Gewargis III

Mar Gewargis III ܡܪܝ ܓܝܘܪܓܝܣ ܨܠܝܒܼܐ
His Holiness, the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East
Mar Gewargis III in Iraq.
Church	Assyrian Church of the East
Diocese	Patriarchal Diocese of Iraq
See	Holy Apostolic See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
Appointed	18 September 2015
Installed	27 September 2015, Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Erbil, Iraq
Predecessor	Mar Dinkha IV
Orders
Consecration	7 June 1981, Chicago, Illinois (Metropolitan) by Mar Dinkha IV
Rank	Metropolitan
Personal details
Birth name	Warda Daniel Sliwa
Born	(1941-11-23) 23 November 1941 (age 75) Habbaniya, Iraq
Nationality	Assyrian
Denomination	Assyrian Church of the East
Residence	Baghdad, Iraq
Parents	Daniel Sliwa (father) and Mariam Sliwa (mother)
Occupation	Cleric
Alma mater	University of Baghdad

Mar Gewargis III, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East (Classical Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܓܝܘܪܓܝܣ ܨܠܝܒܼܐ), born Warda Daniel Sliwa, is the current Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. On 18 September 2015, the Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East elected Mar Gewargis Sliwa to succeed the late Mar Dinkha IV as Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. On 27 September 2015, he was formally consecrated and enthroned as Catholicos-Patriarch.

Warda Daniel Sliwa was born on 23 November 1941, in Habbaniya, Iraq to his parents Daniel Sliwa and Mariam Sliwa. In 1964, he matriculated from the School of Education, a federated college of the University of Baghdad. Following this, he taught English in various schools in Iraq for the next thirteen years.

During a visit to the United States he was called by the Catholicos-Patriarch, Mar Dinkha IV, to serve the Assyrian Church of the East in the ordained ministry. After training in the rites and theology of the Church, he was ordained to the diaconate on 13 April 1980, and on 8 June 1980 he was ordained to the priesthood. Polos continued to serve and train within the Church, until he was nominated by the late Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV and the hierarchy of the Assyrian Church of the East to assume the rank of Metropolitan for Baghdad and all Iraq. Thus, he would now fill the then vacant Metropolitical See of Elam, succeeding Metropolitan Mar Yosip Khnanisho, who had died in 1977. On Pentecost Sunday, 7 June 1981, Polos was consecrated as Metropolitan of Baghdad and all Iraq by the Mar Dinkha IV, with the assistance of Mar Aprim Khamis, in the Cathedral Church of St. George, Chicago. The new Metropolitan was given the eccesiastical name Mar Gewargis.

During Mar Gewargis's Metropolitanship he established the archdiocesan minor seminary in Baghdad, which produced numerous priests and deacons for Iraq. Some of the students were sent to Europe for doctoral studies in theology. In 1994, after the fall of the USSR, Metropolitan Gewargis began a mission to the Assyrians in the Russian Federation, establishing a number of mission parishes. In that year, a permanent priest was assigned for the newly established parish of St. Mary in Moscow. The newly built church, in honour of St. Mary, was then consecrated. The number of deacons and priests for the Assyrian Church of the East in Russia increased.