Buried in a Muslim stronghold is the oldest church in Iraq. Nermin Al-Mufti visits the ruins Click to view caption Karbala', 140 kilometres south of Baghdad, is one of the holiest cities in Islam. Pilgrims and interested tourists come here to pay their respects at the shrines of Hussein, the third Imam of Shi'ite Muslims, his half-brother Al-Abbas and the other martyrs who fell at the Battle of Karbala' in the seventh century. The battle took place on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram AH 61). The Imam Hussein ibn 'Ali, grandson of the Prophet Mohamed and pretender to the caliphate, together with 71 of his followers and members of his family -- including his sons and brothers -- were defeated and killed by an army sent by the Umayyad Caliph Yazid I. After the battle the women and children of Hussein's tribe were taken prisoner, shackled, loaded on camels and taken in a caravan from Karbala' to the seat of Yazid at Kufa. At the forefront of the procession, mounted on spears, were the heads of Imam Hussein and his followers. Thus was the tragic downfall of the immediate family of the Prophet Mohamed. The battle helped secure the position of the Umayyads, but the event was a great catastrophe for Shi'ite Muslims, the followers of Hussein, among whom 10 Muharram (or 'Ashura') became an annual holy day of public mourning. But notwithstanding its place in Islamic history, Karbala', so holy to Muslims, is a holy place for Christians too. For here are the remains of the oldest church in Iraq, and this -- rather against the run of the mill -- was my destination. The small town of Karbala' is dominated by the domes of the beautiful mosques of the two chief martyrs, much embellished over the centuries by Persian craftsmen. The gilded dome of Al-Abbass glints in the sun -- extremely hot in early summer. Everything in the town reminds one of the tragedy; even the water fountains are inscribed with the words, "Drink, and remember the thirst of Hussein." The town revolves around the event, with souvenirs on sale on every corner. As soon as I arrived I asked the first Karbala'i I met about the church. His astonishment was profound. He tried to explain that I was in Karbala', where between a mosque and a mosque there was another mosque and between one holy shrine and another there was a holy shrine. He left me shaking his head in bewilderment. But I had read about the church in Karbala' Through History, written by historian Ribatt Al- Darweesh. Darweesh said the church, named Gasser, was located in Al-Ukhaider, an ancient settlement bordered on the south by Al-Razza Lake and about five kilometres from the north of Al-Ukhaider Castle. This is 20 kilometres south of Karbala'. The book said the people of the whole area had converted to Christianity in the first century. The origins of the Church of the East date back to the decades immediately following the death of Jesus Christ. While several of Christ's apostles preached in Mesopotamia, including St Thomas from 35-37 AD and St Peter in 54 AD, the Church of the East, of which the Chaldean Church is a daughter, credits its formal establishment to St Thaddeus, who preached in Mesopotamia from 37 to 65 AD. After the martyrdom of St Thaddeus his disciples continued the missionary work. The Church of the East was the most vibrant Christian church in the world for several centuries, and to it goes the credit for spreading Christianity in India and China. (The Christians of India were under the direct jurisdiction of the Church of the East from the fourth until the 16th centuries, when the colonial Portuguese, under instruction from Rome, forcefully severed that relation.) From the fourth century the territory of the Church of the East became divided between the competing Roman and the Persian Empires (Mesopotamia fell under the Persians, while modern day Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan remained under the Romans). The Persian rulers of Mesopotamia unleashed several massacres against their Christian subjects, who were suspected of sympathy with their Roman adversaries. To prevent such massacres, the Christians of Mesopotamia severed their relations with their brethren in the Roman-ruled territories and set up their own church. A thousand years later, after the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, the Roman church decided to intervene in the affairs of the unprotected and politically weak Christians of Mesopotamia and "cleanse" them of their "impure" doctrines. Its chance of establishing its own "Catholic" church among them came with a Catholic convert, Yohanna (John) Sulaqa, who was given the title of "Patriarch of Assur" by Pope Julius III in 1551 and became the first Chaldean Patriarch. His successors were later on given the title of "Patriarch of the Chaldeans of Babylon". Prior to that, all the patriarchs of the Church of the East were known by the title of "Patriarch of the Seat of St Thomas and St Thaddeus". Nowadays the Chaldean people lay claim to being the descendants of all the native people of Mesopotamia -- Chaldeans/Babylonians, Assyrians, Arameans, Akkadians and Sumerians. They belong to a nation which has thrived for 7,000 years and made an enormous contribution to human civilisation. The homeland of this ancient Aramaic-speaking nation is spread between Arab and non-Arab countries. Besides Iraq (where they make up the third largest ethnic group after Arabs and Kurds), Chaldeans are found in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, as well as in the non-Arab countries of Turkey, Iran, Georgia, and Armenia. Today, large concentrations of Chaldeans have emigrated to America, Australia, Canada and many European countries. The Chaldean Church, a Catholic denomination, is the largest Christian church in Iraq with a membership of close to 80 per cent of all Iraqi Christians. Their liturgical language is Aramaic, the language of Christ, although as Arabic is now the common language, proficiency in Aramaic is dwindling even among priests. The Chaldean Catholic Church of today has almost 1.5 million adherents worldwide. The Diocese of St Thomas the Apostle in the US can boast more than 150,000 members with close to 100,000 in the Detroit, Michigan, area alone. Historically there has been little discrimination against Christians in Iraq either in law or practice. The lack of tension between Muslims and Christians is attributed to the responsible behaviour both of the Christians, as a small minority, and of the majority Muslim community. So with this history in mind and history book in hand, I drove south to Al-Ukhaider, the most remarkable of the desert castles in Iraq. Al- Ukhaider was built in the second century of the Hejira and is itself well worth a visit. The street was very quiet, so I waited for several long minutes for a passer-by. At last a car came along, and the driver said what I was looking for was an old monastery where the believers said the monks has hidden themselves in the desert. They had come from the Holy Land to escape the Romans, he said, perhaps a little inaccurately (Roman persecution of Christians per se came much later, although persecution of Christians as political activists is a possibility). Whether it's a church or a monastery, I told him, just show me the way. Now I was on my may to Gasser Church. The book said it was a rectangular building, and the remains of its walls were about three to four metres high. The roof had fallen. The nave was about 40 square metres, and on the right side was an open room about five by six metres and a wall with arches where the altar was placed. The whole building was built of gypsum and rocks. There were small, arched doors and seven small windows on each side, and at the front there was a main gate. Around the church were the remains of a settlement. I stopped the car on the side of the road, not wishing to drive over the fragile and as yet largely unexcavated archaeological site. I closed the book. Walking to the site over the smooth sand, I passed evidence of ongoing excavations. At last I stood in front of the oldest church in Iraq. Superficially, I have to say, it looked like any other ruined church. More will doubtless be added to our knowledge of the site when the archaeologists have finished their work. Gasser Church will have a long history to tell.
