HH Mor Ignatios Zakka I Iwas

The Syriac Orthodox Church is held to be the first church of the Christianity established by the Apostle St. Peter in 34 AD.

The current head of the Syriac Orthodox Church is the Patriarch H.H. Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, who resides in Damascus, the capital of Syria. The Church has about 26 archdioceses and 11 Patriarchal Vicariates . Some estimate that the church has about four million members globally. The church in Malankara is an integral part of the Syriac Orthodox Church with the Patriarch of Antioch as its supreme head. The local head of the church in Malankara is the Catholicose of India, currently His Beatitude Baselios Thomas I , ordained by and accountable to the Patriarch of Antioch.

The Syrian orthodox divine liturgy is performed in Syriac.

Both it and the Chalcedonian Antiochian Orthodox Church claim to be the sole legitimate church of Antioch and successor of the Apostle St. Peter. There are also three uniate churces headed by Patriarchs of Antiocha: The Syrian Catholic Church, the Maronites and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. There is also an unrelated (so- called Nestorian) Assyrian Church of the East.

See also

• Jacob Baradaeus
• List of Patriarchs of Antioch - to 518
• Syrian Patriarch of Antioch - list from 518
• Indian Orthodox Church
• Saint Thomas Christians (Nasrani)

External links

• Article about the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church from Yauno.com (in German)
• Syriac Orthodox Resources
• Suryoyo Online
• Syrian Orthodox dioceses from Suryoyo On line
• Shroro: The Syriac Christian Digest