Dr. Dahlia Khay Azeez (Center for Eastern Studies-Iraq)

The Creed Confessed by Gīwargīs Wardā

In the Wardā Collection, there are two hymns attributed to the poet Gīwargīs Wardā, who might have lived in the 12th century. These are meant to be sung on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, and both are indicated to be about faith or the creed (ܥܲܠ ܗܲܝܡܵܢܘܼܬܼܵܐ). This paper aims to examine these two hymns and compare them with the text of the Nicene Creed, as well as the creeds found in the Synodicon Orientale and the texts of Church fathers. It will be demonstrated that the hymns can be considered a poetical text of the Creed. Still, some additions were made by the poet to further elaborate his faith. While the first hymn is closer to the Nicene Creed, the second focuses on certain topics, such as incarnation and theopaschism. Still, both hymns were used to confess faith, and were written to fit the 7-syllable meter and alphabetic acrostic style.

Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Dahlia Khay Azeez was born in Baghdad in 1981. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Al-Mansour University College, Baghdad (2005) and, in 2012, she obtained a diploma from the Baghdad Centre for Eastern Studies, established by the Redemptorist Fathers. She was then encouraged by Redemptorist Father Vincent Van Vossel to continue her research at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Systematic Theology. In 2022, she achieved her PhD at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, under the supervision of Prof. Herman Teule. Since 2016, she has been teaching at the Baghdad Centre for Eastern Studies, lecturing on the Theology and Modern history of the Church of the East, the Syriac Renaissance period, as well as Eastern and Western Church Fathers. In 2023, she was invited to teach a course on “Syriac Church Fathers” at the Babel College in Erbil. In 2024, she started teaching online courses on “Eastern and Western Church Fathers” at the Dominican University (DOMUNI).

Publications and Works

- “A Hymn on the Birth of Christ by Giwargis Warda,” Najm al-Mashriq 48 (2006): 470–75. - “A Hymn on the Resurrection by Khamis Bar Qardahe (13th Century),” Najm al-Mashriq 49 (2007): 43–47. - “Advices and proverbs by Eliya of Anbar (10th Century),” Najm al-Mashriq 50 (2007): 175–80. - “Theology of Refugees,” in Liturgy from Below: Popular Liturgical Rites in the Eastern Churches, edited by Vincenzo Ruggieri, Rome: Pontifical Oriental Institute, 2017, 57–65, 338–45. - “The Schism in the Eastern Syriac Church (‘The Nestorian Church’) in the Twentieth century,” Orientalia Christiana Periodica 87 (2021): 453–93. - The Collection of Warda: A Contextual and Christological Analysis, Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2024 (Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies, 70; ISBN 978-1-4632-4589-4).