Ignatius Zakka-I Iwas, the Supreme Head of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church passed away on Friday. The 81-year-old Patriarch, who was in rest after a cardiac surgery breathed his last at Keil in Germany. The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church in Kerala is a part of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church.
The 122nd Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Iwas was enthroned in 1980 in Damascus. He succeeded Ignatius Yaqub III. He was one of the very few prelates of the Syrian Church who has been in the Patriarchal office for three decades. The patriarch is best known for his involvement in ecumenical dialogue. He was the president of the World Council of Churches (WCC). He was an observer at the Second Vatican Council before becoming metropolitan bishop of Mosul.
As patriarch, he established a monastic seminary, and met Pope John Paul II during the Pope’s visit to Syria in 2001.
He has ordained numerous metropolitans, including Baselios Thomas I as Catholicos of India. He visited Kerala in 1982, 2002, 2004 and 2008.
Born in Mosul in Iraq in April 1933, he was ordained a priest in 1957. He was elevated as Ramban two years later. In 960, Iwas pursued further study in New York. He studied oriental languages and completed master’s degree in English at City University and another master’s in pastoral theology at the General Theological Seminary.
In 1963 he was ordained by Patriarch Yaqub III as metropolitan bishop of Mosul and in 1969 transferred as Archbishop of Baghdad and Basra.
Following the death of Yaqub III Iwas was elected by the synod of the church as the 122nd Syrian Patriarch of Antioch in 1980.