11th Meeting of the 'Forum Syriacum'

The 11th meeting of the ‘Forum Syriacum’ was held from 19–22 February in the Syrian Orthodox monastery of St Ephrem in Glane, Netherlands, upon the invitation of the Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan Mor Polycarpus Aydin.

Cardinal Kurt Koch sent a message to the President of the ‘Pro Oriente’ Foundation, Dr Alfons Kloss, expressing his appreciation for this initiative periodically gathering all Churches of the Syrian tradition, at which Revd Fr Hyacinthe Destivelle represented the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Since 1994, ‘Pro Oriente’ has endeavoured to establish a platform of encounter and exchange at the unofficial level for the nine Churches of the Syrian tradition. Until 2005 this was undertaken as part of the ‘Syriac Dialogue’, and since then through the ‘Forum Syriacum, which also hosts the ‘Colloquium Syriacum’ at regular intervals. The ‘Forum Syriacum’, a team of 15 international experts in the study of Christianity of the Syrian tradition from Europe, the Middle East, India and the USA, defines and coordinates the study topics and research projects.