The Feast of St.Ignatius Elias III

Saint Ignatius Elias III was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1917 until his death in 1932.Nasri was born in 1867 in the city of Madrin, Nasri joined the Forty Martyrs Seminary, and in 1887, he joined the Monastery of Mor Hananyo near Mardin and was ordained deacon by Peter IV.Elias was ordained priest in 1892 by Peter IV, and during the Massacre of Diyarbakir in 1895, Elias gave refuge to approximately 7000 Armenian refugees in the Monastery of Mor Quryaqos.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 died in 1915, Mor Iwanius was elected Patriarch and assumed the throne in 1917.
Elias held a synod in 1930 at the Monastery of Mar Mattai, near Mosul, to restructure the organisation of the church and its dioceses. Later that year, on 1 December, Elias received a request from Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India, to help resolve a schism within the Malankara Church. Elias arrived in Malankara on 21 March and held meetings between the two factions within the church at Aluva, Karingachira, Panampady and Kuruppumpady for the remainder of the year.
Despite failing to end the schism, Elias remained in India until February 1932 when he died at the Church of St. Stephen in Manjanikkara, near Omallur on 13 February. The remains of the patriarch were interred in Manjanikkara.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.