Gregory II Youssef
Encyclopedia
Patriarch Gregory II Youssef, also known as Gregory II Hanna Youssef-Sayour (October 17, 1823 – July 13, 1897), was Patriarch
of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
from 1864 to 1897. Gregory expanded and modernized the church and its institutions and participated in the First Vatican Council
, where he championed the rights of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Gregory is remembered as a particularly dynamic patriarch of the Melkite Church. He is recognized as one of the forerunners of interconfessional dialogue and as an advocate for preserving the traditions and autonomy of the Melkites.
, near Alexandria
, Egypt
. In 1840, at age 16, he entered the Basilian Salvatorian Order
. In 1844, he began to study in the Jesuit seminary of Kesrouane in Mount Lebanon
. From 1847 to 1856 Youssef studied philosophy
and theology
in the Pontifical Greek College of Saint Athanasius in Rome
where he was ordained priest
on June 11, 1854. Back in the Middle East
, he was chosen by the newly elected patriarch Clement Bahouth
as successor for the See
of Acre
and Galilee
. He received the episcopal
consecration on November 13, 1856 by patriarch Clement Bahouth.
During his episcopate Youssef faced three major issues: discontent within the Melkite Church for the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar by Clement Bahouth, a short-lived schism supported by the Russian Orthodox Church
on the basis of the newly introduced Gregorian Calendar, and division between the Basilians monks
. Youssef remained strictly neutral on the calendar, but fiercely fought the schism.
asked the church leadership in Rome to abdicate his position as patriarch and elect Youssef as his successor. Rome authorized the resignation, and a synod of bishops was convened for September 24, 1864. At the opening of synod Clement Bahouth announced his resignation, and the synod elected Youssef as patriarch on September 29, 1864. Youssef took the name Gregory and was confirmed by Pope Pius IX
on March 27, 1865.
Once elected patriarch Gregory worked to restore peace in the religious community and successfully healed the schism. He also focused on improving church institutions and founded the Patriarchal College in Beirut
in 1865 and the Patriarchal College in Damascus
in 1875, and re-opened the Melkite seminary of Ain Traz
in 1866. Gregory promoted the establishment of Saint Ann's Seminary, Jeruselem by the White Fathers
, in 1882 for the training of Melkite clergy.
Following the Hatti Humayyouni decree by Sultan Abdul Majid in 1856 the life of Christians in the Near East improved. This allowed Gregory to successfully encourage greater participation by the Melkite laity in both church administration and public affairs. Gregory also took an interest in ministering to the growing number of Melkites who had emigrated to the Americas. In 1889, he dispatched Father Ibrahim Beshawate of the Basilian Salvatorian Order in Saida, Lebanon to New York to minister to the growing local Syrian community. According to historian Philip Hitte, Beshawate was the first permanent priest in the United States from the Near East from the Melkite, Maronite, and Antiochian Orthodox Church
es.
. In two discourses he gave at the Council on May 19 and June 14, 1870 he emphasized the importance of conforming to the decisions of the Council of Florence
and of not innovating ideas of papal primacy, such as papal infallibility
. He anticipated a negative impact of a dogmatic definition of papal infallibility on relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church
and became as a prominent opponent of the dogma at the Council. Gregory also defended the rights and privileges of the patriarchs afforded by earlier ecumenical councils. Speaking at the Council on May 19, 1870, Gregory stated:
Gregory refused to sign the Council's dogmatic declaration on papal infallibility. He and two of the seven other Melkite bishops present voted non placet at the general congregation and left Rome prior to the adoption of the dogmatic constitution Pastor Aeternus
on papal infallibility. Other members of the anti-infallibilist minority from the Latin church and other Eastern Catholic churches also left the city.
Gregory was cast to the floor at Pius' feet by the papal guard and the pope placed his foot on the patriarch's head. In spite of this event, Gregory and the Melkite Catholic Church remained committed to their union with the Church of Rome. Relationships with the Vatican improved following the death of Pius IX and the subsequent election of Leo XIII. Leo's encyclical
Orientalium Dignitas
in 1894 addressed some of the Eastern Catholic Churches' concerns on latinization
and the centralization of power in Rome. Leo confirmed that the limitations placed on the Armenian Catholic patriarch by Pius IX's 1867 letter Reversurus would not apply to the Melkite Church and he formally recognized an expansion of Patriarch Gregory's jurisdiction to include all Melkites throughout the Ottoman Empire
.
Patriarch Gregory died on July 13, 1897 in Damascus
. Following his death he was succeeded as patriarch by Barakat Géraigiry, who assumed the name Peter IV
.
. Gregory has also been recognized as one of the forerunners of interconfessional dialogue.
Patriarch
Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...
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...
from 1864 to 1897. Gregory expanded and modernized the church and its institutions and participated in the First Vatican Council
First Vatican Council
The First Vatican Council was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned...
, where he championed the rights of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Gregory is remembered as a particularly dynamic patriarch of the Melkite Church. He is recognized as one of the forerunners of interconfessional dialogue and as an advocate for preserving the traditions and autonomy of the Melkites.
Early life, priesthood and episcopate
Hanna Youssef-Sayour was born October 17, 1823 at RosettaRosetta
Rosetta is a port city on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. It is located east of Alexandria, in Beheira governorate. It was founded around AD 800....
, near Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. In 1840, at age 16, he entered 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...
. In 1844, he began to study in the Jesuit seminary of Kesrouane in Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon , as a geographic designation, is a Lebanese mountain range, averaging above 2,200 meters in height and receiving a substantial amount of precipitation, including snow, which averages around four meters deep. It extends across the whole country along about , parallel to the...
. From 1847 to 1856 Youssef studied philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
in the Pontifical Greek College of Saint Athanasius 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
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
on June 11, 1854. Back in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, he was chosen by the newly elected patriarch Clement Bahouth
Clement Bahouth
Clement Michael Bahouth , was patriarch of the Melkite Catholic Church from 1856 until his resignation in 1864.-Life:...
as successor for the See
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of Acre
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
and Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
. He received the episcopal
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
consecration on November 13, 1856 by patriarch Clement Bahouth.
During his episcopate Youssef faced three major issues: discontent within the Melkite Church for the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar by Clement Bahouth, a short-lived schism supported by the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
on the basis of the newly introduced Gregorian Calendar, and division between the Basilians monks
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...
. Youssef remained strictly neutral on the calendar, but fiercely fought the schism.
Patriarchate
The conflicts in the Melkite church escalated and in 1864 Clement BahouthClement Bahouth
Clement Michael Bahouth , was patriarch of the Melkite Catholic Church from 1856 until his resignation in 1864.-Life:...
asked the church leadership in Rome to abdicate his position as patriarch and elect Youssef as his successor. Rome authorized the resignation, and a synod of bishops was convened for September 24, 1864. At the opening of synod Clement Bahouth announced his resignation, and the synod elected Youssef as patriarch on September 29, 1864. Youssef took the name Gregory and was confirmed by Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
on March 27, 1865.
Once elected patriarch Gregory worked to restore peace in the religious community and successfully healed the schism. He also focused on improving church institutions and founded the Patriarchal College in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
in 1865 and the Patriarchal College in Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
in 1875, and re-opened the Melkite seminary of Ain Traz
Ain Traz
The Ain Traz Seminary of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, located southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, has served various roles during its 200 year history. Given by the El Saad family , it was founded in 1811 by Melkite Patriarch Agapius II Matar, it was first intended as a seminary...
in 1866. Gregory promoted the establishment of Saint Ann's Seminary, Jeruselem by the White Fathers
White Fathers
The missionary society known as "White Fathers" , after their dress, is a Roman Catholic Society of Apostolic Life founded in 1868 by the first Archbishop of Algiers, later Cardinal Lavigerie, as the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa of Algeria, and is also now known as the Society of the...
, in 1882 for the training of Melkite clergy.
Following the Hatti Humayyouni decree by Sultan Abdul Majid in 1856 the life of Christians in the Near East improved. This allowed Gregory to successfully encourage greater participation by the Melkite laity in both church administration and public affairs. Gregory also took an interest in ministering to the growing number of Melkites who had emigrated to the Americas. In 1889, he dispatched Father Ibrahim Beshawate of the Basilian Salvatorian Order in Saida, Lebanon to New York to minister to the growing local Syrian community. According to historian Philip Hitte, Beshawate was the first permanent priest in the United States from the Near East from the Melkite, Maronite, and 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.
First Vatican Council
Gregory was a prominent proponent of Eastern ecclesiology at the First Vatican CouncilFirst Vatican Council
The First Vatican Council was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned...
. In two discourses he gave at the Council on May 19 and June 14, 1870 he emphasized the importance of conforming to the decisions of the Council of Florence
Council of Florence
The Council of Florence was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It began in 1431 in Basel, Switzerland, and became known as the Council of Ferrara after its transfer to Ferrara was decreed by Pope Eugene IV, to convene in 1438...
and of not innovating ideas of papal primacy, such as papal infallibility
Papal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...
. He anticipated a negative impact of a dogmatic definition of papal infallibility on relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
and became as a prominent opponent of the dogma at the Council. Gregory also defended the rights and privileges of the patriarchs afforded by earlier ecumenical councils. Speaking at the Council on May 19, 1870, Gregory stated:
The Eastern Church attributes to the pope the most complete and highest power, however in a manner where the fullness and primacy are in harmony with the rights of the patriarchal sees. This is why, in virtue of and ancient right founded on customs, the Roman Pontiffs did not, except in very significant cases, exercise over these sees the ordinary and immediate jurisdiction that we are asked now to define without any exception. This definition would completely destroy the constitution of the entire Greek church. That is why my conscious as a pastor refuses to accept this constitution.
Gregory refused to sign the Council's dogmatic declaration on papal infallibility. He and two of the seven other Melkite bishops present voted non placet at the general congregation and left Rome prior to the adoption of the dogmatic constitution Pastor Aeternus
Pastor aeternus
Pastor aeternus is the incipit of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, issued by the First Vatican Council, July 18, 1870. According to The Modern Catholic Dictionary, Pastor aeternus defines four doctrines of the Catholic faith: the apostolic primacy conferred on Peter, the...
on papal infallibility. Other members of the anti-infallibilist minority from the Latin church and other Eastern Catholic churches also left the city.
Relationship with the Vatican following the Council
After the First Vatican Council concluded, an emissary of the Roman Curia was dispatched to secure the signatures of the patriarch and the Melkite delegation. Gregory and the Melkite bishops subscribed to it, but adding the qualifying clause used at the Council of Florence: "except the rights and privileges of Eastern patriarchs." He earned the enmity of Pope Pius IX for this; during his next visit to the pontiffPontiff
A pontiff was, in Roman antiquity, a member of the principal college of priests . The term "pontiff" was later applied to any high or chief priest and, in ecclesiastical usage, to a bishop and more particularly to the Bishop of Rome, the Pope or "Roman Pontiff".-Etymology:The English term derives...
Gregory was cast to the floor at Pius' feet by the papal guard and the pope placed his foot on the patriarch's head. In spite of this event, Gregory and the Melkite Catholic Church remained committed to their union with the Church of Rome. Relationships with the Vatican improved following the death of Pius IX and the subsequent election of Leo XIII. Leo's encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
Orientalium Dignitas
Orientalium Dignitas
Orientalium Dignitas is a papal encyclical concerning the Eastern Catholic churches issued by Pope Leo XIII on November 30, 1894. The encyclical further established the rights of the Eastern Catholic churches...
in 1894 addressed some of the Eastern Catholic Churches' concerns on latinization
Liturgical Latinisation
Liturgical Latinisation, also known as Latinisation, is the process by which liturgical and other aspects of the Churches of Eastern Christianity were altered to resemble more closely the practices of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church...
and the centralization of power in Rome. Leo confirmed that the limitations placed on the Armenian Catholic patriarch by Pius IX's 1867 letter Reversurus would not apply to the Melkite Church and he formally recognized an expansion of Patriarch Gregory's jurisdiction to include all Melkites throughout the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
.
Patriarch Gregory died on July 13, 1897 in Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
. Following his death he was succeeded as patriarch by Barakat Géraigiry, who assumed the name Peter IV
Peter IV Geraigiry
Peter IV Barakat Géraigiry was patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church from 1898 until 1902.-Life:...
.
Legacy
Gregory is remembered as a particularly dynamic patriarch of the Melkite Church. His defense of the Eastern ecclesiological conception of church autonomy etstablished the framework for the Eastern Catholic Church's interventions during the Second Vatican CouncilSecond Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
. Gregory has also been recognized as one of the forerunners of interconfessional dialogue.