'Reconnaissances in Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, North-West Persia, and Luristan from April to October 1888. By Lt F R Maunsell, Intelligence Branch. In Two Volumes. Volume I: narrative report, description of larger towns and routes leading from them. Simla: Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General's Dept, 1890' [‎91r] (186/312)

Mar Is\m of Duri in Berrawi.
Mar Johnan of Okri near Arnadiyek.
Mar A u rah am Patriarch Designate.
The above are in Turkey. The following are the Persian Bishops :
Mar ti oriel in Urmia.
Mar Johnan in Superghan.
Of the eight Bishops in Turkey, only six have any diocesan jurisdiction, the
other two being the Patriarch Designate and a Bishop, who lives as a simple
priest near Mosul; while of the six, one has no jurisdiction beyond his own
small village, and three have a mere handful of villages under their care.
On the other hand, the patriarchal diocese is enormous and far too large to
be properly supervised by one man, considering the mountainous nature ot tie
country. This is mainly owing to the fact that when there is no succession to a
Bishopric, it falls into the Patriarch like a fief. ^
Sometimes Mar Shimun gives it to a neighbouring Bishop, and sometimes
he adds it to his own diocese, which thus has a constant tendency to grow. _
On the other hand, Bishops are consecrated for districts where there is
little or no need for them, and thus arises a race of Bishops with hardly any
dioceses to care for. „ . ^ ,
In Turkey most of the tribal Nestorians are under the rule of the Patriarch
as Diocesan; the new tribal dioceses being divided very unscientifically and
appear to be the subject of constant change.
In Persia the mountainous district near the frontier is attached to the diocese
of the Mattran, who lives in Turkey; while in the plain of Urmia proper
there are three dioceses marked out by three rivers following into the lake.
Altogether in the Persian plains there are four dioceses now recognized, and
each of the Persian Bishops hold two.
The succession to Bishoprics is managed in a similar manner to that to
the Patriarchate. Each Bishop has one or more
Succession to Bishoprics. {< Naziriteg ^ whom he has brought up not to
marry or eat meat, and as they grow up, he chooses a successor, ihey aie
generally his nephews or cousins. ,
There are a large number of priests and deacons; several are incapable
of reading or writing, while others have been on
Priests and Deacons. begging tours through Russia or England, or
completed a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. These return with rather too much
knowledge of subjects outside the sphere of their priestly duties. They are
sometimes ordained very young; often at the age of sixteen.
A deacon has been known to be ordained at ten years old; and
of the present Bishops was consecrated when quite a young boy. The
deacon, however, is little more than an acolyte; he is never allowed to baptise
and only occasionally to preach. The only remuneration of a priest is derived
from fees given for baptism, marriages, and occasional offices of the Church.
Sometimes there is a field or two by way of endowment for the Chuich ;
sometimes the villagers give a very small sum to their priest or plough his
fields for him, or in other ways help him. However, with both priests and
deacons ordination is considered no bar to secular work, and most of them eke
out a livelihood by a trade or in some other way.
Monasteries are quite in abeyance among the Nestorians. In common
parlance, a monk means a celibate, of whom there are a few.
The most famous of these in modern times was Rabban Yonan, who lived
in a little room attached to the Church at Kochannis, and by his piety and
ascetic life exercised a good influence over the Church.
t 2