Neophytos Edelby

Néophytos Edelby BA (born November 10, 1920 Aleppo , Syria , † June 10, 1995 ) was Archbishop of Aleppo of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church .

Life

Elias (baptismal name) was the eldest of six children of Abdallah Edelby and the Armenian Lucie Battouk. After first schooling with the Franciscans in Aleppo, at the age of twelve he switched to the Aleppine Basilians , with whom he took monastic vows in 1936 and received the religious name Néophytos. Then studied at the seminary of St. Anne the White Fathers in Jerusalem. On July 20, 1944, he was ordained a priest of the Aleppine Basilians ( abbreviation : BA). In 1946 he went to Rome for further studies at the Lateran University, where he received his doctorate in 1950 as a Doctor iuris utriusque has been. In the following years he worked as a professor at St. Anne from 1950 to 1953, from 1953 to 1959 for the Aleppine Basilians in Lebanon and from 1959 as a personal assistant to Patriarch Maximos IV Sayegh .

Auxiliary Bishop in the Patriarchate of Antioch

Néophytos Edelby received on December 5, 1961 the appointment as auxiliary bishop in the Melkite Patriarchate of Antioch , which was confirmed on December 24, 1961 with the simultaneous appointment as titular archbishop of Edessa in Osrhoëne dei Greco-Melkiti . The Patriarch of Antioch Archbishop Maximos IV Sayegh donated him episcopal ordination on February 25, 1962 . Edelby attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965 .

Archbishop of Aleppo

On March 6, 1968, Neophytos Edelby was appointed Archbishop of Aleppo and served in this office until his death on June 10, 1995. During his tenure, he assisted as co-consecrator at:

• Archbishop Nicolas Hajj SDS titular Archbishop of Damiata dei Greco-Melkiti (Auxiliary Bishop of Antioch)
• Archbishop Boutros Raï BA, titular Archbishop of Edessa in Osrhoëne dei Greco-Melkiti (Auxiliary Bishop of Antioch)
• Bishop Guerino Dominique Picchi OFM as Titular Bishop of Sebaste in Palestine ( Vicar Apostolic of Aleppo )
• Archbishop Michel Yatim as Archbishop of Latakia in Syria
• Bishop Armando Bortolaso SDB titular Bishop of Raphanea (Vicar Apostolic of Aleppo)
• Archbishop Idsidore Battikha BA titular Bishop of Pelusium dei Greco-Melkiti (Auxiliary Bishop in Damascus )
• Bishop Antoine Audo SJ as Bishop of Aleppo of the Chaldean Catholic Church

Pope John Paul II appointed Archbishop Edelby to the Catechism Commission in 1986 . This commission consisted of twelve cardinals and bishops; The then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was chairman . Edelby was later replaced by Bishop Gay-Paul Noujeim .

Major works

• Essai sur l'autonomie législative et jurisdectionelle des chrétiens d'Orient sous la domination musulmane de 663 à 1517. Diss. Jur. utr. Rome 1950 (mach.), Partial publication in: Archives d'histoire du droit orientale , 1950/51, 307–351.
• Liturgicon. Missel Byzantine à l'usage des fidèles. Ed. du Renouveau, Beyrouth 1960 (reprint 1991), also translated into German: Neophytos Edelby: Liturgikon. Missal of the Byzantine Church. Aurel Bongers, Recklinghausen 1967.
• Souvenirs du Concile Vatican II (October 11, 1962– December 8, 1965). Center Grec Melkite Catholique de Recherche, Beyrouth 2003.

literature

• Nagi Edelby, Pierre Masri (ed.): Mélanges en mémoire de Mgr Néophytos Edelby (1920–1995) (= Textes et études sur l'Orient chrétien 4). CEDRAC 2005, ISBN 9953-455-30-9 .

Web links

• Entry on Néophytos Edelby on catholic-hierarchy.org ; accessed on May 10, 2017.
• Entry on gcatholic.org (English)
• Book presentation about Néophytos Edelby (French)