a brief history of the assyrian people
XXXXXXThere is archeological evidence that the Assyrian city of Nineveh (mentioned in the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament) was located in today’s Northern Iraq and might have been inhabited as far back as 5000 B.C.. By 2500 B.C., two other thriving Assyrian cities, Ashur and Arbel had been built, from which the fundamentals of our civilization were developed. Due to its rich soil, Arbel was one of the very earliest permanent agricultural settlements. XXXXXXThe Assyrian Empires enjoyed eighteen hundred years BC of prosperous years while making a profound and lasting impact on the Near East. Before the Assyrian hegemony came to an end, the Assyrians would bring the highest civilization to the then known world. From the Caspian Sea to Cyprus, from Turkey to Egypt, Assyrian imperial expansion would bring nomadic and barbaric communities into the Assyrian sphere and bestow upon them the manifold gifts of civilization. XXXXXXThe Assyrian Empire came to an end in 612 B.C. when the Babylonians joined the Medes and conquered the city of Nineveh, massacred the king, and took possession of the city. The Assyrian people survived the loss of their state, and remained mostly inconspicuous for the next 600 years. assyrian church history of the east - an overview
XXXXXXAs thousands of Christians were martyred, a stream of believers fled and sought refuge in Persia (today’s Iran) where they were warmly welcomed by the Assyrian believers there. They fanned out along the Silk Road and shared their faith readily with others. Churches began to grow throughout Asia; the Gospel prospered. The Assyrian church was represented at the Church Council in Nicaea in 325 A.D. where the basic doctrines of the Christian faith (the deity of Christ, the Trinity, etc.) were agreed upon by the church leaders. A century later, at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D., a serious dispute arose among its leaders. Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria could not agree on two Biblical doctrines; firstly, the nature of Christ (Nestorius claimed Jesus had two separate natures within Himself, whereas Cyril maintained that Jesus was interchangeably perfect God and perfect man within a triune God-head, a doctrine to which our present evangelical church adheres); secondly, the use of “Mother of God” in reference to the virgin Mary, rather using the term “Mother of Jesus”. The outcome of the Council, rife with power struggles and political expediency, resulted in Nestorius being branded as a heretic by Cyril and removed as Patriarch by the Council. His teaching was banned from the church. He fled to Egypt where he resided till his death. This marked the beginning of the estrangement which led to the split between the West Catholic church, seated in Rome with the Pope as head, and the East Orthodox church, less centralized in structure, that spread throughout the Eastern empires. The Assyrian church did not partake in this conflict. They continued to adhere to the doctrines stated in the Creed of Nicaea, while rejecting Nestorius’ teaching. Nevertheless, the church maintained a good relationship with Nestorius after his expulsion. In an effort to marginalize the Assyrian church, the Roman church leaders began interchangeably to call it the Nestorian church, with the result that the powerful Assyrian church history has largely been ignored in the West. |
Assyrians are a Semitic people indigenous to Mesopotamia. They are Mediterranean Caucasians, ethnically distinct from today’s Arabs and Jews, although some believe Abraham of the Old Testament might have been Assyrian. The heartland of the ancient Assyria from which so much of the emerging Near East came to be controlled, spans four countries: Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, to 100 miles south of Kirkuk. 
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