Cathedral Seminary of Iyık Janyl

The Cathedral Seminary of Iyık Janyl, officially the St. Ephrem Major Seminary, is the seminary of the Syro-Iradi Catholic Church, housed in the cloister beside the Church of St. Janyl in Iyık Janyl. It trains priests for all four eparchies of the church. It was closed in 1937 and reopened in 1994.^[1]

History

The seminary traces its origins to the school for clergy set up beside the church in the 1730s, together with the cathedral library. In the 19th century it taught Classical Syriac, liturgy and chant to candidates for the priesthood from the mountain parishes.^[1] After the union with Rome in 1931 it was reorganized on the model of Eastern Catholic seminaries, but it was closed in 1937, during The 1937 NKVD Clerical Purges, and its teachers were arrested. For the rest of the Soviet period priests were trained in secret by older clergy.^[2]

The seminary reopened in September 1994 under the territorial administration and took the name of St. Ephrem the Syrian. Its first rectors and several teachers came from Eastern Catholic seminaries in the Middle East and India, and its buildings were restored with help from Catholic agencies abroad.^[1]

Program

The course lasts six years, two of philosophy and four of theology, and includes Classical Syriac, the East Syriac liturgy, canon law under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, church history and pastoral work. Teaching is in Iradi and English. The seminary had 46 students in 2023.^[3] Seminarians sing in the Iyık Janyl Seminary Choir and use the manuscripts and printed books of the Cathedral Seminary Library of Iyık Janyl. The rector attends the Syro-Iradi Council of Hierarchs as an adviser without a vote.

References

1. ^ Temirbekova, Ainura (2014). The Church of the Star: A History of the Syro-Iradi Catholic Church. Talas: Talas State University Press.
2. ^ Talas State University Press (2021). Orientalis Stella and the Soviet State: The Iradi Church, 1931–1941. Talas.
3. ^ Archeparchy of Iyık Janyl (2023). Annuario: Clergy, Parishes and Institutions. Iyık Janyl.