“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of all things which are visible and invisible.
“And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten of His Father before all worlds: who was not created: the true God of the true God: of the same substance with His Father, by Whose hands the worlds were made, and all things were created; Who for us men and for our salvation descended from Heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost, and became man, and was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary; and suffered and was crucified, in the days of Pontius Pilate; and died, and was buried, and rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of His Father; and is again to come to judge both the living and the dead.
“And we believe in one Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeded from the Father—the Spirit that giveth light.
“And in one Holy and Universal Church.
“We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”
There appears to be some doubt as to the number of sacraments, but seven is supposed to be the number.
In use and ritual there is a nearer approach to the proceedings of the English Church than to any other.
Confession, transubstantiation, the existence of purgatory, exhibition of images, are the main points that are denied or prohibited; while they administer both elements to communicants who have been confirmed. The clergy were formerly all allowed to marry, and it was only the highest functionaries who discontinued the custom.
There are eight orders of clergy: Patriarch, Archbishop, Bishop, Archdeacon, Priest, Deacon, Subdeacon and Reader. As we have seen, the Patriarchal office is hereditary, and certain restrictions regulate the diet of the mother before the child’s birth as well as his own diet during his life, when all meat is forbidden.
The fasts and feasts are extremely numerous, and all Chaldeans—Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or otherwise—are extraordinarily strict in the observance of such days in their respective sects, besides being very strict Sabbatarians.