International conference explores Syriac Christianity

A two-day conference entitled “Syriac Christianity at the Crossroads of Cultures” gathered researchers from all over the world at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome last week.

Both Mar Gewargis III, Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, and Cardinal Louis Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, participated in the opening session of the conference commemorating the 700^th Anniversary of Abdisho of Nisibis.

Professor Sebastian Brock from the Oxford University spoke at the conference. One of his most known books is “The luminous eye”, and he explained to Vatican News what Ephrem the Syrian meant by this quote of his.

“Just as the physical eye needs light to see. The heart needs light to understand the divine. That light is the faith, the interior eye of the heart. The luminous eye is a human capacity of seeing the divine in symbols. The stronger the connection between the person and the Holy Spirit is, the more you notice the divine in mystery and symbols everywhere.”