Simon Awad

Simon VII Awad
(سمعان السابع عوّاد)
Patriarch of Antioch
Church Maronite Church
See Patriarch of Antioch
Appointed March 16, 1743
Installed October 11, 1743
Term ended February 12, 1756
Predecessor Joseph Dergham El Khazen
Successor Tobias El Khazen
Orders
Ordination June 10, 1708 (Priest)
Consecration January 27, 1716 (Bishop)
by Jacob Awad
Personal details
Born 1683
Hasroun, Lebanon
Died February 12, 1756 (aged 72–73)

Simon VII Awad (or Sim'an Awwad, Auwad, Aouad, Arabic: سمعان السابع عوّاد‎, Latin: Simeon Evodius), 1683–1756, was the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch from 1743 to his death in 1756.

Life

Simon Awad was born in 1683 in Hasroun, Lebanon. From 1696 to 1707 he studied in Rome and at his return in Lebanon, on June 10, 1708, he was ordained as a priest by his uncle patriarch Jacob Awad, who reigned from 1705 to 1733, and whom he served as secretary.[1] On January 27, 1716 he was consecrated bishop of Damascus, always by his uncle.[2] Simon Awad played a leading role in the 1736 Maronite Synod of Mount-Lebanon.

At the death of Patriarch Joseph Khazen, who died on May 13, 1742, the bishops who attended the funeral met and elected Simon Awad as Patriarch, but Simon refused out of humility. So the bishops elected the bishop of Arka, Elias Mohasseb. Bishops Tobias El Khazen and Ignace Chrabai were absent from the meeting, perhaps not invited, and opposed the election of Elias. These two bishops ordained two new bishops and held a new election among themselves, electing Tobias El Khazen as Patriarch and splitting the Church. To keep the Church united, Pope Benedict XIV took the extraordinary initiative to deal directly in the affairs of the Maronite Church, and on March 16, 1743 he chose Simon Awad in place of the two pretenders. This decision was communicated to a synod of all the Maronite bishops held on October 7, 1743 and was unanimously accepted. Thus Simon Awad was enthroned patriarch on October 11, 1743[3] and he received the pallium from the Pope on July 3, 1744.

Simon Awad summoned a Maronite synod on November 28–30, 1755 at Qannubin Monastery to implement the decrees of the 1736 Maronite Synod of Mount-Lebanon. The synod issued fifteen canons, but they did not fully implement the 1736 Maronite Synod decrees. The other main issue of Simon's patriarchate was the visionary nun Hindiyya al-'Ujaimi, who soon became opposed by the Jesuits. Simon ordered initially an internal investigation, and based on its results he sided with Hindiyya. The complaints against the nun went on anyway, and on 1752 Pope Benedict XIV ordered an inspection, carried out by a Franciscan, Desiderio da Casabasciana, who, initially hostile, became himself a supporter of Hindiyya.[4] The case of Hindiyya endured under the next two patriarchs.

Simon Awad died on February 12, 1756 in El-Midane (Jezzine District) where he lived most of his life and where he founded the monastery of the Lady of Machmoucheh, in which he was buried.[1]

Works

Simon Awad is remembered as an Arab writer. His main works are:[2]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Patriarch Simon Aouad". El Midane. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Graf, Georg (1960). "103. Simon 'Auwad". Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur, Volume 3. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. p. 440.
  3. ↑ de Clercq, Charles (1949). Histoire des conciles d'après les documents originaux, Tome XI Conciles des Orientaux Catholiques 1. Paris: Letouzey et Ané. pp. 274–275.
  4. ↑ Dib, Pierre (2001). Histoire des Maronites: L'église maronite du XVIe siècle à nos jours, Volume 3. Librairie Orientale. pp. 192–194. ISBN 978-9953-17-005-3.

External links