Ignatius Ephrem I. Barsum

Ignatius Ephrem I. Barsum

His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Ephrem I Barsum ( Aramaic ܡܪܢ ܡܪܝ ܐܝܓܢܐܛܝܘܣ ܐܦܪܡ ܩܕܡܝܐ ܕܒܝܬ ܒܪܨܘܡ; Arabic إغناطيوس أفرام الأول برصوم; * June 15, 1887 in Mosul ; † June 23, 1957 in Homs ) was the 120th Patriarch of Antioch of the Syrian Orthodox Church and a learned writer.

Ayyub (baptismal name), son of Istifan Barsoum and his wife Susan, went to school with the Dominicans in Mosul and initially worked as a teacher. In 1895 he witnessed the Diyarbakır massacre of the Armenians and other Christians . In 1905 he left Mosul and entered the Zafaran monastery near Mardin , at that time the seat of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch. In 1908 he was ordained a priest . In 1911 he took over responsibility for the monastery printing house and began systematic manuscript studies in the churches and monasteries of the Orient and in the libraries of Europe.

On May 20, 1918, Patriarch Ignatius Elias III ordained. him bishop of Homs (Emesa) in Syria. As such, he took the official name Severius (after Severus of Antioch ). At the peace negotiations in Paris after the First World War in 1919/20, he was one of the representatives of Syrian-Christian interests. In 1928/29 he visited and promoted the Syrian Orthodox Diaspora in North America on behalf of the Patriarch.

After the death of Patriarch Elias III. In 1932 the synod initially appointed him patriarchal administrator. On January 30, 1933 he was elected Patriarch and chose Ignatius Ephrem I Barsum as his official name. He founded new dioceses and a theological seminary (today in Beirut) and transferred the seat of the Patriarchate from Mardin (Turkey) to Homs in Syria.

In addition to his work as bishop and patriarch, he wrote numerous theological, ecclesiastical and linguistic works in Syrian and Arabic.

Major works

• History of Syrian Science and Literature . Translated by G. Toro and A. Gorgis. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2012. ISBN 978-3-447-06837-6 , based on the 2nd Arabic edition, Aleppo 1956. Original title Al-lu'lu 'al-manthūr fī tārīkh al-'ulūm wa-l-adab as-suryāniya .
• History of the Syriac Dioceses , 2 vol. (Publications of the Archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church 3). Gorgias Press, Piscataway 2006/9. ISBN 978-1-59333-603-5 ; 978-1-59333-669-1.
• The History of Tur Abdin (Publications of the Archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church 4). Gorgias Press, Piscataway 2008. ISBN 978-1-59333-715-5 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Ignatius Elias III.	Patriarch of Antioch 1933–1957	Ignatius Jacob III