Chaldean Patriarch Calls on Community in Södertälje, Sweden, to Preserve Faith and Language

Patriarch Mar Paul III arrived in Sweden on 29 October 2026 and led the divine service at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Södertälje. Children of the Chaldean community received him, along with Archbishop Mar Saad Siroub and Archbishop Mar Azad Sabri.

In his address after the reading of Scripture, the Patriarch spoke about the presence of Christians in Europe. He said they were not merely guests and that they carried a deep faith rooted in the East and a Christian memory tied to a language close to the language of Christ.

The Patriarch said the Church of the Virgin Mary was the first Chaldean church in Sweden since 2017. He noted that Sweden has one of the largest Chaldean communities in Europe, with an estimated 25,000 to 35,000 people living in 12 cities.

He said that keeping the faith in Sweden is a conscious decision to be made every day, and that the identity a person chooses is of great value. He observed that the community had faced the test of fear in the East, while in the West it faces the challenge of anxiety and comfort, which he warned could lead to the loss of faith and identity.

The Patriarch said language and rituals are not only heritage but living means of passing faith from one generation to the next. He called for practical steps, including the establishment of bilingual schools, the teaching of church tunes to children, and the documentation of the history and sacrifices of families (Psalm 78:4).

He also called for closer cooperation among churches in the diaspora, saying that the unity of the community is the foundation of the church at home and an expression of its wider unity (John 17:21). He urged members to keep their roots while opening themselves to the societies in which they live, respecting local laws and integrating effectively so that they could show Christian values in daily life.