The meeting, held in an atmosphere of deep cultural and scholarly respect, centered on the importance of safeguarding the Assyrian heritage of Mesopotamian Iraq--an inseparable thread in the country's ancient, diverse identity.
Margarete Van Ess presented a detailed overview of the excavation work being conducted by the German mission at the archaeological site of Hira, once a major spiritual and intellectual hub in southern Iraq. She highlighted significant discoveries revealing the region's rich religious and cultural interaction, stressing that protecting these sites is a shared duty between local authorities and the international community.
Dr. Badan, in turn, reviewed the ongoing efforts of the Najaf Inspectorate to preserve historical landmarks, including early Christian relics that testify to the deep roots of Christianity in Iraq. He emphasized the fruitful cooperation with foreign missions--particularly the German team--in excavation, documentation, and conservation.
Patriarch Sako underscored the profound historical significance of Hira for the Church of the East -- now split into three churches: the Chaldean Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Ancient Church of the East -- noting that this Christian principality played a pivotal role in transmitting knowledge from Greek to Assyrian and later to Arabic during the Abbasid era, thus forming a vital bridge in the story of human civilization. He added that several patriarchs of the Church of the East were buried there, granting the site a unique spiritual dimension.
The Patriarch also called for reviving the ancient Church of Kokheh on the outskirts of Baghdad, one of the oldest Christian churches in the region, dating back to the late first and early second centuries AD. Restoring it, he said, would honor Iraq's Christian memory and embody a living message of coexistence and openness.
Concluding the meeting, Mar Louis Sako expressed his intention to visit Najaf soon to personally observe the archaeological works and to strengthen cooperation between the Patriarchate, the Antiquities Inspectorate, and the Najaf Governorate in promoting these exceptional sites nationally and internationally.
Bishop Mor Basilios Yaldo, the Patriarchal Auxiliary, also attended the meeting and praised the harmony between religious and academic efforts to protect Mesopotamia's Assyrian heritage.
Through this encounter, it became clear that the dialogue between the Church and archaeological missions has evolved beyond cultural exchange--it now serves as a bridge between past and present, between faith and scholarship, in a nation striving to preserve its memory from oblivion.
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