Asad Rustom on the Patriarch Sylvester

Translated from: Asad Rustum, Kanisat Madinat Allah Antakya al-'Uzma [The Church of the Great City of God Antioch], Jounieh: Editions St. Paul (1988), vol. 3, pp. 143-151

While Rustom's account is the most common modern Orthodox treatment of Sylvester's election and career, much research has been done since his wrote it. For the most detailed and up-to-date study of Sylvester, see Mihai Țipău's new book, available free for download here. For Rustom's account of Sylvester's Catholic rival Seraphim/Cyril Tanas, see here.

Sylvester I (1724-1766): Before his death, Athanasius indicated to the Christians in Aleppo to elect as his successor a Cypriot priest called Sylvester, who had first served with him as a deacon and accompanied him on many of his travels to Wallachia, Moldavia and elsewhere, and then left him and enrolled in the clergy of the Church of Constantinople. At that time, Sylvester was living on Mount Athos, practicing asceticism.

Cyril Tanas wrote to the Christians who stood firm in the Orthodox faith to attract them to himself. He also wrote to the bishops of the See of Antioch informing them that he had been installed as their patriarch. He asked them to recognize him, submit to him, and commemorate him, threatening those who resist him with deposition, but the bishops did not respond. Before his letters reached them, they and the laity had written to the Holy Synod of Constantinople, presided over by Patriarch Paisius, informing them about the death of the Patriarch Athanasius and about the activities of Cyril Tanas, the way in which he had been consecrated, and his forcible entry into and occupation of the patriarch's residence in Damascus. They asked the synod for fraternal help on account of its moral influence with the Ottoman state, informing them that they had elected Sylvester as patriarch and that they wished for him to be recalled from Mount Athos and be consecrated as a bishop so that he could occupy the Apostolic See of Antioch. In doing this, the Antiochian Christians aimed to obtain someone who had both experience and moral influence and could come to the Church of Antioch with a berat from the sultan and an injunction that would help him to curb the heretics and defend the Orthodox faith, and so be able to strengthen Orthodoxy, put and end to the quarrel among Antioch's Christians, and work to unify their hearts.

When these letters arrived at the Holy Synod of Constantinople, it wrote to Mount Athos, summoning Sylvester, and elevated him to the episcopacy on September 27, 1724. He was issued with a berat from the sultan and orders for the deposition of Cyril Tanas and the arrest of Abu Tawq, the governor of Damascus who had pledged to request the issue of a berat from the sultan for Cyril. News of Sylvester and the berat and orders that he held spread and Cyril fled, taking with him vestments, miters, crosses, chalices, patens, and all the rest of the holy vessels that Macarius had brought from Russia, and taking refuge in Mount Lebanon, residing in Deir al-Mukhalles.

Kyr Sylvester was a virtuous man who had spent a long time in the sketes of Mount Athos and because of his estrangement from the world, he was simple, light-hearted and docile. At the same time, however, he was strongly attached to tradition. He was unwavering and would not deviate from it.

When he arrived in Aleppo, he was informed of what Seraphim [that is, Cyril Tanas] had done, so he hurried to Damascus and stayed there for two months. The people of the city, including Cyril Tanas' supporters, welcomed him. He then went on pilgrimage and after a year and a half he returned to the region of Aleppo. When he reached Khan Tuman, the Orthodox notables went out to receive him and they prepared for him there an elegant dinner with fish, even though it was Wednesday, in accordance with the permission they had received from the previous patriarch, Athanasius. When Sylvester saw the fish, he kicked over the table, excommunicated the Aleppans, left the notables and went immediately to the patriarchal residence in Aleppo. The Aleppans tried to mollify the patriarch, but he did not pardon them. Instead, he stood up in the church on Sunday and excommunicated anyone who would dare in the future to eat fish on Wednesday or Friday. He did not limit himself to this, but also scorned the elites of Aleppo and complained to the governor about those among them who were partisans of papism and they were placed in jail and not released until they had incurred serious costs. They were angered and sought to imprison the patriarch. Sylvester learned of this from the English consul and secretly fled to Lattakia, from there going by sea to Constantinople.

The Aleppans complained about their situation to the Holy Synod of Constantinople, claiming that Sylvester had beaten priests and handed elites over the the authorities, exposed the people's wealth to fines and confiscation, and threatened people with banishment and execution,"accusing them of being of the religion of the Franks," and stating that they had driven him off and could not accept him in their place. Sylvester himself went to Constantinople and complained, in turn, about the Aleppans. The Holy Synod advised him to be gentle, lenient and to practice persuasion and love, and it send a bishop named Gregory as vicar of Patriarch Sylvester, ordering him to commemorate Sylvester. The Aleppans welcomed him and returned to the Church, morning and evening, not revealing their opinions.

In 1725, the Holy Synod of Constantinople, with the agreement of the Patriarch Sylvester, issued a pastoral encyclical addressed to the Christians of the Churches of Antioch and Jerusalem, urging them to stay away from novel, Western teachings that do not conform to the teachings of the Ecumenical Councils and the Holy Fathers, excommunicating those who disobey.

Gregory remained in Aleppo for two years. Then he grew weary of residing there because it was not his diocese, so he took leave of the Aleppans, said farewell to them and went back to Constantinople. The Aleppans wrote to the Holy Synod of Constantinople about this and requested that their legitimate bishop, Gerasimus, be pardoned and returned to them. The synod agreed and brought him out of exile, after him having been there for five and a half years, commanding him to be on good behavior among them and to commemorate the Patriarch Sylvester. He accepted the command and feigned obedience. When he arrived in Aleppo, the Aleppans received him well and honored him. He pretended to do what the Holy Synod of Constantinople commanded him and he commemorated the Patriarch Sylvester at the liturgy. The Aleppans led the church in both directions, with each having his own opinion. However, the Frankish monks did not cease to extol to them obedience and submission to Rome and to sharpen their intention to do this, indeed, pressing and driving them to do so. Gerasimus kept silent about these activities because he was secretly Catholic while pretending the opposite out of fear of having to go back into exile.

Sylvester in the Lands of the Christians: Upon his arrival in Constantinople, Sylvester worked hard to bring the Aleppans back to obedience and spent large sums on this. When he did not achieve success, he returned to his see, passing through Erzurum collecting alms. He then arrived in Damscus in 1731, spending some time there with peace prevailing. Then the Frankish monks provoked a conflict between the two sides, with both accumulating debts, and the situation deteriorated. When he saw that there was no way to put an end to the evils, he left Damascus on a pastoral tour. He then returned, named a capable and influential layman, Mikhail Touma, as his vicar and headed for Constantinople. After giving a report to the patriarch of Constantinople and his synod, he left for Wallachia and Moldavia in order to collect donations to repay the debts. It is said that his absence lasted for almost ten years, during which time Sylvester established a monastery in Moldavia [in fact, Wallachia] named for Saint Spyridon the Wonderworker, which was given as an endowment to the Patriarchate of Antioch.

In 1747, he printed in Arabic in Bucharest a collection of texts composed at the two synods in Constantinople regarding the appearance of Catholicism among the ranks of the Antiochian Christians, one in late 1724 under the Patriarch Jeremiah and the other in 1727, under the Patriarch Paisius. This collection also contained five articles in Arabic giving Orthodox refutations of the five innovations of the Latins. After this was the document The Holy Eastern Church of Christ. In total, it contains seventeen parts. [...].

Cyril and Damascus: As for Cyril Tanas, after he left Damascus and took refuge in Lebanon, he resided in Deir al-Mukhalles, making great efforts to pressure the Orthodox in the coastal dioceses and inciting them to renounce obedience to their canonical leaders. During Sylvester's absence, which lasted a long time, he worked skillfully with some of the people of Aleppo and the Frankish monks to compose petitions from some of the people and to send letters from the consuls of France and Austria in Aleppo and Sidon to their ambassadors in the capital to help him to obtain a berat from the sultan. He spent significant sums to prepare other petitions, in which the Damascenens complained about their patriarch's long absence and explained that they needed a patriarch who could manage their religious affairs, at the same time expressing their satisfaction with Cyril Tanas and requesting him as their patriarch. The French ambassador and the papal nuncio in the capital offered four thousand Roman riyals to the defterdar and obtained the desired berat in 1745, sending it to the French consul in Sidon. Cyril received it and dispatched a representative to Damascus, who was able to gain possession of the church and to arrange for Mikhail Touma and some of the notables to be imprisoned.Then Cyril himself went up to Damascus, sealed his berat at the sharia court and took possession of his see. Dimitri Shehadeh, reporting from his grandmother, the daughter of the priest Mikhail Breik, that upon Cyril's return to Damascus the unrest increased, and whenever he recited the Creed with the addition "and the Son" staffs would appear and the beating would start. Cyril wrote to the metropolitans, informing them of the arrival of the berat and requesting their obedience. The bishops rejected his command and wrote to Ecumenical Patriarch Paisius about the affair of Cyril Tanas, requesting that he quickly write to Sylvester and urge him to hurry back to his see. The patriarch of Constantinople acted quickly and urged Sylvester to hurry. Along with Patriarch Parthenius of Jerusalem and thirteen metropolitans, he sent a petition to the sultan in which they explained the misdeeds of Cyril Tanas, who claimed that he was an Orthodox patriarch while being of the religion of the Franks, and testified that the canonical patriarch was alive and in possession of a berat from the sultan.

Cyril Returns to Deir al-Mukhalles: When the Ottoman government realized the aims of Cyril Tanas and the French and papal ambassadors, it issued Sylvester a second berat and a firman ordering that Cyril Tanas be arrested and sent into exile. Sylvester sent the order from the Sublime Porte informing the government and Christians in Damascus about the issue of the decrees cancelling Cyril's patriarchate and turning the cathedral and patriarchal residence over to the Orthodox. He then appointed Nicophorus, the metropolitan of Bayas, as his vicar, authorized to undertake all legal activities. He sent with him the firman and the papers containing the indicated orders. This vicar went to Damascus one year after these orders were issued and he was finely received by the governor of Damascus, As'ad Basha, who helped him to undertake all measures to strengthen his position.

Sylvester in Damascus (1754-1766): Sylvester spent twelve years in Damascus, during which the quarrels between him and the papists ended, because he realized that the fight was causing enormous material losses for both parties. He was not the sort of person to attract flocks through moral means, such as guidance, preaching, and true Christian love, which eliminates hatred and jealousy and elevates the Church to a level befitting her. Those who took the side of the Catholics in those times had priests who served them in their homes or in the churches of the Latins or other Catholic sects, but their weddings, baptisms and funerals in cities and Orthodox areas were performed by Orthodox priests and the fees for them were paid to the Orthodox authorities.

At the end of his life, Sylvester made holy chrism in the Church of St Nicholas in Damascus with two bishops, seventeen priests and ten deacons. He went to the mercy of his Lord on May 13, 1766 and was buried at the tomb of the patriarchs on the hill of Saint George.

A New Open-Access Book on the Patriarch Sylvester of Antioch

Sylvester of Antioch:

Life and Achievements of an 18th-Century Christian Orthodox Patriarch

by Mihai Țipău

In 1724, Sylvester, a native of the island of Cyprus, was elected Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East. For more than four decades, he endeavored to preserve the legacy of one of the earliest Christian Churches in the Levant. He faced major challenges because of the ever changing balance of power between the Latin Church and its missionaries, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the French and English interests in the Levant, and the central and local Ottoman authorities. In his efforts to provide church books for the Arab Orthodox Christians, Sylvester was helped by rulers of the Romanian Principalities, Moldavia and Wallachia. He printed a number of books in Jassy and Bucharest and opened an Arabic press in Beirut. Alongside his patriarchal duties, Sylvester was also an accomplished icon painter. His works, in the Post-Byzantine Greek style of the 18th century, are preserved in Syrian and Lebanese churches, as well as elsewhere. Their study reveals just another aspect of his complex activity. The book presents for the first time in English the biography and achievements of Sylvester of Antioch, based on a wide range of contemporary Greek, Arabic and Romanian historical sources.

The book is available free for download here.

Patriarch Ignatius IV (Hazim): Christ is Here

 Arabic original here.

Christ is Here

The question is, where is Christ? His answer: Christ is in many places you would not think.

Christ is not in our flashiness. Christ is not in worldly glorification.

Christ is not in what people call elevation and sublimity.

He is in the places where no one dreams He would be. He is in the face of the poor, in the face of the sick. He is in the face of the oppressed. Where people flee, there we find Christ.

We search in vain for Him in comfort. He is in toil more than He is in comfort.

We search in vain for Him as being necessarily in knowledge and among the learned. He is in the simple heart.

A learned person who does not know how to simplify his heart and to let his soul be at rest is not learned.

Christ is at doors that the world thinks are closed, but are half-open in a hidden way so that the Savior may enter, as he entered through the locked door.

Therefore, we are called to look around us with all realism.

You cannot imagine that Christ did not come through these people or those people.

You must expect Him in your neighbor. You must expect Christ in every person you pass in the morning, whether, whether or not he is worthy of you saying "good morning" to him.

Christ is a surprise for those who do not await Him, a surprise in every face, a surprise in every eye, a surprise in the little child, a surprise in the grownup man.

We are called, then, to really, inwardly learn to answer, "Where is Christ?"

Christ is not out in the air. Christ is here. In the faces of many of you, Christ is speaking, and in the hearts of many He is dwelling.

Who are those many? I do not know, but He is here.

Christ is in living hearts.

Christ is in living souls.

Patriarch Ignatius IV (Hazim): Glory in Quality

Arabic original here. For the twelfth anniversary of his repose on December 5, 2012.

Glory in Quality

I believe that we Christians have not understood and have not completely realized that a Christian creates a world that is different from-- indeed, that contradicts-- the world in which everyone lives. The world in which there is God's strength is the basis, and not any other strength in the world. It seems that much of the time we seek to be strong in the world, as though we did not really believe that the cross is strength and that Christ is with us at all times.

I will dare to say that much of the time we are swept away in the world and we betray our Lord and make something other than Him our lord.

Christianity is not an empire. Christianity is not an army or a weapon and it is not glories in the way people understand them. Christianity is profundity, quality, authenticity and purity. Someone who is afraid for his glory to be in his quality and his purity is someone who will have a difficult time being a Christian.
The home, the home, the world begins in the home. In your home, what do you do? The Lord Jesus did not form an army when He came into the world. Rather, He chose a pure group, no more than a dozen people, and through them He spread faith and salvation into he world.  Why doesn't every lady and every father in his humble home make an effort to spread the name of God and the name of the Lord Jesus, and so be points in the world, points that are blessed and holy. The world will not be all holiness. That won't happen. The Bible tells us that on the day of Christ's second coming to judge the living and the dead evil will practically dominate every person. Faith will not be strong in the world. Just the opposite-- it will be weak. So let us be content to work in our homes, in ourselves, in our children, where we can make a house for the Lord.

Met Ephrem (Kyriakos): Unity in the Church

 Arabic original here.

Unity in the Church

May all be one, as You, O Father, are in Me and I in You, that they too may be one in Us (John 17:21).

The unity of the faithful is according to the model of the unity of the Father and the Son. Faith in the mysteries of the Gospel and the unity of the Church brings us into the framework of the Holy Trinity.

This is what draws the world to God, what makes the rest of the world believe in Him, so the world says of them:

"Look how the believers love one another. And also love, sacrificial service, all of it brings those who are divided together into one."

This is what one of them (Caiaphas) prophesied: "that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad" (John 11:51-52).

This also means that unity in the Church means love along with sacrifice according to the model of the Lord:

"I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd" (John 10:15-16).

"The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep" (John 10:11).

And he says in another place, "But one thing is needed" (Luke 10:41).

Listening to the divine teaching, listening to these words, and not taking them and eternal life lightly, all this is required and stressed for the unity of the faithful in the Church, "For eye has not seen, nor ear heard,n or have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Finally, regarding unity among the faithful, the Apostle Paul says, "Now I say this, that each of you says, 'I am of Paul,' or 'I am of Apollos,' or 'I am of Cephas,' or 'I am of Christ.' Is Christ divided?" (1 Corinthians 1:12-13).

+Ephrem

Metropolitan of Tripoli, al-Koura and their Dependencies

The Importance of Unity in a Single Diocese

In our archdiocese there are many parishes, monasteries and ecclesiastical institutions: schools, retirement homes, parish councils, monasteries, the Orthodox Youth Movement, the Orthodox Scouts, the Center for Patristic Heritage, the Center for the Family and Youth... and the bishop strives for these bodies to all work in an atmosphere of unity, with each one preserving its particularity in terms of its style of activity and domain, because unity does not mean the melding of individuals or institutions. Rather, it causes them to work in harmony, cooperation, love and mutual respect, so that they will because a cause of spiritual, moral and material strength for the archdiocese and a shining witness before people and society.

This unity is very important in the Church and within a single diocese and the Lord Jesus prayed for it before His passion:

"Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me... that they may be one just as We are one" (John 17:11, 21-22).

The secret to achieving unity and the way to realize it is the presence of love that brings together and does not break apart, love of God and love of our brothers. Inasmuch as we love God and are united with Him, we are united among ourselves and become capable of working together, "They know that You have sent Me... I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:23, 26).

Without love, unity vanishes and partisanships, disagreements, rivalries and disputes increase, making the work of the Church and the parish fruitless.

The Apostle Paul warns about this:

"I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment  For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren... that there are contentions among you. each of you says, 'I am of Paul,' or 'I am of Apollos,' or 'I am of Cephas,' or 'I am of Christ.' Is Christ divided?" (1 Corinthians 1:10-13).

He continues:

"For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos? ...  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one... For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building" (1 Corinthians 3:3-9).

Thus it is necessary to have mutual complementarity and cooperation between the one who washes and the one who gives to drink, between those who serve and those who teach, and this requires openness of thought, mind and heart, constant encounter between everyone and each one not being closed off upon himself, every institution to itself, every monastery to its own monks and every parish to itself.

Beloved, do we know that we wound the Lord when we have rivalries with each other? Bearing witness to the Lord takes place in openness and not in being closed off, in encounter and not in isolation, in moderation and not in extremism.

Unity requires a great deal of love, humility and self-emptying. We must translate love into deeds so that we may be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, as the Lord wanted us to be.

May there come a time when we see this unity realized in our archdiocese!

Jad Ganem: The Most Honest Stance to Take

 Arabic original here.

The Most Honest Stance to Take

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been suffering for years due to its maintaining canonical ties with the Patriarchate of Moscow, which, for more than thirty years, has refused to acknowledge the right of the Orthodox people in Ukraine to obtain autocephaly. The Moscow Patriarchate neither attempted nor succeeded in addressing the Ukrainian schism that has persisted for decades.

Recently, after Constantinople, along with the Churches of Alexandria, Cyprus, and Greece, recognized the Ukrainian schismatics and the autocephaly of what is called the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” this church found itself at the heart of persecution within Ukrainian society. The Russian war on Ukraine, along with Patriarch Kirill’s positions in support of it, including the distribution certificates of sanctity to soldiers who died during the conflict, only further fueled the resentment of a significant portion of the Ukrainian people towards Russia and its people. This anger has been directed towards the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is perceived as an extension of the Moscow Patriarchate in their country.

The position of Metropolitan Onufriy, who opposed the war, along with the church’s involvement in aiding soldiers and doing humanitarian work-- even the church’s declaration of independence from the Moscow Patriarchate-- have not succeeded in changing the stereotypical image promoted by the media. This image appears to be accepted within society and among politicians, who overwhelmingly voted for Law 8371, which aims to ban the activities of this church.

Upon the adoption of this law, Patriarch Kirill hastened to call a session of the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate, which issued a statement holding Patriarch Bartholomew responsible for what is happening, affirming that the church in Ukraine will steadfastly endure persecution and that the “gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Patriarch Kirill also sent a letter to the heads of the Orthodox churches, religious leaders and international organizations, informing them of the adoption of Law 8371 and calling on them to pray for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which, “after the authorities failed to weaken it and failed to shake its unity, decided to ban it completely,” through a law that violates international agreements and the Ukrainian constitution.

Perhaps Patriarch Kirill does not realize that he is responsible for the crimes being committed against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and that all the documents he and his church issue regarding it and religious freedom in Ukraine do not receive any positive response from anyone and are not even worth the ink they are written with. Instead, they harm this church and are used against it by its enemies, who find in them additional evidence for its lack of independence from Moscow.

Therefore, the only service Patriarch Kirill can provide to this church, after maintaining silence and refraining from interfering in its affairs, is to convene a synod in which he openly declares his recognition of its independence from the Moscow Church, as declared on May 27, 2022, and grants it autocephaly. This would be better than all the letters and statements he issues in its supposed defense, as it would neutralize Law 8371 and the justification for its existence.

Patriarch Kirill failed to be a father to the Ukrainian people at the start of the Russian war on Ukraine, and he has encouraged the killing of those he once considered his children! He should learn from the rejection of his name in prayers by the Ukrainian Orthodox people and from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s declaration of independence from his patriarchate. He should agree to this independence and spare it from persecution. This, indeed, is the only position that history might remember him for!

If Patriarch Kirill is truly concerned about the fate of this church, then declaring the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Moscow Patriarchate is the most honest stance he can take. Perhaps it is now incumbent upon the leaders of the Orthodox world to demand this of him or to take it upon themselves to embrace the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a church independent from Moscow!

Asad Rustom on the Election of the Catholic Patriarch Cyril Tanas

Translated from: Asad Rustum, Kanisat Madinat Allah Antakya al-'Uzma [The Church of the Great City of God Antioch], Jounieh: Editions St. Paul (1988), vol. 3, pp. 1141-143

While the main modern Orthodox treatment of the subject, Rustom's account is less detailed than one might hope and largely reliant on Catholic secondary sources, particularly Constantine Basha's history of the Salvatorian Order. For purposes of comparison, it is useful to take a look at the following modern Catholic sources:

Wilhelm de Vries

Dom C.L. Spiessens, who concludes that Cyril Tanas was never validly consecrated as a bishop.

Serge Descy, who somewhat more cautiously concurs with Spiessens.

 

The Catholic Patriarch Cyril Tanas (1724)

After the death of Athanasius IV [in modern reckoning, III], those who had broken away grew in strength and took the opportunity to strengthen their position in the See and reinforce themselves under the leadership of Seraphim Tanas, nephew of Euthymius Sayfi. Seraphim was born in Damascus around 1680 and was raised by his uncle Euthymius. He traveled to Rome in 1702 to receive education there. He then returned to Sidon, the center of his uncle's diocese, in 1710. His uncle ordained him to the priesthood and worked to guide him. He traveled around preaching and advocating for Rome in the dioceses of the See of Antioch. A group of people in Acre nominated him as their bishop, but the patriarch of Jerusalem was opposed and he was not consecrated. Then the people of the Diocese of Tyre and Sidon nominated him to succeed his uncle. He went to Aleppo bearing the petitions for his nomination, seeking to be consecrated by the Patriarch Athanasius. The latter refused to consecrate him since his submission to Rome was widely-known and he was openly declaring the necessity for union. When Athanasius died, the separatists in Damascus, numbering 328, decided to nominate Seraphim for the patriarchal see and they wrote a petition, signed it and brought it to the temporal authorities in Damascus. They said:

"Petition after the necessary supplication, in the hands of the guardians of blessings and masters of sword and pen, the sublime State, may God almighty make its rule endure forever and extend it through victory with the support of their servants and subjects, the dhimmi Christians living in the God-protected city of Damascus of the Rum community, who pray for this sublime State to remain forever, whose names are signed below, that they have accepted, are pleased with, and have chosen the teacher Cyril to be patriarch over them, to rule, to be obeyed, governing them according to the accepted canons and directing their affairs with recognized governance according to the precedent of previous patriarchs in the manner agreed among them. He is therefore worthy to lead them and of the patriarchate that they require. They request that by its mercies and kindnesses the sublime State will install this gentleman in the Patriarchate of Antioch in Damascus, granting the request of the elites and the common people. May God strengthen the foundations of this sublime State over the course of the nights and days, until the day and hour of the Resurrection and the supplication is lasting."

They presented the petition to the pasha and delegated him to request a berat from the sultan for this, paying him what needed to be paid. Then the bishops of the Church of Antioch discussed the matter of the consecration. The bishops refused. None of them went to Damascus, apart from Neophytus, the bishop of Saydnaya. The Damascenes summoned Basil Finan from Dayr al-Mukhallis. Upon his arrival, he consecrated, along with Neophytus, the priest Euthymius Fadel as bishop of Furzul so that there could be three bishops to consecrate the patriarch. There is no hiding the departure from holy tradition in this act. The episcopacy of Basil was fundamentally uncanonical due to the interference of the Emir Haydar in it [about which, see here], his pressuring and forcibly summoning Metropolitan Neophytus of Beirut, and the participation of a Maronite bishop and an Armenian bishop in the consecration. It is also an obvious violation of the traditions that Neophytus of Saydnaya and Basilius of Dayr al-Mukhallis proceeded to consecrate a third bishop unilaterally. The consecration of Ignatius of Tyre and Sidon cannot be regarded as such a deviation because Patriarch Athanasius had agreed to his consecration with the participation of the two Neophyti. But where is the patriarch who agreed to the consecration of Euthymius for Furzul?

Euthymius was consecrated on September 14 as bishop of Furzul. On the twentieth of the same month, the three bishops consecrated the priest Seraphim as bishop with the name Cyril, then installed him as patriarch. Rome did not reject him on account of this deviation and departure from the holy apostolic canons and Pope Benedict XII issued an apostolic berat on March 15, 1729 in which he confirmed Cyril Tanas as patriarch of Antioch, sending him a pallium after having placed it on the relics of Saint Peter as a symbol of deriving authority from him.

Cyril Tanas laid claim to the patriarchal center in Damascus and was seated on the throne of the cathedral, "lifting up verses of thanksgiving to God for this. It was then heard for the first time 'I believe that the Roman Supreme Pontif is the vicar of Christ the Lord and head of the entire Church and I believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.'" [This quotation is from a Capuchin friar writing from Damascus at that time]. In the history of Mikhail Breik, it says "then they declared the five things [which distinguish Catholicism from Orthodoxy], the Franks entered the church, the community of the Rum was humiliated, debates proliferated, the strife intensified, injustices and loss proliferated, and a group of Muslim servants of the ruler entered the sanctuary with smoking torches while the patriarch was performing the liturgy and they talked with him..."

Cyril consecrated the priest Methodius al-Halabi as bishop for the patriarchal cell and entrusted him with management of the diocese of Damascus for his help in the affair.