Mar Raphael Bidawid (1922-2003) George A. Kiraz Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute George A. Kiraz James E. Walters TEI XML encoding by html2TEI.xsl Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute 2004 Vol. 7, No. 1 For this publication, a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license has been granted by the author(s), who retain full copyright. https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv7n1obbidawid George A. Kiraz Mar Raphael Bidawid (1922-2003) https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol7/HV7N1OBBidawid.pdf Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, vol 7 issue 1 Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is an electronic journal dedicated to the study of the Syriac tradition, published semi-annually (in January and July) by Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Published since 1998, Hugoye seeks to offer the best scholarship available in the field of Syriac studies. Syriac Studies Obituary Mar Raphael Bidawid File created by XSLT transformation of original HTML encoded article. OBITUARY [1] On the morning of July 7, 2003, Mar Raphael Bidawid, Patriarch of the Chaldean Church passed away in Beirut, Lebanon. The 81-year old Patriarch had been suffering for a few months from an acute health problem. The news of his death was first announced to the Syriac studies community two days later during the opening session of the North American Syriac Symposium in Princeton, NJ. The gathered scholars recalled Mar Raphael's various scholarly contributions. [2] Raphael Yousif Warda was born on April 17, 1922 in Mosul, Iraq. His parents enrolled him at the very young age of 11 in the Chaldean seminary. Shortly thereafter, in 1936, he was sent to Rome where he studied for 10 years. He was ordained a priest in 1944 and received his doctorate in 1946. The following year Fr. Raphael went back to Iraq where he served as a priest in the Chaldean Church. In 1957, he was consecrated bishop for the Amadia district, and in 1966 he was transferred to Beirut, Lebanon. [3] On May 21, 1989, Mar Raphael succeeded Mar Paulos Chekho II to the Patriarchate of the Chaldean Church, and received the Pallium from Pope John Paul II on November 9 of the same year. Mar Raphael was instrumental in the ecumenical movement, especially with relations with the Assyrian Church of the East. During his Patriarchate, he established Babylon College which became an instrumental educational institution for the Chaldean Church. [4] Mar Raphael has been succeeded by Mar Emmanuel Delly at a Synod of the Chaldean bishops in the Vatican on December 2-3, 2003.