Invited by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church visited Hungary from January 10-13, 2017. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán received the Patriarch on January 12, who also met the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó, moreover, gave a lecture in the main auditorium of Pázmány Péter Catholic University. Besides his official meetings, he visited the Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, where Director Miklós Maróth introduced him to the next generation of Hungarian orientalists and placed a special emphasis on our researchers who study the Syrian language. The Patriarch was accompanied by Tamás Török, head of the EMMI Deputy State Secretariat for the Aid of Persecuted Christians, and Bertalan Kiss, Head of Department. Before leaving, Beatitude Ignatius Joseph III Younan received publications of our Institute on Christian Arabic literature, namely the volumes of the Orientalia Christiana Periodica, as a gift.

Other news on the visit can be read on the following links:

http://www.magyarkurir.hu/hirek/orban-viktor-fogadta-szir-katolikus-egyhaz-vezetojet
http://www.magyarkurir.hu/hirek/szir-katolikus-patriarka-budapesten-egy-drama-kozepen-elnek-kozel-keleti-keresztenyek