Patriarch Mar Awa III Tours Chaldean Community Foundation in Historic Visit

A group photo taken in front of the video wall with the welcome sign for Patriarch Mar Awa III.

By Cal Abbo

His Holiness, Patriarch Mar Awa III, the leader of the Assyrian Church of the East, toured the Chaldean Community Foundation (CCF) last month. During the visit, he met and spoke with Martin Manna, a community ambassador and president of the CCF.

The Patriarch was elected in September after the former Patriarch Mar Gewargis III stepped down. Patriarch Mar Awa III traveled to the states to engage with the large Assyrian Church of the East community located across the U.S., mainly in Chicago and California. There is one Assyrian church in metro Detroit.

The Patriarch’s recent election is historic in many ways. He was born, raised, and educated in Chicago, where there is a large and prosperous community of Assyrians numbering around 100,000. He is the first ever Western-born Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East, and at the age of 46 is one of the youngest. The Patriarch is also the highest-ranking church official to visit the CCF.

Assyrians and Chaldeans alike have experienced disruption and exodus over the last century. Political turmoil, the genocide during the First World War, and heightened security concerns after WWI prompted the Assyrian Independence movement for an autonomous, national homeland in the 1920s and 1930s.

Then-Patriarch Mar Eshai Shimun promoted the cause, but was arrested and exiled by the Iraqi kingdom. Soon after his exile, thousands of Assyrians were massacred in the town of Simele in 1933. In 1940, Mar Shimun moved to the United States. There, he found a growing community of the Assyrian diaspora and ministered to the U.S. and Canadian provinces.

Mar Shimun led the newly headquartered patriarchate from various cities in the U.S., including Modesto, San Francisco, and Chicago. In 1972, he resigned as patriarch. Three years later, he was assassinated in front of his home in San Jose.

In 1976, Mar Dinkha was elected as the new patriarch. For a brief period, the patriarchal see resided in Tehran, where Mar Dinkha had been the bishop. Shortly after, he moved the see back to Chicago until it returned to the homeland in 2015 when Mar Gewargis became patriarch.

Now, Mar Awa III oversees the entirety of the Assyrian Church of the East from Erbil, the ancient Assyrian city from which Christianity spread into the rest of Mesopotamia. Erbil also became a safe haven for Chaldeans and Assyrians fleeing ISIS violence, many of whom settled in Ankawa. Ankawa is a historic Chaldean village that has seen a population explosion and rapid modernization in recent years. In addition, at the request of local church leadership, the Kurdistan Regional Government granted Ankawa the status of an autonomous district in early October.

During the visit to the CCF, Manna showed the Patriarch the entirety of operations, including immigrant aid, direct classroom instruction, job placement services, and acculturation programs. The Patriarch was enthralled with the tremendous work, preservation of history, and cultivation of community by the Chaldean diaspora in the United States.

Recent historical scholarship has emphasized the oneness of culture and ancestry between Assyrians and Chaldeans. The Patriarch’s visit was the latest endeavor to strengthen ties between them and connect the diaspora back to the homeland.

Manna and the Patriarch sat down to discuss the concerns of the Assyrian and Chaldean communities, where they intersect, and how each could continue supporting the other. The Patriarch was asked about the community’s needs and priorities as a result of the unrest, turmoil, and displacement following the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Despite the obstacles, the church is committed to preserving a Christian presence in Iraq and even mentioned the possibility of “reverse immigration. I don’t think it’s possible on a grand scale now, but maybe a few families coming back will help encourage those that are there,” he said.

Christians in Iraq often leave because there are few well-paid jobs available to them. This is the Assyrian community’s foremost problem: they need good jobs, which are generally unavailable in the midst of Iraq’s failing security situation and financial crises. Well-paid jobs need to be available locally, wherever Assyrians choose to settle in Iraq. Significant changes to the watershed in the middle east have caused numerous demographical issues for the native Christian community, especially those still residing in the ancient villages.

In turn, Manna offered the assistance of the affluent metro Detroit Chaldean community. The Chaldean Chamber of Commerce has partnerships with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Iraq Business Council, and Manna suggested they create a fund to pool money and support specific business projects in Iraq.

The Patriarch also requested that the diaspora and homeland communities keep in contact and make frequent visits to check on one another. Manna replied that the CCF is planning a trip to Iraq in spring 2022 and he hopes to reconnect with the Patriarch while he’s there.

“We are excited about what the future can become,” Manna said. “We don’t differentiate. We unfortunately have three names, but we’re one community and I really look forward to trying to unite us all.”