Patriarch Zakka I passes away

Supreme head of Syriac Orthodox Church, Ignatius Zakka I, died in Germany today, according to information received by the Jacobite Church in Kerala.
He was 122nd Patriarch of Antioch and All East.
The patriarch had visited India several times and had shown keen interest in the affairs of the Syrian Church in Kerala, an influential and oldest Christian denomination in the state.
A scholar in theology and oriental churches, he was born in Mosul in Iraq in 1933.
Zakka I was enthroned as Patriarch of the Syriac Church in September 1980, as successor to Ignatius Yaqub III. He had also served as Archbishop in Baghdad and Basra in Iraq.

Known for his initiative in inter-church dialogue, he had also served as president of the World Council of Churches.
Jacobite church in Kerala declared 40-day mourning and memorial prayers would be held in churches in the coming days, church sources said.