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Following the Councils of Ephesus and of Chalcedon, in 431AD and 451AD consecutively, a new community emerged in Mesopotamia, ‘The Syrian Orthodox Church’ mainly in areas of Tikrit and Der Mar Mattai. 

Its leader, the Mephrian, continued to follow the leadership of Antioch and resided in Tikrit. It was recognized as independent community by Persian authorities as in 629AD.

Both Churches that co-existed within Iraq (The Church of the East & The Syrian Orthodox Church) were highly cultured and had many centres of learning.

Their mainstay was the Syriac language, a dialect of the Aramaic language that Jesus spoke. Many Syriac centres of learning were established in which not only theology and Biblical studies were taught but also languages, history, medicine and other sciences.

Numerous monasteries dotted Iraq from north to south in which learning was also pursued.  Some of these monasteries date to the fourth and fifth centuries and are still functioning, the most famous are the monasteries of Mar Matta, Mar Behnam and Mar Giwagis near Mosul.