User:JamesHess

The Ancient Apostolic (Assyrian) Church of the East. This is the church which broke with the Assyrian Church in 1968, initially over disciplinary issues, such as the Gregorian Calendar versus the Julian Calendar, traditionally used by all the eastern churches. The late patriarch, Shimun XXIII, attempted to introduce the Gregorian Calendar in the mid 1960's.

However, since that time, there are also doctrinal issues. In 1994, the successor to Shimun XXIII, Mar Dinka IV signed an agreement with Pope John Paul II which in effect said there is no doctrinal difference between the doctrine of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ as held by the Roman church, versus the doctrine held by the Assyrian Church of the East (often called Nestorian). In the view of the group headed by Addai II, rival patriarch to Dinka IV, the agreement with the pope is a denial of the theological position held by the Assyrian Church since the 5th century. The break between the Roman church and the Assyrian church occurred in the year 431 AD.

The break between the two churches occurred, because the two churches differed on the Incarnation of Christ. The Assyrian church said Jesus is the personal union of two personal natures, divine and human. The Roman church said Jesus is the personal union of the divine personal nature of God the Word and the impersonal nature of a human body and brain. This difference was expressed in more simple terms; Rome said Mary is mother of God, (God in a human body and brain) whereas the Assyrians said Mary is mother of Christ (God personally united to a Man). Each side accused the other of corrupting the Apostolic Christian Faith.

In the view of the Assyrians, Rome took away the human personality of Christ meaning He could feel in a human body and reason with a human brain, but He could not suffer pain or fear in His mind. In the view of Rome, the Assyrians were teaching two persons in Christ: God dwelling in a man, as in a saint, which was the teaching of Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch, in the late third century. The Assyrians, however, never approved of Paul of Samosata and considered him a heretic. Indeed, bishops of the Assyrian Church assisted in the condemnation of Paul of Samosata, who was deposed as Bishop of Antioch.

So it stands in October of 2007 that the Assyrian Church is divided between two patriarchs: Dinka IV who resides in the US and is head of the bigger portion of the Assyrian Church, which has adopted changes in discipline and a watered down ecumenical theological position; versus the Ancient (Assyrian) Church headed by patriarch Addai II, who resides in Baghdad. His church has to date refused to change anything, even disciplinary customs such as the calendar usage.

written by James H Hess, Nestorian Apostolic Bishop, a westerner, not part of either Assyrian jurisdiction, but in doctrinal accord with the traditional doctrinal position held by that historic Church. That doctrine is that Jesus Christ is one person composed of two personal natures, the God-Man, the crucified and risen Saviour of the world, and that Mary is mother of Christ, the God-Man.

Sources:

Voice from the East, official publication of the Assyrian church headed by Mar Dinka IV: Doctrinal Accord signed between Dinka IV and John Paul II, 1994.