His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Yaq'ub III Bartella Patriarch of Antioch and all the East |
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Patriarch of Antioch and all the East and Supreme Leader of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church | |
Native name | اغناطيوس يعقوب الثالث |
Church | Syriac Orthodox Church |
See | Apostolic see of Antioch (and all the east) |
In office | 1957-1980 |
Predecessor | Ignatius Afram I Barsoum |
Successor | Ignatius Zakka I Iwas |
Orders | |
Ordination | by Ignatius Elias III |
Consecration | 12 October 1950 (as bishop) 28 October 1957(as Patriarch) |
Personal details | |
Born | 12 October 1913 Bartella, Iraq |
Died |
26 June 1980 (aged 66) Damascus, Syria |
Buried | St. George's Patriarchal Cathedral, Damascus, Syria |
Denomination | Syriac Christianity |
Previous post | Patriarchal Vicar of Beirut and Damascus |
Moran Mor Ignatius Jacob (Yaʿqub) III (October 12, 1913 – June 26, 1980) was the 121st Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church. He was skilled in and knowledgeable in Syriac sacral music or Beth Gazo. He re-established the Maphrianate/Catholicate in the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church (the Indian Church).
Mor Ignatius Yaʿqub III was born on October 12, 1912 in the Touma Mari family of Bartalla village in Iraq.
He was ordained deacon by Patriarch Ignatius Elias III and priest by Patriarch Ignatius Afram I Barsoum. He visited the Syriac Orthodox Church in Kerala, India, in 1933 as Rabban ʿAbdel Ahad where he served as a malphono (teacher) at the Mor Ignatios Dayro. In 1946, he returned to the Middle East to teach at the Mor Ephrem Seminary in Mosul and was ordained Metropolitan of Beirut and Damascus in 1950. In 1957, he was consecrated Patriarch after Patriarch Ignatius Afram I Barsoum died.
Patriarch Yaʿqub worked actively for cooperation among the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the reconciliation of the Church in India. In 1964, he visited Malankara and consecrated Augen Timotheous as Catholicos to establish peace in the church. However, this peace lasted only for a few years as the Patriarch, in a letter, denied the high priesthood of St. Thomas the Apostle, which angered Augen Catholicos and his supporters in India. This led to widespread protests and riots as the supporters of the factions supporting the Catholicos and Patriarch clashed. Finally, the Patriarch and Catholicos excommunicated each other and the Patriarch ordained a rival Catholicos for his supporters, thus, the split in the Church of India became complete.