Biography & Awards
One of the greatest contemporary
Monsignor Joseph Nasrallah, born October 10, 1911 in An-Nabk in Syria, died November 19, 1993 in Damascus, is a Syrian ecclesiastic, who was exarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church (Melkite Patriarchate of Antioch)
1990
Birth
On October 10, 1911, in Nabek (Syrie), in a village located 80 km north of Damas, Joseph Nasrallah visited the series at the beginning of Saint Anne in Jerusalem, in the direction of Peres Blancs.
1934
Young priest
He left in 1934, a young priest, with a solid education and already very marked inclinations for research, which he pursued throughout his life. He was appointed director of the episcopal college of Yabroud, a small town 70 km north of Damascus, in the Qalamûn region. He stayed there for six years before settling in Damascus, chaplain of the Cercle de la Jeunesse catholique and professor at the Patriarchal College. He found useful libraries in this city and made contact with H. Laoust and the French Institute of Damascus, of which he would become a faithful friend.
1945
Young Father
In 1945, the young Father Nasrallah, charged by the French Institute with drawing up the catalogue of manuscripts preserved in the convents and bishoprics of Lebanon, settled at the major seminary of the Paulist Fathers in Harissa (Lebanon) where he gave a few hours of teaching per week.
1950
Parish priest
In October 1950, he was appointed rector, then parish priest of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre in Paris, for the Melkite Greek Catholic community. He was at the same time patriarchal vicar and representative of the patriarch to the French government. He held this position until October 1990, when he retired—while remaining the representative of the patriarch—without ceasing to work until his death in Damascus on November 19, 1993.
1959
Articles
Many articles were published and then collected in two volumes entitled Notes pour servir à toire du patriarcat melkite d’Antioche, vol. I, Jerusalem, 1965, 159 pp.; vol. II, ibid., 1986, 117 pp. We also owe him the Chronology of the Melkite Patriarchs of Antioch from 12500 to 1500 (VIII + 53 pp., Jerusalem, 1968) and from 1500 to 1634 (89 pp. and 4 pi. hors-texte, Jerusalem, 1959) as well as the Melkite Church in Iraq, Persia and Central Asia, Paris 1976, 127 pp.
1993
Died
On November 19, 1993, Mgr Joseph Nasrallah, exarch of the Melkite Patriarchate, of Antioch, curate of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre in Paris and representative of the Patriarch to the French Government, died in Damascus.
Upcoming
29th anniversary
We commemorate the 29th anniversary of the death of Monsignor Joseph Nasrallah, prominent figures of Paris, his country Syria, his Church and the scholarly world.