Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch (Greek: Ελληνορθόδοξο Πατριαρχείο Αντιοχείας), also known as the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the Rūm Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East (Arabic: بطريركيّة أنطاكية وسائر المشرق للروم الأرثوذكس, romanized: Baṭriyarkiyyat ʾAnṭākiya wa-Sāʾir al-Mašriq li-r-Rūm al-ʾUrṯūḏuks, lit. 'Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East for the Orthodox Rum'), is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox church within the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity that originates from the historical Church of Antioch. Headed by the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, it considers itself the successor to the Christian community founded in Antioch by the Apostles Peter and Paul. It is one of the largest Christian denominations of the Middle East, alongside the Copts of Egypt and the Maronites of Lebanon.

Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East
بطريركيّة أنطاكية وسائر المشرق للروم الأرثوذكس (Arabic)
Mariamite Cathedral, Damascus, Syria, headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch since 1342
Type	Autocephaly
Classification	Christian
Orientation	Greek Orthodox (Melkite)
Scripture	Septuagint New Testament
Theology	Eastern Orthodox theology
Polity	Episcopal
Primate	John X (Yazigi), Patriarch of Antioch and All the East (since December 17, 2012)
Language	Koine Greek (historical) Aramaic (Classical Syriac) (historical) Arabic (official) Turkish (in Turkey) English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and other languages (extended)
Liturgy	Byzantine Rite (predominant) Western Rite
Headquarters	Mariamite Cathedral, Damascus, Syria Traditionally: Church of Cassian, Antioch, Byzantine Empire Monastic residence: Balamand Monastery, Koura, Lebanon
Territory	Primary: Syria, Lebanon, part of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia (formerly also Cyprus, Georgia and parts of the Central Caucasus area) Extended: North America, Central America, South America, Western, Southern and Central Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines
Founder	Apostles Peter and Paul
Independence	A.D. 325
Recognition	Eastern Orthodox Church
Branched from	Church of Antioch
Separations	Georgian Orthodox Church – dates vary by source: 467–491 or 1010 Melkite Greek Catholic Church – 1724
Members	Approx. 4.3 million (2012)
Official website	www.antiochpatriarchate.org

Its adherents, known as Antiochian Christians, are a Middle-Eastern ethnoreligious Eastern Christian group residing in the Levant region, including the Hatay Province of Turkey. Many of their descendants now live in the global Eastern Christian diaspora. The number of Antiochian Greek Christians is estimated to be approximately 4.3 million.

Background

The seat of the patriarchate was formerly Antioch, in what is now Turkey. The Church of Cassian was the cathedral church of Antioch to the Melkite and Latin patriarch during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. However, in the 14th century, it was moved to Damascus, modern-day Syria. Its traditional territory includes Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Kuwait, the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, and also parts of Turkey. Its territory formerly included the Church of Cyprus until the latter became autocephalous in 431. Both the Orthodox Churches of Antioch and Cyprus are members of the Middle East Council of Churches.

Its North American branch is autonomous, although the Holy Synod of Antioch still appoints its head bishop, chosen from a list of three candidates nominated in the North American archdiocese. Its Australasia and Oceania branch is the largest in terms of geographic area due to the relatively large size of Australia and the large portion of the Pacific Ocean that the archdiocese covers.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Antioch is called Patriarch. The present Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch is John X (Yazigi), who presided over the Archdiocese of Western and Central Europe (2008–2013). He was elected as primate of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East as John X of Antioch (Yazigi) on December 17, 2012. He succeeded Ignatius IV who had died on December 5, 2012. Membership statistics are not available, but may be as high as 1,100,000 in Syria and 400,000 in Lebanon where they make up 8% of the population or 20% of Christians who make up 39–41% of Lebanon. The seat of the patriarch in Damascus is the Mariamite Cathedral of Damascus.

The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch is one of several churches that lay claim to be the canonical incumbent of the ancient see of Antioch. The Syriac Orthodox Church makes the same claim, as do the Syriac Catholic Church, the Maronite Church, and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church; the latter three are Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See and mutually recognize each other as holding authentic patriarchates, being part of the same Catholic communion. Their fellow Catholic particular church, the Latin Church, also appointed titular patriarchs for many centuries, until the office was left vacant in 1953 and abolished in 1964 with all claims renounced.

History

I–IV centuries

According to Luke the Evangelist—himself a Greco-Syrian member of that community—the distinctive identity of the Antiochian Church emerged at an early stage:

The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

— Acts 11:26 (New Testament, NIV translation)

St Peter and St Paul are traditionally regarded as the co-founders of the Patriarchate of Antioch, with Peter considered its first bishop. When Peter left Antioch, Evodios assumed leadership, followed by Ignatius. Both Evodios and Ignatius died as martyrs during Roman persecutions.

Saint Evodius served as Bishop of Antioch until 66 AD, and he was succeeded by Saint Ignatius the God-bearer. In 169 AD, Theophilus of Antioch wrote three apologetic treatises addressed to Autolycus.

Patriarch Babylas of Antioch is regarded as the first saint whose remains were translated for religious purposes—a practice that became extremely widespread in the following centuries.

Hellenistic Judaism and Judeo-Greek "wisdom" literature, widespread during the late Second Temple period among both Hellenized Rabbinical Jews (Mityavnim in Hebrew) and gentile Greek proselyte converts to Judaism, played an important role in shaping the Melkite-Antiochian Greek Orthodox tradition. Elements of typically Grecian "Ancient Synagogal" priestly rites and hymns have partially survived to the present day in the distinctive church service, architecture, and iconography of the Melkite Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic communities of the Hatay Province of southern Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon.

Some historians believe that a substantial proportion of the Hellenized Jewish population and most gentile Greco-Macedonian settlers in southern Turkey (Antioch, Alexandretta and neighboring cities) as well as Syria and Lebanon—referred to in the Acts as Hellenistai—gradually converted to the Greco-Roman form of Christianity that later became the Melkite (or Imperial) Hellenistic Churches of Western Asia and North Africa:

As Jewish Christianity originated at Jerusalem, so Gentile Christianity started at Antioch, then the leading center of the Hellenistic East, with Peter and Paul as its apostles. From Antioch it spread to the various cities and provinces of Syria, among the Hellenistic Syrians as well as among the Hellenistic Jews who, as a result of the great rebellions against the Romans in A.D. 70 and 130, were driven out from Jerusalem and Palestine into Syria.

Acts 6 highlights the cultural tensions between Greek-speaking Judeo-Christians associated with Antioch and related Cilician, southern Anatolian, and Syrian diasporas, and the more conservative Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians centered in Jerusalem:

The 'Hebrews' were Jewish Christians who spoke almost exclusively Aramaic, and the 'Hellenists' were also Jewish Christians whose mother tongue was Greek... As the very context of Acts 6 makes clear, the Hellenistai are not Hellenes.

In 313 AD, emperors Constantine I and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, which permitted the free profession of any religion within the Empire. Around the same time, the spread of the heresy of Arianism began, leading to a schism that lasted until 381.

Eustathius of Antioch supported Athanasius of Alexandria in his opposition to the teachings of Arius during the Arian controversy at the First Council of Nicaea.

During the episcopate of Meletius of Antioch, the struggle against Arianism reached its peak. Meletius was deposed by Emperor Constantius II but later restored under Emperor Julian, exiled again, returned by Emperor Jovian, and once more exiled by Valens. Under Emperor Theodosius, who held him in special esteem, Meletius was elected to preside over the Second Ecumenical Council.

In the 4th century, monasticism spread throughout Syria. Unlike Egyptian monasticism, early Syrian monasticism was less secluded: monks engaged in missionary preaching and charitable activity. In the 5th century, stylitism emerged—an ascetic form of seclusion practiced atop pillars or rocky outcrops (see Simeon Stylites).

IV—VII centuries

Given the antiquity of the Antiochian Church and the importance of the Christian community in the city of Antioch, as well as its economic significance in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, the First Council of Nicaea in 325 recognized the importance of the church, naming it one of the main regional primacies in the Christian world, with jurisdiction over the territory of the Diocese of the East, thus laying the foundation for the creation of the "Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East".

The Antiochian Patriarchate and Syria in general were the most troubled region of the Roman Empire, where at the beginning of the 5th century Christological disturbances began. Although the Antiochian School of Theology was the founder of dyophysite Christology, there was also a strong party in Syria supporting the theology of Cyril of Alexandria. With the practical defeat of the Nestorians in the Roman Empire, after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 the Christological conflict occurred between supporters and opponents of this council. In 512 Patriarch Flavian II was deposed by Emperor Anastasius I (d. 518), and on November 6, 512, at a synod in Laodicea in Syria, the Miaphysite theologian Severus of Antioch (d. 538) was elected, who was ordained on November 16 in the Golden Hous. However, in 518 he was deposed by Emperor Justinian I (d. 527) for propagating heresy. A new patriarch was appointed, Paul the Jew.

However, part of the clergy, which did not recognize the decision of the Council of Chalcedon, also refused to recognize the new patriarch, after which it split off, creating a parallel structure under Severus, which after the final ethno-confessional division in the empire became the Syro-Jacobite Church. The non-Chalcedonian community was divided between the "Severians" (followers of Severus) and the Aphthartodocetists, and this division remained unresolved until 527.

After the deposition of the Miaphysite Patriarch Severus of Antioch in 512–518 by Emperor Justinian I and the near-total destruction of the episcopate not recognizing the Council of Chalcedon, the state-recognized Antiochian Church became fully dyophysite. Around this time, the monk of Edessa, Jacob Baradeus, effectively restored the Miaphysite structure, essentially creating the Syriac Orthodox Church.

But before the Chalcedonian Patriarchate of Antioch became purely Greek, and the non-Chalcedonian purely Syrian, attempts to overcome the division continued. In the early 7th century, Emperor Heraclius, with a strong intention to unite the Universal Church, appointed Miaphysite patriarchs to all leading sees and proposed a compromise doctrine of Monothelitism. However, this initiative did not take root and the patriarchates were again divided.

VII—XI centuries

From 637, Syria came under the rule of the Arab Caliphate. The situation of the Greek Orthodox was severely complicated, as the Arabs considered them not only "infidels" but also allies of Byzantium. For this reason, the Antiochian Greek patriarchs were forced to live in exile in Constantinople, and after the death of George II (c. 702), this line was interrupted. Only in 742 did Caliph Hisham allow the election of the Syrian monk Stephen to the Antiochian see, on the condition of his complete loyalty.

Cooperation with Muslim authorities sometimes exceeded all limits. For example, Patriarch Job accompanied the Arab army in the campaign against Amorium in 838 and persuaded Byzantine fortresses to surrender to the Arabs.

Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas (963–969), after several victories over the Arabs, liberated Antioch and several other territories. However, the military failures of the Muslims increased interconfessional tension: every triumph of Nikephoros provoked pogroms against Christians in Palestine and Syria. One of the victims of these persecutions was the Antiochian Patriarch Christopher, who was killed in 967.

The Byzantine period, lasting until 1084, became an era of revival for the Patriarchate.

XI—XVI centuries

In December 1084, during a sudden strike, the Seljuks captured Antioch. The mere establishment of Seljuk rule in the Near East in the late 11th century did not result in a significant deterioration of the social status of local Christians. They suffered mainly, like the rest of the population, from political instability in Syria, endless wars of small emirates, and forced territorial partitions.

In 1097, European Crusaders appeared in the Eastern Mediterranean. After the Crusaders’ victories, the relations between them and the local Christians were "complex and ambiguous," not simply friendly or hostile. Local Christians felt closer ties with their fellow Crusader-Christians than with Arab Muslims.

Nevertheless, some scholars agree that relations between Orthodox and Catholics in Outremer were generally good. This is evidenced by the growth of the Orthodox population in the Principality of Antioch, including an influx of refugees from other regions under Muslim rule.

However, the Latins still considered their Eastern co-religionists as inferior Christians, attempting to subject Orthodox Christians to Catholic clergy. By 1100, Patriarch John the Oxite was expelled from Antioch, replaced by the Latin prelate Bernard of Valencia. Latin patriarchs soon began replacing Orthodox bishops with Catholics in conquered territories, forcing the Antiochian see into exile in Constantinople.

These Catholic persecutions did not last long. In 1165, Antiochian Prince Bohemond III had to appeal to Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, who demanded the immediate restoration of the Orthodox hierarchy and equal rights with Catholics. Thereafter, Patriarch Athanasius I arrived in the city and began residing at the Cathedral of St. Peter.

By 1291, the Crusaders lost their last possessions in the East. They were replaced by fanatical Mamluks, who destroyed churches and exterminated the clergy to eradicate any trace of Christianity. As a result, Christians, who had constituted nearly half of the population of Syria and Palestine in the 11th century, became an overwhelming minority over the next 200 years, scattered across small communities. Their situation worsened further after the fall of Byzantium in 1453.

In 1342, the Patriarchal see was transferred to Damascus, where it remains to this day.

XVI—XIX centuries

In 1517, Damascus was captured by the Ottoman Empire, and the Antiochian Patriarch came under the administrative authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople. In Syria, the Church was subjected to a special tax for non-Muslims, and for delayed payments even metropolitans or Patriarchs could be imprisoned. At the same time, the Orthodox community was not subjected to systematic religious persecution, and there were no recorded cases of mass or forced Islamization in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The only period of persecution of Orthodox Christians in the Near East was connected with the Greek uprising of the 1820s, when Patriarch Seraphim narrowly escaped execution.

At the beginning of the 18th century, a movement emerged in the Antiochian Orthodox Church advocating union with Rome. The center of the unionist supporters was Damascus, and the opponents were in Aleppo. In 1724, Patriarch Athanasius IV died, appointing as his successor the monk Sylvester, a supporter of the Aleppine faction and opponent of the union. However, the people of Damascus did not accept Sylvester’s candidacy and elected their own candidate — Cyril VI Tanas. After intervention by the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Ottoman authorities, who supported Sylvester, Cyril had to flee Syria to Lebanon. Five years later, Pope Benedict XIII recognized Cyril as Patriarch of Antioch, formalizing the schism and the creation of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

According to various estimates, the number of Orthodox believers in the Antiochian Patriarchate in the mid-19th century reached 60–110 thousand (approximately 8–9% of the total population of Syria).

In 1860, Syrian Christians suffered a tragedy when, during a massacre and pogrom in Damascus, a significant part of the city’s Christian community was destroyed and all churches were ruined.

In 1898, Russian diplomacy, with active participation of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, succeeded in History of the relations of the ensuring the election of an Arab-Syrian to the patriarchal throne, followed by the removal of Greeks from the hierarchy.

In April 1899, the first Arab patriarch Meletius (Dumani) was elected. From that time onward, the practice of electing the Antiochian Patriarch from among Orthodox Arabs has been maintained.

Modern History

Since 1908, the Patriarchate annually received 30,000 rubles from the personal funds of the Russian Emperor (Nicholas II). In 1913, Patriarch of Antioch Gregory IV made an official visit to Russia, participating in the celebrations of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty and in many services in various cities of the empire.

According to the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, part of the territory of the Antiochian Orthodox Church — Cilicia, Şanlıurfa, and Mardin — became part of the Republic of Turkey; by agreement with Greece on population exchange, all Orthodox were deported from these areas, despite protests and claims that they were Arabs, not Greeks. On the eve of World War II, the French authorities handed over the district of Alexandretta, where Antioch is located, to Turkey. This action (still not officially recognized by Syria) worsened the situation of the local Christian population.

In 1929, part of the Orthodox population of Lebanon sought the creation of an autocephalous Lebanese Church, arguing that ecclesiastical independence was a logical consequence of political sovereignty. These aspirations were supported by the French authorities but met with strong opposition from Syrians. After tense negotiations in Beirut and Zahlé (1929), the parties agreed that the Patriarchal See would remain in Damascus. The prolonged election procedure for a new Patriarch ended in February 1931 with the election in Beirut of a candidate from the Lebanese faction, Metropolitan of Laodicea Arsenius (Haddad). Soon thereafter, Metropolitan of Tripoli Alexander (Tahhan) was elected in Damascus. After Arsenius’ death in January 1933, he united the entire Patriarchate under his authority.

Throughout the 20th century, Arab Christians emigrated from the Middle East, many settling in North America, where until 1918 they were under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, which caused ecclesiastical unrest in North America, the Syrian-Arab parishes partly joined the Russian North American Metropolia and partly remained under the direct jurisdiction of the Antiochian Patriarchate.

The Antiochian Patriarchate managed to reach an agreement with the Russian North American Metropolia to transfer all Arab dioceses under its omophorion, but the planned ordination of two bishops in 1936 led to a new schism. Instead of ordaining one of them as a vicar bishop, the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, within which the North American Metropolia was then included, ordained him as Archbishop of Toledo, creating a separate independent church.

In 1972, the current Charter of the Antiochian Orthodox Church was adopted.

Only in 1975 was the schism of the Antiochian Church in America overcome: on 24 June 1975, Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) of the Antiochian Archdiocese of New York and Metropolitan Michael (Shaheen) of the Antiochian Archdiocese of Toledo (Ohio) signed the "Articles of Reunification" — a document restoring administrative unity among the Antiochian Orthodox in the USA and Canada; on 19 August 1975, the "Articles" were approved by the Synod of the Antiochian Patriarchate.

In October 2003, the Antiochian Patriarchate’s North American metropolias were granted self-governance by the Synod; vicar bishops of the metropolia were elevated to diocesan rank.

In March 2013, the Jerusalem Patriarchate appointed a bishop to the newly established Qatar Diocese, which caused protests from the Antiochian Patriarchate Synod. Since none of the Antiochian Patriarchate’s demands were met, on 27 June 2015, the Synod of the Antiochian Patriarchate decided to sever "all ecclesiastical communion" with the Jerusalem Patriarchate. In 2023, in the context of the armed conflict in Israel and Gaza Strip, the Holy Synod of the Antiochian Patriarchate decided to restore communion with the Jerusalem Orthodox Church.

Identity and Cultural Legacy

"There is neither Jew nor Greek"

These ethno-cultural and social tensions were eventually surmounted by the emergence of a new, typically Antiochian Greek doctrine (doxa) spearheaded by Paul (himself a Hellenized Cilician Jew) and his followers be they 1. Established, autochthonous Hellenized Cilician-Western Syrian Jews (themselves descendants of Babylonian and 'Asian' Jewish migrants who had adopted early on various elements of Greek culture and civilization while retaining a generally conservative attachment to Jewish laws & traditions), 2. Heathen, 'Classical' Greeks, Greco-Macedonian and Greco-Syrian gentiles, and 3. the local, autochthonous descendants of Greek or Greco-Syrian converts to mainstream Judaism – known as "Proselytes" (Greek: προσήλυτος/proselytes or 'newcomers to Israel') and Greek-speaking Jews born of mixed marriages.

Paul's efforts were probably facilitated by the arrival of a fourth wave of Greek-speaking newcomers to Cilicia, Northwestern Syria, Galilee and Jerusalem: Cypriot and 'Cyrenian' (Libyan) Jewish migrants of non-Egyptian North African Jewish origin and gentile Roman settlers from Italy — many of whom already spoke fluent Koine Greek and/or sent their children to Greco-Syrian schools. Some scholars believe that, at the time, these Cypriot and Cyrenian North African Jewish migrants were generally less affluent than the autochthonous Cilician-Syrian Jews and practiced a more 'liberal' form of Judaism, more propitious for the formation of a new canon:

[North African] Cyrenian Jews were of sufficient importance in those days to have their name associated with a synagogue at Jerusalem (Acts 6:9). And when the persecution arose about Stephen [a Hellenized Syrian-Cilician Jew, and one of the first known converts to Christianity], some of these Jews of Cyrene who had been converted at Jerusalem, were scattered abroad and came with others to Antioch [...] and one of them, Lucius, became a prophet in the early church there [the Greek-speaking 'Orthodox' Church of Antioch].

These subtle, progressive socio-cultural shifts are somehow summarized succinctly in Chapter 3 of the Epistle to the Galatians:

There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither slave nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

Dual self-designation: "Melkites" and "Eastern Romans"

The unique combination of ethnocultural traits inhered from the fusion of a Greek cultural base, Hellenistic Judaism and Roman civilization gave birth to the distinctly Antiochian "Eastern Mediterranean-Roman" Christian traditions of Cilicia (Southeastern Turkey) and Syria/Lebanon:

The mixture of Roman, Greek, and Jewish elements admirably adapted Antioch for the great part it played in the early history of Christianity. The city was the cradle of the church.

Some of the typically Antiochian ancient liturgical traditions of the community rooted in Hellenistic Judaism and, more generally, Second Temple Greco-Jewish Septuagint culture, were expunged progressively in the late medieval and modern eras by both Phanariot European-Greek (Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople) and Vatican (Roman Catholic) theologians who sought to 'bring back' Levantine Greek Orthodox and Greek-Catholic communities into the European Christian fold.

But members of the community in Southern Turkey, Syria and Lebanon still call themselves Rūm (روم), which means Eastern Romans or Asian Greeks in Arabic. In that particular context, the term Rūm is used in preference to Yūnāniyyūn (يونانيون), which means European Greeks or Ionians in Biblical Hebrew (borrowed from Old Persian Yavan) and Classical Arabic. Members of the community also call themselves Melkites, which literally means monarchists or supporters of the emperor in Semitic languages – a reference to their past allegiance to Greco-Macedonian, Roman and Byzantine imperial rule. But, in the modern era, the term tends to be more commonly used by followers of the Greek Catholic Church of Antioch and Alexandria and Jerusalem.

Interaction with other non-Muslim ethnocultural minorities

Following the fall of the Turkish Ottoman Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire (long the protector of Greek-Orthodox minorities in the Levant), and the ensuing rise of French colonialism, communism, Islamism and Israeli nationalism, some members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch embraced secularism and/or Arab Nationalism as a way to modernize and "secularize" the newly formed nation-states of Northern Syria and Lebanon, and thus provide a viable "alternative" to political Islam, communism and Jewish nationalism (viewed as ideologies potentially exclusive of Byzantine Christian minorities).

This often led to interfaith conflicts with the Maronite Church in Lebanon, notably regarding Palestinian refugees after 1948 and 1967. Various (sometimes secular) intellectuals with a Greek Orthodox Antiochian background played an important role in the development of Baathism, the most prominent being Michel Aflaq, one of the founders of the movement.

Abraham Dimitri Rihbany

In the early 20th century (notably during World War I), Lebanese-American writers of Greek-Orthodox Antiochian background such as Abraham Dimitri Rihbany, known as Abraham Mitrie Rihbany (a convert to Presbyterianism), popularized the notion of studying ancient Greco-Semitic culture to better understand the historic and ethnocultural context of the Christian Gospels: his original views were developed in a series of articles for The Atlantic Monthly, and in 1916 published in book form as The Syrian Christ.

At a time when most of the Arab world area was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, France and Britain, Rihbany called for US military intervention in the Holy Land to fend off Ottoman Pan-Islamism, French colonialism, Soviet Communism and radical Zionist enterprises- all viewed as potentially detrimental to Christian minorities.

Administration and structure

The administration and structure of the Antiochian See are governed by statutes.

The Patriarch

The Patriarch is elected by the Holy Synod from among the metropolitans who compose it. The Patriarch presides the Holy Synod and executes its decisions. He also acts as metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Antioch and Damascus.

The current Patriarch, John X (Yazigi), was elected on December 17, 2012, succeeding to Metropolitan Saba Esber, who had been elected locum tenens on December 7, 2012, following Ignatius IV (Hazim)'s death.

Archdioceses and metropolitans

There are at present 22 archdioceses, each headed by a metropolitan.

Western Asia

Archdiocese of Antioch and Damascus: Patriarchal archdiocese
Archdiocese of Akkar and Dependencies (Wadi al-Nasara, Safita and Tartus): Basilios Mansour (2008–present)
Archdiocese of Aleppo and their Dependencies: Ephreim Maalouli (2021–present)
Archdiocese of Beirut and Exarchate of Phœnicia: Elias Audi (1980–present)
Archdiocese of Baghdad, Kuwait and Dependencies: Ghattas Hazim (2014–present)
Archdiocese of Bosra, Hauran and Jabal al-Arab: Saba Esber (1999–present)
Archdiocese of Byblos and Batroun: Siluan Muci (2018–present)
Archdiocese of Hama (Epiphania) and Exarchate of North Syria: Nicholas Baalbaki (2017–present)
Archdiocese of Homs (Emesa): George Khoury (2023-present)
Archdiocese of Latakia (Laodicea ad Mare) and Exarchate of Theodorias: Athanasius Fahd (2018–present)
Archdiocese of Diyarbakır: Paul Yazigi (2021–)
Archdiocese of Tarsus, Adana, and Alexandretta: newly established on 13 October 2025, and provisionally headed by a patriarchal representative.
Archdiocese of Tripoli and Koura: Ephraim Kyriakos (2009–present)
Archdiocese of Tyre and Sidon: Elias Kfoury (1995–present)
Archdiocese of Zahleh and Baalbek (Heliopolis): Antonios El Soury (Nov 14, 2015–present)

Asia and Oceania

Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines: Basilios Qoudsiah (2017–present)

Europe

Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland: Silouan Oner (2015–present)
Archdiocese of France, Western and Southern Europe: Ignatius Alhoushi (2013–present)
Archdiocese of Germany and Central Europe: Isaac Barakat (2013–present)

The Americas

Archdiocese of North America (Englewood, New Jersey); Metropolitan of New York and All North America: Saba (Esber) (2023–present)
- Diocese of Oakland, Charleston, and the Mid-Atlantic: Thomas Joseph (2004–present)
- Diocese of Eagle River and the Northwest: vacant
- Diocese of Los Angeles and the West: Anthony Michaels (2014–present)
- Diocese of New York and Washington, D.C.: Metropolitical diocese
- Diocese of Miami and the Southeast: Nicholas Ozone (2017–present)
- Diocese of Ottawa, Eastern Canada and Upstate New York: Alexander Mufarrij (2004–present)
- Diocese of Toledo and the Mid-West: Jeremy (Davis), Archiepiscopal Vicar (2024-present)
- Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America: Basil (Essey) (2003-present)
- Diocese of Worcester and New England: John Abdallah (2011–present)
Archdiocese of Buenos Aires and All Argentina: Jacob Khoury (elected 2018)
Archdiocese of Mexico, Venezuela, Central America and the Caribbean: Ignatius Samaan (2017–present)
Archdiocese of Santiago and All Chile: Sergios Abad (1996–present), Bishop of Salamias and Patriarchal Auxiliary for Chile (1988–1996)
Archdiocese of São Paulo and All Brazil: Damaskinos Mansour (1997–present)

Titular dioceses and bishops

Diocese of Shahba: Niphon Saykali (1988–), elevated to archbishop in 2009 and elevated to metropolitan in 2014, Representative of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East at the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Diocese of Darayya: Moussa Khoury (1995–), Patriarchal Assistant – Damascus
Diocese of Saidnaya: Luka Khoury (1999–), Patriarchal Assistant – Damascus
Diocese of Banias: Demetrios Charbak (2011–), Auxiliary Bishop in Safita, Archdiocese of Akkar
Diocese of Arthoussa: Elias Toumeh (2011–), Auxiliary Bishop in Marmarita, Archdiocese of Akkar
Diocese of Zabadani: Constantine Kayal (2011–), Abbot of St Elias – Shwayya Patriarchal Monastery
Diocese of Palmyra: Youhanna Haikal (2011–), Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Germany and Central Europe
Diocese of Edessa: Romanos Daoud (2011–), Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of São Paulo and Brazil
Diocese of the Emirates: Gregorios Khoury-Abdallah (2014–), Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch
Diocese of Erzurum: Qays Sadek (2014–), Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch
Diocese of Resafa: Youhanna Batash (2017–)
Diocese of Apamea: Theodore Ghandour (2017–)

Retired bishops

Archdiocese of Byblos and Batroun: Georges Khodr (1970–2018)
Diocese of Jableh: Demetrios Khoury (1995–2003)
Diocese of Yabroud: Athanasius Saliba (1979–)

Daughter churches

Eastern Orthodox
- Church of Constantinople: Granted autocephaly in A.D. 381 in the Council of Constantinople and gained dignity of Patriarchate in A.D. 451 in Council of Chalcedon.
- Church of Cyprus: Granted autocephaly by the Church of Antioch in A.D. 431.
- Church of Jerusalem: Originally Bishopric of Cæsarea, gained dignity of Patriarchate in A.D. 451 in Council of Chalcedon with territory carved from Patriarchate of Antioch.
- Church of Georgia: Georgian autocephaly is believed to have been granted by the Patriarchate of Antioch between 467 and 491 CE, although another proposed date is 1010 CE.
Oriental Orthodox
- Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East: Formed in 518 when Severus of Antioch was deposed by Emperor Justin I, and Severus and his followers went into exile.
Catholic
- Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East: Founded by Maron in the 5th century and survived the later Muslim invasions, reaffirming communion with Rome in the 12th century.
- Melkite Greek Catholic Church: Formed in 1724 by Cyril VI Tanas, who brought the Antiochian Orthodox community into communion with Rome.
- Syriac Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch: Formed in 1662 when Andrew Akijan was elected as Syrian Patriarch and he entered in communion with the Catholic Church in that same year.

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