In October 1914, the Ottoman Empire began deporting and massacring Chaldeans and Armenians from its lands. After having experienced such atrocities on the hands of the Ottomans, the Chaldeans began to migrate away from their homeland, in search of somewhere safer.

Some of these emigrants found their way to the city of Ahwaz where:

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“...under the protective shadow of His Highness the Sardar Aqdas... they found refugee, and when their numbers increased, they approached His Highness asking for a plot of land that they may build a church and a school to bring up their children and he accepted with what he promised of the welcoming of the heart and the tolerance of the palm and he granted them the land and he provided them endowment. The Chaldeans had found in Ahwaz justice and safety and were envied by their brothers who had not emigrated.”

 

When the Patriarch of Babylon for the Chaldean Catholics, His Beatitude Emmanuel Joseph saw what had been done, in the year 1920, he decided to repeat what he had seen to Pope Benedict XV. He explained that those of his spiritual children who had remained happy in the East were the ones who emigrated to Ahwaz and lived under the shadow of His Highness the Sardar Aqdas.

 

His Holliness the Pope was moved by the benevolence of His Highness Sheikh Khaz’al Khan towards those who were distressed amongst the children of the church and he granted him the Order of St Gregory the Great of the rank of Knight Commander, announcing His Holiness's thanks and his acknowledgment of “...the grace of this great and generous Arab King”.

 

In 1920, Khaz’al was awarded the Order of St Gregory the Great of the rank of Knight Commander. Out of the Orders of the Holy Seal, it is the fourth highest Papal order and is the highest papal order that can be received by a non-catholic.

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