Assyrian Religion

         The Assyrians, also known as the Syriacs were a civilization that emerged in Mesopotamia circa 4000-3500 B.C.E. There are an estimated 300,000 Assyrians in iraq today. Assyrians religion of choice was Syriac Christianity and the god they believed in was Ashur. Their religion coexisted with the Babylon's and both these groups had similar belief systems.
They were around for about 1300 years. From the 18th century until the 5th century B.C.E the belief systems were in competition with assets besides truth and faith of the religion and people. Assyrians religion is very similar on its view of the world, its view of humans, and practices. The only difference was the god was viewed as a supreme creator in the pantheon. The Assyrians preferred Ashur and the Babylonian people preferred Marduk.

In Syriac Christianity there are two sides, the Eastern Syrian Rite is the side the Assyrian people originate from. There are a total of three anaphorae the Holy Apostles, Mar Nestorius, and Mar Theodore the Interpreter. Certain rules and rituals are; offertory, creed, anaphora, fraction, consignation, conjunction, and commixture, and communion. These are all very important and are done in mass and also in own time. Estern Syrian Rite also includes feasts, prayer, and several priests in a mass ceremony. Offertory is the deacon’s way of banishing the unbaptized from civilization and mass, and set the guard like people to watch the doors. The priest places the bread and wine on the altar, with the holy words. Creed: similar to the Nicene Creed which shows the faith and love the people have for their religion. The anaphora as in all prayers begins with a form of a sursum corda. The East Syrian form is more elaborate than any other form. Sursum corda is a chant that translates to "Lift up your hearts" and is chanted throughout the mass. The Fraction, Consignation, Conjunction, and Commixture are all one and are the making of the host. The host is broken up into two halves and dipped in a chalice, and the other having a cross imprinted on it. Then both halves are reunited on the paten. After this part is completed communion comes next. The veil is thrown open, the deacon calls the communicants to stay close as they will be needed, the priests breaks up the Host for distribution, Then follows the Lord's Prayer, with Introduction and the Sancta Sanctis then the Antiphon of the Bema is sung. Than the mass ends and the people exit quietly from ceremony. Those are the steps to mass in Eastern Syrian Rite.

the religion of Assyrians is similar to the Babylon religion but differs greatly in the mass ceremony and how the process takes place. At one point there were 3.3 million Assyrians in the world and a striving , very religious, and a calm people. They are Semitic people who speak and write distinct dialects of eastern  Aramaic. they are exclusive to Mesopotamia and its immediate surroundings. Assyrians came to the Akkadian lands and unknown people make them mysterious and intriguing to study. As the religion and mass was explained in this paper there are still a lot of different things they did like being an innovated Semitic people traveling across Akkadian lands. Using raw materials of the land, and creating weapons and tools out of practically nothing, than using them in everyday life.