Mor Filüksinos Ä°lyas Çankaya
Ä°lyas, son of Melki and Shmuni from the Cello family, was born on October 29, 1923 in the village of Habsus in Midyat.
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Ä°lyas, who received his first religious education in the village madrasah or church school, learned Turkish in the army, since there was no public school in the village at that time.
He went to Deyrulzafaran Monastery near Mardin in 1949 to work to earn a living. However, in addition to his daily work and service in the monastery, he started to study with seminary students in order to increase his religious knowledge due to his interest in religious education. Due to his diligence and interest in religious education, he soon attracted the attention of the monks in the monastery.
Ilyas, who decided to become monk to devote his life to God while continuing his education in the monastery, was ordained as Dayroyo Sharvoyo (Priest-Monk Candidate) in Deyrulzafaran Monastery by Mardin Metropolitan Hanna Dolebeni on April 23, 1953. On December 20, 1964, he was ordained to the rank of Biblical Shemmas (evengeloyo) by the Bishop of Tur Abdin Mor Ä°vennis Efrim Bilgiç in Mor Gabriel Monastery.
Despite the requests of many individuals to receive the rank of priest, he refused to take the rank of priest for a long time, saying that he was not worthy of this rank. When the Metropolitan Mor Filüksinos Hanna Dolebeni, who loved him very much, fell ill, he did not refuse the request of the metropolitan and the community and was ordained to the rank of priest on May 25 1969 by the Jerusalem Metropolitan Mor Dioskoros Luka EÅŸayo, who was in the Deyrulzafaran Monastery at that time.
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Abuna Ä°lyas Çankaya, who worked as as trainer and administrator in various religious centers, including Deyrulzafaran, used to perform rituals and the spiritual services of the community when he had the opportunity, in the churches of places such as Diyarbakır, Kıllıt and Ä°brahimiye and especially in Mardin.
Abuna Ä°lyas who went to the Mor Efrim Seminary in AtÅŸane in Lebanon for a while to deepen his education, went to his own village Hapses, between 1970 and 1975 and settled in the church. During this period, he did important works for the reconstruction of the Mor Åžemun d'Zeyte Church and the opening of the madrasah or church school.
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Firstly Priest Ä°lyas Çankaya, who surrounded the church courtyard with smooth, strong and high walls, repaired the cemetery section consisting of four sections, extending towards the large garden to the west of the church, and also repaired and strengthened the wall surrounding the church garden, and planted various fruit saplings in this garden. Most importantly, Priest Ä°lyas Çankaya, who reopened the church madrasah, provided important services to the village by giving lectures in the madrasah.
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He repeatedly offered many places to become a Metropolitan, but each time he humbly turned them down. Especially in 1975, despite the insistent request of the Istanbul Diocese, he refused to receive the rank of Metropolitan and bishop for a long time, saying that he was not worthy of this position.
Due to the retirement of the Tur Abdin Metropolitan Mor Ivennis Efrim Bilgiç, whom he loved and respected very much in 1982, upon the insistent request of the Tur Abdin community, the Patriarch Moran Mor IÄŸnatius Zakka I Iwas on Sunday, May 30 1982 at the Mort Shmuni Church in Midyat with the participation of sister church representatives, the large syriac community and local muslims, he was ordained as the Metropolitan of Tur Abdin with the name Filüksinos.
On July 8 1984, during a visit to the Netherlands Metropolitan, due to the consecration and opening of the Mor Efrim Monastery in the Netherlands, he died in a car accident on Tuesday July 17 1984, with the Metropolitan of Central Europe Mor Yulius Yesu Çiçek. The funeral was held in the Netherlands on Sunday July 22 1984, with the participation of five Metropolitans, thirty priests (Priest, Horiepiskopos and monks) and tens of thousands of people. His body was buried in the Mor Efrim Monastery in the Netherlands, in the section reserved for the bishops and priests.
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Mor Filüksinos Ä°lyas Çankaya, who is modest, does not hesitate to tell the truth and does not compromise the canons of the church, managed the works in the diocese with acumen despite all the difficulties during his term as the Metropolitan of Turabdin.
Horiepiskopos Yakup Damar
Yakup Damar, son of Gabriel and Seyde, was born in 1929 in the village of Habsus.
He received his first Syriac and Messianic education for five years in Madrashto (church school) in the village of Habsus, founded by the Metropolitan of Turabdin Mor Timotheos Tuma Araz and under the supervision of Melfono Melki from Enhil village.
In order to further advance the Syriac, Arabic and church teachings, in the Deyrulzafaran Monastery, one of the best educational monasteries of the time, a good educator and Mardin Priest Monk Cebrail Allaf, who is known for his beautiful voice and melodies, had a good education and especially being sensitive and talented to church authorities. Because of this, he learned a lot about Beth Gazo and church offices.
On March 9, 1958, the Bishop of Turabdin Mor Ivennis Efrim Bilgiç ordained him as a priest to the village of Habsus at the request of the people of the village. Abuna Yakup, who served in the home village for nine years, performed dozens of religious marriages and baptized one hundred and seven children.
On May 27, 1967, with the approval of Mardin Metropolitan Mor Filüksinos Hanna Dolebeni and Turabdin Bishop Ivennis Efrim Bilgiç, he went to Mardin to perform spiritual services at the Kirklar Church (40 martyrs church) and Mor Mihail Church, which are the Mardin Metropolitan Church. He also worked as a teacher for nine years in the churches in Mardin, especially in the Mor Mihail Church. He performed many religious marriages in churches in Mardin and baptized one hundred and twenty children.
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Abuna Yakup was appointed to the Midyat Mor Sharbil Church in 1975. He served here for two years, both providing spiritual services and teaching the children of the congregation members of the church. Among those students who received education was Mor Filüksinos Saliba Özmen, who is now the Metropolitan of Mardin and Diyarbakır.
Abuna Yakup, who served in Diyarbakir Virgin Mary Church for two years and since 1 May 1979 in our churches in Istanbul, immigrated to Sweden with his family on March 25, 1981, at the request of the congregation in Jönköping, Sweden. After serving in the church in the city of Jönköping for about three years, he moved to Örebro in 1983 upon the approval of the Metropolitan of diocese Mor Timotheos Efrim Abudi and at the request of the congregation in Örebro, Sweden.
In Örebro, they did not have private churches belonging to the congregation, they were performing their spiritual services in a church belonging to the Swedes. However, soon after, with the zeal and encouragement of Abuna Yakup and his congregation, a beautiful church with the name of Virgin Mary, which befits our church and our community, was built.
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Abuna Yakup, who did not receive a salary from the church as a contribution to the newly built church, performed one hundred and twenty-five religious marriages and baptized more than four hundred children during the fifteen years she served in this church. Abuna Yakup.
Abuna Yakup Damar was honored with the "Holy Cross" on June 7, 1998 by the Patriarch Moran Mor Ä°ÄŸnatius Zakka I Iwas, who appreciated his services to the Syriac Church. His Holy Cross was affixed to Abuna Yakup by the Metropolitan Mor Dioskoros Binyamin AtaÅŸ, on behalf of His Holliness the Patriarch, in the Mor Efrim Cathedral in Södertalje. On October 8, 2006, with the approval of the mighty patriarch and the blessing of the metropolitan, he was promoted and ordained to the rank of horiepiskopos in the presence of a large crowd in the Church of the Virgin Mary in Örebro.
A ritual directed by Abuna Yakup Damar, who has a beautiful and impressive voice, whose religious articles and poems were published in many magazines, especially in the Bahro Süryoyo magazine, was recorded by UNESCO in the 1970s. For the first time, a religious ritual belonging to the Syriac Church was recorded and sent to many libraries in America and Europe in CD form. When the mighty Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatios Zakka I Iwas went to Örebro, Sweden in 1986, while speaking about Abuna Yakup in the holy service at the Church of the Blessed Virgin, he emphasized the following: I have seen many places and heard many voices but no voice and melodies as Abuna Yakups. I bless this gift that is not given to everyone. I congratulate Abuna Yakup for this beautiful voice and pleasant tunes and declare he as the nightingale of our Syriac Church..."
Horieposkopos Abuna Yakup Damar, who is also the elder brother of Horiepiskopos Efrim Demir, has six daughters and a son.
Horiepiskopos Yakup Damar passed away in 2021.
Horiebishop Efrim Demir
(The Last churchmen in the Village)
Efrim Demir, son of Efrim Mirza's son Gabriel and Aho's daughter Seyde, was born in 1935 in the village of Habsus.
He received his first Syriac and Messianic education for five years in Madrashto, in the village of Habsus, under the supervision of Enhilli Melfono Malke, founded by the Turabdin Metropolitan Mor Timotheos Tuma Araz in the early 1940s. Bethgazo and the church authorities was learned from Abuna Efrim Gavvo (Bashi) of Midyat, the village clergyman, who was a good calligrapher. Together with his father, Gabriel, they worked hard so that Efrim Demir, who was loved by Melfono Malke and his wife Badia Hanım, because of his talent and humility, was brought up in God's way.
Efrim, who lost his mother when he was only six years old, was continuing his religious and language education while helping his father, Gabriel, with cultivating the land and other household chores.
On 17 November 1952, he married Seydi, the daughter of Musa Asmar from the Asmaro family from the same village. Efrim, who went to military service in 1955 and completed his military service in Ankara in 1957, learned Turkish, which he could not learn because there was no public school in the village, here in the military service.
Upon the return of Priest Ä°lyas Çankaya (who became the Metropolitan of Turabdin in 1982) from Habsus village to Deyrulzafaran Monastery in 1975, the Metropolitan of Turabdin Mor Kurillos Yakup Işık sent Efrim to Mor Gabriel Monastery at the request of the villagers and resided in the monastery. On May 9, 1976, the Metropolitan of Turabdin Mor Kurillos Yakup Işık appointed him as the priest of the Mor Åžemun d'Zeyte Church in the village of Habsus and ordained him in the Midyat Mort Åžmuni Church, in front of a crowded community attended by the clergy of the region, community and village muslims. After the consectration, they returned to the village with joy, together with the people of the village.
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Abuna Efrim, a member of the Gabriel Mirza family known for the priests and deacons they gave to the church, was consecrated as a priest.
He dealt with the religious affairs of the community, on the other hand, he reopened the madrasto, which he attached great importance to, and started to give religious and language education to the children in the village. More than 65 male and female students were studying in the madrasto, which he opened in 1976. For this reason, he took care that both he and the teachers he had brought to the village from the Mor Gabriel Monastery (Melfono Edip Acar, Melfono Yakup Kurt and Melfono Zekay Demir) ensure that the children received a good education. Due to the importance he gives to education and to set an example for other families, he sent his children to Mor Gabriel and Deyrulzafaran, one of the best education monasteries of the time, to receive good education.
The migration of the syriacs, which started in the Turabdin region for various reasons, also affected the syriacs in the village of Habsus. Despite the decrease in the population of syriac in the village and the injustice done to him and his family, he did not think of leaving the village. When three syriac families remained in the village Turabdin Metropolitan Mor Timotheos Samuel AktaÅŸ said that it would be difficult for him to stay in the village under these conditions. With the permission of the Metropolitan, after 15 years of religious service in the Habsus Village and the Mor Åžemun d'Zeyte Church, he first came to Istanbul in 1991. Then he went to Belgium, where his relatives and children lived, on 12 March 1992 and settled in the city of Liege.
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Abuna Efrim, who is known to be loyal to the church laws, modest, tolerant and one of our priest with good tunes, continues his religious service with faith, joy and gratitude without receiving a salary, so that he does contribute to the church and burden the community, as in the village. In the churches he has served to date, he has performed many religious marriages and baptized more than four hundred children.
For his services to the Syriac Church, on the recommendation of the Metropolitan Mor Severios Hazail Soumi of Belgium, France and Luxembourg, and with the approval of the Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, on Sunday, August 20, 2006, in the church in Liege, Belgium. In the religious ceremony performed by Severios Hazail Soumi, Abuna Efrim was ordained to the rank of Horiepiskopos in the presence of Metropolit Mor Athanasios Eliyo Bahi, the representatives of the sister churches, the clergy of our churches in Belgium and France, and a large crowd.
Abuna Efrim who is the brother of Horiepiskopos Yakup Damar, continues his religious duties in the church in Liege, Belgium, and serves in the church. churchchur Örebrö, Sweden, has six daughters and four sons.
Priest Matay (Ä°sa) Ay
Isa, son of Saliba and Suzan, was born on 28 August 1906 in the village of Habsus.
At the age of seven, he went to the village madrashto with his peers to learn Syriac and Messianic teachings. Without completing his education, the voyage began in 1915, the year of the great disaster. In this great disaster, they killed his mother, father and uncle before their eyes.
He and his elder sister Shmuni, who survived Seyfo, fled with some acquaintances from the village to Deyrizbin, the nearest village of Mihallemi. His older brother, Melki, went with some of the villagers who had fled to the village of Enhil. Isa and his sister Shmuni stayed for three months at the house of Imam Muhammad Alhadi in Deirizbin village. The villagers who managed to survive Seyfo, after returning to the village, went to his brother Melki Deyrizbin and brought his brothers to the village. After staying in the village with his sister for a while, Isa first went to Midyat and then to his uncle Mihael Abdullahat Hadeyi, who was in Mardin. After going to school for a year here, in 1917, when a great famine broke out in the region, he left school to make a living and started weaving with his sister. He left Mardin in 1919 and returned to his village with his older brother, where he began to plant his crops and work on his land with his brother. On the one hand, he was working in his fields to make a living, and on the other hand, he was trying to complete his lessons by going to the clergy who came to the mass in order not to forget the education he received.
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Isa, who got married in the village in 1930, was called up for military service from the military branch in the same year, left the village and his homeland, immigrated to the Syrian city of Qamishli, which was under the rule of France at that time, and registered for the French military service on April 15, 1930. After five years of military service, he worked for two years at the Nusaybinli Mor Yakup Church in Kamışlı on October 6, 1936.
On March 5, 1939, upon the request of the congregation and on the orders of the Patriarch Moran Mor Iğnatius Efrim Barsavm, the Metropolitan of diocese Mor Klemis Yuhanon Abacı ordered the Virgin Mary in Homs, which was the center of the patriarchate at that time.
In this Church, he was ordained as Matay as the Pastor for the Mor Kuryakos Church in the village of Telshamiram -Garshamu-. After serving thirteen years as Pastor Matay in the Mor Kuryakos Church, he was appointed to the Church of the Virgin Mary in Kamışlı in 1952 upon the order of the Patriarch Moran Mor İğnatius Efrim Barsavm and the request of the Metropolitan Mor Eustatheos Kuryakos. He served with all his might until 1978. Abuna Matay (Isa), who faithfully served the church for 39 years, received God's mercy on March 22, 1978. His grave is located in the Virgin Mary Church in Kamışlı, where he served for many years.
Abuna Matay (Isa) had eight children, four boys and four girls. One of his sons, Gabriel, served the church as a priest, while Aram, one of his other sons, served as a governor in the Syrian state for a while.
Priest Gabriel Ay
Gabriel Ay, son of Habsus Priest Isa (Matay), was born on April 5, 1934 in Qamishli, Syria.
He received his Syriac education and church teachings at the Syriac school in the village of TelÅŸamiram -GarÅŸamu-, where many respected personalities were educated. Seeing his interest in reading, his family sent him to the city of Qamishli to study at secondary school. Having successfully completed his education, Gabriel started to teach at the Syriac school in the city of Amuda in 1959. He taught for five years in this school, which has about four hundred students. Married to Abdulkerim's daughter Leyla in 1961, Gabriel worked at the post office between 1965 and 1986.
Attracting the attention of those around him with his work pace and good qualities, Gabriel was consecrated as the priest of the Mor Efrim Church on April 20, 1986, by the Metropolitan of Cezire and the Euphrates, Mor Eustatheos Kuryakos, at the request of the congregation of the Mor Efrim Church in KamiÅŸli. Abuna Gabriel, who served at this church for eighteen years, retired in 2004 after securing a replacement.
On December 24, 2007, he and his wife settled in Norrköping, Sweden, with their daughter. However, in time, due to necessity, he returned to his spiritual duty at the request of Sweden and Scandinavian Metropolitan Mor Yuliyos Abdullahat Gello Shabo. Abuna Gabriel, who taught Syriac in many churches and schools and trained many students, is also a good calligrapher and has embroidered many books.
Abuna Gabriel, who is also the son of the late Abuna Isa (Matay), has two sons and seven daughters.
Priest Yusuf Özmen
He was born in 1943 in Habsus village of Midyat. His father is Isa and his mother is Seydi.
He received his Syriac education and church teachings first from the madrasto in his village. Deyrulzafaran Monastery, one of the best educational monasteries of the time, with the efforts and guidance of the late Mor Filüksinos Ä°lyas Çankaya, whose family, who saw his interest in reading, and especially his uncle, who was a priest in the Deyrulzafaran Monastery at that time, later became the Metropolitan of Turabdin, in order to further advance the Syriac and church teachings. He attended the seminar opened under the leadership of the late Metropolitan Hanna Dolebeni, a great cleric, historian and missionary. Yusuf, who made himself popular here with his work pace, beautiful voice and tunes, attracted the attention of those around him.
In 1954, he successfully completed his education in Syriac, Arabic and Turkish and received his seminar diploma. After receiving his diploma, he taught at the churches of Mor Petrus and Mor Paul and Mort Shmuni in Mardin.
Yusuf married Güner Çankaya, daughter of Yakup and Meremi from the Cello family, in 1962. After completing his military service, he worked as a secretary at the NATO company in Diyarbakir from 1967 to 1973. He moved to Istanbul in 1973 and worked at his own workplace for three years. Like many syriac families, he immigrated to Sweden with his family in 1976. In 1979, he worked as a Syriac teacher in Swedish public schools, on the other hand, he worked in Syriac associations.
On August 5, 1990, at the request of the congregation, he was consecrated by Sweden and Scandinavian Metropolitan Mor Yuliyos Abdullahat Gello Shabo, first as a biblical deacon and then as a priest, at the Mor Gevargis Church in Norsborg, where he previously taught. Abuna Yusuf Özmen, who is considered one of the people who know the church melodies and especially Beth Gazo well, was diligent and hardworking.
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In 1979, when Abuna Yusuf was still a teacher, he learned the Beth Gazo tonalities in Deyrulzafaran Monastery, with the Deyrulzafaran Monastery school.
His cassettes, which he filled with his voice, were collected and published on a CD in 2008 with the efforts of the priest Abuna Stefanos Fidan, who served in the Deyrulzafaran Monastery for a while, and Abuna Ä°shak Ergün,priest in Midyat. The late Abuna Yusuf was the father of five children.
priest Sefer DemirdaÄŸ
He was born in 1950 in Habsus village of Midyat. His father is Sait from the Hacco family and his mother is Verdi.
He first received Syriac education and church teachings from Abuna Yakup Damar, who was the village priest of that time. His family, who felt his interest in reading, allowed him to study for three years with the late Mor Filüksinos Ä°lyas Çankaya, who was a priest in the village at that time and later became the Metropolitan of Turabdin.
Married to Shmuni Çankaya, daughter of Yakup and Mereme from the Cello family, Sefer moved to Istanbul with his family in 1973 after completing his military service and worked in Istanbul for three years. Like many syriac families who immigrated abroad in 1976, he immigrated to Germany with his family. Since 1976, he has been working in the factory, on the one hand, and teaching Syriac to children in the church in Berlin, on the other.
On January 31, 1993, at the request of the congregation, he was consecrated by the late Mor Yuliyos Isa Çiçek, the Metropolitan of Central Europe, as a priest at the Mor Yakup Church of Nusaybin in Heilbronn. After Abuna Sefer was consecrated as a priest, on the one hand, he dealt with the affairs of the community, on the other hand, he continued to teach Syriac children in the public schools of the region. Pastor Sefer DemirdaÄŸ has seven children.
priest Cercis (Georges) Alkan
He was born in 1946 in the village of Habsus in Midyat. His father is mÅŸamÅŸono Gevriye Bahvaro Alkan and his mother is Nisani Alkan.
He was baptized on the day of St. Mor Gevargis and was named Cercis at the suggestion of the priest of the village, Cercis Aydın, who was from Keferze at that time. He received his Syriac education and church teachings from his father, who was a mhamşono. Feeling his ability and curiosity to read, his family sent him to his grandmother, who lived in Midyat, to attend primary school and continue his religious education at the same time, since there was no primary school in the village at that time.
After graduating from primary school in 1961, he was sent to the Deyrulzafaran Monastery, one of the best educational monasteries of the time, in order to further advance the Syriac and church teachings, to the late Metropolit Hanna Dolebeni, a great cleric, historian and missionary, whom Syriac intellectuals commemorate with respect and gratitude. Attended the three-year seminar opened under his management. With his work pace and his beautiful tunes, he made himself loved here as well and attracted the attention of those around him. In addition to his theology education, which lasted for three years, he completed his education in Syriac, Arabic and English and successfully completed the seminar and received his diploma. After receiving his diploma, he taught in the churches of Mardin and Diyarbakır for two years and worked as a translator for a foreign company in Batman for a year.
Cercis, who worked for a year as an English translator at the İPRAŞ refinery in Izmit in 1969, wanted to go to Australia, which accepts new immigrants, so he applied and began to wait for the result of the application, which would take two or three years. In the meantime, the priest of Mor Barsavmo Church in Midyat, Horiepiskopos Numan Aydın, made an offer to teach at the church, and especially with the encouragement of his father, he returned to Midyat towards the end of 1969 and taught at the Mor Barsavmo Church for three years. During his teaching, which coincided with the period when the syriacs lived in Midyat, more than three hundred and fifty students attended the madrashto in the summer.
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Melfono Cercis, who immigrated to Australia in 1973, was employed as an official translator in the government as well as continuing to serve as a deacon in the church and occasionally as a teacher. During his visit to his close relatives in Sweden in 1994, at the request of the congregation there, he was consecrated by the Sweden and Scandinavian Metropolitan Mor Yuliyos Abdullahat Gello Åžabo, first as a biblical deacon and then as a priest on April 4, 1994. After serving in Sweden for about a year, Abuna Cercis returned to Australia in 1995 and still continues the spiritual work in Australia. Abuna Cercis, known for his modest, beautiful voice, impressive sermons and the father of seven children, is also the translator of the famous eastern Mafirian Mor Gregorios Abulfaraç's "Pigeon Book -Kthobo dYavno-" which he translated from Syriac to Turkish in 1980.
Horiepiskopos Samuel Said Abdallah
Samuel, who is from the family of Abdullah, who originated in the village of Habsus and immigrated to Syria, was born in Haseke, Syria in 1965. His father is Sait -Mesud- and his mother is Zahura Antar Cico.
He attended primary and secondary school in Haseke. He received his first Syriac and church teachings education in the church madrasah of the region where he lived.
Abuna Samuel, who went to military service in 1985 to do the military service, went to Mor Efrim Theological Seminary, which was founded in Maaret Saidnaya, Damascus, the capital of Syria, by our Patriarch Moran Mor IÄŸnatius Zakka I and successfully finished.
Like many syriac families who went to Europe in 1992, he immigrated to the Netherlands with his family and stayed in the Mor Efrim Monastery in the Netherlands for a while.
At the request of the congregation and community officials affiliated with the Church of the Blessed Virgin in Amsterdam, he was consecrated as a priest by the late Mor Yuliyos Isa Çiçek, the Metropolitan of Central Europe, on 5 November 1995. Abuna Samuel Said Abdallah, who, after being consecrated as a priest, is busy with the affairs of the congregation with all his strength, is educated and has a beautiful voice, is the father of three children.
Due to his services to the Syriac Church, on the recommendation of the Dutch Metropolitan Mor Polikarpus Evgin Aydın and with the approval of the Patriarch, on 4 November 2014, at the Mor Gabriel Church in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, by Mor Polikarpus Evgin Aydın in the presence of a large crowd, Abuna Samuel was consectrade to the rank of horiepiskopos.
Priest Fikri Akan Gabriel
Fikri Gabriel was born 1969 in the village of Hapses to Syriac christian and believing parents Malke and Hatune. He was baptized by the late Mor Filuksinos Ä°lyas Çankaya, when he was a priest-monk in the village of Hapses.
When Fikri was four years old, the family moved to Midyat because of his father's profession, which was first a veterinarian and then kaymakam. In Midyat, Fikri also began his schooling in the Turkish school. At the same time, he also began his studies in Syriac in the church of Mor Barsavmo, under the guidance of melfono Numan Dag, who is today the serving priest in the church of St. Peter and Paul in Cologne, Germany.
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In his youth, he completed his studies in the state school and then began his seminary studies at the Mor Gabriel monastery outside Midyat. This under the leadership of Mor Timotheos Samuel Aktas and melfono Isa Garis. Three years later he finished his first studies and the first part of the Turkish schooling as well. A year later, life changed when problematic conflicts arose in the area. This meant that both Fikri's family and other Christians left the land of their ancestors. They then settled in Belgium and the city of Liege.
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In the city's university, Fikri learned French and four years later received a teaching certificate for religious studies. He later married Gunar and they later had a son named Gabriel and two daughters, Maria and Tibelia. Melfono Fikri continued to teach both boys and girls the Syriac language, church prayers and more. Both in the church and outside, and still do today.
In the University of Louvain he then continued his studies and after five years he completed his Master's in History of Theology. After pressure from lecturers at the university, he then continued with his doctoral studies. This on the subject of Seyfo and the genocide of the Syriacs in the Vatican Museum.
After completing his studies, in 2017 it was time to take the step from melfono and deacon to serve as spiritual father and priest for St. Simon d'Zeyte's church in Liege. His Holiness Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch blessed this and Melfono Fikri was ordained as priest by His Eminence Mor Gwargis Gaurie, Bishop of Belgium, France and Luxembourg.
As a teacher in the state school and as a priest in our Syriac Orthodox Church, Father Fikri then completed his doctorate through the examination named "Vatican and Roman Catholic Church Reactions to Seyfo 1915, Genocide of Syriacs".