The Syriac Orthodox Church , also known as the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with diaspora spread throughout the world, notably in Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom. It claims to employ the oldest surviving liturgy in Christianity, the Liturgy of St. James the Apostle, with Syriac as its official and liturgical language. The church is led by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Aphrem II since 2014.