The Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox
Church Ignatius Zakka Iwas, the leader of one of world's oldest Christian
sects, has died. He was 80.
Syrian state news agency SANA said
Iwas was admitted into a German hospital for treatment Feb. 20. He died on
Friday in Germany after a long illness, the official news service said.
Iwas’ official title was the
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. His church, known as the Syrian Orthodox
Church, was founded in the year 452 after a schism with the bulk of the world's
Christians. There are more than 4 million members, living in Syria, Lebanon and
Iraq although there are also significant communities in Germany, Sweden and in
the United States, where immigrants from the Near East introduced the faith in
the late 19th century.
Enthroned
Iwas was born in the northern Iraqi
city of Mosul. He was enthroned as patriarch in 1980 in St. George's
Patriarchal Cathedral in Damascus.
Before that he served as
metropolitan bishop of Mosul. He was the archbishop of Baghdad and Basra when
he became patriarch. Since then, he has lived and worked in Damascus, the seat
of the Syriac Orthodox Church. He also spent two years in the early 1960s in
New York city, studying at the Episcopal Church's General Theological Seminary
in downtown Manhattan.
When he conducted services at St.
George Cathedral, located in the walled section of Damascus, Iwas had spoken in
Syriac, a modern version of Aramaic - the language Jesus Christ is believed to
have spoken.
Church officials said Friday his remains will be brought from Germany to Lebanon. From there they will transferred to Syria by land for burial. AP
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