Fr. Dr. Iskandar Bcheiry

Fr. Dr. Iskandar Bcheiry

Fr. Dr. Iskandar Bcheiry, in addition to his religious duties as a priest for St. Afrem Syriac Orthodox Church in North Lake, IL, is an accomplished scholar and church historian with many published books and academic papers. His scholarly work is focused on the Syriac Orthodox Church history, Syriac Orthodox Church theology, and studying and editing Syriac manuscripts from Late Antiquities and Medieval periods. He holds two Ph.D. degrees from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago (2019), and from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome (2005) . 

Fr. Dr. Bcheiry is our first contributor scholar

Books:

1. An Early Christian Reaction to Islam: Išū‘yhab III and the Arab Muslims. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2019.

2. Hagiography, History, and Manuscript Culture: Studies in Syriac Christianity. Kaslik: Lebanon, 2018.

3. The life and deeds of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch John, son of Say Allah 1491. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2013.

4. Collection of Historical Documents about the Syriac Orthodox Community, in the Late Period of the Ottoman Empire. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2010.

5. The List of Ecclesiastic Ordinations Belonging to the Syriac Orthodox Church, from the 16th and 17th Century. Piscataway, NJ, Gorgias Press, 2010.

6. The Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Register of Dues of 1870. Piscataway, NJ, Gorgias Press, 2009.

7. The Reorganization of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Persia in the first half of the VII Century: Historical and Critical Study (in Italian). Hackensack, NJ, O'Shea Printing, 2006.

8. Catalogue of Syriac manuscripts in Trinity College, Dublin. 2005, Lebanon.

Peer-reviewed articles:

1. “The Discourse on the Sunday of the Departed Priests by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, Cyriacus of Tikrit (793-817),” The Syriac Annals of the Romanian Academy, 5 (2025), pp. 121-148.

2. “Syriac Witness to the Sermon on the New Sunday by Proclus of Constantinople/ Hom 13,” Parole de l’Orient 51 (2025), pp. 283-300.

3. “Syriac Orthodox in Diyarbakir Vilayet, 1890s: Church Leadership Structure in an Ottoman Turkish Document,” The International Journal of Levant Studies 6 (2024), 73-88.

4. “The Ethiopians of Jerusalem through the letter of the Coptic Patriarch John XIII (1484-1524), to Emperor Na’od of Ethiopia (1494-1508)” in Oriens Christianus 107 (2024), pp. 103-126.

5. “A Syriac Orthodox List of Diyāqūs (Servants of the Church) from the Late Ottoman Period,” in The International Journal of Levant Studies 5 (2023), pp. 25-74.

6. “Response to Matteo Poiani,” in Orientalia Christiana Periodica 90 (2024), pp. 247-249.

7. “An unpublished Syriac Witness to the Discourse of Timothy the Presbyter on Simeon, the Elder and the Presentation of the Lord into the Temple,” The Syriac Annals of the Romanian Academy, 4 (2024), pp. 65-102.

8. “The Syriac Chronicle of 819: OIM Syr. A 12003-A 12006,” in Oriens Christianus 106, (2023), pp. 15-55.

9. “A Letter from the Coptic Patriarch John XIII (1484-1524) to King Nā’ūd of Ethiopia (1494-1508),” in The International Journal of Levant Studies 4 (2023), pp. 51-80.

10. “Shedding Light on the Syriac Community in the Hattākh/Lice district, Northeast Province of Diyarbakir,” The Syriac Annals of the Romanian Academy, 3 (2023), pp. 137-205.

11. “Nestorius of Constantinople | Islam,” in In Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, vol. 21.  Edited by Constance M. Furey, Joel Marcus LeMon, Thomas Chr. Römer, Jens Schröter, Barry Dov Walfish and Eric Ziolkowski. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2023, pp. 182-183.

12. “West-Syriac Synodal Decrees of Callinicos 818: The Syriac Fragment of Oim 12001,” in Journal of Syriac Studies [http://syrcom.cua.edu/syrcom/Hugoye] vol. 26.1 (2023), pp. 3-45.

13. “A Late Nineteenth-Century Survey-report of Christian Religious Sites in Ṭūrʿabdīn,” Oriens Christianus 105 (2022), pp. 36-61.

14. “Rumkale in Syriac Medieval Sources” in Scott Redford, ed. Rumkale from the Medieval to the Present (Gaziantep: Turkish Archeology and Cultural Heritage Institute, 2023).

15. “A Metrical Life of Jacob of Serugh by Sa‘īd bar Ṣabūnī,” The Syriac Annals of the Romanian Academy, 2 (2022), pp. 43-121.

16. “Swaying between Monasticism and Laity: Re-shaping the Character of Severus of Antioch in his Biography written by Patriarch Kyriacos of Tikrit (d. 817)” Studia Patristica 124 (2021), 167-180.

17. “A Copybook of Correspondence from the Late Period of Mameluke Rule in the Coptic Patriarchal Library in Cairo,” Oriens Christianus, 104 (2021), pp. 187-207.

18. “Unpublished Homily on the Holy Chrism from the ninth or tenth century,” The Syriac Annals of the Romanian Academy, 1 (2020-2021), pp. 79-94.

19. “A Record of Episcopal Sees of the Patriarchate of Antioch known as Notitia Antiochena,” Oriens Christianus, 103 (2020), pp. 1-27.

20. “West-Syriac Synodal Canon Decisions from the Eighth Century: the Syriac Fragment of OIM Syr. A12002r,” Oriens Christianus, 102 (2019), pp. 1-16.

21. “Shedding Light on the History and Identity of the Syriac Monastic Complex in Ṣīr Banī Yās (United Arab Emirates),” Parole de l’Orient 45 (2019), pp. 39-65.

22. “Database of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Archives in Dayr al-Za’farān,” ATLA Proceedings 72 (2018), pp. 50-61.

23. “Preliminary Checklist of Uncatalogued Arabic Manuscripts in the Mekhitarist Monastery of San Lazzaro, Venice, Italy.” Parole de l’Orient 44 (2018), pp. 37-70.

24. “Relational Database of Syriac and Arabic Historical Registers,” ATLA Proceedings 71 (2017), pp. 32-38.

25. “The Birth of the Institution of the Mafrianate in the Syriac Orthodox Church in the first half of the Seventh Century” (in Italian), in Emidio Vergani ed., The Religious and Cultural Heritage of Western Syrians in the 6th-9th Centuries: Atti del 6 Incontro sull’Oriente Cristiano di Tradizione Siriaca (Milano: Centro Ambrosiano, 2012).

26. “The Arabization Process in Upper Mesopotamia in the Eighth Century A.D.: The Case of the Mosulis in the Chronicle of Zuqnin,” Parole de l’Orient 35 (2010), pp. 1-19.

27. “Repentance and Fasting from an Ascetical Perspective: A Comparative Reading of Jacob of Sarug and an Unpublished Shortened Version of a Collection of Homilies by Severus of Antioch,” in George Kiraz, ed., Jacob of Sarug and His Times, Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies 8 (Piscataway, N.J: Gorgias Press, 2010).

28. “The Syriac Community in Batman and its Vicinity According to the Archives of the Ecclesiastical Consecrations Conserved in the Church of Forty Martyrs in Mardin, Southeast of Turkey,” in Adnan Cevik ed., I. Uluslararası Batman ve Çevresi Tarih ve Kültür Sempozyumu Bildiriler, c.1 (Istanbul, 2009), pp. 410-418.

29. “The Syriac Manuscripts in New York Public Library,” Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies [http://syrcom.cua.edu/syrcom/Hugoye] vol. 11, no. 2 (2008).

30. “I Canoni di Mor Mattay 629,” Parole de l’Orient 33 (2008), pp. 233-244.

31. “Due Patriarchi Siri-Ortodossi Consacrati in Egitto?” Parole de l’Orient 31 (2006), pp. 257-267.

32. “Lettera del Patriarca Copto Giovanni XIII al Patriarca Siro Noé Libanese,” Parole de l’Orient 30 (2005), pp. 383-409.

33. “A list of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchs between the 16th and 18th Century,” Parole de l’Orient 29 (2004), pp. 211-261.

34. “L’attività Siro-Ortodossa nel Monte Libano nella seconda metà del XV secolo,”  Parole de l’Orient 28 (2003), pp. 609-658.