Archbishop and Patriarch
Elias Peter HoayekThe surname Hawayek is carried by a relatively large Christian Catholic Maronite clan from the Lebanon. Other spellings for this surname include Hoayeck, Hoayek, Houayek, Howayeck, Howayek, Hoyeck, Hoyek, Huayek, Huwayyik, Hwayek, Houeyek,......... In Arabic it is , and the Spanish spellings are...
(1843 – 1931) (alt. spellings Hoyek, Hwayek,Huayek, Juayek, Hawayek) ; was born in Helta,
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
. He was
Patriarch of Antioch for the Maronites, the largest Christian community in the Middle East from 1898 to 1931 when he died.
He is hailed as the father of Lebanonism and the founder of the modern Lebanese state.
Archbishop and Patriarch
Elias Peter HoayekThe surname Hawayek is carried by a relatively large Christian Catholic Maronite clan from the Lebanon. Other spellings for this surname include Hoayeck, Hoayek, Houayek, Howayeck, Howayek, Hoyeck, Hoyek, Huayek, Huwayyik, Hwayek, Houeyek,......... In Arabic it is , and the Spanish spellings are...
(1843 – 1931) (alt. spellings Hoyek, Hwayek,Huayek, Juayek, Hawayek) ; was born in Helta,
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
. He was
Patriarch of Antioch for the Maronites, the largest Christian community in the Middle East from 1898 to 1931 when he died.
He is hailed as the father of Lebanonism and the founder of the modern Lebanese state. The Lebanese people of all sects hailed his patriotism, followed his example and maintain it to this day.
HoayekThe surname Hawayek is carried by a relatively large Christian Catholic Maronite clan from the Lebanon. Other spellings for this surname include Hoayeck, Hoayek, Houayek, Howayeck, Howayek, Hoyeck, Hoyek, Huayek, Huwayyik, Hwayek, Houeyek,......... In Arabic it is , and the Spanish spellings are...
is considered one of the four founders of Lebanon:
Fakhr el Din IIFakhr-al-Din II also the Great or Fakhreddine II was a Lebanese prince, son of Prince Qurqumaz from the Maan Druze dynasty and Princess Nassab...
,
Bashir IIBashir Shihab II was a Lebanese emir who ruled Lebanon in the first half of the 19th century and was as such the second ruler who managed to do this .Bashir was born into a noble Shihab family which came to power in 1697 when Ahmad Maan, the last member of the Maan...
,
Youssef Beik KaramYoussef Bey Karam , was a Lebanese nationalist leader who led the nationalist effort against the Ottoman Empire occupation.-The Karam Family:...
and Patriarch
HoayekThe surname Hawayek is carried by a relatively large Christian Catholic Maronite clan from the Lebanon. Other spellings for this surname include Hoayeck, Hoayek, Houayek, Howayeck, Howayek, Hoyeck, Hoyek, Huayek, Huwayyik, Hwayek, Houeyek,......... In Arabic it is , and the Spanish spellings are...
.
Early life
Elias
HoayekThe surname Hawayek is carried by a relatively large Christian Catholic Maronite clan from the Lebanon. Other spellings for this surname include Hoayeck, Hoayek, Houayek, Howayeck, Howayek, Hoyeck, Hoyek, Huayek, Huwayyik, Hwayek, Houeyek,......... In Arabic it is , and the Spanish spellings are...
was born in Helta, Batroun,
North LebanonNorth Lebanon may refer to:*North Lebanon Township, Pennsylvania*North Governorate, Lebanon...
in the year 1843. He studied at the Seminary College of St. John Maroun in North Lebanon. He later went to the Jesuit seminary of Ghazir in 1859, where he studied the languages (French, Arabic, Syriac,
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
,
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
) as well as philosophy. In 1866 he went to Rome to study
theologyThe term "theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "discourse", "theory", or "reasoning"...
. In 1870, he was made a
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
priest and returned to Lebanon. Upon his return he taught theology at his old school the Seminary of St. John Maroun. He was appointed secretary and moved to the patriarchal residence in 1872 where he remained until 1898 when he was consecrated
PatriarchOriginally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy...
.
Becoming Patriarch
The previous Patriarch, John el Hajj died on
Christmas EveChristmas Eve, December 24, is the night before Christmas Day, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.-Western Churches:Many Roman Catholics and Anglicans traditionally celebrate a midnight Mass which begins sometime before midnight on Christmas Day; this ceremony, which is held in churches...
in 1898; Monsenieur
HoayekThe surname Hawayek is carried by a relatively large Christian Catholic Maronite clan from the Lebanon. Other spellings for this surname include Hoayeck, Hoayek, Houayek, Howayeck, Howayek, Hoyeck, Hoyek, Huayek, Huwayyik, Hwayek, Houeyek,......... In Arabic it is , and the Spanish spellings are...
was requested to return to Lebanon from a trip to Rome. On January 6th, he was elected Patriarch.
HoayekThe surname Hawayek is carried by a relatively large Christian Catholic Maronite clan from the Lebanon. Other spellings for this surname include Hoayeck, Hoayek, Houayek, Howayeck, Howayek, Hoyeck, Hoyek, Huayek, Huwayyik, Hwayek, Houeyek,......... In Arabic it is , and the Spanish spellings are...
adopted the middle name Peter (Boutros) to signify him being the successor to St. Peter first Bishop of Antioch.
Patriarch
HoayekThe surname Hawayek is carried by a relatively large Christian Catholic Maronite clan from the Lebanon. Other spellings for this surname include Hoayeck, Hoayek, Houayek, Howayeck, Howayek, Hoyeck, Hoyek, Huayek, Huwayyik, Hwayek, Houeyek,......... In Arabic it is , and the Spanish spellings are...
’s residence was simple, consisting of three rooms: a bedroom/office, a reception room and a chapel. He was known to particularly revere the readings of the confessions of
St. AugustineAugustine of Hippo , Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin, was an Algerian Berber philosopher and theologian....
, the Eternal Maxims and the Imitation of Christ.
Support for the Diaspora
He was behind the creation of a Patriarchal Vicariate in
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
in 1904.
He was founder of the church in
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country situated in the eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey and west of Syria and Lebanon....
, delegating Shikrallah Khoury and Peter Chebly.
He was the founder of the independent dioneces in the
United States of AmericaThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and in
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
in 1920.
Challenges of the First World War
The First World War saw a lot of persecution of the Christians in the Middle East. Some sources cite one and a half million of
ArmeniansThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
were killed by
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
forces in the war. The Ottoman Empire was allied to Germany. The Ottomans (upon German request) set up a blockage of the Lebanese and Syrian coast line. As a result, a third of the Lebanese population died of famine. Jamal Pasha, Ottoman military governor took steps to exile
HoayekThe surname Hawayek is carried by a relatively large Christian Catholic Maronite clan from the Lebanon. Other spellings for this surname include Hoayeck, Hoayek, Houayek, Howayeck, Howayek, Hoyeck, Hoyek, Huayek, Huwayyik, Hwayek, Houeyek,......... In Arabic it is , and the Spanish spellings are...
because of his relations with France.
In 1915, the blockade as well as a large locust infestation had resulted in deplenished food supplies. This situation continued until 1919. The Patriarch received funds from Lebanese Diaspora and the French government. Again, Jamal Pasha attempted to exile the Patriarch.
End of the War
The HM British army entered
DamascusDamascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and its current population is estimated at about 1,669,000...
while the Ottoman (and their German allies) retreated to the North. This ended four hundred years of Ottoman rule in Lebanon. A transitional governance body was installed by the allied British and French forces.
Peace Congress in Versailles
In 1919, Patriarch Hoayek headed the Lebanese delegation at the
Peace CongressThe Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors in World War I to set the peace terms for Germany and other defeated nations, and to deal with the empires of the defeated powers following the Armistice of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than...
in Versailles.
King FaisalFaisal bin al-Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi , was for a short time King of Greater Syria in 1920 and King of Iraq from 23 August 1921 to 1933...
had hopes for an Arab kingdom to encompass Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine and the Arabian Peninsula. Patriarch Hoayek fought to be able to see Lebanon free from the Ottoman Empire and had no desire to see it become part of Faisal's empire.
King FaisalFaisal bin al-Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi , was for a short time King of Greater Syria in 1920 and King of Iraq from 23 August 1921 to 1933...
went on to accept the Balfour Declaration on a condition to be given his Arab state (minus Palestine) of
Greater SyriaGreater Syria , also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant....
. This he did in 1919, with Dr.
Chaim WeizmannChaim Azriel Weizmann, , was a Zionist leader, President of the World Zionist Organization, and the first President of the State of Israel. He was elected on 1 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952. Weizmann was also a chemist who developed a new process of producing acetone through...
, President of the World Zionist Organization and was called the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement.
The Lebanese delegation led by
HoayekThe surname Hawayek is carried by a relatively large Christian Catholic Maronite clan from the Lebanon. Other spellings for this surname include Hoayeck, Hoayek, Houayek, Howayeck, Howayek, Hoyeck, Hoyek, Huayek, Huwayyik, Hwayek, Houeyek,......... In Arabic it is , and the Spanish spellings are...
presented the Lebanese aspirations as follows:
- The extension of the frontiers of Lebanon to include the cities of Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon with a population of over 2.1 million as of 2007. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's coastline with the Mediterranean sea, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan Area, which...
, Tyre, SidonSidon,or Saïda, is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. Its name means a fishery...
, TripoliTripoli is the largest and capital city of Libya.Tripoli has a population of 1.69 million...
and the districts of Akkar, Beqaa, and Southern Lebanon. These cities and districts were natural parts of Lebanon, but were administratively separated by the Ottoman rule.
- The recognition of Lebanon’s full independence
- The institution of a Parliament to represent the different sects
- The assistance of France in consolidating Lebanon’s independence.
On October 27, he presented the assembly of the
Peace CongressThe Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors in World War I to set the peace terms for Germany and other defeated nations, and to deal with the empires of the defeated powers following the Armistice of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than...
with this memorandum. This proposal was accepted and approved by
ClemenceauClemenceau may refer to:* Georges Clemenceau , French physician, journalist and statesman* Clemenceau , a French aircraft carrier* Mount Clemenceau, a mountain in the Canadian Rockies...
in a statement issued on November 10, 1919.
Lebanon's Independence
The French
General GouraudHenri Joseph Eugène Gouraud was a French general, best known for his leadership of the French Fourth Army at the end of the World War I.-Early life:...
announced a declaration by France of the independence of Lebanon on September 1, 1920. He outlined the nation's boundaries to include the area from Ras-al-Naqurah (Naqurah peninsula) in the South to
Nahr-el-KabirNahr al-Kabir al-Janoubi is a river in the Middle East flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. The river flows through the Hims Gap....
(The Large River) in the North and from the summits of the Anti-Lebanon mountain in the East to the Mediterranean sea in the West. This was the first time Lebanon had these boundaries and was called the The State of Greater Lebanon.
Famous sayings
Hoyek wrote: "Both national feeling and religion make it an obligation for you to respect and love everybody whatever may be his belief. Reason leads you to fraternize with the person you live with under the same sky and on the same land" (Hoyek, Al-Zakhair Al-Saniyyat, Jounieh, 1931 p.501).
- "God", he used to say, "wants us to love our country" (Ibid p.792 Cf. p.588).
See also
- Biography of the patriarch Elias Hoayek by HARFOÛCHE, P. Ibrâhîm, Dalâ' it Al 'inâya el-Samdanyat, Lebanese Jounieh, Printing works Missionaries Maronites; 1934.
- La vérité sur l'histoire de la Montagne Libanaise (The Truth on the History of Mount Lebanon) by Patriarch Hoayek, Haqîqat Al-bayân 'year târikh Gabal Lubnân. Manuscript consulted at Sabeh Hoayek in Bdadoun
Bdadoun is a town in Mount Lebanon which makes up one of the 70 towns and villages in the district of Aley . It has an estimated population of 3000. It is 490 meters above sea level and 15 kilometres from the capital Beirut...
.
- Inventing Lebanon: Nationalism and the State Under the Mandate - by Kais M. Firro
- Lebanon: A History of Conflict and Consensus - by Nadim Shehadi, Dana Haffar Mills
- The Formation of Modern Syria and Iraq - by Eliezer Tauber
- Monks and Monasteries of the Near East - by Jules Leroy
- The Maronite Patriarch Elias Butrus al-Howayyek and the Establishment of Greater Lebanon - by Samawil Bulus, Haifa University, 1987