Friday, February 20, 2026

It is the 20th of February 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

From a split in the Lutheran church in the 1970s, yesterday- back to a 16th century schism and “reformation” of sorts… but not the one you’re thinking of. And probably not the other one you’re thinking of either. Today’s story takes us to ancient Babylon, or at least- what was called Babylon- we might think of it today as part of modern Iraq.

 

These were the Christians, who in the early Middle Ages were settled in the Middle East and, on account of the Mongol Horde, were sent into exile. When they emerged as an itinerant group of Christians, the name “Babylonian” Christians was discordant (it would be like calling Christians “Roman” in a way- but I digress). And so they adopted the ancient name of “Chaldean” Christians- yes, like those ancient Biblical characters, but now it’s less “ethic” and more a regional title.

 

You may remember hearing about these “Chaldean” or Iraqi Christians during the raids this century from ISIS, who destroyed the churches and monasteries of these mysterious (at least to many of us in the West) “Chaldean Catholic” Christians who make up the majority of Iraqi Christians today. So, who are these Chaldean Christians, and why is today a big day for them?

 

The “Chaldeans,” as they would come to be known in the late Middle Ages, are part of the tradition of the “Churches of the East”. Not “Eastern Orthodox”- those split from Rome in 1056. The “Churches of the East” are that small 4th branch of Modern Christendom that split off all the way back in the 400s. They are sometimes (unfairly) called “Nestorians”. These were also the churches that took the brunt of the Mongol Horde’s and Islamic expansion in the Middle East.

 

We head to the 16th century, when it wasn’t just Protestants making a fuss and calling for reform (in fact, there was concern across churches, whether they split or not), and there was a growing concern amongst the Church of the East and its Patriarch Shim’on VII, centered in Mosul outside of Baghdad. The system for new patriarchs was hereditary, but because patriarchs were celibate, the title descended through their nephews. “Nephews being given sweet jobs by family members?” This is literally where the word “nepotism” comes from.

 

And by the time of Shim’on VII, many of the leaders in the church had been concerned with his worldliness, his selling of church office, and the use of concubines. Various factions rallied to the case of the monk Yohannan Sulaqa, wanting him to be elected the next Patriarch to replace Shim’on VII. Obviously, Shim’on the VII was none too pleased, and for Sulaqa to have any claim on the Patriarchate, he would need to be recognized by another duly ordained Church head.

 

Lucky for these reformers in the Church of the East, there were some local Franciscan missionaries who helped them hatch a plan. They sent a letter to Pope Julius III asking if he might recognize Yohannan Sulaqa as the rightful head of the Church of the East, thereby creating a new faction in that church. And it was on this, the 20th of February in 1552, that Pope Julius III consecrated Sulaqa as the new head of the church (the rebels claimed that Shimon VII had died… which he hadn’t… so… schism persists). Sulaqa would be given the title Shimun VIII and granted the title Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church- an “Eastern Catholic” church in communion with Rome. Sulaqa, now Shimun VIII, would be murdered in the coming years, and separate lines would call for both independence and dependence from Rome over the coming centuries. Some of them became what we know as the Assyrian Church of the East, while the Chaldean Catholic Church remained the dominant Christian group in Iraq.

 

Since 2002, the church in Iraq has been under constant persecution- the Chaldean Catholics making up over 1 million inhabitants prior to 2002 and now approximately 200,000- many Chaldean Catholics migrating to other parts of the world.

 

Today we remember their 16th century Reformation and the consecration of Yohannan Sulaqa and the birth of the Chaldean Catholic Church.

 

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and back in Romans 1:

14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 20th of February 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who thinks it must be hard for those Christians, like they are in between Iraq and… sorry… He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who considers himself the St Paul of yogurts- good with both Greek and non-Greek. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.