Forget Donald Trump’s political appointments and Church of England scandals. For me, the most remarkable event of the week – the most important, as people like to say now – was the addition of Saint Isaac of Nineveh to the Roman Martyrology.

It has to do with life and death, faith and salvation. Of course, Saint Isaac is obscure to us. He lived in the seventh century, overlapping with our Saint Bede, and wrote in Syriac, a language closely related to that spoken by Jesus Christ. He went into the desert rather than exercise his authority as bishop of Nineveh.

All Christianity is of Oriental origin. Saint Peter himself spoke Aramaic. Most of the ancient churches of the Middle East were brought close to ruin by the wars, and none suffered more than the Assyrian Church of the East, which claims Saint Isaac as a great saint.

To make matters worse, the Assyrian Church was characterized as Nestorian – guilty of believing false doctrines about the divinity and humanity of Jesus. In an act of friendship, during a November 9 visit by Mar Awa III, Catholicos Patriarch of the Assyrian Church, Pope Francis announced the addition of Saint Isaac to the Roman Martyrology. The Martyrology lists Catholic saints, not just martyrs.

At their meeting, the Pope emphasized the common faith of the Assyrian Church and the Roman Catholic Church. He didn’t just improvise. In 1994, the churches agreed on a common Christological statement. It expresses a deep faith in Jesus as God and man.

In 2021, the current Pope, 84 years old and unable to walk, went to Erbil during a visit to Iraq. The Assyrian Church is based in Erbil, in the Kurdish region. The Pope said Mass for 10,000 there. “Our martyrs shine together like stars in the same sky,” he said then. “From there we are called to walk together, without hesitation, towards the fullness of unity.”

Pope Francis has often spoken of what he called the ecumenism of martyrdom: “In some countries they kill Christians because they carry a cross or have a Bible; and before you kill them, don’t ask them if they’re Anglicans, Lutherans, Catholics, or Orthodox.”

At the same time, like Mar Awa, he insists on sharing “the same faith, handed down by the apostles”. In practical terms, the Assyrian Church and the Chaldean Catholic Church (which has long formally declared its communion with the Bishop of Rome) have in certain circumstances arranged to share the Eucharist, the central act of Christianity, which ensures a living unity between local churches.

The Assyrians, like the Chaldeans, have an ancient liturgy named after Saints Addai and Mari, descendants of Saint Thomas the Apostle. With its peculiarities, it was fully recognized by Rome.

Mar Awa III, who was hosted by the Pope, is from Chicago. The Assyrian Church was so shaken by storms (genocide during World War I, a massacre in 1933 that sent the Patriarch as a refugee to Cyprus, then to America) that it relied on its diaspora for continuity. His communities in Syria and Iraq have been attacked by war and persecution by Isis. Saint Isaac’s Monastery of Nineveh is now active in Salida, California, 60 miles from San Francisco.

Unity between Assyrians, Chaldeans and Roman Catholics is no walk in the park. Attempts have succeeded and failed over the past five centuries. Although the Assyrians number less than 400,000 now, their culture and practice benefit the universal Church.