the bones of Thomas from India to Edessa.
“I stirred up death, the devil howled
but now I am struck all the harder
The Apostle whom I slew in India
Has overtaken me in Edessa”
Qaiyuma: 372-380 Persecution renewed.
Eskhaq: 399-410 A respite from persecution with peace being brought on the Church through the diplomatic support of Mar Maruta. He was sent by the Emperor of Rome to Yezdegard Shah of Iran from 399-410. Yezdegard gave permission for a Synod to be held at Seleucia Cstiphon. Here his Edict of Toleration was read with great rejoicing even as the Western Church was mourning at the fall of Rome to Alaric the Goth. The Shah’s approval for the appointment of successors to the Catholicos was agreed to. Bishops were given official status in the realm. Yezdegard I never embraced Christianity but like Cyrus before him, caused many churches to be rebuilt.
The decrees of the council of Nicea and Council of Constantinople were published and accepted in the council of 410. They are considered the only Ecumenical councils by the Church of the East. The Nicene creed is accepted as the main creedal statement of the faith. The Church also asserted its right to govern itself and not be governed from the Roman Empire. By 431 language and political barriers had permanently separated the Catholic Church in the Persian Empire from the Catholic Church in the West.
Akhi (Akha, Ahai): 411-414
Yoalah I (Yaballaha): 415-420 In 420 the last of Yezdegard reign he who had been a friend of the Church turned to persecution and out did Shapur II in ferocity if not numbers. In 420 a council was called by Yoalah where the canons of Western councils were accepted.
Maana: 420 Maana was banished by the Shah for refusing to rebuke Christians who had burned a Zoroastrian fire temple.
Qarabukht: 421: Forced on the Church by the Shah and was deposed.
Dad Ishu: 421-456 In 422 the war with the Byzantines ended and with it the persecution of the Church. Freedom of religion was declared in both empires for Christians and Zoroastrians. He was imprisoned for being pro Roman and while he was there a Pseudo Catholicos sought to make an alliance with the anti Christian Zoroastrians. Upon his release he refused to govern the Church and went to the mountains to mourn the spiritual fall of the Church of Elohim. Only the persistence of 36 weeping bishops convinced to convene a council to reform the Church.
He was called a Patriarch equal to any one in the West. This was at the council of Markabda, in 424, the third council(previously 410, 420) of the Church of the East.
Upon the death of VarahanV 438-9 persecution swept the land. Yezdegard II started his reign by declaring war on the Byzantines. The war was short and inclusive but the persecution remained. The worst years of the persecution were 445 –448. In the latter year in Kirkuk , a horrendous massacre occurred . 10 bishops and 153000 clergy and laity were slaughtered on a mound outside of town over a period of several days. The Persian executor Tamasgerd, was so moved by the steadfastness of Christians that he finally joined them to be baptized in his own blood.
With in the Byzantine Empire, the 3rd Ecumenical council in the West’s mind, that of Ephesus, condemned Nestorius 431, the Patriarch of Constantinople for the heresy that came to bear his name. For centuries he bore this stigma in the west, his own writings had all been destroyed.
In 1889 a Syrian Priest discovered an 800 year old manuscript of a Syriac translation of Nestorius own account of his conflicts. This manuscript of the Bazaar of Heracliedes, had bee mad about 540. Modern scholarship has come to recognize that Nestorius was much more orthodox than credited.
Coming from a Syrian background and using Aramaic language and being strongly influenced by Theodore Mopsuesta , used terminology that did not translate well into Greek.
The Church of the East was not represented at the council of Ephesus and never accepted its statements. Or any other councils since.
Nestorius was never condemned in the East. Add to this the fact that they used the same terminology as Nestorius , they became know as the Nestorian Church. A complete misnomer. It was not Nestorian in doctrine nor did Nestorius ever rule in it. His jurisdictions were all with in the Byzantine realm.
Bawai I: 457-484
Aqaq: 484-496 In 486 Acacias convened the fourth general council of the Church of the East. This condemned monphyticism and confirmed Nestorius position that Mashiach had two natures. It also confirmed the fact that Christians had the right to marry no matter whether they were laity, priests or bishops. It was special because the four main prelates of the Church maintained the unity despite differing positions. They were Papius of Beit Lapat, Barsauma of Nisibus Acacius and maintained relations with Byzantine.
Bawai II: 496-502 Assumed title Catholicos- Patriarchate as the title of the main Primate of the Church of the East.
Shila (Silas): 505-523 In 519 in Yemen the Church was persecuted. Two thousand were forced into a Church so they couldn’t breath and the church was set on fire.
Elisha: 524- 538 Narsai: 524-535 Elisha appointed by his father. But bishops didn’t accept it and appointed Narsai.
Polos (Paul): 539-540
Aba I: 540-552 A convert from Zoroastrian. Made a pilgrimage
Yosip (Yoseph): 552-567
Khazqiyil (Ezekiel): 570-581
Eshuyow I Arzunaya (Yeshuyab or Yeshua has given):
581-595
Sorishu I (Garmaqaya (Sabr Ishu, Hope of Yeshua): 596-604
Grehgor, Partaya: 605-608
Eshuyow II Gdalaya : AD 628-644, of Arabic origin. Sent by a Persian imperial family to sue for peace with Rome and Negotiated with Mohammad the first agreement for the favorable status of the Church of the East under Islam. He created the first Metropolinate of India and sent the first known mission to China (Peking). During his Patriarchate there began a revitalization of the Church and a flowering of Evangelism.
And in this period did the locust of Islam arise even as it was prophesied in the book of 2 Esdras the fifteenth chapter saying
“Behold a terrifying sight , appearing from the east
the nation of the dragons of Arabia , shall come out with many chariots. And from the day of that they set out , their hissing shall spread over the earth. So that all who hear them fear and tremble. Also the Carmenians, raging in wrath shall go forth like wild boars of the forest, and with great wrath they shall come and engage them in battle, and shall devastate a portion of the land of the Assyrians with their teeth.
And then the dragons remembering their origin
Shall become stronger; and they shall combine in power and turn and pursue them, then shall they be disorganized and silenced by their power” And this can be read in the King James Bible in the 1611 edition wherein is preserved the Apocrypha.
And the Locusts of Arabia came forth even as fore shown by the Midianites (Arabs) in the times of Gideon who came upon the land of Israel like Locusts and as revealed in the Apocalypse of John the fifth trumpet. And let the reader read A. Elliots Horae Apocalypse and gain understanding of the fifth trumpet.
With the coming of Mohamed we enter the fifth trumpet of the Apocalyse of Yohanan.
And the locusts were the armies of the Saracens, and the five months were from 612 to 762 AD approximately. And the scorpion power was the mistreatment and despising of the Christians. “And the command not to hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing” was given in the Koran and was Islamic war policy. And those men without the seal were the idolaters, for they were supposed to leave the people of the book alone. And they did not kill the civilization but did torment it. And the crowns of gold were turbans, and the hair of women was their long hair held by the turbans and the face of men were their beards. And their teeth of lions was their great aggressiveness and bold speeches even unto this day. And their king was Abbadon and where they spread so the desert spread with them. And it can be seen in North Africa.
And the interpretation was historical chronologist and not futurist.
And the interpretation was with John Wesley and some great
reformers of the Western Church.
(40) Immeh
(41) Eshuyow III Kdayawa
(42) Gewargis I : 661-680 The Church suffered persecution under
the Ummayad Caliph Muawiyyah. Mar Gewargis was
imprisoned and many churches destroyed.
(43) Yokhanan I, Bar Marta
(44) Khnanishu I (The mercy of Yeshua)
(45) Yokhanan II Garba
(46) Sliwazkha (The victory of the cross)
(47) Pathyon : 737 Caliph Mahdi decreed that all churches built
since the Muslim conquest be destroyed. Some 5000 Christians
were forced to convert to Islam or die.
(48) Awa
(49) Surin: 752 -754 Was deposed by the new caliph Mansur, the
second of the Abbasid dynasty.
(50) Yacob II : In 762 The Physical seat of the Catholicos- Patriarch
was moved to Baghdad
(51) Khnanishu II
(52) Timotheus I : In 781 a monument, known as the Nestorian
monument was erected in China to commemorate 150 years of
Christianity in China. We remember in was in the reign of
Eshow II that a mission was sent to China, just as the 10 headed
Dragon of Psalm 83 was beginning to encroach on Christianity. The monument was discovered by the Jesuits in 1625 and was still in good condition. It document the early spread of Christianity in China during the Tang dynasty. On the monument is the across above some clouds and a lotus blossom to show the superiority of the cross over the 10 headed dragon and Buddhism. Chinese Christianity may be a key to the defeat of the 10 headed beast and the conversion of its captives.
(53) Eshu Bar Non AD 820-824
(54) Gewargis II: AD 825-832
(55) Soreshu II: AD 832-836
(56) Oraham II Margaya: 837-850 During this period Wu Tsung ,
Emperor of China set about to destroy Buddhism. This was also
the period of Christian missions there. Christianity in the
Chinese mind was equated to Buddhism because of it monks
and monasteries and was eliminated.
(57) Teadasis: 850-852 During this Patriarchate Caliph Mutawakkil
imprisoned the Patriarch on charges of being a Byzantine spy.
He also decreed that Christians wore identifying badges,
(58) Sargis, Suwaya AD 860-872
(59) Annush D’beth Garmay: AD 873-884
(56) Yokhanan III Bar Narsai: AD 884-892
(57) Yokhanan IV: 892-898 : Nephew of Theodosis
(58) Yokhanan V: 900-905 Bar Ogare
(59)Oraham III Abraza: 906-937
(60) Ammanoel I: 937-949
(61) Esrail Karkhaya: 961-962
(62) Odishu Garmaqaya: 963-986 Servant of Yeshua
(63) Mari Aturaya: 967-1000
(64) YokhananVI: 1000-1012
(65) Yokhanan VII: 1013-1022 Bar Nuzuk In 1014 during the reign
of Caliph Qadr, the Church was persecuted , buildings were
destroyed , the people tortured and murdered.
(66) Eshuyow IV bar Khazqiyil: 1023-1027 During his reign Kurds attacked Edessa and took 3000 captive.
(67) Elia I, terhan: 1028-1049
(68) Yokhanan VIII bar Tragala:1049-1057 Togrul Berg the Turk
first crossed the river Euphrates and we enter Trumpet 6 of the
Apocalypse of Yohanan
(69) Sorishu III Bar Zanbur: 1057-1072
(70) Odishu II bar Ars, Aturaya: 1072-1090
(71) Makkika I, bar Ars, Aturaya:1072-1109 Lowly one son of
Solomon
(72) Elia II , Bar Maqli:1111-1132
(73) Bar Soma of Suwa:1133-1135
(74) Bar Gabbara:1135-1136
(75) Odishu III:1138-1147 Nephew of Elia II
(76) Eshuyow V from Bath Zodia, Baladaya : 1148-1175
(77) Elia III, Abukhalim: 1176-1190
(78) Yoalaha II, Bar Qaiyuma:1191-1222 “During this period the
Mongols began there conquests of east northern and central Asia. Jenghiz Khanbegan his conquests in 1206 and continued until his death in 1227. The Mongols, for the most part (until Tamur Lenk) were not hostile to Christians.” Indeed their number included many Christians. Jenghiz Khan had a Christian wife, and the mother of his grandson Kublai Khan, who became emperor of China was also a Christian. Jenghiz Khan treated all religions equally and Christians were caught up in the slaughter.
(79) Sorishu IV: 1222-1226
(80) Sorishu V: 1226-1256, from Baghdad. Jenghis Khan was
succeeded by his son Ogotai Khan. He took his conquests into
Europe and overran Poland and Hungary. He was succeeded by
the election of his Guyuk to be ruler of the Mongols.
Guyuk was a professing Christian and immediately brought an
End to the massacres and devastation that had characterized the
two reigns mentioned. The fact of his faith is probably the single
most important factor in sparing Christian Europe from
destruction at the hand of Mongol armies.
(81) Makikkikha II: 1257-1265 In 1258 the seat of the Catholicus-
Patriarch was moved to Mosul. During that same year , Hulaku
Khan had one of every 20 Christian man and his family put to
death in the city of Tiktrit.
(82) Dinkha I : 1265-1281 In 1268 the Sultan of Egypt slew all
Christians men in Syrian Antioch and had the Churches torn
down. He also took many children into captivity.
(83) Yoalaha III, Bar Turkaye: 1281-1318 Yahbalaha Morkos
Yoalaha “Son of the Turks” was the son of an Uighur (a mongol Tribe) archdeacon. He was born in Koshang, northern China. Around 1255 he went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem with another monk, Bar Sauma. Because of fighting , they were unable to get to Jerusalem so returned to Baghdad where they settled. He was raised to Patriarchate in 1281.
In 1287, Argun, II Khan of Persia sent Rabban bar Sauma, under Yoalaha , on a mission to Western Europe to seek an alliance against the 10 headed dragon of Psalm 83. He met with Andronicus II, Paleogus, Emperor of Byzantium, Philip IV of France and Edward I of England. Because of the press of internal affairs, none were interested.
In 1289, Kurds attacked over 70 Assyrian Christian villages, killing over 500 men and taking over 1000 children captive.
In 1295 the Mongol, Kazan Khan, ordered the destruction of all the Churches of Mesopotamia. Yoalaha was imprisoned and tortured by Arab’s carrying out the Khan’s orders.
In 1297 Ala al din, son of a Mongol, massacred the Christian inhabitants of the city of Amedia and burned the churches. He took over 12000 into captivity.
In 1310 Arabs, with Mongol assistance, captured Arbela and slew all inhabitants that could not be sold into slavery. Many died of starvation in the siege that took place.
And did not the Church see the error of her leaders getting involved in the politics of war?
(84) Timotheus II, Arbilaya: With Timotheus a Hereditary
Patriarchate began. The office of the Catholicos was passed from Uncle to Nephew. This was continued until 1976 when the present Catholicos was elected by the Episcopal college.
(85) Dinkha II: 1329- 1359
(86)Dinkha III: 1359-1364
(87)Shimun III: 1365-1392 During this time , the Mongol Timur
Lenk , rejecting Christianity and embracing Islam , launched a war of extermination against the Church. Within a generation the Church of the East. Numbering 84 million souls at its peak, was reduced to about two million. These were scattered and isolated in Southern India and Kurdestan (Eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq and Northwestern Iran).
Timur Lenk established his power in 1369 after thirteen years he had established his rule through central Asia. Including Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iran. Examples of his policy are the pyramid of 70,000 heads after taking the city of Isfahan in Iran and the 90,000 head pyramid on the ruins of Baghdad. And his total destruction of the Christian city of Tikrit after a weeks long siege, some 72,000 souls.
( Shimun III: 1403- 1407
(88)1437: Elia IV
Shimun IV, Basidi: 1437-1497: He began a new hereditary Patriarchate with in the Bar Mama (Abuna) family, known as the Patriarchate of Hormizd after the monastery where he lived and where he and many of his line were buried.
During the period the Constanopolis the head of Grek Christianity, indeed the greatest city in Christianity was conquered by the Turkish Muslims. This city was the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople considered second only to Rome by some church authorities. This was the end of the Eastern Roman Empire. The West ended in 476 with the attack of Attila the Hun.
“Loose the four angels”
These were Ottoman Turks who destroyed the Eastern part of the Roman empire in 1453. It fell just 396 years and 118 days from when the Seljuk Turk Togrul Berg first crossed the river Euphrates in 1057. And so was fulfilled the decree of Yahwah “Loose the four angels, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay a third part of men” And the Roman Empire had been considered as three parts. The East, the West and Illycrium which passed from East to West. And now was the Eastern third part of men destroyed. And it was counted upon the principle of a day for a year in some prophecies, as with Ezekiel laying on his side 390 days for the 390 years of the sin of Israel and 40 days for the 40 years of the sin of Judah. And as Church in the wilderness who were punished forty years for the forty days the spies spent searching the land. And the calculation was as follows,
“a day” equals 1 year, and a month equals 30 days equals 30 years. For in the revelation 1260 days is also 42 months, that is 30 days a month.
An “hour” is seen as one twelfth of a day even as Yeshua taught “are there not 12 hours in a day?” Even as it is so during the spring and autumn equinoxes. One twelfth of a day is one twelfth of a year in the Apocalypse that is 30 days.
And the “year” In the revelation it is said by A M Elliot in his Horae Apocalypse that the word in the Greek here is not the normal word for year in revelation. Rather it is a words which mean “That which returns back on itself. That is it is one cycle of the sun. That is 365.24 days.
And the total is so 365.24+30+1=396 years 90 days for 0.24 +30 days for the hour. That is 396 years and 120 days.
And it was seen that the Seljuk Turk crossed the river Euphrates in 1057. We add 396 years and we come to 1453 and this is the year when the Eastern Roman Empire fell to the Muslims. Yea and the description of the Turkish war and dress can be seen in the Apocalypse of John the 9th chapter the 6th trumpet and is explained in Horae Apocalypse.
This period is also the time of the discovery of the new world, Christopher Columbus was floating across the Atlantic from August 1492. At the same time King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela of Spain had just completed the defeat of the Muslims and in and Spain was reconquered for the Catholic Church. As a result they banished all from other religions seeking to make Spain Catholic completely. This led to many mystical Jewish Rabbis making a pilgrimage to the Israel and specifically they settled in Safed. From them came the Lurianic Kaballah and the Zohar.
Shimun V: 1497-1502 In 1500 the Portuguese arrived in India , beginning a period of tumultous relations between the Church of the East in India already and the Church of Rome. The first Roman missionaries were Franciscans who worked among non Christian Indians, and for the most part left the Ancient Christian community alone.
Elia V: 1502-1504
Shimun VI: 1504-1538 From this point on to 1976 all Catholicos-Patriarchs of the Church of the East are named Shimun, generally with another name preceding, but the number referring to the generation of Shimun.
This is also the period in the Church of the West when the Reformation took place. The Reformation was linked to the down fall of Constatinopolis in this wise. As the Muslims came in the Greek intellectuals fled to the East. They took with them the New Testament in Greek. Erasmus got hold of it and Theodore Beza and others and began to develop manuscript edition. It was when Martin Luther was reading the Greek that he noticed the errors in the Latin Vulgate of the Roman Catholics. Great Byzantine fell but the Holy Roman Empire of Western Europe continued in sin. The Apocalypse spoke to this situation in ninth chapter:
“And the rest of men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver and brass, and stone and of wood. Which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Neither repented they of their murders (inquisition), nor of their sorceries nor of their thefts” Rev 9
Ehuyow Shimon VIII: 1538-1558 During this period the Patriarchal see was moved from Alkosh, near Mosul Iraq, to Azerbaijan province in north western Iran. It was then moved to Qudshanis , Hakkari , in Turkish Kurdistan. The remnant of the Church hung on in the far mountains of Kurdistan, enduring severe persecution down to and including the present. The Patriarchal see remained in isolated areas until many Chaldeans fled from Turkish persecutions to the United States of American during World War I. At that time the see was translated to San Fransciso
Yolaha Shimun VIII: 1572-1580
Dinkha Shimun IX:1580-1600:
Elia Shimun X:1600-1638
Eshuyow Shimun XI : 1638-1656
Yoalaha Shimun XII:1656-1662
Dinkha Shimun XII:1662-1700
Shlemon Shimun XIV: 1700-1740
Mikhail Shimun XV mukhattis: 1740-1780
Yokhanan Shimun: XVI 1780-1820
Oraham Shimun XVII: 1820-1860
Ruwil Shimun XVII: 1860-1903
Binyamin Shimun XIX :1903-1918
Polos Shimun XX: 1918-1920
Eshai Shimun XXI: 1920-1975
Dinkha IV:1975-
And it is the case that another was started by Ruwil Shimon XVII which led the back to Jerusalem where indeed it started
(104a) Ruwil Shimun XVII: 1860-1903
(105a) Mar Abdisho Antonius: 17-12-1862 Metropolitan of the Syro
Chaldeans Christians of Malabar India
(106a) Mar Basilius :24-07-1899
(107a) Mar Jacobus: 30-11-1902
(108a) Mar Paulos: 28-02-1925
(109a) Mar Georgius: 18-10-1931
(110a) Mar Charles D. Boltwood
(111a) Mar Yokhanan 3-May-1959
(112a) Mar Jacobus 5-March-1969
(113a) Mar Uzziah bar Evyon 31-10-1976
And the Mar Uzziah bar Evyon break’s bread in Jerusalem, every week to this day.
posted by Evangelist Edi Nachman Bsc. PGCE @ 4:51 AM
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