Elias Peter Hoayek | |
|---|---|
| Patriarch of Antioch | |
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| Church | Maronite Church |
| See | Patriarch of Antioch |
| Elected | January 6, 1899 |
| Term ended | December 24, 1931 |
| Predecessor | John Peter El Hajj |
| Successor | Anthony Peter Arida |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1870 (Priest) |
| Consecration | December 14, 1889 (Bishop) by Paul Peter Massad |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1843-12-04)December 4, 1843 |
| Died | December 24, 1931 (aged 88) |
| Sainthood | |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Maronite Church Melkite Greek Catholic Church Syriac Catholic Church |
Elias Peter Hoayek (Arabic:الياس بطرس الحويّك; 4 December 1843 – 24 December 1931; also spelledHoyek, Hwayek, Huayek, Juayek, Hawayek, Houwayek) was the 72ndMaronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch from 1898 until his death in 1931.
EliasHoayek was born inHelta,Batroun,North Lebanon on December 4, 1843.[1]. His younger brother,Saadallah Howayek, was a politician, and would representBatroun in the Mutassarifiate's administrative council before going to exile in 1920. He studied at the Seminary College of St. John Maroun in North Lebanon. He later went to theJesuitseminary of Ghazir in 1859, where he studied languages (French, Arabic,Syriac,Latin,Greek) as well as philosophy. In 1866, he went to Rome to studytheology at thePropaganda Fide. In 1870, he was made aCatholic priest and returned to Lebanon. Upon his return, he taughttheology at his old school the Seminary of St. John Maroun. He was appointed secretary and moved to the patriarchal residence in 1872, where he remained until 1898 when he was electedPatriarch. He was consecratedtitular bishop of Arca on December 14, 1889[2] by PatriarchPaul Peter Massad.
As vicar of PatriarchJohn Peter El Hajj, he was commissioned to raise the necessary funds for the construction of a residence to the Maronites inJerusalem and for the construction of the new Maronite seminary in Rome, which opened in 1893. In 1895, Hoayek founded the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family.[3]
The previous patriarch, John el Hajj, died onChristmas Eve in 1898; Hoayek was requested to return to Lebanon from a trip to Rome. On January 6, 1899, he was elected Patriarch and, in the consistory of June 19, 1899, Hoayek was ratified as the choice of Maronite bishops byPope Leo XIII, who granted him thepallium.[4]
Hoayek adopted the middle name Peter (Boutros) to signify him being the successor toPeter, first Bishop of Antioch.
Patriarch Hoayek's residence was simple, consisting of three rooms: a bedroom/office, a reception room and a chapel. He was known to particularly revere the readings of the confessions ofAugustine of Hippo, the Eternal Maxims and theImitation of Christ.[citation needed]
Among his first acts as patriarch was the construction of a new residence inBkerké, replacing the former one: the foundation stone was laid on September 29, 1899. In 1893, he began the construction of the new Maronite College ofRome, inaugurated on February 7, 1904. In 1906, he obtained from theHoly See the division of the eparchy of Tyre and Sidon in two separate dioceses.[5] Between 1906 and 1908, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of theImmaculate Conception ofMary, he ordered the construction of the statue of the Madonna in Harissa that still dominates the region.
He was behind the creation of a Patriarchal Vicariate inCairo,Egypt in 1904, the first Maronite ecclesiastical structure after 1736. He was the founder of the church inCyprus, delegating Shikrallah Khoury and Peter Chebly. He was the founder of theindependent dioceses in theUnited States of America and inArgentina in 1920.
The First World War saw a lot of persecution of the Christians in the Middle East.[vague] Some sources cite one and a half million ofArmenians were killed byOttoman forces in the war. The Ottoman Empire was allied to Germany. The Allies (France and Great Britain) set up a blockage of the Lebanese and Syrian coastline against the Ottoman Empire which leads to the start of a famine.Jamal Pasha, Ottoman military governor took steps to exile Hoayek because of his relations with France. In 1915, the blockade as well as a large locust infestation had resulted in diminished food supplies. While the granaries are almost empty, the Ottoman Empire requisitions Lebanese foodstuffs. As a result, a third of the Lebanese population died of starvation. This situation continued until 1919. The Patriarch received funds from Lebanese Diaspora and the French government. Again, Jamal Pasha attempted to exile the Patriarch.
The HM British army enteredDamascus while the Ottoman (and their German allies) retreated to the north. This ended four hundred years of Ottoman rule in Lebanon. A transitional governance body was installed by the allied British and French forces.
In 1919, Patriarch Hoayek headed a second Lebanese delegation at theParis Peace Conference.Prince Faisal had hoped for an Arab kingdom to encompass Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and the Arabian Peninsula. Hoayek fought to be able to see Lebanon free from the Ottoman Empire and had no desire to see it become part of an Arab monarchy.
The Lebanese delegation led by Hoayek presented the Lebanese aspirations as follows:
On October 25, he presented the assembly of thePeace Congress with this memorandum.
General Gouraud announced a declaration by France of the independence of Lebanon on September 1, 1920. He outlined the country's boundaries to include the area from Ras-al-Naqurah (Naqurah peninsula) in the south toNahr-el-Kabir in the north and from the summits of the Anti-Lebanon mountain in the east to theMediterranean sea in the west. The new entity under Frenchmandate was initially calledThe State of Greater Lebanon.
Patriarch Elias Hoayek died on December 24, 1931, in Bkerké.
Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of decrees on the heroic virtues of Patriarch Elias Howayek, declaring him Venerable on July 5, 2019.[6][7]
Hoyek wrote: "Both national feeling and religion make it an obligation for you to respect and love everybody whatever may be his belief. Reason leads you to fraternize with the person you live with under the same sky and on the same land." (Hoayek, Al-Zakhair Al-Saniyyat, Jounieh, 1931 p. 501)
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