Assyrian Heritage of the Church of the East, Chaldean Church and The

in the Zinda Magazine, Volume X Issue 35, 18 October 2004 John Joseph in a commentary titled "Selective Reading Deceives Readers" criticizes Fred Aprim's identifying inhabitants of the Christian towns in northern Iraq as Assyrians. This is typical of what Joseph has been writing for the last fifty years. Though all of his claims questioning the Assyrian heritage of the Syriac speaking christians of Mesopotamia have been repudiated he continues to repeat the old arguments. His writings are often long on his own opinions and that of others who agree with him but short on facts. Christian Assyrian history including members of the Chaldean church and the Syrian orthodox Church is far more complex than Joseph seems to realize.
His strongest argument is that Christians of Mesopotamia have been known by names other than Assyrian; such as Syrian, Nestorian, Chaldean, and Syrian Orthodox therefor they can not be related to the ancient nation. Syria and Syrian according to the Greek and Roman historians was a corruption of the terms Assyria and Assyrian. The last three terms signify the religious denominations of the Mesopotamian Christians who share the same ancestry, language, culture and religion. They also have called themselves Suryaya, Suryoyo, which like Syrian were derived from Assyrian and not from Aramean which Joseph contends.Other nations are known by varied names also. The christians of Egypt are known as Coptic which is corrupted form of the Greek Egoptic. The Armenians call themselves Hai, the Greeks are known as Hellenic and Mscedonians. Germans call themselves Deutcher and are called Almani by many the French name for Germany is Allemagne. Iranians are also known as Parsi, Farsi and Persians.In his mission to deny the Ancient heritage of the contmeporary Assyrians Joseph loves to cite the opinions of travelers, missionaries and explorers with limited knowledge of the Christian Assyrian history to bolster his arguments but often ignores the historical documents which contradict his assumptions. He maintains that the name Assyrian was bestowed on the Nestorians by the Anglican missionaries in mid 19th century and "they accepted and used it from then on." (1) He further wrote " We have already seen that "Nestorians never called themselves Assyrians until the turn of the [19th] century."(2) And also: "While the word Suryaya or Syrian does not mean inhabitant of Syria neither does it mean Assyrian."(3) One has to wonder about Joseph's motivations for his obsession with long repudiated arguments especially at these troubled times when adversaries of our people are looking for any excuse to dispossess them of their historic towns and villages in Northern Iraq where they have lived since the days of the ancient Assyrians. His contrarian antics can easily apply against claims by any other nations but it is not a subject wiser men/women will dare to indulge in.

Evidences of Assyrian survival into Christianity

Most citations in this article have been quoted verbatim because their original sources are not readily available to the average reader, also because Joseph and his minions often dismiss, trivialize or misinterpret, to their liking, all expressions of nationalism or references to the Assyrians before the 19th century. History often pays little attention to none sovereign people dominated by foreign rulers who impose their will, culture, language and power over the vanquished. It's primarily interest is in the exploits of the conquerors and the military conflicts between nations. A people without a sovereign state are seldom acknowledged and are in no position to demand recognition of their national name, culture and heritage from the international community. Because of these reasons we finds limited references to Assyrians outside their own community and the matter became worst when the term Syrian was used as a substitute and religious denominations subdivided them into quarreling sects. Even so Christians of Mesopotamia continued to remember their Assyrian ancestry. This is attested to by Syriac documents during most of the christian centuries. The 13th Century Nestorian, Givargis Arabilaya (georgis of Arbil) on the occasion of the Fast of the Ninevites observed by the Church of the East, Chaldean church, and the Syrian Orthodox church describes the nationality of his people as Assyrians and Babylonians.
"Our lord accept the request (Ba-oota):
of the Babylonians and Assyrians
and that of the leadership of our
distressed and confused Church.
"Our lord accept the request (Ba-oota)
of our poor and destitute country
I praise your Godliness and
ask your forgiveness." (4)
According to Badger "In many Syriac [Assyrian] manuscripts, Mosul is styled as Athur (Assyria) and it is not uncommon practice with ecclesiastical writers of the present day [19th century] to use the same phraseology". (5) Gesenius writes, "In Syriac Church literature 'Athur' (Assyria) is the name of Mosul, on the bank of the Tigris opposite to Nineveh; but it also designates a metropolitan see, including Mosul, Nineveh and other towns." (6) While Mesopotamia was conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century and its name was changed to Iraq as far as Givargis Arabilaya and his people were concerned they were still living in Assyria and Babylon, and were Assyrians and babylonians. Even medieval Arab writers such as Yagout, Aboo alFoda and Ibn Saeed have used the name Athur at times for Mesopotamia and also for Mosul, Nimrod, and Nineveh..

Joseph prefers to ignore these evidences and pretend that he is more qualified to determine the nationality of the contemporary Assyrians. Because of repeated persecutions, fleeing and exiles most records pretraining to the Assyrian history were lost or destroyed. The surviving manuscripts were mostly rescued by the clergies because of their religious value yet even there we finds references to the Assyrian heritage of the Syriac speaking people.In a letter Thimathy I (770-823), patriarch of the Church of the East, to bishop Sarkis of Eilam wrote: "We invited our brethren Khnanishu and Eishu Soveron for the 2nd time as is a tradition but they did not arrive so that also "Assyrians" could honor them." The same Thimathy in another letter to the monks of Mar Marun declares that Assyria, Babylonia, Persia and the other oriental countries such as India and China were all under his jurisdiction (7) .

Here clearly Assyria and babylonia stand for all Mesopotamia and not an ecclesiastic province as Joseph sometimes has argued.The 5th century A.D. Narsai writes that the Magies who visited the christ were of Assyrian origin and "King Herod (of Israel) felt demeaned [by their worship of Christ] therefore in anger he ordered the killing of the infants."(8 ) Other sources have identified the Magies as Assyrians and not Persians or Medes as Joseph contends. In a 'Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch' bulletin an author citing ancient sources contends that twelve Assyrian wise men went to Urhoy/Urfa/Edessa when they had observed the shining star and from there three of them continued to Bethlehem while the rest returned home. The three mentioned in the Bible are Malkon, Kaspar, and Baghdassar. Their names seem to be corrupted form of the Assyrian Makoona (little king), Keespa (treasure) and Bel-shar-esur (Bel-protects the king).(9)Isho-Yahabh the head of the Church of the East (644-658) in a letter to Mar Gabriel, the Metropolitan Bishop of Beth Laphat, Mar hormizd and Mar Marmeh wrote:
. " This is how their faith was, as is mine, and continues to be as strong as ever regardless of whether or not it seems so to others. The best example of such faith is found among those living in central Athur (Assyria) and the surrounding places. A heritage of good manners, clear mind and the teaching of the word of God have contributed to the growth of this blessedness ."(10)

Central Athur included not only the city of Mosul, Nineveh but also Arbil, Kirkuk and other towns and villages which were then entirely populated by the Christian Assyrians and still live there. Joseph's objection to Fred Aprim identifying them as Assyrian is clearly unreasonable.In another letter Yeshu Yahab, to Raban Sargis of Beit Garmi [north of Arbil] wrote that Bar Bkhira a christian friend of the Prophet Mohammed had seen visions of Islamic Arabs invading "Assyria" and "Babylon" long before it happened. Here Yeshu Yahab clearly considers Assyria the region north of Babylon.
The tenth century writer Amanoeil Bar Shaharee wrote:
" The twin cities of the Sleleucia ( Salek) and Ctisphoon where the patriarchs of the Church of the East resided until 8th century were not only the capital cities of the Persians (Sassanian) also the ecclesiastical centers of the Assyrians." The twin cities were located near Baghdad on the border between Iran and Iraq. (11)

"Sleewa Ibn Yohanna", a Nestorian author of the early part of the 14 th century describes the duties of the Patriarch of the church of the East (Nestorian) after its independence from the church of Antioch consisted of "the administration of the affairs of the flock, the ordination of the Heads in the Eastern Borders, in Athur (Assyria), Media and Persia: all these sees shall be subject to him, shall submit to his authority, listen to his orders and his bidding."(12) The above is another example of Mesopotamia being identified as Assyria by the Syriac writers of various centuries. These are hard facts which are impossible to dispute.

In praising several of the Church of the East Patriarchs Gevargis writes:
"Mar Mari the Assyrian (Aturaya) from the race of Illustrious name" was born in central Assyria and was a Patriarch 967 - 1000.   "Odishu the Assyrian from a noble race." Odishu II (Bar Ars) Aturaya Born in Nineveh was bishop
of Nissivin before serving as Patriarch 1072 - 1090. (13 ) "Makikha the zealous a blessed and just man who was leader in Assyria".  Makikha I (Bar Shlemon) (1092 - 1109)

"The Triumphant Elia, grew up among the educators in Assyria and was a vast source of knowledge". Elia II born in Mosul previously was a Bishop of Nineveh and Arbil before serving as Patriarch 1111 - 1132. (14)

The 14th century Odisho (d. 1318) wrote; 'Patriarch Papa (fl. 325) was the first patriarch to established the Metropolitans of Assyria [central Mesopotamia], Nissivin [northern Meso-potamia], Maishan [southern Mesopotamia] and Elam [the bet Khozayee region included Jundi Shapur in Persia presently known as Khozestan].'(15) In this case Metropolitan of Central Assyria included Arbil and Kirkuk and towns in between where Assyrians still live. Other references to Assyrians pertained not only to the inhabitants of central Assyria but to most of the Mesopotamia.After the 7th century Arab conquest the new rulers through heavy taxation , legal inequities, oppression, humiliation, and intimidation forced none-moslem subjects into Islam who by virtue of their new faith adopted the Arabic language and called themselves Arabs. Consequently religion became an important part of national identity in addition to language, ancestry, and culture. Due to the new reality it was natural for the Christian Assyrians to emphasis their differences in religion and language which set them apart from their moslem neighbors especially those who previously belonged to their faith.

The terms Suryaya and Suryoyo were better suited to express such sentiments but that did not diminish their being Assyrians. This is attested to by their continued identification as such by themselves and others. It was the increased contacts with the west during the 19th century which awakened the modern sense of nationalism not only among the Assyrians but also the rest of the people in the Middle East.The most gulling Joseph's claim is that the Armenian 'Asori' which Christians of Mesopotamia have been known by means 'Syrian' and according to him the correct Armenian name for Assyrian is 'Asorestantji'. This contradicts the classical, also contemporary Armenian documents and dictionaries where the ancient and present Assyrians are identified as 'Asori' or 'Asore'. The sixteenth century Armenian version of the story of Ahigar is a good example where transliteration of Assyria is termed 'Asorestan' but ancient Assyrians are called Asore.(16) 'Asore' a varied spelling of 'Asori' is the most important part of 'Asore-stantji' which Joseph claims to mean Assyrian. How is it that as part of 'Asore-stantji' it means Assyrian but by itself it does not? The terms, 'stan', 'estan', or 'ostan' in the Indo-European languages including the Armenian means land or province. The name of most countries in these tongues begin with the nationality of the people of the land. For example Pakistan is the homeland of the Paki, Hindustan is the country of the Hindu, or Hendi and Afghanistan is the country of the Afgans or Afgani. John Joseph's claim that Asori means Syrian and not Assyrian contradicts this logic. Though Armenians call their country Hyestan they refer to themselves as Hy. Asori has been used by the Persians and the Kurds for the contemporary and ancient Assyrians also.

Despite all the references equating Syrian, suryaya, Suryoye to Assyrians Joseph writes: "The Syriac documents which Wilmshurst had consulted refer to "Suraye Madenhaye" which he translates as 'East Syrians,' meaning Arameans [Joseph's interpretation] a usage established as far back as the third century B.C. when the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, and almost 1,000 years later, into Syriac." Contrary to Joseph's claim the term Syrian as a substitute for Assyrian had been in use since the 6th century B.C.. Because Christians of Mesopotamia could not read the Greek Old Testament it could not have mattered to them what was written in it. One can also argue that Greek's lack of mention of the Arameans may have been because the name was not in popular use.

Christian of Mesopotamia had access to the Jewish Bible which went out of its way to promote the Aramean name even when it did not apply. For instance it claims 'A wandering Aramean' was the father of the Jewish faith (17) Popularly interpreted to mean that Abraham and his family were Arameans yet such a people did not exist at that time and the first mention of Arameans in history was seven hundred years later. In addition it is well known that Jesus spoke the Aramaic language which would have been inspiring for the christians to call themselves by that name but it did not happen in Mesopotamia.

The idea that Assyrians vanished from the face of the earth after their famous defeat is a misunderstanding of what is written in the Old Testament. Even the early Assyrialogists because of such influence presumed that ancient Assyrians no longer existed which is evident form their use of Biblical quotations to support such conclusion, but later historical and archaeological discoveries have proven them wrong. Even Naham who rejoiced about the destruction of Nineveh conceded that Assyrian inhabitants of Nineveh were not wiped out instead they were 'scattered on the mountain'.
He writes:
"Your shepherds are asleep. O king of Assyria, your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountain with none to gather them." (18)
Most Christian zealot chose to ignore the last part of the statement. It was more comforting to believe that God had destroyed the mighty Assyrians for not obeying him. One needs only listen to the Christian's fire and brimstone preachers to realize how they revel in preaching Nahum's accounts of the destruction of Nineveh. Even now the wars in Iraq are interpreted by some as signs that the Bible prophecies are coming true.

Nonetheless documents dating back to early Christianity corroborate that "Assyrian" was the identity of the people of Mesopotamia. The fourth century Eusbius of Caesarea, about Teachings of Addai the Apostle concerning the spread of Christianity in Mesopotamia wrote:

She writes:
" None of their children, none of their families and of their officials to whom- when they had been put in office, they had (were) given rich gifts, performed actually as much as a fumigation-offering (to their graves), whereas I brought monthly, without interruption-in my best garments offering to their souls, fat lambs, bread, fine beer, wine, oil, honey and all kinds of garden fruits, and established as perpetual offerings abundant fumigation (yielding) sweet smells for them." (20)
If the children of the Assyrian royalties and their official were still alive decades after the fall of Assyria there is no reason to believe that the ordinary assyrians of Harran and other cities were wiped out as some want to claim.

The most incontrovertible documents attesting to the survival of Assyria and Assyrians after their defeat comes from the Persian records. The Behistun inscription of Darius (512-486) in the beginning of his rule lists 23 countries as part of his empire including: "Persis, Huza (Elam), Babiru (Babylon), Athura (Assyria)...." which corroborates Herodotus statement that Assyria was a tributary of the persian empire and the Assyrian troops were part of the empire's military . (21)The Nagshe Rostam inscription by Darius lists Assyrians as a national types of the Persian Empire. A reference to them reads as: "Iyam Asuryah", "this is an Assyrian" which is very similar to the term "Suryah" a name christian Assyrians have identified themselves by. (22)An inscription by his son Xerexes underscores the same fact:
"Proclaims Xerexes, the king: "By the favor of Ahura Meazda; these are the people/countries of which I was king of....Persia, Media, Elam, Armenia, Drangiana, parthia, Aria, Bacteria, Sogdia, Choresmia, Babylonia, ASSYRIA, Sttagydia, Lydia, Egypt......"

Even during the early Sassanian period Mesopotamia was known as Asorestan or Assyria. In a persian inscription Shapur I, (226-651 A.D.) lists Asorestan as part of his empire which included "Fars [Persia], Pahlav [Parthia], Kuzistan, Meshan,[southern Babylon near the Persian Gulf] Asorestan [Mesopotamia] and Nod-Ardakhshiragan [Adiabene or Central Assyria] ........." 23 The name Adiabene [between two rivers] was given to the central Assyria by the Parthians. Nod-Ardakhshiragan meant it was ruled by Ardskhshir the son of Shapur I. The name Iraq was given to the land by the Arabs but as attested to by the Syriac documents the natives continued to call their country Assyria and identified themselves as Assyrians, side by side with Suraya and Suryoyo and Syrian which are variations of the same.
When the 2nd century Lucian of Samostosa north of Harran in his "Goddess of Syria" wrote : "I that write [this] am "Assourius" [Assyrian]" and his contemporary Tatian wrote: "I come from the land of the Assyrians" They did so based on historical knowledge and the reality of the time.

Contrary to the classical writers the resettled Nineveh according to the Assyrialogist Joan Orates was a considerable town during the Parthian and the Sassanian period. Syriac writers indicate that it played an important role in the lives of the Christian Assyrians. Ammianus Marcellinus and Tacitus attest to the existence of Nineveh as a settled city during the Parthian and Sassanian period. Stephanie Dally states that Hitzig (1881, p. 174-6) believed that Nineveh existed at the fourth century B.C. when the book of Jonah of the Old Testament was written to explain the contradiction between the presence of Nineveh and Nahum's prophecy that it had been completely destroyed and put to waste according to the will of God. Archaeological discoveries by the Edinburgh University at Eski Mosul Dam Basin in 1983 unearthed solid evidences of heavy ancient Assyrian presence in the region at the third century B.C.. Assyrian communities in the cities of Ashur and Hatra had temples for their favorite deity 'Ashur' until the third century A.D. and were still calling their children by the ancient Assyrian names. It is important to note that Ashur was not the primary god of all Assyrian cities as each town had its own deity. In Nineveh it was Ishtar as was also in Arbil, in Harran it was the moon god Sein. The above are only a fraction of historical evidences attesting to the Assyrian ancestry of the contemporary Assyrians. Throughout the balance of this article more will be cited but by no means all.

Though Joseph is well aware of the events which led to the formation of the Chaldean Church he pretends that those who established the Chaldean Church and joined it were not ethnically Assyrians. Due to a conflict over whether the Patriarch should be elected or inherit his post a faction of clergies in the Church of the East elected John Sulagga as their leader and sent him to Rome to form union with the Catholic Church.

Sulagga was proclaimed patriarch of "Mosul and Athur" (Assyria) on Feb. 20, 1553 by Pope Julius III.(24) Roman documents also refer to Sulagga as the elected patriarch of "the Assyrian Nation".(25) Since as we have seen Christians of Mesopotamia identified themselves as Assyrians this should not surprise us. The Chronicle of the Carmelites states that Sulagga was proclaimed "Patriarch of the Eastern Assyrians" but on April 19, 1553 he was redefined as the "Patriarch of the Chaldeans". (26) Perhaps the change of mind was intended to distinguish between the clergies and members of the new church compared to those who still belonged to the old church. Or maybe for bureaucratic reasons it was deemed necessary to link the new Catholics with the Nestorians of Cyprus who were labeled Chaldeans by Pope Eugene IV on August 7, 1445 when they joined the Roman Catholic church.

The inspiration for calling the new denomination Chaldean undoubtedly came from the Biblical claim that the founder of the Jewish religion and consequently Christianity came from the so-called Ur of Chaldee in Mesopotamia which means the term Chaldean was used in a religious context and not nationality because neither the Nestorians of Cyprus nor those of Mesopotamia had identified themselves as Chaldeans before becoming Catholics. Unfortunately later this name was paraded as ethnic identity by the Roman and Chaldean church. This resulted partly from Turkey's Sultan Mohammed II policy whereby Christians subjects of the empire were organized according to their religious denomination at 1453 . "The Porte recognized each sect as an artificial nation (millet) so that each of these sects became a Christian-millet, and internal antagonism the supreme law, with disastrous sequences to the [Assyrian] nation." (27)
This system made it easier for the central government to administer the affairs of its various faith based communities. The Patriarch of each millet was responsible for the collection of taxes and to resolve conflicts within his own faction. In December of 1553 Sulagga petitioned in Allepo to be recognized as the head of a religious 'millet' by the Sultan which was granted. (28) All references to the Chaldean Nation from this point on is a throw back to the Ottoman Empire's official division of religious sects into independent entities.

It took some time before the name Chaldean was used as substitute for Assyrian. After Sulagga's death there was an attempt to unite the two factions of the Church. Mar Odisho Bar Yohanan Bet Maron of Jezireh succeeded Sulagga. He was unable to travel to Rome until 1561. In the following year he was confirmed. On February 19, 1562, Cardinal Amolis in a codex to the committee of the cardinals in Tredando introduced Sulagga's successor Patriarch Odisho Bar Yohanan Bet Maron (1555 -1570) as "..The Patriarch of the Assyrians who has been elected by the clergies and approved by their people". (29)

Odisho unlike Sulagga resided in Sarit. In letters from India to the Pope Mar Abraham a bishop of the newly formed Chaldean faction in that country continued to refer to Odisho as the "Patriarch of the Assyrians" or "Patriarch of Assyria" . (Venerabili Fratri Abdisu Patriarchae Assyriorum sive de Muzal Pius Papa Quartus (1)". and "Abdisu Patriarca d' Assiria".) (30)

For awhile there was hope that the entire Church of the East would join the Catholic rite to unite the feuding factions. Unfortunately plans fell apart when the next Patriarch Eilya VI bar Giwargis, (1558-1591) of the Church of the East sent a letter of confession to the pope Gregory (1572 - 1585) but by the time it arrived the pontiff had died. The new Pope Sixtus V (1585 -1590) declared the letter full of heresy and rejected the proposed union. Had the Roman Catholic Church been receptive to the Church of the East overtures it would have spared our people more than 400 years of conflicts which have undermined our survival as a united people and have scattered us around the world. Instead the Roman Church incited brothers against each other. Three bishops sent by the Patriarch of the church of the East to India to shepherd the flock were arrested by the Portuguese and sent for inquisition, first to Lisbon and later to Rome where two died in custody. From then on no representative of the Church of the East was allowed to enter India.

Tactics of Cultural and Ethnic Cleansing

Adhering to the doctrine of divide and conquer the Roman Church separated and segregated from their previous community not only religiously also ethnically those who had become Catholic . Rassam a member of a prominent Chaldean Church family confirms the Roman Church hatred for other denominations. He writes: "the Roman Catholics are ready to sow the seed of discord wherever they go, and never lose an opportunity of persecuting those who do not agree with them in matters of faith ".(31)
The 19th century Eli Smith wrote: Due to the Roman Church teachings "the Roman Catholic Greeks of Archipelago considered it an insult to be called Greek and convert Armenians exhibited bitter enmity toward their Armenian neighbors and they preferred to be called "Franks'..(32) The hatred of the Chaldean church and members for their Assyrian heritage can be attributed to the such spiteful teachings by the Roman Catholic Church.A decree at a Catholic Synod in India warned that anyone who mentions the name of "Patriarch of Babylon", the head of the Church of the East , 'shall be declared excommunicate', and will be held as schismatic and heretic, and shall be punished as such, according to the Holy Canons. ...and whereas the Patriarchs of Babylon, to whom this Church [previously] was subject, are Nestorians, the heads of that cursed sect and schismatic out of the obedience of the Holy Roman Church, and aliens from our Holy Catholic faith, and are for that reason excommunicated and accursed: " (33)

Another document in the Vatican Library shows the success of the Roman Catholic Church in fermenting hatred among members of the Chaldean Church toward their former denomination and brethren. When two Tibetians arrived from India in 1606 they introduced themselves as Syro-Chaldean. They described their religion by stating that they are the disciples of St. Thomas and have always been Catholics. When they were told that the christians of Mylapore [Malabar] India were at one time Nestorians and "had a Nestorian Bishop appointed for them by the 'Patriarch of Babylon' and it was not possible to believe that they were [always] Catholics", the two replied: "The Nestorians are very much abhorred by the Chaldeans on account of heresy as excommunicated...." (34) Such ongoing indoctrinations were undoubtedly part of the teachings in the Chaldean Church of Mesopotamia also which accounts for the rejection of their Assyrian heritage by the clergies and members fo that church.

To further alienate members of the Chaldean church from their former heritage the Roman Catholic church also promoted the name "Chaldean" and "Chaldiac" for the language they spoke which was known as Syrian [Assyrian] and Syriac. In a decree by the Catholic Church in India "the Syrian Mass" by the bishops of the "schismatic and Nestorian heretics" was condemned because they contained "impious and heretical errors" therefore;
" all the {Syriac] missals of this bishopric [the previous Nestorian denomination taken over by the Roman Catholic church] ought to be burned, as also for there having been of Nestorian use compiled by Nestorian heretics: but being there are no other at present, they are tolerated, until such time as our Lord the Pope shall take some order therein, and there shall be missals sent by him printed in the Chaldiac tongue which is what this Synod humbly and earnestly desires may be done".(35) Eventually thousands of books published by the Church of the East available in India were burned.

The term Chaldic promoted by the Roman Catholic Chruch owes its origin to the name Jews gave to the Aramaic language during their exile in Babylon by Nebukhednassir who was of Chaldean heritage. The language used by the Chaldean Church was and continues to be the same as that of the Church of the East which has been historically known as suraya, Surit and Syriac. The use of Chaldic and Chaldean was intended to provide the new Church with not only a different religious identity but to separate its members from their true ethnic and linguistic heritage. The term "Chaldean Language" was promoted heavily by the Latin missionaries and the French diplomats as substitute for Syriac, Surit and Suraya. Ironically according to Badger even by mid 19th century the name Suraya was still being used by the members of the oldest Chaldean Church in Diarbeker, to identify themselves with. (36) Members of the Chaldean Church still refer to themselves as Suryaye.

Rassam states that followers of the Church of the East were often forced to join the Chaldean rite through coercion. In one instance he writes:
"It is extraordinary to state that the delegates of the Roman Church have not succeeded in converting the Nestorians of Shaikh to their dogmas, though so near a Turkish town, where former possess so much power under the protection of the French Government".The Roman Church often used the influence of the French government to encourage the Ottoman and the Kurds to terrorize those who refused to join the Chaldean church. Rassam adds: "..the Nestorians of Shakh told me that the Chaldean Catholics of Jezeerah, who were their co-religionist, had always tried through their influence with the local authorities to bully them into submission to the Pope".(37)

The late Patriarch of the Chaldean Church Mar Rafaeil BeDaweed (1989-2003) on several occasion has correctly attested to the Assyrian heritage of the Chaldean Church. In a 1974 interview with the Assyrian Star he stated :
" ... Personally, my family became Chaldean only some 100 years ago, my grandfather Daweed was a Nestorian priest, and the same is true with all the rest of us ...we need to differentiate between nationality and Church, between church and politics ... the Chaldean title for us does not mean ethnicity or nationality, historically there is not an Assyrian religion. True Assyrianism is an ethnicity and we all are Assyrian. We could be Assyrian ethnically, but we are Chaldeans religiously. We can not have our Church associated with ethnicity or nationality". (38)In another interview on the Lebanon Radio Station on Feb 2001 he said: " 
The Catholic church gave us the name 'Chaldean' with respect to those wise-men who went from Mesopotamia to Bethlehem. [who were called Chaldean or magi which meant astronomers]..My ethnicity is Assyrian but my sect is Chaldean, we shouldn't mix ethnicity with the church."

In his commentary in Zinda Joseph implies that Assyrians should call themselves Arameans which shows his usual contempt for the name Assyrian. The name Aramean was adopted by the Syrian Orthodox Church in 1952 primarily due to the efforts of the Patriarch Aprim Barsum because of religious politics. Before that date clergies and members of that church had proudly identified themselves as Assyrians. Joseph's first book where he disputes the Assyrian identity of our people was published nine years later.

To the Assyrian Heritage of the Syrian Orlthodx Church

1-John Joseph, "The Nestorians and their Muslim Neighbors, A Study of Western Influence on their Relations", Princeton University 1961 p.13.)
2- (Ibid p.15)
3- (Ibid p.12)
4- (Odisho Malko, "Levakh Eila Min Dohma Atouraya", JAAS, Vol. XIV, no. 1., 2000.)
5- (Henry Burgess, The Repentance of Nineveh, Sampson Low: Son and Co., London 1853, p. 36n.)
6- (Stephanie Dalley, Nineveh after 612 B.C., Alt-Orientanlishce Forshchungen #20, 1993, p .134).
7- 8- (Malko Ibid)
9- (Sabro Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch the Western Archdiocesan Bulletin, Vol. 2 Oct., Nov., Dec. 2000 issue 7.)
10- (Philip Scott-Moncrieff's "The Book of Consolations, or The Pastoral Epistales of Mar Isho-Yahbh of Kuphlana in Adiabene" Part I,
the Syriac Text, Published in London in 1904.)
11- (Malko ibid)
12- (Percy Badger, "Nestorians and the (Their Rituals" A mission to Mesopotamia and Coordistan in 1842-1844, Vol. II republished in
1969 by Gregg International Publishers Limited page 139 )
13- 14- (Malko ibid)
15 - (William Young, "Patriarch, Shah and Caliph", Christian Stury Center, Rawalpindi, Pakistan 1974 p. 42)
16- Conybeare, edit, The Story of Ahikar, Cambridge University press 1913, pp.25-55
See also William Saroyan's "Human Tragedy" and the "Seventy Thousands Assyrians". the contemporary Armenian writer Vahahn
Karapetian refers to both the ancient and the contemporary Assyrians as 'Asori'. in his "Historical Relations between Armenians and
Assyrians", published in Los Angeles, California in 2002,
(17)- (Deuteronomy 26)
18- (Nahum iii, 18.)
19- (Eusebius of Caesarea, Ed. Alexander Roberts, Ancient Syriac Documents, Book 1 Chap. XIII, p.25) see also: doctrine of ADDAI in W.CURETON ( ed , and tr), Ancient Syriac Documents, London and Edinburg 1864 , pp. 15=16,
20-(James B. Pritchard, Ed. "Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to Old Testament", Princeton University Press 1950 p. 312)
21- (Andrew Robert Burn, "Persia and the Greeks", Minerva Press1962 p. 109)
22- ( Sukumar Sen, "Old Persian Inscriptions of the Achaemenian Emperors", University of Calcutta, 1941 p. 107)
23- (Josepf Wiesehofer translated by Azizeh Asod, "Ancient Persia from 550 BC to 650 AD, I. B. Tauris Publisher, 1996 p. 184.)
(24)-( Rabban, "Chaldean Rite", Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. III, pp.427-428)
(25) (Xavier Koodapuzha, "Faith and Communion in the Indian Church of Saint Thomas Christians, Oriental Institute of Religious
Studies, Kerala, India, p.59)
26- (George V. Yana (Bebla), "Myth vs. Reality" JAA Studies, Vol. XIV, No. 1, 2000 p. 80)
(27) ( David Barsum Perley in Yosuf Malik's, "British Betrayal of the Assyrians", Self Published 1936, Chapt. VII.)
(28)(R. Rabban/EDS, "Chaldean Catholic Church (Eastern Catholic)", New Catholic Encyclopedia, second edition Vol. 3, Thomson/Gale,
2003p.367)
(29- (Dr. Sarhad Jammo, "The Two Branches of Eastern Church," Bayn-Al-Nahrayn 95/96, Baghdad 1996 p. 196.)
30- (Sequens expositio excerpta est ex Archivio Vaticano, Archivio de Castello, Armad VII, cap. 5. N, IX)
also (Ex Archivio Vaticano Secreto, Archiv. de Castello, Armad. VII, Caps. V. N. 9).
(31) (Hormuzd Rassam, "Asshur and the Land of Nimrod", Cincinnati: Curtis & Jennings, New york 1897 p.86)
(32) (Eli Smith, "Researches of the Re. E. Smith and Rev. H.G. Dawight in Armenia" ,Crocker and Brewster, Boston, 1833, p.68)
(33) ( actions 21 of the Synod of Diamper, Session III, Decree VIII (Hough Vol. II. p. 538.)
34-(Vide Giamil p. 11.) Translated from the Italian narration taken from the Vatican Archives by Giamil p. 102-103.)
(35- (James Hough, "history of 'the Christianity in India" Vol. II. p. 583.) Session v. Decree I.)
(36- (Hormuzd Rassam pp. 173-174)
(37- (Rassam, p.389)
38- (Assyrian Star interview;/ No. 5, September-October issue 1974)