Who are the Syriac Orthodox?
The Syriac Orthodox are the faithful of one of the oldest apostolic Churches, the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. The Church is a universal one in the sense that its faithful are from a diversity of backgrounds (mainly Middle Eastern and Indian). It grew in the ancient land of Syria (hence the name) which covers modern Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, but spread all over the East as far as India. (See the Overview for more information.) • Where are the headquarters of the Church? The seat of the patriarchate moved from Antioch ca. AD 518, after a period of turbulent history, to various locations in the Near East until it settled in Deyrul-Zafaran monastery in Mardin, Turkey, during the 13th century. After another period of heinous violence during and after World War I, which took the lives of a quarter million faithful, the patriarchate was transferred to Homs, Syria, in 1933, and later to Damascus in 1957. (Go to the Patriarchate for more information.) • What is
