Early Life and Studies
Iwas was born on 21 April 1933 in Mosul, Iraq. He completed his elementary studies at the school of Our Lady's Parish and was transferred to St. Thomas Syriac Orthodox Church School, both in Mosul. In 1946, he began his theological studies in the city's Mor Ephrem seminary. At the seminary, his birth name was replaced by the name Zakka. There, in 1948, he was ordained as a deacon with the rank of Reader. In the year 1953, he was promoted to the rank of half-deacon. The following year saw Iwas take monastic vows. He left Mosul at that time to become secretary to the patriarchs, Afram Barsoum and then Ya`qub III. In 1955 he was promoted to the rank of deacon.
On 17 November 1957, Patriarch Ya`qub III ordained Iwas a priest and, two years later, gave him the pectoral cross as rabban. In 1960, Iwas pursued further study in New York. There, he studied oriental languages and completed a master's degree in English at City University and a further master's in pastoral theology at the General Theological Seminary.
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