Why not "the Babylonian Church"? As for descent, who can say what mixture of blood there is in any of the inhabitants of these lands? The only reason for giving the name of a race or a nation to a religious body is that the religion is or has been that of the race or nation. The Assyrian Empire came to an end centuries before Christ. No doubt the Nestorians have some of the blood of its old subjects, but so have equally all the other sects which abound in Mesopotamia. Why should this one little sect in its remote corner inherit the name of the whole mighty and long-vanished Empire? And, of course, "Assyrian Church" is emphatically not its old, accepted, or common name. It is a new fad of a handful of Anglicans. One sees a book called The Doctrinal Position of the Assyrian Church, and one wonders what Church can be meant—that of Asurbanipal?
Since we shall have to mention the Uniates already in this book, I add their names and the reason thereof at once. There is a Uniate Church corresponding to each separated one. What are we to call the Uniates who correspond to the Nestorians? "Catholic Nestorians" would be too absurd. Of course, these people are Nestorians in no possible sense. They abhor nothing so much as the impious heresy of the detestable Nestorius, although they agree in rite and in many customs with their heretical cousins. Chaldee and Chaldæan are the names always used. They are not really particularly appropriate, but in this case we have the clinching reason of universal use. They always call themselves so; it is their official name at Rome. If you see a book with the title Missale chaldaicum, it is the book of their liturgy; if you hear of the "Patriarcha Babylonensis Chaldæorum," it is their Patriarch.
The general name Monophysite will not be disputed. It has constantly been used by Monophysites themselves; it expresses exactly their particular belief. In the old days they retorted by calling us Dyophysites. We should have no difficulty in admitting this name, were there any need for a new one for us. We are Dyophysites: we are also Dyotheletes and Monoprosopians. The Copts are so called without exception by friend and foe. The name is probably only an Arabic form of "Egyptian." What are we to call their Uniates? Uniate Copts is
