New patriarch elected for the Ancient Church of the East

CHICAGO, U.S. — After the failure of the Ancient Church of the East and the Assyrian Church of the East to unite, the Synod of the Old Eastern Church was launched in the Church of Mar Odisho in Chicago, the U.S. to elect a new patriarch for the Church.

The Synod elected Archbishop of Australia and New Zealand Mar Yakoob Danil as a new patriarch for the Ancient Church of the East, to be the 110th Catholicos-Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East, under the ecclesiastical name of Mar Yakoob III Danil – succeeding the late Mar Addai II Gewargis.

According to the statement of the Church Synod, the election took place during the Mass of the Ascension Feast.

The Consecration of the Patriarch-elect will take place at St. Mary Cathedral of the Ancient Church of the East, in Baghdad in Iraq, on the Feast of Transfiguration (19^th August, 2022).

The new patriarch was born in 1964 in the village of Karnjok of the Alqosh in Nineveh Plains. He is the 8^th son of Hormuz Paul and Khawa Uraha.

He studied the principles of Christian education and graduated in Theology.

He was ordained as an evangelical deacon for the Mar Gorgis Church by Patriarch Mar Addai II. He was then ordained as priest of St. Joseph Church in Tel kaif.

In 1987, he was ordained as Archbishop of Nineveh and Nohadra (Dohuk). In 1990, he was elected as a Patriarchal Assistant and took over administrating the church affairs during the illness of Patriarch Mar Addai II.