TheSyriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch is the head of theSyriac Catholic Church. According to tradition, thepatriarchate of Antioch was established bySaint Peter in the 1st century AD, but split into two separate lines of patriarchs after the deposition of PatriarchSeverus of Antioch in 518 over the issue of theCouncil of Chalcedon of 451. Thenon-Chalcedonian supporters of Severus went on to form what is now known as theSyriac Orthodox Church, whilst theChalcedonians developed the church now known as theGreek Orthodox Church of Antioch.
The office was established with the election ofIgnatius Andrew Akijan in 1662 as patriarch of Antioch, thereby creating a separate line of patriarchs infull communion with theCatholic Church, in opposition to theSyriac Orthodox Church.[1] Despite initial success, after the death ofIgnatius Gregory Peter VI Shahbaddin in 1701 or 1702, most Syriac Catholics returned to the Syriac Orthodox Church,[2] and the office lay vacant until the election ofIgnatius Michael III Jarweh in 1782, from which a permanent line of Syriac Catholic patriarchs sprang.[1]
The following is a list of all the incumbents of the office of Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch.
Unless otherwise stated, all information is from theGorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage, and the list provided inThe Syriac World, as noted in the bibliography below.
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