More than 400 scholars, religious leaders, and academics from 35 countries assembled on Monday for the opening of the World Syriac Congress and the International Conference on Arab Christian Studies in Bucharest.
The opening ceremony took place in the Ion I. C. Brătianu Hall of the Palace of Parliament. Cătălin-Ștefan Popa, Director General of the Institute for Advanced Studies for the Culture and Civilization of the Levant, inaugurated the congress, highlighting the importance of the Syriac tradition for Christianity.
“Syriac Christianity is the Christian tradition that preserved and transmitted the language spoken by Jesus Christ and His first disciples.”
Romanian contribution to Arabic Orthodox printing
A message from His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church, titled Christian Mission and Evangelical Love in the Service of Peace, was read by Hon Metropolitan Nifon, Archbishop of Târgoviște and Patriarchal Exarch.
The Patriarch highlighted the historic ties between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Antioch, recalling the decisive contribution of the Romanian Principalities to the development of Orthodox printing in Arabic.
He noted that the support offered by Romanian rulers and hierarchs helped preserve the Orthodox faith throughout the Middle East.
“Arabic-language books printed with Romanian support opened a new path whose impact on the Levantine world proved extraordinary. They contributed to preserving Byzantine Christianity in Arabic-speaking lands under Ottoman rule, cultivated literary Arabic, and enriched Christian Arabic literature.”
Patriarch Daniel also emphasised the role of academic research in promoting peace and dialogue.
“Unity, cooperation, and communion in the spirit of the Gospel’s love—as lived and proclaimed by Christ the Lord—provide a solid foundation and a sure path for strengthening peace and stability among Christian communities and between religions in the Middle East.”
He concluded: “We hope that each of you, through your scholarship and academic expertise, will become a messenger of peace and a promoter of mutual understanding, not only in the East but throughout the world.”
“An urgent moral obligation”
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew addressed the congress by video message, drawing attention to the situation of historic Christian communities in the Middle East.
“The Syriac tradition, in particular, preserves in its language and literature a precious witness to the Aramaic world of our Lord Jesus Christ, together with an extraordinary treasury of theological, liturgical, literary, and cultural memory.”
He stressed that protecting these communities is imperative.
“Their protection therefore constitutes an urgent moral obligation, both for the continuity of the Christian presence in the Middle East and for preserving a spiritual and cultural heritage that belongs to all humanity.”
Patriarch Bartholomew expressed hope that the congress would advance knowledge, strengthen dialogue, and renew commitment to safeguarding the ancient Christian communities and heritage of the Middle East.
Looking to God
Former Romanian President Emil Constantinescu, President of the Scientific Council of the Institute for Advanced Studies for the Culture and Civilization of the Levant, spoke about Christianity’s role in reconciliation and peacebuilding, drawing on Romania’s experience after the fall of communism.
“The reconciliation offered by victims to their aggressors had profound moral significance and was accompanied by establishing truth as a preliminary form of justice, while awaiting the time when truth, confirmed by courts of law, would become historical memory.”
He warned that today’s world is increasingly marked by violence and division. “I believe we need the absolute of faith in order to understand the relative nature of politics, morality, and all realities that are not divine.”
He concluded: “If we truly wish to achieve authentic peace and understanding among people, we must not seek the lowest common denominator, but the highest common denominator: God, who inspires us all, regardless of the name by which we call Him in our language or faith.”
Religious and academic representatives
Also addressing the opening ceremony were Romanian MP Ionuț Vulpescu, Fr. Wilhelm Dancă, Vice President of the Romanian Academy, and His Holiness Mar Awa III, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, who is making his first visit to Romania. His Holiness Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East of the Syriac Orthodox Church, also sent a video message.
Among those attending the event were Bishop Varlaam of Ploiești, Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop, and Archimandrite Policarp Chițulescu, Director of the Library of the Holy Synod.
The World Syriac Congress and the International Conference on Arab Christian Studies started on Aug. 3 and ran until Aug. 7 at Romania’s Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, where more than 300 academic papers are scheduled to be presented.
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Photo: Basilica.ro / Raluca-Emanuela Ene
