London, December 2011.The Grand Master of the Constantinian Order during the 2011 Investiture Mass at Westminster Cathedral decreed the admittance of the Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, His Eminence Archbishop Athanasius Toma Dawod to the honour and dignity of Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I.
This high award was granted to His Eminence because of his significant contribution to furthering inter-religious understanding in Great Britain. It was also the Order’s desire to signal its appreciation to the Patriarch and the Syriac Orthodox Church as a whole for the co-operation which the Order has received from them since 2003 in our wider efforts to further inter-religious understanding in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Syria.
Archbishop Athanasius was desirous that his Church and his community share in his award and on Sunday 11 December 2011 a celebration of Holy Mass followed by a celebratory banquet was held at St Thomas Syriac Orthodox Cathedral in Acton, London W3.
Several hundred people attended the moving celebration including representatives of other Christian churches and faiths as well as parliamentary and civic figures including The Rt Rev Alan Hopes, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and local MP Stephen Pound.
Among members of the Order’s delegation who attended were HRH The Princess Elena of Romania Mrs Alexander Nixon, HRH Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia, HSH Princess Marie-Therese von Hohenberg Mrs Anthony Bailey, HE Mr Alexander Nixon, Prince Don Cristoforo Rocco di Torrepadula, Sir David and Lady Durie, Mr Dudley Heathcote, Mr Timothy George, Mr Leslie Hayward, Professor Trond Beravale and Professor Sarah Rogers.
To download the speech of the British and Irish Delegate, Mr Anthony Bailey click here. To download the speech of Archbishop Athanasius click here.
The Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. Due to the troubles in the region this has witnessed a very considerable increase in Syriac Orthodox Christians coming to Britain. The Church employs the oldest surviving liturgy in Christianity, the Liturgy of St. James the Apostle, and uses Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic spoken by Jesus Christ and his Apostles, as its official and liturgical language.
The Syriac Orthodox Church derives its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St. Peter. The current head of the Syriac Orthodox Church is His Holiness Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, who resides in Damascus and was a close friend of the late Pope John Paul II. The Church has about 26 archdioceses and 11 patriarchal vicariates. Patriarch Zakka was enthroned head of the church on 14 September 1980, on the feast of the Cross. Syriac Orthodox faithful around the world took part in the silver jubilee celebrations of his patriarchate in 2005.