Patriarch Athanasius III (sometimes also Athanasius IV ; in the world Pavel Prokopiy Dabbas ; 1647, Damascus - August 5, 1724 , Aleppo ) - bishop of the Orthodox Church of Antioch, Patriarch of Antioch and the whole East. The last Patriarch of Antioch before the secession of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church from the Antioch Patriarchate in 1724 [1] From 1705 to 1707 he was Archbishop of Cyprus.
Biography
Born in Damascus in 1647 and studied with the Jesuits. He entered the Monastery of Saint Sava the Sanctified , where he was ordained to the priesthood with the name of Procopius. He was later appointed rector of the monastery in Bethlehem. [2] Moved to Syria and tried to become the bishop of Aleppo, but without success. [3]
The situation of the Church of Antioch at that time was unstable. After the death of Patriarch Macarius III (Zaim) in 1672, the patriarchal throne was the subject of a dispute between his nephew Konstantin Zaim, who was elected Patriarch at the age of 20 under the name Cyril V and Neophytos of Chios, nephew of the previous Patriarch Euthymius III and appointed Patriarch of Constantinople to this post Dionysius IV.
In 1682, Neophytos of Chios, due to his debts, decided to retire, leaving Cyril V Zaim as a contender. This situation did not last long: Pavel Dabbas turned out to be his rival, supported by his uncle Mikhail Hayat, who was very influential thanks to ties with the Brilliant Porta. In addition, he was supported by Franciscan monks who opposed Cyril Zaim, accused of simony. In 1685, Mikhail Khayat managed to obtain a firman from the High Port, in which Pavel Dabbas was appointed Patriarch of the Melkite Church.
On July 5, 1685, Metropolitan of Sayednay Leonty, accompanied by two more bishops, performed the ordination of Paul Dabbas. After that, he was intronized to the patriarchal throne with the name Athanasius III. The next nine years were marked by a conflict between him and the previous candidate for the patriarchate of the Patriarch Kirill V Zaim.
Notes
- ↑ Dick, Iganatios. Melkites: Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholics of the Patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem. - Boston: Sophia Press, 2004. - P. 33–34.
- ↑ Skaff, Elias. The place of the Patriarchs of Antioch in Church History. - Boston: Sophia Press, 1993 .-- P. 307ss.
- ↑ Levenq, G. (1930), "Athanase III", Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques , vol. 4, Paris: Letouzey et Ané, pp. 1369–1376