Ignatius Elias III

St. Ignatius Elias III (Syriac: ܐܝܓܢܛܝܘܣ ܐܠܝܐܣ ܬܠܝܬܝܐ, born Nasri, 13 October 1867 – 13 February 1932) was the 119th Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1917 until his death in 1932.

He is known for his visit to Malankara to resolve the dispute between the two factions of the Malankara church. He died before he could complete his mission and was buried in outside the St. Stephen's church in Majnikkara. He was canonised as a saint by Ignatius Zakka I in 1987.

Elias was ordained priest in 1892 by Peter IV along with Osthatheos Saleeba. And during the Massacres of Diyarbakır in 1895, Elias gave refuge to approximately 7000 Armenian refugees in the Monastery of Mor Quryaqos. After this, Elias was appointed Chief of the Monastery of Mor Quryaqos and Monastery of Mor Hananyo. In 1908, Elias was consecrated bishop of Amid by Patriarch Ignatius Abded Aloho II, upon which he took the name Iwanius.

In 1912, he was transferred to Mosul where he served until his elevation to the patriarchate in 1917. After the death of the Patriarch Abded Aloho II in 1915, Mor Iwanius was elected patriarch and assumed the throne in 1917. The decree was issued by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI and was confirmed in Elias' visit to Constantinople in 1919, during which he also received the Ismania medal. Elias travelled extensively in 1919 to visit surviving Syriac Orthodox communities in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Assyrian genocide. As a result of the end of the Turkish War of Independence in 1922, Elias was forced to flee the traditional patriarchal residence at the Monastery of Mor Hananyo to Jerusalem where he resided for three months.

In 1919, Elias III sent a delegation to the Paris Peace Conference with a list of requests to engage in foreign relations. When the Turkish Republic was formed, Elias III extended his loyalty to safeguard the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate in Turkey. Later, It was removed by the Republic citing it as a "potential threat".

During this time Elias established a printing press for the church, and in 1925, Elias travelled to Aleppo and Mosul to establish printing presses there also.

Despite failing to end the schism, Elias remained in India until February 1932 when he died at the Church of St. Ignatius Monastery Manjinikkara on 13 February. The remains of the patriarch were interred in St. Ignatius Monastery Manjinikkara.

55 years after his death, in 1987, his successor Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I officially declared him a saint. His feast day is observed on 13 February. He ordained nine bishops in the period from 1923 to 1927 Severus Aphram Barsoum (1918–1933). Metropolitan of Syria and Lebanon. Later, he was elected as Ignatius Aphrem I, the 120th Patriarch of Syriac Orthodox Church (1933–1957). Gregorios Gabriel (1923). Metropolitan of Jerusalem Clement Yuhanna Abaji (1923–1949). Metropolitan of Mor Mattai Monastery then moved to few other dioceses Iwanis Yuhanna Kandur (1923). Metropolitan for the Patriarchale Office. Later, in 1933, he was appointed as Metropolitan of Beirut and Damascus. Julius Elias (1923). Eccumenical Metropolitan Timothy Thomas (1923). Metropolitan of Tur Abdin Dionysius Michael (1926). Metropolitan of Kottayam-Malabar, India Dioscuros Thomas (1926). Metropolitan of Knanaya Archdiocese, India. Cyril Michael (1926). Metropolitan of the Patriarchal Office Timotheos Augin (1926). Metropolitan in Kandanad, Malabar, India