| Suboro TV Syriac: ܦܪܣ ܚܙܘܐ ܕܣܘܒܪܐ | |
| Country: | Lebanon, Syria |
| Headquarters: | Lebanon |
| Languages: | Classical Syriac, Turoyo, Arabic |
| Owner: | Syriac Orthodox Church |
Suboro TV (syr|ܦܪܣ ܚܙܘܐ ܕܣܘܒܪܐ|Fros Ḥezwo d-Suboro; ar|سوبورو تي ڤي|Sūbawraw Tīwī) is a television channel owned and operated by the Syriac Orthodox Church.[1] It broadcasts in Classical Syriac, Turoyo and Arabic, and primarily covers religious topics, as well as news from within the church itself and countries in which its adherents reside in.
The name of the channel, Suboro, is derived from Classical Syriac, which is the liturgical variant of modern Neo-Aramaic dialects used by contemporary Assyrians. The word itself means "annunciation", and the pronunciation with "o" is based on the Turoyo dialect.[2] [3]
The Syriac Orthodox Church had been hoping to begin broadcasting private Syriac-rite religious programming as early as 2009.[4] The channel was created in response to increasing persecution against Syriac Orthodox Christians, as well as the threat of increasing assimilation from living outside the Assyrian homeland. Additionally, the channel was meant to serve as a purely religious channel alongside other Aramaic language programming, promoting the use of the language and awareness of culture without a specific political agenda or otherwise.
The progress of the channel was halted until the Holy Synod in 2015, and it was hoped that they would begin broadcasting by March 25th, 2018, exactly the day of the Feast of the Annunciation. The channel planned to have its first stations in Lebanon and Germany, with correspondents in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and other Syro-Orthodox communities in ther West. [5] However, the channel wouldn't officially launch until a year later in 2019, when its headquarters were officially inaugurated.[6] The ceremony was attended by Aram I, the Armenian Apostolic Catholicos of the Grand House of Cecilia, and Ignatius Joseph III Younan, Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church. In a speech during the ceremony, the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Ignatius Aphrem II, proclaimed "The Voice of Antioch" had been launched for the whole world, and congratulated the team behind the channel on their successful launch.[7]
In March 2022, the channel began officially broadcasting from Qamishli, on the occasion of the Feast of the Annunciation.[8] Mor Aphrem II attended an inauguration ceremony online and congratulated the team behind the studio, expressing his hope that the opening of the channel would continue to help spread Christian religious programming to the people of the city. Two years later, in June 2024, Mor Aphrem II participated in a ceremony inaugurating new studios for the channel in Aleppo, attended by many archbishops of the church.[9]
In tandem with its mission, the channel also took part in the "Syriac Content Creators" festival in Ankawa, hosted by the organization Mardutha in 2022.[10]
The Syriac Orthodox Church outlined the mission of Suboro TV as follows: