Polycarpus Eugene (Augin) Aydin

Mor Polycarpus Eugene (Augin) Aydın, born Edip Aydın, is the Metropolitan and Patriarchal Vicar for the Archdiocese of the Netherlands of the Syrian Orthodox Church, succeeding Mor Julius Yeshu Çiçek. The metropolitan seat is located at Mor Ephrem Monastery (Dayro d-Mor Ephrem) in Glane/Losser, the Netherlands.

Edip Aydin was born in the village of Gundukshukro (Gundukke d-'Ito) in the vicinity of Nisibis, the town of St. Ephrem, in the region of Tur ‘Abdin, southeast Anatolia, Turkey in 1971. After completing his elementary education in the village, he entered Mor Gabriel's Seminary in 1982 where he received training in both Syriac language and literature as well as in traditional Syriac theology and liturgy.

Following his secondary education in Turkey, Aydin earned a degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1995 at Heythrop College, University of London, United Kingdom. Next, he spent a year at the Oriental Institute of Oxford University as a Visiting Student, following the Master of Syriac Studies (M.St.) under the supervision of Dr. Sebastian Brock.In 2000 he was awarded the degree of Master of Divinity after a three-year study at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary at Crestwood, New York. The title of his thesis was The History of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch in North America: Challenges and Opportunities.

On Sunday, October 7, 2001, he was tonsured as a monk (dayroyo) by Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East at St. Ephrem's Monastery in Damascus, Syria and given the name Eugene (Augin), in honor of Mor Augin of Tur Izlo. On August 4, 2002 he was ordained to the priesthood at Mor Gabriel Monastery by Mor Timotheos Samuel Aktaş, the Archbishop of Tur ‘Abdin. Presently he is completing his Doctorate at Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, in the field of Early Church History and Ecumenics under the supervision of Professor Kathleen McVey. The subject of his dissertation is: Comparing the Syriac Order of Monastic Profession (tekso d-suforo) with the Order of Baptism (tekso da‘modo) both in External Structure and in Theological Themes.

On Sunday, April 15, 2007, the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East Moran Mor Ignatius Zaka I Iwas, consecrated Raban Eugene a Metropolitan by the name Polycarpus at the Cathedral of St. Peter & St. Paul in Ma’arrat Saydnaya, Damascus, Syria.