The Heirs of Patriarch Shaker : how Assyrian Church leaders have undermined their people´s ethnic identity

The Heirs of Patriarch Shaker concerns Assyrian prelates who have opposed and damaged the Assyrian national identity over the last hundred years. The author has examined rare documents and presents a unique study, focusing on four Syrian Orthodox patriarchs. The book starts with Patriarch Elias III Shaker, known as the Church leader who renounced any minority rights for his community. In contrast to these religious leaders, we find the struggle of the secular Assyrian national movement, which endeavored to unite its divided nation in order to save it from assimilation and annihilation. The successor of Patriarch Shaker, Afrem I Barsom, became an enemy of Assyrian intellectuals and patriots such as Farid Elias Nozha and Hanna Abdelke. Today, Assyrian ecclesiastical leaders still interfere in politics, thus making it difficult for secular Assyrian political parties to operate effectively. Augin Kurt Haninke is an Assyrian journalist and author.