Church of the East
Church of the East · 424–484 · Persia, Mesopotamia; missions across Asia
The church in Persia, administratively independent since 424 to deflect charges of Roman allegiance, did not receive the Council of Ephesus (431) and formally aligned with the dyophysite school in 484. 'Nestorian' is an exonym the tradition rejects. A 1994 joint declaration with Rome confessed a common faith in the Incarnation.
Church of the East was formed between 424 and 484, as a process rather than a single event. Church of the East continues today. Church of the East's institutional line runs back 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 Church of the East stand 1 division along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.
At a glance
- Formed
- Between 424 and 484, as a process rather than a single event
- Family
- Church of the East
- Region
- Persia, Mesopotamia; missions across Asia
- Key figures
- Nestorius (occasion, not founder), Barsauma of Nisibis, Mar Dinkha IV (1994)
- Cause tags
- Doctrine, Politics, Geography
- Also known as
- Assyrian Church of the East; Persian Church
What it separated from
- Divided at Council of Ephesus (431), the body shared until then being The post-apostolic church.
Bodies organized out of it or separated from it: Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East.
On the tree
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.
The event
Council of Ephesus, 431
Third ecumenical council; condemned and deposed Nestorius over the Theotokos dispute. The Church of the East did not receive its judgment.
The other body from this event: The conciliar church.
- 1994: Common Christological Declaration, John Paul II and Mar Dinkha IV, Nov 11, 1994 — joint confession of the same faith in the Incarnation.
Claimed lineage
What this tradition says about its own origin · apostolic see
The Church of the East traces its founding to the Apostle Thomas and to Addai and Mari of the Seventy (Edessa/Seleucia-Ctesiphon tradition); its anaphora of Addai and Mari is among the oldest in continuous use.
Its own sources: Liturgy of Saints Addai and Mari; Doctrine of Addai (tradition).
The documented record for this claim is being cited and will follow.
Sources
Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-10.