The Patriarch Mar
Binyamin Shimaon:
A Martyr of the
Assyrian Nation & The Church
of the East
The Martyr Mar Binyamin
Shamaon
Ashor Giwargis -
Beirut
Translated by Mary C.-
Canada
Courtesy Of Annahar
Newspaper, Lebanon March
12,2004
Since
the falling of the Assyrian
Empire's capital Nineveh in
612 B.C, The Assyrian nation
Is considered today one of
the mostly deeply rooted
nations who are still
suffering of deprivation and
marginalization after being
through bloody massacres.
Taking a look at the
history of the Assyrians we
notice the variety of
powers, which came to
dominate their homeland over
the centuries. However,
since the collapse of the
Assyrian Empire the
Assyrians always longed for
freedom, for the Assyrians
of Babylon revolted over and
over again against the
Persian kings; the
Babylonian leader "Nendintu-Bel"
revolted against the king
Darius in 522 B.C but his
revolt was suppressed, then
Assyrians declared their
independence and appointed a
king by the name of "Bel-Shimanni"
followed by king "Shammash-Iriba"
during the reign of Cyrus,
this revolt was also crushed
in 482 B.C, and the Greek
historian Herodotus
(490-420? B.C) Mentioned how
the Assyrians used to mock
the Persian occupiers and
humiliate the Persian king
himself whenever his
procession passed by through
the Assyrian cities...
With the Coming of Christ
The Lord, the Assyrians were
the first to embrace
Christianity, in Babylon and
the kingdom of "Ur-Hay"
(today's Urfa - Odessa)
which was founded by the
Assyrians after the fall of
Nineveh in 612 B.C. and the
state of "Ashur" (was known
as Ashuristan) in today's
northern Iraq, which enjoyed
self-rule within the
Sassanite Persian rule, and
one of its kings was
Sinacherib, the father of
the saints Behnam and Sarah.
These kingdoms lasted for
centuries in the A.D. era.
However, since Christianity
is a noble faith which calls
for evangelization, thus the
efforts of the Assyrians
turned towards missionary
activities which spread at
different periods as far as
East Asia (China, Japan,
Tibet…), and Armenia to the
north, the Arabian Peninsula
to the south. The Church at
the time was known as (The
Church of The East), thus it
became like an "Empire
Church", and its head
carried the title "Catholicos
of the East".
The Church of The East was
founded by the apostles
Saint Thomas, Addai
(Thaddaeus) and Mari,
therefore, its name is " The
Holy Apostolic Catholic
Church of The East"
(“Catholic” means here
“Universal”), also known in
history as the "Church of
Seleucid", "Church of
Babylon", "Church of
Persia", "Ancient Eastern
Syrian Church". Erroneously
today it's known amongst the
Assyrian public and
sometimes in the
ecclesiastical literature of
the very Church, as the
"Assyrian Church", this
error goes back to the
nature of external relations
for this institution over
the centuries. The
Shimaonite Patriarchs were
invested with the
authorities of a "Governor"
in some matters to an extent
that foreign scholars
considered The Church of The
East as "The Nation Church"
of the Assyrian people, just
like was the situation of
the independent Maronites in
the mountains of Lebanon in
the Qadisha valley under the
authority of their Patriarch
and tribal chiefs.
This theory erroneously led
the missionaries,
researchers and later the
British mandate to limit the
Assyrian national name to
the followers of The Church
of The East stemming from
the fact that Mar Binyamin
Shimaon and Mar Ishai
Shimaon were the most
prominent leaders of the
Assyrian National Movement
at its beginning - noting
that the other two sects of
the Assyrian people
(Syrians, Chaldeans) didn't
join the war because their
followers didn't inhabit
areas which were considered
as strategic by the allies
that's why they were not
supported to join the allies
in the war. However, they
still participated in
martyrdom and paid a dire
price for being Christians
and Assyrians just like
their brethren of The Church
of The East. The Iraqi
authorities followed the
steps of the British in
regards to the name whereby
the Eastern denomination in
Iraq is referred to as the "Athuri
Church” and that for pure
political purposes in order
to marginalize and
assimilate the Assyrian name
within the other communities
which are more recent in
Assyria. This denominational
mistake is considered one of
the main reasons in the
misunderstanding of the true
national name for the
Assyrians (Chaldean Church,
Church of The East, and
Syrian Orthodox and
Catholic) as well as for
many other Assyrian
politicians, and some
non-Assyrian researchers.
WHO ARE THE SHIMAONITE
PATRIARCHS?
As a result of the
interference on the affairs
of The Church of The East on
the part of rulers who
dominated Assyria over the
years, and the difficulty in
organizing synods to elect
patriarchs because of the
dangerous areas that Bishops
should cross at that time,
which compelled the church’s
curators in the early
fourteenth century, to limit
the authority of the
Patriarchal degree within
one family (from an uncle to
his first nephew), thus the
Patriarchal See became
inherited from 1328-1975,
that is for about 650 years,
whereby 23 Patriarchs took
over The Apostolic See
holding the title "Mar
Shimaon" and they became to
their followers at the level
of saints in regards to the
extent of suffering that
they endured for the sake of
their Church and people. The
last in the succession of
the Shimaonite Patriarchs
was the late Mar Ishai
Shimaon (1920-1975). He was
the nephew of Patriarch Mar
Binyamin Shimaon, the
subject of this article.
The Church of The East
reached its highest
magnificence during the
Abbasid period; afterwards
the Mongolian danger
appeared to threaten the
entire east when the army of
Holako, Gingiz Khan's
grandson reached to Assyria
in 1258. Holako killed Al-Muaatasim,
the Muslim caliph in
Baghdad, and because of the
oppression which was endured
by the followers of this
Church, the Patriarchate was
moved from Baghdad to Arbil
in the days of Patriarch Mar
Makikha Shimaon, then to the
town of Alqush in Assyria
(today's Northern Iraq)
following the entrance of
Kurds to Arbil with the
support of the Mongols after
emptying the city of its
original inhabitants, that
was in the time of Patriarch
Mar Timathawos (Timothy)
Shimaon (1318-1328).
Six Patriarchs followed on
the Apostolic See in Alqush
in about 300 years, and they
were all buried in the
monastery of "Rabban
Hurmizd" near Alqush. Later
the Patriarchate was moved
to several other places
because of troubles from the
Kurds, Turks and Catholic
missionaries. In the time of
Patriarch Mar Dinkha Shimaon
Bar Mama (1552-1558) a
schism began within the
Church when the monk Sulaqa
Bet Ballo from Aqra (head of
the monastery of Rabban
Hurmizd) joined Roman
Catholicism seeking the
protection which could be
provided by the
"missionaries" and that by
bribing the Kurds and Turks
with sums of money in order
to stop harassing their
followers (only their
followers). Today the Uniat
part of The Church of The
East is known as "The
Chaldean Church". Those who
didn't follow the Uniat
church continued to suffer
from persecution at the
hands of Muslims and
missionaries in the plains
of Assyria (Northern Iraq)
which forced Patriarch Mar
Ishouayab Shimaon
(1653-1690) to move the
Patriarchal See from Alqush
to the Assyrian city of
Uremia in the north-west of
Iran near the Turkish border
(The Assyrians were forced
to flee this city several
times and today there are
only few elderly living
there).
The Patriarch remained in
Uremia for four years after
which He moved to Khusrawa
(Khusar-Abad) in the plain
of Salamas on the Turkish
border. There He was
followed with persecution on
the part of Muslims, after
one year He moved to the
Assyrian highlands known as
the Hakkari mountains (the
peaks reach to 13000 feet =
4400 meters) where the
Patriarchal See remained for
40 years under the
protection of the Assyrian
"Diz" tribe, then in the
time of Patriarch Mar Yahba
Alaha Shimaon (Mar
Youalah)-(1558-1580) and
because of the rugged
terrain in the region of
Diz, the Patriarchal See was
moved to the region of
"Qudshanis" (The Holy Land)
and in that region a Church
carrying the name of Mar
Shallita was built in 1689
thus the Patriarchal See
remained there under the
protection of the Assyrian
tribes until the end of
1915, in WWI.
“Mar Shallita” Church in
Qudshanis – The Assyrian
mountains
PATRIARCH MAR BINYAMIN
SHIMAON
The Patriarch Mar Binyamin
Shimaon was born to the
honorable Ishai Shimaon, the
brother of Mar Rouel
Shimaon. He was ordained on
Palm Sunday 30th of March
1903 at the hands of Mar
Isaac Khnanishoua
Metropolitan of "Shimmisdin"
region and Mar Estephanos
Bishop of "Gawar" region,
during his Patriarchal time,
He over saw the affairs of
The Church of The East
appointing the tribal chiefs
and collecting taxes which
the Turkish authorities were
un able to collect of the
independent Assyrian tribes,
those who did never
recognize the Ottoman Sultan
(Tiari, Tkhouma, Jeelu, Diz,
and Baz tribes). He also
assumed the role of a judge
just like His predecessors
who used to solve problems
amongst the Assyrian tribes
and even Kurdish tribes who
settled lately in those
Assyrian mountains.
The Assyrian Nation entered
a critical period in the era
of Patriarch Mar Binyamin
Shimaon (1903-1918), with
the beginning of World War
I, the renewed calls to
annihilate the Christians
began in Turkey in 1914,
when the Kurds and Turks
began to loot, and burn the
Assyrian villages in the
plains under the motto
“Jihad". They kidnapped
girls (Harem's Houses) as
their "halal" (legal gain in
Islam) for their jihad;
during this over 600
Assyrian villages and cities
were burnt down and more
than 600.000 Assyrians of
The Church of The East,
Syriac and Chaldean Churches
were massacred in the area
extending from Urfa (Urhay)
and Uremia. All the Churches
were destroyed at the hands
of the Kurds and Turks under
the motto “Jihad".
Thus, and because of the
persecutions which the
Assyrians endured over
hundreds of years before
WWI, the Russians found it a
suitable opportunity to get
the Assyrians to their side
[for they were courageous
mountain battles fighters]
and with the declaration of
"Jihad" on the part of the
Ottoman Sultanate, the
Patriarch had no choice but
to join the closest of the
allied countries that is
Russia. The Patriarch took
His decision on the 10th of
June 1915, and the Turks
arrested His brother, the
honorable Hirmiz who was
continuing his education in
Mussel, in order to oblige
the Patriarch to give up the
arms of the Assyrian
fighters, but Mar Binyamin
refused and said His famous
phrase: “My brother is but
one person, however the
children of my nation are
many, so how would I forsake
the many for one???”
Immediately after that,
Honorable Hirmiz Mar Shimaon
was killed at the hands of
"Haidar Beg" the governor of
Mussel.
With the beginning of the
Assyrian uprising against
jihad, Russia took advantage
of the Patriarch's nobility
and His trust in Russia to
allure His people to the
outskirts of the city of
Uremia turning them into an
invincible shield before the
Kurds and Turks on the
western front of the
Caucasia. This is exactly
what happened and the
Assyrians successfully
impeded fourteen
Turkish-Kurdish attacks
whereby they defeated the
6th and 4th Turkish
battalions, both the 5th and
12th infantry corps, in
addition to defeating the
Baradust and Shikak Kurdish
tribes with their large
numbers and also the Iranian
forces led by Majid
Al-Sultany... Military
experts of the allies were
so much impressed by the
courage of this small
Nation. The Russian army
retreated later on because
of the Bolshevik Revolution
in 1917. The Patriarch
completely understood the
situation and remained in
close contact with the
Russians, while His people
were facing the Iranians,
Turks and Kurds with
whatever arms they had left
... Here, came the English's
turn to take advantage of
the Assyrian circumstances
and their fighting spirit so
they intervened before the
Patriarch in order to move
the Russians out of the
scene. A meeting was held in
Uremia between the Assyrians
and the allies, in February
1918, whereby the meeting
was limited to the Russian
Consul Nikitin, the American
Consul Shed, the French
officer Cujol and the
English captain Gracy who
promised the Assyrian
Patriarch in the name of the
British Government of an
independent State
(stretching from the west of
Tur-Abdin till the East of
Lake Uremia), but in return
he asked the Assyrians to
abandon the Russians who had
already left the war because
of the Bolshevik Revolution.
Gracy asked the Assyrians to
join Britain, which will
guarantee them their
independent State at the end
of the war. The Assyrian
leadership had no choice
other than joining the
English whether they lied or
were truthful, but the
English were well aware of
the fact that the Patriarch
sympathized with the
Russians His old neighbors
so they convinced the
Patriarch to meet with the
Kurdish leader Agha Ismael
(known as Simko), the head
of Shikak Kurdish tribes.
The English were well aware
of the Kurdish-Iranian
agreement to assassinate the
Patriarch during that
meeting. For the Iranian
prince Mehdi Shams wanted to
get rid of the Patriarch so
that he would enter Uremia
and take revenge of the
Assyrians for their
successful revolt against
the Muslims in the city a
while before that. During
this meeting the English
objected to Agha Petros'
suggestion that Simko should
come and meet with the
Patriarch as a sign of
respect and for his safety,
for Simko was known for his
cowardness and lack of
dignity. The English
however, suggested that the
Patriarch Himself goes to
meet with Simko as a peace
initiative. The English
would benefit by weakening
the position of the
Assyrians after
assassinating their high
commander, thus they would
find themselves surrounded
by their Muslim enemy while
the English would become the
only side capable of helping
them (only when they – The
English - see it
possible…).Then the
Assyrians of Hakkari and
Urmia would be allured to
the Plains of Ashur (Iraq)
after promising them with
freedom, then the English
would instigate turmoil
between them and the Iraqi
government with the purpose
of creating problems which
would be solved by the
English themselves as a
preparation to economic and
oil projects with the Iraqi
government which will be a
puppet in the hands of the
English.
The Patriarch agreed to
meet with Simko and headed
on a Saturday, March 3rd
1918 to the stronghold of
the Kurdish chief, the city
of Koynashahr in Iran. Simko
welcomed the Patriarch and
embraced His hands, then
asked the Patriarch that his
companions put their arms
aside because they caused
frightfulness in the city.
Simko's request was answered
and the meeting was a
friendly one whereby an
agreement was made to bring
peace between the Assyrians
and Kurds and that both
sides would ally together to
get their rights.
However, as the meeting was
adjourned Simko went out to
bid the Patriarch farewell,
and as he leaned over, Simko
took one of his men's rifles
and shot the first bullet
which was the signal to
hundreds of Kurdish fighters
who were hiding on roof
tops, and bullets down
poured on the Patriarch and
His companions from all
directions, more than 40
were killed and those who
survived fiercely fought in
the city to remove the
martyred Patriarch's body.
They were able to sneak in
and reach to the bullet
shattered corps, the Kurds
had mutilated the corps and
they put it on a chair as a
sign of mockery, while their
children took His
Patriarchal head cover and
began to kick it in the
street, then they severed a
finger and removed His
Patriarchal golden ring. The
Assyrian fighters carried
the Patriarch on their
shoulders to the region of
Khusrawa, led by Daniel the
son of Malik Ismael (Daniel
is the son of the Tiari
tribe’s chief and the
personal companion to the
martyred Patriarch).
While the exhausted
Assyrian people awaited the
joyful news of a peace
between Assyrians and Kurds,
on the contrary the
disastrous news of the
Patriarch assassination, the
second person after Christ
the Lord (as revered by the
Assyrians)… An overwhelming
anger took over and a force
of thousands of tribal men
were assembled under the
leadership of malik Ismael
(upper Tiari tribe), malik
Khoshaba (lower Tiari
tribe), malik Oshana
(Tkhouma tribe) this force
broke into the city of
"Koynashahr" on March 18th
1918 and they took control
of the city following some
bloody and violent battles,
whereby 24 Assyrian fighters
became martyrs.
However, Simko was able to
escape to "Tchara" fortress
in the Salamas valley, so
the Assyrians followed him
and occupied the fortress
then he was able to escape
in disguise to the city of
"Khoi" in the North where he
killed more than 3800 un
armed Assyrian men, women
and children with the help
of other Kurdish tribes. The
American missioner Carter
Packard who instigated the
massacre of "Khoi"
facilitated Simko’s escape.
The Shimaon family suspected
that this "missioner" was
also involved in the
planning of the Patriarch's
assassination.
Two years later Simko and
the Iranians had a dispute
so he fled to Iraq under the
protection of his brother in
law Sheikh Sayyed Taha the
deputy of Rawanduz (in
Today’s North Iraq), there
he was followed discreetly
by the Assyrian leader Yakou
malik Ismael (brother of
Daniel who was fore
mentioned) and his men to
the area of Dyana in order
to revenge the Patriarch's
killing and to know who
planned for the
assassination. But the
English army alerted Simko
of Yakou malik Ismael's plan
so he fled yet again... At
the end Simko was invited by
the Iranian Emir to hold a
peace treaty following an un
known dispute, and his end
was the same as that of the
martyred Patriarch; Simko
was killed at the hands of
his host.
On May 29th 1918, Polous
(Paul) Mar Shimaon was
ordained as Patriarch, He
was the brother of Mar
Binyamin the Martyr. In His
time the British executed
their plan to allure the
Assyrians of the mountains
to the plains of Assyria
(today’s Northern Iraq) in
order to remove the Turkish
army with the help of the
Assyrians because they were
the only ones able to fight
the Turks in the mountains
if they were armed properly.
This came at a time when the
Assyrians were increasingly
besieged in Uremia and its
surroundings and their
ammunition was exhausted. So
rather than providing them
with arms, the English asked
them to move to "Sainqala"
in order to meet up with the
English who would provide
them with ammunition, but
when the Assyrian fighters
arrived to the city under
the command of General
Potros Eliya (known as Agha
Potros) they didn't find any
one so they were obliged to
head back to Urmia while the
"Salamas" division under the
command of General Dawid
(David) Mar Shimaon (the
martyred Patriarch's
brother) was diverting the
6th battalion of the Turkish
army and the Kurdish tribes
on the "Seera" mountain
front in order to prevent
them from entering the
plains of "Salamas" and the
city of Uremia. As the
division of Agha Potros
arrived panic took over the
Assyrians in Uremia because
they knew that they were
betrayed by the British but
even with that they had no
other choice but to head
towards the Iranian city of
Hamadan where the closest
British base was, (800 km
walking by foot from Urmi).
More than 200.000 Assyrians
were obliged to walk on foot
for more than a month
whereby they lost 54.000
defenseless people on the
roads during successive
attacks by the Kurds, Turks
and Iranians and another
11.000 martyrs lost their
lives in a caravan that
headed north to Georgia, in
addition to killer diseases
because of the hot weather
and drinking polluted water
from the swamps where more
than 5000 Assyrian children
lost their lives in the
refugee camps in Hamadan and
Karmanshah in Iran, then in
Baaquba in Iraq and amongst
them the Patriarch Mar
Polous Shimaon two years
after His ordination. In
1920 the Patriarch Mar Ishai
Shimaon the son of General
Dawid Mar Shimaon was
ordained and He was the last
of the Shimaon Patriarchs.
However, presently the
Patriarch of "The Assyrian
Church of the East" is
ordained through elections.
Today His Beatitude Mar
Dinkha IV holds the
Patriarchal See in the
United States of America (He
is expected to return to His
original Patriarchal See of
The Church of The East, in
Assyria since the Iraqi
regime has fallen). His
Beatitude firmly implemented
the principle of separating
between politics and Church
affairs in the presence of
Assyrian parties and
organizations which are
supposed to be working
towards attaining the rights
of the Assyrian people in
their historical homeland,
with the continuous
persecution of the Assyrian
people by other peoples who
are domineering the Assyria.
The late Patriarch Mar
Binyamin Shimaon is
considered as the Martyr of
The Church of The East and
The Assyrian Nation. The
Church commemorates His
martyrdom on the Sunday
preceding The Lent (Easter).
As to the secular
institutions, they celebrate
His memory as the Nation's
martyr on the Sunday which
precedes the Great Lent
before Easter (This year it
was on the 15th of February)
.On the other hand the
Assyrian secular
organizations (social,
cultural, political)
commemorate the martyrdom of
Mar Binyamin the Patriarch
on the 3rd of
March every year, and the
Assyrian people are still
looking forward to the goal
which The Patriarch Mar
Binyamin Shimaon, the rest
of the Assyrian leaders and
hundreds of thousands of
women, children and men were
martyred for and that is
peace and freedom for the
Assyrian Nation similar to
other nations.
But unfortunately it's very
clear from the latest
political changes and what
is being concluded from the
results of the Iraqi
politicians' positions,
especially through the way
the current Iraqi
administrative law is being
organized, that the Assyrian
people will be more
marginalized and will face
more suffers in the future
(that is if there will be
any one left in the
homeland) unless if they
concentrate their efforts to
face the plans of the
"De-Facto Powers" and that
by adopting a new policy of
co-operation first within
the Assyrian family and then
in the Iraqi family.
