Patriarch Meletius II Doumani ( ar, البطريرك ملاتيوس الثاني دوماني ; 1839 – 1906) was
Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch
The patriarch of Antioch is one of the Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, the leader of the autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch. The term "Greek" does not refer to ethnic origin; the majority of these patriarchs were not ethnic Greeks. It r ...
(1899–1906). He was the first Arab and the first
Syrian
Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...
primate of non-
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
descent in 168 years.
When
Saint Raphael (then an archimandrite) was elected Bishop of
Zahleh, Lebanon in December 1901, Meletius asked him to return to the patriarchate from his mission in the United States. Archimandrite Raphael politely refused, noting that he wished to complete the work he was then doing in the United States.
Literature
* ''Mufarrij, Rafeek'', «The patriarchal crisis in the See of Antioch and the election of Melatios Doumani: causes, main events and results, 1891—1899» (2000)
* ''Якушев М. И.'
Первый Патриарх-араб на Антиохийском престоле// Восточный архив, 2006. — № 14-15. — С. 99-106
*
External links
Primates of the Apostolic See of Antioch
1839 births
1906 deaths
Greek Orthodox Patriarchs of Antioch
Syrian Christian clergy
{{EasternOrthodoxy-bishop-stub