The Syriac Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Turkey (informally Turkey of the Syriacs) is the presence of the Syriac Catholic Church in Turkey.
It is part of the Syriac Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic particular church that conducts its liturgy in the Syriac language and uses the West Syrian Rite.
It is under the jurisdiction of the Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch.
It was established in 1991 as Patriarchal Exarchate of Turkey on territory that previously had no proper ordinary for the particular church, which previously administered it as a patriarchal vicariate, whose first vicar was promoted to be the first exarch.
In 2018, the Syriac Catholic community in Istanbul was leased Sacre Coeur Church, in the Beşiktaş district of the city, by the government to use free of charge for the following 49 years. The church was originally built by the Jesuits in 1910, but was soon taken into possession by the Turkish state and fell into ruin. In the 1970s the Syriac Catholic community settled in Istanbul and, finding no other church available, used the church. In 1997, the community was originally granted the church for 99 years by the Directorate General of Foundations, but this was disputed by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, before being finally approved on 23 July 2018. [1] [2]
The Syriac Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Christian jurisdiction originating in the Levant that uses the West Syriac Rite liturgy and has many practices and rites in common with the Syriac Orthodox Church. Being one of the twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches, the Syriac Catholic Church is a self-governed sui iuris particular church, while it is in full communion with the Holy See and with the entirety of the Catholic Church.
An exarch was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical.
Sui iuris also spelled sui juris, is a Latin phrase that literally means "of one's own right". It is used in both secular law and the Catholic Church's canon law. The term church sui iuris is used in the Catholic Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO) to denote the autonomous churches in Catholic communion. The Catholic Church consists of 24 churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic churches.
In the Catholic Church, an apostolic visitor is a papal representative with a transient mission to perform a canonical visitation of relatively short duration. The visitor is deputed to investigate a special circumstance in a diocese or country, and to submit a report to the Holy See at the conclusion of the investigation.
The Greek Byzantine Catholic Church or the Greek Catholic Church is a sui iuris Eastern Catholic particular church of the Catholic Church that uses the Byzantine Rite in Koine Greek and Modern Greek. Its membership includes inhabitants of Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Corsica.
The Catholic Church in Turkey is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and the canonical leadership of the curia in Rome that is submitted to the Pope.
Assyrians in Israeland Palestine are Assyrians living in either the State of Israel or the State of Palestine, totaling approximately 4,500 individuals as of 2022.
Christianity in Turkey has a long history dating back to the early origins of Christianity in Asia Minor during the 1st century AD. In modern times the percentage of Christians in Turkey has declined from 20 to 25 percent in 1914 to 3–5.5 percent in 1927, to 0.3–0.4%, roughly translating to 200,000–320,000 devotees. The percentage of Christians in Turkey fell mainly as a result of the late Ottoman genocides: the Armenian genocide, Greek genocide, and Assyrian genocide, the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the emigration of Christians that began in the late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th century, and due to events such as the 1942 Varlık Vergisi tax levied on Non-Muslim citizens in Turkey and the 1955 Istanbul pogrom against Greek and Armenian Christians. Exact numbers are difficult to estimate as many former Muslim converts to Christianity often hide their Christian faith for fear of familial pressure, religious discrimination, and persecution.
The Syriac Catholic Church, established in the second half of the 17th century as an Eastern Catholic offshoot of the Syriac Orthodox Church, had around a dozen dioceses in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. Three of these dioceses were ruined during the First World War in the Assyrian and Armenian massacres, and the 20th century also saw the growth of an important Syriac Catholic diaspora in America, Europe and Australasia. As of 2012 the Syriac Catholic Church has fifteen dioceses, mostly in the Middle East, and four patriarchal vicariates for the diaspora communities.
Melkite (Greek) Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Iraq is a Patriarchal exarchate of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church sui iuris (Byzantine Rite in Greek language for part of Iraq.
Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Istanbul is an immediate Patriarchal Exarchate of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Istanbul. It reports directly to the Melkite Patriarch of Antioch.
The Greek Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Constantinople is an Apostolic Exarchate of the Greek Byzantine Catholic Church which is an Eastern Catholic Church. As a sui iuris (autonomous) Church, it is in full communion with the Holy See. In its liturgical services it uses the Byzantine Rite in the Greek language. It is effectively defunct.
The Syriac Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Lebanon was a short-lived 20th-century jurisdiction of the Eastern Catholic Syriac Catholic Church in the Patriarch's own host country, Lebanon.
Maronite Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jerusalem and Palestine is an exarchate of the Maronite Patriarchate of the Maronite Church immediately subject to the Patriarchate of Antioch of the Maronites. In 2017 there were 504 members. It is currently governed by archeparch Moussa El-Hage, OAM.
The Armenian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jerusalem and Amman is the missionary pre-diocesan jurisdiction of the Armenian Catholic Church sui iuris in the Holy Land (Palestine/Israel) and (Trans)Jordan.
The Chaldean Catholic Territory Dependent onthe Patriarch of Jerusalem is a missionary pre-diocesan jurisdiction of the Chaldean Catholic Church sui iuris covering the Holy land.
The Syriac Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Basra, Iraq and the Gulf is an exarchate of the Syriac Catholic Church sui iuris for southern Iraq and the Gulf states, notably Kuwait.
The Syriac Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jerusalem is a Patriarchal exarchate of the Syriac Catholic Church for Palestine and Jordan.
The Church of Saint Thomas is a Syriac Catholic church building located in the city of Jerusalem in the Holy Land. It serves as the cathedral and headquarters of the Syriac Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jerusalem. The exarchate moved several times and is now at the House of Abraham at Ras al-Amud in East Jerusalem.
Yusuf Sağ is the Syriac Catholic chorbishop, who served as the Patriarchal Exarch of the Syriac Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Turkey since 1991 until his retirement on 2 July 2017.
