The History of Syriac Dioceses, by the late Patriarch Afram I of Antioch and all the East, is a synopsis of a much larger study still in manuscript form. This selected portion of this history, published for the first time in English translation (volume 1) with the original Arabic text (volume 2), offers the reader an in-depth treatment of the conditions of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It also depicts the literary and spiritual contributions of Fathers of this church during that period. The detrimental schism that resulted when a group of Syrians decided to follow the Church of Rome is covered. In addition, the relations of the Syrian Church to the church in Malabar in southern India are portrayed, as well as the hardship the Syrian Fathers faced in affirming their ecclesiastical authority in that part of India. The History of the Syrian Dioceses should be of great interest to students of the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth century.

Patriarch Ignatius Aphram Barsoum (1887-1957) was born in Iraq and studied many languages, including Syriac, Arabic, French, and Turkish. He taught at the Deir al-Za’faran monastery before being consecrated Bishop of Syria and eventually Patriarch of Antioch. Known as both a churchman and a scholar, he wrote several published works, including the present volume.