Patriarch Theodosius Abou Rjeily
Spiridon Abou Rjeily was
born in Arsoun (Metn, Mount Lebanon, Close to Salima village) in 1885.
In 1887 his family moved
to Ashrafieh in Beirut, Lebanon.
He is Spiridon / Salim /
Bechara / Saber / Elias / Atallah / Elias / Atallah Abou Rjeily. He had five
siblings: two sisters and three brothers.
·
Spiridon attended the
elementary school " Ecole des Trois
Docteurs" in Ashrafieh, Beirut. Then he studied at the Kasibiya school in Damascus, Syria. Later, he joined the theological
school at the Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand in Tripoli in north
Lebanon.
·
In 1906, Spiridon
was ordained sub deacon by Patriarch Gregory IV (Haddad) of
Antioch.
·
In 1908, he was
transferred to the Archdiocese of Diyar Bakr in northern Iraq to
learn the Turkish language.
·
In 1912, he returned to
Lebanon, then he left to Constantinople to learn the Greek language.
·
In 1914, Theodosius was
appointed a liaison officer between the Antiochian patriarchate and the Turkish
government serving the Orthodox Christian communities in Syria and Lebanon.
·
In 1915, he was ordained
a priest and subsequently was elevated to the rank
of archimandrite by the Patriarch Gregory IV to whom he became known
as the "Translator".
·
In 1923, Theodosius was
elected Metropolitan Archbishop of Tyre and Sidon in south
Lebanon, a position he held for 25 years.
·
In 1948, Metr.
Theodosius was appointed by the Holy Synod of the Church of Antioch
to lead the Archdiocese of Tripoli.
·
During 1935, Metr.
Theodosius guided the election of a new archbishop for the Syrian
Orthodox in North America that resulted in
the consecration of Antony (Bashir).
·
On 14 November,
1958, Metr. Theodosius was elected Patriarch of Antioch as Theodosius VI,
succeeding Patriarch Alexander III (Tahan), after having served
as locum tenens following Patriarch Alexander's death on June
17, 1958.
·
On 19 September,
1970, Patriarch Theodosius passed away. His body reposed in Saint Georges
Hospital in Ashrafieh, Beirut.
His Beatitude was fluent
in Arabic, French, Greek and Turkish, and had a working knowledge of English
and Russian.
As Patriarch of Antioch
and All the East, His Beatitude Theodosius VI had spiritual jurisdiction over
1,500,000 Orthodox Christians located mainly in Syria and Lebanon, with large
communities in North, Central and South America, and Australia.