The Schism of 1552 was an important event in the history of the Church of the East.
It divided the church into two factions, of which one entered into communion with Rome
becoming part of the Catholic Church at this time and the other remained independent until
the 1800s.
Although the Eliya line, which emerged as a result of this schism, did eventually enter
into communion with Rome, various Spiritual Christian sects with their origins in the
Church of the East emerged as a result of this schism.
Ironically, the Shimon line whose entry into Full communion with Rome caused this schism,
in fact became independent again by the 1600s.
The circumstances of the 1552 schism were controversial at the time and have been disputed
ever since.
Around the middle of the fifteenth century the patriarch Shemʿon IV Basidi made the
patriarchal succession hereditary, normally from uncle to nephew.
This practice, which tended to result in a shortage of eligible heirs, eventually led
to a schism in the Church of the East.
The patriarch Shemʿon VII Ishoʿyahb caused great offence at the beginning of his reign
by designating his twelve-year-old nephew Hnanishoʿ as his successor, presumably because
no older relatives were available.
Several years later, probably because Hnanishoʿ had died in the interim, he designated as
successor his fifteen-year-old brother Eliya, the future patriarch Eliya VII.
Besides making these two provocative appointments, he was also accused by his opponents of permitting
concubinage, selling clerical posts and living intemperately.
By 1552 Shemʿon VII Ishoʿyahb had become so unpopular that his opponents rebelled against
his authority.
The rebels, principally from the Amid, Seert and Salmas districts, elected as patriarch
a monk named Sulaqa, the superior of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd near Alqosh.
Unfortunately, no bishop of metropolitan rank was available to consecrate him, as canonically
required.
Franciscan missionaries were already at work among the Nestorians, and they persuaded Sulaqa’s
supporters to legitimise their position by seeking their candidate’s consecration by
Pope Julius III.
Sulaqa went to Rome to put his case in person.
At Rome he made a satisfactory Catholic profession of faith and presented a letter, drafted by
his supporters in Mosul, which set out his claims to be recognised as patriarch.
On 9 April 1553, having satisfied the Vatican that he was a good Catholic, Sulaqa was consecrated
bishop and archbishop in the basilica of Saint Peter.
On 28 April he was recognised as "patriarch of Mosul" by pope Julius III in the bull Divina
disponente clementia and received the pallium from the pope's hands at a secret consistory
in the Vatican.
These events, which marked the birth of the Chaldean Catholic Church, created a permanent
schism in the Church of the East.
Sulaqa returned to Mesopotamia towards the end of the same year.
In December 1553 he obtained documents from the Turkish authorities recognising him as
an independent "Chaldean" patriarch, and in 1554, during a stay of five months in Amid,
consecrated five metropolitan bishops.
Shemʿon VII Ishoʿyahb responded by consecrating two more underage members of the patriarchal
family as metropolitans for Nisibis and Gazarta.
He also won over the governor of Amadiya, who invited Sulaqa to ʿAmadiya, imprisoned
him for four months, and put him to death in January 1555.
There are two very different, and contradictory, traditions as to the circumstances of Sulaqa's
election.
According to one version of events, which derives from a letter of Andrew Masius and
is also reflected in the Vatican's consistorial act of April 1553, the schism of 1552 was
precipitated by the death of the patriarch 'Shemʿon Bar Mama' at Gazarta in 1551, and
by the subsequent consecration of an eight-year-old boy, 'Shemʿon VIII Denha', as his successor.
Sulaqa was thereupon elected by a party in the church which disapproved of the principle
of hereditary succession.
Shemʿon VIII Denha and Sulaqa then lived for two years as rival patriarchs, until Shemʿon
Denha encompassed Sulaqa's death in 1555, dying himself in 1558.
This tradition sought to legitimise Sulaqa's election to Pope Julius III and his cardinals,
by presenting it as a return to the elective principle.