Joseph of Damascus (May 15, 1793 – July 10, 1860), born Joseph George Haddad Firzli ( ar, جوزيف جورج حداد الفرزلي), was a

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

and educator who was glorified as a saint in 1993. He is also known as "Father Joseph" in the

Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch ( el, Ελληνορθόδοξο Πατριαρχείο Αντιοχείας), also known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East ( ar ...

Life

Joseph was born in Beirut on May 15, 1793. He was the son of George MeHanna Haddad Firzli, a Lebanese craftsman of Antiochite Rūm descent. He was ordained a priest in 1817 for the

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 ...

of Damascus and served as director of the

Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

al School in Damascus 1836–1860: under his leadership, the

al School became the leading Orthodox institution of higher learning in the Middle-East. He was martyred during the 1860 Damascus massacreNew , York Times
Details of the Damascus Massacre
NYT, August 13, 1860 when Druze and Muslim marauders led by Druze feudal lords destroyed part of the old city of Damascus and killed more than 11,000

and Melkite

Greek Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...

Christians who had taken refuge in the churches and monasteries of

Bab Tuma Bab Tuma ( ar, بَابُ تُومَا, Bāb Tūmā, meaning: "Gate of Thomas") is an area of the Old City of Damascus in Syria, and is also the name of one of the seven gates inside the historical walls of the city, which is a geographic landm ...

("Saint Thomas’s Gate").

Legacy

Many alumni of Joseph's

al School of Theology became bishops and archpriests in Syria,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, most notably Raphael Hawaweeny, known as

Raphael of Brooklyn Raphael of Brooklyn ( ar, قديس رافائيل من بروكلين), born Rufāʾīl Hawāwīnī (Raphael Hawaweeny; ar, رفائيل هواويني; November 20, 1860 – February 27, 1915), was bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, auxi ...

, the first Orthodox Christian bishop consecrated on American soil, and Dom Ignatios Firzli,

archbishop of

Sao Paulo SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U ...

Life

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading