VATICAN CITY, MAR 15, 2000 (VIS) - The Chaldean and the Syro-Malabar Catholic Churches will celebrate their Jubilee Days this coming weekend in Rome, respectively on Saturday, March 18 and Sunday, March 19. The faithful of both Eastern Catholic rites will be received by the Holy Father in the Paul VI Hall at noon on March 18.
At 4 p.m. on March 18, Patriarch Raphael I Bidawid of Babylon of the Chaldeans will preside at a solemn liturgy in the Chaldean rite in the basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs. Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, will present a jubilee message.
The following day, at 3:30 p.m., Archbishop Varkey Vithayathil, archbishop major of the Syro-Malabar Church, will preside at a solemn liturgy in the Syro-Malabar rite in the basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs. Cardinals Achille Silvestrini and Simon Lourdusamy, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, Patriarch Bidawid and Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe are scheduled to participate.
Both the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church have their origins in the Assyrian Church of the East.
In the first two centuries, the late Apostolic Age, the Church of the East developed in what was first known as the Parthian Empire and later as the Persian Empire (modern Iran and Iraq). It is believed that the first Christian congregations were composed of the Assyrian people of the Upper Mesopotamia region of the Persian Empire. The Assyrian Church, though always a minority in Persia, flourished and, thanks to missionaries, expanded for centuries, reaching India, Tibet, China and Mongolia. Its liturgy developed directly from Palestinian Christianity, and its language was - and still is today - Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic.
The earliest roots of the Chaldean Catholic Church can be traced to the missionary activity in the 13th century by Franciscan and Dominican friars among the faithful of the Assyrian Church of the East.
By the 15th century the office of patriarch of the Assyrian Church had been made hereditary, passing from uncle to nephew. In 1552 one group of Assyrian bishops refused to do this, and sought a solution through union with Rome. They elected their own patriarch, Abbot Sulaqa, and sent him to Rome where, early the following year, Pope Julius III proclaimed him Patriarch Simon VIII "of the Chaldeans" and ordained him as bishop on April 9 in St. Peter's Basilica.
Upon Patriarch Simon's return to Mosul controversy broke out between Assyrians and Chaldeans, the main result of which was that more Assyrians united themselves to Rome.
Today, fully two-thirds of the faithful of the Assyrian Church are in full communion with Rome as the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Over the years, Chaldean Catholics were forced to move their see several times. In 1950 the patriarchate moved definitively to Baghdad, Iraq, where the largest numbers of Chaldean faithful live. There are 10 Chaldean dioceses in Iraq, three in Iran and one each in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and the United States. There is a patriarchal territory in Egypt. There are an estimated 500,000 Chaldean faithful.
The head of the Chaldean Church - who is elected by the Chaldean bishops and enthroned soon after - is Patriarch Raphael I Bidawid of Babylon of the Chaldeans.
Members of the Syro-Malabar Church are direct descendants of the Thomas Christians, whom the Portuguese discovered in India at the end of the 15th century. They were a community which claimed to have been founded by the Apostle Thomas, who had evangelized India after Christ's death and resurrection. Located on India's southwest Malabar coast, in the state of Kerala, they were in communion with the Assyrian Church, from whom they received their bishops.
Portuguese colonization resulted in forced latinization of the Thomas Christians, resulting in schisms, discord and a decision by most Malabars to break with Rome in 1653. Pope Alexander VII, in an attempt to remedy the situation, sent Carmelite friars to Malabar and by 1662 most Christians had returned to the Catholic Church.
European Carmelites served as bishops in the Syro-Malabar Church until 1896 when the Holy See established three apostolic vicariates: a fourth was set up in 1911. In 1923 the Syro-Malabar Catholic hierarchy was restored by Pope Pius XI who, several years later, also initiated liturgical renewal. The new autonomy led to great growth in the numbers of Syro-Malabar faithful. Vocations to the priesthood continue to be strong, there are 16 congregations of women religious and 8 of men religious, and there are 5 major seminaries. By the end of 1999, priests and religious of the Syro-Malabar rite numbered 28,348.
Syro-Malabar Catholics in India today number 3.5 million, divided into 14 dioceses in Kerala and 10 outside of the state. In addition there are about 100,000 in the diaspora.
In 1992 Pope John Paul II raised the Syro-Malabar Church to the rank of major archiepiscopal see. Archbishop Varkey Vithayathil became the second archbishop major in December 1999.
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