鲍默《东方教会：亚述基督教图史》第十三章：近期考古发现与教会及政治发展（中英文对照版）

Recent Archaeological

Discoveries, and Ecclesiastical and Political Developments XIII

Recent archaeological discoveries

After the discovery and excavation of the important Nestorian monastic church of Urgut in Uzbekistan in 2004–7 (p. 169f), archaeological investigations also identified significant cultural relics of the Church of the East in Iraq, Central Asia, China and possibly also Mongolia.

In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which corresponds in part to the former Nestorian archdiocese of Beth Garmai, stand the ruins of the monastic church Deir Bazyan, about 25 km west of Suleymaniyah. It was first mentioned in the first half of the nineteenth century by the scholar and traveller Claudius James Rich and roughly excavated in the early 1980s. A second campaign in 1987–90 produced poor results and the numismatic finds have been lost. However, a brief investigation in 2000 correctly identified the ruin as a paleo-Christian church. The scientific excavations starting in 2011 revealed a three-nave monastic church standing almost in the centre of a rectangular fortress, reinforced by towers which followed a circular floor plan. The church was founded between the fifth and sixth century in the Sassanian period and was in use at least until the ninth century. So far, it remains unclear whether the church was built before the fortress or concurrently. Then again, it was certainly not built after the fortress. At the entrance, there were stone boards decorated with typical Nestorian crosses. In the central nave, the shqaqona and the bema were exceptionally well preserved. Standing in the east of the church, behind the chancel and separated from it by a wall, was a beth sahade, a martyrion sheltering the relics of martyrs or holy monks. [^1]

In Uzbekistan, the excavations conducted under the auspices of the Swiss Society for the Exploration of EurAsia at Qarshovul-tepe, north-east of Chinaz, Oasis of Chach (Tashkent), found a gravestone in a graveyard in 2012 bearing a roughly-scratched cross, but lacking any inscription. Two years earlier, an Uzbek

Ruins of the paleo-Christian Monastery of Deir Bazyan, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, dating from between the fifth and sixth century. In the centre stands the circle-shaped bema, behind it the narrow shqaqona leading to the chancel. Photo: 2009.

archaeologist had found a bronze cross on the ground at the same site. Until the excavations of 2015, no further finds had corroborated the hypothesis of a Christian presence at Qarshovul- tepe. [^2] The discovery of coins suggests that this small city was inhabited from at least the fifth to the late eighth century. Previously, early medieval coins of Turkic rulers had been found at Kanka, south-east of Chinaz, and at other places, featuring a male face and a cross on the obverse side. [^3]

In Kazakhstan, while the ongoing excavations at Kayalik, mentioned by Rubruk, did not bring any architectural Christian cultural relics to light, except for a piece of ceramic with an engraved cross, an important discovery was made in 2014 at Ilan Balik (today’s Uch-Aral), eastern Kazakhstan. Ilan Balik is 174 km to the south- south-west of Kayalik and 53 km to the west of Almalik. During a survey, a Nestorian gravestone (kayrak) was found at Uch-Aral, where three small hoards of Karakhanid coins (eleventh century) and Dirham coins from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries were also discovered. [^4] The 100cm-long, undated gravestone has an engraved Maltese cross on the main long side and an inscription in Turkic language and Syriac script. The preliminary translation from Dr Mark Dickens reads ‘Tegin’s son Petros, Baršabba Qucha’s son [name illegible]’, which means the kayrak was probably for two males. [^5] A second cross is engraved on the top of the kayrak. The site of Ucharal is identical with ancient Ilan Balik, which was mentioned by the Armenian Cilician king Hethum I when he returned in 1254 from his tribute-bringing journey to the Mongol Great Khan Möngke. [^6] The excavation of Ilan Balik will start in fall 2016 under the auspices of the Society for the Exploration of EurAsia.

In Central China, in the city of Luoyang, where a Nestorian monastery once stood during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), an inscribed stone pillar was found in May 2006.7 The pillar, which was damaged while being cut away from its base, is around 85 cm high and has a circumference of 40 cm. It is octagonal in shape and strongly resembles Buddhist dharani[^8] pillars, which were common during the Tang Dynasty. On the top of six of the eight sides, there is an image, twice a Nestorian cross standing above a lotus flower and flanked by a flying angel on each side. These flying angels are also similar to Buddhist iconography, since they resemble the flying heavenly messengers called apsaras at the

The Nestorian gravestone (kayrak) found in 2014 at Ilan Baliq, eastern Kazakhstan. Photo: 2014.

Recent Archaeological Discoveries, and Ecclesiastical and Political Developments | 287 nearby caves of Longmen and in the murals of Dunhuang. The inscribed text in Chinese deals with the Teaching on the Origin of Origins of the Da Qin Luminous Religion and its second part is an epitaph honouring a Christian Sogdian woman. The inscription also records the names of the abbot of the Nestorian monastery of Luoyang, hence confirming its existence, and of eight other monks of Sogdian descent. The inscription gives the year 814/15 for the erection of the pillar and it records that it was relocated in the year 829.9 The pillar was probably buried during the persecutions initiated by Emperor Wuzong in 843–45 against foreign, non-Chinese religions. [^10]

When William of Rubruk stayed in 1254 in Karakorum at the court of Great Khan Möngke, he described the church of the residing Nestorian community:

‘We reached the vicinity of Caracorum on Palm Sunday [5 April 1254]. At daybreak … we entered the city, raising the cross aloft on its banner and making our way as far as the church through the Saracean quarter. … The church … is a rather large and fine one, with its roof completely covered by silk cloth threaded with gold.’ seems to have served as a cultic building, large fragments of murals came to light, some of them with inscriptions, in the better-built, so-called ‘eastern house’. [^12] Although the tiny inscribed fragments cannot as yet be clearly attributed to a script, both Syriac or Uigur scripts are possible. [^13] As the leading archaeologist Hans-Georg Hüttel wrote as a preliminary hypothesis, the ‘eastern house’ may be interpreted as a Nestorian church, which was converted in the fourteenth century into a Buddhist temple. [^14]

Later on, Rubruk described the layout of the city, specifying that ‘the one church [stands] at the far end of the town.’11

Based on Rubruk’s description of the location of the Muslim quarter containing the bazar and on archaeological evidence, it may be inferred that his statement that the church stood at ‘the far end’ pointed to the north-eastern quarter of the city. During its work in the north-eastern sector from 2007–9, the German–Mongol Karakorum archaeological expedition indeed located a complex of houses oriented along the east-west line. This clearly distinguishes it from standard Mongol dwellings, which usually face the south. While the so-called ‘northern house’

Recent developments within the Church of the East

The ecumenical dialogue of the Assyrian Church of the East with the Roman Catholic Church had begun in November 1984, when the late Patriarch

The Nestorian stone pillar found in 2006 in Luoyang, China.

Mar Dinkha IV visited the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. On the occasion of this visit, a mixed, later joint Theological Commission was established. Its fruitful work led to the Common Christological Declaration signed by both Church leaders on 11 November 1994.15 The Declaration referred to the Nicaean Creed acknowledged by both Churches and recognized the legitimacy of the confessions concerning Jesus Christ and the Churches’ specific venerations of the Virgin Mary. As the second step of the Assyrian–Roman Catholic dialogue, the formulation of a ‘common understanding and mutual recognition of the Sacramental Life’ was defined. The completed draft, allowing for a ‘limited communion’ that enjoyed mutual recognition under circumstances of ‘pastoral necessity’, has not yet been ratified, however. The third step defined by the Commission concerns Church organization and includes the major stumbling block of Papal primacy.

In 2004, a conflict emerged between Mar Ashur Bawai Soro, then Bishop of the Assyrian Diocese of California, and the other members of the Holy Synod. In an open letter to the Synod, Mar Soro stated that in his understanding a ‘full communion’ of Churches implied a recognition of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome ‘as the successor of Peter’, which also meant that a lack of full communion with Rome would nullify the apostolic order and invalidate the patriarchal primacy of the Church of the East. Bishop Soro was consequently suspended from his episcopal duties in 2005 and ‘formally laicized and defrocked from all holy orders’ by the Assyrian Holy Synod on 31 October 2008.16 Later, the former bishop converted to the Chaldean- Catholic Church and was appointed Titular Bishop of Foratiana based in San Diego County, USA in 2014. of the East since 17 October 1976. Mar Aprem Mooken, Metropolitan for India, then assumed the patriarchal vicariate of the Church until the election of the new patriarch Mar Giwargis III Sliwa on 18 September and his formal consecration on 27 September 2015 as the 121st Catholicos-Patriarch of the Holy Apostolic See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. Born Warda Daniel Sliwa in Habbaniya, Iraq in 1941, he was ordained as a priest in 1980 and consecrated as Metropolitan for Baghdad and all of Iraq in June 1981. At this point, he was also given the name Mar Giwargis. While the previous Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV resided in Chicago, USA, the new official residence of Patriarch Mar Giwargis III is Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This change of location of the patriarchal see could not only be expected, since Mar Giwargis Sliwa served previously as Metropolitan of Baghdad and all of Iraq, based in Baghdad, but it was meant above all to encourage the Assyrian Christians to stay in the Church’s heartland and

Catholicaos-Patriarch Mar Giwargis III (in office since 2015).

H.H. Mar Dinkha IV (b. 1935) passed away on 26 March 2015, after having served as Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church

Recent Archaeological Discoveries, and Ecclesiastical and Political Developments | 289 released from Pandora’s Box’.19 Unfortunately, the events since 2014 have justified those apprehensions. While the situation of the Assyrians and Chaldeans has remained relatively stable and secure within the autonomous Kurdistan Region – which commands its own armed forces, the Peshmerga, and has Erbil (also called Arbil) as its capital – it has deteriorated dramatically in the region of Mosul and the Niniveh Plains east and north of Mosul, one of the heartlands of Assyrians and Iraqi Christians. As the already precarious security situation of Assyrian Christians in Iraq started to worsen with bombing attacks on churches in Baghdad and Mosul in August 2004 and continued to decline over the next years with further anti- Christian attacks in Baghdad, Basra, Ramadi and Mosul in the forms of kidnapping, torture and murder, thousands of Assyrian Christians sought refuge in the Niniveh Plains close to the Kurdistan Region. There were hopes that a new province would be created in the Niniveh Plains not to emigrate abroad.

The Holy Synod of the

Church of the East.

In terms of organization, the Church is divided into three archdioceses and eight dioceses. The Holy Synod counts fourteen members, including the Catholicos-Patriarch.17 Concerning the painful issue of the inner-Assyrian split between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East, headed since February 1970 by Mar Addai II,18 a reunification has not been yet been achieved in spite of numerous attempts. The last one was in June 2015.

Recent political developments in Iraq and the plight of the

Christians

The present author wrote the following in 2006 about the future of the Christians in Iraq: ‘But there are worrying signs that [with the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003] the spirit of uncompromising Islamic militancy has been

that would serve as a safe zone for Christian Assyrians. either ran away or joined the attackers, leaving behind their weapons and equipment. The jihadists thus not only conquered the city, but also gained a huge arsenal of modern American military equipment, including ammunition. The jihadists followed up on their victory in the following two months by also conquering in the Niniveh Plains the Christian cities of Qaraqosh (also called Bakhdida and al-Hamdaniya), and then Tal Kayf, Bartella and Karamlish, which the Kurdish defence troops abandoned on 6 August 2014.20 But the Peshmerga and local Assyrian fighters managed to drive out the jihadists from the large Christian Assyrian village of Alqosh north of Mosul with its important monastery of Rabban Hormizd (p. 97). Today, the front line is at a distance of only 17 km from Alqosh. The

); formerly called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ISIS (

However, the Islamic State IS (

) attacked and captured Mosul, the second- largest city of Iraq, between 4 and 10 June 2014. This heterogeneous alliance is comprised of fanatical Iraqi Sunni jihadists, international Salafist jihadists from the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, Pakistan, Northern Caucasus, and radicalized members of Muslim communities of Western Europe, as well as former Sunni Baathist senior army officers from Saddam Hussein’s army. Although the defending Iraqi army outnumbered the attackers by approximately fifteen to one, its resistance was weak. The troops

Chapel built in c. 2006 near the monastery hospice ‘Our Saving Father’ in Alqosh, Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Photo: 2009

Recent Archaeological Discoveries, and Ecclesiastical and Political Developments | 291

Chaldean monastery of Mar Mattai (p. 101) was also successfully defended. awaited younger Christian women who did not manage to flee and were captured by the jihadists of IS. Like Yezidi women, they were raped and sold at slave markets as sex slaves. Children were also sold as slaves. As reported in the press, ‘customers’ from Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia came and bought women for USD 200–300 ‘a piece’. [^23] To help the refugees arriving in the region of Kurdistan, ACERO, the Assyrian Church of the East Relief Organization, founded in 2007, has launched various philanthropic programs, including an initiative to support housing and school construction.

The jihadist attack on Mosul and the Niniveh Plains gave rise to a huge wave of fugitives. Most of Mosul’s approximately 60,000 to 70,000 Christians fled the city during the attacks. Those who remained were confronted with the ultimatum to either convert to Islam or to pay the jizya tribute inflicted on dhimmis (non- Muslim people of the Book), to leave the city on the spot without any belongings or to be killed. [^21] More than 100,000 Christians had to seek refuge in Kurdistan, where they settled in the major cities, such as Erbil and its suburb Ankawa, or Dohuk and Suleymaniyah, which had already sheltered Christian refugees from war-torn Syria. [^22] An especially cruel ordeal

Unique cultural heritage sites were also lost due to the jihadist barbarism. Not only were more than fifty churches and monasteries either destroyed or turned into secular buildings such

The Assyrian Mar Narsai Cathedral built in 2006 in Dohuk, Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Photo: 2009.

as prisons, garages and stores, but even locally venerated Muslim shrines, such as the famous Mosque of prophet Yunus (Jonah), built over the tomb of Patriarch Henanisho I (in office 685– 701, see p. 145), were turned to rubble.

Afghan Talibans. Unfortunately, the events that followed justified the Patriarch’s fears.

Although the Christian Assyrian community is small, two armed militias have been formed which fight jointly with the Peshmerga against the jihadists. The Niniveh Plain Protection Unit was founded by the political party called Assyrian Democratic Movement ADM, and the Dwekh Nawsha (literally ‘the one who sacrifices himself’) was founded by the Assyrian Patriotic Party. Both militias count a few thousand men but only a minority of them is ready for combat. [^25] Not only Assyrians, but also other Iraqis and even some Westerners have undergone training. The Assyrian minority is represented in both the national and regional parliaments according to the quota set for Christians. Since 2014, the Assyrians have held five seats out of 328 in the National Council of Representatives, the Majlis, and also five seats out of 111 in the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament. [^26]

The advance of the Islamic State (then called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) into eastern and northern Syria as a consequence of the power vacuum created by the civil war that began in 2011 also severely endangers the Christians of Syria. In the spring of 2013, the jihadists and al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, together with other rebel groups, seized control of the city of al-Raqqah, located about 160 km east of Aleppo. At the same time, the valley of the Khabur River, a tributary of the Euphrates, fell to the jihadists. It has served as a refuge to Assyrian Christians since the massacres committed by the Iraqi army in 1933.24 In total, about 35,000 to 40,000 Assyrian Christians lived in eastern Syria prior to 2011. The Assyrian Christians were forced to flee in the face of the advance of the jihadists from the al-Nusra Front, either westward to Damascus or Lebanon or eastward to Dohuk in the Kurdistan Region. The al-Nusra jihadists were soon followed by the jihadists of ISIS, who took control of al- Raqqah in January 2014. As the author recalls, the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, H.H. Ignatius IV Hazim (in office 1979–2012), anticipated the fate of the Christians in Syria and of the Syrian people in general when the author interviewed him in April 2002 in Damascus. The Patriarch was greatly concerned about the consequences of an American attack on Saddam Hussein looming on the horizon under the pretext that the Iraqi regime was developing weapons of mass destruction, since such an intervention could destabilize the whole of the Middle East. He worried that the fall of more or less secular dictators such as Saddam Hussein or Bashar al-Assad would leave the Christians without protection from lurking Islamist groups similar to the Arab jihadists supporting the

View from the monastery hospice ‘Our Saving Father’ in Alqosh, Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Photo: 2009.

In view of the hundreds of thousands of Christians who left Iraq since the infamous Anfal Campaign in 1988, the First Gulf War of 1990–1 and the chaotic mismanagement after the US invasion in 2003, the question of whether the Christians of Iraq have any future in their own homeland continues to dominate. The Assyrian and Chaldean Christians have lived in Iraq for almost two thousand years, about five hundred years longer than the Arab Muslims who spread Islam beginning in the seventh century. Yet Oriental Christianity in Iraq is threatened by extinction. There is also no doubt that the situation would be even bleaker without the safe haven of the Kurdistan

Region. Christianity’s long-term survival in Iraq will depend on four factors: first, the stability of the autonomous Kurdistan Region and its continued tolerant policy towards religious minorities; second, the overcoming of the Islamic State and the liberation of Mosul and the Niniveh Plains from its grasp; third, the establishment of an effective national Iraqi government in Baghdad which would prioritize a reconciliation with and the reintegration of the large Sunni minority, especially former Baathist officials and army officers; and fourth, but not least, Christians staying in their homelands and fighting for their own future.