Historic Images of Syriac Orthodox Church

[Suryoyutho]

Great new Facebook page with a lot of interesting (old) photos

https://www.facebook.com/syrianchurch

[Gebre Menfes Kidus]

Wonderful! Thank you!

 

Selam

[Suryoyutho]

No problem

As an example, here is a photo of when they found the Girdle (sunoro) of Virgin Mary:

The Church has the rare privilege to have with her the Girdle of St. Mary.  The Girdle of Virgin Mary was handed over to Apostle St. Thomas, during her assumption to heaven.  St. Thomas carried this precious treasure of Virgin Mary with him to India where he died a martyr.  In 394 A.D. together with the coffin of St.Thomas, this valuable Girdle of Holy Virgin Mary was also moved from India to Raha and was established in a Church.  (In the Syriac history of Raha, it is mentioned that in Aug 22, 705 Greek era they brought the coffin of St. Thomas the apostle to his large church in the days of Mar Kora, the bishop of Raha. Ref: The Orien Biblio of Assimaany, Volume I, page 399). This Church where the Girdle of Virgin Mary was established came to be known as the "The Church of Girdle".   In those days this was erected a small and simple church as a cellar under the ground because of the violence of paganism on Christianity in the first three centuries, and some forefathers consigned in it the valuable girdle of St. Mary as a precious treasure to the believers. But over a period of time, the church had lost track of the girdle.  

In mid April 1953, while scrutinizing some manuscripts, a Garshunian book containing stories and speeches was noticed by the supreme head of the church, Patriarch His Holiness Ignatius Aphrem - sent by the people of Homs in 1852, to the believers in Mardin. It appeared to be bound with many papers piled up over each other and was very old.  In it was fourty six letters in Garshunian and Arabic concerning the diocese of Homs and environs written a few centuries ago by the notables of the archdiocese of Syria to the notables of the city of Mardin (Turkey) close to Za'fran Monastery, the Patriarchal See, implying the conditions of their archdiocese. They included that while wrecking their church called in the name of the Virgin the Lady of the girdle in Homs for the purpose of enlarging and renewing it due to its oldness, smallness and its wooden ceiling, by the order of His Eminence the Archbishop Peter Mousally (later Patriarch Ignatius Peter IV), they found the girdle of our Lady the Virgin put in a vessel in the middle of the holy table in the altar. They were comprised with happiness and blessed by it. According to these information's, on the 20th July 1953 A.D.,  in the presence of His Lordship Alexandros the Greek Orthodox bishop of Homs and other prominent persons, Patriarch Aphrem I opened the Holy Sanctum  and was discovered that in a marble plate it was written that ‘This church was built in the time of the preacher called Malaya, [Elijah] in AD 59”. They also found a stone vessel and a silver vessel and in it was found the Holy Girdle wrapped on itself inside a vessel which broke due to its oldness. Together with it was also found a thin metal pipe in the upper part of the vessel containing a hollow bone that seemed to embody a piece of parchment or thick paper which was left as it was.  The Greek Archbishop and other prominent persons who were present witnessed this fact and attested to it.

[Suryoyutho]

The first time the Oriental Orthodox Churches met together after 451 was in 1965 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This Conference of the Oriental Orthodox Churches was summoned by His Imeperiel Majesty Haile Selassie I, the last Oriental Orthodox Emperor of Ethiopia. The Coference was attended by:
H.H Pope Kyrillos VI of Alexandria (Pope of Alexandria)
H.H Moran Mor Ignatious Yakub III (Patriarch of Antioch and all the East)
H.H Vazgen I (Armenian Catholicose)
H.H Khoren I (Armenian Catholicose of Cilicia)
H.H Moran Mor Baselious Augen I (Catholcose of the East; India)
H.H Abuna Baselios (Ethiopia)

H.I.M Haile Selassie I opened the conference and two of the heads, H.H Yakub III of Syriac Church and H.H Vasken of the Aremnian Church spoke immediately after the Emperor, thanking the Emperor. H.H Kyrillos was not present at the inauguration. He came in a day late.

The following is from the speech of H.H Ignatious Yakub III, Patriarch of Antioch at the conference.

------

Your Imperial Majesty, Holy Fathers and Brothers beloved clergy and people.

It is with deep sense of gratitude to Almighty God that we stand here on this occasion, and the joy which we feel in the depths of our hearts is beyond words to describe. Your Majesty has offered us a memorable opportunity to meet in your beautiful capital. While listening to the speech of your Majesty, we are reminded of the episode at the Council of Nicea in 325, when following the inaugural oration of Emperor Constantine, St. Eustathius of Antioch delivered an address praising the Emperor. Although we consider ourselves unworthy to take the place of that illustrious soul, as a successor of his on the holy see of the Apostle Peter we deep it our most pleasant privilege to speak these few words following your Majesty. In calling this historic Conference, your Majesty has shown yourself a worthy successor of the faithful Emperors in Christian history who have served the cause of the Church in their respective generations. While thanking your Majesty for convening this Conference, may we express our most sincere gratitude to the government and people of Ethiopia as well as to the Ethiopia Orthodox Church.



As the meeting of Heads and leaders of our sister Orthodox Churches of the East, this Conference is a great event for our Churches. Through we have a common heritage of Orthodox faith, our Churches have not had an opportunity of meeting together in this way for many long centuries. But now God has, through his servant Haile Sellassie I, the Lion of Juda and the glorious Emperor of Ethiopia, made it possible for us to come together. In fact, from the time when our humble self was elevated to the holy see of the Apostle peter, we have been praying God to open the way for a meeting of our Churches, and when two of our brother Metropolitans visited Ethiopia soon after our installation, we had sent through them an appeal to your Majesty urging you to convene it. Now your Majesty has, out of your own gracious decision, called this Conference and we of the Syrian Orthodox Church all over the world rejoices in it.

It is fitting on this occasion for me to say that as the ruler of Ethiopia your Majesty is a person whom we hold in the highest esteem. We remember you always in the celebration of our Liturgy. In so doing, we follow the worthy instruction of our distinguished Fathers like Mar Dionysius Bar Salibi in the twelfth. They have enjoined on us that we should remember the kings of Ethiopia in our Eucharistic Service, as they share the same faith with us. Even our Churches have very close relationship with each other at least from the forth century. So we have record that St. Frumentius who was the first Archbishop of Ethiopia had come from Tyre within the province of our see. Mar Jacob Baradaeus in the sixth century visited Ethiopia, and that about the same time the Nine Saints settled down in this country leaving their home in Syria. We are indeed happy that we are able to visit this great land, its Church and people.

Our Churches have indeed inherited the Orthodox faith from our Fathers. But we have not always manifested its meaning through the redeeming powers of divine love to a world which is hungry for it. That is one reason why our Churches have not been able to make the Gospel of Christ more real to our non-Christian neighbors. Through this conference we shall not only strengthen the bond of unity which exists among us, but shall also seek to reexamine the ways in which our true faith should transform our people. Besides, we shall agree together on practical programs of common action to make our Christian witness more effective in the world. With these concerns in mind, we pray that Almighty God may so order our deliberations that our Conference may give a new start to our ancient Churches.

To you Imperial Majesty and to the people of Ethiopia, especially to our brethren in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, we and our Bishops bring the warmest regards of the Syrian Orthodox Church all over the world. We have with us in this conference our exalted Brother, Mar Baselios Augen I, the Catholicos of the East, leading a delegation of his ancient Church in India. It gives us great joy to see that in spite of his old age our beloved brother has journeyed from far-off India to Ethiopia to take part in this Conference. May we convey to Your Majesty, the church and people of Ethiopia the warmest greetings also of the Syrian Orthodox Church of India.

[Dominika]

Thank you Suryoyutho for posting the link, I really like such historical and unique pictures. I also find very interesting Syriac icons, which is not so easy to find them in the Internet

[minasoliman]

HH Pope St. Kyrillos VI was not in that picture.  Here's one with him in it:

[Antonis]

I noticed a lot of onion-domed churches. That isn't traditional for Syriac churches, is it? What do traditional Syriac churches look like?

[Suryoyutho]

I noticed a lot of onion-domed churches. That isn't traditional for Syriac churches, is it? What do traditional Syriac churches look like?

If there are any photos from the Turkey Churches they should be that style.

Like this maybe: http://www.flickr.com/photos/izla/2463217809/sizes/l/in/photostream/

[Suryoyutho]

Thank you Suryoyutho for posting the link, I really like such historical and unique pictures. I also find very interesting Syriac icons, which is not so easy to find them in the Internet

No problem. Yes, very difficult to find on the internet but also in real life. we're not as developed as the other orthodox churches when it comes to icons yet unfortunately.

[vasnTearn]

I noticed a lot of onion-domed churches. That isn't traditional for Syriac churches, is it? What do traditional Syriac churches look like?

If there are any photos from the Turkey Churches they should be that style.

Like this maybe: http://www.flickr.com/photos/izla/2463217809/sizes/l/in/photostream/

It's very beautiful!

we're not as developed as the other orthodox churches when it comes to icons yet unfortunately.

It is true for all Oriental Churches, except maybe the Ethiopians. The Coptic iconography that is widely used today is an innovation of the 20th century. If you compare the old icons of the Copts, both those from very ancient times and those from 18-19th centuries with those of today you'll see the gap. While if you compare all the old icons preserved in the Coptic, Armenian and Syriac Churches, you'll see similarity of style and spirit. To be frank, I like that old and less Byzantine style more. And I like when the churches are not overloaded with icons. What you regret about means only one thing: our churches were very modest and strict in regard to decorations and icons. And I like this modesty more than what one can find in other churches.

[Hiwot]

My dear Suryoyutho, beautiful Pictures! thank you for the link.

[Suryoyutho]

vasnTearn, You're right and I agree about the modesty (I'm not overly fond of some modern "colorful" Eastern Orthodox ones that look like you'd feel like having stepped into a fairy tale upon entering). But the problem with us is that we use icons from other Churches or images that aren't even icons because (I believe) we don't really have any of our own. Like Da Vinci's last supper is in pretty much every Syriac Orthodox Church. I have even seen that painting of our Lord with the Catholic heart in some as well.

Hiwot, You're welcome, thanks for reading and checking out the pictures

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