Syriac Catholic Church
| Syriac Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
| Founder (s) | Michel Jarweh |
| Union with Rome | 1662 and 1783 |
| Current primate | Ignatius III Joseph Younan since January 21, 2009 |
| Headquarters | Beirut, Lebanon |
| Primary territory | Middle East |
| Territorial extension | United States, Canada, France, Sweden, Venezuela, Brazil and Australia |
| Rite | Western Syriac |
| Language (s) liturgical (s) | Syriac |
| Musical tradition | The Hymns of St. Ephrem Syriac hymns and traditional |
| Calendar | Gregorian calendar |
| Estimated population | 124,000 ( 2005 ) |
change  | |
The Syrian Church of Antioch takes its name from the city of Antioch which, after the Roman conquest, became the imperial capital of Syria and was called "Queen of the East". It is there that has formed one of the earliest communities of Christians ( Acts of the Apostles , 11, 19-26) and that for the first time, the disciples of Christ were called "Christians" (Acts. 11, 26). The apostles Peter and Paul stayed in the cosmopolitan city that gave the disciples of Jesus an environment conducive to expansion. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, Antioch has remained the only metropolis of Christendom in the East and has assumed jurisdiction over Syria, Phoenicia, Arabia, Palestine, Cilicia, Cyprus and Mesopotamia. The Church of Antioch was the beginning a strong missionary spirit. He is the evangelization of Mesopotamia and the Persian Empire, which the area was almost completely attached from the year 363 AD. In the mid-fourth century, the city had 100,000 followers. Aramaic was then the most spoken language in this region and it is still used by Christians in Northern Iraq , especially in the region of Nineveh. When Constantinople became the capital of the Roman Empire, Antioch lost much of its importance. However, she experienced a new splendor under Arab rule (VII - VIII centuries). Its missionaries went then Central Asia, India , in Tibet , in China , in Manchuria and Java. The antagonism between the secular Roman Empire and the Persian Empire led to the disruption of the Church of Antioch: The Syrian Church West, that is to say to the west of the Euphrates (Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine) The Eastern Syrian Church, that is to say, to the east of the Euphrates (Mesopotamia, Persia, India). In 410 AD the council of Seleucia - Ctesiphon recognized the autonomy of the Eastern Syrian Church which subsequently adopted Nestorianism. Syria was also the battlefield of Christological controversies that are the cause of religious division in the East. Indeed, the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon ( 451 ) condemned the Monophysite (which recognized only one nature in Christ) and proclaimed the official doctrine of the Catholic Church, namely the presence of two natures, divine and human in the one Person of Christ. The majority of the Syrian population refused conciliar decisions, probably due to differences within the terminology more than theology and is separated from the Catholic Church. However, this separation was not immediate. She was not used until the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, following which the Byzantine imperial power put pressure on the disobedient Monophysite. It was then that the charismatic figure of the Syrian monk Jacques Barada, who hoisted the flag of religious nationalism. Consecrated bishop in secret by the Patriarch of Alexandria in exile, Jacques became the organizer of the Monophysite Church, also called in his honor "Jacobite". However all Syria does not rallied to the new church. The company cultivated more Hellenized and submitted without problems with the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon, which earned him the name "Melkite" (from melek: King), that is to say partisan of the Byzantine emperor. The Muslim conquest of 636 that did dedicate this division. From that date, the Syrian Church, anxious to preserve its identity, retreated further on itself, coming together around its bishops. So the missionary zeal of the Church and the number of believers began to wane. Syrian-rite Catholics are, originally, the Jacobites passed to union with Rome from the seventeenth century, while preserving their language, their own ritual and ecclesiastical legislation. They are a church apart, with its hierarchy, under the authority of a patriarch. Over the centuries, various attempts were made to union, especially during the Crusades. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, popes sent missionaries Dominicans and Franciscans, to seal the union of two churches. The results were limited. A draft law was submitted to the Council of Lyons in 1245 and an ephemeral union was achieved in 1444 , following the Council of Florence in 1439. Not until the seventeenth century that the desire for unity leads to the formation of the Syrian Catholic Church. Indeed, by mid-century, the Jesuits and Capuchin missionaries succeeded in bringing to Rome the majority of Jacobites from Aleppo, so that in 1656 the first Catholic bishop of the Syrian city Akhijan Andre , who later in 1662, will be recognized by the Sublime Porte of the Ottomans, as Catholic Patriarch of Antioch. However, the Syrian Orthodox to counter this movement of conversion, had recourse to the secular Ottoman, throughout the eighteenth century , the Syrian Catholics persecuted harshly. The violence against them were such that their small church failed to disappear and remained, however, without patriarch 1706 to 1782. During this period, Mikhael Jarweh Metropolitan, Syrian Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo (Syria), converted to Catholicism. In 1782, the Holy Synod of the Syrian Orthodox Church elected him as patriarch. Shortly after his inauguration, he declared himself a Catholic. He made himself known as the patriarch of all Syrians and asked Rome confirmation of his office. In 1783 , the Syrian Catholic Church was constituted by the return to communion with Rome a part of the Syrian Orthodox Church (Jacobite ex). Meanwhile, Orthodox responded and elected a new patriarch in their camp, which was immediately confirmed by the Sublime Porte. Faced with this unexpected change, the Patriarch fled precipitately Jarweh Baghdad and from there won the Lebanese mountains where he settled in 1801, north of Beirut, in the monastery Charfet, famous for its library which are preserved over 3000 Syriac and Arabic manuscripts. After the patriarch Jarweh there was an unbroken series of Catholic Patriarchs. In 1830 , the Turkish government approved the civil and religious separation between the two sister churches, but it was not until 1843 that the Syrian Catholic Patriarch was recognized by the Turkish Sultan as the civilian head of his community. In 1831 , the patriarch Pedro Jarweh transferred his residence Charfet (Lebanon), Aleppo (Syria). In 1851 , following a popular uprising of Muslims against Christians this city, the Patriarchate was established in Mardin where a large Syrian community living. In 1920 he moved back to Charfet, where he is currently in Beirut in the summer and in winter. The years were those most critical of the First World War. In 1915, Tur Abdin, about 200,000 Christians were attacked by bands of Kurds who saw a possible alliance between the Christians of this region and foreign troops who invaded the Middle East neighbors. One third of them perished massacred. The survivors took refuge in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Since then the center of gravity of the Syrian Church moved regions Ottoman Tur Abdin, Mardin and Nisibis (modern Turkey) to neighboring Arab countries. He remained in Tur Abdin 15,000 faithful, for a total of 100 000 in Turkey. The Pope of Rome encouraged to begin the process of beatification of the martyrs of 1914-1918. The Syrian Church of Antioch, as all the Eastern Churches, is patriarchal structure. Its supreme leader has the title "Patriarch of Antioch, the city of God and all the East." It is the direct heir and legitimate Apostolic Church of Antioch, ruled by the first bishop and martyr, St. Ignatius. That is why the patriarchs precede their name from that of Ignatius as a sign of apostolic continuity. The Syrians are now about 150,000 Catholics in the world. They live mainly in Iraq (42,000), in Syria (26,000) and 55,000 of them live in the diaspora. Currently, the Syrian Catholics of Iraq, like all Iraqi Christians live in harsh persecution and violence against the Islamic militia that emerged after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Organization Near-and Middle-East Rest of world The Church is a member of the Council of Churches of the Middle East. Since 1994 , the Syriac Catholic Church has a series of ecumenical discussions with other Churches of Syriac tradition, initiated by the Pro Oriente Foundation, an organization dependent on the Catholic Diocese of Vienna in Austria. These discussions bring together representatives of churches and separated Catholics, Syriac Tradition (Western Church Syriac Orthodox , Syriac Catholic Church, Malankara Orthodox Church , Syro-Malankara Catholic Church , Maronite Church ) and East Syriac tradition ( Apostolic Assyrian Church of the East , Ancient Church of the East , Chaldean Catholic Church , Catholic Church Syro-Malabar ).
The Syriac Catholic Church or Catholic Church is one of the Syriac Eastern Catholic Churches. The head of the Church carries the title of Patriarch of Antioch and All the East Syrians, with residence in Beirut in Lebanon (current holder: Ignace Joseph Younan III since 21 January 2009 , the Pope Benedict XVI gave him the ecclesiastical communion January 22, 2009 History Antioch, "Queen of the Orient"
The beginnings of the Syrian Church of Antioch
The Syrian Catholic Church
The tribulations of the Syrian Church of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
Extension of the Syrian Church of Antioch
Relations with other Churches
Relations with other Churches of Syriac tradition
References
See also
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Filmography
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