1901.] on Turkish Kurdistan. 647 



the Persian Kings, the Syrian Metropolitan was soon dispensed from 

 the obligation of coming to the Orontes to be consecrated, although 

 it was not till 431, when Nestorius was excommunicated by the Council 

 of Ephesus, and the See of Seleucia refused to recognise the validity 

 of that decision, that the head of the Eastern Church assumed the 

 full position and powers of an independent patriarch. 



This secession was followed in the sixteenth century by an internal 

 dispute about the succession to the patriarchate, which rent the 

 Church into two sections: (1) those who continued to recognise the 

 authority of, and to pay tribute, to Mar Shimun, and who to-day 

 number in Persia and Turkey about 50,000 ; and (2) those who 

 recognise the authority of Mar Elia, the patriarch of Babylon, and 

 reside principally in the vicinity of Mosul. Very soon after the 

 schism this section began to make overtures for recognition by the 

 Church of Rome, but owing to their disinclination, at first, to sacrifice 

 their ecclesiastical autonomy, their advances were coldly received by 

 Paul IV., when they applied to him in 1607. Innocent XL, however, 

 at the close of the century, took the important step of appointing a 

 successor to the vacant See of Diarbekr, and the Nestorians of the 

 plain, having now formally entered into communion with the See of 

 St. Peter, are known by the distinctive title of the Uniat Chaldean 

 Church. 



Originally the appointment of the Catholicos was vested in the 

 Bishop and Metropolitans of the Church, and it was not till 1450 that 

 their choice was limited by a rule laid down by the then occupant of 

 the patriarchial chair, that in future his successors must be selected 

 from among his nearest relatives. This change appears to have been 

 followed by the assertion on the part of the laity of their right to 

 make the appointment themselves, and until comparatively recently 

 the election was controlled by the two rival clans of Tiyari and 

 Tkhoma. This practice naturally led to incessant feuds and heart- 

 burnings, and the Catholicos, by general consent, now designates his 

 own successor during his lifetime. 



The only conditions are that he must belong to the patriarch's 

 family, and that he must be a Nazarite : that is to say, he must be 

 unmarried (a condition imposed in the fourteenth century), he must 

 never have tasted wine or meat, and his mother during her pregnancy 

 must have observed the same regulations. These rules apply also 

 to the bishops and the metropolitans, and thus the highest eccle- 

 siastical dignitaries form a kind of hereditary aristocracy deriving 

 their, salaries from their own small properties and from the tithes 

 and offerings of the people. Under such circumstances it is not 

 surprising that these offices are occasionally filled by quite young 

 men, and the achievement of Cardinal Richelieu, who became 

 bishop at the age of 23, is thrown into the shade by that of the pre- 

 sent patriarch designate (Benjamin) and the bishop of Jelu (Zaia 

 Mar Sergis), who are both children of 14. The priesthood, though 

 in practice often confined to the same families, and more numerous 

 than its present duties would appear to require, is still elected by the 



