Iraqi Christians: still searching for a common identity. Msgr. Rabban Al Qas

Interview by Baghdadhope to Msgr. Rabban Al Qas

The tone of Monsignor Rabban Alqas, Chaldean bishop of Amadhiya and Chaldean patriarchal administrator of Erbil, was vehement while explaining the meaning of the words he uttered on May 15 during a function in Araden and aired by Ishtartv.

Words of criticism towards the decision of the Chaldean synod to request for the Chaldean entity to be regarded as separate from the Assyrian and Syriac ones in the future constitution of Iraqi Kurdistan.

"It is a mistake, a big mistake" this how Msgr. Rabban Al Qasr described that decision during a telephone conversation with Baghdadhope.

But this is a decision of the Synod ...

"A decision is not a dogma but a political statement of some bishops and the patriarch."

Your too is a political position ..
"Yes, but in favor of the unity of the church rather than its fragmentation. Our goal is the Universal Church so many times invoked by Benedict XVI. That is a decision imposed from abroad and does not reflect the desire of the people "

What would it be?

"If you ask to the Christians in Iraq - and not abroad - what they are, meaning the definition they give of themselves, the answer is one: Suraye"

Is this your position? Would you prefer that Iraqi Christians were defined altogether as Suraye instead of Chaldeans, or Assyrians Chaldean Syriacs?
"Yes. Because the term Suraye refers to what Christians - Catholic, Orthodox, Assyrian - have in common: language, history, tradition. To use terms that refer to alleged ethnic belongings means to foment division. The word that best represents us is so 'Christian Suraye'"
And what about the Armenians? The language, the history, the tradition of the Armenians are different, how could they identify themselves in the term Suraye? "The Armenians have no problems. There is a nation of Armenia, an Armenian capital. They are Armenians. I refer to those who found their past in a common origin as for the language, the history and the tradition. "

Your statements call a decision by the synod to which you participated into question…

"Yes. But I always expressed my opposition to that decision. And I repeated it other times and in front of many faithful in Shaqlawa and Araden."
So how do you describe yourself?

"A Suraya living in Kurdistan and a Chaldean not in the sense of ethnicity but in that of belonging to the Chaldean Catholic church. The Chaldean is a religious confession and not a separate nationality. "

That the request for the inclusion of the Chaldean entity as separate from the others in the constitution of Kurdistan would raise the complaints of the supporters of a common Assyrian Chaldean Syriac identity was predictable. Less predictable was that it could raise a similar complaint among the same Chaldean bishops.

Times have changed in Iraq. The disagreements that always exist among people - and therefore also among the bishops - and that in the past were easier to be known only in a restricted entourage because of the poor communications with the rest of the world, in the Internet era are now -- and quickly - a common heritage.

What is certain is that the dispute over the name - or names - that should represent the Iraqi Christian is now more than ever difficult to be solved.