| His Beatitude Anthony Peter Arida (أنطونيوس الثاني بطرس الحويّك) |
|
|---|---|
| Patriarch of Antioch | |
| Church | Maronite Church |
| See | Patriarch of Antioch |
| Elected | January 8, 1932 |
| Reign ended | May 19, 1955 |
| Predecessor | Elias Peter Hoayek |
| Successor | Cardinal Paul Peter Meouchi |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | September 28, 1890 (Priest) |
| Consecration | June 7, 1908 (Bishop) by Elias Peter Hoayek |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 2, 1863 Bsharri, Lebanon |
| Died | May 19, 1955 (aged 91) Bkerké, Lebanon |
Anthony II Peter Arida (1863–1955) (or Selim Ben Abdel Ahad Arida, Antoine Boutros Arida, Arabic: أنطونيوس الثاني بطرس عريضة) was the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch from 1932 until his death in 1955.
Anthony Peter Arida was born in Bsharri, Lebanon on February 2, 1863.[1] From 1884 to 1890 he studied theology at the school of Saint-Sulpice, Paris.[2]
He was ordinated priest on September 28, 1890 and served as secretary of the Maronite Patriarch John Peter El Hajj. He was appointed Maronite bishop of Tripoli, Lebanon in 1908 and consecrated bishop on June 7, 1908 by Patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek. Anthony Peter Arida was elected patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites on January 8, 1932.
Patriarch Arida openly condemned the treatment of Jews in Germany in 1933.[3] He sustained the Lebanese independence in 1943 in order to maintain the specificity of Lebanon as a Christian nation into a Muslim world. For this reason he firmly opposed the 1944 Alexandria Protocol (which led to the formation of the League of Arab States) and was favorable to the creation of a Zionist state in Palestine as well as a Christian state in Lebanon.[4][5] His position was anyway not supported by the whole of the Maronite Church.
He died on May 19, 1955 in the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate in Bkerké, Lebanon.