JUBILEE OF THE SYRO-ANTIOCHEAN AND SYRO-MALANKARA CHURCHES

VATICAN CITY, NOV 16, 2000 (VIS) - From November 19 to 21, the Jubilee of the Syro-Antiochean and Syro-Malankara Churches will be celebrated. The culminating moment of this Jubilee will be a Mass in Rome's basilica of St. Mary in Trastevere at 4 p.m. on November 21. The ceremony will be presided by His Beatitude Ignace Moussa I Daoud, Patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians and Archbishop Cyril Baselios Malancharuvil, Metropolitan of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankarese.

The Syro-Antiochean Church takes its name from the city of Antioch in which the first communities of Christians were formed. It was in that city that Christ's followers first received the name of Christians.

The Syro-Catholics are above all located in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. In 1996 a diocese of the Syro-Catholic rite was erected in the United States; the diocese also has jurisdiction over Canada. The present patriarch, Ignace Moussa I Daoud, resides in Beirut, Lebanon.

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is the "Church of St. Thomas," and traces its origin to the preaching of St. Thomas the Apostle. The Church, which is located in India, has four religious congregations: The Order of the Imitation of Christ (Bethany Fathers); the Sisters of the Imitation of Christ; the Daughters of Mary and the Kristia Sanyasa Sabha (Christian religious congregation). Faithful to their spiritual and liturgical heritage, they dedicate themselves to the evangelization of non-Christians.

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