Archives and Documents
On the 18th of March, 2016, work started at the Archives and Documents division, in the Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East for the Syriac Orthodox Church, at Mor Aphrem Monastery in Ma‘arrat Saydnaya, Syria. The Patriarchal Archives division has many documents that go far in the history of the Patriarchate.
The most important collections in this division are:
- The complete letters of Patriarch Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas (1980-2014).
- The complete letters of Patriarch Mor Ignatius Yacoub III (1957-1980).
- The complete letters of Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum (1933-1957).
- Some letters of Mor Ignatius Elias III (1917-1932).
- Some letters of Mor Ignatius Abdallah II (1906-1915)
- Some letters of Mor Ignatius AbdelMassih II (1895-1905).
- Some letters of Mor Ignatius Boutros IV (1872- 1894).
- Some letters of Mor Ignatius Yacoub II (1847- 1871).
- Some letters of Mor Ignatius Elias II (1838-1847).
- Decrees and firmans from the Ottoman Empire.
- Documents and letters from Archdeacon Ni‘matallah Dinno.
- Documents and Records from Syriac Seminaries.
- Documents and Records of Syriac monks and nuns.
- The Spiritual Court
- Local newspapers.
These days, work is going on collecting documents and archives, and cataloguing, classifying, coding, preserving, maintaining and organizing their use. This is done by implementing the regulations on their usage. The two plans of classification and coding are done in order to establish a unified guide for the documents and archives.
Future Projects
Sterilization
The aim of sterilizing the documents and archives is to kill insects, worms, tiny living things and fungi that exist in documents, to stop its activities, so they become safe to deal with.
Restoration
The aim is to preserve the documents, give them long life, and keep their natural shape. This takes place in a few steps:
-Cleaning the documents and taking away dirt and dust that stick to them by special devices.
-Chemical treatments needed, like taking away acidity by using suitable solutions, and what accompany them of strengthening and softening papers, which, if left untreated and in bad preserving levels, may destroy the documents.
– Treating tears and wears, breaks and decrements in the documents, by using the newest devices and materials required.