Check.Church

Chaldean Catholic Church

Church of the East · 1552–1830 · Iraq; Syria, Turkey, Iran; diaspora

Born of a revolt against hereditary patriarchal succession, resolved by union with Rome — though the Catholic and traditionalist identities of the rival lines crossed and re-crossed for two centuries before settling into today's Chaldean Catholic Church and Assyrian Church of the East; now the church of the majority of Iraqi Christians.

Chaldean Catholic Church was formed between 1552 and 1830, as a process rather than a single event. Chaldean Catholic Church continues today. Chaldean Catholic Church's institutional line runs back through Church of the East to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Chaldean Catholic Church stand 2 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
Between 1552 and 1830, as a process rather than a single event
Family
Church of the East
Region
Iraq; Syria, Turkey, Iran; diaspora
Key figures
Yohannan Sulaqa (Shimun VIII), Yohannan Hormizd
Cause tags
Governance, Doctrine
Also known as
Church of Assyria and Mosul (founding name)

What it separated from

On the tree

Chaldean Catholic Church and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday10042443110541552The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredChaldean Catholic Church (Church of the East)Chaldean Catholic ChurchChurch of the East

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Adherents

About 640,828 adherents (official census, as of 2018).

Source: religion-wiki/Wikipedia (2018 figures 616,639–640,828)

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.