Yohanna Ibrahim

Yohanna Ibrahim (Arabic: يوحنا إبراهيم) also Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim (Syriac: ܓܪܝܓܘܪܝܘܣ ܐܒܪܗܡ ܝܘܚܢܢ | Griḡoryos Abrohom Yohannon), born August 18, 1948, is the Syriac Orthodox archbishop of Aleppo. He was kidnapped on April 22, 2013, along with Paul (Yazigi), the Greek Orthodox metropolitan of Aleppo.^[1]

Life

Ibrahim was born on August 18, 1948, in Qamishly, Syria. He studied Ecclesiastical Studies and Canon Law at the Pontifical Oriental Institute (Roma Istituto Orientale) in Rome from 1973 to 1976. He became a monk in 1973, a deacon in 1976, a priest in 1976, and a bishop in 1979. In 1988 he established the Al Raha Mardin Publishing House in Aleppo.^[2]

Ibrahim received degrees from St. Ephrem Theological Seminary in Zahle Lebanon, the Oriental Institute in Rome, and the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. He received a PhD from Birmingham University in the UK. The title of his dissertation was “Christian Arabs in Mesopotamia before Islam.” Before he became a bishop in Syria, Ibrahim had positions in Iraq, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, and Lebanon. He was on the committees of many religious boards, including the Global Christian Forum, the executive committee of the Middle East Council of Churches, and the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.^[3]^[4]

Kidnapping

Ibrahim disappeared in 2013 while traveling with Boulos Yazigi to negotiate the release of two kidnapped priests, Fathers Michael Kayyal and Maher Mahfouz.^[5] It is believed the kidnappers were Chechen.^[6] In March 2019, a Lebanese newspaper reported that Syrian democrats were negotiating for his release from ISIS.^[7]

The Middle East Council of Churches declared April 22 as "The Ecumenical Day for the Abducted and the Forcibly Absented” in honor of the abducted bishop John Ibrahim, in a joint statement from the Syriac Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Patriarchates of Antioch.^[8]