The Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch is the head of the Syriac Catholic Church. According to tradition, the patriarchate of Antioch was established by Saint Peter in the 1st century AD, but split into two separate lines of patriarchs after the deposition of Patriarch Severus of Antioch in 518 over the issue of the Council of Chalcedon of 451. The non-Chalcedonian supporters of Severus went on to form what is now known as the Syriac Orthodox Church, whilst the Chalcedonians developed the church now known as the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.
The office was established with the election of Ignatius Andrew Akijan in 1662 as patriarch of Antioch, thereby creating a separate line of patriarchs in full communion with the Catholic Church, in opposition to the Syriac Orthodox Church.[1] Despite initial success, after the death of Ignatius 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 of Ignatius 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 the Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage, and the list provided in The Syriac World, as noted in the bibliography below.
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