Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir
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| Church positions | |
| See | Antioch and the Whole East |
| Title | Cardinal Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant |
| Period in office | 1986 to present |
| Raised to cardinalate | November 26, 1994 |
| Predecessor | Cardinal Anthony Peter Khoraish |
| Successor | |
| Previous post | Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole East |
| Personal | |
| Date of birth | May 15, 1920 |
| Place of birth | Rayfoun, Lebanon |
Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir (Arabic: الكاردينال مار نصر الله بطرس صفير) (born May 15, 1920 in Rayfoun, Lebanon) is the patriarch of Lebanon's largest Christian body, the Maronite Church, an Eastern Rite Church in communion with the Catholic Church. He was elected Patriarch of Antioch for the Maronites on April 27, 1986, after the resignation of Cardinal Anthony Peter Khoraish. His official title is His Holiness the seventy-sixth Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant.
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[edit] Background
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He was educated in Beirut, and at Mar Abda School in Harharaya where he completed his primary and complementary studies, and Ghazir where he completed his secondary studies at St. Maron seminary. He graduated in philosophy and theology in 1950 at Saint Joseph's University in Beirut. He was ordained to the priesthood in the same year on May 7. From 1951 to 1955 he served as priest to the parish of Rayfoun. In 1956, he was appointed the secretary of the Maronite Patriarchate, based in Bkerké. In the same year, he became the professor of translation in literature and philosophy at the Frères Maristes (Marist Brothers) School in Jounieh.
In June of 1961, he was appointed the titular bishop of Tarsus and Patriarchal vicar. In July of 1961, he was elected a Bishop. He was elected to the primacy of the Maronite Church by the Council of Maronite Bishops, on April 27, 1986. Sfeir was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in the consistory of November 26, 1994. As the Patriarch of a sui juris particular Church who has been made a cardinal, Sfeir is a Cardinal Bishop. Sfeir is fluent in many languages: Syriac, Aramaic, French, Italian, Latin, and English, as well as his native Arabic, of which he knows both the classical and Lebanese dialects.
Serving as the Vicar for two previous patriarchs prepared Sfeir for the role in both the ecclesiastical and civil spheres. He became a strong voice for reason and sanity in the latter years of the Lebanese Civil War, which raged from 1975 to 1990. He has often spoken out against social and political injustices, and for the poor and disenfranchised. His writings and sermons set out his vision of how Lebanon can achieve a free and prosperous future. Like his predecessor, Sfeir largely stayed out of politics during the first few years of his tenure as patriarch, generally deferring to the stance of the Lebanese President, but by 1989, he had become embroiled in national politics.
[edit] Involvement in politics
The cardinal has found himself both within the Syrian camp and outside it [1]. At the beginning of the 1990s he did not support Syria's role against General Michel Aoun. In the spring of 1989, when Aoun launched a campaign to achieve control of militia-dominated areas, 23 Christian deputies of parliament met at the seat of the Maronite Church in Bkerké, under the auspices of Sfeir, and called for a cease-fire. This resulted in thousands of Christians demonstrating against Aoun. Under what some say was pressure from the Vatican, he backed the Taif Agreement to end the civil war, saying that it was "a fatal error to believe that we can live alone on an island in which we run our affairs as we like." A few days later, he declared that Aoun's nonacceptance of the Taif Agreement was illegal and unconstitutional. On November 5, as parliamentary deputies met at an abandoned air base in Syrian-controlled north Lebanon to elect a new president, Sfeir warned in a sermon that Aoun's stand "would lead to partitioning of the country."
[edit] Opposition within the church
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The patriarch's authority was challenged even within the Church itself, as several monastic orders issued proclamations supporting Aoun and denouncing the Taif Accord. To bolster the patriarch's authority, the Vatican became directly involved in reorganizing the Maronite Church. Speaking before a gathering of Lebanese bishops in November 1989, the papal nuncio in Lebanon, Pablo Puente, condemned "the interference of clerical persons and institutions in politics without being officially mandated to by the church hierarchy... an end must be put to political visits and declarations that have no clear Church mandate." The Vatican later sought to temper nationalist views in the clergy by appointing "visiting bishops" to supervise three especially militant monastic orders. In 1990 Sfeir called for the rival government in West Beirut to take over Aoun's "Christian enclave" in the east. "The legitimate government should spread its authority over the whole nation," he said in one interview. "It should not wait for an invitation from anyone to do so." Finally in October of 1990, Syrians and the Lebanese Forces militia crushed Aoun's insurgency and the long civil war finally came to an end. Aoun's main objection to the Taif Accord was that it had no firm timetable for Syrian withdrawl. The Syrians were to occupy Lebanon for another 15 years.
Under the Taif Accord, Damascus undertook to eventually withdraw its forces from Lebanon, a process which was only formally completed at the end of April 2005 - following the political upheaval which followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (see Cedar revolution). Sfeir was at times a vocal critic of Syrian prevarication in carrying out its pledge to withdraw, up until around 2003, falling silent again just as anti-Syrian views were becoming more widespread. His restraint in his comments at this time appeared to have lost him the support, in particular, of a majority among those Christians who had fled the country. The Cardinal also urged restraint in anti-Syrian rhetoric, and for Lebanon to focus on its economic development rather than political rifts. Nevertheless he blessed in 2001 the establishment of christian Qornet Shehwan Gathering opposed to the Syrian role and in the aftermath of the Hariri assassination he restated his opposition to Syria's predominant role in Lebanese politics and the political changes following Syrian withdrawal appear to have largely restored his previous position as the main spokesperson for his community.
In the first half of 2006 the Cardinal was critical of the political paralysis created by the controversy over whether President Émile Lahoud should serve the remainder of his term of office (which was specially extended under Syrian pressure in 2004 until November 2007). At the same time, he stressed that Lahoud should be removed only by lawful and constitutional means and that the continued smooth functioning of government and a national consensus on his successor were the main prioirities. In order to discuss the July 2006 Israel-Lebanon war and American policy on the affair, he met with Vice President Cheney at the White House, and later talked with Secretary of State Rice. [1]
On 15 October 2006, The predominantly Christian Free Patriotic Movement held gatherings in which anti-patriarchal slogans were raised, denouncing Cardinal Sfeir's political stands, which they consider contradictory to the will of the majority of the Christians in Lebanon. The FPM bloc, led by retired general and current MP Michel Aoun, constitutes the largest Christian bloc in the Lebanese parliament.
[edit] Belief and liturgy
The Maronite Church is an Eastern Rite Catholic Church in communion with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.
Sfeir has written several books, including "The sources of the Gospel-Bkerké", (1975); "Personalities that disappeared 1961-1974" - (two volumes); and "Sunday sermons: spiritual reflections and stand of national positions", (several volumes, 1988).
Sfeir is keen on accelerating liturgical reforms. This work bore fruit in 1992 with the publication of a new Maronite Missal, which represents an attempt to return to the original form of the Antiochene Liturgy. Its Service of the Word has been described as far more enriched than previous Missals, and it features six Anaphoras (Eucharistic Prayers).
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Video Biography (in Arabic)
- His Holiness Patriarch Sfeir
- Dossier: Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir
| Preceded by Anthony Khoraiche |
Maronite Patriarchs of Antioch | Succeeded by incumbent |
