Mesopotamian Religion

Mesopotamian Religion and Gods

The Assyrians, like the rest of the Mesopotamian peoples

The Assyrians, like the rest of the Mesopotamian peoples, followed an ancient Mesopotamian religion, with their national god Ashur having the most important to them during the Assyrian Empire. This religion gradually declined with the advent of Christianity between the first and tenth centuries.

Other major gods

Other major gods within the pantheon were Anu, Baal, Ea, Enlil, Ishtar (Astarte), Shamash, Tammuz, Adad/Hadad, Sin (Nanna), Dagan, Ninurta, Nisroch, Nergal, Tiamat, Ninlil, Mullissu, Zababa and El.

The original pagan religion of the Assyrians

The original pagan religion of the Assyrians was widely adhered to until around the 4th century and survived in pockets until at least the 10th century. However, Assyrians today are exclusively Christian, with most following the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Assyrian Pentecostal Church and Assyrian Evangelical Church. Assyrians had begun to adopt Christianity (as well as for a time Manicheanism and Gnosticism) between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD.

The Assyrian people originally adhered to one of two Churches

The Assyrian people originally adhered to one of two Churches- The Assyrian Church of the East, an East Syrian Rite Church, or the Syriac Orthodox Church, a West Syrian Rite Church. However, now there are nearly 20 different Assyrian Christian Churches including the ones followed by ethnically Malayali Converts in India, known as St Thomas Christians. The first new Church formed around 100 years after the massacres by Timur during the 14th century due to the Schism of 1552, which occurred among the Assyrians of northern Mesopotamia when a large number of Nestorian (followers of the Assyrian Church of the East) Assyrians in Amid elected a rival Patriarch named Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa after becoming dissatisfied with the leadership of the Assyrian Church (at this point based in Alqosh). Due to a need for an official ordination, Sulaqa went into communion with the Roman Catholic Church after at first failing to gain acceptance within the Syriac Orthodox Church. Rome named this new church The Church of Assyria and Mosul and its first leader Patriarch of the East Assyrians in 1553 AD.

Sulaqa was assassinated by supporters of the rival patriarch in Alqosh

Soon after coming back Sulaqa was assassinated by supporters of the rival patriarch in Alqosh but was able to form a new church structure and line of succession known as the Shimun Line prior to his death. This group of Assyrians eventually broke off ties with Rome, moved en masse to the Hakkari Mountains, and returned to the Nestorian faith they once adhered to prior to the Schism of 1552 (although the Shimun line still operated independently from the original Assyrian Church structure based in Alqosh).

the Shimun line broke off ties with Rome

A decade or so before the Shimun line broke off ties with Rome, another faction within the Assyrian Church entered into communion with Rome known as the Josephite line, and upon the Shimun line leaving, inherited the now vacant Church of Assyria and Mosul, which was renamed the "Chaldean Catholic Church" in 1683. This is now believed to be due to an error by the Catholic Church, but now due to that error, their followers became known as Chaldean Catholics or Chaldo-Assyrians despite having no ethnic, historical, linguistic, cultural or geographic connections whatsoever to the by now the long extinct Chaldean tribe of south-east Mesopotamia.

Later on in the 1830s the original Assyrian Church of the East structure in Alqosh

Later on in the 1830s the original Assyrian Church of the East structure in Alqosh combined with the Chaldean Catholic Jacobite one, creating the modern Chaldean Catholic Church structure, which is ironic considering that the only remaining ethnic Assyrian Church to practice the Assyrian Church of the East denomination til this day is ruled by the Shimun line- the very first Church to split from the Assyrian Church of the East back in 1552. There was also another Nestorian Denomination known as the Ancient Church of the East, which split from the Assyrian Church of the East due to reforms passed under the rule of Shimun XXIII Eshai in the 1960s, but with the election of Gewargis III in 2015 the churches had a reconciliation and reunited.

The Syriac Orthodox Church

The Syriac Orthodox Church also has a large number of ethnically Assyrian Adherents, who are known as Syriacs. The Syriac Orthodox Church has 5 million adherents across the globe, mostly in India, but is based in Damascus. However, since the 11th century it was based in the Saffron Monastery of Tur Abdin, and prior to that, it was based in Antioch. Like the Nestorian churches, schisms also occurred within the Syriac Orthodox Church.

In 1626 Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries began to proselytize among the Syriac Orthodox faithful at Aleppo

In 1626 Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries began to proselytize among the Syriac Orthodox faithful at Aleppo, forming a larger pro-catholic movement within the Syriac Orthodox Church. So in 1662, when the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate had fallen vacant, the Catholic party was able to elect one of its own, Andrew Akijan as Patriarch of the Syriac Church. This provoked a split in the community, and after Akijan’s death in 1677 two opposing patriarchs were elected, with one of those becoming the first Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church. This line of succession died out quickly, however, but in 1782 with the election of Michael Jarweh as Patriarch the Ignatius line has been the head of the Syriac Catholic Church since then and also has its base in Damascus.

Some Assyrians converted to Protestantism during the 20th century

Some Assyrians converted to Protestantism during the 20th century as well, forming the Assyrian Pentecostal Church and Assyrian Evangelical Church.

Therefore, by the end of all the schisms which occurred, the Assyrian people are now followers of the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Assyrian Pentecostal Church and Assyrian Evangelical Church- in addition to even more sub churches which are located in India that are adherent to the mother sees in the Middle East.