In the frame of his pastoral visit to Sweden, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew visited the Saint Ephrem Cathedral of the Syrian-Aramean Church in the district of Södertälje on 29 September 2019, where he was received by Mor Dioscoros Benyamin Atas (Patriarchal-Vicar of Sweden), Mor Philoxenus Yusuf Cetin (Archbishop and Patriarchal-Vicar of Istanbul and Ankara), priests and a large number of Syrian Orthodox faithful. The Ecumenical Patriarch delivered a homily, prayed and paid respect for the Syriac Martyrs of Sayfo. A reception followed in his honor.

There are approximately 150,000 Assyrians in Sweden. With the majority of them being believers of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, their patriarch appointed the first priest in Södertälje in 1971.