A television channel born to serve «the glory of God and the growth of the Holy Church» is the challenging and high-sounding business card with which Suboro TV was presented, Fides News Agency reported on March 27, 2019. It is the new television channel of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, whose Lebanese headquarters was opened on Monday 25 March, on the day of the Marian liturgical solemnity of the Annunciation of Lord. «Suboro» is the Syriac word that also indicates the Annunciation of the Angel to Mary. And the Christian solemnity of the Annunciation is celebrated in the Middle East – especially in Lebanon – even by many Muslims.
The inauguration of the TV network site culminated with the blessing of the television studios by Ignatios Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch of the Syro-Orthodox. The inaugural ceremony was also attended by Aram I, the Armenian Apostolic Catholicos of the Grand House of Cilicia, and Ignace Youssif III Younan, Patriarch of Antioch of the Syro-Catholics. The inauguration ceremony also included a presentation of the show schedules of the new television network.
Patriarch Ignatios Aphrem II, in his inaugural speech, emphasized that Suboro TV «Voice of Antioch», will have the task of «spreading the good news that the Lord Jesus called his disciples to bring to the whole world, the good news of salvation of men, the authenticity of our spiritual heritage, apostolic see established by St. Peter in Antioch.» Suboro TV will dedicate particular space to news on the activities of the Churches around the world.
The first proposal to create a television network connected to the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate had already emerged during the Synod of the Syro-Orthodox Church in 2009 and was re-launched during the Synod of 2015. The Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, while acknowledging that many Syriac television networks already exist, wanted to inspire the birth of a new TV channel as a broadcaster directly connected with the Church, and not attributable to partial political visions or agendas of single groups and Syriac acronyms. The initial project of Suboro TV includes the opening of television studios also in Germany, the presence of correspondents in Syria, Iraq, Turkey and at the most substantial communities of the Syro-Orthodox diaspora scattered in the West.
