SW News: For the first time in six decades, the head of the Syriac Orthodox Church made a historic visit to the Holy Land. His Beatitude Mor Ignatius Aphrem II and his delegation comprising several archbishops and priests visited the sacred sites in Israel and Palestine Territory on May 4.

At the Patriarchal Monastery of St Mark in Jerusalem, the patriarch was given a rousing reception by the monks and the faithful along with scores of priests and deacons. Mor Aphrem led a prayer invoking the Blessed Virgin at the monastery chapel and gave his apostolic blessing to all who were gathered there.

Delegates of the Christian Churches in the Holy Land and the Patriarchal Vicar for Jerusalem, Jordan and the Holy Land Archbishop Anthimos Jack Yakoub welcomed the Syriac Patriarch at the Khalil Gate. Mor Yakoub also gave a speech welcoming His Beatitude Mor Aphrem and his accompanying delegation. In his address, the metropolitan highlighted the importance of the visit of the head of the Syriac Church to Jerusalem and said it scripted history because it is the first in 60 years.

Later, he visited the Khalil Gate and was received by representatives of Christian Churches from the Holy Land, as well as the Patriarchal Vicar for Jerusalem, Jordan, and the Holy Land, Archbishop Mor Anthimos Jack Yakoub, who delivered a speech welcoming the Patriarch and his delegation.

Mor Aphrem also made a visit to the Church of the Resurrection and prayed at the tomb where the body of Jesus rested until He rose again. The Syriac Patriarch also prayed at the Church of Saints Nicodemus and Joseph and imparted his blessings.

Born as Said Karim in Syria’s Qamishli on May 3, 1965, Mor Aphrem did his secondary education at St Ephrem’s Theological Seminary in Atchaneh, Lebanon. It was in 1985 that he became a monk and later that year he was conferred with the diaconate and the priesthood. The future patriarch also completed his higher studies at the Coptic Theological Seminary in Cairo where he received his BA in Divinity.

On January 28, 1996, he was consecrated as the Metropolitan of the Archdiocese for the Eastern United States by Patriarch Ignatius Zakka Iwas in Qamishili. On March 21, 2014, the  Synod of the Syriac Orthodox Church elected him as the new patriarch to succeed Patriarch Zakka who passed away after a long illness.