On November 9, 2018, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II visited St. Mary Knanaya Church in Sharjah, U.A.E.

He was accompanied by their Eminences: Mor Osthatheos Ishaq, Metropolitan of Mylapore and Delhi and Patriarchal Vicar in the U.A.E., Mor Barthelmaus Nathanael Youssef, Patriarchal Vicar in the UAE and the Arabain Gulf, Mor Gregorios Joseph, Metropolitan of Cochin, Mor Severius Kuriakose, Chief Metropolitan of the Knanaya Archdiocese, Mor Philoxenus Mattias Nayis, Patriarchal Vicar in Germany, Mor Clemis Daniel Kourieh, Metropolitan of Beirut, and Mor Timotheos Matthew.

A great crowd of clerics and faithful received His Holiness on his first apostolic visit to the church in the U.A.E.