The Nineveh region of Northern Iraq is the heart of Christianity in Iraq. In danger of extinction, their numbers have dwindled from 1.5 million to 250,000*
They are Assyrian in ethnicity and trace their roots back thousands of years. They became Christian in the first century AD when Thomas the Apostle founded the Church of the East. They came to communion with the Roman Catholic Church in the middle ages as Chaldean Catholics.
They speak Aramaic, once considered a dead language. They use an ancient form of Aramaic in their liturgy and a modern dialect in their homes. You can go about the town the language you hear is the language that Jesus spoke.
I put together this slideshow of my photos of the area to the lyrical chant of Aelfric Michael Avery. The words are of the “Our Father” the prayer attributed to Christ in his original language.