Antioch on the Orontes was a Hellenistic city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. The city served as the capital of the Seleucid Empire and later as regional capital to both the Roman and Byzantine Empire. During the Crusades, Antioch served as the capital of the Principality of Antioch, one of four Crusader states that were founded in the Levant. Its inhabitants were known as Antiochenes. The modern city of Antakya, in Hatay Province of Turkey, was named after the ancient city, which lies in ruins on the Orontes River and did not overlap in habitation with the modern city.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, also known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox church within the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and one of the historic Pentarchy. 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.
The Treaty of Devol was an agreement made in 1108 between Bohemond I of Antioch and Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, in the wake of the First Crusade. It is named after the Byzantine fortress of Devol. Although the treaty was not immediately enforced, it was intended to make the Principality of Antioch a vassal state of the Byzantine Empire.
Bohemond VII was the count of Tripoli and nominal prince of Antioch from 1275 to his death. The only part left of the once great Principality of Antioch was the port of Latakia. He spent much of his reign at war with the Templars (1277–1282).
John the Oxite or John Oxeites was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch from c. 1089 until 1100, when he was exiled by Prince Bohemond I of Antioch. He fled to the Byzantine Empire and continued to govern those parts of the patriarchate that were under Byzantine rule. He was a prominent writer of religious texts, and reformer of religious and charitable foundations.
Amioun is the capital of the predominantly Greek Orthodox Koura District in the north of Lebanon.
Christianity in Lebanon has a long and continuous history. Biblical Scriptures purport that Peter and Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, whom they affiliated to the ancient patriarchate of Antioch. The spread of Christianity in Lebanon was very slow where paganism persisted especially in the mountaintop strongholds of Mount Lebanon. A 2015 study estimates some 2,500 Lebanese Christians have Muslim ancestry, whereas the majority of Lebanese Christians are direct descendants of the original early Christians.
Enfeh, or Enfe, Anfeh, Anfe, is a town in the Koura district of the North Governorate of Lebanon at Latitude 34°21'0"N and Longitude 35°44'0"E. Enfeh borders the towns of Chekka, Al-Qalamoun, Barghoun and Zakroun. It is located 65 kilometres (40 mi) north of Beirut and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Tripoli. Its total area is 4.93 square kilometres (1.90 sq mi), and its population is around 6,500.
Antiochian Greek Christians are a Levantine Arabic-speaking ethnoreligious Eastern Christian group residing in the Levant region. They are either members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch or the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and they have ancient roots in the Levant, more specifically, the territories of western Syria, northern and central Lebanon, Palestine, western Jordan, and the southern Turkish province of Hatay, which includes the city of Antakya —one of the holiest cities in Eastern Christianity. Many of their descendants now live in the global Near Eastern Christian diaspora. With Arabic becoming the lingua franca in the Levant, they primarily speak Levantine.
The University of Balamand is a private institution, secular in its policies and approach to education. It welcomes faculty, students, and staff from all faiths and national or ethnic origins. The university is located in the northern district of El-Koura, Lebanon. It was founded by the Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch in 1988. The university's main campus is adjacent to Balamand Monastery, but it has two other campuses in Beirut: One is in Sin el Fil, which houses the majority of the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, and the other neighbors Saint George Hospital in Achrafieh, which houses the faculty for medicine and medical sciences. It also has campuses in Akkar and Souk El Gharb.
Koura District is a district in the North Governorate, Lebanon.
Metropolitan Ephraim is the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Tripoli, al-Koura and Dependencies of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East. He was the founder and abbot of the Holy Monastery of the Archangel Michael in Biq'aata, Lebanon
Kelhat (قلحات), Qalhat, Kelhatt, is a Greek Orthodox village in Koura District of Lebanon. It extends from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to an elevation of around 400m above sea level.
Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians refers to Lebanese people who are adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in Lebanon, which is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and is the second-largest Christian denomination in Lebanon after the Maronite Christians.
Eastern Orthodoxy in Syria represents Christians in Syria who are adherents of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox and 'Greek' Catholic tradition is represented in Syria by two distinct albeit historically and culturally related Byzantine communities: the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, the largest and oldest Christian community in the country, closely followed by the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, itself a Uniate offshoot of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.
Patriarch John X is primate of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All The East.
Archbishop Joseph was the Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America from July 3, 2014 to September 17, 2022. He was preceded by Metropolitan Philip Saliba. From September 12, 2004, to his election as Metropolitan in 2014, Joseph Al Zehlaoui was the bishop of the Holy Diocese of Los Angeles and the West for the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. In connection with allegations of sexual misconduct, Archbishop Joseph presented the Holy Synod of Antioch with a letter requesting to retire on September 17, 2022. His resignation was effective immediately, and on September 23, 2022, Patriarch John X announced his replacement with a temporary operating committee until a new Metropolitan Archbishop of America is elected.
Patriarch Theodosius VI was Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch from 1958 to 1970.
The Patriarchal Monastery of Saint Elias – Shwayya is a stauropegic monastery of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, perched atop a sandstone cliff in the Matn District, thirty-one kilometers from Beirut.
The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The current head of the Maronite Church is Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, who was elected in March 2011 following the resignation of Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. The current seat of the Maronite Patriarchate is in Bkerke, northeast of Beirut, Lebanon. Officially known as the Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church, it is part of Syriac Christianity by liturgy and heritage.
