Gregory III Laham
Encyclopedia
Gregory III (Arabic,غريغوريوس الثالث لحام) (b. December 15, 1933), Patriarch of the Church of Antioch, is the spiritual leader of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Melkites, Byzantine Rite Catholics of mixed Eastern Mediterranean and Greek origin, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, Syria, of...

. He was elected patriarch on November 29, 2000, succeeding Maximos V Hakim
Maximos V Hakim
Maximos V Hakim was elected Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch in 1967 and served until 2000. He guided the church through tubulent changes in the Middle East and rapid expansion in the Western hemisphere.-Life:...

, who resigned at age 92 due to failing health, dying seven months later. He took the name Gregory after Patriarch Gregory II Youssef
Gregory II Youssef
Patriarch Gregory II Youssef, also known as Gregory II Hanna Youssef-Sayour , was Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church from 1864 to 1897...

, the last member of his order to be elected patriarch. Patriarch Gregory, who studied in Europe and is multilingual, is author of several books on eastern theology and spirituality.

Early years and education

Patriarch Gregory was born Lutfy Laham in Darayya
Darayya
Darayya , Countryside of Damascus , Syria is a Syrian city administratively belonging to Rif Dimashq. Darayya has an altitude of 689 meters. It has a population of 75,134 as of 2007, making it the 19th largest city per geographical entity in Syria...

, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 in 1933. He entered the Seminary of the Holy Savior of the Basilian Salvatorian Order
Basilian Salvatorian Order
The Basilian Salvatorian Order is a religious order of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. The Latin name of this order is Ordo Basilianus Sanctissimi Salvatoris, the French name is Ordre Basilien Salvatorien. The name cames from its motherhouse, the Holy Saviour monastery, The Basilian Salvatorian...

 near Saida
Sidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...

, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

 in 1943. He took his simple religious vows in 1949 and his solemn religious vows in 1954. He received his religious and philosophical education at the Holy Savior Seminary, Joun
Joun
Joun is a Lebanese village sitting on seven hills in the Chouf district of Mount Lebanon at a distant 13 kilometers from the city of Sidon....

, Lebanon. He continued his theological studies in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 where he was ordained priest on February 15, 1959 in the Church of the Abbey of Grottaferrata
Grottaferrata
Grottaferrata, Italy is a small town and comune in the province of Rome, situated on the lower slopes of the Alban Hills, 20 km south east of Rome. It is bounded by other communes, Frascati, Rocca di Papa, Marino, and Rome.-History:...

 in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

Priesthood

The future patriarch received a doctoral degree in Oriental Theology from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome following his ordination . He then served as superior of the Holy Savior Major Seminary from 1961 until 1964. In 1962 he founded the magazine Al-Wahdah - Unity in Faith, the first ecumenical magazine to be published in the Arabic language. He also founded several orphanages and trade schools in Lebanon.

He was appointed administrator of the Patriarchal Vicariate of Jerusalem in 1974, in the wake of the Israeli arrest of the Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem, Archbishop Hilarion Capucci of the Aleppin Salvatorian order. Laham founded the Student Fund in Jerusalem to help needy students and in 1978 the Family Assistance Fund to help needy families in the troubled areas of his diocese. In 1967 he founded at the Patriarchate the Oriental Library to promulgate the knowledge of Eastern traditions. He initiated a variety of social projects such as repairing churches, opening clinics and building public housing, including a guest house for pilgrims at the Patriarchal Center in Jerusalem.

Following an old tradition of the more than 900-years old Order of Knighthood, founded in Jerusalem to take care of lepers in the Hospital of St. Lazarus, he is the Spiritual Protector of the international ecumenical Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem
Order of Saint Lazarus
This article concerns the order of knighthood named after Saint Lazarus. For other uses of the name Lazarus, see Lazarus .The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem is an order of chivalry which originated in a leper hospital founded by the Knights Hospitaller in 1098 by the...

 as were his predecessors Maximos IV and Maximos V.

Episcopate

On August 30, 1981 he was named archbishop by Patriarch Maximos V Hakim
Maximos V Hakim
Maximos V Hakim was elected Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch in 1967 and served until 2000. He guided the church through tubulent changes in the Middle East and rapid expansion in the Western hemisphere.-Life:...

 and continued his work as Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem as successor to Archbishop Hilarion Capucci
Hilarion Capucci
Hilarion Capucci is the retired titular archbishop of Caesarea for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.He was ordained a priest of the Basilian Aleppian Order on 20 July, 1947. On 30 July 1965 he was appointed archbishop and consecrated...

. On November 27, 1981 he was enthroned as the titular archbishop of Tarsus and consecrated bishop by patriarch Maximos V Hakim
Maximos V Hakim
Maximos V Hakim was elected Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch in 1967 and served until 2000. He guided the church through tubulent changes in the Middle East and rapid expansion in the Western hemisphere.-Life:...

.

Appointed by Patriarch Maximos V as president of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission, he edited the Anthologion, the prayer book or breviary of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Melkites, Byzantine Rite Catholics of mixed Eastern Mediterranean and Greek origin, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, Syria, of...

  and The Book of the Liturgies, an updated compendium of the Divine Liturgy. As secretary of the Ecumenical Commission of the Melkite Patriarchate, he led the dialogue between the Melkite Greek Catholic and the Antiochian Orthodox Church
Antiochian Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, also known as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East and the Antiochian Orthodox Church , is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity...

es.

Patriarch Maximos resigned in 2000 at age 92 due to failing health. The episcopal synod of the Melkite Church, met at the patriarchal residence in Raboueh on November 22, 2000 to select a new leader. On November 29 the synod elected Laham patriarch. He chose the name Gregory after the Patriarch Gregory II Youssef
Gregory II Youssef
Patriarch Gregory II Youssef, also known as Gregory II Hanna Youssef-Sayour , was Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church from 1864 to 1897...

, the last member of the Basilian Salvatorian Order to serve as head of the Melkite Church.

The patriarch is an advocate of the Christian communities of the Near and Middle East. speaking at a 2010 synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...

, he asserted that "among the most dangerous effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" is the phenomenon of Christian emigration, "which will make Arab society a society with only one color, a society uniquely Muslim." Viewing the Near East as Muslim and the West as Christian could mean that "any occasion would be propitious for a new clash of cultures, of civilizations and even of religions -- a destructive clash between the Muslim Arab East and the Christian West," he said. The patriarch called for Christian-Islam dialogue which describes to Muslims "what our fears are," including concern about a lack of separation between religion and government, lack of equality and about a legal system that is based on Islamic law.

In December 2010, Laham was quoted by the Lebanon Daily Star
Daily Star (Lebanon)
The Daily Star is a pan-Middle East English language newspaper edited in Beirut. It was founded in 1952 by Kamel Mrowa, the publisher of the Arabic daily Al-Hayat to serve the growing number of expatriates brought by the oil industry...

as claiming that attacks against Levantine Christians, such as the attack the Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad
2010 Baghdad church attack
The 2010 Baghdad church attack was an attack on the Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic cathedralof Baghdad, Iraq, that took place during Sunday evening Mass on October 31, 2010. The attack left at least 58 people dead, after more than 100 had been taken hostage...

 were part of a “Zionist conspiracy against Islam.” Lahham reportedly stated that "All this behavior has nothing to do with Islam... But it is actually a conspiracy planned by Zionism and some Christians with Zionist orientations and it aims at undermining and giving a bad image of Islam.” He further added that "it is also a conspiracy against Arabs and the pre-dominantly Muslim Arab world that aims at depicting Arabs and Muslims in Arab countries as terrorist and fundamentalist murderers in order to deny them their rights and especially those of the Palestinians.”

In March 2011 Gregory III said “we Christians risk demographic extinction and face huge challenges,” calling on league members to “formulate ideas” on how to address the phenomenon. The Palestine-Israel conflict, Lahham said, was the “sole” reason for emigration.

Books


Patriarch Gregory III is author of several books, including:
  • Introduction to the Liturgical Services and their Symbols in the Eastern Church
  • The Voice of the Shepherd - Eastern Liturgical Spirituality
  • Life of Archbishop Germanos Adam
    Germanos Adam
    Germanos Adam was the Melkite Catholic bishop of Aleppo during the late 18th century and a Christian theologian.-Life:Germanos Adam was born in 1725 in Aleppo, Syria, and studied in the College of the Propaganda in Rome. In 1774 he was consecrated Melkite Catholic bishop of Acre...

  • Translations of History of the Melkite Church (English and German)
  • The Melkite Greek Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council

See also

  • Patriarch of Antioch
    Patriarch of Antioch
    Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the Bishop of Antioch. As the traditional "overseer" of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in the church from its earliest period...

  • List of Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchs of Antioch
  • Maximos V Hakim
    Maximos V Hakim
    Maximos V Hakim was elected Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch in 1967 and served until 2000. He guided the church through tubulent changes in the Middle East and rapid expansion in the Western hemisphere.-Life:...

    , prior Patriarch, former first Archbishop,tenth Bishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and all Galilee

External links

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