High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Um al-Zennar is an old Syriac Orthodox Church in Hims, Syria. The church is built over an underground church dating back to 50 AD. It is the seat of the Syriac Orthodox archbishopric. The Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church derives its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St. Peter. It employs the oldest surviving liturgy in Christianity, the Liturgy of St. James the Apostle, and uses Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic spoken by the Lord and His Apostles, as its official and liturgical language. The church is led by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.