By Bishop Sarhad Y. Jammo
When the time is ripe for a particular nation to become aware of its place in the midst of the human family of nations, realizing that she is endowed by the divine providence to play a prominent role in the progress of human history, it is incumbent on those who become conscious of this call to respond with their best ability, to contribute for the fulfillment of this noble purpose.
Mesopotamia, the Cradle of Civilization, where the Chaldean nation has flourished with Babylon as its historic capital, is the one land and nation that has been shown to be the primordial stage for the development of human moral conscience, where Abraham of Ur has been called to lead the Scriptural and universal plan for human salvation, being achieved in Jesus Christ.
The Chaldean nation, thus, carries in its own history the three stages and segments of human and biblical spirituality:
a) The primordial stage as expressed eloquently in the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis.
b) The call of Abraham leading to the migration of his people of Israel to Jerusalem, with the subsequent return to Babylon, then back to Jerusalem, for the final act of crucifixion and Resurrection of the Messiah.
c) The mission of the Apostles Addai and Mari in Mesopotamia and the establishment of the Church of Kokhe in Seleucia-Ctesiphon as the carrier of the Apostolic heritage of Christianity.
At the present time, the Chaldean nation and church, preserving to date the millennial Chaldean mother tongue, the ancestral Aramaic language, and holding integrally the Apostolic heritage, are the principal and major living reference as well as testimony for that unique cultural and spiritual comprehensive patrimony, preserving it in its original format with its organic growth.
At this historic junction, both in Iraq and everywhere in the world, the Chaldeans as a nation and church, are in imminent danger of losing forever their unique civil culture and spiritual particularity. Thus, let us come together to establish this Congress, to rekindle our awareness, clarify our analysis and goals, and organize our act for the performance of the Chaldean role culturally and spiritually.
