There is a distinction to be drawn between the Church of the East aka
Assyrians aka Nestorians (or not as the case may be), and the Chaldaeans,
i.e. those in communion with Rome. The two groups have recently held
dialogues on unification, but a perusal of several web sites suggests a
certain measure of antipathy. The issue has been particularly confused by
the introduction of a series of spurious arguments over ethnicity, which
seem to me to be wholly without foundation.
Ian Tompkins
At 12:28 19/10/99 +0100, you wrote:
>For the Church of the East's defence of the claim that it is not 'Nestorian'
>see:
>
>http://www.cired.org/east/nest.html
>
>Jacob Knee
>(Boston, England)
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: [log in to unmask]
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Bill East
>> Sent: 19 October 1999 11:34
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: 39 Articles
>>
>>
>>
>> Those in Persia refered to themselves
>> > as 'The
>> > >Church of the East', became known as 'Assyrians', 'Chaldeans and
>> > >'Nestorians' - of course. However, the term Nestorianism is some
>> > what
>> > >misleading as the Nestorians attributed not particular importance to
>> > him,
>> > >but rather to Theodor of Mopsuestia>
>>
>> Some years ago, I had the honour of an audience with the Mar Dinkha,
>> the spiritual head of the 'Church of the East'. His communion had
>> recently moved the titular site of its patriarchate from Antioch to
>> Damascus; in practice, he resided in San Francisco. He too claimed
>> that the term 'Nestorian' was misleading. However, I found that his
>> Christological beliefs, when my companions and I pressed him, were
>> indistinguishable from those attributed to Nestorius. He illustrated
>> his argument in a way made his point very clearly, but which is
>> difficult to reproduce on e-mail. He held up the index fingers of his
>> two hands, side by side and touching. This, he said, was how 'the
>> western Church' (i.e. west of Baghdad) thought of Christ. Then he held
>> up the same fingers, a couple of inches apart. This, he said, was how
>> the 'Church of the East' thought of Christ. There was a very clear
>> division and separation between the two natures; quite contrary to the
>> definition of Chalcedon.
>>
>> The Supple Doctor
Ian G Tompkins, MA, BD, DPhil
Administrative Assistant
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