Persian (or "Assyrian") Church, and the real old Church as schismatic, because it is not in communion with him.
The Nestorian Patriarchate has again fallen into the great abuse of this sect; it is hereditary. There is a "Patriarchal family," as there are families of bishops—the "holders of the throne."[1] As bishops must be celibate, this means that they keep several nephews[2] in their house, from whom their successor will be chosen. The bishop may never eat flesh-meat, nor have eaten meat; nor may his mother have done so during her time of pregnancy. Clearly, then, the choice of a bishop may only fall on one of these Nazarites, whose lives (and for a time those of their mothers) have been arranged to prepare for election.[3] The Nazarites who are not elected then often begin eating flesh-meat, marry, and so are disqualified for the episcopate. When the Patriarch dies, the notables elect one of the Patriarchal family, often a very young man, or even a child, to succeed him.[4] He is then consecrated and enthroned by the Metropolitan (p. 132). Now that he lives at Ḳudshanis, this takes place in the Patriarchal Church of Mâr Shalīṭâ.[5] As in the case of many Eastern Churches, the form of making a Patriarch is, to all intents and purposes, an ordination, though the candidate is first ordained bishop. In their descriptions of the hierarchy they count the Patriarch distinct from a bishop, apparently in the same sense as a bishop is distinct from a priest (p. 134). Now the Patriarch-Katholikos always takes the name Simon and becomes Mâr Shim‘un. He is the supreme authority over all Nestorians. In theory he can only be judged by his "brother Patriarchs"; but as he now has none who recognize him,[6] this means that no one can judge him. But he
- ↑ Arab.: nāṭir alkursi; Syr.: nâṭurâ kursya (modern = nâṭir kursi), "guardian of the throne."
- ↑ Called also Nazarites (nṣiri).
- ↑ However, this principle is not observed strictly. It seems that, in practice, abstinence for some time before ordination is considered sufficient (Dr. Wigram).
- ↑ Sometimes the Patriarch chooses his own successor. The late Patriarch chose the present one a fortnight before his own death.
- ↑ St. Artemius, martyr under Julian in 361; Nilles: Kalendarium manuale, i. 304. A plan of this church is given at p. 146.
- ↑ The Nestorian theory is that there are five Patriarchates: Rome, Alexandria, Ephesus (since moved to Constantinople), Antioch, Seleucia-Ctesiphon—not Jerusalem (Maclean and Browne: op. cit. 189). How
