Maximos died, his successor, Clement, without any justification, used these other titles. For this he was reproved by Propaganda, and at once expressed his regret. Then Pius IX renewed the titles for him, again as a personal favour. They have never been renewed since. Gregory Yūsuf assumed them with no right. Circumstances were at that time so difficult in Syria that Rome left this matter alone. But the Gerarchia Cattolica described him scrupulously as "Patriarca antiocheno dei Melchiti" only. All Roman documents still recognize the Melkite Patriarch as of Antioch only.[1] He has no right to any further title. Nevertheless, since Maximos III, each Patriarch adds those of Alexandria and Jerusalem.[2] Maximos made a further change in the title, which remains as used by them. If the three sees are to be united in one person, Alexandria should come first. That see has precedence over Antioch and is second in Christendom. But, since Antioch was the older title for this Patriarch, the only one to which he had right by succession, Maximos and his successors put it first. The old style of Antioch was "Antioch and all the East," meaning the Roman Prefecture of the East. But the Melkite Patriarchs put these words at the end of all, and call themselves "Patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and all the East." This seems to give a new meaning to the "East." They are not, of course, really Patriarchs of anything like all the East in the usual meaning. The Melkite has jurisdiction over Melkites in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt only. He has never received nor assumed the title of Constantinople; though I have heard it whispered in Syria that Cyril VIII, having already so many titles, had vague dreams of being Œcumenical Patriarch. People in the East love titles. The full style of this Patriarch, used in his solemn φήμη,[3] is: "The most blessed, most holy, most venerable, our chief and lord, Patriarch of the great cities of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, of Cilicia, Syria, and Iberia, of Arabia, Mesopotamia, and the Pentapolis, of Ethiopia, all Egypt, and all the East, Father of Fathers, Shepherd of Shepherds, Pontiff of Pontiffs,
- ↑ See, for instance, the Annuario pontificio for 1915, p. 62, "Antiochen. Græcorum Melchitarum."
- ↑ I have before me a portrait of Lord Cyril VIII, signed by himself, "Kīrilus ath-thāmin, Baṭrak Anṭākiyeh wAliskandariyeh wUrashalīm wasā'iri-lmashriḳ." Some day, when there are more Melkites in Egypt and Palestine, there will be separate Patriarchs of Alexandria and Jerusalem.
- ↑ The φήμη is the solemn proclamation of a bishop, in all his glory. It occurs in Polychronia, and (abbreviated) in Diptychs.
