The Last Assyrians
Encyclopedia
The Last Assyrians is a French documentary film
by Robert Alaux.
and they still speak Syriac
, a modern dialect of Aramaic
. Members of the Chaldean Catholic Church
, Assyrian Church of the East
, Syriac Orthodox Church
and the Syriac Catholic Church
, they come from Iraq
, Turkey
, Syria
or Iran
and claim to be descendants of the peoples of ancient Mesopotamia
.
Rejected from the official Catholic Church as heretics
in the 5th century, they were named Nestorians or Jacobites by Western Christians. They have kept alive one of the oldest Christian liturgies
, they translated ancient Greek texts first into Syriac and then in Arabic
and evangelised China
and Mongolia
during the Golden Age of the Arabic Empire.
In 1915, together with the Armenians
, they were the victims of genocide
and many fled to Europe and the United States. Again, they were slaughtered in Iraq in 1933 during the Simele massacre
. Even if they use various names as Chaldeans, Assyrians, Arameans, Suryoyo, Chaldo-Assyrians, Syriacs, Suroyo, Syrians, Suraye etc., they share the same culture and they belong to one people.
Very few of them remain in Tur Abdin
(Turkey), where monks protect some of the oldest monasteries of Christianity. There were around 1.5 million Chaldo-Assyrians in Iraq before 1990, now they are fleeing and the Assyrian Democratic Movement
and the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council
are working to help to maintain their culture.
), Iraq (before and after the arrival of American troops), Syria
, USA and Europe. It contains interviews of Pr. Sebastian Brock
(Oxford, UK) , and Pr. Joseph Yacoub (Lyon, France), and received support from the Aramaic speaking Churches.
The documentary was made by Lieurac Productions(Paris, France) and financed by the Centre National de la Cinématographie
.
It was broadcast on TV channels of Europe, North Africa and Middle East, and selected in several international festivals .
This documentary film was one of the very first to tell this history and to speak of the Assyrian Syriac genocide. The last Assyrians supports the fight for its recognition, and various institutions show the film in order to keep alive the culture of this indigenous people of Mesopotamia.
A controversy took place about the title: a part of the Chaldean/Syriac/Aramean communities do not recognize the word 'Assyrian' as the name of their People. And some of these Eastern Christians claim they are Arab Christians
without any other specific ethnicity.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by Robert Alaux.
Synopsis
This film tells of the building of the identity of the Aramaic speaking Christians, also known as Assyrians, Syriacs, Chaldeans or Arameans. They are one of the first people to convert to ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and they still speak Syriac
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
, a modern dialect of Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
. Members of the Chaldean Catholic Church
Chaldean Catholic Church
The Chaldean Catholic Church , is an Eastern Syriac particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church...
, Assyrian Church of the East
Assyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
, Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
and the Syriac Catholic Church
Syriac Catholic Church
The Syriac Catholic Church is a Christian church in the Levant having practices and rites in common with the Syriac Orthodox Church. They are one of the Eastern Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and Syro-Malankara Christians...
, they come from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
or Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and claim to be descendants of the peoples of ancient Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
.
Rejected from the official Catholic Church as heretics
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
in the 5th century, they were named Nestorians or Jacobites by Western Christians. They have kept alive one of the oldest Christian liturgies
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
, they translated ancient Greek texts first into Syriac and then in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and evangelised China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
during the Golden Age of the Arabic Empire.
In 1915, together with the Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
, they were the victims of genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
and many fled to Europe and the United States. Again, they were slaughtered in Iraq in 1933 during the Simele massacre
Simele massacre
The Simele Massacre was a massacre committed by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Iraq during the systematic targeting of Assyrians in northern Iraq in August 1933...
. Even if they use various names as Chaldeans, Assyrians, Arameans, Suryoyo, Chaldo-Assyrians, Syriacs, Suroyo, Syrians, Suraye etc., they share the same culture and they belong to one people.
Very few of them remain in Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin is a hilly region of south east Turkey incorporating the eastern half of Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the border with Syria. The name 'Tur Abdin' is from the Syriac language meaning 'mountain of the servants '. Tur Abdin is of great importance to Syriac...
(Turkey), where monks protect some of the oldest monasteries of Christianity. There were around 1.5 million Chaldo-Assyrians in Iraq before 1990, now they are fleeing and the Assyrian Democratic Movement
Assyrian Democratic Movement
The Assyrian Democratic Movement also known as Zowaa is an ethnic Assyrian political party in Iraq, and is currently the only Assyrian-based political party to be voting in the Iraqi parliament....
and the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council
Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council
Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council is a political party in Iraq that was founded by Sarkis Aghajan, a high ranking KDP, in 2007. The Party runs Ishtar TV and publishes several different monthly magazines....
are working to help to maintain their culture.
Production and Distribution
This film is the result of a seven years work in Turkey (Tur Abdin, Qotchanes, HakkâriHakkari
Hakkâri , is a city and the capital of the Hakkâri Province of Turkey. The name Hakkâri is derived from the Syriac word, Akkare, meaning farmers...
), Iraq (before and after the arrival of American troops), Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, USA and Europe. It contains interviews of Pr. Sebastian Brock
Sebastian Brock
Sebastian Paul Brock is generally acknowledged as the foremost and most influential academic in the field of Syriac language today. He is a former Reader in Syriac Studies at the University of Oxford's Oriental Institute and currently a Professorial Fellow at Wolfson College...
(Oxford, UK) , and Pr. Joseph Yacoub (Lyon, France), and received support from the Aramaic speaking Churches.
The documentary was made by Lieurac Productions(Paris, France) and financed by the Centre National de la Cinématographie
Centre National de la Cinématographie
Le Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée or CNC is a French agency of the Ministry of Culture, responsible for the production and promotion of cinematic and audiovisual arts in France, is a publicly owned establishment, with legal and financial autonomy.Created by law on 25 October 1946...
.
It was broadcast on TV channels of Europe, North Africa and Middle East, and selected in several international festivals .
This documentary film was one of the very first to tell this history and to speak of the Assyrian Syriac genocide. The last Assyrians supports the fight for its recognition, and various institutions show the film in order to keep alive the culture of this indigenous people of Mesopotamia.
A controversy took place about the title: a part of the Chaldean/Syriac/Aramean communities do not recognize the word 'Assyrian' as the name of their People. And some of these Eastern Christians claim they are Arab Christians
Arab Christians
Arab Christians are ethnic Arabs of Christian faith, sometimes also including those, who are identified with Arab panethnicity. They are the remnants of ancient Arab Christian clans or Arabized Christians. Many of the modern Arab Christians are descendants of pre-Islamic Christian Arabian tribes,...
without any other specific ethnicity.
See also
- Chaldean Catholic ChurchChaldean Catholic ChurchThe Chaldean Catholic Church , is an Eastern Syriac particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church...
- Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia...
- Syriac Orthodox ChurchSyriac Orthodox ChurchThe Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
- Syriac Catholic ChurchSyriac Catholic ChurchThe Syriac Catholic Church is a Christian church in the Levant having practices and rites in common with the Syriac Orthodox Church. They are one of the Eastern Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and Syro-Malankara Christians...
- Assyrian Democratic MovementAssyrian Democratic MovementThe Assyrian Democratic Movement also known as Zowaa is an ethnic Assyrian political party in Iraq, and is currently the only Assyrian-based political party to be voting in the Iraqi parliament....
- Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular CouncilChaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular CouncilChaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council is a political party in Iraq that was founded by Sarkis Aghajan, a high ranking KDP, in 2007. The Party runs Ishtar TV and publishes several different monthly magazines....
- Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac diaspora
- Assyrian GenocideAssyrian genocideThe Assyrian Genocide refers to the mass slaughter of the Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac population of the Ottoman Empire during the 1890s, the First World War, and the period of 1922-1925...
- Assyrian peopleAssyrian peopleThe Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
- History of Eastern ChristianityHistory of Eastern ChristianityChristianity has been, historically a Middle Eastern religion with its origin in Hebrew tribal Judaism.Eastern Christianity refers collectively to the Christian traditions and churches which developed in the Middle East, Egypt, Asia Minor, The Far East, Balkans, Eastern Europe, Northeastern Africa...
- Chaldean ChristiansChaldean ChristiansChaldean Christians are ethnic Assyrian adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, most of whom entered communion with the Catholic Church from the Church of the East, which was already Catholic, but most wanted to stray away from the Catholic Church, causing the split in the 17th and 18th...
- Christianity in IraqChristianity in IraqThe Christians of Iraq form one of the oldest Christian communities of the Middle East. The vast majority are Aramaic speaking ethnic Assyrians with much smaller numbers of Armenians, Arabs, Turcoman and Kurds....
- Christianity in TurkeyChristianity in TurkeyChristianity has a long history in Anatolia , which is the birth place of numerous Christian Apostles and Saints, such as Apostle Paul of Tarsus, Timothy, St. Nicholas of Myra, St...
- Minorities in Iraq