مستحق! مستحق! مستحق!

Yesterday the Holy Synod of Antioch elected Fr. Ephrem Kyriakos, abbot of the Monastery of St. Michael at Biq'ata to be Metropolitan of Tripoli and al-Koura!

Fr. Ephrem is well-known both in Lebanon and abroad (he was in Canada just this past summer...) as a spiritual father. He is also highly educated and has translated a number of works from Greek to Arabic. He is a graduate of the theology faculty of Balamand University as well as the University of Thessoloniki. He was tonsured into monasticism on the Holy Mountain by the Elder Parthenios, abbot of the Monastery of St. Paul.

I'm not one to editorialize, but this is wonderful news!

Links:

NOCTOC on Fr. Ephrem and the monastery at Baskinta
A biography on the website of the American Antiochian Archdiocese