Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East Text UPDATES to 888-492-5747
Mar Gewargis Cathedral Diocese of the Eastern United States of America Text UPDATES to 888-492-5747

About.

History

From a 1926 Chicago Church to a Diocesan Cathedral.

The building now known as Mar Gewargis Cathedral was originally built in 1926. In 1979, His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV commissioned a committee to seek a Church building that could serve the Assyrian Church of the East community in Chicago.

The Church was consecrated in 1981 and named Mar Gewargis, or Saint George. It became the Diocese Cathedral and a center for liturgies, weddings, baptisms, ordinations, family milestones, and parish gatherings across Chicagoland.

The parish history also records the sacrifice of the early community: the property was purchased for $400,000 and the loan was paid in two years through the commitment of parish families.

1926

The original Church structure is built in Chicago.

1979

Mar Dinkha IV commissions the search for a new Church building.

1981

The Church is consecrated as Mar Gewargis Cathedral.

2012

Mar Paulus Benjamin is consecrated bishop at the cathedral on May 27.

2015

The cathedral hosts the funeral of His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV.

History of Mar Gewargis Cathedral

Originally, the Church structure we now know as Mar Gewargis Cathedral was built in 1926, and it was called the 16th Church of Christ.

In 1979, the late, His Holiness, Mar Dinkha commissioned our ACOE committee to search for a new Church building. He had given the committee specific instructions on the type, size, style of Church to look for. The committee then found the building we use today. Upon his return from Iran, the Church was consecrated in 1981.

The Church was named “Mar Gewargis” or St. George. It became the Diocese Cathedral and a hub for all Assyrian religious ceremonies. Many parishioners got married, baptized their children, and even given last rites at this glorious Church.

The building was purchased for $400,000.00 and the loan used to make the purchase was paid off in two years. The Committee raised money from the loyal and generous parishioners through various activities to quickly pay off the loan.

There have been many celebrations at this beautiful Church. Several Deacons, priests, and Bishops were ordained at this holy site. In 2012, the current Diocesan bishop, Mar Paulus, was consecrated on Pentecost Sunday (27 May 2012) at Mar Gewargis Cathedral. The consecration liturgy was presided by His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos-Patriarch, and assisted by all of the members of the Holy Synod acting as co-consecrators.

In 2015, a more sorrowful event was hosted at Mar Gewargis: the funeral of our beloved Mar Dinkha, the 111th patriarch of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. Hundreds attended the funeral and bid farewell to a great Patriarch who led the ACOE for 39 years. Several dignitaries from the city of Chicago and the Catholic Church were in attendance, along with numerous deacons, priests, and guest-clergy. The Cathedral was at full capacity.

Mar Gewargis Church has a great significance for most Assyrians living in the Chicagoland area. It remains the Diocese Cathedral and a powerful symbol of faith in our Assyrian community.

Mar Gewargis (Saint George)

The triumphant martyr honored by East and West.

Mar Gewargis, known widely as Saint George, is remembered as a Christian martyr from the early fourth century. The parish story connects his courage, generosity, and confession of faith with the life of the cathedral that bears his name.

In the Assyrian Church of the East, his feast is honored on April 24 and again on the first Monday of November, a second observance associated with cathedral dedication.

Born Around 280 A.D.
Martyrdom April 23, 303 A.D.
Feasts April 24 and first Monday of November

Diocese of the Eastern United States of America

His Grace Mar Paulus Benjamin.

Bishop Mar Paulus Benjamin serves as Bishop of the Eastern United States and a member of the Holy Synod.

He was ordained a deacon in 1984, later completed theological studies in Rome, was ordained priest at Saint George Cathedral in Chicago on September 13, 2001, and was elevated to the rank of bishop at Mar Gewargis Cathedral on Pentecost Sunday, May 27, 2012.

His Grace Mar Paulus Benjamin

His Grace Mar Paulus Benjamin.

His Grace Mar Paulus (Korosh) Benjamin was born to his mother Najiba (Rosa) Jacob and to his father Yoarash Benyamin on June 24, 1968 in the village of Qala, Urmia (Iran). He was tutored in the services of our Church by the late Archdeacon Reverend Aprem Mar-Yonani, and was ordained a deacon by the late Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos-Patriarch (1935-2015) on June 24, 1984 at St. George Cathedral in Tehran, Iran, where he continued his diaconate formation course with the Cor-Bishop Dumara Benyamin.

He then received his B.A. in Sociology and Social Communications from the Azad University of Tehran in 1993. He served the military from 1993 to 1995. In 1996 he was sent for higher theological studies to Rome by the late Mar Dinkha IV. After studying at the Pontifical Gregorian University, he received the S.T.B. (Bachelor of Sacred Theology) in Philosophy in 1998 and the S.T.B. (Bachelor of Sacred Theology) in Theology in 2001.

He was ordained as a priest on September 13, 2001 at Saint George Cathedral in Chicago, Illinois by the late Mar Dinkha IV. He is presently a candidate for the S.T.L. (Licentiate of Sacred Theology) in Canon Law and has already finished his doctorate courses as required by the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome. In the summer of 1999, he spent 3 months with Archdeacon Yonan Youel studying classic Aramaic, and did a course in French language at Bisancon, France in the summer of 2002. Bishop Mar Paulus came to the United States in July of 2007 and in 2008 was appointed assistant vicar of Saint George Cathedral, Chicago. In 2009, he was appointed the vicar of said parish.

On March 20, 2011, he was raised to the rank of Cor-Bishop by His Grace Mar Awa Royel Bishop of California at the directive of the late Mar Dinkha IV. On Ascension Day May 17th, 2012, he was ordained as Archdeacon by the late Patriarch, then on Pentecost Feast day, May 27th, 2012 he was elevated to the rank of Bishop at Saint George Cathedral in Chicago, Illinois. Mar Paulus was consecrated by the Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV assisted by all Prelates (Metropolitans and Bishops). Bishop Mar Paulus was designated to preside over the diocese of the Assyrian Church of the East in the Eastern USA, consisting of five parishes in Illinois and the states of Michigan, New York and Connecticut.

Clergy & Committee

Parish and Diocesan Contacts.

Leadership contacts from the current Mar Gewargis Cathedral clergy and committee page, grouped into a compact directory.

Patriarch

His Holiness Mar Awa III Royel

Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East

Bishop

His Grace Mar Paulus Benjamin.

Bishop, Diocese of the Eastern USA

What our church believes

Statement of Faith.

The teaching of the Church of the East is based on the faith of the universal Church as set forth in the Nicene Creed. The mystery of the Holy Trinity and the mystery of the Incarnation are central to its teaching.

The Church believes in One Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It also believes and teaches that the Only-begotten Son of God, God the Word, became incarnate for us men and for our salvation and became man. The same God the Word, begotten of His Father before all worlds without beginning according to his divinity, was begotten of a mother without a father in the last times according to his humanity, in a body of flesh, with a rational, intelligent, and immortal soul which He took from the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and united to himself, making it his very own at the moment of conception. The humanity which He took for his own was assumed by God the Word, who was, thenceforth and for ever, the personal subject of the divine and human natures. His divine and human natures retain their own properties, faculties, and operations unconfusedly, immutably, undividedly, and inseparably.

Therefore, because the divinity and humanity are united in the Person of the same and only Son of God and Lord Jesus Christ, the Church of the East rejects any teaching which suggests that Christ is an “ordinary man” whom God the Word inhabited, like the righteous men and the prophets of old. The Church of the East further rejects any teaching that explicitly or implicitly suggests that there are two Sons, or two Lords, or two Christs in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but we confess one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same, through his passion, death, burial, and resurrection, redeemed humanity from the bondage of sin and death, and secured the hope of resurrection and new life for all who put their faith in Him, to whom, with His Father and the Holy Spirit, belongs confession, worship, and adoration unto ages of ages.

Amen.