In June and July of 2004 the Archbishop Dionysius Behnam Jajjawi was in the area to preserve some of the chants from the Liturgy of his Aramaic church. This was a project brought together through the fund raising efforts of Peggy Hegbar, of Ohio, and using the recording expertise of Anahata Iradah a dance leader from the Seattle area who has become an international powerhouse for creating, recording and fostering Dances of Universal Peace. i first managed to catch up with him at the Whidbey Island last Sunday monthly dance circle on June 27th. Where Hayra Fatah and Michael were leading. This group shot was actually taken by both Peggy Hegbar (upper right) and i (upper left) ... who are both in the image, the miracles of Photoshop;) Click to see more images of that dance event (in higher resolution).
 A week later on July 7th Anahata led dances at the regular Wednesday dances at Keystone in Seattle. In this picture we see the Archbishop giving us information on the relatedness of the words for peace in Aramaic and other languages on the chart behind him. Click on through for more pics, in higher resolution. This time Anahata was with him leading the dances with the support of many of our best local leaders and musicians, many of whom knew Anahata when she was a regular leader in Seattle.
After the recordings, and the public Seattle events, the Archbishop continued on with Peggy and Anahata to Ohio where this web site lists some of their public events and gives some historical information of the origins of the Aramaic Church with St James. His church and monastery still occupy the original Cathedral where the Last Supper was held and the house where St Luke and Mary lived.
Neil Douglas Klotz, the foremost scholar of the Aramaic teachings in the Dance community also has a web page. He met the Archbishop and gives additional information on the significance of the church and of Jajjawi's efforts towards peace, quoting him: "My friends, the Middle East has too much religion, not enough spirituality."
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