he was ordained Metropolitan of Aleppo by the Patriarch Agapios III, and took the name Maximos. In 1811 he became the first rector of the new seminary at 'Ain Trāz. But in the same year Propaganda refused to recognize his appointment to the see of Aleppo. The Patriarch and nearly the whole Melkite hierarchy refused to submit to this measure. In 1813 he went to Rome to regulate his affair. At last he submitted to his deposition from Aleppo and was made titular bishop, first of Abydos, then of Myra. Basil 'Araḳtingī, Superior General of Shuwair, became Metropolitan of Aleppo. Then the seminary at 'Ain Trāz, suspect of the ideas of Ādam, was closed.[1]
În 1818 Maẓlūm went to Trieste, where he had an audience of the Emperor Francis I, who made him protector of all Melkites, as far as Austria was concerned. Then Maẓlūm founded the still existing Melkite Church at Marseilles.[2] He was still supposed to be not sufficiently submissive to Papal authority, and all this time was under a cloud. He went back to Rome and stayed there till 1831. In that year Gregory XVI (1831-1846) became Pope. He was much more friendly to Maẓlūm, and the old quarrel of Melkite Gallicanism was becoming forgotten. Maẓlūm was sent back to Syria with two Jesuits, who apparently had the duty of looking after him. Before going he had to sign a promise of fidelity to the Holy See. As soon as they landed in Syria he dodged his Jesuits, and went off to the Patriarch Ignatius V, at Zūk Mikhā'īll. He now wanted to be made Patriarchal Vicar; but he did not succeed. Ignatius V died in 1833. There were then eight bishops to elect a successor. The Papal Delegate warned them that they must not elect Maẓlūm. But they did elect him all the same. When the news came to Rome the authorities there seem to have hesitated. First they demanded of the Patriarch-elect a denunciation of the Synod of Ḳarḳafah and of the ideas of Germanos Ādam. In 1835 the Pope published the Bull, Melchitarum catholicorum synodus, condemning Ḳarḳafah. Maximos accepted this with entire submission. But he had still not received his pallium when he summoned and held the Synod of 'Ain Trāz in 1835. At last, in the same year, Gregory XVI confirmed his election.
The Synod of 'Ain Trāz is of great importance to the
- ↑ It was reopened soon after by the Jesuits.
- ↑ Polycarp Kayata (tit. Archimandrite and present rector of the church), "Monographie de l'église grecque catholique de Marseille et vie de S Nicholas de Myre," Marseilles, 1901. A view of the inside of the church will be found in Charon, op. cit., ii, p. 35.
