Mar Aprem, Metropolitan of the Assyrian Church of the East, has been elected Locums Tenens (caretaker) of the Patriarchal Throne following the death of the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV.
Mar Aprem is based in Thrissur. Mar Dinkha IV died at a hospital in Minnesota on Thursday at the age of 79. He had assumed office in 1976.
The Assyrian Church of the East issued a statement: “His Holiness had dedicated his entire life, to serving our Lord and our Holy Church. All his life he worked hard to be a spiritual father to us all. Heaven has welcomed him today and may he rest in peace.”
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According to the Vatican Radio, the Assyrian Church of the East was separated from the rest of the Christian world when it refused to accept the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon in the fifth century, but under Mar Dinkha IV the Church has been very active in the ecumenical movement, and together with Pope St. John Paul II, signed the Common Christological Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church on November 11, 1994, and has signed several other statements, both with the Vatican, and the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Mar Dinkha IV had visited Thrissur in 2010 to participate in the synod of the Assyrian Church. — Special Correspondent