Patriach Mor Ignatius Youssef III Younan

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Patriach Mor Ignatius Youssef III Younan Patriach Mor Ignatius Youssef III Younan Patriarch Mor Ignatius Youssef III Younan is the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East for the Syriac Catholic Church. Born in Hassaké of both parents fleeing Turkey and getting refuge in Syria during the 1st World War. He pursued his priestly studies for 7 years at the Urbaniana Univeristy in Rome and was ordained a priest in 1971. He served as director of the Seminary of Charfet, Lebanon, for two years, director of catechesis for the diocese of Hassaké for seven years, and pastor of the Church of the Annunciation in Beirut until 1986. In 1986, he was sent to the United States to establish Syriac Catholic missions. He founded a mission in Newark, New Jersey, and several others in North Hollywood and San Diego. On November 18, 1995, Pope John Paul II erected the Syriac Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Deliverance in Newark for all the Syrian Catholics of the United States and Canada, and appointed Ephrem Youssef Younan as first eparch. He was thus consecrated bishop on January 7, 1996, by Ignatius Antony II Hayyek and goven the patristic name of Ephrem. He served in the United States and Canada until his election as patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church on January 20, 2009. Along with Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Patriarch Ignatius Youssef III Younan served as a co-president of the October 2010 Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East in the Vatican. His beatitude at a recent conference sponsored by the Vatican expressed the stong feeling that powerful international leaders must “…apply their principles for democracy through religious liberties on the ground – not (just) in speeches and press conferences and articles”. PAX .
Recommended publications
  • The Holy See
    The Holy See ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER TO HIS BEATITUDE NERSES BEDROS XIX PATRIARCH OF CILICIA OF THE ARMENIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Monday 13 December 1999 Your Beatitude, Dear Bishops of the Armenian Catholic Church, Brothers and Sisters! 1. With heartfelt affection I welcome you to this nurturing city, sanctified by the blood of the Apostles Peter and Paul, the See of that Bishop who is himself built upon the rock which is the Church's foundation and whose mandate is to confirm his brethren in the faith. A special welcome in the holy kiss of brotherhood to you, venerable Brother Nerses Bedros XIX. A few days after your election as Patriarch of Cilicia for Armenian Catholics, after receiving ecclesiastical communion from me, you have come here as a joyful sign and expression of your communion and that of your Church with the Successor of Peter. This event celebrates the goodness of the Lord who has so loved us that he has granted us to share fully in the same faith. We have shown this gratitude in the highest and most solemn way given to Christians: by concelebrating the same Eucharist and exchanging the holy gifts of the Body and Blood of the Lord, our common hope. I am particularly grateful for your affectionate words to me. As you did in your first Pastoral Letter, in your address today you also cited the holy Armenian doctor Nerses the Gracious, whose name you have taken as you accept your new responsibility as father and head of the Armenian Catholic Church, together with the name of Peter which, in accordance with a beautiful and significant tradition of love for this Apostolic See, is taken by all Armenian Catholic Patriarchs.
    [Show full text]
  • Christians and Jews in Muslim Societies
    Arabic and its Alternatives Christians and Jews in Muslim Societies Editorial Board Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA) Bernard Heyberger (EHESS, Paris, France) VOLUME 5 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/cjms Arabic and its Alternatives Religious Minorities and Their Languages in the Emerging Nation States of the Middle East (1920–1950) Edited by Heleen Murre-van den Berg Karène Sanchez Summerer Tijmen C. Baarda LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover illustration: Assyrian School of Mosul, 1920s–1930s; courtesy Dr. Robin Beth Shamuel, Iraq. This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Murre-van den Berg, H. L. (Hendrika Lena), 1964– illustrator. | Sanchez-Summerer, Karene, editor. | Baarda, Tijmen C., editor. Title: Arabic and its alternatives : religious minorities and their languages in the emerging nation states of the Middle East (1920–1950) / edited by Heleen Murre-van den Berg, Karène Sanchez, Tijmen C. Baarda. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2020. | Series: Christians and Jews in Muslim societies, 2212–5523 ; vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Are Christians in the Middle East?
    Who Are Christians in the Middle East? Seven Churches, each bearing a great and ancient history with Patriarch, who chose as his patriarchal seat the monastery at unique liturgical traditions and culture, comprise the Catho- Bzommar, Lebanon. After a brief relocation to Constantinople, lic Church in the Middle East. Each of these Churches is in the Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenian Catholics returned his seat full communion with Rome, but six with an Eastern tradition to Bzommar, with his residence and offices in Beirut, Lebanon. are sui iuris, or self-governing, and have their own Patriarchs. The Chaldean Catholic Church has almost 500,000 mem- All these Churches are Arabic-speaking and immersed in Ar- bers, with about 60 percent residing in the Middle East. The abic culture. Chaldeans are historically concentrated in Iraq as they came The Maronite Catholic Church is the largest of the East- from the Assyrian Church of the East. In 1552, a group of As- ern Catholic Churches in the Middle East at around 3 million syrian bishops decided to seek union with Rome. Although members. It has a strong presence in Lebanon, with smaller Pope Julius III proclaimed Patriarch Simon VIII Patriarch “of communities in Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, and the Holy Land. the Chaldeans,” pro- and anti-Catholic parties struggled with- However, slightly over half its members have emigrated from in the Assyrian Church of the East until 1830, when another the Middle East to countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Aus- Chaldean Patriarch was appointed. The Patriarch of Babylon of tralia, Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Dositheos Notaras, the Patriarch of Jerusalem (1669-1707), Confronts the Challenges of Modernity
    IN SEARCH OF A CONFESSIONAL IDENTITY: DOSITHEOS NOTARAS, THE PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM (1669-1707), CONFRONTS THE CHALLENGES OF MODERNITY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Christopher George Rene IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Adviser Theofanis G. Stavrou SEPTEMBER 2020 © Christopher G Rene, September 2020 i Acknowledgements Without the steadfast support of my teachers, family and friends this dissertation would not have been possible, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to express my deep debt of gratitude and thank them all. I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, who together guided me through to the completion of this dissertation. My adviser Professor Theofanis G. Stavrou provided a resourceful outlet by helping me navigate through administrative channels and stay on course academically. Moreover, he fostered an inviting space for parrhesia with vigorous dialogue and intellectual tenacity on the ideas of identity, modernity, and the role of Patriarch Dositheos. It was in fact Professor Stavrou who many years ago at a Slavic conference broached the idea of an Orthodox Commonwealth that inspired other academics and myself to pursue the topic. Professor Carla Phillips impressed upon me the significance of daily life among the people of Europe during the early modern period (1450-1800). As Professor Phillips’ teaching assistant for a number of years, I witnessed lectures that animated the historical narrative and inspired students to question their own unique sense of historical continuity and discontinuities. Thank you, Professor Phillips, for such a pedagogical example.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Theology
    INTRODUCTION TO THEOLOGY Θεός –God Λόγς -Science, Word, Discourse, Talk, Study Hence , Θεολόγια theologia = theolog y,means simply God talk, study of God, science of understanding God. Augustine : Theology is “rational discussion respecting the deity” Theology is an attempt of understanding God as He is revealed. In Patristic Greek sources, theologia could refer the inspired knowledge of, and teaching about, the essential nature of God. In Scholastic Latin sources, the term denotes rational study of the doctrines of the Christian religion. Thomas Aquinas , theology is constituted by a triple aspect: what is taught by God, what teaches of God and what leads to God ( Latin : Theologia a Deo docetur, Deum docet, et ad Deum ducit ). Christian theology is simply an attempt to understand God as He is revealed in the Bible.Theology is the art and science of knowing what we can know and understand about God in an organized and understandable manner. Theology in its profound meaning not consisted of any kind of human analysis or intellectual exercises about Divinity, rather it is an understanding of what God has done through His Eternal Logos to the humanity and howthe Incarnated Logos entered into our profane history and made it a salvation history . Therefore, the soul of theology is God who has revealed and offered himself to the mankind. In short, theology is a divinely inspired human attemptto understand God who has revealed himself in space and time. It is the systematic, orderly and rational reproduction of what one has already experienced and accepted through faith. Theology, therefore is a science which should be studied on kneels.
    [Show full text]
  • The Figure of Joseph the Patriarch in the New Testament and the Early Church
    ABSTRACT “Much More Ours Than Yours”: The Figure of Joseph the Patriarch in the New Testament and the Early Church by John Lee Fortner This paper investigates the figure of Joseph the patriarch in early Christian interpretation, demonstrating the importance of such figures in articulating a Christian reading of the history of Israel, and the importance of this reading in the identity formation of early Christianity. The paper also illumines the debt of this Christian reading of Israel’s history to the work of Hellenistic Judaism. The figure of Joseph the patriarch is traced through early Christian interpretation, primarily from the Eastern Church tradition up to the 4th century C.E. The key methodological approach is an analysis of how the early church employed typological, allegorical, and moral exegesis in its construction of Joseph as a “Christian saint of the Old Testament.” A figure who, to borrow Justin Martyr’s phrase, became in the Christian identity “much more ours than yours.” “Much More Ours Than Yours”: The Figure of Joseph the Patriarch in the New Testament and the Early Church A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History by John Lee Fortner Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2004 Advisor ________________________ Dr. Edwin Yamauchi Reader ________________________ Dr. Charlotte Goldy Reader _________________________ Dr. Wietse de Boer Table of Contents Introduction 1 Early Christian Hermeneutics 1 The Aura of Antiquity 6 Apologetics of Hellenistic Judaism 8 Scope and Purpose of Study 12 1. Joseph in the New Testament 13 Acts 7 14 Heb 11 15 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Respect Rights, Religious Freedom in Mideast, Maronite Patriarch Urges
    Respect rights, religious freedom in Mideast, Maronite patriarch urges NEW YORK – Unless Middle Eastern countries support religious freedom and respect human rights, the “Arab spring” movement will devolve into an “Arab winter,” said Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai. Patriarch Rai said the “Arab spring” movement holds much promise, but its leaders must “adopt a separation between religion and state.” He said such a system exists in his native Lebanon and “respects all religions and all values of each religion.” “We wish to see freedom practiced in those countries. We wish to see the values of human rights and democracy implemented,” he told a news conference Oct. 20 at the New York headquarters of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, a pontifical agency that supports the Catholic Church in the Middle East, North Africa, India and Eastern Europe. “It’s not easy to talk about democracy in the Western sense in countries that have a theocratic system. Christianity divides politics and religion, and we wish Islam and other religions to do the same,” Patriarch Rai said. Failure to do so will result in civil wars, such as the one in Iraq, he warned, and will lead to the rise of regimes “that are even more fundamentalist. This is something that will be to the detriment of everybody.” Patriarch Rai said conflicts between Israel and the Arab countries and between Israel and the Palestinians have had a negative impact on Christians. “The Arab-Israeli conflict is at the level of religion and culture. The conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis is a conflict (about) a people whose sovereignty, whose land, was taken away, who were displaced and for 64 years have been promised by United Nations resolutions a right of return, but this has not happened,” he said.
    [Show full text]
  • Canonical Aspects of the Relationship Between the Patriarch and the Synod of Bishops in a Patriarchal Church
    CANONICAL ASPECTS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PATRIARCH AND THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS IN A PATRIARCHAL CHURCH by James SALAMY Research Seminar – DCA 6395 Prof. John HUELS Faculty of Canon Law Saint Paul University Ottawa 2018 © James Salamy_2018 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 – A PERICHORESIS OF THE ONE AND THE MANY ........................................................1 1.1 – Practical Advantages .........................................................................................................1 1.2 – Definitions.........................................................................................................................1 1.2.1 – Patriarch ...................................................................................................................1 1.2.2 – Synod of Bishops .....................................................................................................8 2 – THE POWERS OF THE PATRIARCH AND THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS ..................12 2.1 – Intermediate Authority ....................................................................................................12 2.2 – In Relation to the Patriarchal Territory ...........................................................................15 2.2.1 – Inside the Patriarchal Territory ..............................................................................19 2.2.2 – Outside of the Patriarchal Territory .......................................................................27 3 – THE ALLOCATION OF POWER ......................................................................................32
    [Show full text]
  • Patriarch Sviatoslav
    UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH STUDY MATERIAL FOR THE VISIT OF PATRIARCH SVIATOSLAV HEAD OF THE UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH SEPTEMBER 2014 EPARCHIAL PASTORAL COUNCIL OF THE UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND & OCEANIA. EPARCHIAL PASTORAL COUNCIL OF THE UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND & OCEANIA. TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1 – EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES 3 - 11 SECTION 2 – THE SHEPHERDS AND TEACHERS OF OUR CHURCH 12 -16 POPE FRANCIS 17 - 20 PATRIARCH SVIATOSLAV SHEVCHUK 21 - 23 BISHOP PETER STASIUK, C.SS.R. 24 - 26 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES 27 - 28 1 2 SECTION 1 – EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES INTRODUCTION Jerusalem is the cradle of Christianity. From there the apostles and their successors received the command: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the ages” (Mt. 28:19). By the command of Christ, the Gospel was to be proclaimed to the entire world, embracing all nations. Rising above national, cultural, political, economic, social and all other man-made barriers and restrictions, “the Church of Jesus Christ is neither Latin, Greek, nor Slav, but Catholic; there is not and cannot be any difference between her children, no matter what they be otherwise, whether Latins, Greeks or Slavs, or any other nationality: all of them are equal around the table of the Holy See” (Pope Benedict XIV; see Vatican II, Eastern Catholic Churches, no.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Eastern Christian Churches
    UNDERSTANDING THE EASTERN CHRISTIAN CHURCHES John M. Samaha SM Introducing the Question When you think of the Church, what image comes to mind? What image do you think the average Catholic forms when the Church is mentioned? Usually the image is that of a highly centralized, worldwide institution with headquarters in Rome. Or, of one's neighbourhood parish church. All in the West who share the heritage of European civilization tend to identify the Catholic Church with the Latin Rite (Roman Rite). Similarly, Eastern Orthodox and other Eastern Christians may think of the church of their own country of origin with its chief bishop and centre in the ancient capital city. Seldom do we think of the church as the Mystical Body of Christ, the Head united with his many, diverse groups of members comprising the People of God. Attitudes among Eastern Catholic and Orthodox peoples not only stem from their strong national feelings, but are also deeply rooted in their ecclesiastical history and religious thought. For while the one, holy, catholic, arid apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ is unified, the Church certainly is not uniform in all aspects. Basic Understandings To understand clearly the situation it is important to establish basic understanding of some fundamental points. In the context of studying the Church, a rite refers to a local Church or specific tradition, not to ceremony or ritual. A particular Church means a style or way of living Christianity, a cultural mentality toward practicing the Gospel, a community of faith with a distinct, ancient tradition. 18 John M.
    [Show full text]
  • THE ESTABLISHMENT of the MELKITE CATHOLIC MILLET in 1848 and the POLITICS of IDENTITY in TANZIMAT SYRIA Bruce Masters in 1848, S
    THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MELKITE CATHOLIC MILLET IN 1848 AND THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY IN TANZIMAT SYRIA Bruce Masters In 1848, Sultan Abdülmecid granted the Melkite Catholic commu- nity offi cial status as an ‘autonomous religious community’ (millet) by adding his seal to an imperial patent (berat) naming Maksimus Mazlum ‘Patriarch of Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria and wher- ever else Melkite Catholics reside in the sultan’s protected realms’. Th e patent further stated that although the Chaldean, Syrian, Melkite, and Maronite Catholic priests had been under the authority of the ‘Catho- lic Patriarch of Istanbul’, they constituted separate communities and would henceforth be recognized as such.1 With Mazlum’s elevation, the Melkite Catholic Church joined the ranks of the Orthodox (the Rum in Ottoman Turkish) and the Apostolic Armenian Churches that had long enjoyed de facto recognition and the rather more recently legiti- mated Catholic, later to be known as the Armenian Catholic, (1830) and Jewish (1835) communities. Mazlum’s victory came in the face of resistance on the part of the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch in Istan- bul who claimed that the Melkite Catholics were both heretics and traitors, disloyal both to their Mother Church and their sultan. Having recognized the Melkites, the sultan opened a fl oodgate of repressed aspirations for autonomy from the empire’s myriad Christian denomi- nations, with the result that the list of offi cially sanctioned Christian millets had expanded to twelve by 1900. Although the various millets within the Ottoman Empire were offi cially constituted as religious communities, a particular commu- nity’s own sense of distinctiveness, and hence the need for recogni- tion, arose more oft en out of a nascent ‘proto-nationalism’ (to borrow Eric Hobsbawm’s term)2 than from questions of religious dogma.
    [Show full text]
  • Catholic Christians – Freedom of Religion – Islamist Groups 22 March 2010
    Country Advice Syria Syria – SYR36307 – Catholic Christians – Freedom of religion – Islamist groups 22 March 2010 1. Please provide information on the number, status, activities and profile of Catholics in Syria. Syria has a population of 20 million of which Christians constitute 10%.1 There are 368,000 Catholics in Syria, approximately 2% of the total population.2 The Catholics of Syria follow several different rites, including Armenian, Chaldean, Syrian, Maronite, Melkite (Greek) and Catholics of the Latin Rite. 3 The largest Catholic church in the country is the Greek Catholic Church (Melkite).4 According to the US Department of State, most Christians live in urban centers in and around Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, and Lattakia, although significant numbers live in the Hasaka governorate in the northeast.5 The Melkite Church The Melkite Church is a community with its religious centre in Syria. 6 In 2008, there were approximately 234,000 adherents in Syria.7 Greek Catholic communities are Arab Syrians but are called Greek to highlight that their religious celebrations are focused on the Greek / Byzantine rites.8 The Church is affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church, through the regime of Eastern Rite Churches, allowing it a great deal of autonomy and the right to preserve its original character. The Patriarch of the church is in Damascus. 9 The 1 US Department of State 2009, International Religious Freedom Report for 2009 – Syria, October 26, Section 1 – Attachment 1. 2 „Roman Catholicism in Syria‟ updated 25 August 2009, Wikipedia website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholicism_in_Syria – Accessed 3 March 2010 – Attachment 2.
    [Show full text]