Antiochian Holy Synod convenes in Damascus

(Antiochian) - His Grace Bishop BASIL passes along the news that THE HOLY SYNOD of our Patriarchate of the Great City-of-God Antioch and all the East convened today, Tuesday - October 6th, at the Patriarchal Residence in Damascus, Syria for its fall meeting.

In attendance were His Beatitude PATRIARCH IGANTIOS IV (Hazim), the president of the Synod, and the following seventeen Metropolitans: GEORGE (Khodre) of Mount Lebanon, CONSTANTINE (Papastephanou) of Baghdad of Kuwait, ELIAS (Audi) of Beirut, JOHN (Mansour) of Latakiya, ELIAS (Kafoury) of Tyre and Sidon, ANTONIO (Chedraoui) of Mexico, Venezuela and Central America, DAMASKINOS (Mansour) of Brazil, SERGIOS (Abad) of Chile, SABA (Esber) of Hauran and Jabal al-Arab, GEORGE (Abu Zakham) of Homs, PAUL (Yaziji) of Aleppo, PAUL (Saliba) of Australia and New Zealand, SILOUAN (Moosy) of Argentina, JOHN (Yaziji) of Western and Central Europe, and BASIL (Mansour) of Akkar, ELIA (Saliba) of Hama, and SPYRIDON (Khoury) of Zahleh.

AXIOS! During its first session the Holy Synod elected the renowned and highly respected spiritual elder ARCHIMANDRITE EPHREM (Kyriakos), abbot of the Holy Monastery of the Archangel Michael in Biq'aata, Lebanon, for the archepiscopal throne of the recently widowed Archdiocese of Tripoli, al-Koura and Dependencies. Biography available here.