03/05/2022 Iraq (International Christian Concern) – The patriarchal see of the Assyrian Church of the East has been closed for nearly a decade, but Iraqi Christians celebrated the first stone being laid to mark the future Assyrian Cathedral of the Holy Apostles Mar Thomas, Mar Addai, and Mar Mari.

The project first began about ten years ago but was abandoned until the project was recently resumed under Patriarch Mar Awa III. It moved from the Middle East to Cyprus in 1933 after the Assyrian-Armenian genocide and later to Chicago. The local Christians expressed excitement for the Assyrian Church to move back to its “land of origin” after “a few decades” of exile.

The cathedral bears the names of disciples of the East, Erbil, and the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. The new see and cathedral are located in downtown Erbil.

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