Cyril VI of Antioch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cyril VI of Antioch or Cyril Tanas was a Patriarch of Antioch who re-established communion with the Roman Catholic church.

He was elected in 1724 by the Melkite bishops of Syria as the new Patriarch of Antioch. As Cyril was a prominent pro-Westerner, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Jeremias III, felt his authority was being questioned. Jeremias declared Cyril's election to be invalid, excommunicated him, and appointed Sylvester of Antioch, a Greek monk to the patriarchal See of Antioch. Sylvester exacerbated divisions with his heavy-handed rule of the church, and many Melkites chose to acknowledge Cyril VI as Patriarch instead. This Greek domination over the Byzantine Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch lasted until 1899.

Five years after the election of Cyril Tanas, in 1729, Pope Benedict XIII recognised Cyril as the legitimate Patriarch of Antioch and welcomed him and his followers into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.^[1] From this time onwards, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church has existed separately from and in parallel to the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in the Middle East.

[edit] References