ASSYRIAN cHURCH OF THE eAST

WHAT IS THE ASSYRIAN CHURCH OF THE EAST ?

The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East (or abbreviated, Assyrian Church of the East, or ACOE) was born from the missionary work of the apostles, St Thomas from the Twelve, and Saints Addai & Mari from the Seventy-Two. It was the Church that existed in the Persian Empire, outside the confines of the limits of the Roman Empire of the west. Its primatial centre is Seleucia-Ctesiphon, which was the capital of the Persians. It is an independent patriarchate, not subject to the Bishop of Rome, or any other patriarchate. Thus, it is not Roman Catholic, but ‘catholic’ (meaning ‘universal’) in the sense that the Church was composed of many nations and ethnicities, among them Assyrians, Persians, Jews, Mongols, Turks, etc. The Assyrians, who comprise the majority of the ACOE, are the descendants of the ancient Assyrians of Mesopotamia mentioned in the Bible; they are the indigenous people of modern-day Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria. Their rule stretched from the Mediterranean in the west, and as far as Memphis in Egypt. The ACOE firmly teaches, in accord with the Holy Scriptures and the apostolic kerygma, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God incarnate, the second ‘qnoma’ of the Holy Trinity—God the Word—become Man. The Church is diaphysite, and thus holds two natures in Christ—the Godhead or divine, and the human—which are preserved in their respective ‘qnome’, or substances. The two natures are united in the one Person of Filiation of the Son of God. Thus, being true God and true Man, Christ Jesus is the unique Mediator between God and man, and the Savior of the human race. There is no other name under heaven by which men may be saved (cf. Acts 4:12).