Joseph I (Patriarch of Antioch)

His Beatitude Joseph I, Patriarch of Antioch

Joseph I. SMSP , a native Youssef Absi (* 20th June 1946 in Damascus ) is Patriarch of Antioch and the whole East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem and head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church , which the Roman Catholic Church has been in union .

Church career

Joseph Absi was ordained a priest on May 6, 1973 as a religious priest of the Mission Society of St. Paul . On June 22, 2001, he was appointed titular archbishop of Tarsus dei Greco-Melkiti , curial bishop and auxiliary bishop in the Patriarchate of Antioch . The Patriarch of Antioch Archbishop Gregory III. Laham BS and the co-consecrators Archbishop Jean Mansour SMSP and Archbishop Joseph Kallas SMSP donated him episcopal ordination on September 2, 2001 . From 2001 to 2006 he was the superior general of his religious community . From 2007 to 2017 he was Patriarchal Vicar in the Archdiocese of Damascus, replacing Archbishop Isidore Battikha , who took over the office of Archbishop of Homs . He assisted as co-consecrator in the episcopal ordination of Yasser Ayyash as Archbishop of Petra and Philadelphia in Jordan . On June 21, 2017, the Synod of the Melkite Bishops elected him to succeed Gregory III. Laham to the Patriarch of Antioch and the whole Orient, Alexandria and Jerusalem. On June 22, 2017, Pope Francis confirmed it and on July 3, 2017 it was installed. He is the spiritual protector of the "Military and Hospitable Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem" - the Order of Lazarus.

activities

Joseph Absi has been President of the Syrian Caritas ( Commission Commune de Bienfaisance (CCB)) since 2001 and leads over 40 projects in Damascus, Aleppo and Hassaké with three full-time members . He composed a hymn for the singer Marie Keyrouz and L'Ensemle De La Paix , which was published on the CD Cantiques De L'Orient .

To the Middle East

His Beatitude Joseph I, Patriarch of Antioch

As a participant in the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Middle East in October 2010, he gave an opinion on the final bulletin. He made the statement, he said, that in the most varied of texts mostly the phrases like "It is important", "It is necessary", "It is obvious", "It is safe", "It must" or "We must" used. He therefore appealed to the participants that these mandatory statements be implemented in actions after the conclusion of the Synod. Another demand was: “The bishops' conferences of the individual countries should meet together from time to time. Bi-ritualism should be allowed so that no parish remains without worship , regardless of which church it belongs to. "

Web links

• Entry on Joseph Absi on catholic-hierarchy.org ; Retrieved April 27, 2017.
• Entry on gcatholic.org (English)
• Melkite Greek Catholic Church - Synod 2006 ( Memento of July 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• photo

Individual evidence

1. ^ Archbishop Absi of Damascus becomes patriarch of the Melkites
2. ↑ Absi elected Melkite Patriarch Joseph I. Retrieved February 16, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Article in Radio Vaticana
4. ↑ Middle East Synod: “In Iraq also signs of hope”. www.vaticanhistory.de, October 16, 2010, accessed April 27, 2017 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Gregory III. Laham	Patriarch of Antioch since 2017