Elias Chacour
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elias Chaccour (born 1939) is the Archbishop of Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. He is also a noted author and peace activist keen to promote reconciliation between Arabs and Israelis.
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[edit] Biography and Education
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Elias Michael Chaccour was born November 29, 1939 in the village of Biram in Upper Galilee in British Palestine to a Palestinian Christian family, members of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. At the age of eight, like many Palestinians, he was evicted, along with his whole village, by the Israeli authorities and became a deportee and a refugee but remained in the region. Because he remained in his homeland, he was granted Israeli citizenship when the state was created in 1948.
Completing his schooling in Nazareth, he studied theology at St. Sulpice Seminary in Paris, returning home in 1965. He was ordained a priest by Archbishop George Selim Hakim of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and all Galilee, who became Patriarch Maximos V two years later after the death of Patriarch Maximos IV Sayegh who was called "The Lion of the Council" (Vatican II). He later studied the Torah and Talmud at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as well as Aramaic and Syriac, becoming the first Arab to gain a higher degree there. He was also a friend of the charismatic and controversial second Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and all Galilee, Joseph-Marie Raya.
[edit] Teaching and Peace Advocacy
Father Chaccour came to the village of Ibillin in the Galilee as a young priest in 1965. This village was the birthplace of the most recent saint of the Melkite Church, Blessed Miriam Bawardy, a Discalced Carmelite mystic of the nineteenth century responsible for the Carmel of Saint David's Tower in Bethlehem who was beatified by Pope John-Paul II on November 13th, 1983. The young Father Elias, seeing the lack of educational opportunities for Arab youth beyond the 8th grade, set about creating a school open to all local children, regardless of religious affiliation.
In the early 1980s, on an empty hillside now known as the Mount of Light (Jebel an-Nour), a classroom building was begun. The newly formed high school moved from temporary quarters in the community center to the new building as soon as it was ready. The original high school has expanded considerably and now includes a primary school and a community college. The Mar Elias Educational Institutions now have 4,500 students, representing all major religions and ethnicities in Israel (as does the faculty).
An advocate of non-violence, Chaccour travels often between the Middle East and other countries around the world. In addition, many visitors, fact-finding missions, and pilgrims have come to Ibillin. He has received several international peace awards. On March 10, 1994, Father Chacour received the prestigious World Methodist Peace Award awarded annually by the World Methodist Council. On Feb 19, 2001, it was announced he was to receive the Niwano Peace Prize which he travelled to Japan to receive.
[edit] Writings and Speeches
Chaccour is the author of two best selling books, Blood Brothers and We Belong to the Land. Blood Brothers covers his childhood growing up in the town of Biram, his development into a young man, and his early years as a priest in Ibillin. This book has been translated into 28 languages. (The first six chapters of Blood Brothers can be downloaded here (the Nov 08, 2005 link).
His second book, We Belong to the Land, recounts his work in the development of Mar Elias Educational Institutions, from humble beginnings to major schools for educating Palestinian young people and for helping to bring about reconciliation in a land of strife. This book has been translated into 11 languages.
Chaccour currently serves as Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and all Galilee. The main city of his diocese is Haifa, the great city of northern Israel. He was consecrated a bishop in the church of Saint Elias in Ibillin and his enthronement in the Haifa Cathedral was broadcast by the Melkite Ecumenical television station "Noursat" which originates in Beirut, Lebanon. At his enthronement he instructed everyone to continue to call him "Abuna Elias". Since then he has already visited the United States twice in 2006.
In 2001, Chaccour gave the commencement address at Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia [1]. An excerpt from his speech:
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From Father Elias Chaccour on February 9, 2006 regarding becoming Archbishop of Galilee:
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