Английская Википедия:Akre (diocese)
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Hatnote Aqra, properly ʿAqra, was a diocese of the Chaldean Catholic Church founded in the mid-19th century. It was united with the Archeparchy of Mossul to create the Archeparchy of Mossul-Aqra on December 22, 2018.
Background
Before the fourteenth century the Шаблон:TranslAqra or Aqrah region was part of the diocese of Marga, one of the suffragan dioceses in the metropolitan province of Adiabene. This diocese, frequently mentioned in Thomas of Marga's Book of Governors, included the districts of Sapsapa (the Navkur plain south of Шаблон:TranslAqra, on the east bank of the Khazir river), Talana and Nahla d'Malka (two valleys around the upper course of the Khazir river), Beth Rustaqa (the Gomel valley) and probably also several villages in the Zibar district. The diocese is first mentioned in the eighth century (the region was probably in the diocese of Beth Nuhadra previously), and several of its bishops are mentioned between the eighth century and the first half of the thirteenth century. By the second half of the thirteenth century the names of two villages in the Gomel valley, Tella and Barbelli (Billan), were also included in the title of the diocese. Two bishops of Tella and Barbelli are known from the second half of the thirteenth century and a third, IshoШаблон:Translyahb, was present at the synod of Timothy II in 1318. The diocese is not mentioned thereafter, and no other bishops are known from the Шаблон:TranslAqra region until the nineteenth century.
The Chaldean diocese of Aqra
As far as is known, neither the Mosul nor the Qudshanis patriarchate had a bishop for the Шаблон:TranslAqra region until the nineteenth century. The colophons of the surviving manuscripts from the Шаблон:TranslAqra region invariably mention the Mosul patriarchs of the Eliya line, and there is no evidence that the Qudshanis patriarchs took any interest in the region before the 1830s. Most of the villages in the Шаблон:TranslAqra region were still traditionalist at the beginning of the nineteenth century (though the Zibar villages of Arena and Barzane had Catholic communities before the end of the eighteenth century), and determined efforts by the Chaldean church to convert them to Catholicism in the 1830s shook their traditional loyalty, enabling the Qudshanis patriarchate to exercise some influence in the region for a short period.
The Шаблон:TranslAqra region had a number of Catholic communities by the end of the eighteenth century, which were included in the Chaldean diocese of Шаблон:TranslAmadiya. Two unsuccessful attempts were made by the patriarch Yohannan VIII Hormizd to give the region its own Chaldean bishop in the 1830s. In 1834, in an attempt to preserve the patriarchal succession in his own family, he sent his nephew Eliya Sefaro to Urmi, where he was consecrated bishop of Шаблон:TranslAqra by the Qudshanis patriarch ShemШаблон:Translon XVII Abraham. Shortly afterwards Eliya made a Catholic profession of faith and 'was received into the bosom of the Chaldean church'. His consecration was not recognised by the Vatican, and he was suspended. In 1835 he was absolved and sent to Tel Isqof as a priest.[1] The incident was notorious, and Badger's contemporary account is to be preferred to an alternative tradition preserved by Tfinkdji, who stated that Eliya was consecrated at Qudshanis in 1829, and that the patriarch's motive was to harass his old enemy, the metropolitan of Шаблон:TranslAmadiya Joseph Audo.
Soon afterwards Yohnnan VIII Hormizd consecrated a metropolitan named Abraham for the Шаблон:TranslAqra region, who went over to the Qudshanis patriarch ShemШаблон:Translon XVII Abraham in 1847. In 1850 he was residing in the monastery of Mar Шаблон:TranslAbdishoШаблон:Transl near Nerem, and was in charge of a diocese of fifteen villages in the Шаблон:TranslAqra region. He is not mentioned again, and as Шаблон:TranslAqra was not included in the dioceses of the Qudshanis patriarchate in 1877 by Cutts, it seems likely that the region had by then returned to its traditional allegiance. In 1852 Eliya Sefaro was again consecrated for Шаблон:TranslAqra, by the patriarch Joseph VI Audo, and a stable Chaldean diocese in the region was finally established. According to a contemporary note in a manuscript from the Шаблон:TranslAqra region, Eliya Sefaro died in Herpa two years after his consecration, on 22 September 1854, and was buried in the village. This date is probably to be preferred to Tfkinkdji's statement (followed by Fiey) that he died in 1863.
Eliya Sefaro was succeeded by Yohannan Eliya Mellus, who was consecrated on 5 June 1864 by Joseph VI Audo. In 1874 Mellus was sent to India during the Malabar schism, and did not return to Kurdistan until 1882. He remained nominally bishop of Шаблон:TranslAqra during this period, but was under suspension until 1889, and for several years after his return lived in Mosul. In 1889 he made his submission to pope Leo XIII, and in 1890 was transferred to the diocese of Mardin by the patriarch Eliya XII Шаблон:TranslAbulyonan. He was succeeded as bishop of Шаблон:TranslAqra by YaШаблон:Translqob Yohannan Sahhar, patriarchal vicar of Basra since 1887, who was consecrated for Шаблон:TranslAqra on 25 March 1893.
At the synod of Alqosh in 1894 the newly elected patriarch Шаблон:TranslAbdishoШаблон:Transl V Khayyat asked to retain Eliya Joseph Khayyat, bishop-designate of [[Amadiya (Chaldean Diocese)|Шаблон:TranslAmadiya]], as his patriarchal vicar, and the dioceses of [[Amadiya (Chaldean Diocese)|Шаблон:TranslAmadiya]] and Шаблон:TranslAqra were temporarily united under YaШаблон:Translqob Yohannan Sahhar, who was responsible for the united diocese from 23 April 1895 until his death in 1909.
In 1910 the two dioceses were again divided, and between 1910 and 1945 the diocese of Шаблон:TranslAqra was administered by a patriarchal vicar. In 1945 the future patriarch Paul Cheiko was appointed bishop of Шаблон:TranslAqra. In 1957 he was replaced by Andrew Sana, who was promoted to Archbishop of Kirkuk in 1977. In 1980 Abdelahad Rabban was appointed bishop of Aqra.
Шаблон:TranslAbdalahad Rabban died on 25 July 1998. The diocese of Шаблон:TranslAqra has remained vacant since his death, and the few remaining Chaldeans in the Шаблон:TranslAqra district are now under the care of an apostolic administrator, Father Youhanna Issa.
Population statistics
In 1850 the traditionalist diocese of Шаблон:TranslAqra included eleven villages in the Шаблон:TranslAqra region and four villages in the Gomel valley, and contained 249 families, 9 priests and 13 churches (Badger). The large villages of Khardes and Herpa and several smaller villages were not included in Badger's list, probably because the majority of their inhabitants were Catholics.
The Chaldean diocese of Шаблон:TranslAqra had a population of 2,718 Chaldeans, with 17 priests, in 1867 (Martin); 1,000 Chaldeans, with 8 priests and 12 churches, in 1896 (Chabot); and 2,390 Chaldeans, with 16 priests and 10 churches, in 1913 (Tfinkdji). All of the villages listed in the traditionalist diocese in 1850 (apart from the Zibar villages of Erdil and Beth Kola) had Catholic communities in 1913, but the process of conversion was far from complete. Eleven villages in the diocese of Шаблон:TranslAqra in 1896, and the last nine villages listed by Tfinkdji in 1913, were 'semi-Nestorian'. A recently published book by Youel Baaba has supplied the Syriac names of the villages in the diocese of Шаблон:TranslAqra.[2]
Chaldean communities in the diocese of Шаблон:TranslAqra, 1913
| Name of Village | Name in Syriac | Number of Believers | Number of Priests | Number of Churches | Name of Village | Name in Syriac | Number of Believers | Number of Priests | Number of Churches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Шаблон:TranslAqra | 250 | 2 | 1 | Dure | 50 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Herpa | 200 | 1 | 1 | Artun | 100 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Khardes | 120 | 1 | 0 | Beth Mishmish | 150 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Nerem | 100 | 1 | 1 | Beth Nura | 80 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Sharmen | 250 | 1 | 1 | Gwessa | 60 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Shahwipalan | 120 | 1 | 0 | Guppa | 40 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Gorgoran | 80 | 1 | 0 | Barzane | 90 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Nuhawa | 150 | 1 | 1 | Beth Sapre | 30 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Arena | 300 | 2 | 1 | Mallabarwan | 120 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Sanaya | 100 | 1 | 1 | Total | 2,390 | 16 | 10 |
Notes
References
- Baaba, Youel A., The Assyrian Homeland before World War I (Alamo, California, 2009)
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite journal
- Fiey, J. M., Assyrie chrétienne (3 vols, Beirut, 1962)
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Martin, P., La Chaldée, esquisse historique, suivie de quelques réflexions sur l'Orient (Rome, 1867)
- Шаблон:Cite journal
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
Шаблон:Chaldean Catholic Hierarchy Шаблон:Dioceses of the Church of the East
