The Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate (3)

“The term came into popular use following the profession of faith to Rome by John Sulaka, who was appointed patriarch of ‘Catholic Nestorians’ by Pope Julius III in 1551,” the same source continues. “The successors of Sulaka later assumed the name Simon and bore the title of ‘Patriarch-Catholicos of Babylon of the Chaldeans.’” The mention of Babylon was abandoned in 2021.

The Chaldean rite is a “system of liturgical practices and discipline historically associated with the Assyrian Church of the East (the so-called Nestorian Church) and also used by the Roman Catholic patriarchate of Babylon of the Chaldeans [...], where it is called the East Syrian rite. Found principally in Iraq, Iran, and Syria, it is also the original rite of the Christians of St. Thomas (Malabar Christians) in India,” the same encyclopedia explains. “The Chaldean rite originally grew out of the Jerusalem–Antioch liturgy.”

Encyclopædia Universalis explains: “The Chaldean rite, if compared to other Eastern rites, is of a simpler form: it does not use, for example, a detailed lectionary of scriptural texts, and its sanctorale is more reduced. The liturgy is always sung; it sometimes admits an accompaniment of cymbals and triangles.”

The website La Porte Latine notes that “three liturgies are used in the Chaldean rite, that of the Apostles for most of the year, that of Theodore, and one that is called of Nestorius. The priest sings everything, even the words of the Consecration. If they are not written in the missal, it is because of the law of the arcane (secret kept on certain elements of the Faith or worship in times of persecution).”

In the Chaldean rite, there “persists an attitude specific to this liturgy: at the Anaphora, particularly, the priest bows deeply, extending his handing, in a suppliant and humble attitude. Additionally, icons are not necessary in this liturgy, unlike other Eastern rites, and serve rather to adorn the sanctuary.”

Although the Chaldean liturgy, as a whole, has not undergone upheavals since the last council, “we nevertheless note some changes which are hardly going in the right direction. Thus, in 1971, the prayers of the Mass were shortened to eliminate periods of silence and, above all, all genuflections were removed, leaving only those surrounding the Consecration.”

Since 2015, “priests celebrate facing the people and the new liturgy allows the priest to name Mary, Mother of God or Mother of Christ, as he wishes in order to be nearer the Assyrians (Nestorius denied the oneness of Person [hypostatic union] in Our Lord, and therefore the divine motherhood of Our Lady).”

The elaborate changes “cleared” the rite of the Latin “outgrowths” that had crept in. The priest now prepares the oblations before Mass, he uses a cross to bless the faithful, and in an astonishing reform, required by Rome in order for the Chaldeans to return to their “roots,” the Filioque was removed from the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.

As a reminder, the Nicene Creed affirmed that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father; “and from the Son” (Filioque in Latin) was added a little later in the Latin Church and was already professed by Pope Leo the Great. For ecumenical reasons, Rome had the Chaldean Church return to the earlier formulation.