GEZIRA (GAZIREH), DIOCESE of. — 1. Residential see of a patriarchal vicariate of the Syrians for this region. G. is a vast plain in northern Syria, which before the war of 1915–18 was frequented only by nomadic tribes. After the war, emigrants flowed into it, numbering approximately 100,000. According to the latest data, there are 5,600 Catholic Syrians, assisted by 10 priests. In 1933, the patriarch sent them one of his vicars, since the diocese of G., destroyed in the years 1914–18, has not yet been reconstituted.
2. Diocese of the Chaldeans, erected in 1852, comprising 2 churches and 3,107 faithful, assisted by 11 priests.
BIBL.: Statistique des catholiques de vie chaldée du patriarcat de Babylone, in Orient. Chr. Per., 4 (1938), p. 274; Annunzio Pontificio 1949, p. 190. Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina