Chaldeans in Europe: Part III: United Kingdom
By Dr. Adhid Miri, PhD
Large numbers of Chaldeans remain in their homeland and a larger part in the diaspora. Although they may live in the diaspora, they remain connected to each other because of faith and identity. Bound to their identity, language and culture, Chaldeans are in a continuous pursuit to integrate into various societies around the world. In current times, we find Chaldeans have successfully established themselves in all continents of the world.
In the life of every Chaldean, Syriac and Assyrian, faith has always been something unshakable. Wherever they find themselves, no matter what fate has thrown at them, they are resilient as a result of their resolute faith. These strong people have resisted pressure, oppression, violence, cruelty and injustice. Their survival and ability to endure is something far stronger than a sense of national self-preservation. It always has been and continues to be their Christian faith.
Since the invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003, the ethnic cleansing between 2006 and 2014, and the war unleashed by the terrorist group ‘Islamic State’ in Syria and Iraq, the number of Chaldeans in the latter countries along with other Christian populations has shrunk further.
Examining Europe, we find Chaldean communities in the United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Greece.
A historical overview of the Chaldean Catholic community in the United Kingdom indicated that the vanguard of the Catholic Chaldeans landed on the shores of Britain at the end of the 19th Century. Regrettably, there are no records to show who they were or where they settled.
The earliest recorded Iraqi Christian in the UK was Hormuzd Rassam, the famed archaeologist and politician from Mosul-Iraq. Rassam made several important archaeological discoveries from 1877 to 1882, including the clay tablets that contained the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's oldest literature. He became a diplomat in the UK in the mid-19th century and settled in Brighton.
The theologian Louis Cheikho spent time in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century. The theologian and orientalist Alphonse Mingana was also a notable early arrival in the Edwardian period.
The Chaldean Patriarch Immanuel visited Britain in 1920 to reveal to the authorities the damages that befell the Christians in Iraq and Turkey as a consequence of World War I and the atrocities that were committed against them. Patriarch Yousif Ghanima VII also visited Britain in 1950 to meet the small community that existed there.
It is believed that over one hundred families settled in the United Kingdom during the 1970s; most of them were into academics or business. The number gradually increased due to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
There is a Mission in the United Kingdom, and Patriarch Paulous Sheikho appointed Father Phillip Najim in 1986 as its pastor. The Mass was held at St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church in London and the community’s appetency or desire for practicing their faith and solidarity continued unabated. There were several fundraising activities which resulted in the purchase of the Mission’s current residence in West Ealing.
Father Andrawis Abbouna was appointed by His Beatitude Raphael I Bidawid in 1991 as the new Mission’s pastor and was tasked to serve the Chaldean community. Father Andrawis was later ordained a Bishop by Pope John Paul II in Rome. Subsequently, he was appointed an assistant for Patriarch Immanuel Dally III, based in Baghdad.
Father Habib Jajou was appointed by Patriarch Raphael I Bidawid in 2003 to take over the Mission in the UK. As a result of the continuous increase of parishioners, most of them living in west London, the congregation moved its place of worship to the Holy Family Catholic Church in Acton, West London in August 2004. After serving 10 years as a parish priest to the Iraqi Catholic Chaldeans in Britain, Father Habib Jajou was consecrated in January 2014 as the Archbishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Basra and Southern Iraq. Father Nadheer Dako then served the Mission from April 2014 through February 2018.
The Catholic Chaldean refugees from Iraq in the United Kingdom wanted to establish their own spiritual home in Britain where they could preserve their language, customs and culture. Father Nadheer Dako, who ministers 4,000 Chaldeans across Britain, said, “Chaldeans are not just another ethnic chaplaincy; they are facing genocide in Iraq.” Ironically, when the Archbishop of Erbil visited London and asked Cardinal Vincent Nichols for a church, he was refused!
Father Nadheer Dako moved from Iraq in 2014 to head the UK's Chaldean community. ISIS’s persecution of Christians in Iraq meant thoughts never strayed far from home. In the spacious nave of a Roman Catholic Church in London's district of West Acton, Father Nadheer Dako had a busy schedule of preparations.
Typically 150 people attend Sunday services; however, on Christmas Day, as many as 500 congregants may fill the aisles of the church, a slightly imposing brick structure with a confusingly angled roof that looks a bit like a gym from the outside, but with a warm and welcoming feeling inside.
“The church services for the UK Chaldean congregation are in three languages: Aramaic, Arabic, and English," explained Dako. The church does not meet as regularly as in Iraq. There is not as much interaction with the congregation daily - that is something that I miss. But Christmas should be a good gathering.”
Away from Iraq, acclimatizing to the different needs of his congregation in the UK, Dako says, has proved both challenging and rewarding. There are around 800 Chaldean families in the UK. The majority are based in London, with smaller communities whom Dako visits monthly located in cities like Birmingham, Manchester, and Cardiff.
In the UK, there are generations of Chaldeans. The elders have maintained many traditions and practices, while the younger generation have adapted to the British way of life.
Since taking up his position in London, Dako has travelled back to Iraq three times to see relatives and friends. He describes the experience of visiting his homeland with palpable emotion. During a taxi journey from Dako's home to the church in West Acton, the Chaldean priest explained that on his last three trips to Iraq he was unable to visit the graveyard where his parents were buried. The town of Batnaya lies just 14 miles north of Mosul and fell under ISIS control. However, in October the ISIS-held town was liberated by Kurdish Peshmerga forces taking part in the assault of Mosul.
In more recent months, Christian clergy have returned to several villages liberated from ISIS. Poignant services are being held once again inside churches badly vandalized by ISIS militants; a glimmer of hope for the future of Iraq's ancient Christian community.