Last modified: 2004-12-10 by rob raeside
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The oldest extant split in Christendom is that between the Church of the East
and the rest of Christianity, dating to the Council of Ephesus, 431 AD. Also, at
one point in the early medieval period the Church of the East was the largest
Christian body in the world. Thus, to those interested in church vexillology it
may be of special interest whether the Church has a flag of its own.
Today the Church still has as adherents the Assyrians of Iraq and Iran and the
western diaspora, and a small minority among the "St. Thomas Christians" of
southern India. Since the 1960s the Church of the East has been split into two
factions over questions regarding succession to the Patriarchate and whether to
replace the Julian calendar with the Gregorian- the Holy Apostolic Catholic
Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East.
At the website of a parish of the former group-
St. Mary's Assyrian Church in
Tarzania, California (US)- there is a photo gallery showing that the parish
displays 3 flags in their church. These are the Stars &
Stripes, the flag of Assyria, and one unknown to
me. This is white with a yellow sun in the center, a white area voided within
the sun, and a yellow cross within the voided area. There also appears to be
writing above the sun. The flag is fringed in gold.
Examples of some the photos
<http://www.stmaryassyrianchurch.com/Mar%20Sargis/ms004.jpg>
<http://www.stmaryassyrianchurch.com/MAprim.Syria/MA26.jpg>
<http://www.stmaryassyrianchurch.com/MAprim.Syria/MA14.jpg>
<http://www.stmaryassyr
