The Syriac Church is one of the branches of the Church of Antioch, whose apostolic see was established in the year 37 A.D. by Saint Peter.
Beginning with the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Greeks of Antioch adopted the Chalcedonian Christology, while the Syriacs gradually adopted Monophysite Christology and completely broke away from Constantinople in 553. This branch, distinct from the Patriarchate of Antioch, came to be known as “Jacobite.”
In the early 8th century, the Arabs arrived in Mesopotamia and Syria. The Syriac Church served as a bridge for the exchange of knowledge between the Hellenistic and Arab worlds.
Persecuted by the Byzantines in the 11th century, the Arabs in the 10th century, the Mongols in the 13th century, and Tamerlane, it drew closer to Rome in 1557, adopted the name Syriac Catholic Church in 1662, but the union would not be finalized until 1783.
The Catholic Patriarchate, currently based in Lebanon, has been led by His Beatitude Ignace Youssef III Younan since 2009 and has more than 100,000 faithful in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, as well as 50,000 in the diaspora.
The Syriac Orthodox Church has 750,000 members and is led by His Holiness Ignatius Ephrem II Karim, who resides in Damascus.
