"Is this name appropriate?" The self image of a priest
Geschreven door Aryo Makko op 2010-05-20 23:42:13:
[b]"Is this name appropriate?" is the question which the priest Jacob Kasselia a couple of weeks ago asked a family in connection to the traditional blessing rshomo, which is a sort of pre-baptism. The parents had chosen an Assyrian name, something which father Jacob seemed to dismiss of. The man of God achieved a spontaneous change of name right on the spot.[/b]
Kasselia believes that every Christian should receive religious blessings under a Christian first name and that this is his stance on all "non Christian" names.
A strange standpoint.
The Patriarchate in Syria, the highest body of the church, is unknowing of Kasselia’s position on the matter. An official institutional position on this issue does not exist. The Örebro priest is thus acting on his own behalf and one may wonder why? The priest wants to present his actions as a way to protect the Christian heritage and ancient traditions of his church and also of his people. A lonely warrior who opposes what he considers to be a pernicious and anti-Christian modernity, in other words. Should any parent who likes names like Diana, Henry, Hapsuno or Lahdo tremble before walking towards the alter of Jacob Kasselia?
Hardly.
It is only Assyrian names which the priest is having a problem with and which he reacts against. Among others he has refused to baptize a little girl when her parents wanted her to bear the name of the ancient capital of Assyria. They had to give in, she is called something else today.
Father Jacob Kasselia is anti-Assyrian. That’s nothing you can force him to change.
Father Jacob believes further that he has the mandate to actively shape the identity formation of the Assyrian people.
He does not. That’s where he crosses the line, he goes too far.
The institution to which the priest belongs has always been a universal church which is principally open for anyone who adopts its confession. Regardless of background. It has no position against any historical names, its patriarch is baptized Sanharib. This church has translated its own name ‘idto suryoyto trisath shubho to "Assyrian Apostolic", "Assyrian Orthodox" and "old Assyrian church" during at least 71 of its 102 years of existence in the Diaspora.(1) Its members have done it even longer; one of the church's most prominent intellectuals in modern times was named Ashur. In 1858.(2) In the Ottoman Empire.
It was also during this time that the Patriarch Ignatius Jacob II (1847-1871) gave young Petros from Diyarbakir, the following advice: [i]“Petros, you are not married as yet, but when the time comes that you do, I want you to remember what I am going to say. When your son is born, you must name him Sanharib. In the history of our people, Senharib was one of our greatest kings. We must keep our Assyrian history alive and meaningful by giving our children Assyrian names, and encouraging them to do so. In this way, we will be able to perpetuate always, wherever we live, our Assyrian heritage.”[/i](3)
Petros Bali obeyed the patriarch and his son Sanharib was baptized in the St Mary’s Church in Diyarbakir in 1878.
Back then it was thus no problem, but now, 150 years later, a priest in Sweden is questioning a similar choice of name?
Jacob Kasselia himself has been an active board member of an Assyrian association in Gothenburg. He has also been politically active for more than ten years as a member of the political party of the ADO (Assyrian Democratic Organization). Back then he called himself Ninos, like the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta was called in Greek mythology. But this period of his life, he clearly looks back on with bitterness.
Father Jacob Kasselia should from now on keep this bitterness to himself. He should immediately stop with his illegitimate and discriminatory attitude, apologize to the family in question and baptize the child with the name chosen by the parents.
You asked if the name was appropriate. Yes, it is. Unlike your question.
[b]Aryo Makko
PhD Candidate of history, Department of History, Stockholm University[/b]
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(1)The church was established in 1908 under the name ”Assyrian Apostolic Church” in the USA, in 1930 it changed this title to ”Assyrian Orthodox”, in Istanbul it was translated to ”Old Assyrian Church” until at least 1979.
(2) Benjamin Trigona-Harany, İntibâh or Hâb-ı Gaflet: Âşûr Yûsuf, Naûm Fâik and the Ottoman Süryânî, Master’s thesis, Boğaziçi University, 2008, p.40.
(3) The whole note reads as follows: "(Before Senharib Balley was born, his father was travelling as a guide with the late Patriarch Yacoub II. While resting on their journey), the Patriarch said: ’Petros, you are not married as yet, but when the time comes that you do, I want you to remember what I am going to say. When your son is born, you must name him Sanharib. In the history of our people, Senharib was one of our greatest kings. We must keep our Assyrian history alive and meaningful by giving our children Assyrian names, and encouraging them to do so. In this way, we will be able to perpetuate always, wherever we live, our Assyrian heritage.", ’Man of the Century’, Assyrian Star (Kukwa Aturaya/Kaukbo Suryoyo), September-Oktober, 1972, 4.
- Re: - Dear 2010-05-21 18:55:22 (0)