Mission Statement 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.
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.
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.
Fr. George Sulaiman was born in Baghdad in 1973 and raised in Duhok, Iraq. He came from a very religious family with several priests on both sides. Fr. Sulaiman attended his church’s summer school since he was 10 years old, where he learned the basics of liturgy and to read the Assyrian language. In October of 1988, he was one of the first to join the seminary of the Assyrian church in Baghdad, established by His Holiness Mar Gewargis Slewaa III, the Archbishop of Iraq at the time. He continued to study the Assyrian Language, the church liturgy and theology in the seminary and went on to be one of the first Assyrian Seminarians who joined Babel College of Philosophy and Theology in Baghdad.