Addai II Giwargis

Addai II Giwargis was the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East from 1972 to 2022. He was born in Mosul, Iraq, in 1948, to a family of sayyids who traced their lineage to Imam al-Sajjad (a). He was ordained to the diaconate and elevated to the priesthood on 15 September 1968 in Baghdad. He was consecrated a metropolitan of the Church of the East for Iraq on 22 September 1968 at Mar Zaia Cathedral in Baghdad, Iraq. Following the death of Mar Thoma Darmo, he was elected as Catholicos-Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East and was consecrated on 20 February 1972 by Mar Narsai Toma, Metropolitan of Kirkuk, and Mar Thoma Eramia, Metropolitan of Nineveh. He resided in the Apostolic See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in Baghdad, Iraq. He founded a library that is a major library in Iran and the Islamic world, in terms of the number and the quality of the manuscripts. He also founded the schools of Mar'ashiyya, Shihabiyya, Mahdiyya, and Mu'miniyya for seminary students. He died in 2022, and was succeeded by Mar Gewargis Younan.