The 14th edition of the World Congress of Syriac Studies, a major scientific event bringing together more than 400 specialists from 33 countries and 176 prestigious universities from around the world, will take place in Bucharest from 3 to 7 August.
The event, organised for the first time in Romania by the Levant Institute for Advanced Studies for the Culture of Peace, under the coordination of Dr Catalin-Stefan Popa, Director-general of the Levant Institute and researcher at the Romanian Academy's Institute for the History of Religions, is centred on the theme "Peace and Dialogue - Prerequisites for the Protection of Literary and Material Heritage," the Romanian Academy informed, according to Agerpres.
The opening session will be attended by Romanian Academy Vice-President Wilhelm Danca, a member of the Philosophy, Theology, Psychology and Pedagogy Section, along with representatives of the Presidency, the Government, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, the Romanian Patriarchate, the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy and other officials from Romania and abroad.
Among the invited keynote speakers are leading specialists from major universities and institutions around the world: Kevin van Bladel (Yale University), Aaron Michael Butts (University of Hamburg), Francoise Briquel-Chatonnet (French National Centre for Scientific Research, Paris), Valentina Duca (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), George Kiraz (Institute for Advanced Study Princeton), Salam Rassi (University of Edinburgh), Alberto Rigolio (Durham University), Columba Andrew Stewart (Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, Collegeville), Jack Tannous (Princeton University) and David G.K. Taylor (University of Oxford).
Furthermore, according to the Levant Institute, the Patriarch of one of the world's oldest Christian Churches, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Awa III, will address the congress. His Holiness holds a PhD in Theology from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, and is one of the most highly regarded experts on contemporary Syriac tradition, as well as the author of several seminal works on the theology and spirituality of the Assyrian Church of the East, based in Ankawa, Erbil, Iraq.
The scientific papers presented will address a wide range of topics related to the Syriac and Arab Christian traditions, including the transmission and preservation of manuscripts containing texts on biblical exegesis, asceticism and philokalia, important sources for philology, sources of canon and civil law adopted by Eastern schools of thought, theological treatises, broad interreligious and interdenominational perspectives, as well as texts on rhetoric, philosophy and related sciences.
The 12th edition of the International Conference on Christian Arabic Studies will also take place alongside the congress, with both events being held under the aegis of the Romanian Parliament.
The World Congress of Syriac Studies (Symposium Syriacum) and the International Conference on Christian Arab Studies gather representatives of prestigious universities and research institutes from around the world, including Princeton, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Padua, Bologna, Amsterdam, Leuven, Vienna, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Kaslik, Beirut and Tokyo.
The event has been held every four years since 1972, with the Congress bringing together leading specialists in the history, language, culture, theology and ecclesiastical life of the Syriac and Christian Arab traditions.
Previous editions were held in Rome (1972 and 2016), Chantilly (1976), Göttingen (1980), Groningen (1984), Leuven (1988), Cambridge (1992), Uppsala/Lund (1996), Sydney (2000), Beirut (2004), Granada (2008), Valletta (2012) and Paris (2022). Since 1980 (Gottingen). The International Conference on Christian Arab Studies takes place in parallel with the Symposium Syriacum.
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