History of the PATRIARCHAL SEE OF ALEXANDRIA
About 9,000 persons living in Egypt, Sudan, and a few in Libya make up the Melkite see of Alexandria under the authority of His Beatitude our Patriarch Gregory III Laham and his Patriarchal Vicar Archbishop Paul Antaki. This is about 1/150 of the million and one half Melkite persons around the world today and a very small fraction of the Egyptian population. Although very small, the Melkite (Greek Catholic) Church is a well-known community in Egypt.
It all started in 1724, when the first Syrian and Palestinian immigrants went to Egypt to escape the persecution inflicted on them by the Greek Patriarch Sylvester. In the seventeenth century the number of immigrants, reaching the friendly shores of Egypt, grew tremendously, and in 1838, Pope Gregory XVI gave Patriarch Maximos III Mazloom the title of “Patriach of Antioch and all the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem”.
These immigrants were faced with either persecution or latinization to survive in their original countries. Their refusal to accept either of the choices offered to them is an indication of their strong belief, courage, and tenacity. Many families settled in the port of Damietta, Egypt’s main port at that time, and brought with them their trades and their artistic abilities. Some of the most noticeable trades were: merchants, goldsmiths, diamond-cutters, and tailors. Once settled, their friends and relatives joined them and in the following years many additional families followed their example. From that point on the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church started to expand and prosper in Egypt.
They spread out to most of the
large cities of Egypt and became known for their exceptional meticulousness in
handling commercial projects. Some of them where entrusted with high positions
like the management of the Port Authorities which stayed with the Melkites for
about half a century.
They were known as the Damascene
Traders "El Toujjar El Shawam" because most or at least a large number
of them came from Damascus-Syria "El Sham". Some of the priests who
came with the immigrants from Damascus to Egypt are: Father Fadl-Allah Fadil,
Father Elias Faraoun, Father Ibrahim Faraoun, and Father Jacob Kassab, and from
Aleppo Father John Constantine.
Since 1750, the Melkites living
in Cairo and their Priests used the Franciscan church to meet and pray. The
Greek Patriarchs Samuel Kabasilas (1724), Cosma II (1724-1737), Cosma III
(1737-1746), welcomed the Melkites and helped them. When Patriarch Matta
(1746–1766) headed the Greek Church, he incited the Mameluks to arrest many of
the Melkites. Those who where arrested had to pay an exorbitant amount of money
– 225,000 gold franks - to gain their freedom.
Given that their practices and
their traditions where closer to those of the Greek Orthodox Church than to the
Latin Church, this was a real blow to the Melkites. Moreover, the priests who
came with them were getting old and dying.
At the suggestion of the
Franciscan Fathers, the Melkites asked Patriarch Cyril VI Tanas, to send them
some Priests. Since he was residing at the monastery of The Holy Savior, he sent
them Salvatorian Missionaries to serve them. The Melkite families took turn to
care and house the missionaries until Patriarch Maximos III Mazloum stopped this
practice, in 1837. (It was called “Eldour”, meaning cycle or turn. The
priest will reside with a different family each day of the week). Since 1772,
the Melkite Church in Egypt had its own hierarchy separately from the Franciscan
Fathers covering Cairo, Damietta, Alexandria, and the other cities.
During the French campaign in
Egypt (1798), France made use of the Salvatorian Melkite Priests, for their
language and translation capabilities. Some of the outstanding names are:
·
Father
Raphael (Antoine Zakhoura Rahbeh) was born, in Egypt, to a Syrian family. He
studied in Egypt and finished his Theological studies in Rome. He was the only
person from the Middle East to become member of the French Educational Council
in Egypt. He managed the instant Translation in many of the official meetings.
Then he became the lead-translator and translated the documents for the French
scientists to produce the “Description of Egypt”. He traveled to France after
the campaign and taught at the Middle Eastern Languages Institute in Paris.
Returned to Egypt and by his translating ability became the most significant
link between the French Campaign and the builder of the modern Egypt, Mohamed
Ali. He was one of the founders of the “Publisher of Boulak”. The first book
published was his translation of “The Prince”, “El-Amir”, and then his
Italian-Arabic Dictionary.
·
Father
Gabriel El-Tawil participated in the translation of the laws and the
publications as well as the instant translation at the meetings of the Egyptian
Council. He also traveled to France and taught with Father Raphael at the Middle
Eastern Languages Institute in Paris.
· Many more Melkites can be enumerated for their participation in the growth and development of modern Egypt. Names like Elias Fakhr from Damietta; Goubran Sakrouj; Aboud and Michael Nicholas Sabbagh; and Elias Hanania Faraoun the personal translator to Napoleon Bonaparte and Jean-Baptiste Kleber.
·
In
1831, Ibrahim Pacha, the son of the Vice-King of Egypt Mohamed Ali, invaded
Syria. Ibrahim’s team included some prominent Melkites. Among them is Hanna
Bahri, who by his closeness and friendship with Patriarch Maximos III Mazloom,
helped to establish the spirit of freedom of religion.
The growth of the Melkite Church
in Egypt produced some of the leaders of the Egyptian society in newspaper
journalism, poetry, movies, and music:
·
Philip
Takla (1849-1892) and Bishara Takla (1852-1901), the founders of “El-Ahram”
the first and to this date a major newspaper.
·
George
(Gorgy) Zedan (1861-1906) founded “Dar El-Helal”.
·
The
poets Adel El-Ghadban (1892-1972) and Khalil Moutran.
·
The
famous journalist Khalil Sabat.
·
The
movie producers Fatouh Nashaty, Yousef Maalouf, and the famous Henry Barakat
(1914-1977), who left an awesome mark on the movie industry.
· We find in the movie industry, Yousef Shaheen, Simone Saleh, and the movie industry historian, Farid El-Mazawi (1913-1988), and the movie critic, Marie Ghadban. Bishara Wakim (1888 - 1949), honored by the Egyptian government for his achievements in film and theater, played the role of the Lebanese in most of the Egyptian movies of the thirties and the forties.
· In
the music industry we find, Fouad El-Zahery (1916-1988), and Angele Ratl, teacher
at the Conservatory.
In the financial field, the name
like Habib El-Sakakiny (Pacha) will never be forgotten. An entire city within
the city of Daher is named after him as well as “Hakr El-Sakakiny” in
Sharabieh. Another unforgettable name is “Sednawi”. Selim and Semaan Sednawi
started with their first store in Cairo in 1896, to see it mushroom and booming
to this date, unfortunately, under a different name.
People like Bahiya Karam, the first Egyptian to be School Inspector for the English language and Naoum Shabib (1918-1985) the engineer who designed the Tower of Cairo and “El-Ahram” building are a small testimony of what the Melkites are for Egypt.
The Melkite Egyptian Clergy especially the so-called “The Cairo School”, which included His Beatitude Maximos V Hakim (Born in Tanta, Egypt), the late Archbishop Joseph Tawil, Archbishop Elias Zoghby, the late Archimandrite Orestes Karame, and Father Michel Geday, fought hard to recover the Melkite identity and opposed the rampant latinization process that started after the First Vatican Council. Moreover, their work became the background for the work done by His Beatitude Maximos IV Sayegh during the Second Vatican Council.
The lack of immigration to Egypt, after the Suez war in 1956, redirected the immigration to America, South America, Australia, and Europe. This phenomenon coupled with the instability of the Middle East, as a whole, reduced the size of the Melkite Church in Egypt, Sudan, and Libya from approximately 35,000 persons in 1938 to about 9,000 persons in the last five years.