Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church Ignatios Ephrem II arrived in Bengaluru on Thursday morning to a rousing reception by the State Karnataka and members of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church.
The Patriarch will be a guest of Karnataka and Kerala.
Joseph Mar Gregorios, metropolitan trustee of the Jacobite Orthodox Church, and other senior Church leaders were present at the airport. The Patriarch will attend programmes in the Bengaluru diocese of the Jacobite Church and will meet Karnataka government representatives during his stay in the city.
He will reach Kerala on February 1 to take part in programmes in Malabar, Kozhikode and Thrissur dioceses. Later, he will reach the headquarters of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church at Puthen Cruz on February 3 where he will be received by Church leaders including Catholicos Baselios Thomas I.
The patriarch will travel to Manjanikkara Dayara on February 4 and later in the day participate in the golden jubilee celebrations of the ordination as bishop of the Catholicos at Puthencruz.
The patriarch will meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram before his return to Lebanon.
