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[SYRIE] Intronisation de Sa Béatitude Joseph Absi à Damas
Youssef Absi, MSP, (Arabic: يوسف عبسي ; Latin: Iosephus Absi; born June 20, 1946, in Damascus, Syria) is the current patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.
Contents
- SYRIE Intronisation de Sa Batitude Joseph Absi Damas
- Ecclesiastical career
- Activities
- On the Middle East
- References
Ecclesiastical career
On May 6, 1973, Youssef Absi was ordained a priest and became Chaplain of the Missionary Society of Saint Paul. After the conclusion of philosophical and theological studies at the Major Seminary of St. Paul in Harissa (Lebanon), he obtained a licenciate in philosophy at the Lebanese University, licenciate in theology at the Institute of St Paul in Harissa, and a doctorate in musical science and hymnography at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik.
On June 22, 2001, he was appointed Titular Archbishop of Tarsus of Greek Melkites and Curial Bishop and Auxiliary Bishop in the Melkite Patriarchate. Melkite Patriarchate of Antioch Gregory III Laham, BS, was his consecrator and the co-consecrators were Archbishop Jean Mansour, SMSP, titular archbishop of Apamea in Syria dei Greco-Melkiti and Archbishop Joseph Kallas, SMSP, Archeparch of Beirut and Jbeil, on September 2, 2001. From 2001 to 2006, he was Superior General of his religious community. Since 2007 he is Patriarchal Vicar in the Archdiocese of Damascus and triggered Archbishop Isidore Battikha from the office of Archbishop of Homs. He assisted as co-consecrator at the Episcopal Ordination of Yasser Ayyash, Archbishop of Petra and Philadelphia in Jordan.
Bishop Youssef Absi was elected on June 21, 2017, as the patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. The election of Bishop Absi comes a month after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Gregory III Laham.
Activities
Since 2001, Youssef Absi has been president of the Syrian Caritas (Commission Commune de Bienfaisance (CCB)) and forwards with three full-time members more than 40 projects in Damascus, Aleppo and Hassake. He composed for the singer Marie Keyrouz "L'Ensemble de la Paix", a hymn that was released on the album Cantiques de l'Orient.
On the Middle East
As a participant in the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Middle East in October 2010, Absi gave an address in which he insisted that "The Episcopal Conferences of each country should meet from time to time together. You should allow bi-ritualism, so that no parish remains without divine liturgy, no matter what church it belongs to."