Justin Najmy

Last updated
Bishop Justin Najmy
Exarch of Newton; Titular Bishop of Augustopolis
Church Melkite Greek Catholic
See Eparchy of Newton
In officeJan 27, 1966—June 11, 1968
SuccessorArchbishop Joseph Tawil
Orders
OrdinationDecember 25, 1926
ConsecrationMay 29, 1966
by Archbishop Athanasios Toutoungi
Personal details
BornApril 23, 1898
Aleppo, Syria
DiedJune 11, 1968
Newton, Massachusetts, United States
Previous post(s)Pastor of St. Basil the Great in Central Falls, Rhode Island

Justin Najmy (1898 - 1968) was the first bishop for the United States in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Appointed exarch for the newly created Melkite diocese in the United States, Bishop Najmy served for two years before his death at age 70.

Contents

Biography

Justin Abraham Najmy was born on April 23, 1898. He joined the Basilian Aleppian Order, studied at the seminary at Deir-ech-Chir and at the Propaganda Fidei, and was ordained a priest in Rome on December 25, 1926. [1] [2]

Moving to the United States, he served as pastor of St. Basil the Great Church in Central Falls, Rhode Island, before his appointment as apostolic exarch by Pope Paul VI on January 27, 1966. [1] The appointment of Najmy as exarch at first drew protest from the Melkite patriarch Maximos IV, because he and the Synod of the Melkite Church had chosen a different candidate, and the appointment, decided by the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches, made the new Exarch subject to the Holy See, and only responsible to the Patriarch and the Synod in liturgical matters. [3]

On May 29, 1966, in a ceremony at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, Najmy was consecrated a bishop by Athanasios Toutoungi, archbishop of Aleppo, his former seminary colleague, and received the title of titular bishop of Augustopolis-in-Phrygia. [2] [1] The following month he was formally enthroned as exarch. [4] He established his episcopal see at the Church of the Annunciation in suburban Boston, which became the cathedral for the newly created Apostolic Exarchate of United States of America, Faithful of the Oriental Rite (Melkite).

In the wake of the Six-Day War in June 1967, Najmy welcomed the bishops of Middle Eastern churches in the United States for a meeting in Boston. Bishops of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, the Maronite Catholic Church, and from Armenian and Syrian churches attended. [5]

Bishop Najmy did not serve as exarch for long. He died of a heart attack on June 11, 1968, and was succeeded by Joseph Tawil. He is buried at the parish cemetery of St. Basil the Great in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Najmy Becomes Melkite Bishop: First American leader of rite". The Toledo Blade. May 30, 1966. p. 9. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Cheney, David. "Bishop Justin Abraham Najmy". Catholic Hierarchy.com. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
  3. ↑ Philip A. Khairallah (1986). "The Ecumenical Vocation of the Melkite Church" (PDF). St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly. 30 (3): 197–198. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  4. ↑ Leonarczyk, Paul (Summer 2008). "40th Anniversary of the Repose of First Melkite Bishop of America". Sophia. The Eparchy of Newton for the Melkite Greek Catholics. 38 (3): 22. ISSN   0194-7958.
  5. ↑ Paul D. Garrett, Kathleen A. Purpura (2007). Frank Maria: a search for justice and peace in the Middle East. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse. p. 297. ISBN   9781434300003 . Retrieved August 12, 2016.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exarch</span> Former political and military office; now an ecclesiastical office

An exarch was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melkite Greek Catholic Church</span> Eastern Catholic church

The Melkite Greek Catholic Church or Melkite Byzantine Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. Its chief pastor is Patriarch Youssef Absi, headquartered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition, Damascus, Syria. The Melkites, who are Byzantine Rite Catholics, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, formerly part of Syria and now in Turkey, of the 1st century AD, where Christianity was introduced by Saint Peter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of Eastern Christianity–related articles</span>

Alphabetical list of Eastern Christianity-related articles on English Wikipedia

Cyril Salim Bustros is the archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut and Byblos and a former Professor at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. A native of Lebanon, he formerly served as archbishop of Baalbeck and later as eparch for the Melkite Church in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton</span> Eastern Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the United States

Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton is an ecclesiastical territory of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, a Byzantine rite Eastern Church within the Catholic Church. The eparchy is named for Newton, Massachusetts, and encompasses the entire United States. There are, however, currently about fifty Melkite parishes, missions, and "outreaches," in about two dozen states.

Archbishop Joseph Tawil was the Melkite Greek Catholic eparch for the United States, teacher and theologian. He is remembered for his participation in the Second Vatican Council, expanding the Melkite Church in the United States, and articulating the unique role of the Eastern Catholic Churches in his 1970 pastoral letter The Courage To Be Ourselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Elya</span>

John Adel Elya was a bishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. From 1993 to 2004, he served as Eparch of Newton, with jurisdiction over Melkite churches in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Samra</span> American bishop

Nicholas James Samra is the eparchial bishop emeritus of the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton in the United States. He is also Apostolic Administrator of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Nuestra Señora del Paraíso in Mexico City since 2015. Bishop Samra has written extensively on the subject of ecumenism and the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Elias Zoghby was the Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop of Baalbek and a leading advocate of Catholic-Orthodox ecumenism. He is best known for his ecumenical interventions during Vatican II and his 1995 Profession of Faith, known as the Zoghby Initiative, which attempted to re-establish communion between the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church while maintaining communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annunciation Melkite Catholic Cathedral</span> Church in Massachusetts, United States

Our Lady of the Annunciation Melkite Greek Catholic Cathedral in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, is a modern cathedral inspired by Byzantine architecture. It is the principal church of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton, which encompasses the entire United States, the seat of its hierarch, currently Bishop Francois Beyrouti, and the parish church of the Melkite Greek Catholic community in Greater Boston. Its present structure and its status as a cathedral date to 1966; previous to that, Our Lady of the Annunciation Melkite Catholic Church was a parish church in the South End of Boston.

George Riashi was the Greek Melkite Catholic bishop of Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Tripoli and all North Lebanon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fares Maakaroun</span>

Fares Maakaroun, was an Archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Nossa Senhora do Paraíso em São Paulo in Brazil from 1999 to 2014, when presented his apostolic resignation.

Georges Kahhalé Zouhaïraty, BA is a prelate of the Melkite Catholic Church and served as Apostolic Exarch for the Melkite Greek Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Venezuela, from 1995 until his retirement c. 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Nuestra Señora del Paraíso in Mexico City</span> Eastern Catholic eparchy in Mexico

Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Nuestra Señora del Paraíso in Mexico City is an eparchy of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, based in Mexico City.

Boutros Raï, BA, or Boutros (Pierre) Raï, was bishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Nuestra Señora del Paraíso in Mexico City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolas Antiba</span>

Nicolas Antiba is a Syrian archbishop of Melkite Greek Catholic Church. He is the current Patriarchal Vicar of Damascus, Syria.

Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Sidon is a diocese of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church suffragan of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre. In 2010 there were 32,000 baptized. It is currently governed by Archeparch Elie Bechara Haddad, BS.

Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Homs is a nominally Metropolitan Archeparchy of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in central Syria. It was established on March 4, 1849 and has no suffragan, but two merged-in eparchial titles.

Melkite (Greek) Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Kuwait is a Patriarchal Exarchate of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church sui iuris.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.