Mar Aprem is the Metropolitan of the Assyrian (Chaldean) Church of the East in India. Aprem (formerly George Mooken) was born in Thrissur, Kerala, India, on 13 June 1940. Educated in India, England and America, he specialised in Church History. He served as President of the Church History Association of India between 1976 and 1982.He studied at Leonard Theological College,Jabalpur for B.D. He gained master’s degrees in Church History from the United Theological College, Bangalore (1966) and from the Union Theological Seminary, New York (1967). He studied at the Princeton Theological Seminary, U.S.A. for a Doctor of Theology degree when he was consecrated Bishop in Baghdad, Iraq in 1968. He earned his D.Th. degree in 1976 from Serampore University. Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam granted a Ph.D. degree in Syriac Studies to him in 2002..