Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Akka

Melkite Greek Catholic archeparchy in Israel

Archeparchy of Akka (Melkite Greek) Archieparchia Ptolemaidensis Melchitarum أبرشية عكا وحيفا والناصرة وسائر الجليل للروم الملكيين الكاثوليك

St. Elijah Cathedral
Location
Country	Israel
Headquarters	Syria
Statistics
Population - Catholics	(as of 2012) 76,700
Parishes	33
Information
Denomination	Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Rite	Byzantine Rite
Established	1753
Cathedral	Saint Elias Cathedral
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Patriarch	Youssef Absi
Archeparch	Youssef Matta [de]
Bishops emeritus	Pierre Mouallem Elias Chacour
Website
https://logosofgalilee.com/

Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Akka (in Arabic: أبرشية عكا وحيفا والناصرة وسائر الجليل للروم الملكيين الكاثوليك) is an Eastern Catholic diocese of Melkite Greek Catholic Church (Byzantine Rite, Arabic), directly subject to the Melkite Patriarch of Antioch. Its Cathedral episcopal see is St. Elijah Greek-Melkite Cathedral, in Haifa.

Territory and statistics

The archeparchy extends its jurisdiction to Melkites of Israel, especially of Galilee. The headquarters of the archeparchy (archdiocese) is Haifa, where the Saint Elias Cathedral is located. The Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Akka counted 76,700 baptized members,^[1] and had a territory subdivided into 33 parishes in 2012.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2014 the Melkite Greek Catholic Church was the largest Christian community in Israel, with roughly 60% of Israeli Christians belonging to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.^[2]

The city of Haifa has the largest Melkite Greek Catholic community in Israel, followed by the cities of Nazareth and Shefa-Amr. Melkite Greek Catholics live in a number of other towns in Galilee either singly or mixed with Muslims, Druze and other Christian communities, such as Abu Snan, Arraba, Bi'ina, Daliyat al-Karmel, Deir Hanna, Eilabun, Hurfeish, I'billin, Isfiya, Jadeidi-Makr, Jish, Kafr Kanna, Kafr Yasif, Kisra-Sumei, Maghar, Mazra'a, Muqeible, Peki'in, Rameh, Ras al-Ein, Reineh, Sakhnin, Shefa-Amr, Tur'an, Yafa an-Naseriyye and others have a presence of Melkite Greek Catholic communities too as do other mixed cities, especially Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Ramleh, Lod, Acre, Nof HaGalil, and Ma'alot Tarshiha.^[3] It is reported that all the inhabitants of Fassuta and Mi'ilya are Melkite Christians.^[4]

History

Ancient Ptolemais-Acre was visited by Paul of Tarsus during his trip described in chapter 21 of the Acts of Apostles. Soon, the city was a strong Christian community. In the third century was established headquarters of an ancient episcopal see here and the capital of the bishop of the diocese, which is suffragan of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre, referring to the ancient period in Ptolemais in Phoenicia, called Acre in the Crusader period.

In 1753, the see was restored as a Melkite diocese by Patriarch Cyril VI Tanas and attached once again to Tyre, which had become independent from Jerusalem. However, the Melkite bishops of Acre began to reside there only in 1804.^[5]

Before 1932, the jurisdiction of Acre included Transjordan. The see became an Archeparchy on 18 November 1964 with the Papal Bull Apostolic constitution of Pope Paul VI^[6] and includes all Galilee.

List of episcopal ordinaries

Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchs (Bishops) of Akka

Macaire Ajemi (1759 - 25 December 1774 resigned)
Michel (Germanos) Adam (25 December 1774 consecrated - July 1777 appointed Archeparch of Aleppo)
Makarios Fakhoury (? - 1794?)
Makarios Nahas (1795 - 1809?)
Habib Theodosius (1809 - 1833?)
Michel Clement Bahouth, (B.S.) (10 August 1836 consecrated - 16 June 1856 confirmed as Patriarch of Antioch)
Hanna (Gregory) Youssef-Sayour (13 November 1856 consecrated - 27 March 1865 confirmed as Patriarch of Antioch)
Agapio Dumani, B.S. (4 December 1864 - 1893 deceased)
Athanase Sabbagh (18 April 1894 - 2 June 1899 deceased)
Grégoire Haggiar (24 March 1901 - 30 October 1940 deceased)
- Joseph Malouf, apostolic administrator (1940-1943)

Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchs (Archbishops) of Akka

Georges Hakim (13 March 1943 – 26 November 1967), later Patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Melkites (Syria)
Joseph-Marie Raya (9 September 1968 - 21 August 1974 resigned), Titular Archbishop of Scythopolis (1974.08.21 – 2005.06.10)
Maximos Salloum (20 August 1975 - 23 July 1997 withdrawn)
- Lutfi Laham, apostolic administrator (1997-1998)
Pierre Mouallem, S.M.S.P. [fr] (29 July 1998 - 18 July 2003 withdrawn)^[a]
- Georges Nicholas Haddad, apostolic administrator (21 March 2003 – 10 December 2005)^[b]
Elias Chacour (7 February 2006 - 27 January 2014 withdrawn)
- Moussa El-Hage, O.A.M., apostolic administrator (27 January 2014 – 21 June 2014)^[c]
George Bacouni (21 June 2014 – 9 November 2018)^[d]
- Fr. Andraus Bahus, apostolic administrator (24 November 2018 - March 2019)
Youssef Matta [de] (since 18 March 2019)

Notes

^ previously Superior General of Society of Missionaries of Saint Paul (1975 – 1987), Eparch (Bishop) of Nossa Senhora do Paraíso em São Paulo (Brazil) (1990.04.20 – 1998.07.29)
^ Simultaneously apostolic exarch of Argentina (2002.04.20 – 2005.12.19), Titular Bishop of Myra (2002.04.20 – 2006.10.14); later Archeparch of Baniyas (Lebanon) (2006.10.14 – ...)
^ Simultaneously Maronite archeparch of Haifa and Holy Land and Maronite patriarchal exarch of Jerusalem and Palestine and Jordan (2012.06.16 – ...)
^ Formerly Metropolitan Archeparch of Tyre (Lebanon) ([2005.06.27] 2005.10.20 – 2014.06.21), later metropolitan archbishop of Beirut and Byblos (since 9 November 2018).

References

^ Archeparchy of Akka [San Giovanni d’Acri; Tolemaide: (Melkite Greek)
^ "The Christian communities in Israel". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1 May 2014. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
^ Zeedan, Rami (2019). Arab-Palestinian Society in the Israeli Political System: Integration versus Segregation in the Twenty-First Century. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 52. ISBN 9781498553155.
^ "Celebrating Christmas in Israel's ancient Greek Catholic villages". Ynetnews. Ynet. 23 December 2018.
^ catholicchurch-holyland.com
^ vatican.va

Sources and external links

GigaCatholic, with incumbent biography links
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dakka.html

Religion in Israel

Judaism

Christianity

Catholicism	Latin Armenian Catholic Chaldean Catholic Maronites Haifa Jerusalem Melkite Greek Catholic Akka Jerusalem Syriac Catholic
Eastern Orthodoxy	Greek Orthodox Russian Orthodox
Oriental Orthodoxy	Armenian Apostolic Syriac Orthodox Coptic Orthodox Ethiopian Tewahedo
Protestantism	Anglican Hebrew Christian movement Jehovah's Witnesses Lutheran Messianic Judaism Templers The Church of Almighty God

Islam

Other Abrahamic religions

Other

v t e Melkite Catholic Church
Byzantine Rite
Patriarchs	Cyril VI Tanas Athanasius IV Jawhar Maximos II Hakim Theodosius V Dahan Athanasius IV Jawhar Cyril VII Siaj Agapius II Matar Ignatius IV Sarrouf Athanasius V Matar Macarius IV Tawil Ignatius V Qattan Maximos III Mazloum Clement Bahouth Gregory II Youssef Peter IV Geraigiry Cyril VIII Geha Demetrius I Qadi Cyril IX Moghabghab Maximos IV Sayegh Maximos V Hakim Gregory III Laham Youssef I Absi
Eparchies	Archeparchy of Damascus Archeparchy of Aleppo Archeparchy of Bosra-Hauran Archeparchy of Homs Archeparchy of Latakia Archeparchy of Tyre Archeparchy of Beirut and Byblos Archeparchy of Baalbek Archeparchy of Baniyas Archeparchy of Sidon Archeparchy of Tripoli Archeparchy of Zahle and Forzol Archeparchy of Petra and Philadelphia in Amman Archeparchy of Akka Patriarchal Dependent Territory of Jerusalem Patriarchal Exarchate of Iraq Patriarchal Exarchate of Kuwait Patriarchal Dependent Territory of Egypt, Sudan, and South Sudan Patriarchal Exarchate of Istanbul Eparchy of Newton Eparchy of Saint-Sauveur of Montréal Eparchy of Nuestra Señora del Paraíso in Mexico City Eparchy of Nossa Senhora do Paraíso em São Paulo Apostolic Exarchate of Argentina Apostolic Exarchate of Venezuela Eparchy of Saint Michael Archangel in Sydney
Churches	Cathedrals: Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition, Damascus St. Elias Cathedral, Beirut St. George's Cathedral, Amman St. Elijah Cathedral, Haifa Cathedral of Our Lady of the Annunciation, Jerusalem Annunciation Cathedral, Boston St. Anne's Cathedral, Los Angeles Saint Sauveur Cathedral, Montréal Porta Coeli Cathedral, Mexico City Our Lady of Paradise Cathedral, São Paulo St. George's Cathedral, Caracas Churches: Sts Peter and Paul Church, Ottawa St. Peter and St. Paul Church, Shefa-Amr Synagogue Church, Nazareth St. George's Church, Milwaukee St. Jude's Church, Miami Chapel of Saint Paul, Damascus Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, Paris Shrine: Our Lady of Awaiting
Religious institutes	Basilian Aleppian Order Basilian Aleppian Sisters Basilian Chouerite Order of Saint John the Baptist Basilian Chouerite Sisters Basilian Salvatorian Order
See also	Mariam Baouardy Lebanese Melkite Christians
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