The Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalousOriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East with members spread throughout the world. It is a major inheritor of Syriac Christianity and has Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, as its official language. The church is led by the Syrian Patriarch of Antioch. The church is often referred to as Jacobite or Monophysite, but these terms are misleading, and not appreciated by the majority of the church today. In 2000, a Holy Synod ruled that the name of the church in English should be the Syriac Orthodox Church. Before this, it was, and often still is, known as the Syrian Orthodox Church. The name was changed to disassociate the church from the polity Syria. The official name of the church in Syriac is `Idto Suryoyto Trişuth Shuvħo, this name has not changed, nor has the name changed in any other language.
The head of this Syrian Orthodox Church is the Patriarch H.H. Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, who resides in Damascus, the capital of the Arameans. The Church has about 26 archdioceses and 11 Patriarchal Vicariates. Some estimate that the church has about four million members globally. The church in Malankara is an integral part of the Syriac Orthodox Church with the Patriarch of Antioch as its supreme head. The local head of the church in Malankara is the Catholicose of IndiaHis Beatitude Baselios Thomas I, ordained by and accountable to the Patriarch of Antioch.
The Syrian orthodox divine liturgy is performed in Syriac.
The OrthodoxChurch considers the Old Testament (Septuagint) to a lesser degree of importance with the exception of the Psalms (which are a part of daily services) and the prophecies leading up to the incarnation of Christ.
The Antiochian OrthodoxChurch, The Russian OrthodoxChurch Outside Russia, and the Holy Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church of America (formerly connected with the Vicar Bishop of the (Western) OrthodoxChurch of France-ECOF), all have Western Rite parishes.
In the Catholic Church of the Latin Rite, this was achieved through the use of Ecclesiastical Latin; in the Orthodoxchurches the altar area was surrounded by pillars with curtains in between.
The SyrianOrthodoxChurch is believed to have originated as a result of the missionary activities of St. Peter, the Apostle of Antioch, capital of Syria in 37 A.D., who established the Antiochion tradition also known as the Syrianorthodox tradition.
In Kerala, foundation of Syrianorthodoxchurch is ascribed to St. Thomas and the missionary enterprises of Syria.
The headquarters of Syrianorthodoxchurches or the Jacobiteschurches is in Damascus, capital of Syria.
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