Assyrian Church Scholars Participate in Syriac Symposium

The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East has attended the 6^th North American Syriac Symposium, convened at Duke University.

Held between 26-29 June in North Carolina, the symposium saw more than 75 Syriac experts and scholars come together under the theme “Syriac Encounters”.

Papers presented at the symposium examined the formation of communal identity, construction of tradition, language contact, and religious conversation within Syriac Christianity and between Syriac Christianity and other traditions.

His Grace Mar Emmanuel Joseph, Bishop of Canada, and the Rev’d Sister Jincy Othottil Ulahannan of the Order of Marth Maryam Sisters, Kerala, India were participating representatives of the Assyrian Church of the East.

His Grace Mar Emmanuel presented a paper entitled Monastic Dress in a Memra Attributed to John bar Penkāyē. His Grace holds two Masters degrees in Divinity and in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. He is presently a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto.

The Rev’d Sister Jincy’s paper was entitled Liturgical Theology of St. Mary in the East Syriac Perspective.

Sister Jincy holds Bachelor and Master of Commerce degrees from Calicut University. She also holds a Master of Syriac Language and Literature and a PhD in Syriac from Mahatma Gandhi University. Sr. Jincy is presently the Principal of the Chaldean Syrian College of the Assyrian Church of the East in East Fort, Thrissur.