Ignatius Aphrem II

Mor Ignatius Aphrem II (Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܐܝܓܢܛܝܘܣ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܬܪܝܢܐ, Arabic: إغناطيوس أفرام الثاني; born 3 May 1965 as Sa'id Karim; Arabic: سعيد كريم, romanized: Saʽīd Kārīm) is a Syrian Christian prelate who has served as the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church since 29 May 2014.

Born and raised in Qamishili, Syria, Karim took the vows of a monk in 1985 and was later ordained as a deacon and then as a priest. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Divinity from the Coptic Theological Seminary in Cairo in 1988. In 1992, he received a Licentiate of Sacred Theology and in 1994, a Doctor of Divinity from St Patrick's College, Ireland.

In 1996, Aphrem Karim was consecrated as the Patriarchal Vicar and Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Eastern United States by Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas. As an archbishop, he established 11 new parishes bringing the number of parishes in the archdiocese to 20. He also created Syriac Orthodox Archdiocesan Youth Organization, an initiative to coordinate youth activities across parishes in the archdiocese.

Upon his accession to the throne of Patriarch, Aphrem II took the patriarchal name Ignatius, and also became the second patriarch to bear the monastic name Aphrem after Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem Barsoum. Unlike his immediate predecessors, Aphrem II chose not to use Karim, his family name in his official title.

Saʿid Karim was born on May 3, 1965, in Qamishli, located in northeastern Syria. He was the youngest son of Issa and Khanema Karim. His family belonged to the Syriac Orthodox Christian Assyrian community who originally hailed from the village Ëḥwo (Turkish: Güzelsu) in the Tur Abdin region of Mardin Province, Turkey. Karim's father died early in his life, so he was primarily raised by his mother.

Karim completed his primary education in Qamishli in 1977. He then pursued religious secondary studies at St. Ephrem's Theological Seminary in Atchaneh, Lebanon. After graduating in 1982, he served as an assistant to Archbishop Mor Gregorios Yuhanna Ibrahim in Aleppo, Syria. Between 1984 and 1988, he attended the Coptic Theological Seminary in Cairo, Egypt and received a Bachelor of Arts in Divinity.

In 1985, Saʿid Karim became a monk, and received the name 'Aphrem' in honor of the 4th-century Syriac poet-theologian Ephrem the Syrian and former patriarch Aphrem I Barsoum. He was ordained a deacon in Egypt and then elevated to priesthood later that year. From 1988 to 1989, he served as both the secretary to then patriarch, Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, and as a teacher at St Ephrem's Theological Seminary in Damascus, Syria.

In 1991, he entered St Patrick's College in Maynooth, Ireland and received a Licentiate of Sacred Theology (1992) and a Doctor of Divinity (1994). His doctoral thesis was titled The Symbolism of the Cross in early Syriac Christianity.