Assyrian Church of the East

[FrancisK]

I suppose by "outwardly religious" you mean the ones that talk or boast about it the most but don't know know what the Church actually teaches. In fairness, I do think our priests are very good (even the not-so-great ones) and there are faithful people, but like you said, western materialism has immense power in corrupting them. It's almost comical, seeing the toxic blend of old-school Iraq

Yea the ones constantly talking about how god loves them and how god will take care of them to justify and excuse all the wrong they do. They truly believe their words make them good people and overrides their actual actions.

Our older priests are definitely very good strong men, a couple of the younger ones I’m not so sure about I feel like they try to act like celebrities. I think maybe it’s to appeal to the younger generation because everything is about that now but still, I don’t know how to feel about it.

 

[BLMeToo]

Read my follow-up on my family's dynamics. It's kinda hilarious.

Yea the ones constantly talking about how god loves them and how god will take care of them to justify and excuse all the wrong they do. They truly believe their words make them good people and overrides their actual actions.

Our older priests are definitely very good strong men, a couple of the younger ones I’m not so sure about I feel like they try to act like celebrities. I think maybe it’s to appeal to the younger generation because everything is about that now but still, I don’t know how to feel about it.

I think the younger ones are good (I think I know who you're speaking of in particular), but I think they're the minority. But I don't know, I don't live near the Chaldean community anymore so I don't know exactly what's going on. I could be wrong.

 

[FrancisK]

Read my follow-up on my family's dynamics. It's kinda hilarious.



I think the younger ones are good (I think I know who you're speaking of in particular), but I think they're the minority. But I don't know, I don't live near the Chaldean community anymore so I don't know exactly what's going on. I could be wrong.

I don’t either actually we never have, I mean I’m not too far away but I was the only Chaldean in my high school. I would like to say my parents did it to keep us away from the bad influences but I think it was just coincidence. It’s actually just recently that I bought my parents and sisters a new house close to family and I took our old house. But now that everyone is older they enjoy being closer to family, especially my dad it’s a family reunion for them every day and he’s loving it. He deserves it, he worked 7 days a week his entire life without a complaint.

Sounds like we have extremely similar family dynamic with the two different sides and a lot of your family coming over later like mine. I also had to learn Chaldean to communicate them, I was always somewhat decent with my Chaldean but I became fairly fluent after that, I’ve also been scolded when I was younger that I curse too much because those are the words we all learned first haha! I’m proud I speak Chaldean as I’m sure you know very few people born here still do but still it’s going to be pretty much useless by the next generation, kinda sad….

We had two weddings on my dads side recently and I loved every second of them, it’s just a big room full of good women, strong men and family love. We have one coming up on my moms side and I don’t even want to go, it’s all just stupid drama…

 

[Sol Invictus]

Sounds like we have extremely similar family dynamic with the two different sides and a lot of your family coming over later like mine. I also had to learn Chaldean to communicate them, I was always somewhat decent with my Chaldean but I became fairly fluent after that, I’ve also been scolded when I was younger that I curse too much because those are the words we all learned first haha! I’m proud I speak Chaldean as I’m sure you know very few people born here still do but still it’s going to be pretty much useless by the next generation, kinda sad….

That's why lots of immigrant communities gathered around their churches, in order to not completely leave their own cultures and languages behind. Growing up in Boston, my landlords were immigrants from Greece, and they used to send their children to Greek school run by their church after the normal school day ended, in order to teach their children about their culture and language. An ex-girlfriend of mine who was the child of Ukrainian immigrants used to do the same thing. Do your communities not have that available?

 

[GermanicBroccoli]

Sam Shamoun, in my opinion great Apologist, is Assyrian.
One thing not mentioned yet is, the Church of the East does not say Mother of God, but Mother of Christ, although their Christology is not nestorian. They have some very unique traditions, that they are just stubborn about.

 

[FrancisK]

That's why lots of immigrant communities gathered around their churches, in order to not completely leave their own cultures and languages behind. Growing up in Boston, my landlords were immigrants from Greece, and they used to send their children to Greek school run by their church after the normal school day ended, in order to teach their children about their culture and language. An ex-girlfriend of mine who was the child of Ukrainian immigrants used to do the same thing. Do your communities not have that available?

The issue is not necessarily that they are disconnected from the community and the church, in fact I would say our community even the young ones are more connected than most. The issue is that it’s pretty much a useless language, nobody speaks it except for a small group of people whose native tongue is evolving into English. It’s just a degradation from one generation to the next as it doesn’t have practical purpose anymore, similar to Latin. Greek and Ukrainian are still the native tongue in their respective countries, Aramaic is not native anywhere anymore other than very small pockets where it’s actually the second language because the country has a more dominant language.

There are some Chaldeans who are off the boat but still don't know Chaldean, they spoke arabic because they lived in the cities instead of the villages. My parents know both, I'm first generation I speak Chaldean I would say conversationally well but not entirely fluently and I don't think I know any second generation that speak it anywhere close to that, maybe some that know the prayers or common curse words and phrases. Third generation......forget it.

 

[BLMeToo]

The issue is not necessarily that they are disconnected from the community and the church, in fact I would say our community even the young ones are more connected than most. The issue is that it’s pretty much a useless language, nobody speaks it except for a small group of people whose native tongue is evolving into English. It’s just a degradation from one generation to the next as it doesn’t have practical purpose anymore, similar to Latin. Greek and Ukrainian are still the native tongue in their respective countries, Aramaic is not native anywhere anymore other than very small pockets where it’s actually the second language because the country has a more dominant language.

There are some Chaldeans who are off the boat but still don't know Chaldean, they spoke arabic because they lived in the cities instead of the villages. My parents know both, I'm first generation I speak Chaldean I would say conversationally well but not entirely fluently and I don't think I know any second generation that speak it anywhere close to that, maybe some that know the prayers or common curse words and phrases. Third generation......forget it.

I can cosign 100% on this.

The other thing I'll mention is that the Assyrians (specifically, the members of the Assyrian Church of the East) have an Assyrian school and do more to preserve the heritage more than Chaldeans (Chaldean Catholics) do. I can't speak to San Diego, but in Detroit, the people there don't see the value of anything beyond the material.

On the flip side, Assyrians go overboard with the cultural pride to the point that they lack charity towards Chaldeans, and sometimes descend into "wE wUz mEsOpOtAmIaN kAnGz" territory.

Point is, without a serious religious revival, our people are doomed. On the plus side, the Chaldean Church is growing in northern Iraq. I think about moving there sometimes.

 

[FrancisK]

I can cosign 100% on this.

The other thing I'll mention is that the Assyrians (specifically, the members of the Assyrian Church of the East) have an Assyrian school and do more to preserve the heritage more than Chaldeans (Chaldean Catholics) do. I can't speak to San Diego, but in Detroit, the people there don't see the value of anything beyond the material.

On the flip side, Assyrians go overboard with the cultural pride to the point that they lack charity towards Chaldeans, and sometimes descend into "wE wUz mEsOpOtAmIaN kAnGz" territory.

Point is, without a serious religious revival, our people are doomed. On the plus side, the Chaldean Church is growing in northern Iraq. I think about moving there sometimes.

It’s funny because we used to make fun of the San Diego Chaldeans saying they were living like it’s still 1994, now I wish we were still like that. I have an uncle out there and the joke is true, they really still do live like everyone just got off the boat.

I don’t know though, when I see my dads side of the family and how strong they are I still think we have a lot left in the tank as far as our culture goes, don’t get me wrong ALL cultures exposed to western influence degrade over time but I think we’re still okay for a little while longer. Don’t buy into the outliers, they are still shunned outcasts even if they pretend not to be now.

 

[GermanicBroccoli]

I can cosign 100% on this.

The other thing I'll mention is that the Assyrians (specifically, the members of the Assyrian Church of the East) have an Assyrian school and do more to preserve the heritage more than Chaldeans (Chaldean Catholics) do. I can't speak to San Diego, but in Detroit, the people there don't see the value of anything beyond the material.

On the flip side, Assyrians go overboard with the cultural pride to the point that they lack charity towards Chaldeans, and sometimes descend into "wE wUz mEsOpOtAmIaN kAnGz" territory.

Point is, without a serious religious revival, our people are doomed. On the plus side, the Chaldean Church is growing in northern Iraq. I think about moving there sometimes.

Do you know the movie A Night at the Roxbury? Some Assyrians, Greeks and especially Armenians and Persians in LA - not all, not all - remind me of that movie.

 

[Paleblood Knight]

I find this thread interesting. My fiance is Chaldean Catholic and I've been able to see some insights into the community that is basically unknown to most of the world. I'm aware of how big and connected her family is (in Detroit especially). I appreciate the family orientated attitude/community (generally speaking), it reminded of my youth in the UK for what the British HAD and sadly do not HAVE now. There are issues like all cultures/races and seen the upsides and downsides.

I'm aware I can't say much more, not my place to do so

 

[Eusebius Erasmus]

Based Assyrian bishop: