Yazigi New Patriarch of the Orthodox Church
by Ghassan Rifi in al-Safir, Arabic original here.
The bells of Balamand Monastery rang out to announce the election of the
Metropolitan of Western Europe, John Yazigi as the new Greek Orthodox
patriarch of Antioch and all the East, successor to Saints Peter and
Paul and successor to the departed patriarch Ignatius IV Hazim.
The election of John Yazigi, who is the 158th patriarch of the See of
Antioch and who will bear the name "John X", was a surprise for all the
clergy and laity who were observing it, especially since his name was
not listed among the potential candidates since there had not yet been
five years since his being named metropolitan (it had been 4 years and 8
months) as the canons require. However, "ecclesial economia accompanied
by divine inspiration," according to one of the metropolitans, led the
members of the Holy Synod of Antioch to amend the canon to allow for the
nomination of all metropolitans. This was in order widen the range of
choices and to keep it from being limited to certain people.
It could be said that the "Antiochian coalition" that stretches from
Syria to Lebanon, Palestine, and the Gulf, all the way to Antioch,
comprising the senior metropolitans who are the founders of the Orthodox
Youth Movement and those active in it, put itself in democratic
competition with a coalition of some of the archdioceses of the West and
Syria.
It was clear that the orientation of the "Antiochian coalition" is to
continue along the lines established by the past two patriarchs, Elias
IV and Ignatius IV, who laid the foundation for the revival of the
Orthodox Church. The metropolitans of this coalition chose John X from
outside the list of candidates, since even though he was considered one
of the metropolitans of the West, he simultaneously represents a
meeting-point for all and a common ground between the older and younger
generations of metropolitans. He responds to the desires of the "Church
Current" and the Orthodox Youth Movement, especially since he was raised
in the thought of the late Patriarch Ignatius IV and his colleague
Metropolitan Georges Khodr.
One of the metropolitans says, "The winner in these elections is the
unity of the Orthodox Church and of revivalist thought, especially since
the new patriarch is a son of Lattakia who knows Syria and Lebanon very
well. He is a man of peace and dialog who believes that the Eastern
Orthodox Church stretches from Antioch to the Americas. He is able to
face the difficult circumstances that the Arab region, and especially
Syria, is living through."
How did the new patriarch arrive at the reins of the See of Antioch?
At ten yesterday morning, a meeting of the Antiochian synod met at
Balamand Monastery with the participation of eighteen of twenty
metropolitans, since the metropolitan of North America, Philip Saliba,
and the Metropolitan of Baghdad, Constantine Papastephanou, were absent
on account of illness.
When Metropolitan Elias Audi arrived at the monastery, the doors of
Balamand were shut so that they could be alone for approximately three
hours, during which time no one was allowed to enter. It began with
prayer for the soul of Patriarch Hazim and that "God may inspire the
metropolitans of the See of Antioch to make the right choice."
Then a consultative session began during which the question of holding
the election or delaying it to wait what will happen with the security
situation in Syria was held. However, the overwhelming majority was in
favor of holding it and the possibility of delay was quickly set aside,
so everyone moved on to the process of election.
The election process requries that each metropolitan puts forward the
name of three candidates (he can name himself) and then one of those
three is elected. If he receives two thirds of the vote, he is named the
winner but if he does not, there is an election between him and the
next two candidates. The one who wins a majority is named patriarch.
At the beginning of the electoral session, the metropolitans agreed to
amend the Church canons to. The amendment opened the door for all
metropolitans to be nominated and ended the limitation to only those who
have been metropolitans for more than five years.
In the first round, which was a secret ballot, metropolitans John Yazigi
(Western Europe), Antonios Shadrawi (Mexico), and Saba Esber
(Patriarchal Locum Tenens and metropolitan of Hauran and Jebel el-Arab)
were named.
In the second round of the election, it became clear that if both
metropolitans Yazigi and Esber--both of whom belong to the "Antiochian
coalition", continued in the running, the deciding bloc's votes would be
split between them, which would be in Metropolitan Shadrawi's favor.
For this reason, Metropolitan Esber took the initiative to announce his
withdrawal so that the competition would be limited to Yazigi and
Shadrawi.
After the vote and the count, Yazigi's victory became clear with twelve
votes against five votes for Shadrawi and one vote for Esber.
Immediately, the Synod's secretary, Father Georges Dimas went out and
the election of John Yazigi as the new patriarch of the See of Antioch,
succeeding the departed Patriarch Ignatius Hazim, calling attention to
that the patriarchal departments will take charge of announcing the
formal arrangements for celebrating the installation and his receiving
the shepherd's staff. Throughout this announcement there were bells
ringing, cheers, and applause.
After this the metropolitans, led by Patriarch John X went to the
monastery's church amidst the chanting of the Balamand choir. There he
put on priestly robes and presided over the prayer of thanksgiving. He
gave a sermon in which he stressed that the Gospel, through our prayers,
will remain open, and calling on the fathers to pray so that we might
be as one hand and so that we may make the Church of Antioch the image
that befits the Bride of Christ and the Church. He said, "We realize
that our people are good and that serving them is sweet for our hearts.
We are from this land, from this country. Our country, our soil, is a
part of us and we are a part of it."
He closed by stressing unity and cooperation for the sake of service. He
thanked the metropolitans for their trust, confirming his tireless
quest to build up a church that is a beautiful bride for all. Then
Patriarch Yazigi went to the Institute of Theology. The first to
congratulate him was the former vice president Issam Fares who called
him from abroad. Brigadier General William Majli also sent his
congratulations, as did the president of Balamand University, Doctor
Elie Salem and a number of the university's deans. The deputy Robert
Fadel was present and said that Yazigi "enjoys the qualities of youth,
knowledge, culture, piety, and openness" and that half of him is
Lebanese and half Syrian, noting that these qualities are not easily
found.
For his part, the patriarch locum tenens Saba Esber told al-Saifr, "The
election process was carried out in peace and love and was exceptionally
smooth."
Esber thought that the media burdened the election process with more
than it could bear. This provoked great buzz around it, but he denied
that any political struggle took place and affirmed that the election
process was carried out in all responsibility.
The Orthodox Church Renews Her Youth: Yazigi is Patriarch
by Ghassan Saoud in al-Akhbar, Arabic original here.
"Yesterday the Holy Spirit chose the metropolitan of Europe, John Yazigi
(born 1955) as patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Antioch." If some of
the metropolitans were occupied with prayer instead of their electoral
campaigns, they might have heard the voice of Holy Spirit encouraging
them to withdraw in favor of Yazigi rather than persist in their
candidacy, lest the Holy Spirit dash their hopes by preferring someone
else. The day before yesterday, Patriarch John Yazigi dined at the table
of the metropolitan of Mexico, Antonios Shadrawi. He heard him speak of
his nomination and his plans for the Church in the event that he wins,
within him reciprocating the disclosure of his intentions or what awaits
him. Thus Shadrawi went to bed a patriarch, without his calculations
requiring too much prayer of him. The metropolitans woke with the
assumption that there were two competing groups: one with six votes
nominating the metropolitan of Hauran Saba Esber, the other with six
votes nominating Shadrawi, with the probability of Shadrawi's influence
among the six remaining metropolitans.
However, the meeting had barely begun before "the Holy Spirit" began to
be active among the two groups, as Church sources prefer to say. The
patron of Esber's candidacy proposed that the Synod amend the basic
statute of the See of Antioch that was issued in 1973, in order to
permit the nomination of metropolitans who have not yet had dioceses for
five years. Thus it became possible to nominate Metropolitan John
Yazigi, who was elected metropolitan in 2008. This is with knowledge
that yesterday's amendment, like other previous amendments, have been a
point of canonical discussion between members of the Orthodox Church.
Shadrawi's initial surprise was soon followed by an additional surprise,
as some of the metropolitans whom he considered to be on his side moved
over to Yazigi's side.
Thus the metropolitan of Hauran Saba Esber, the metropolitan of Mexico
Antonios Shadrawi, and the metropolitan of Central and Western Europe
John Yazigi led the first election that names the three candidates for
patriarch. With Saba attracting most of the block in favor of him to
Yazigi, the latter was able to gain the support of a number of
metropolitans who had voted for Shadrawi, the most important of them the
new patriarch's brother, the metropolitan of Aleppo Paul Yazigi who
had previously withdrawn his nomination in favor of Shadrawi, the
metropolitan of Argentina Siluan Muci, his friend bishop Ghattas Hazim,
and his spiritual father Metropolitan John Mansour, who had ordained him
deacon in 1979 and priest in 1983 in the Archdiocese of Lattakia.
The first group, whose announced candidate was Esber and whose leader
was Metropolitan Georges Khodr, first by amending the canon and then by
nominating Yazigi, attracted four votes that were considered to be
closer to the other bloc. If the other group had realized what lay in
wait for them, they would have first blocked the canonical amendment and
then would have nominated Metropolitan Paul Yazigi, who, until his
withdrawal in favor of Shadrawi, was one of the most prominent
candidates opposing Esber. Thus the Orthodox Church would have witnessed
an unprecedented competition between two brothers for the See of
Antioch. Thus it might be said that Shadrawi and his bloc were fooled
when they thought that Esber was Metropolitan Georges Khodr's only
choice. His calculations, and those of Paul Yazigi, were on this basis.
Regardless of the exact electoral figures and who voted for whom, the
Metropolitan of Mount Lebanon has been successful for the second
consecutive time in bringing forward a patriarch whom the Orthodox Youth
Movement can claim as an alumnus.
The new patriarch is a monk who has been living in a tiny apartment in
the French capital for four years because his metropolitan office was
not yet built. Finally, he rented a Church in order to perform the
Orthodox liturgy in it. In his first words as patriarch, the graduate of
Greek theological institutes and abbot of the Patriarchal Monastery of
Our Lady of Balamand from 2001 to 2005 affirmed that, "Christians are
staying in Syria. The land is their land. He called for dialog in order
to solve the crises. Those who know the former bishop of Wadi al-Nasara
say that his political positions will not go beyond the low ceiling that
Patriarch Hazim set for his positions and that generally he will be
content to give fatherly advice to those fighting to love each other a
little more, preferring prayer, fasting, chant, and religious books to
everything else.
On the website of the Archdiocese of Argentina, there is a
slightly different account of how the statute was modified to allow for
the election of Patriarch John. Spanish original, here.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Holy Fathers opened the question of
the list of candidates and decided to include in it Metropolitans John
(Europe) and Basilios (Akkar) who each have 4 years and 7 months of
ministry [as metropolitans], thus making them eligible for the See of
Antioch.
Met. George Khodr's Two Tears
As Patriarch John X was elevated upon the throne at Our Lady of
Balamand, presiding over the prayers of thanksgiving after his election
to the See of Antioch, the "architect" of the Orthodox Church,
Metropolitan Georges Khodr, let two tears stream from his eyes.
The
first tear was for his life-long friend, Ignatius IV Hazim. Yesterday,
Khodr realized that he had departed for good and that he had lost
someone very dear, with whom he had worked over the decades to construct
an Orthodox revival that produced vibrant institutions like Balamand
University and with whom he fought to preserve the unity of the Church
and to open her to dialogue with other religions.
The second tear
was a tear of joy and confidence in the "right-believing" Church, who
entrusted the reins of her authority to one of the pupils who drew from
his well and from the well of his life-long friend Ignatius IV, and who
grew up on the sound thinking of the Orthodox Fathers.
Georges
Khodr seemed satisfied, yesterday, at the election of John Yazigi as
patriarch, because with him and through him is ensured the future of the
Orthodox Church, from Antioch to all the corners of the earth. He
expressed to al-Safir his great longing for Patriarch Hazim and his
overwhelming joy for the one who, with his faith and profound
spirituality, is able to guide the path of the Orthodox Church to a safe
harbor. Khodr states that, "In our canons and our theology, there is no
continuation to the program from one patriarch to another. Each
patriarch has his own program and his own administrative style, within
the one faith."
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