His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II
The 122nd successor to St. Peter in the Apostolic See of Antioch. Born in Kamishly, Syria on May 3, 1965, he entered St. Ephrem's Theological Seminary in Atchaneh, Lebanon in 1977, later pursuing higher studies at the Coptic Theological Seminary in Cairo (1984–88) and earning his Doctor of Divinity from St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, Ireland in 1994, with a thesis on the symbolism of the cross in early Syriac Christianity.
Consecrated Metropolitan and Patriarchal Vicar for the Archdiocese of the Eastern United States in 1996, he is fluent in Classical and Vernacular Syriac, Arabic, French, and English. During his tenure he established the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocesan Youth Organization (SOAYO), an Archdiocesan Scholarship Program, a Pre-Marital Counseling Program, and a Unified Sunday School Program, and has served on the Executive and Central Committees of the World Council of Churches.
Aboon Mor Baselios Thomas-I
The spiritual head of the Syrian Christians of India, born in the Cheruvillil family of Vadayambadi, Puthenkuriz on July 22, 1929. Ordained 'Kassisso' (full priest) in 1958, he went on to serve parishes at Puthencuriz, Vellathooval, Keezhumuri, Fort Cochin, Valamboor, Calcutta, and Thrissur, and led Kolenchery Medical Mission Hospital as organizing secretary for seven years from 1967.
In January 1974 he was elected to the episcopate by the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Christian Association and consecrated Metropolitan with the title 'Mor Dionysius' in Damascus, Syria, taking charge of the Angamali diocese — the largest of the Syrian Orthodox dioceses, with a membership of more than half a million. He initiated numerous welfare programs and helped found Mor Baselios Medical Mission Hospital at Kothamangalam in 1978.
His Eminence Mor Titus Yeldho
Consecrated Archbishop and Patriarchal Vicar of the Malankara Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church in North America on January 4, 2004, at the Monastery of St. Aphrem the Syrian in Ma'arrat Seydnaya, Damascus. Born in 1970 to Pathickal P. M. Kuriakose and Sosamma, he studied Mathematics at Union Christian College, Alwaye, Kerala, before pursuing theological studies at St. Ephrem Patriarchal Seminary in Damascus and the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Theological Seminary at Udayagiri, India.
He was ordained deacon at just 12 years old, and later completed a Master of Divinity at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, New York, in 2003. He is the only prelate from Malankara to receive all five ordinations — Sub-deacon, Full Deacon, Ramban, Priest, and Metropolitan — from the late Patriarch His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas.