The Syriac Orthodox Church split from its rivals in 512 over Christ's nature
In 512 a synod at Laodicea chose Severus, an opponent of the Council of Chalcedon, as patriarch of Antioch, and the Syriac Orthodox Church became a distinct body. Rivals nicknamed it Jacobite after a sixth-century bishop, and today about 1.5 million followers still worship in Classical Syriac.
The church traces itself to the ancient Church of Antioch, holds the Miaphysite view of Christ's nature and uses the Liturgy of Saint James. Its head, the patriarch of Antioch, is held by tradition to continue a line of leadership handed down from Saint Peter; Ignatius Aphrem II has occupied the office since 2014. It is organised into 26 archdioceses and 13 patriarchal vicariates, plus a self-governing branch in India, the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church.
The break came after Emperor Anastasius I removed the pro-Chalcedon patriarch Flavian II. When Severus was in turn deposed in 518, most Syriac speakers refused to accept it, and an independent Miaphysite patriarchate took shape under him. The bishop Jacob Baradaeus later shored it up, lending his name to the Jacobite label, while the pro-Chalcedon camp evolved into today's Maronites and Antioch's Greek Orthodox patriarchate.
Its headquarters wandered for centuries. Severus fled to Alexandria around 518; later patriarchs governed from monasteries such as Mor Bar Sauma, and Mor Hananyo Monastery served as the seat from about 1160 until 1932. Since 1959 the patriarch has been based at the Cathedral of Saint George in the Bab Tuma district of Damascus.
Names have been contentious. Members call themselves Suryoyo, a self-designation coined by Christians in Edessa by at least the fifth century. In the United States, early migrants from Harput and Diyarbakir founded parishes as Assyrian Orthodox, partly to stand apart from Arabic-speaking Greek Orthodox arrivals who already used Syrian Orthodox. Because the word Syrian became tied to the Syrian Federation from 1922, the Holy Synod settled on Syriac Orthodox Church in 2000.
Source: Syriac Orthodox Church
