On 11 November 1994, Pope John Paul II and Catholicos Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV, representing the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, signed a historic Common Christological Declaration, bringing an end to a 1,500-year-old doctrinal dispute arising from the Council of Ephesus.

To mark the  30^th anniversary of this landmark declaration, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity has published a commemorative volume in its Ut Unum Sint series, (No. 8) titled, “The Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.” The book brings together key documents from the reconciliation process between the two churches, including speeches delivered during official visits, joint declarations, agreements, and communiqués from the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.

In their Common preface, Pope Francis and Catholicos Patriarch Mar Awa III express the hope that “this commemorative book, which gathers the documents marking our shared journey, will inspire us to take bold new steps so that the longest separation in the history of the Church may, by God’s grace, be the first to be healed—‘so that the world may believe’.” (John 17:21)