Overview
This course is aimed primarily at young servants in the Syrian Orthodox Church’s two youth associations in Sweden, SOKU and SOUF. The overall purpose of the course is to offer young servants of SOKU and SOUF an opportunity to both deepen their theoretical and practical knowledge of their Church’s teaching and life, and to develop their ability to reflect on, explain and talk about what they have learned. This course consists of four modules:
Module 1, Sources of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, which deals with the ways in which tradition has been expressed through history, that is, through the scriptures, the Church Fathers, liturgy and Church law;
Module 2, Church History and Faith, which addresses the Syrian Orthodox Church’s history and faith in relation to developments in the early Church, with a special focus on Antioch.
Module 3, Patristics, which focuses on significant Church Fathers of the Syriac tradition in five particular eras, namely, the apostolic, pre-Chalcedonian, post-Chalcedonian, post-Islamic and the present;
Module 4, Liturgy, which addresses important aspects of the liturgical life of the Syrian Orthodox Church, that is, the mystery of baptism, chrismation and the Eucharist, as well as the daily prayers (Šḥimo) and the prayers of the Church year (Fanqitho och Mʿadʿdono)
Goals
At the end of the course students should be able to:
- Describe and reflect on the early church and the emergence of the Syriac tradition, as well as the context in which it emerged.
- Understand and reflect on the fathers’ theological contribution to the Syrian tradition
- Demonstrate basic knowledge and understanding of the liturgical life of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch
- Together with others, reflect on the challenges and opportunities of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Sweden and in the future.
- Identify the most important sources of the Syrian tradition.
