Documentary of Assyrians from
the 80s or Early 90s, 2 Parts
Assyrian Legacy Part
2
ASSYRIANS
Part 2 of
5: Christian History
by Youel A. Baaba
In Palestine, the birthplace of Christianity, a large segment of the population was of Assyrian stock. The spoken language in the land was Assyrian (Aramaic), the language in which Christ delivered his message to the world and in which much of the New Testament was originally written. Thus, the Assyrians in Palestine and surrounding regions were among the first people exposed to this message, and they heard this message in their own tongue. Because of this, Christianity spread much faster in the East than in the West.
Christianity was brought to the Assyrians in Bet-Nahrain and other parts of the Persian Empire by Mar Tooma (St. Thomas, one of the twelve disciples). Saint Peter visited the established churches in Antioch and Babylon before going to Rome, where he was crucified. The glorious history of the Church of the East is amply documented, as are its successes in introducing the new religion in all parts of Asia from Bet-Nahrain to China and from Tartar country to India. The Assyrian church established famous centers of learning such as Nisibis, Edessa and Jundi-Shapur and transmitted its knowledge and that of the Greeks to the Arabs.
Assyrians have survived as a nation under the ruling dynasties of Persians, Romans, Arabs and Ottomans. The Assyrian nation is doctrinally divided into three principal sects. These sects have been given misnomers by outsiders. The three sects are the Nestorians (Church of the East), the Jacobites (Syrian Orthodox Church) and the Chaldeans (Roman Catholic Church). The issues that separate these sects are purely theological and have no bearing on their nationality.
According to al-Buruni, at the time of the Abbasid Empire, the Assyrians were the majority of the inhabitants of Syria, Iraq and Kurdistan. They prospered both under the Persian Empire and the Arab Caliphates. They suffered much more persecution under the Persians than under the Arabs. It was during the 600 years of Arab rule that the Assyrians took Christianity to the far corners of Asia and made their greatest contributions in all fields of education and administration. The classical language (Aramaic) is still retained and practiced in the church liturgy, however, the modern Assyrian language is used in daily life by practically all. As a matter of fact, a considerable literature has been created in the modern language in the last 150 years. Books, magazines and newspapers continue to be published by institutions and individuals.
It is very important to understand how the Assyrians survived in their hostile world and how they were governed and represented. Three important factors contributed to their survival. First, the new faith of Christianity was a powerful binding force that contributed to a sense of uniqueness and kept the nation separate from others. Second, the Assyrians contributed invaluable service in the fields of education, medicine, and administration. As farmers and artisans, they were a siginificant factor on the economy of the country. The conquering Arabs were culturally inferior to their new subjects. Without the help of the more sophisticated population, the Arabs would not have been able to cope with problems of urban civilization. It was the Assyrians who provided the base and the enviroment for the education and development of the Arabs. As the Arabs expanded their empire and flourished, we find the enlightened Caliphs rewarding their most learned and loyal subjects, the Assyrians, with protection and limited tolerance. Third, the rulers exempted Assyrians from military conscription and this discriminatory policy hindered their assimilation.
To satisfy the demands of the rulers, the despotic Eastern world required a certain form of representation for purposes of governing the Assyrian nation. Of significance is the development of the national leadership and the treatment of Assyrians by others. From the dawn of Christianity, we see the Assyrians being acknowledged as a millet (nation) by the Persians and ruled through the office of their Patriarch. The church became the government and its organization the channels of communication. Thus, we find the Persians, the Arabs and later the Ottomans acknowledging the Assyrian nation and ruling it through the office of its Patriarch. The rulers satisfied themselves by collecting a tribute through the regency of the Patriarch. Strong or weak, good or mediocre, the Patriarch represented the national leadership and was the spokesman for the Assyrian nation.
In the 14th century, when Tamerlane wreaked havoc across the northern area of Bet-Nahrain, he perpetrated the greatest massacre of his bloody history. A fanatical Muslim, he sought the total extermination of the Christian Assyrians. History has recorded that the Assyrian population immediately following Tamerlane devastation was reduced to less than one-tenth of what it had been 400 years earlier. By this time, the majority of the Assyrian survivors had fled their ancient homeland and had joined their brothers who lived in the rugged mountains of Hakkiari.
From the beginning of the Ottoman rule to the early part of the 20th century, Assyrians continued to be persecuted by their neighbors and rulers. They were constantly oppressed, humiliated and reduced to extreme poverty and ignorance.
