Patriarch of the Church of the East

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
Taq Kasra, Sasanian ruins in Seleucia-Ctesiphon
Location
CountryIraq
HeadquartersSeleucia-Ctesiphon (410 – 775)
Baghdad (775 - 1317)[6]
Information
First holderThomas the Apostle (church tradition)[7]
Papa bar Aggai (as bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon)[8]
DenominationChurch of the East
RiteEast Syriac Rite
CathedralChurch of Kokhe,[9][10] Veh-Ardashir[11]
LanguageSyriac

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]

  1. ^ Baum & Winkler (2003), p. 10.
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ Coakley (1999), p. 65, 66: "Catholikos-Patriarchs of the East who served on the throne of the church of koke in Seleucia-Ktesiphon".
  4. ^ 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)".
  5. ^ Wilmshurst 2000, p. 4.
  6. ^ Vine, Aubrey R. (1937). The Nestorian Churches. London: Independent Press. p. 104.
  7. ^ Baumer, Christoph (2016). The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. Bloomsbury. p. 330. ISBN 9781838609344.
  8. ^ Stewart, John (1928). Nestorian Missionary Enterprise: A Church on Fire. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. p. 15.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Cassis, Marica C. "Kokhe". Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition.
  11. ^ "The Church in Kokhe".
  12. ^ Burleson & Rompay 2011, p. 481-491.
  13. ^ Wilmshurst 2019, p. 799–805.