Mar Dinkha IV (Classical Syriac:ܡܪܝ ܕܢܚܐ ܪܒܝܥܝܐ andArabic:مار دنخا الرابع), bornDinkha Khanania (15 September 1935 – 26 March 2015)^[1] was anEastern Christian prelate who served as the 120thCatholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. He was born in the village ofDarbandokeh (Derbendoki),Iraq, and led the Church in exile inChicago for most of his life.

Mar Dinkha IV ܡܪܝ ܕܢܚܐ ܪܒܝܥܝܐ
His Holiness
Dinkha IV presiding at the AssyrianEucharist (orRaza) in a church near Chicago in June 2008.
Church	Assyrian Church of the East
Diocese	Patriarchal Diocese of the Eastern United States
See	Holy Apostolic See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (in exile inChicago)
Installed	17 October 1976
Term ended	26 March 2015
Predecessor	Mar Shimun XXI Eshai
Successor	Mar Gewargis III
Other post(s)	Deaconate at Mar Yokhanan Church, Harir (1950),Bishopric atUrmia (11 February 1962)
Orders
Ordination	15 August 1957
Consecration	11 February 1962 by Shimun XXI Eshai
Rank	Bishop
Personal details
Born	Dinkha Khananya (Khanania) 15 September 1935 Darbandokeh,Iraq
Died	26 March 2015(2015-03-26) (aged 79) Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.
Buried	Montrose Cemetery inChicago,Illinois, U.S.
Nationality	Iraqi
Denomination	Assyrian Church of the East
Residence	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Parents	Andrews Khananya (father) and Panna Khananya (mother)
Occupation	Cleric

Dinkha Khanania was born in Iraq andbaptized in the Church of Mar Qaryaqos located in the village of his birth, Darbandokeh. Khanania (also written as "Denkha Kh'nanya") gained his elementary education under the tutorship of his grandfather, Benyamin Soro. In 1947—at the age of eleven—he was entrusted to the care ofMar Yousip Khnanisho, Metropolitan and the Patriarchal representative for all Iraq, the second-highest-ranking ecclesiastic of theAssyrian Church of the East.^[2] After two years of study, he was ordaineddeacon in the church of Mar Youkhana inHarir by Mar Yousip on 12 September 1949. On 15 July 1957, he wasordained to thepriesthood, and appointed to ministerUrmia,Iran. He was the fourth in the line of succession to the Bishopric ofUrmia.

Mar Dinkha's priesthood asMetropolitan of Iran andTehran^[2] reestablished a line of succession which had ceased to exist after the 1915 assassination of his predecessor.^[3] In 1962, Mar Dinkha moved from northern Iraq to Tehran.^[3] During his tenure in Iran, he established aseminary and advocated forAssyrian nationalism andecumenism.^[2] Responding to popular demand, Catholicos-PatriarchShimun XXI Eshaiconsecrated Mar Dinkha as bishop on 11 February 1962, in the church of Martyr Mar Gewargis in Tehran.

Mar Dinkha died on 26 March 2015 inRochester, Minnesota.^[1][4]

After the assassination of Mar Shimun XXI Eshai, the Church of the East had an urgent need to restore its leadership. In 1976, theprelates of the church convened inLondon to elect a new Catholicos Patriarch and chose Mar Dinkha as the most qualified candidate to fill the post.^[2] He was consecrated on 17 October 1976, in the West London Church of St. Barnabas, Ealing.^[5] With this consecration, Mar Dinkha IV became thesuccessor to theApostolic see ofSeleucia-Ctesiphon (Babylon). He also announced that the hereditary line of succession for the Patriarchy which had existed for 500 years^[6] was discontinued with his tenure, allowing any cleric from the Church of the East to be elevated to Catholicos-Patriarch.^[7]

Dinkha established headquarters—along with four other houses of worship—inChicago,Illinois, United States, in part due to the instability of theIran–Iraq War.^[5] This conflict as well asSaddam Hussein's policy ofArabization inIraq, theGulf War and subsequentsanctions against Iraq intensified theAssyrian diaspora from the region. Meanwhile, theIslamic Revolution andShia emphasis in Iran created a tense situation for Assyrians in the Middle East.^[8] During the reign of Shimun XXI and Dinkha IV, American membership in the Church of the East rose from 3,200 in the 1950s^[3] to approximately 100,000 in 2008.^[9]

In 2005, the Patriarch conducted discussions withPresident of Iraqi KurdistanMasoud Barzani on returning to the Apostolic See in northern Iraq and constructing a new residence inAnkawa.^[10] On 15 July 2007, Mar Dinkha celebrated 50 years of his priesthood. A ceremony was held at St. George Cathedral inChicago, where a portion of Ashland Avenue was renamed "His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV Blvd". In 2008, he received anhonorary degree from theUniversity of Chicago,^[11] in part because of his emphasis on education—he stated a goal of only appointingtheologians withdoctoral degrees to the position ofbishop.^[12]

Dinkha madeecumenism a priority during his reign,^[13] as well as advocacy for theAssyrian people.^[14]

Dinkha promoted closer relations with theCatholic Church, both with theVatican and theChaldean Catholic Church; he first metPope John Paul II immediately after thePope's election in 1978^[15] and made his first visit to theVatican in 1984.^[16] The two continued to meet informally over the next decade.^[17] After a decision by the Holy Synod of theAssyrian Church of the East to have better relations with theRoman Catholic Church in 1994,^[18] Dinkha agreed to a JointChristological Declaration with theHoly See.^[19] The "Common Christological Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East" declares that it is "[a] basic step on the way towards the full communion to be restored between their Churches;" emphasized commondoctrinal positions between the two bodies, such as theNicene Creed; and clarifies that the centuries the two have spent out ofcommunion were due to geographic and cultural issues rather than doctrinal differences.^[20]

On 29 November 1996, Dinkha signed an agreement of cooperation with thePatriarch of Babylon of the Chaldean Catholic Church—Raphael I Bidawid—inSouthfield,Michigan^[17] and met again on 16 August 1997, to bless an Assyrian church.^[12] This "Joint Synodal Decree for Promoting Unity" also established a Joint Commission for Unity which helped draft the 2001 "Guidelines for Admission to the Eucharist between the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church of the East" that allows Assyrians and Chaldeans to accept theEucharist from one another.^[21] The prior year, Assyrians and Roman Catholics also produced "A Common Statement on Sacramental Life" that assessed the importance ofsacraments in both churches.^[22] Assyrians have also been allowed to study atBaghdad'sChaldean Catholic College and unmarrieddeacons andpriests can study at Catholic universities inRome.^[12]

The Church of the East has been a member of theWorld Council of Churches since its 1948 inception and Dinkha used this membership as a vehicle for bi- and multi-lateral ecumenism that would have been impossible prior to its inception.^[23] In 1984, the Assyrian Church applied for membership in theMiddle East Council of Churches (MECC), but was denied due to objections by theCoptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, whose Patriarch,PopeShenouda III, required the Church of the East to condemn itsChurch FathersDiodore of Tarsus,Nestorius, andTheodore of Mopsuestia.^[23] The dispute between the Assyrians and Copts resulted in a common Christological declaration in 1996, which was later rejected by the Copticsynod.^[24] In 1996, the Church of the East was offered membership in the MECC, but declined to join at the time.^[25] Discussions for the Church of the East to join the MECC have stalled since 1999.

TheAustrianPro Oriente Foundation brought together severalSyriac churches inVienna in 1994 to start a common dialogue amongst theAncient Church of the East, the Assyrian Church of the East,Chaldean Catholic Church,Indian (Malankara) Orthodox Church,Maronite Church,Syriac Catholic Church,Syriac Orthodox Church,Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, andSyro-Malankara Catholic Church. Representatives of these churches along with academics founded the Commission on Dialogue Within the Syriac Tradition.^[26] Consultations have been convened intermittently since that time. As a product of this process, Dinkha entered into negotiations with theSyriac Orthodox Patriarch MarIgnatius Zakka I Iwas in 1997 and the two churches ceasedanathematizing each other.^[27] Although Dinkha spent over 20 years in dialogue with the Ancient Church of the East, the two remain out of communion.^[16] In 1995, the Indian metropolitan see pledged its allegiance to Dinkha,^[7] leaving the Ancient Church primarily active in the Middle East, with some 50,000–70,000 members.^[12] In 1999, Dinkha declared that all ordinations andorders from the Ancient Church were valid.^[28]

In September 2006, Mar Dinkha IV paid a historic visit to northernIraq to give oversight to the churches there and to encouragethe president of Iraqi Kurdistan to open a Christian school inErbil. During this trip, he also met IraqiPresidentJalal Talabani andPrime MinisterNouri al-Maliki. Dinkha pursued a pragmatic political course, calling on Assyrians to work together with their respective governments. He sought to de-politicize the office of Catholicos-Patriarch and expanded the church's outreach to the youth by including non-Syriacliturgies composed in local languages.^[29]

• List of patriarchs of the Church of the East

• Baum, Wilhelm; Winkler, Dietmar W. (2003).The Church of the East: A Concise History. London-New York: Routledge-Curzon.ISBN 9781134430192.
• Baumer, Christoph (2006).The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. London-New York: Tauris.ISBN 9781845111151.
• Bailey, J. Martin (2003),Who Are the Christians in the Middle East? (Paperback),Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing,ISBN 0-8028-1020-9
• Coakley, James F. (1996)."The Church of the East since 1914".The Bulletin of the John Rylands Library.78 (3):179–198.doi:10.7227/BJRL.78.3.14.
• Joseph, John (2000),The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East: Encounters with Western Christian Missions, Archaeologists, and Colonial Powers (Hardback), Studies in Christian Mission, vol. 26 (2nd ed.),Brill Publishers,ISBN 90-04-11641-9
• O’Mahony, Anthony (2006). "Syriac Christianity in the modern Middle East". InAngold, Michael (ed.).The Cambridge History of Christianity: Eastern Christianity. Vol. 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 511–536.ISBN 9780521811132.
• Mooken, Aprem (2003).The History of the Assyrian Church of the East in the Twentieth Century. Kottayam: St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute.

• Official site of the Assyrian Church of the East
• His biography from the Church of the East in India