The final day of the Symposium Syriacum offered a representative overview of the vitality of Syriac studies and of the communities and faiths that sustain this field of scientific inquiry.
The morning plenary session was led by Professor Alberto Rigolio (Durham University), who traced the evolution of one of the most representative literary forms of the Syriac tradition, highlighting the role of the poetic homily in the development of Christian theology, spirituality, and culture in the East.
Over the course of the day, the four parallel sessions of debates addressed a variety of topics, ranging from archival and documentary heritage to expressions of faith, the reception of the Bible in different cultural contexts, epigraphy, and manuscript history. Other presentations explored the memory of Syriac communities, the intellectual traditions of Arab Christianity, the circulation of texts between East and West, as well as the dynamics of religious and cultural identities in the context of the modern world. Research on early Arabic printing, the Maronite heritage in Cyprus, and the Syriac legacy in India and China also illustrated the geographical reach and diversity of expression within this tradition.
One particular highlight of the day was the plenary lecture delivered by Professor Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris), devoted to the work of Syriac copyists and engravers whose manuscripts and inscriptions represent one of the most important sources for understanding the history of Eastern Christianity and the circulation of texts throughout the Mediterranean and Asia today.
The Congress' closing session saw the presentation of this year's edition most important conclusions, as well as the announcement of the 2030 host for the next edition of the Symposium Syriacum: Tokyo.
Following five days of intense academic dialogue, the World Congress of Syriac Studies and International Conference of Christian Arab Studies conference reaffirmed their status as the most important international scholarly forum dedicated to Syriac studies and Eastern Christianity, bringing together scholars from around the world to explore a cultural and spiritual heritage of exceptional value.
In having organized this year's edition of the Symposium Syriacum, Romania and the Levant Institute of Advanced Studies for the Culture of Peace, for a few days, became the home of global research dedicated to Syriac Christianity and to the Christian traditions of the Near and Middle East. At the same time, the opportunity to have hosted this important event represents an official recognition of the Romanian academic community's contribution to the development of Syriac studies and to contemporary research into Eastern Christianity.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all institutional partners, collaborators, and volunteers who contributed to the success of this international conference through their professionalism, dedication, and support. We would also like to thank all the professors and researchers who took part in the proceedings of the Congress and Conference, and chose to share their important research. It is our hope that their experience in Romania provided them not only with the opportunity for fruitful scholarly dialogue, but also with the memory of a warm welcome and a collaboration that we hope will continue in the future.
The entire team of the Levant Institute of Advanced Studies for the Culture of Peace is honoured to have successfully organized this seminal conference, chaired by the Institute's Director-general, Dr Cătălin-Ștefan Popa – and, in so doing, building upon the "Levant Initiative for Global Peace," the initiative that laid the foundation for the Institute's establishment, launched in 2011 by the Chair of its Scientific Council, Emeritus Professor Emil Constantinescu.
