Population
- Catholics (as of 2012)
200,000 Rite Byzantine Rite Country Lebanon | Parishes 121 Pope Francis Emeritus bishop Joseph Kallas | |
Denomination Melkite Greek Catholic Church Established 16 August 1881 (135 years ago) Cathedral St. Elias Cathedral, Beirut | ||
The Archeparchy of Beirut and Jbeil (in Latin: Archieparchia Berytensis et Gibailensis Graecorum Melkitarum) is a metropolitan eparchy of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church since 1881, an Eastern Catholic church in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Located in Lebanon, it includes the cities of Beirut and Byblos (Jbeil), and in terms of population, it is the largest Melkite eparchy in the Middle East. Its current Eparch, Cyril Salim Bustros, S.M.S.P., was elected in 2011.
Contents
Territory and statistics
The territory of the archeparchy includes Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and its environs; much of Mount Lebanon governorate (to the north Antelias, Jounieh, and Jbail; to the east Baabda, Broumana, and Bikfaya) and south to part of Chouf District. The archeparchy has an estimated population of 200,000 Melkite faithful in 2012. Its Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Elias and its see is located in Beirut. It includes 129 priests, 118 men religious, 178 women religious, and 121 parishes.
History
The Eparchy of Beirut is an ancient Byzantine one, elevated to the rank of archeparchy with the Council of Chalcedon in the fifth century.
The Greek Catholic Eparchy of Beirut was officially founded in 1724, after the Patriarch of Antioch was divided into two branches, the Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic (or Melkite).
However, already in 1701 the Greek bishohop of Beirut, Sylvester Dahan, had sent to Rome a profession of the Catholic faith, renewed in the following year. Those were the years when Catholicism obtained great progress in the ranks of the Greeks in the cities of the Lebanese coast, where more entrenched was the presence of Christians of the Byzantine Rite, and this mainly thanks to the missionary work of the Jesuits and the Capuchins.
Great impetus to the spread of Catholicism in Beirut and in the surrounding areas was the founding of the Chouerites, that at the beginning of their history had most of the monasteries in Beirutian territory. Belonged to this Order was Athanasios Dahan, Catholic Bishop of Beirut and the future patriarch, who first organized the new Catholic diocese.
With his successor Basilios Jelghaf the cathedral was built on land owned by the Chouerites. A dispute between the Order and the Bishop Youssef Sarrouf about the real estate of the cathedral forced the Holy See to intervene to give reason to the Bishop (1784).
The bishop Agapios Riashi was one of the most vocal opponents of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar desired by Patriarch Maximos III Mazloum. Riashi was responsible for the reconstruction of the cathedral in a more impressive and rich decorations including an iconostasis in marble. This church was demolished in the twentieth century for urban needs.
On the death of Agapios Riashi in 1878 the Melkite community is divided on the choice of his successor. The Chouerites, which so far had given all the bishops of Beirut, and they considered the seat as their fiefdom, lived a difficult time and had no monks prepared for the episcopate. Patriarch Gregory II Youssef was Damascene and Melkite Beirut feared that ended up imposing a native bishop of Damascus. Eventually prevailed to the Holy See, when Pope Leo XIII with his Papal brief Occasione electionis on August 16, 1881, chose Meletios Fakak transferring him from his see in Zahleh and appointing to new Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut and Jbeil. The former Eparchy of Beirut was elevated to the rank of the Archeparchy, uniting it to the seat of Jbeil (Byblos), formerly administered by the bishops of Beirut since 1802. Jbeil corresponds to the ancient Byzantine Diocese of Byblos, mentioned in the fourth century. Fakak made his solemn entry only September 30, 1882.