The Survival of the Catholic Character
of the Synod of Mar Isaac (AD 410)
by Bishop Bawai Soro


 

The survival of any living entity is conditioned by its determination to continue to exist despite the harshness of the circumstances it faces. Throughout her 20-century history, the Church of the East in Mesopotamia confronted many unbearable obstacles and stood up to countless cruel persecutions. B XE "Persecutions" ut she always kept her hope in her Lord alive, kindled by her apostolic zeal and empowered by her catholic character. The Church of our forefathers has always understood herself to be a member in the Body of Christ, in communion with the Head, and has continuously kept her unity with the rest of the People of God. Nothing could rupture this bond of fraternal communion with the Church Catholic and its tenets have survived one way or another until time became ripe when in the 16^th century visible expressions were established during the Patriarchates of Mar Youhanan Sulaqa and Youhanna VIII Hormizd.

To substantiate such claims, this paper shall present a number of historical, patristic and liturgical articles illustrating how the Catholic Character of the Church of Christ existed before the Synod of Mar Isaac in 410 and survived for centuries later in our Mesopotamian tradition throughout the centuries, until today.

 Aphrahat the Persian Sage (ad 280-354)
As early as the dawning of the 4^th century, Aphrahat sees that the “handing over of keys by Jesus to Peter” is an indication of the position of stewardship, which, if understood in the context of the Near Eastern Semitic mentality, the “handing over of keys” implied the handing over of authority from Jesus to Peter, ultimately to the See of Rome. In such an Eastern setting, the steward always acted for the king (Mt. 16:19; Is. 22:22).[1]

Ephrem the Syrian (ad 306-373)
Sometime in the period between Aphrahat and the “Doctrine of Addai”, Saint Ephrem the Syrian writes (ad 306-373) about his understanding of the Petrine prerogative in the Church. For Ephrem, Peter is “the foundation of the Holy Church . . . [and] is called Cephas in order to support all its buildings.” Peter is endowed with authority “to inspect the Church and condemn the false.” He is the “chief of disciples and head of the fountain from which [Jesus’] teachings flow.” He is also “chosen to be the first-born in [Jesus’] institution, and so that, as the heir, [he] may be executor of [Jesus’] treasures.” “Behold, [Peter] is given authority over all [Jesus’] treasures.”[2]

The Synod of ad 410
After 40 years of persecutions against the Church of the East, Bishop Marutha of Maiparqat came to the Sassanid court on an embassy from the Roman Emperor Arcadiusxe "Arcadius" in Constantinople to the Sassanid Emperor Yazdgert Ixe "Yazdgert I" to intervene with him and secure permission for the Church of the East’s bishops to meet in a synod.  Bishop Marutha was ultimately successful and the Synod took place in ad 410, under the leadership of the Catholicos Mar Isaac. In this synod Mar Isaac and the 40 Bishops who assembled with him declared that “The laws, divine ordi­nances, and upright and trustworthy canons which had been estab­lished in the West by the honored fathers, should also be estab­lished in the East as an edifice of steadfastness and truth for all the people of God.”[3] 

The Synod of ad 410 further declared a unity of the faith with the West by adapting the creeds of the Councils of Nicea XE "Nicea"  (ad 325) and the Council of Constantinople XE "Constantinople"  (ad 381). The creed the we use in our present liturgy is the compilation of these two creeds. The Synod also promulgated decrees on the following issues: on the liturgical XE "Liturgy"  unity between the West and the East,[4] on the oneness in liturgical calendar,[5] on the celebration of the Eucharist XE "Eucharist" ,[6] and finally, enacted canonical XE "Canonical"  legislation which imposed anathema XE "Anathema"  on any who would not accept all decisions concerning the above.[7] Later on, during the next sessions of the Synod, the Sassanid Emperor decreed that the Christian churches, which had been torn down, should be rebuilt and that the Christian people should be able to worship freely.

The Synod of ad 420
Ten years later the Catholicos Yahb’Alaha I and Acacius bishop of Amida, exchanged official embassies between Constantinople and Persia, indicating an open and amiable relationship between the churches of East and West. At an official Synod of the Church of the East in ad 420 a number of “western” synods, namely, the Synods of Gangra, Antioch (the “dedication” council), Neocaesarea, Ancyra, and Laodicea, were adopted by the East,[8] showing how eager the bishops were to recognize the interconnectedness of the Church of the East with their brethren across the sometimes turbulent frontiers, and to bring their legal structures into conformity with the rest of the Church in the Roman Empire.

Patriarch Acacius (ad 484- 496)
However, something quite anomalous took place about the same time as the closing of the school at Edessa.  The Patriarch Acacius (Aqaq) was sent on an embassy to Constantinople by the Persian Emperor. There he was received by the church, and was questioned on his faith. He was asked concerning the doctrinal point at issue since the time of the Council of Ephesus, and though we do not know precisely what answer he gave, it must have been the same as the creedal statement composed in a synod over which he presided in 486.[9] He was admitted to communion, neither condemned as a heretic nor shunned as a schismatic—this while the Henoticon of Zeno held sway in the Roman East!

 Liturgical Citations (4^th to 6^th Century)
The Catholic Character is expressed in the liturgy of the Church of the East through the numerous titles of Saint Peter. These texts are anchored in solid apostolic tradition. Saint Peter is consistently identified as “the Head of the Apostles”, which is a title that describes a great ecclesiological prominence in any church. For, it is due to Peter’s faith confession in Christ that he became for this venerable tradition “the Founder of the Church” or “the Foundation of the Church,” and “the holder of the keys to the height and the depth.”

In addition to this, St. Peter is also venerated as “the Master-Builder (or architect) of the Church,” “the Pillar of the Church,” “the Preacher, the Teacher and the Head of the Disciples.” Because he is “commanded to feed Christ’s sheep and ewes” Jesus granted Simon “the keys of the spiritual treasures in the Kingdom of heaven” so that “he may bind and loose whatever is on earth or in heaven.” St. Peter is the “preacher of the Gospel and the teacher of the Church”. By virtue of Peter’s faith and teaching, which were “proclaimed to all creation”, “the Church on earth was lifted and established in heaven.” 

St. Peter went up to Rome “in order to bring an end to the ritual and prophesying of demons taught to all the men of Rome.” So as a diligent architect of the Church, “he uprooted error and drove evil away from Rome, sowed tranquility in creation and planted the word of life of our Lord.”

The See of Rome is mentioned in connection with Saint Peter as “the renowned city of kings,” and the place where the “two saints are laid up,” meaning that the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul are buried there. As a result of his witness to Christ, Emperor Nero “crucified Peter on the wood of the cross . . . [his] tears ran down but [his] mind rejoiced . . . As [his] blood flowed, trees sprang up, new and lovely, whose fruit was good and whose leaves gave healing; the sick of Rome took from them, and helps for the whole race flowed to the Church.”

Seeking divine protection and spiritual favors in the face of numerous tribulations and trials, the Church of the East continually makes petition to her Lord Jesus by recalling to mind and publicly invoking His promise to Peter.  She prays in the liturgy “as you promised to Peter, the founder of the Church, the gates of Sheol and its tyrants shall never overcome her, confirm your word, O our Savior, for you are her King, and the Guardian of her children, and the boast of her inhabitants.

Patriarch Abba I the Great (ad 540-552)
Over the passage of time the dyophysites of the East had become sealed off from those of the West by a monophysite-dominated buffer zone in the Roman East, and the isolation of the Church of the East became stronger.  Even after the victory of orthodoxy in much of the western Empire, monophysism strengthened its hold on western Syria, and misunderstandings increased because of an absence of open dialogue between the Church of the East’s bishops and theologians and those of orthodox westerns.  However, when a brilliant convert to Christianity from Magianism, who was later to become Catholicos-Patriarch of the East, Mar Abba I, known as “the Great”, traveled to Alexandria in the 6th century, he was received, and even taught there for some time. He later journeyed to Constantinople and was received to communion there as well. 

 The Canonical letter of Catholicos Mar Giwargis (ad 555 AD)
In the context of the Christological teaching which the Church of the East supposedly shares with the Church of Rome and which has been received from the Apostles, the teaching office of Peter is mentioned according to the Gospel testimony in which Jesus empowers Si­mon, the head of his disciples, to bind and to loose on earth and in heaven. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch and Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, are also cited in reference to the teaching continuity between the Church of the East and the Church of Rome.

And as the glorious, eternal King, the Lord of heaven and of earth, he hands over the keys of his kingdom to Si­mon, the head of his disciples, whom he names Peter, and empowers him to bind and to loose on earth and in heaven, and after the ascension of his bod­ily nature to heaven he …[10]

The holy Ignatius, then, who served the see of Antioch in the sec­ond place after the blessed Peter, and because of his witness on behalf of the truth was sent to Rome and there was thrown to the beasts, spoke in this manner:  “Everyone who …”

Again, Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, when interpreting the saying, which the apostle Paul wrote to the Hebrews — “He who is sanctified and those who are sanctified are all from one” — said, “Does not …” [11]

Babai the Great (ad 612)
A few decades later, the statement of Babai the Great, whose Christological thought has shaped the Christology of the Church of the East for centuries, is noticeably emphatic. In his debate with those who held the Alexandrian viewpoint on the questions of the Incarnation, Babai strongly argues his standpoint and supports it with the position held by Pope Leo the Great during the 4^th Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. Babai testifies that “through the holder of the see of great Peter, the marvelous [Pope] Leo” these errors in the faith of the Church were brought to a very bad end.[12] It is very significant that such statement by Babai the Great was made after the Nestorian controversy. It is of some note, however, that Babai, the promoter of “Nestorianism” in the East, according to some, identifies Leo as the “holder of the see of great Peter,” a curious statement for one who is allegedly contemplating, or consciously engaged in, the provoking of schism.

The Synod of Mar Khnanisho (ad 776 AD)
The moral means toward becoming “Peter” as a function of the head of the Church of the East is described in this synod.  He who is Peter for the Church of the East must possess charity, peace, suffering and justice. 

For Peter was the head of the Twelve, and he who sits upon this catholic throne is Peter inasmuch as he is heir to Peter, and if one who seeks to be Peter wishes to become Peter, he (really) ought to be Peter.  …  For this is the fullness and disposition of one who is Peter’s por­tion:  an entity who possesses love, peace, and long-suffer­ing, as well as jus­tice.

The Embassy of Rabban Sauma to Europe (ad 1287)
During the patriarchate of Yahb’Alaha III (1281-1317), the Mongols who controlled Asia were seriously considering establishing an alliance with the West in order to defeat the Muslim Arabs. Rabban Sauma, who was an ethnic Mongolian of the Uigur stock and a friend of Patriarch Yahb’Alaha, was chosen and commissioned by Arghun Khan, the sovereign of the Mongol-Persians, for an imperial embassy to Europe in order to bring unity between Christian Europe and Mongol Asia against the Muslims of the Middle East.

The nature of this embassy was political, not ecclesial. It started in ad 1287 when Rabban Sauma carried Arghun’s letters to the Byzantine emperor, the pope and the kings of France and England. What is relevant to our discussion here, however, is the fact that when Rabban Sauma arrived at Rome, he visited Saint Peter’s Basilica and had prolonged negotiations with the curia cardinals. The papacy being then vacant, a definite reply to his political proposals was postponed. Then Rabban Sauma passed on to Paris, where he had an audience with the king of France (Philip the Fair). In Gascony he apparently met the king of England (Edward I.). On his return, he passed again by Rome where he was cordially received by the newly elected pontiff, Nicolas IV, who gave him communion on Palm Sunday, 1288, allowed him to celebrate his own Eucharist in the capital of Western Christendom, commissioned him to visit the Christians of the East, and entrusted to him a tiara which he presented to his Patriarch Mar Yahb’Alaha III.[13

Abdisho of Soba (14th Century)
Probably the most significant classical text is a 13th century canonical prologue by Abdisho of Suba — the last prominent theologian-canonist before the Mongols nearly destroyed the Church of the East. Most probably the significance of this statement is due to the more concise terminology and developed ecclesiological position that Abdisho asserts about the “Patriarchs of all the world” and in particular concerning the Ministry of the Bishop of Rome.

Abdisho first enumerates the “Five Patriarchates that are ordered by the holy Apostles, which are foremost in all the world: well-known, respected, and recognized as ‘Mothers of Cities’.” He counts “Babylon, Alexandria, Antioch, Rome and Byzantium,” and bases their precedence over the other cities of the world “solely because of [each city’s] status as a capital or its pre-eminence.”

He then adds his reasoning for this listing “not only and solely because of [each city’s] status as a capital or its pre-eminence that each one of these places was given the gift of the Patriarchate, but also because of the Apostle who discipled it and the king in it.” Concerning the See of Rome having primacy over the other four Patriarchates, Abdisho’s reasoning includes the following statement: “it was because of the two pillars established in [Rome], Peter, I say, the ‘Head of the Apostles’, and Paul, the ‘Teacher of the Nations’, and [thus] the see of Rome is the first see and the head of the Patriarchs.” 

Youhanan Sulaqa (ad 1552-1555)
After Abdisho of Soba and his most influential canonical expression which brought to a focal point all substantial elements of this Church’s previous ecclesiological thought, as we have seen in this presentation, a courageous development as far as expressing with more clarity the Catholic Character of faith began to take firm roots in our Church.

In the 14^th century, after the Mongols devastated the whole East, including the monasteries and other educational institutions of the Church of the East, and allegedly, as a consequence of this destruction in 1497, Patriarch Shimun IV Basidi presumably started the hereditary succession in his family, which later was known as the Bar Mama or Abouna family. In 1550’s an opposition to this un-canonical practice developed among the bishops of the Church of the East in Iran and Erbil resulting in the counter-patriarchate of Mar Yuhannan Sulaqa. Sulaqa was a monk of Rabban Hormizd in 1510 and its abbot in 1540.  He made his Catholic profession of faith on February 15, 1553. It was recognized on February 20, 1553. He was confirmed as patriarch on 28 April 1553.  But, he died as a martyr in prison in January 1555.[14]

Due to political other and geographical exigencies, the bishops who succeeded Mar Sulaqa reverted to the hereditary succession in their families and as a result have ruptured communion with Rome. But nevertheless, the Catholic Character of this venerable Church was never compromised; it remained alive in the worship, spirituality and more so, in the hopes of those who love the One Church Jesus has established. It was only a matter of time that a correction would be made and a new permanent spiritual state of reality would arise to embrace the centuries-long faith and calling for a visible communion with the See of Peter that Apostle in Rome.

Youhanna VIII Hormizd (ad 1830-1838)
Indeed, this is what ultimately happened in the person of another great Church Father, Patriarch Youhanna VIII Hormizd.  He had strong ties with Rome since 1778. In 1830, after Augustin Hindi (Yosep V) died, Patriarch Yukhannan VIII was officially recognized by Rome and thus became as supreme head over all the Chaldean Catholics who are in communion with the Bishop of Rome.[15]

This unity sparked for decades a wide spread movement within the various “Nestorian” Church of the East communities in Mesopotamia to begin embracing Catholicism as the fulfillment of their ancient Apostolic Faith in Christ and in His salvation plan for the world. This movement became stronger by the day. Today, after the passage of nearly two centuries, the will of the faithful of our Mesopotamian tradition is still kindled by the same fire and empowered by the same hope. Just as our the Church of the East Fathers for centuries prayed, preached, wrote and taught that the Church was, in this fundamental sense, catholic on the day of Pentecost and will always be so until the day of the Parousia.

Bishop Bawai Soro

San Diego (January 7, 2010)