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The patriarch of the Church of the East (also known as patriarch of the East, patriarch of Babylon, the catholicose of the East or the grand metropolitan of the East)[1][2][3][4] is the patriarch, or leader and head bishop (sometimes referred to as Catholicos or universal leader) of the Church of the East.[2] The position dates to the early centuries of Christianity within the Sassanid Empire, and the Church has been known by a variety of names, including the Church of the East, Nestorian Church, the Persian Church, the Sassanid Church, or East Syrian.[5]
Catholicos–Patriarch of the Church of the East | |
|---|---|
| Holy See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | Iraq |
| Headquarters | Seleucia-Ctesiphon (410 – 775) Baghdad (775 - 1317)[6] |
| Information | |
| First holder | Thomas the Apostle (church tradition)[7] Papa bar Aggai (as bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon)[8] |
| Denomination | Church of the East |
| Rite | East Syriac Rite |
| Cathedral | Church of Kokhe,[9][10] Veh-Ardashir[11] |
| Language | Syriac |
Since 1552, rival patriarchal lines were established, traditionalist on one side and pro-Catholic on the other. In modern times, patriarchal succession is claimed from this office to the patriarchal offices of the successor churches: the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Ancient Church of the East.[12][13]
- ^ Baum & Winkler (2003), p. 10.
- ^ a b Carlson, Thomas A. (2018-09-06). Christianity in Fifteenth-Century Iraq. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-18627-9.
The head of the hierarchy of the Church of the East was the Catholicos-Patriarch of the East
- ^ Coakley (1999), p. 65, 66: "Catholikos-Patriarchs of the East who served on the throne of the church of koke in Seleucia-Ktesiphon".
- ^ Walker 1985, p. 172: "this church had as its head a "catholicos" who came to be styled "Patriarch of the East" and had his seat originally at Seleucia-Ctesiphon (after 775 it was shifted to Baghdad)".
- ^ Wilmshurst 2000, p. 4.
- ^ Vine, Aubrey R. (1937). The Nestorian Churches. London: Independent Press. p. 104.
- ^ Baumer, Christoph (2016). The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. Bloomsbury. p. 330. ISBN 9781838609344.
- ^ Stewart, John (1928). Nestorian Missionary Enterprise: A Church on Fire. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. p. 15.
- ^ Cassis, Marica (2009-01-01). "Kokhe, Cradle of the Church of the East: An Archaeological and Comparative Study". Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 2. Gorgias Press. pp. 62–78. doi:10.31826/9781463216207-007. ISBN 978-1-4632-1620-7.
- ^ Cassis, Marica C. "Kokhe". Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition.
- ^ "The Church in Kokhe".
- ^ Burleson & Rompay 2011, p. 481-491.
- ^ Wilmshurst 2019, p. 799–805.