The patriarch of one of the oldest Christian Churches in the world, the Catholicos of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Awa III, will address the World Congress of Syriac Studies, organised next month by the Levant Institute and the Romanian Academy.

According to a statement from the Levant Institute, as part of the 14th World Congress of Syriac Studies (Symposium Syriacum) and the 12th International Conference on Christian Arab Studies (taking place at the Palace of Parliament, August 3-7), Bucharest will receive the visit of His Holiness Mar Awa III, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East.

Elected in 2021 as the 122nd Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Awa III is the first patriarch of this Church born in the diaspora, in Chicago, US. His election marked a new stage in the history of a Christian community whose roots reach back to the earliest centuries of Christianity and whose faithful today live in many countries around the world.

'The story of Mar Awa III is the story of an entire generation of Eastern Christians who were forced to rebuild their lives far from the lands where they were born and received the gift of faith, preserving a heritage nearly two millennia old. He is not only the Patriarch of an ancient Church, but a man whose biography reflects the path of a community: Mesopotamia, diaspora, preservation of identity, the memory of a threatened heritage. His Holiness promotes dialogue between Churches, the protection of the Christian heritage of the Middle East, and support for the historic Christian communities of the region, severely tested by the conflicts of recent decades,' the statement says, adding that he 'combines spiritual authority with academic excellence'.

A Doctor of Theology of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, he is one of the most respected contemporary scholars of the Syriac tradition and the author of reference works dedicated to the theology and spirituality of the Assyrian Church of the East, headquartered in Ankawa, Erbil, Iraq.

According to the statement, His Holiness's participation in the World Congress of Syriac Studies, accompanied by Bishop Mar Paulus Benjamin of Chicago and the Eastern United States, represents recognition of the international importance of the gathering, organised for the first time in Romania by the Levant Institute and the Romanian Academy.

The World Congress of Syriac Studies and the International Conference on Christian Arab Studies bring together representatives of prestigious universities and research institutes worldwide - Princeton, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Padua, Bologna, Amsterdam, Leuven, Vienna, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Kaslik, Beirut and Tokyo - offering a unique setting for academic and intercultural dialogue.

Organised since 1972 every four years, the congress gathers leading specialists in the history, language, culture, theology and ecclesiastical life of the Syriac and Christian Arab worlds.

Previous editions were held in Rome (1972 and 2016), Chantilly (1976), Göttingen (1980), Groningen (1984), Louvain (1988), Cambridge (1992), Uppsala/Lund (1996), Sydney (2000), Beirut (2004), Granada (2008), Valletta (2012) and Paris (2022). Since 1980 (Göttingen), the International Conference on Christian Arab Studies has taken place in parallel with Symposium Syriacum.