Justin Najmy (1898 - 1968) was the first

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

for the United States in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Appointed exarch for the newly created Melkite

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

in the United States, Bishop Najmy served for two years before his death at age 70.

Biography

Justin Abraham Najmy was born on April 23, 1898. He joined the Basilian Aleppian Order, studied at the seminary at Deir-ech-Chir and at the Propaganda Fidei, and was ordained a priest in Rome on December 25, 1926. Moving to the United States, he served as pastor of St. Basil the Great Church in

Central Falls, Rhode Island Central Falls is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,583 at the 2020 census. With an area of only , it is the smallest and most densely populated city in the smallest state, and the 27th most densely ...

, before his appointment as apostolic exarch by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

on January 27, 1966. The appointment of Najmy as exarch at first drew protest from the Melkite patriarch Maximos IV, because he and the Synod of the Melkite Church had chosen a different candidate, and the appointment, decided by the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches, made the new Exarch subject to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

, and only responsible to the Patriarch and the Synod in liturgical matters. On May 29, 1966, in a ceremony at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Najmy was consecrated a bishop by

Athanasios Toutoungi Athanasios Toutoungi (6 September 1899 in Alexandretta, now İskenderun, Turkey – 20 February 1981) was an archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Aleppo in Syria. Life Athanasios Toutoungi was on July 20, 1927 ordained to the pr ...

archbishop of Aleppo The Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo (in Latin: Vicariatus Apostolicus Aleppensis) is an apostolic vicariate (Latin pre-diocesan missionary jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, entitled to a titular bishop) and is immediately subject to the ...

, his former seminary colleague, and received the title of

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox ...

of Augustopolis-in- Phrygia. The following month he was formally enthroned as exarch. He established his episcopal see at the Church of the Annunciation in suburban Boston, which became the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

for the newly created Apostolic Exarchate of United States of America, Faithful of the Oriental Rite (Melkite). In the wake of the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...

in June 1967, Najmy welcomed the bishops of Middle Eastern churches in the United States for a meeting in Boston. Bishops of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, the Maronite Catholic Church, and from Armenian and Syrian churches attended. Bishop Najmy did not serve as exarch for long. He died of a heart attack on June 11, 1968, and was succeeded by

Joseph Tawil Archbishop Joseph Tawil (December 25, 1913 – February 17, 1999) was the Melkite Greek Catholic eparch for the United States, teacher and theologian. He is remembered for his participation in the Second Vatican Council, expanding the Melkite Ch ...

. He is buried at the parish cemetery of St. Basil the Great in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

Notes

External links

Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem

Official Website of the Melkite Church in the US

{{DEFAULTSORT:Najmy, Justin American people of Arab descent American Melkite Greek Catholic bishops American Eastern Catholics 1898 births 1968 deaths Melkite Greek Catholic bishops Burials in Rhode Island 20th-century American clergy

Biography

See also

Notes

External links