The Assyrian Church of the East

The ancient church of Persia and Mesopotamia, which looks to the apostles for its beginning, prays in Syriac, and did not receive the Council of Ephesus.

Assyrian Church of the East, About us (assyrianchurch.org)

Assyrian Church of the East, Sacraments (assyrianchurch.org)

Assyrian Church of the East, What is the Qurbana? (assyrianchurch.org)

Assyrian Church of the East, Why do we call the Qurbana a "Sacrifice"? (assyrianchurch.org)

Assyrian Church of the East, How Do I Benefit Personally From Attending Qurbana? (assyrianchurch.org)

Assyrian Church of the East, Liturgical Texts (assyrianchurch.org)

Fr. Ephraim Alkhas, Sunday of Palms, Sunday of Hosannas (assyrianchurch.org)

Assyrian Church of the East, The Great Fast (Lent) (assyrianchurch.org)

Assyrian Church of the East, Welcome to the Assyrianchurch.org

Assyrian Church of the East news, Catholicos-Patriarch Marks 400th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Jingjiao Stele in China (21 October 2025)

John Paul II and Mar Dinkha IV, Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East (11 November 1994), vatican.va

Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Guidelines for Admission to the Eucharist Between the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East (Rome, 20 July 2001), christianunity.va

Joint Committee for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, Common Statement on 'Sacramental Life' (24 November 2017), christianunity.va

Assyrian Church of the East, Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and Lebanon, The Church (assyrianchurch.org.au)

Assyrian Church of the East, Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and Lebanon, Doctrine (assyrianchurch.org.au)

Assyrian Church of the East, Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and Lebanon, St Hurmizd's Cathedral (NSW)

Assyrian Church News, Why do we pray for the intersession of Saints? (19 July 2017)

Nisibis Assyrian Theological College, His Holiness Mar Awa III, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East

Eve G. Sada, Assyrian-Syriac Chants from the Liturgy of the Church of the East (doctoral dissertation, University of Oklahoma, 2021)

Assyrian Church of the East (Wikipedia)

Church of the East (Wikipedia)

Acacius of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (Wikipedia)

Xi'an Stele (Wikipedia)

Babai the Great (Wikipedia)

The church tells its story as a mission that began in the first century, east of the Roman border. It became organized under a Catholicos in the fourth century, took the Nicene faith at a synod in 410, and kept its own course after the Council of Ephesus. It then carried the gospel across Asia as far as Tang China. Mongol and Turkish conquest and the massacres of 1915 broke it. Divisions over the patriarchate and the calendar followed in the twentieth century. In 1994 it signed a common declaration with Rome about Christ. The dates below follow that line. Where only Wikipedia gives a date, the entry says so.

A church in the East

The church says it "began during the missionary activity which took place in the Apostolic Age." Written records go back to the late second century. Its first congregations are thought to have grown in Adiabene, in northern Mesopotamia, under first the Parthian and then the Persian kings. A welcome page on its site also says the Malabar coast of India holds "the Christians whom St Thomas discipled."

The Catholicos of the East

Papa bar Gaggai, bishop of the Persian capital Seleucia-Ctesiphon, "organized the bishops of the Church in a form which resembled the model developed in the West." He gathered the administration under himself and took the title "Catholicos of the East." From then on, the church says, the bishop of the imperial capital held that office.

The synod of Isaac and the creed of Nicaea

At a general synod called by the Catholicos Isaac at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the head of the church received the title Patriarch. A representative of the Roman emperor, Marutha, "brought to the assembled bishops the canons and creed of the Council of Nicea, and they were officially approved and received by the Church of the East."

Self-governing before Ephesus

In 424 the bishops of the Persian Empire, meeting under the Catholicos Dadishoʿ, resolved not to take their disciplinary or theological questions to any bishop or council in the Roman Empire. Seven years later the Council of Ephesus condemned Nestorius and deposed him as bishop of Constantinople. The Church of the East already stood as a separate body. It did not condemn Nestorius, and for that the churches of the Roman world called it the "Nestorian Church." Scholars note that its own synods do not name Nestorius before the seventh century.

Synods at Beth Edrai and Seleucia-Ctesiphon

Under the Catholicos Acacius, synods met at Beth Edrai in 485 and at Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 486. Wikipedia says these synods "entrenched" the church's own Christology in the Church of the East. We could not read the acts of these synods themselves. This entry rests on that one reference work.

Alopen reaches China

The church dates its mission to China from "the arrival of Mar Alopen in 635." China was then ruled by the Tang dynasty.

The stele of Xi'an

A stone monument in Xi'an records the church's first century and a half in China. The church's news site speaks of "the erection of the Jingjiao Stele in 781 which documented the 150-year presence of the Assyrian Church of the East's missionary enterprise in China." The stone was found again in 1625, and the church marked the 400th anniversary of that discovery in 2025.

A split, and the lines change sides

The church was divided over the hereditary succession to the patriarchate and over union with Rome. By the end of 1552 a party in Mosul, helped by Franciscan missionaries, had chosen the priest Yohannan Sulaqa, and in 1553 the pope named him "Patriarch of Babylon." The lines then changed sides. Sulaqa's own line, the Shimun line, broke with Rome by 1672, and the patriarchs of the Assyrian Church of the East descend from it. The older line of Alqosh entered communion with Rome, and when the pope recognized its patriarch in 1830, the modern Chaldean Catholic Church was formed.

The massacres

In 1915 the Young Turks invaded the Hakkari mountains, where the patriarchate had been seated since 1681. The patriarchal seat at Qodchanis was destroyed, and the survivors fled into Iran. In 1918 Patriarch Shimun XIX Benyamin and about 150 of his followers were murdered during a negotiation, and most of the survivors fled on into what became Iraq.

Calendar, schism and the end of the family line

In 1964 Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai decreed liturgical reform, the Gregorian calendar and a shorter Lent. In 1968 objectors in Iraq elected a rival patriarch and formed the Ancient Church of the East. Shimun stepped down in 1972 and married the next year. A synod in 1973 then abolished the hereditary succession, in which the patriarchate had passed within one family since the fifteenth century. Shimun was murdered in November 1975. In 1976 the church, until then officially the Church of the East, took the name Assyrian Church of the East.

The Common Christological Declaration

On 11 November 1994, in St. Peter's in Rome, Pope John Paul II and Mar Dinkha IV declared together that "we confess one Lord Jesus Christ." They said that the old anathemas "bearing on persons and on formulas" were "due in large part to misunderstandings." They also said, "we cannot unfortunately celebrate together the Eucharist." The two churches are not yet in communion.

Rome and the prayer of Addai and Mari

On 17 January 2001 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded that the Anaphora of Addai and Mari "can be considered valid," though it has long been used without a recited account of the Lord's institution. Guidelines issued on 20 July 2001 allowed Chaldean and Assyrian faithful to receive communion from each other's priests in cases of pastoral necessity.

Papa bar Gaggai

The first to take the title "Catholicos of the East," when he drew the bishops of the Persian church together under the bishop of the capital.

Isaac

He called the general synod at Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410 that received the canons and creed of Nicaea and gave the head of the church the title Patriarch.

Babai the Great

A church father of the East, who revived the monastic movement and set out the church's teaching on Christ. The dates and role here rest on a reference work, not on the church's own pages.

Shimun XXI Eshai

The patriarch of the reforms of 1964, who stepped down in 1972, married in 1973, and was murdered in San Jose, California, in 1975. Some accounts number him Shimun XXIII.

Mar Dinkha IV

Elected at a synod in Alton, England, in October 1976, the first patriarch chosen after the family succession ended. He moved the patriarchal see to Chicago and signed the Common Christological Declaration with Pope John Paul II in 1994. He died on 26 March 2015, and that September the Holy Synod elected Mar Gewargis III to succeed him.

Mar Awa III

Bishop of California and secretary of the Holy Synod before his election, he was consecrated Catholicos-Patriarch on 13 September 2021 in Erbil, Iraq. He leads the church today.

The name "Nestorian." Nestorius was bishop of Constantinople, condemned at Ephesus in 431. Outsiders for centuries called the Church of the East "Nestorian," as if Nestorius had founded it. The church did not call itself that, and it does not teach what the name suggests. Its own statement says it "rejects any teaching which suggests that Christ is an 'ordinary man' whom God the Word inhabited," and "any teaching that explicitly or implicitly suggests that there are two Sons, or two Lords, or two Christs." The scholar Sebastian Brock called the label "a lamentable misnomer" in the title of a 1996 article. It is not used as a name on this chart.

Related bodies. The Chaldean Catholic Church, in communion with Rome, took its present form in 1830 from the patriarchal line of Alqosh, after the lines that split in 1552 had changed sides. The Ancient Church of the East separated in 1968. The Oriental Orthodox churches are another family, with their own chart. This chart covers only the Assyrian Church of the East.

What we could not read. The church's website lists its three anaphoras, which it calls Hallowings, but the files behind those titles would not open for us, so nothing here is quoted from the text of the anaphoras themselves. We found no first-hand source for the acts of the synods of 485 and 486.

The church stands on the faith of the universal Church set out in the Nicene Creed, as received at its synod of 410; it governs itself by apostolic order and the canons of its own synods.

The church says its teaching is "based on the faith of the universal Church as set forth in the Nicene Creed." The Trinity and the incarnation are central. It received "the canons and creed of the Council of Nicea" at its synod of 410, and it keeps the acts of its own synods as church law. Its summary of itself puts the fathers beside the Creed: its theology is "according to the Nicene Creed and the teaching of the fathers of the Church." Syriac, it says, "was, and is, the language of the scriptures, liturgy, and theology."

The church's writers lean on the fathers and on the liturgy, naming Theodore the Interpreter and Isho'dad of Merv. Its list of seven sacraments is that of the medieval Metropolitan Mar Abdisho of Nisibis, who died in 1318, and its Holy Synod affirmed that list as the church's official one in 2001. Some of its practices rest on tradition: its Australian archdiocese says the apostles, "according to tradition," received the Holy Leaven "directly from Christ." We found no statement that ranks Scripture and tradition against each other.

The teaching of the Church of the East is based on the faith of the universal Church as set forth in the Nicene Creed.

At this synod Marutha, a representative from the Roman Emperor, brought to the assembled bishops the canons and creed of the Council of Nicea, and they were officially approved and received by the Church of the East.

its theology is according to the Nicene Creed and the teaching of the fathers of the Church

The church reads its own history through its synods. On the fast: "The first canonical mention of the Great Fast in the Church of the East is in the acts of the Council of Mar Isaac (AD 410)." The Common Christological Declaration, which the church signed, speaks of "heirs and guardians of the faith received from the Apostles as formulated by our common Fathers in the Nicene Creed." The church's site also quotes Scripture constantly in its teaching articles, for example Hebrews 7 and 9 in the article on the sacrifice of the Qurbana. The 2017 statement with Rome on the sacraments notes that the church had made no binding ruling on the number of its sacred mysteries until its synod adopted Mar Abdisho's list in 2001.

Baptism is given to infants of Christian families and to new converts, by anointing, three immersions and the laying on of hands; it is the new birth without which no one enters the Kingdom, and the sacraments take effect where the priest and faith are present.

The church teaches that the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist "are primary." Baptism is given "to infants of Christian families and to new converts." The rite begins with anointing in oil. The person is immersed three times in consecrated water "in the name of the Holy Trinity," and sealed by the laying on of hands, which is confirmation, in the same service. The baptized infant then receives communion: the priest dips his finger in the chalice and places it in the child's mouth. Infant baptism binds parents and sponsors "to rear the child in the Christian faith."

The church describes baptism as a birth: "in order to belong to a world of immortality, it is requisite to be born of the spiritual womb of baptism, through the agency of the spiritual father which is the priest." Its Australian archdiocese calls it "a new birth" without which "one may not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven," and says that through it "we receive the divine adoption of sonship." The Holy Spirit gives "form and perfection." The church names three things that make a sacrament holy: a true priest, the Lord's word and command, and the faith of the one who receives it. It also teaches that sin after baptism is healed by "Absolution," which is "a benefit of the Eucharist" and is also given to individuals "with penance, in the case of serious sin."

Baptism is administered to infants of Christian families and to new converts.

It is a new birth, according to water and the Holy Spirit (cf. John 3:5) without which one may not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thirdly, right intention and confirmed faith on the part of those who partake of them, believing that the effect of the Sacraments takes place by a heavenly power.

The rite in the church's words: "Following an anointing with oil there is a triple immersion in consecrated water in the name of the Holy Trinity, and a final “sealing”, which is Confirmation, with the imposition of hands at the door of the altar." A person already baptized with the Trinitarian formula in another church is not baptized again. On the benefits it prays for in the Qurbana, the church lists "remission of sins, a clear conscience before God, the hope of resurrection, and new life in the Kingdom of Heaven." On sin and healing it says: "the man of God, through the effects of sin, and immoral living, falls into the disorders of iniquity, and receives health from the priests of the Church, the spiritual physicians."

The Qurbana is the Holy Offering, a sacrifice in which Christ is priest and victim and present in the bread and wine; the baptized receive both, from a priest in the apostolic succession.

The Eucharist is the center of the church's life. The baptized "receive the body and blood of Christ under both species of bread and wine, and the “real presence” of Christ is understood in the elements." The bread is a leavened loaf, and the cup is wine and water in equal parts. A priest ordained in the apostolic succession must consecrate. Its Australian archdiocese teaches that the bread and wine "are transformed in the eucharistic prayer, in a mystical way, by the unseen action of the Holy Spirit who operates through the priest." Each Holy Thursday the parish priest renews the Holy Leaven, which is mixed into the loaves through the year and has, the church holds, "an integral and necessary part in the overall process of consecration." Infants receive communion at their baptism.

The church calls the Qurbana a sacrifice. It teaches that Christ offered himself "once and for all," and that the Qurbana is the place where "time and eternity" meet, so that the worshippers are joined to that one offering. The sacrifice, it says, is "one in which our Lord Jesus is at once the priest and the victim." Christ is present, it adds, "in bread and wine, in the celebrant (the presbyter or bishop), in the Word which is administered, and in his Body’s members." The church also teaches that the whole assembly offers the Qurbana, not the priest alone.

The baptized faithful receive the body and blood of Christ under both species of bread and wine, and the “real presence” of Christ is understood in the elements.

It is one in which our Lord Jesus is at once the priest and the victim.

A priest ordained by a bishop in the apostolic succession is required for the Consecration, and a deacon is required to assist the celebrant.

The article on the sacrifice: "Once and for all he entered the Sanctuary in Heaven, leaving this world and entering a timeless realm, with his own pure blood as his sufficient offering, and there he eternally intercedes for us before his Father." And: "We, in our Offering, are united with him in that once-in-time, but for ever sufficient, sacrifice." On who offers: "In the modern day there are few who feel that they, personally, go to Church to offer the Qurbana. They think this is the priest’s job, and in thinking this way they are not so much wrong as they are limited in their understanding of what is going on." On Rome: the two churches say, "we cannot unfortunately celebrate together the Eucharist which is the sign of the ecclesial communion already fully restored." The Vatican's 2001 guidelines say the Anaphora of Addai and Mari, "from time immemorial, it has been used without a recitation of the Institution Narrative," and find the words of institution "present... in a dispersed euchological way." That is Rome's reading, not the church's own statement.

The church is governed by bishops, presbyters and deacons in the apostolic succession; the Catholicos-Patriarch presides over the bishops, and holy orders is the sacrament that gives the other sacraments.

The church says it is "governed according to the Apostolic model of bishops, presbyters, and deacons." Over the bishops stands the Catholicos-Patriarch, the bishop of the old Persian capital, who "became the presiding bishop over the entire Church." In the past a general synod of all metropolitans and bishops met under him, with each metropolitan in charge of a province of four to eight bishops. The church says this "historic model no longer exists due to the greatly reduced numbers within the Church and the dislocations of its membership."

A bishop is legitimate when ordained in the apostolic succession by at least two other bishops, "in full communion with their fellow bishops." The church lists the priesthood first among its sacraments, as "the ministry of all the other Sacraments." Its Australian archdiocese says the new priesthood is given "through Apostolic succession and the laying on of hands to those deemed worthy," and that "St. Paul's guidelines offer a comprehensive checklist" for those who seek it. Until 1973 the patriarchate passed within one family. A synod then abolished the hereditary succession.

The Church of the East is governed according to the Apostolic model of bishops, presbyters, and deacons.

A bishop is considered legitimate if he has been ordained into the Apostolic succession by at least two (preferably more) other bishops who are themselves properly ordained and in full communion with their fellow bishops.

The Priesthood serves as a vital intermediary between God and humanity, focusing on granting forgiveness, bestowing blessings, and alleviating divine wrath.

The church's own account: "The Catholicos became the presiding bishop over the entire Church, and his dignity and power were subsequently added to in the fifth century when he received the title “Patriarch”." And: "A bishop’s legitimacy endures only so long as he himself maintains such full communion." The sacraments page adds that the sacraments are holy by "a true priest, who has attained the priesthood rightly, according to the requirements of the Church." The hereditary succession and its end (1973 and 1975) are dated in Part 2 from Wikipedia, since we found no page of the church that speaks of them.

Worship is the Qurbana and its feasts and fasts in Syriac, with seven sacraments that include the oil, the Holy Leaven and the sign of the cross; the church asks the saints to intercede, and venerates the cross but uses no icons.

The church's worship is liturgical and sacramental, in the Syriac language. Besides the Qurbana it keeps the Great Fast before Easter, the feast of the Nativity, and Epiphany on 6 January, "a celebration of the Baptism of Christ." On the Sunday of Palms the church uses its prayer books, the Khudra and the Gaza. It prays the Eucharist with one of three anaphoras, which it calls "Hallowings": those of Addai and Mari, of Mar Theodore the Interpreter, and of Mar Nestorius. It counts the sign of the cross, the oil of unction and the Holy Leaven among its seven sacraments. It teaches that "all the other Sacraments" are "sealed and perfected" by the sign of the cross.

The cross is the only symbol the church venerates, and it is kissed in churches and homes. The church uses no crucifixes, and its icons "have fallen out of use for many centuries." The church asks the saints to pray for it, and its news site has published an article to teach the faithful "our Church’s belief on praying for intercessions of Saints." Its chant was sung without instruments, and a 2021 study by Eve Sada says instruments "are still absent in many Assyrian churches."

The central feature of the worship life of the Church of the East is the Eucharist, known in the Syriac language of the Church as the “Qurbana Qaddisha”, or “Holy Offering”.

The Sign of the Cross, Unction, and “Holy Leaven” are defined as additional Sacraments.

The article written by Very Rev. Fr. Cor-Bishop Dr. George Toma of Saint Andrews Parish in Glenview, Illinois, U.S.A. has been written in the Assyrian language to explain to the faithful of the Assyrian Church of the East of our Church’s belief on praying for intercessions of Saints.

On the feasts: "The word “manifestation” refers to the public revelation of the special relationship Jesus of Nazareth had with the God of Israel," and the church counts Epiphany as one of "the three principle feasts of the early Church: Epiphany, Easter, and Pentecost." On Palm Sunday: "From Palm Sunday until the Great Procession of the Resurrection of Our Lord, we do not process but experience the cross." The sacraments page explains the Leaven: "the Holy Leaven is used in the spiritual food of the Body of CHRIST," and "The sign of the life-giving Cross is that by which Christians are ever kept." It also says that "some Christians who possess not the Leaven rockon Marriage... the seventh Sacrament."

The Holy Spirit is given in baptism, gives form and perfection in the sacraments, and seals the baptized in confirmation, given with baptism; the pages we read say nothing of tongues, prophecy or healing today.

The church confesses "One Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Its teaching on the Spirit is bound up with the sacraments. The church says that "form and perfection are imparted by the Holy spirit and by the power of the Most High," and its confirmation, given with baptism, is a "sealing" by the laying on of hands. Its Australian archdiocese says, "In baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and become temples thereof." In the joint declaration with Rome the church speaks of believers who "are born again as new creatures" by "water and the working of the Holy Spirit," and "are confirmed by the seal of the Holy Spirit who bestows the sacrament of Anointing." Its Epiphany anthem speaks of "the Spirit who came and remained upon him."

The church's pages that we read give no teaching on the gifts of the Spirit today: tongues, prophecy or healing. We do not supply one.

form and perfection are imparted by the Holy spirit and by the power of the Most High

In baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and become temples thereof.

Believers become members of this Body through the sacrament of Baptism, through which, by water and the working of the Holy Spirit, they are born again as new creatures.

The joint declaration goes on: "They are confirmed by the seal of the Holy Spirit who bestows the sacrament of Anointing." The church's article on the Nativity speaks of "the brooding power of the Spirit" at the incarnation. The church's account of the incarnation says the Son took his humanity "from the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary," and the joint declaration says the Word "became incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Christ redeemed humanity and gave the hope of resurrection and new life to all who put their faith in him; he is Lord and Judge and will come again; the church prays for its dead at the Eucharist.

The church teaches that Christ, "through his passion, death, burial, and resurrection, redeemed humanity from the bondage of sin and death, and secured the hope of resurrection and new life for all who put their faith in him." It prays in the Qurbana for the "hope of resurrection, and new life in the Kingdom of Heaven" for each worshipper. A hymn of the church for the Friday of Lazarus sings of Jesus, whom the Father "made... Lord and Judge, of the heavens and the depths." The church teaches that Christ is now in the heavenly sanctuary, where "he eternally intercedes for us before his Father." Its Australian archdiocese, following Mar Abdisho, says the sign of the cross "is anticipated to manifest in the heavens during the Lord's Second Coming."

The church prays for its dead. In its 2017 statement with Rome on the sacraments, the two churches say that Christians pray God "to forgive their sins," and "remember them and pray for their eternal rest and joy during Holy Eucharist." We found no fuller teaching from the church on the state of the dead.

secured the hope of resurrection and new life for all who put their faith in him

the garment of the Word from the Father, who made him Lord and Judge, of the heavens and the depths.

They remember them and pray for their eternal rest and joy during Holy Eucharist.

The article on the benefit of the Qurbana says the church's liturgy "repeats these needs several times," and that "Each of these benefits is prayed for, not just for some abstract “humanity”, but for each and every participating worshipper." It closes the article on the Palm Sunday: "What would Christ experience among us if he were to come in judgement this Easter?" The church holds the Nicene Creed as its standard; the Common Christological Declaration speaks of the Son who "came down from heaven and became man for our salvation."

One Lord, two natures, and the name "Nestorian"

Christ is one Person, one Son, in whom the divine and the human natures stay what they are; the church refused the Council of Ephesus and was called Nestorian for it, a name it rejects.

The church confesses that the Word "became incarnate" and that he is "the personal subject of the divine and human natures." The two natures "retain their own properties, faculties, and operations unconfusedly, immutably, undividedly, and inseparably." It says it rejects any teaching of "two Sons, or two Lords, or two Christs." Members of the church object that the label "Nestorian" names a teaching they reject. In 1994 the church and Rome stated together that "His divinity and his humanity are united in one person, without confusion or change, without division or separation," and that the past anathemas rested largely on "misunderstandings." The church prays the Virgin Mary as "the Mother of Christ our God and Saviour," and Rome addresses her as "the Mother of God." Each church recognizes "the legitimacy and rightness" of the other's expression of "the same faith."

The Church of the East further rejects any teaching that explicitly or implicitly suggests that there are two Sons, or two Lords, or two Christs in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but we confess one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

His divinity and his humanity are united in one person, without confusion or change, without division or separation.

The controversies of the past led to anathemas, bearing on persons and on formulas.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.

for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,

Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them in the sight of the Lord, that they strive not about words, to no profit, to the subverting of them that hear.

On Christ, the Church of the East says what Scripture says: "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14), in him "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9), and he was "made like unto his brethren" (Hebrews 2:17). Its refusal of "two Sons, or two Lords, or two Christs" is the apostles' faith, and "Nestorian" is a wrong label for a church that confesses one Lord. On the substance it stands with Scripture, and so do the churches that condemned it. But Scripture names no formula of natures and persons, and Paul charged Timothy to tell the church to "strive not about words, to no profit" (2 Timothy 2:14). Fifteen centuries of separation over words, with anathemas on both sides, is that charge ignored by both.

The church is right to say it rejects what it was accused of, and right to hold the Word, the Son, one Lord. Its statement also uses words like "natures," "properties" and "faculties," which the apostles did not use. They may help explain the text, but they should not be bound on anyone as a test. A formula that cannot be found in the text should not be what divides or unites the churches.

The prayer of Addai and Mari

The church's oldest eucharistic prayer, attributed to the apostles Addai and Mari, has no recited account of the Last Supper, though Rome has found the words of institution present in it in scattered form.

The church says its Eucharist is attributed to "the Apostles, Addai and Mari, who discipled the East." The Vatican's 2001 guidelines say that the Anaphora of Addai and Mari is "one of the most ancient Anaphoras" and that, "from time immemorial, it has been used without a recitation of the Institution Narrative." The Catholic Church holds that the words of institution are "a constitutive and therefore indispensable part" of the prayer, and made "a long and careful study." It concluded that the prayer is valid and that the words are "present... in a dispersed euchological way, that is, integrated in successive prayers of thanksgiving, praise and intercession." The guidelines also say the Assyrian priest is "warmly invited to insert the words of the Institution" when Chaldean faithful take part, "as allowed by the Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East." We could not read the text of the anaphora itself, so we describe only what these documents say about it.

The liturgy of the Eucharist is attributed to “the Apostles, Addai and Mari, who discipled the East”.

from time immemorial, it has been used without a recitation of the Institution Narrative.

the words of Eucharistic Institution are indeed present in the Anaphora of Addai and Mari, not in a coherent narrative way and ad litteram, but rather in a dispersed euchological way

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Paul handed on the Lord's own words at the table, "This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24), as part of what "I received of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:23). A eucharistic prayer that does not say plainly what the Lord said and did that night has let go of what the apostle delivered, and the church's synod is right to let its priests "insert the words of the Institution"; they belong at every table, not only when Chaldean guests are present. Still, neither Paul nor Acts makes the supper depend on a priest reciting a formula, so Rome's test of validity by the right words is not Scripture's test either. What the text forbids is the sacrifice: Christ "offered one sacrifice for sins for ever" (Hebrews 10:12), and no prayer, however old, offers him again. The church is right to hold the supper to the Lord's own words, and wrong to call the Qurbana a sacrifice offered on an altar.

Part 3 quotes the church's own article that Christ "is at once the priest and the victim" and that the worshippers "are united with him in that once-in-time, but for ever sufficient, sacrifice." That article is careful to say the sacrifice is once for all, and that the Qurbana is "very different from, but yet similar to" the Old Testament sacrifices. It also says that in the Qurbana "the Priest and Victim... offers himself by accepting sacrificial suffering, death, burial, and resurrection." Hebrews teaches that the once-for-all offering needs no priest to repeat or present it again: "who needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices … for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself" (Hebrews 7:27).

Seven sacraments, with the Holy Leaven and the cross

The church counts seven sacraments, and its list includes the priesthood, the oil of unction, the Holy Leaven and the sign of the cross; the Lord gave two.

The church says its sacraments, "according to the Divine Scriptures, are seven in number." The list is that of the medieval Metropolitan Mar Abdisho of Nisibis, which the Holy Synod affirmed as official in 2001. It is not the list of Rome or of Constantinople: the priesthood, baptism, the oil of unction, the oblation of the body and blood of Christ, absolution, the Holy Leaven, and the sign of the cross. The page adds that some Christians who do not have the Leaven count marriage as the seventh. The oil is "used in the birth which is by baptism," and the Leaven "in the spiritual food of the Body of CHRIST." By the sign of the cross "all the other Sacraments are sealed and perfected."

The Sacraments of the Church, according to the Divine Scriptures, are seven in number:

The Oil of Unction is used in the birth which is by baptism, and the Holy Leaven is used in the spiritual food of the Body of CHRIST.

The sign of the life-giving Cross is that by which Christians are ever kept, and by it all the other Sacraments are sealed and perfected.

Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

The Lord gave his church two things to do and told it to keep them: baptism, "baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19), and the supper, "this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). The New Testament names no Holy Leaven and no sign of the cross by which anything is "sealed and perfected," and the oil of James 5 is a prayer for the sick, not a rite that completes baptism. The list of seven is "according to the Divine Scriptures" only in name: it is a medieval bishop's list, adopted by synod in 2001, and the Leaven rests on a tradition that the apostles received it from Christ, which no apostle wrote. A rite the apostles never handed down cannot be added to "the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3). The church gets credit for holding that baptism and the Supper are primary, which is where Scripture puts the weight.

The article on the Qurbana says the sacrament was first a meal in houses, where believers "broke bread and shared a cup of wine mixed with water in obedience to our Lord’s command." It says the form changed as the church grew. The 2017 statement with Rome traces the list of seven to Mar Abdisho of Nisibis, who died in 1318, and says the Holy Synod "affirmed in 2001 Abdisho’s list" as the church's official one. The Australian archdiocese calls the oil "a tradition dating back to the Apostles," and says the apostles, "according to tradition, received" the Holy Leaven "directly from Christ."

The anaphoras of Theodore and Nestorius

Besides Addai and Mari, the church prays the Eucharist with anaphoras it calls the Hallowings of Mar Theodore the Interpreter and of Mar Nestorius, and its writers call Theodore a saint and a father of the church.

Besides the prayer of Addai and Mari, the church prays its Eucharist with two other anaphoras. Its list of liturgical texts names them "The Hallowing of Mar Theodore the Interpreter, the Bishop of Mopsuestia," and "The Hallowing of Mar Nestorius, the Patriarch of Constantinople." The Vatican's 2001 guidelines call Addai and Mari "one of the three Anaphoras traditionally used by the Assyrian Church of the East." The church's teaching articles call Theodore the Interpreter and Isho'dad of Merv "Saints" and fathers of the church. So Nestorius, whom Ephesus condemned, is honored by the church, and one of its eucharistic prayers bears his name. We could not open the texts themselves and report only their titles.

The Hallowing of Mar Nestorius, the Patriarch of Constantinople

The Hallowing of Mar Theodore the Interpreter, the Bishop of Mopsuestia

The fathers of the Church, especially Saints Theodore the Interpreter and Isho’dad of Merv, pay close attention to the significance of what Christ rides upon.

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even the Christ.

Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.

Nestorius was condemned at Ephesus for a teaching the church says it does not hold, and a church may honor a man it believes was wronged, so that is not the fault. The fault is that the church prays the Lord's Supper in prayers handed down under the names of later teachers, and its writers read Scripture through them, as when the meaning of the colt on Palm Sunday is drawn from Theodore and Isho’dad. Jesus said, "one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren" (Matthew 23:8), and Paul answered those who said "I am of Paul; and I of Apollos" with the question, "Is Christ divided?" (1 Corinthians 1:12-13). No father, however honored, may stand beside the apostles. The church is to learn "not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6), and where these men explain the text, the text judges them.

Mary, Mother of Christ our God

The church prays the Virgin Mary as "the Mother of Christ our God and Saviour", and honors her as the one through whom the Word took flesh.

The church teaches that the Son took his humanity "from the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and united to himself, making it his very own at the moment of conception." In the joint declaration of 1994 it says that "the Assyrian Church of the East is praying the Virgin Mary as 'the Mother of Christ our God and Saviour.'" Rome addresses her as "the Mother of God." Each church says the other's expression is legitimate and right. The pages we read give no other teaching on Mary and no Marian dogmas, and we do not add any. The church does teach its people to seek the intercession of the saints.

That is the reason why the Assyrian Church of the East is praying the Virgin Mary as “the Mother of Christ our God and Saviour”.

which he took from the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and united to himself, making it his very own at the moment of conception.

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath looked upon the low estate of his handmaid: For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

And it came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts which thou didst suck. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus,

Mary is rightly honored: she said, "all generations shall call me blessed" (Luke 1:48), and the one she bore is God, so to call her "the Mother of Christ our God and Saviour" says what the Gospel says, with more restraint than the Marian dogmas of Rome. She herself said, "my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour" (Luke 1:47), and when a woman cried "Blessed is the womb that bare thee," Jesus answered, "blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it" (Luke 11:27-28). But the church does more than honor her: it is "praying the Virgin Mary," and it teaches its people to seek the intercession of the saints. Scripture has no such prayer, for there is "one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). Mary belongs where she put herself, among those who rejoice in God her Savior, not between the believer and God.

The Great Fast and the church's fasts

The church keeps a seven-week Great Fast before Easter, binding since the synod of 410, with no meat, eggs or milk products.

The church calls its fast before Easter the Great Fast, "a seven week period of self-discipline and penitence." It says "Fasting is a discipline which has been observed in the Church from the very beginning," that Jesus "recommended fasting to his followers," and that "first century Christian written sources indicate that members of the Church fasted twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays." The Great Fast "in the beginning consisted of abstinence from all flesh meat, including fish, and from eggs and milk products," and the Eastern churches still keep it. The first church law on it in the East is from the synod of 410: "as one and at one appointed time we should together keep the complete fast of forty days, seven weeks." In 1964 the patriarch shortened Lent among other changes, and Wikipedia reports a rift in Iraq that followed.

The “Great Fast” is a seven week period of self-discipline and penitence which precedes the Feast of the Resurrection (Easter).

Again, as one and at one appointed time we should together keep the complete fast of forty days, seven weeks.

The fast of Lent in the beginning consisted of abstinence from all flesh meat, including fish, and from eggs and milk products.

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen of men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face; that thou be not seen of men to fast, but of thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall recompense thee.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

Fasting is in the New Testament, and Jesus said, "when ye fast" (Matthew 6:16), not if, so the church is right to fast. But he taught a fast seen by "thy Father who is in secret" (Matthew 6:18), and the apostles set no season of forty days. A church that binds a fast by synod and law, with a list of foods, goes beyond them: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day" (Colossians 2:16). The church's own history shows the cost, for when a calendar and a shorter Lent were decreed in 1964, a rift in Iraq followed and a second church was formed. A fast kept to the Lord and left to each person's conscience, as Romans 14:5 leaves the day, would have kept the church one.

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. An ancient church can show that its customs are old. Only the text can show whether they are apostolic.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book:

Scripture makes the man of God "complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Timothy 3:17), and the church is to learn "not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). The Church of the East sets its theology on "the Nicene Creed and the teaching of the fathers of the Church," binds the canons of its own synods, and reads the Bible through its fathers. Its seven sacraments are a medieval bishop's list, and its Holy Leaven rests on a tradition that the apostles received it from Christ, which no apostle wrote; that is tradition supplying what Scripture does not say, which Jesus rebuked in those who "hold fast the tradition of men" (Mark 7:8). In this it stands with the other ancient churches. It stops short of the furthest because it has added no dogmas like Rome's on Mary or the pope, and its teaching articles lean on Scripture throughout.

The Creed itself says only what the apostles taught. The fault is not in the Creed but in the step beyond it, where the canons of synods and the sayings of fathers become the way the Bible is read. The church's synods bound "the canons and creed" of Nicaea on its bishops, and they bound a calendar and a fast on its people. What the apostles did not bind, no synod may bind.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

But when they believed Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.

The church baptizes by "triple immersion," and that is the burial Paul wrote of: "We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death" (Romans 6:4); on the mode it stands with the apostles, against churches that sprinkle. But in Acts the people "believed Philip preaching good tidings" and then "were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12), and the command is "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you" (Acts 2:38). Infants cannot repent or believe, and the Lord's word was "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). The church also makes baptism a birth "through the agency of the spiritual father which is the priest," without which "one may not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven," a priestly dependence the text never gives. Immersion keeps this course from the furthest; the infant and the priest keep it from the line.

The church's own page says a sacrament takes effect only with "right intention and confirmed faith on the part of those who partake of them." That is a good statement, and it cuts against giving baptism to infants who have no faith to confirm. The church says infant baptism obliges parents and sponsors "to rear the child in the Christian faith." A duty to raise the child is not a substitute for the baptized person's own faith.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?

who needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people: for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself.

The Church of the East gives every communicant "both species of bread and wine," as Jesus gave both bread and cup, and it keeps the Qurbana every Sunday, near the pattern of "the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7). But it teaches that the bread and wine are "transformed" through the priest, and calls the Qurbana a sacrifice in which Christ "is at once the priest and the victim." Scripture says "he did once for all, when he offered up himself" (Hebrews 7:27), and Paul calls what is shared "a communion of the body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:16), with no altar, no sacrificing priest and no leaven needed to consecrate it. It also gives the cup to infants, where Paul says, "let a man prove himself, and so let him eat" (1 Corinthians 11:28). The course stands midway: the cup and the weekly table bring it near the line, and the sacrifice and the priest pull it away.

The parishes of the church's Australian archdiocese hold the Qurbana every Sunday morning, and the cathedral adds a Sunday evening service once a month. We found no source on how often each member receives. The pattern in Acts is "upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7), every Lord's day, with the whole church partaking. The consecration by a priest "ordained by a bishop in the apostolic succession," with a Holy Leaven held necessary to it, is a rule the New Testament never gives. Rome's 2001 guidelines note that the church has kept its faith "in the sacrificial character of the Eucharist."

Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

In the New Testament the elders are the bishops: Paul told the elders of Ephesus that the Spirit "hath made you bishops" (Acts 20:28), and Titus was to "appoint elders in every city" (Titus 1:5), whom Paul then calls "the bishop" (Titus 1:7). They are many in each church, and Peter, "a fellow-elder" (1 Peter 5:1), told them not to be "lording it over the charge allotted to you" (1 Peter 5:3). The Church of the East has bishops over presbyters and a Catholicos-Patriarch over the bishops, and it calls its priesthood "a vital intermediary between God and humanity," on which every sacrament depends; the text knows none of it. The church does hold its clergy to "St. Paul's guidelines," ended the family succession in the 1970s, and has no pope over all churches. But the mediating priesthood sets this course far from the line.

The church's own account admits that its synodal model "no longer exists." The legitimacy of a bishop rests on his ordination by other bishops and his communion with them, not on the congregation that called him. Acts 14:23 shows the apostles appointing "elders in every church" after prayer and fasting, and Acts 15 shows the church deciding together with the apostles and elders. The hereditary patriarchate, in which an office passed from uncle to nephew from the fifteenth century until 1973, shows how far a human order can drift from the qualifications Paul set out in 1 Timothy 3.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

What is it then, brethren? When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

The New Testament church sang, "speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19). The Church of the East kept its chant to the voice, and many of its churches still do; it uses no icons and no crucifixes, and in this it stands nearer the line than the Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox and Rome. But it asks the saints to intercede, where there is "one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). It also adds acts with claimed power to the assembly: the oil, the Holy Leaven needed to consecrate, and the sign of the cross by which the other sacraments are "sealed and perfected." The course stands midway: the voice and the bare sanctuary hold it near, and the saints and the added rites pull it away.

The church's Syriac liturgy is among the oldest in the world. Age does not make a rite apostolic. The test is whether each act in it is found in the New Testament church, where "each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying" (1 Corinthians 14:26). A service in which the people are only hearers would fail that test, and the church's own article warns against a Qurbana in which the people are "the audience, looking on." The study we cite says instruments are absent in "many" Assyrian churches, which means some now use them; where they do, they add what the apostles did not. The anaphoras named for Theodore and Nestorius are weighed under the distinctives below.

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal.

but all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will.

The Spirit is promised to those who repent and are baptized: "ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). The church keeps the gift joined to baptism, saying "In baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," and that is the text's own order. But in Acts the gifts came when the apostles laid their hands on believers (Acts 8:17), and no text hands that office to a priest with oil, or makes the Spirit's "form and perfection" wait on rites a priest administers. Scripture says that "to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:7) and that he divides "even as he will" (1 Corinthians 12:11), and the church's pages give no answer on the gifts today. The course stands where the other ancient churches stand: near the line in joining the Spirit to baptism, far from it in tying the Spirit to the priest's rite.

The church speaks of the Spirit chiefly in the creed and the sacraments. It is silent, in the pages we read, on whether tongues, prophecy and healing continue. Paul's rule of order for the gifts (1 Corinthians 14:26) assumes they were in the assembly. A church that says nothing either way has not answered what Scripture asks.

And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment;

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.

What the church says plainly is what Scripture says: Christ gives "the hope of resurrection" to "all who put their faith in him," he is "Lord and Judge," and he will come again, as the angels said: "this Jesus … shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11). Scripture agrees that "all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice" (John 5:28). But men die once, "and after this cometh judgment" (Hebrews 9:27), and each receives "the things done in the body" (2 Corinthians 5:10), not things the living do for him afterward. To pray at the Eucharist that God forgive the sins of the departed has no place in the text. The course stands midway: right on the hope, the return and the Judge, and wrong in praying for the dead.

The church's liturgy prays for "remission of sins" and "the hope of resurrection" for "each and every participating worshipper." Scripture gives that hope to those who believe, and the Supper proclaims "the Lord’s death till he come" (1 Corinthians 11:26); it is not the means by which the hope is secured. The prayer for the dead is stated in a text the church signed with Rome. We found no church page that sets out the state of the dead more fully.

Much that the Church of the East confesses, Scripture also teaches, and it should be said plainly. It confesses one God in three persons and Christ as one Lord, true God and true man, who died, was buried, rose again and redeemed us from sin and death. It refuses any teaching of two Sons or two Christs. It baptizes by immersion, three times, in the name of the Trinity. It gives the cup to everyone who communes, gathers at the table every Sunday, and teaches that Christ offered himself once and for all. Its chant was the human voice alone, and it venerates no icons. It acknowledges no pope, and it has ended the family succession of its patriarchate. It teaches that the faith of those who receive the sacraments is needed for their effect. And it has kept the faith in Christ through persecution, from Persian kings to the massacres of 1915, at the cost of its blood.

Measured by the New Testament alone, the Assyrian Church of the East stands apart from the pattern, nearer than Rome on some courses, and level with the other ancient churches on most. On Christ it holds what the apostles held, and the name "Nestorian" is a wrong label. Its baptism is a burial in water, but given to infants who cannot believe, and made a birth by the hand of a priest. Its Supper is called a sacrifice, with Christ as priest and victim, though the church says he offered himself once for all. Its government is bishops and a Catholicos over priests, where the apostles left elders in every church. Its worship adds oil, leaven and the sign of the cross to the two things the Lord commanded, asks the saints to pray for it, and honors teachers beside the apostles.

Age is not the test, and neither is loyalty. A teaching is apostolic only if the apostles taught it, and the text that holds their teaching is closed: "the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3).

None of this is contempt for them. Few churches have suffered for Christ as this one has. The answer to them is not to doubt their faith in Christ but to bring it to the Scriptures alone, and do what the converts in Acts did: believe, repent, confess Jesus as Lord, and be buried with him in baptism for the remission of sins. Then worship as the churches of the New Testament did, under their own elders, at the Lord's table on the first day of every week.

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