Three Missionary Heroes

This book is a scarce example of the later publications of the American Presbyterian Mission to the Assyrians. In the 67th Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church (1904) we find the following notice: “The volume of missionary sketches, entitled ‘Three Missionary Heroes’, is completed and in the hands of the binder. It includes sketches from Dr. Chamberlain’s thrilling volumes, ‘The Tiger Jungle’ and ‘The Cobra’s Den’; a condensed life of Dr. John Paton, and an autobiography of our Nestorian missionary in Russia, Kasha Yacob Dilakoff, expurgated of some portions which might be offensive to readers of the Orthodox Greek Church. It is to be illustrated beyond any volume we have yet published…” The original purpose of the Mission was to raise the spiritual and educational level of the Assyrians so that they could serve as missionaries to their Muslim neighbors. Very few accounts of the activities of the few Assyrians who did become missionaries survive.