Dinkha IV
Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. In 1994 he signed with Pope John Paul II in Rome a common declaration of faith about Christ, which recognised the two as sister churches without restoring communion between them.
Mar Dinkha IV was Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East when he and John Paul II signed the Common Christological Declaration at St Peter’s in Rome on 11 November 1994 (Common Christological Declaration (1994) heading, opening paragraphs and dating clause). The declaration recognised the two churches as sister churches, said that they could not yet celebrate the Eucharist together, and set up a mixed committee for theological dialogue (Common Christological Declaration (1994) second part). See Ancient Christological Divisions Are Addressed.
In 2012 Benedict XVI congratulated him on fifty years as a bishop, recalled the declaration and a further visit to Rome in 2007, and spoke of the re-establishment of full communion as the goal of the dialogue (Benedict XVI, Message to Mar Dinkha IV (27 May 2012), paragraph 2).
In the timeline
- 1973 to 1994, firm dateAncient Christological Divisions Are Addressed
Between 1973 and 1994 Rome signs common statements of faith in Christ with the Coptic pope and with the patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, and Eastern and Oriental Orthodox delegates agree two statements of their own. None of them restores communion.