37: The first entry of Christianity into Iraq was the city of Erbil, and this is a proven fact that no two investigators disagree on. Most of the inhabitants of Erbil at the beginning of Christianity were Jews, and their king was Jewish. In the fourth century AD, the historian Sozomen wrote that most of the inhabitants of Erbil were Christians (Sozmen, Ecclesiastical History, A History of the Church, London 1846 AD, p. 65).
38: The Chaldean Bishop of Alqosh, Youssef Babana +1973 AD, says: There were many captive Jews in Alqosh, among them the family of the Prophet Nahum, son of Alqosh, who was taken captive by King Shalmaneser V (727-722 AD). In every Assyrian captivity, a group of Jews were taken to Alqosh. These Jews converted to Christianity when Christianity came and accepted the teachings of Christ. The Christian religion first spread among the Jewish community because it was waiting for the Messiah, the Savior, who said: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the children of Israel” (Matthew 10:6, 15:24). Alqosh was one of the regions in which the Jewish community embraced Christianity since its dawn, and it was known and accepted by the Jewish community in the Kingdom of Persia and Mesopotamia, that is, Iraq. The disciples and apostles of Christ preached to the Jewish community in Erbil and the rest of the regions about Christ, who came as a light and savior for the children of Israel. This preaching had a share for the Jewish community in Alqosh before others, so it grew. Christianity flourished in Alqosh, and the first church of the converted Jews was established in Alqosh, called Mar Korkis, and it is likely that it is located on the hill known as Shwaitha Daknawi. Problems occurred in Alqosh between the converted Jews and those who remained Jewish. The Jews lived in Alqosh for many generations, and because they were unable to stay with their fellow Christians, and since the Christians were the majority, they left their homes three or four centuries ago, which became a byword. Today, all the residents of Alqosh are Chaldean Catholic Christians. Among the Jewish priestly families in Alqosh who converted to Christianity are the Shekaniah family and the large Shokana family, which was distinguished by its respect for divine law. What supports the truth of this is that in 1903 AD, when the young doctor, Paul Shimon Shokana, born in 1871 AD, and the brother of the priest, Oraha Shimon Shokana, was reading in a London library, the English library director asked him about his name and family, and he replied, “I am Paul Shimon Shokana from Iraq from…” Alqosh, the director replied: You are not from the Shokana family. This is a modern name that came to you because of the increase in the number of members of your clan. Your original name was Shekaniah, and you are a Jewish priestly family mentioned many times in the Holy Bible.
The bishop adds: The first patriarch in history for the Catholic Nestorians (who would later be called Chaldeans) John Sulaqa + 1555 AD, was from the Jewish Bello family, which is believed to be a branch of the originally Jewish Shokana family. (Bishop Youssef Babana, Alqosh Through History, pp. 46, 103-106, 116). It is worth noting (first): Sulaqa did not bear the Chaldean name, but the first true patriarch with the Chaldean name was John Hormizd + 1838 AD, from Alqosh, who was also of Jewish origin from the tribe of Naphtali, so he was from the Nestorian Abuna family, but he converted to Catholicism, as we mentioned previously, and the family continued with its patriarchate over the section that remained Nestorian until 1976 AD, which is the section that the British called Assyrians in 1876 AD, to spite the Chaldeans. (Second): We mentioned in a previous section the Shokana family of Jewish origin, and how they are proud of the name Israel, such that the name Israel is passed down from grandfather or father to son without interruption.
As for the name of Alqosh itself, the bishop says: It was named after the father of the Prophet Nahum, whose name was Alqon, or after the birthplace of the Prophet Nahum, which was in a village called Alqosh in Palestine in Galilee. When the Assyrians took the Jews captive from Israel, the Prophet Nahum and his family were among them, so they named the city after their village in Palestine to commemorate it. The bishop cites Saint Jerome or Hieronymus (circa 324-420 AD), who lived most of his life in Palestine and traveled there. He mentioned in his explanation of Nahum’s prophecy and his lamentations that Nahum was born in Palestine in a small village called Alqosh Elcesi, located in Galilee, of which nothing remains except the remains of ruins of very old buildings that the Jews themselves recognize. His grave is also in Palestine in the village of Jabra.
The Bible Dictionary, under the entry for Alqosh, says: “Tradition states that Alqosh was among the towns of Galilee , and another tradition says that it was south of Beit Jibrin in the Judean slopes. As for the later tradition that says that Nahum’s homeland was in the land of Assyria, two days’ travel north of Mosul, it is worthless.”
The Dominican Father Viey agrees that the name Alqosh comes from the Jewish Alqon, and that his birthplace is in Palestine. He adds that he personally went with a guide to Palestine to see the village of Alqosh, which is known as (Kawaz), and some say it is Qessiyeh, located south of Jibrin. He adds that tradition tells us that the grave in Alqosh, Iraq, is not for Nahum, but for his sister Sarah, which is the name of one of the Sarahs whose name is usually associated with saints to make the story interesting. The traveler Benjamin of Tudela (1165-1173 AD) did not mention that he saw a grave, but a synagogue, and not in Alqosh, but in Mosul. (The previous source, pp. 31-45, and see Jean Viey, Assyria Chrétienne, Vol. 2, pp. 410, 420-422).
Note (Nesco): Although the bishop is Chaldean, he is politically Assyrian. This was normal until 2003. The Chaldeans did not attach importance to the Chaldean name as a nationality. Many of them, such as Patriarch Raphael Bidawid, were Assyrianized as a result of the strength of the Assyrian political parties, on the one hand, and in order to win the Nestorian Assyrians over to Catholicism, on the other. After 2003, the name Chaldeans emerged to spite the Assyrians, fearing the formation of an Assyrian state in Iraq! Therefore, the Chaldean bishop Babana, although he confirms that the name Alqosh dates back to the time of Nahum in 700 AD, he tries hard in vain to give importance to the Iraqi Alqosh, which he considers Assyrian, and always calls it (Assyrian Alqosh), at the expense of the Palestinian Alqosh. He says that perhaps when the Assyrians invaded Israel, they named the village where Nahum was born in Palestine, Alqosh.
(Nesco) The Bible Dictionary says: The Prophet Nahum was an Alqoshite. One tradition says that Alqosh was among the countries of Galilee , and another tradition says that it was located south of Beit Jibrin in the slopes of Judah. As for the later tradition which says that Nahum’s homeland was in the land of Assyria, two days’ travel north of Mosul, it is worthless. (p. 106). The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 AD, vol. 6, entry: Elcesi
Elcesi, or rather Elqosh, birthplace of the prophet Nahum. Some deem it to be El-Kauze, in Nephtali, others, Qessîyeh, SE of Beit-Jibrîn,
Translation: Elcesi, or rather Elqosh, the birthplace of the Prophet Nahum. Some consider Elqosh to be in Naphtali, while others consider it to be the Kushite city near Beit Jibrin. (See the Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 1, p. 372). In his Commentaries on the Old Testament, 1897, Jerome defined Alqosh as a small village in Galilee, the location of which has yet to be discovered and rarely refers to ancient ruins and antiquities. Nahum was an Alqosh from Judea. Some contemporary writers have transferred the importance of Alqosh (Palestinian) to a village near Mosul, where this site is preferred because it displays Nahum’s grave near the site of the catastrophe prophesied by Nahum. There is absolutely nothing to identify Nahum’s grave in the alleged location. The archaeologist Layard stated in 1852 that Nahum’s grave in Alqosh, Mosul, is modern and dates back to the sixteenth century. There is no doubt that this legend is baseless, as Nahum’s location is within the Holy Land, but it cannot be precisely determined. It can be said that the name (Elqosh, Elkosh) is of Hebrew derivation. (Vol. 5, p. 513)
It seems that the bishop also does not know that there is a village in Palestine today called Elkosh, which is present on the map. It was rebuilt by Jews and is located in the same area identified by Jerome in Galilee, 48 km away near the city of Capernaum, which also means “House of Nahum.”
The bishop himself did not mention anything about Nahum’s grave before 1796 AD, and unfortunately on page 220, he quotes Youssef Ghanima that At-Tuydili mentioned Nahum’s location in Alqosh. It seems that the bishop was fond of the name Alqosh and Ashur, so he forgot that he had quoted At-Tuydili’s correct statement on page 35, which did not mention Alqosh, so he commented, saying: It is strange that At-Tuydili mentioned Nahum’s synagogue in Mosul!
39: The Chaldean Father, Dr. Youssef Habbi, says that the Jews had spread out and settled in Mesopotamia and Persia since their captivity by the Babylonians and Assyrians, and they settled near Nineveh and Babylon. The Aramaic language had swept the East and became the official language of Babylon and Assyria. The apostles of Christ gathered around them at the beginning of the Gospel preaching because it was easy to communicate with them in Palestinian Aramaic and Babylonian Talmudic, which strengthened the ties between them and the Christian missionaries in the East. Some Jews embraced Christianity and some remained Jewish. (Youssef Habbi, The Chaldean-Assyrian Church of the East, p. 14. See also The Church of the East, History, Beliefs – Religious Geography, p. 362).
40: The missionaries MacArthur Lane and the monk William Brown said in 1892 AD: The form of the Nestorian bodies differs from the bodies of other Syriacs, and they liken the form of the Nestorian body formation to a Jewish model, and they cite the tribe of Gilo. ( The Catholicos of the East and his people, p. 44. See also
Grammar of the dialects of vernacular Syriac as spoken by the eastern Syrians of Kurdistan, north-west Persia, and the plain of Mosul, with notices of the vernacular of the Jews of Azerbaijan and of Zach near Mosul (
MacArthur Lane, A Grammar of the Syriac Dialects as Spoken by the Eastern Syrians of Kurdistan, Northwest Persia, and the Mosul Plain, with General Observations on the Dialect of the Jews of Azerbaijan and Zakho, near Mosul, Cambridge 1895, Introduction, p. 13.
41: When the Nestorians were once asked by strangers how they guard their churches in the midst of enemies, they answered: They are guarded by the spirit of Solomon, who said: “May your eyes be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which I said, ‘My name shall be there,’ to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.” (1 Kings 8:29). The Nestorians and Jews do not deny their common origins. Henry Hall, a member of the Anglican mission to the Assyrians, says that he asked a Jewish rabbi about his opinion of the Nestorians. His answer was: They are our brothers, our race, but we do not want to recognize them because they have deviated from the Mosaic Law since ancient times. While an American was attending a Nestorian mass, the priest began to explain the difference between Nestorian Christianity and Western Christianity. Then, addressing the American, he said: Our history extends back to the early Christian eras. We are from the Children of Israel, and therefore we adhere to all the ordinances and rituals that our ancestors adhered to long ago. As for you, sons of the West, you do not find yourselves committed to our traditions and following in our footsteps. (Dr. Ezzat Zaki, Churches of the East, pp. 117-119).
42: In 1901, Father Gabriel Oshan says in his book, The Modern Chaldeans and Nestorians and the Study of A Syriac Among Them: All Nestorians are subject to tribal sheikhs known as Melek, whose roots go back to the Canaanite kings mentioned in the Book of Joshua and elsewhere. Their patriarch enjoys great influence and has religious and secular authority over them. It has been proven that the Nestorians of Persia are a race of Jews from the ten lost tribes of Israel. This is what some travelers, such as Dr. Ashil Grant, have tried to confirm historically, not ethnologically, and this is what some travelers, such as Dr. Ashil Grant, have tried to confirm historically, not ethnologically. (p. 81).
Thank you/ Mofaq Nisco