Mor Julius Yeshu Cicek (born Julius Yeshu Çiçek; , born 1 January 1942 in
Kafro `Elayto,
Tur Abdin,
Turkey – died 29 October 2005 in
Düsseldorf,
Germany) was the first
Syriac Orthodox Church
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, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
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archbishop for Central Europe. In his book ''Mardutho d Suryoye,'' he advocated an
Aramean
The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean h ...
identity. He wrote over one hundred works, some of them in
Aramaic.
Life
Julius Yeshu Çiçek was the son of the Syriac Orthodox priest Barsaumo (1908 - 1993) and his wife Bath Qyomo Sayde († 1991). At age nine, he went to the seminary of
Deyr-ul-Za'faran, where he studied Syriac,
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
,
Arabic and
theology. After 1958 he was ordained as a
deacon and secretary of the later metropolitan
Mor Philoxenos Yuhanon Dolabani. Later, he entered the monastery of
Mor Cyriacus in the region
Bsheriye (''Bitlis'') and became involved in the search of surviving Syriac and
Armenian Christians
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, a ...
after the
1915 genocide.
In 1960, he became a novice in the
monastery of Mor Gabriel and taught there at the theological seminary. Yeshu Çiçek was elected abbot and in 1969 he was ordained as
Bishop of Tur Abdin by Mor
Iwannis Ephrem Bilgic. After living in
Damascus
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at the
Seminary of Mor Ephrem at Atshane in
Lebanon, and in the Holy Land, he came to
Germany. After a layover in 1975 - 1977 in the United States, on the advice of the local Metropolitan
Mar Samuel he returned to Europe, to
Hengelo. In 1977 the Holy Synod elected him patriarchal vicar for the Diocese of Central and Eastern
Europe. He built a hall for a new Syriac Orthodox church of
St. John the Evangelist
John the Evangelist ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης, Iōánnēs; Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ; ar, يوحنا الإنجيلي, la, Ioannes, he, יוחנן cop, ⲓⲱⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ or ⲓⲱ̅ⲁ) is the name traditionally given t ...
, later consecrated by the Patriarch
Ignatius Jacob III
Moran Mor Ignatius Jacob (Yaʿqub) III (October 12, 1913 – June 26, 1980) was the 121st Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church 1957-1980. He was skilled in and knowledgeable in Syriac sacral music or Beth ...
.
On 24 June 1979 Patriarch Jacob III consecrated him with the name Mor Julius. In 1984, Mor Julius bought the former Catholic monastery of St. Ephrem in
Losser,
Netherlands, and established it as the seat of the Archbishop. The church had three large monasteries near
Enschede
Enschede (; known as in the local Twents dialect) is a municipality and city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Overijssel and in the Twente region. The eastern parts of the urban area reaches the border of the German city of Gronau ...
in the
Netherlands, in
Arth in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and in
Warburg
Warburg (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Warberich'' or ''Warborg'') is a town in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany on the river Diemel near the three-state point shared by Hessen, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. It ...
in
Germany. In the monasteries he founded, he built schools and trained clerics in the tradition of their church.
Mor Julius published significant scientific contributions to the Church in Bar Hebraeus-Verlag, which published more than 100 books related to the Syrian Orthodox liturgy,
Bible, history, etc. in Syriac and in European languages.
Mor Julius participated in ecumenical dialogues with the Catholic Church in the Pro Oriente and accompanied Patriarch
Ignatius Zakka I Iwas during his historic visit to Rome in 1984, where a Joint Declaration with
Pope John Paul II was signed.
He was buried on 5 November 2005 in his diocesan headquarters of the Monastery of
St. Ephrem the Syrian in , Netherlands.
References
External links
Biography of Julius Yeshu Çiçek
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cicek, Julius Yeshu
1942 births
Syriac Orthodox Church bishops
Oriental Orthodoxy in the Netherlands
Oriental Orthodoxy in Germany
Turkish Oriental Orthodox Christians
2005 deaths
Tur Abdin