one@50 Editors’ note: To mark ONE’s 50th anniversary in 2024, each edition features a reprint of a ONE “classic” — an article that continues to capture the attention and interest of readers years after its publication. This final edition of 2024 features a piece from the May-June 1997 issue of ONE by Bishop Emeritus Nicholas Samra, then auxiliary bishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton. In it, he discusses the dialogue pertaining to the reunification of the Patriarchal Church of Antioch, one of the five major patriarchates in early Christianity, which in 1724 split into the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and Orthodox Patriarchal Church of Antioch. This year marks the 300th anniversary of the definitive split of the Church of Antioch into two particular churches. At the time of this reprint, the healing and unity the bishop describes in his article have not yet been achieved.
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Healing the
Church of Antioch: The Greek-Melkite
Initiative by Bishop Nicholas Samra
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n July 1996, the Synod of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church issued “Reunification of the Antiochene Patriarchate,” a document boldly announcing the synod’s desire to heal the rupture between Catholics and Orthodox of the Church of Antioch. Although somewhat unique, this gesture has historically had a basis in the life and activity of the Antiochene Church. Unity in diversity has always existed in the Church of Antioch. During apostolic days when “in Antioch … the disciples were first called Christians” (Acts 11:26), a variety of traditions and peoples had lived side by side in this cosmopolitan city, now an archaeological site in Turkey. The Church of Antioch spread throughout the Middle East and was not limited to the city of Antioch, but to the greater area influenced
by Antioch: what is now modern Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, even Armenia, Egypt, India, Iraq, Kuwait, Sudan and the New World. The Church of Antioch, which was founded by the apostle Peter, embraced a diverse yet united community. Antiochene Jews and Gentiles lived together; many from both communities accepted the Christian faith. Some Christians fully observed the Mosaic law, while others retained but a few Jewish observances. There were some who rejected all Jewish observances. Yet they all lived and worked together despite these differences. During the patristic era, Antioch was the home of saints as well as heretics. And from Antioch various traditions were born: As a Greek-speaking city of the Byzantine Empire, its customs and traditions influenced the capital,