The terrorist was stopped by security guards outside an event in the Christian city of Al-Qamishli which was commemorating 100 years since the mass killing of tens of thousands of Syrian believers in 1915 by the Ottoman Empire.
The man then blew himself up, killing himself and three guards, while also injuring five others.
Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II was not hurt.
According to the Daily Express, he said after the attempt on his life: "I would like see Christians remaining here in their homeland of their ancestors.
"The blood of our martyrs has been mixed with the soil of this land, Bethnahrin for many centuries."
