In this week’s news from the Eastern Churches, produced in collaboration with L’Œuvre d’Orient: Romanian Greek Catholics get a new Major Archbishop, a Turkish Christian village regains its Aramaic name, and Christians return to al-Ghassaniyah, Syria.
In this week’s news from the Orient:
New Romanian Major Archbishop
Claudiu-Lucian Pop is the new Major Archbishop of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church. He was elected on November 5 by the Synod of Bishops, following the death of Cardinal Mureșan. Born in 1972, he was ordained a priest in 1995 for the Eparchy of Oradea. After studying chemistry in Bucharest and philosophy and theology in Rome, he led the Romanian Greek-Catholic mission in Paris, then the Pontifical Romanian College. Consecrated bishop in 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI, he had been serving in Romania since 2021.
Arbo regains its Aramaic name
In Türkiye, the Assyrian-Syriac village of Arbo has officially regained its original Aramaic name. For nearly a century, it had been known under its Turkish name of Taşköy. Located on Mount Izlo in southeastern Türkiye, Arbo was a prosperous village before the ethnic cleansing of Assyrians in 1915. Since 2006, families returning from Europe have rebuilt their homes, bringing today’s population to around 80 inhabitants. It is the second Aramaic village in Türkiye, after Beth Kustan, to recover its original name. A “Welcome to Arbo” sign has been inaugurated in five languages: Aramaic, Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, and English.
Return of Christians to al-Ghassaniyah, Syria
The inhabitants of the Christian village of al-Ghassaniyah, near Idlib in Syria, have returned to their homes after thirteen years of forced exile due to the country’s civil war. As they gathered in front of their destroyed church, Bishop Athanase Fahd, Greek Orthodox Bishop of Latakia, declared: “We kept the hope of returning… Today, we are back, and we will always remain steadfast on this land”.
