Our Patriarch

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His Holiness Moran Mar Ignatius Ephrem II Karim
Patriarch of Antioch and all the East
Supreme Head of The Universal Syriac Orthodox Church

Born in Kamishly, Syria on May 3, 1965, the youngest son of Mr. &  Mrs. Issa Karim, His Eminence Metropolitan Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim lost  his father at an early age and was raised ,with the rest of his family,  by his late and loving mother Khanema. He entered St. Ephrem's  Theological Seminary in Atchaneh, Lebanon in 1977, following his primary  schooling in Kamishly. In 1982, His Eminence served the Syriac Orthodox  Archdiocese of Aleppo, Syria, for the next two years. From 1984 to  1988, Archbishop Karim pursued higher studies at the Coptic Theological  Seminary in Cairo, Egypt, graduating with a Bachelor Degree of Divinity.    

In 1985, Metropolitan Karim took the vows of a monk, and put  himself in the service of the Church. He was ordained to the diaconate  in Egypt, and later the same year, to the sacred priesthood in Kamishly. 

From 1988 to 1989, Mor Cyril served as both, the secretary of His  Holiness, Moran Mor Zakka I Iwas, Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch  and all the East, and as a teacher at St. Ephrem's Theological Seminary  in Damascus, Syria. In 1991, His Eminence entered St. Patrick's College  in Maynooth, Ireland, where he received a License of Sacred Theology  Degree, in 1992, and his Doctor of Divinity Degree in 1994, following a  defense of his doctoral thesis on The Symbolism of the cross in early  Syriac Christianity On Sunday, January 28, 1996, His Eminence was  consecrated as Metropolitan and Patriarchal Vicar to the Archdiocese of  the Syriac Orthodox Church for the Eastern United States, by His  Holiness Patriarch Zakka I Iwas, at St. Mary 's Syriac Orthodox Church  in Kamishly. 

Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim arrived in The United  States on March 2, 1996, and was officially installed to his position at  St. Mark's Cathedral in Teaneck, New Jersey.  On March 21, 2014,  

His Holiness Patriarch Zakka I Iwas was called into his heavenly abode.  Subsequently, the Holy Synod elected His Eminence Metropolitan Mor  Cyril Aphrem Karim as the successor to the Holy Throne and the supreme  head of the universal Syrian orthodox church. On May 29, 2014, in  Damascus, Syria, 

His Eminence was consecrated as the 123rd successor of  St. Peter, with the name His Holiness Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II