Part 3: St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish Today

 Episcopal Information

Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II

The Patriarchate of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch resides in Damascus, Syria. The current Patriarch, Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II will be enthroned on May 29, 2014. The predecessor of our patriarch was recognized in the first council of Nicea in 325 as the head of the see in Antioch. The Church has eleven patriarchal vicars, and twenty six archdiocese, one of which is the Archdiocese of the Western United States, headed by Archbishop Mor Clemis Eugene Kaplan, who oversees the St. Ignatius parish in Portland, Oregon.

 

Archbishop Eugene Kaplan of
the Western United States

Clergy

Fr. George during the Washing of the Disciple's feet on Holy Thursday

Fr. George Albanna was ordained to the priesthood by Patriarch Ignatius Zakka Iwas I in Aman, Jordan in 1994. He served as a priest in Jordan for five years before being assigned to St. Ignatius parish in December of 1998, replacing Fr. Jacob Shukri, who fell asleep in the Lord earlier that year. Fr. George is fluent in the Syriac, Arabic, and English languages, which have been indispensable in his ministry in Portland. Matti Totonchy serves as full deacon at St. Ignatius parish, along with fifteen sub deacons, and forty alter servers who rotate for each liturgy.

The deacons on Easter Sunday, with Deacon Matti (my father) giving a reading

Membership

Officially, there are 100 families who are currently members at St. Ignatius parish. This translates to an attendance of approximately 150 parishioners on major feast days and 70 parishioners on most Sundays.

Demographics and Language

Parishioners on Easter Sunday

Over the past three years, the congregational demographic has undergone a dramatic shift. Prior to 2010, the parish was comprised of immigrants from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine who had been in the U.S. for many years. As such, the parents of the families in the church were fluent in both Arabic and English, while many of the youth were fluent in only English. However, beginning in 2010, St. Ignatius received a rapid influx of new members from Iraq who immigrated to the U.S. as refugees. Many new members also immigrated from Syria during this time. In 2014, the new members totaled 20 families from Iraq and 8 families from Syria. Both the parents and the children of these families are fluent only in Arabic, and have a strong desire for the liturgy to be conducted in Arabic. This has created a point of disagreement concerning language in the parish, where the newer families desire Arabic while the youth who have been in the U.S. for a longer period of time wish to worship in English. The solution has been one of compromise, with a liturgy sung in Syriac, Arabic, and English. The influx of Arabic speaking immigrants is not likely to abate in the near future, as Syriac Orthodox Christians from Syria are beginning to receive refugee status in the U.S. Therefore, language is an issue that will likely persist for the foreseeable future at St. Ignatius.

Parish Council

The parish council is voted on every two years. In 2014, a new council was voted in, comprised of 8 men and 3 women, two of which are members of the youth group.

Programs

St. Ignatius Youth Group

Church programs include youth and adult education, as well as fund raising. Sunday School and Youth bible group provide Christian education to the children and young adults. Fr. George leads a family night on Saturdays once every month to provide scripture and church history education to adults and children. Every year, the parish council organizes a bake sale and a Mother’s Day party to raise funds for the church.

Part 2: Establishment of the St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish in Portland, OR

Beginnings

By the late 1960s, three Syriac Orthodox families had immigrated to Portland. Deacon Jacob Shukri, his wife Wadia, and their children moved to Portland from Bethlehem, Palestine.  Ilian Trad, his wife Imojin, and their children immigrated from Homs, Syria. Matti Totonchy arrived from Mosul, Iraq. These families befriended each other and met for evening house prayers.

Society in Portland

In 1973, Bishop Barnaba of Homs, Syria visited Portland and met with the Syriac faithful, which had grown to 8 families. Following his suggestion, the faithful established a society in Portland for the Syriac community. The society met once a month in a rental hall of a local bank for prayers, and raised money by conducting bake sales and collecting monthly dues and donations.

Finances

St. Ignatius Parish is Located in SE Portland, OR, near Reed College

By 1983 the society began to search for a church to purchase, with the blessing of Archbishop Yeshue Samuel of North America and Canada. The search ended in 1988, when they found a church in South East Portland on sale for $175,00. At this point the society had raised $100,000, but could not get a bank loan for the remaining amount. They sought donations from the Syriac communities in California and New Jersey, which generously gave $50,000. The last $25,000 was covered by personal donations from within the Portland community, which had grown to 12 families. Deacon Jacob Shukri retired from his work, spent time in New Jersey learning the Syriac language, and agreed to accept ordination to the priesthood, serving the church without a salary. Each family pledged to pay monthly dues to support the church.

St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish

Letter of Invitation to the Syriac Orthodox faithful in North America for the consecration of St. Ignatius Parish and the Ordination of Fr. Shukri, as well as a request for donations to help pay off the remaining balance on the church.

Consecration and Ordination

On August 28, 1988 Archbishop Samuel, together with Archbishop Yohanna Brahim of Aleppo, Syria consecrated the St. Ignatius of Antioch Church in Portland and ordained Fr. Jacob Shukri. In his sermon, Archbishop Brahim called the community in Portland the little flock, citing Luke 12:32: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,” and pointing out that the 12 families in Portland mimicked by their number the 12 disciples of Christ.

Archbishops Yohanna Brahim (front left) and Yeshue Samuel (front right) with the original St. Ignatius Parish council following consecration

 

Archbishop Yeshue Samuel ordains Fr. Jacob Shukri, first priest of St. Ignatius Parish.

  

Syriac Orthodox Convention in Portland, OR

Convention

In 1990, the the Syriac Orthodox Convention of North America was held in Portland. The Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas attended, drawing visitors from all over the world.

A Personal Note

One of the original founders of the parish, Matti Totonchy, is my father. He can be seen in the final picture, second from the right, wearing a stylish light blue suit and donning his signature mustache. He has expended much effort and time out of love for his Church, serving on the parish council and as a deacon for nearly 25 years. I count it as a great blessing to have a father who has worked so hard to promote the Orthodox Christian faith.

Part 1: Syriac Orthodox Church History and Migration to the U.S.

Origins

West Syrian Orthodox Christianity has its roots in the ancient city of Antioch, the ruins of which are located in present day southern Turkey. Tradition holds that St. Peter established the Church in Antioch in 37 AD, and that St. Paul also preached there. Antioch was under the control of the Byzantine Empire in the first century, meaning that it was culturally Hellenistic and Greek speaking. However, Christianity spread rapidly from the city of Antioch into the country throughout Mesopotamia in the first few centuries after the death of Christ. The Arameans, a Syriac-speaking, culturally Semitic people, were a major ethnic group in this area. This group converted en mass to Christianity, translated scripture to Syriac, and developed a liturgical and exegetical style distinct from the Byzantine tradition.

The See of Antioch

The See of Antioch at one time had jurisdiction over countries east of the the Roman Empire, including parts of India and China. In 451 AD, a schism occurred after the Council of Chalcedon.
The Syriac Church of Antioch 

Jacob Baradeus wore beggars clothing
to disguise himself and avoid capture
by Byzantine officials

and the other Oriental Orthodox Churches refused to accept the Council, and communion was ruptured between the Chalcedonian and Non-Chalcedonian Churches. This resulted in persecution of the Syriac Church by certain Byzantine Emperors. Efforts were made for reconciliation, such as Emperor Zeno's Henotikon in 482, and Justinian I's condemnation of the Three Chapters at the Council of Constantinople II in 553, yet none of these attempts were successful. Empress Theodora, wife of Justinian I, was particularly sympathetic to the Syriac Church of Antioch, and allowed the ordination of Jacob Baradeus in 543, a non-Chalcedonian bishop of Edessa. Jacob subsequently ordained a multitude of clergy, giving the Syriac Non-Chalcedonian Church clerical and administrative independence from the Chalcedonian, reducing their dependence on the Chalcedonian Church, and therefore diminishing any motivation for reunion. With a foundation of clergy, the Syriac Church grew rapidly, as churches and monasteries were built in present day Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Armenia, Afganistan, and India. A monastic tradition of strict asceticism and biblical scholarship developed from this milieu.

St. Ephrem the Syrian was a prominent Church Father and poet of the
4th century who came out of the Syriac Christian Tradition

Adversity

The Syriac Christians underwent persecution under the Byzantine Empire in the 6th and 7th centuries, during the Crusades in the 11th and 12th centuries, under the Mongols in the 14^th century, and under the Ottoman Empire in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. In the present day, they continue to inhabit areas in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jerusalem, though their numbers have dwindled significantly.

Persecutions of 1894 and 1915

It was the persecution under the Ottoman Empire in 1894-96 and again in 1915 that led to the migration of Syriac Christians to North America. Leading up to the first massacre in 1894, certain Muslim groups increasingly came to see Christians (Armenian, Chaldean, Greek, and Syriac) as second-class citizens that had no right to be living in the region. This escalated to the point where Kurdish Muslim tribal leaders lead a series of massacres in the Tur Abdin Region in South East Turkey from 1894-96, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25,000 Syriac Christians. Along with these massacres, Muslims also forced Christians to convert to Islam under the threat of violence. Then, in 1915, named Sayfo (Year of the Sword) by Syriacs, Muslim Turks and Kurds launched attacks on a larger scale. Patriarch Aphrem I reported an estimated 90,000 Syriac Christians were killed during this assault.

Migration and Beginnings in the U.S.

The earliest Syriac Christian immigrants to the U.S. were weavers, farmers, merchants, and craftsmen who left Turkey and Syria to escape the persecutions of 1894-96. They settled in New Jersey, Worchester, MA, Central Falls, RI, and Detroit, MI. A Church leader during this period was Dr. Abraham Yoosuf, who traveled from Turkey to the US in 1889 and established the Assyrian Benefit Association in 1897 which collected funds to support the suffering Christian communities in the Middle East. In 1907, Archbishop Mor Ivanios Elias Halouki ordained Hanna Kourie to the priesthood in Jerusalem, and sent him to the community in New Jersey to be the first Syriac priest in the U.S. The Assyrian Ladies Society raised funds to purchase the first Syriac Church in the U.S. in West Hoboken, NJ in 1909. Soon after, communities in West New York, Worchester, Central Falls, and Detroit built churches, and Archbishop Mor Severios Ephrem Barsoum ordained priests to serve these parishes. By 1948, there were approximately 3000 Syriac Orthodox Christians living in the U.S.

St. Ephraim Syriac Orthodox Church
of Central Falls, RI was consecrated
in 1913

Archdiocese in the U.S.

In 1949, Patriarch Ephrem I Barsoum sent Archbishop Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel to the U.S. to gather financial support for the brethren in the Holy Land. Then in 1952 the Patriarch appointed Archbishop Samuel as Vicar of North America, and gave him a two year period to see if the community in the U.S. could financially support a bishop. The community bought a residence for the bishop in Hackensack, NJ, and in 1957 Patriarch Jacob III created the North American Archdiocese and appointed Mor Samuel to the bishopric. The Archdiocese used the name Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, however this caused a dispute with the Rum Orthodox who claimed the same name. The issue was decided in court, which gave the name to the Syriacs, and the Rum Orthodox subsequently changed their name to the Antiochian Church.

References

Chadwick, Henry. The Early Church. London: Penguin Books, 1993.

De Courtois, Sebastien. trans. Vincent Aurora. The Forgotten Genocide. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press 2004.

Edip, Aydin, “The History of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch in North America: Challenges and Opportunities” (Ph.D. diss., St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2000)

Menze, Volker. Justinian and the Making of the Syrian Orthodox Church. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

McCullough, Stewart. A Short History of Syriac Christianity to the Rise of Islam. Chico: Scholars Press, 1982.

Thomas, Joseph. “Syriac Orthodox Rescources,” March 23 2002. Online: http://sor.cua.edu/History/index.html.