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Do not fill this in! == Iconography == In their homes, Christians belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East hang a [[Christian cross]] (without the corpus) on the [[Direction of prayer#Christianity|eastern wall]] of the main room.<ref name="ACE2020">{{cite web |title=Sign of the Cross |url=https://www.assyrianchurch.org.au/about-us/the-sacraments/sign-of-the-cross/ |website=Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East - Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and Lebanon |access-date=11 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414091409/https://www.assyrianchurch.org.au/about-us/the-sacraments/sign-of-the-cross/ |archive-date=14 April 2020 |language=en |quote=Inside their homes, a cross is placed on the eastern wall of the first room. If one sees a cross in a house and do not find a crucifix or pictures, it is almost certain that the particular family belongs to the Church of the East.}}</ref> The Assyrian Church of the East does not currently make use of [[icon]]s and the interior of its houses of worship are simple.<ref name="Horner1989">{{cite book |last1=Horner |first1=Norman A. |title=A Guide to Christian Churches in the Middle East: Present-day Christianity in the Middle East and North Africa |date=1989 |publisher=Mission Focus |isbn=978-1-877736-00-1 |page=23 |language=en |quote=The Assyrian Church of the East uses neither images nor icons. A stand, holding a copy of the Gospels and covered with a cloth, bears a simple cross that is venerated with the kiss of peace that people in other Eastern churches accord to their icons. The simplicity of their church interiors may reflect a concession to the Islamic objection to religious pictures in places of worship, or it may merely attest to the poverty of an isolated Christian people.}}</ref> Iconography has been present in the Church of the East's history; [[Aniconism in Christianity|opposition to religious images]] eventually became the norm due to the [[spread of Islam]] in the region, which forbade any type of depictions of [[saint]]s and [[Prophets of Christianity|biblical prophets]]. As such, the church was forced to get rid of her icons.<ref name="Nestorian">{{Cite web|url=https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=21-05-027-f|title=The Shadow of Nestorius by William J. Tighe|first=William J.|last=Tighe|website=Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity|accessdate=17 April 2023}}</ref><ref name="Horner1989"/> A Nestorian [[Peshitta]] Gospel book written in [[Syriac alphabet|Estrangela]], from the 13th century, currently resided at the [[Berlin State Library|State Library of Berlin]]. This illustrated manuscript from [[Upper Mesopotamia]] or [[Tur Abdin]] proves that in the 13th century the church was not yet [[Aniconism|aniconic]].<ref name=Assyrian-Christianity>{{cite book |last=Baumer |first=Christoph |date=2016 |title=The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CSXXjwEACAAJ |location=London |publisher=I.B. Tauris |pages=75 and 94 |isbn=978-1-78453-683-1 |author-link=Christoph Baumer |edition=New}}</ref> The [[Nestorian Evangelion]] preserved in the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]], which contains an illustration depicting Jesus Christ (not a [[crucifix]]) in the circle of a [[ringed cross]] (in the form of [[Celtic cross]]) surrounded by four angels.<ref>{{cite book |last=Drège |first=Jean-Pierre |translator-last=López Carmona |translator-first=Mari Pepa |year=1992 |orig-year=1989 |title=Marco Polo y la Ruta de la Seda |language=es |series=Collection "[[Découvertes Gallimard#Appendix|Aguilar Universal]]" |volume=31 |location=Madrid |publisher=Aguilar, S. A. de Ediciones |pages=43 & 187 |isbn=978-84-0360-187-1 |oclc=1024004171 |quote=Doctrinas persas}}</ref> Three [[Syriac language|Syriac]] manuscripts from the early 19th century and earlier—they were edited into a compilation titled ''[[The Book of Protection]]'' by [[Hermann Gollancz]]—containing a number of illustrations which are more or less crude. These manuscripts prove the continuous use of images. Moreover, a life-size male stucco figure was discovered in a church of [[Patriarchal Province of Seleucia-Ctesiphon|Seleucia-Ctesiphon]] from the late 6th century. Beneath this church were found the remains of an earlier church. Although it cannot be determined which Nestorian Church was involved, the discovery nevertheless proves that the [[Church of the East]] also used figurative representations.<ref name=Assyrian-Christianity /> <gallery> File:Nestorian Peshitta Gospel – Feast of the Discovery of the Cross.jpg|Feast of the Discovery of the [[True Cross]], from a 13th-century Nestorian Peshitta Gospel book written in [[Syriac alphabet|Estrangela]], preserved in the [[Berlin State Library|SBB]]. File:Nestorian Peshitta Gospel – Announcement of Jesus’ Resurrection.jpg|An angel announces the [[resurrection of Christ]] to [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary]] and [[Mary Magdalene]], from the Nestorian Peshitta Gospel. File:Nestorian Peshitta Gospel – Pentecost.jpg|The twelve apostles are gathered around Peter at [[Pentecost]], from the Nestorian Peshitta Gospel. File:Cruz de la Iglesia del Oriente («nestoriana»).jpg|Illustration from the [[Nestorian Evangelion]], a [[Syriac language|Syriac]] gospel manuscript preserved in the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|BnF]]. </gallery> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page