Antioch-Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syrian Orthodox Church of Europe (also “Antiochian Syriac Orthodox Church”) was a church community that looked after Christians of mostly Syrian origin who had previously belonged to the Patriarchate of Antioch , based in Damascus. She converted to the Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece (Kallinikos Synod) in 2016 . The number of believers is estimated at a few thousand.
Emergence
Because of the same liturgy of both churches , which follow the Antiochian Rite , believers from Europe and the USA , who previously belonged to the Patriarchate of Antioch, applied to the Catholic of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church to consecrate their own metropolitan to become sustainable as an independent church.
Although most of the Eastern Churches are nationally or ethnically organized, the Syrian Orthodox Church of Europe wanted to be open to all interested parties regardless of their origin. According to her own statements, she saw the focus of her work in pastoral care .
history
The origins of the church began in 2006, when the priest Moses Görgün and the two monks P. Isa Oygur and P. Johannes Budak, during their time at Mor Ephrem Monastery in the Netherlands, disagreed with the Archbishop of Central Europe, Mor Julius Yeshu Çiçek , turned away from the Syrian Orthodox Church. The group asked the Indian Orthodox Church to set up a diocese in Europe and then traveled to India to discuss the matter. Their situation was discussed during a synod in August 2007, but little progress has been made due to differences of opinion. However, on November 21 of the same year Moses Görgün was consecrated in Thrissur by Bishop Yuhanon Mar Meletius of Thrissur and Bishop Thomas Mar Athanasius of Kandanad with the support of Bishop Thomas Mar Makarios of Europe, Great Britain and Canada without the consent of the Synod as Metropolitan of Europe, whereupon he took the name Mor Severius Moses Görgün. On December 5, the Syrian Orthodox Church excommunicated Mor Severius Moses Görgün and his followers. After a Synod of Bishops was called by the Primate of the Indian Orthodox Church, Baselios Marthoma Didymos I , who heard and accepted the reasons of Yuhanon Mar Meletius and Thomas Mar Athanasius for the ordination of Mor Severius Moses Görgün, the ordination was recognized on December 7th .
On March 16, 2009, the Synod of the Indian Orthodox Church elevated the archdiocese to autocephaly status, and it was renamed the Syrian Orthodox Church of Europe . Mor Severius Moses Görgün was appointed Primate and Metropolitan of the Church. In May the Indian Orthodox Church confirmed that the new church's authority was limited to Europe and that it had no authority over the church in India. Nevertheless, Mor Severius Moses Görgün consecrated Mor Bartholomaos Joseph as Metropolitan of Angamaly , a diocese within the jurisdiction of the Indian Orthodox Church, on March 21, 2010 .
As a result of this violation, Baselios excommunicated Marthoma Didymos I. Mor Severius Moses Görgün and withdrew his recognition from the church. This resulted in the church changing its name to reflect its presence outside of Europe; since April 28, 2010 it was called the Antiochene Syrian Orthodox Church . Mor Severius Moses Görgün continued to ignore the wishes of the Indian Orthodox Church and consecrated Mar Timotheos Yuhanon as Bishop of Idukki and Mar Gregorios Mathews as Bishop of Kottayam , both dioceses in India.
However, in order to calm relations with the Indian Orthodox Church, the Synod of the Antiochene Syrian Orthodox Church decided in September 2011 to dissolve the dioceses of Idukki and Angamaly, so that their bishops resigned. In spring 2012, the church began building the St. Gabriel Monastery near Altenbergen . In August 2014 the monastery was consecrated and became the seat of the church.
In the years that followed, Metropolitan Moses Görgün established contacts with hierarchs of the Eastern Orthodox old calendar tradition. In 2016 he converted to the Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece (Kallinikos Synod) and organized a new autonomous archdiocese.
Canonical status
The Syrian Orthodox Church of Europe was first established and confirmed as an autonomous archdiocese by the Indian Synod of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in August 2007 . In February 2009 she was promoted to the Syrian Orthodox Church of Europe. In 2010 she changed her name to "Antiochene Syrian Orthodox Church". The Metropolitan Mor Severius Moses was at the same time primate of Europe and the USA.
The clergy consisted of the Metropolitan Mor Severius Moses, an archpriest , 15 simple priests and several deacons and sub-deacons . The headquarters were in St. Gabriel's monastery in Altenbergen in Thuringia.
resolution
With the completion of the transfer of Metropolitan Moses Görgün and his community to the old calendar church of the true Orthodox Christians of Greece (Kallinikos Synod) in 2016 , the Antiochene Syrian Orthodox Church no longer exists.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Decree of Archbishop Mor Severius Moses on the change of name ( Memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file).
- ↑ Decree of His Holiness Baselios Didymus I, Catholicos of the East, on appointment ( memento of April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 110 kB).
- ↑ Die Welt , August 31, 2014: Syrian Orthodox monastery consecrated in the Thuringian Forest .
- ↑ The monastery in Altenbergen is now the bishopric of the Orthodox Church of Greece Thüringer Allgemeine, December 30, 2016. Accessed April 28, 2017.