to elect their Patriarch in general. Maximos II reigned from 1760 to 1761 only. At first Ǵauhār had a party which protested and sent complaints of Maximos to Rome. Then he submitted and was given the see of Sidon. Maximos II represented the party of the Shuwair monks, as opposed to those of St Saviour (see pp. 205-208). He resided at Shuwair, where he died on November 28, 1761. The chief event of his reign is that he introduced the feast of Corpus Christi in his Patriarchate, for which he composed an excellent office, according to Byzantine rules.[1] Before he died he appointed Athanasius Dahān, Metropolitan of Beirut, his coadjutor.[2]
After Maximos's death this Athanasius Dahān was elected his successor, and took the name of Theodosius VI (1761-1788). Ignatius Ǵauhār made another attempt to get himself made Patriarch, and sent a protest to Rome against Theodosius; but he did not succeed, and again had to submit. Theodosius resided at the monastery of St Antony at Ḳarḳafah.[3] In 1773 Clement XIV (1769-1774) submitted the few Melkites of Palestine and Egypt to the Patriarch of Antioch. But no title was yet given for these.
Then, when Theodosius died,[4] at last Ignatius Ǵauhār, who had so long tried to be Patriarch, was elected lawfully. Rome confirmed his election, and he became Athanasius V (1788-1794). He was of the party of St Saviour, and resided there. In 1790 he summoned a synod, which made twenty canons against the monks of Shuwair. These were all quashed at Rome.[5] Cyril VII, Sīāǵ, a monk of St Saviour, succeeded (1794-1796), but died before he received the pallium.[6] Agapios Maṭār (Agapios III, 1796-1812), formerly Metropolitan of Sidon, monk of St Saviour, had trouble with the Latin missionaries, and obtained decrees from Rome against their attempts to turn his Melkites into Latins. In 1806 he held the famous of Synod of Ḳarḳafah (p. 209). He summoned another synod in 1811, at 'Ain Trāz,[7] and founded a seminary
- ↑ A French version of this will be found in John Oquet, "Manuel de Prières à l'usage des fidèles du Rite grec" (Beirut, Alex. Coury, 1902), pp. 618-624.
- ↑ For Maximos II, see Charon in Echos d'Orient, v, 86-89.
- ↑ Afterwards famous for its synod (p. 209).
- ↑ Theodosius VI, Ech. d'Or., v, 141-145.
- ↑ Athanasius V, Ech. d'Or., v, 145-147.
- ↑ Cyril VII, ibid., 147.
- ↑ Ain Trāz is a village near Rishmaia, about fifteen miles south-east of Beirut. The seminary there was for a long time the only one for Melkite clergy. It became a centre of their Church, and the Patriarch often resided in it.
