Severius Hazail Soumi

Mor Severius Hazail Isa Soumi ( Aramaic ܡܪܝ ܣܘܪܝܘܣ ܚܙܐܝܠ ܥܝܣܐ ܨܘܡܐ; * November 5, 1965 in Qamishli , Syria ; born as Hazail Isa Soumi ) is a Syrian clergyman and former patriarchal vicar of the Syrian Orthodox diocese of Belgium and France .

Life

family

Hazail Soumi grew up with his six siblings (three sisters and three brothers) in northern Syria in Qamishli in Hasakah governorate. His mother Na'ima and his father Isa Saume († 2018), who was a subdeacon , were also believers and belonged to the Syrian Orthodox Church .

education

After his regular school education, he completed his theology studies at the St. Ephrem monastery seminary in Damascus , Syria. In 1993 he was sent to the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium, where he graduated in oriental studies and theology . In 1996 he received the Master of Oriental Studies from the same institution. 1996–98 he studied politics and international relations.

monk

After studying in Belgium, he returned to Damascus to the Patriarchate and worked as the general librarian of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchal Library in the St. Ephrem Monastery Seminary in Ma'arat Saydnaya near Damascus. He was involved in the digitization and research of numerous Syrian manuscripts from Turkey, Syria and Lebanon in codicology. From 1998 to 2005 he was a member of the "Laboratoire des Religions du Livre" in Paris.

bishop

On 12 February 2006, the then Patriarch consecrated Ignatius Zakka I Iwas the now consecrated a priest monk Hazail Soumi in the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels for the bishop . The Patriarch consecrated Soumi as Patriarchal Vicar for the newly formed Archdiocese of Belgium and France, which emerged from the division of the previous metropolis of Western Europe after the death of Julius Yeshu Çiçek . Seven other Syrian Orthodox bishops as well as many priests and altar servers assisted the ordination . At the episcopal ordination he also took the name Severius (after Severus of Antioch ). He became the first bishop of the newly established Syrian Orthodox diocese of Belgium-France. It has three independent parishes in Liège , five in Brussels and two in Paris . Since the diocese is set up as a patriarchal vicariate , the patriarchate retains greater influence than in ordinary dioceses. Soumi was involved in setting up the CIJS (Center International Jacques de Saroug), a center for Syrian studies and archiving in Brussels, in 2000.

suspension

In a letter of complaint, written by Soumi and five other bishops of the Syriac Orthodox Church, they condemned the Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem II Karim as a heretic because of certain statements on his part, such as that Jesus had no grave because he went to heaven and Mohammed came to the salvation of mankind just as Jesus did. As a result, the synod met in February 2017 to discuss the events and published a resolution in which it announced that Soumi and one of the six other bishops would be suspended from exercising their ecclesiastical office. The synod justified its decision and named three paragraphs from the constitution of the church with regard to Soumi, which he is said to have broken:

• Section 56

"The metropolitan should be vigilant in the selection of priests to consecrate according to ecclesiastical rules and traditions after having received approval from His Holiness the Patriarch."

• Section 70 Paragraph (a):

"A metropolitan has no right to interfere in the affairs of an archdiocese that does not belong to him. In addition, he is not entitled to worship in any of the churches there, unless the head of the archdiocese allows this with his consent performs ordinations there, they will be recognized as void and the matter will be referred to His Holiness the Patriarch. "

• Section 71 (b):

"Every metropolitan who damages the moral and ethical reputation of the church [...] is suspended by a patriarchal resolution and referred to the Holy Synod for negotiation."

Severius Hazail Soumi's successor was George Kourieh , who was previously bishop of the St. Ephrem seminary in Maʿarrat Saydnaya near Damascus and was enthroned for his new office on February 6, 2017 by the Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem II in St. Izozoel Church in Brussels.

Works

• Homélie de Jacques de Saroug . Sur la construction de la tour de et la confusion des Langues, Louvain-la-Neuve 1994.
• Edition critique du discours 11 de Grégoire de Nazianze en version arabe. Comparaison avec la version syriaque , Louvain-la-Neuve, 1996
• Constitution de l´Eglise Syriaque Orthodoxe d´Antioche, 2008, four-language edition: French, English, Arabic, Aramaic
• Saint Sévère le Grand << La couronne des Syriaques >> Lettre sur son exil , Brussels 2016, ISBN 978-2-930691-03-9

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mor Severios Hazail Soumi. In: syriacchristianity.info. Retrieved January 25, 2019 . 
2. ^ The news about the conflict in the Syriac Orthodox Church. In: orientalorthodox.blogspot.com. February 18, 2017, accessed January 25, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Bishops Matta Roham and Hazail Soumi suspended from all church services. In: Assyria TV. Retrieved January 25, 2019 (Aramaic). 
4. ↑ Patriarchal Encyclical. In: Facebook. Retrieved January 25, 2019 . 
5. ^ Installation of His Eminence Mor George Kourieh. In: syriacpatriarchate.org. March 5, 2017, accessed February 25, 2019 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Julius Yeshu Çiçek	Syrian Orthodox Bishop for Belgium and France 2006 - 2017	George Kourieh