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His Holiness Patriarch Mar Ignatius Zakka the first Iwas to heaven
عربي
20140321
After a long struggle with the disease, On friday the twenty first of
March 2014, His Holiness Mar Ignatius Zakka I Iwas , Patriarch of
Antioch and All the East Syriac Orthodox has gone to heaven.
His Holiness was born in Mosul - Iraq 1933.
He completed his elementary discipline in the ¨tahzib lelahdath school
and Mar Thoma Syrian Orthodox church in Mosul.
He belonged to the theological school in Mosul in the academic year of
1946 - 1947 and was named Zacchaeus. He graduated with honor and
received a diploma in theology, church history, science, laws plus
Syriac, Arabic and English languages in 1954. Then he joined the Diwan
of writing in Dar Patriarchate in Homs second secretary in 1955 during
the reign of the holy mercyful Patriarch Ephrem I Barsoum.
He was appointed by the patriarch Jacob the third as the first secretary
of the Patriarchate in 1957.
In 1960 he joined the faculty of the General Theological Seminary of the
Episcopal Church in New York to gain from it an honorary doctorate in
theology in 1962.
He was appointed an official
observer at theVatican for the two sessions of 1962 and 1963.
He was Ordained a bishop of the conductor and accessories on behalf of
Severios Mar Zakka Iwas in 1963 and continued in the service of the
diocese until 1969 .
Appointed bishop of the Diocese of the Monastery of Saint Matthew proxy
in addition to his position bishop of Mosul in 1966 .
He was elected bishop of the Diocese of Baghdad and Basra and was
appointed at the same time acting bishop of the Diocese of Australia in
1969 .
In July 1980 he was elected by the Synod of Antioch of the Syriac
Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the East and as the head of the
Syrian Orthodox Church in the world, succeeding the late Patriarch Mar
Ignatius Jacob III. On the fourteenth of September of the same year, was
installed at the Cathedral of St. George in Damascus - Syria.
He Was elected as one of the four presidents of the Council of Churches
of the Middle East in 1990 and as one of the seven presidents of the
World Council of Churches in 1998.
He wrote many articles and a lot of books in the fields of theology and
church history and science.
On this sad event the Aramean Democratic Organization share its deepest
condolences with the Syriac Orthodox Church, clerics and members all
over the world. We hope the Lord will inspire the Bishops to choose a
great successor to lead the church and to confort the families of the
two kidnaped bishops John Abraham and Paul Yazigi and to replace Justice
and goodness and peace in the world and in our Aramaic Mashreq.
Aramean Democratic Organization
Political Bureau |
