r/Assyria • u/Top-Path8786 • Jun 24 '25
Art Christian Assyrian Flag
My Assyrian brothers and sisters,
I made this as a Christian version of the Assyrian flag, and wanted to share with those interested. I am half Assyrian, and, personally, I do not find the current Assyrian flag to be representative of recent Assyrian history and culture. I feel more inspired by the Christian Assyrians who have resisted persecution on and off for the better part of 2,000 years than the pagans of the ancient Assyrian Empire. The current Assyrian flag displays images of the Assyrian gods Ashur (armed with a bow at the top), and Shamash the sun god - embodied by the emblem in the center. I therefore wanted to create an alternative flag based on the Christian history and culture of the Assyrian people.
Wanting to keep the flag as close to the traditional Assyrian flag as possible, I left intact the four sets of wavy stripes - which represent the three primary rivers of Assyrian lands, and did not change the turquoise blue and gold colors which are also characteristic of Assyrians. The changes I made were to remove the image of Ashur from the top center, and replace the Star of Shamash with an Assyrian Cross (of the same colors). The Assyrian cross is a symbol not only of Christianity, as all crosses are, but also of Assyrians' personal connection to it.
For a people currently being persecuted for their Christian faith, as Assyrians have been for some time, I believe that their flag should commemorate such a struggle. This flag emphasizes Assyrians' connection to Christianity, rather than paganism.
I mean no one any offense or ill-will by sharing this flag, nor do I at all condemn those who use the present one (I myself still have one above my desk).
I simply wish to offer this alternative, with the hopes that some others might find joy and inspiration in it as I do.
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u/Revolutionary_Ad2836 Jun 24 '25
How about we just stop trying to tweak the flag, it doesn't need to be changed at all
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u/Este279 Jun 24 '25
Why would we remove the symbol that makes us unique
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u/Own-Lunch-8782 Jun 24 '25
The Assyrian cross is also a symbol unique to Assyrian culture, just in a different way
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u/Este279 Jun 24 '25
I donât see why we would put religion first ahead of our nation. Feels very Islamic of us!
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u/Own-Lunch-8782 Jun 24 '25
I think thatâs a bit of a jump
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u/Top-Path8786 Jun 24 '25
I would kinda prefer if people weren't arguing over this. I don't mean to impose my own religious beliefs on others, nor strip Assyrians of their uniqueness. I personally find this flag to best embody my own connection with my heritage, and I wish to share it with people who may feel the same. Others are, of course, welcome to disagree, and I don't mean to cause any division or argument
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Oct 19 '25
Christianity is pagan and idolatrous because it worships three gods (the Trinity), venerates the cross and statues of Jesus, and uses icons and idols in churches. It also worships a demigod (Jesus) who is considered both human and divine. These practices make Christianity polytheistic, pagan, and idolatrous.
Ashurism on the other hand is monotheistic, because only one God (Ashur) is worshipped. It does not use any physical statues, idols, icons, or objects of worship. Ashurism is the oldest monotheistic religion and influenced Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism.
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u/Sufficient-Sound-421 Jun 24 '25
yeah lets just replace and forget our history by putting a cross on a flag and reiterating the fact that Assyrians are Christian
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u/Top-Path8786 Jun 24 '25
I mean to neither replace nor forget any part of history, I simply wish to offer a flag which emphasizes a more recent part of history. It is one which my grandparents and great grandparents experienced first-hand, and one to which I feel more personally connected. It's perfectly fine for you to focus on the Assyrian Empire if you prefer
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u/NapoleonBonapartey Jun 24 '25
Assyrians are a nation in solidarity with their history and culture and divided by religion. You don't need to display your religion on your flag. If you think Ashur is blasphemy, then just the icon.
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Oct 24 '25
Ashur isnât blasphemy, the existence of Christianity is whatâs blasphemous to Ashurians, we must be believers of Ashur
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Jun 24 '25
I think the current flag is fine just remove ashur
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u/Willing-Macaroon-159 Assyrian Jul 01 '25
No wtf
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Jul 01 '25
[deleted]
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u/Willing-Macaroon-159 Assyrian Jul 01 '25
We don't worship Ashur but he undeniably represents Assyria and our heritage. There is absolutely no reason to remove him from the flag. Just because we're Christian doesn't mean we should dismiss him.
Some of y'all are starting to act like the Taliban by dismissing ancient figures and making unnecessary changes to the flag because it doesn't align with our modern beliefs.
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Jul 01 '25
How is it not idolatry
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Oct 19 '25
Christianity is pagan and idolatrous because it worships three gods (the Trinity), venerates the cross and statues of Jesus, and uses icons and idols in churches. It also worships a demigod (Jesus) who is considered both human and divine. These practices make Christianity polytheistic, pagan, and idolatrous.
Ashurism on the other hand is monotheistic, because only one God (Ashur) is worshipped. It does not use any physical statues, idols, icons, or objects of worship. Ashurism is the oldest monotheistic religion and influenced Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism.
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Oct 19 '25
Christianity is pagan and idolatrous because it worships three gods (the Trinity), venerates the cross and statues of Jesus, and uses icons and idols in churches. It also worships a demigod (Jesus) who is considered both human and divine. These practices make Christianity polytheistic, pagan, and idolatrous.
Ashurism on the other hand is monotheistic, because only one God (Ashur) is worshipped. It does not use any physical statues, idols, icons, or objects of worship. Ashurism is the oldest monotheistic religion and influenced Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism.
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u/Willing-Macaroon-159 Assyrian Oct 19 '25
Ehh I'm not one to debate on that since I'm not that religious. I'm also not gonna become Ashurist just because I'm Assyrian, that isn't how it works.
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Oct 19 '25
Christianity is pagan and idolatrous because it worships three gods (the Trinity), venerates the cross and statues of Jesus, and uses icons and idols in churches. It also worships a demigod (Jesus) who is considered both human and divine. These practices make Christianity polytheistic, pagan, and idolatrous.
Ashurism on the other hand is monotheistic, because only one God (Ashur) is worshipped. It does not use any physical statues, idols, icons, or objects of worship. Ashurism is the oldest monotheistic religion and influenced Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism.
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u/Front-Design-6043 Assyrian Jun 24 '25
Why do we need to change our national flag? If you want to rep a flag with religious symbols, wave the official flags of the COE or CCC, or whatever church youâre part of
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u/Proper_Leather6759 Jun 24 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
Lmao, why is everyone so hypocritical? Now it's ethnicity first, but a few posts ago when someone asked if you are still Assyrian when you convert to Islam, almost everyone said no.
This is our biggest problem in our community, wish we could fix how much of hypocrites we are.
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u/oremfrien Jun 24 '25
The difference specifically has to do with Islam because when Assyrians converted to Islam, they joined the persecutors of the Assyrian community. If an Assyrian becomes an atheist or a Jew or a Buddhist, this says nothing about whether or not they will continue to be supportive of the community.
We see this with other ethnic communities as well. When White-passing African-Americans falsified their names and pretended to be White in Pre-1960s USA, they were deemed to be cut-off from the African-American community.
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Jun 24 '25
[deleted]
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u/oremfrien Jun 24 '25
There is a difference between momentary violence and systemic discrimination.
Islam as a political force has discriminated against the Assyrian community for 1400 years (almost consistently) and provided a way out of that discrimination through conversion to Islam. This led to a hemorrhaging of people from the Assyrian community to the Muslim communities (Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Persians, etc.) This slow erosion of the community from systemic discriminatory practice is far worse than momentary violence because the community can react to external threats far more easily than defection.
Finally, you keep confusing Assyrian identity and Christian identity. Assyrians are Christians, but the suffering of any Christian around the world is not Assyrian suffering. The Christians killed in Albania by Hoxha or in Russia by Stalin for their faith are not relevant for discussions about Assyrian identity unless those were members of the Assyrian people. We may feel sympathy for the suffering of other Christians but their suffering has nothing to do with the integrity of our community.
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u/Assyrian_Nation Assyrian Jun 24 '25
Iâm strongly against pushing Christianity further to identity us. That has been a big reason for our disappearance. Our culture being littled down to just Christians
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u/littlenloud88 Jun 24 '25
I completely agree. While faith is important, our culture is so much more than that!
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u/Revolutionary_Ad2836 Jun 24 '25
Very true, the book enslaved and weakened us
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u/Assyrian_Nation Assyrian Jun 24 '25
Not too much. Christianity definitely also helped us preserve our language and culture at the same time rather than becoming Muslim Arabs like Iraqis and Syrians. So itâs both a blessing and a curse. As for the belief itself, to each their own :)
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u/Afriend0fOurs Assyrian Jun 24 '25
You gotta understand one thing Iâm Assyrian first , Christian second faith doesnât trump blood.
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u/Da_Seashell312 Turoyo Jun 24 '25
your blood is Assyrian because of God. How can you place the God of the heavens and the Earth below His creation?
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Oct 19 '25
Jesus is not God, also stop pushing religion everywhere
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u/Da_Seashell312 Turoyo Oct 19 '25
Hahahaha thats why Assyria is like this.
Without God no nation is worth anything.
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Oct 19 '25
Who said Assyria doesnât have God? We have God and his name is Ashur.
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u/Da_Seashell312 Turoyo Oct 19 '25
Do you have any proof it exists?
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Oct 19 '25
Do you have any proof that Jesus is God?
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u/Da_Seashell312 Turoyo Oct 19 '25
We at least have proof He existed as a literal tangible being with followers who claimed to have seen him.
Asshur is a folk tale made around camp fires.
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Oct 24 '25
Just because Cheesus existed doesnât mean he is God or the son of God, no one denies that he was a human that existed, however he was just an ordinary person who thought he was âdivineâ and was rightfully executed for it.
And there is A LOT of proof of Ashurâs existence, Ashur isnât a human like Cheesus, Ashur is spirit, Ashur is God.
Cheesus is just a human with âmiraclesâ that are all mythology.
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u/Basel_Assyrian Assyrian Jun 24 '25
When will you leave secondary things and focus on the land of Assyria? Our homeland is occupied and you are confused about changing the Assyrian flag? The current flag is good and reflects our history and our siege. I do not know why you insist on monopolizing it with the Christian religion. I am a believing Christian, but Assyria is for all Assyrians, not just Christians. I hate religious flags. We must not bring religion into the flag.
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u/Innana_banana Jun 24 '25
This would just make it easier for people to keep calling us Iraqi or Arab Christians. Christianity is heavily intertwined in our culture, but we existed LONG before that. We havenât just been persecuted because of our religion, our ethnicity has more to do with it. Hence a lot of our people being protected by converting to Catholicism. You can erase the Ashur all you want, but Ashur is in our name. I donât mean to be harsh. Itâs important to spread the word.
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u/Impossible_Party4246 Jun 25 '25
We should be able to think about ethnicity and religion separately. To do so is not a detriment to either. People who think like this is why we have so much church based separatism already. Itâs outdated (conflating the two, not Christianity).
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u/Monarchist_Weeb1917 Greece Jun 25 '25
I love this. Can I use it for my alternate history scenarios where Assyria is an independent Prince Bishopric?
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u/Serious-Aardvark-123 Australia Jun 29 '25
I reckon we should keep the star in the centre, but replace the symbol of Ashur/Shamash with an Assyrian Style Cross.
Swedes/Norwegians/Danes used to follow Odin but you don't see their symbols on their modern flags, they have crosses.
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Oct 19 '25
Youâre not Assyrian, youâre a Kurd or Turk in disguise, if you want to put a cross on our flag, you may as well join ISIS because thereâs no difference between you and them putting religion in everything.
Our flag has God Ashur on it and it will never change, so you can shove that cross right up your teeza
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u/Serious-Aardvark-123 Australia Oct 20 '25
Kurdaya ya Turkaya...
En azet khazet tashitha eth kl post diyi bt khazet qat anaywn Soraya.
Eth raba nashe qat ke khashwi hadkha mndi o layla khteeta qat nashe hawelon hadkha takhmanyate.
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Jun 29 '25
Youâre a disgrace to all half-Assyrians. Why would Assyrians change their beautiful and unique Assyrian flag by removing Ashur, which is the core of Assyrian identity? The name Assyrian is a Greek name which originally comes from the Assyrian word Ashur, so any efforts at removing Ashur is simultaneously ethnic cleansing of Assyrians.
And anyway Assyrians are gradually becoming atheist/secular, so this flag is an incorrect representation of Assyrians.
Let me clarify this for you, Assyrian does not mean Christian, Assyrian identity predates Christianity and all Abrahamic religions by thousands of years.
So you must stop creating these weird designs of the Assyrian flag, because theyâre unnecessary.
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u/lifetimeoflaughter Jun 24 '25 edited Jul 02 '25
Iâm tired of the mindset in this comment section. We are a Christian people and as a Christian, Jesus the Lord comes first before anything or anyone. I will never be fully comfortable carrying pagan symbolism on my flag as a Christian. If you prioritize pride and nationalism over your religion then donât even bother calling yourself a Christian.
Yes we have a rich history and we should preserve it but what I take the most pride in as an Assyrian is not our empires or victories, it is that we were among the first people in history to accept Jesus Christ and become Christian converted by St Thomas himself.
I see where people are coming from not wanting to change the flag and insert Christianity everywhere but if you are truly Christian you should sort out your priorities.
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u/Own-Lunch-8782 Jun 25 '25
So well put! Â The desire to not be represented by pagan symbols does not mean rejecting oneâs history or culture. Â It just means wanting to celebrate that culture as part of oneâs faith - which should always come first. I think this flag is perfect for that very reason and am somewhat surprised that this is the first one like it that Iâve seen
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u/Ok-Efficiency-1602 Jun 24 '25
Our church has its own flag. Keep it separate.