I phoned bishop H. E. Mar Emmanuel of the Assyrian Church of the East in Canada. This church is the continuation and descendant of the original Nestorian church which spread as far as China before the time of Marco Polo.
Bishop Emmanuel was reluctant to talk on the telephone. He wanted me to send in my questions in writing. I apologized for taking up his time, and he warmed up enough to answer a couple questions.
My goal in phoning was to inquire about the status of polygamy in the Nestorian church, and to verify some claims I read elsewhere. I read over the years that the Nestorian branch of the Christian church allowed polygamy for most of its history. Bishop Emmanuel flatly denied this. I asked him if the branch of the church in India had allowed it. He also denied this.
While leading up to the polygamy question, I mentioned that the Ethiopian Orthodox church sacrifices a sheep at Easter time, and that the older ones admit to it, while the younger ones try to cover it up and deny it. Bishop Emmanuel quickly said "oh yes, we do that too!" But he quickly affirmed that the sheep were killed for a celebratory feast, and not as a sacrifice. The sheep is slaughtered in a special area outside the church. I told him that my understanding of a sacrifice is that it is a barbecue that you pray over.