Cyril V Zaim

Cyril V Zaim
Patriarch of Antioch
Church	Melkite Church
See	Patriarch of Antioch
Term ended	16 January 1720
Predecessor	Neophytos of Chios
Successor	Athanasius III Dabbas
Personal details
Birth name	Costantine Zaim
Born	about 1655 Aleppo
Died	16 January 1720 Damascus

Patriarch Constantine Cyril V Zaim (about 1655–1720), sometimes known also as Cyril III, was Greek Patriarch of Antioch.

Constantine Zaim was born on about 1655 in Aleppo and he was the nephew of Patriarch Macarios III Zaim, who died in 1672. Immediately after, Constantine Zaim was elected patriarch with the help of the governor of Damascus, and on July 2, 1672 he was consecrated bishop by Gregory of Bosra, Leonce (Lawandius) of Saidnaya and other two bishops, and enthroned taking the name of Cyril V. His election was contested by some bishops and by Dositheos, patriarch of Jerusalem, who considered his election to be null pointing out that Cyril Zaim was not in the legal age to be appointed bishop. This party supported Neophytos of Chios, nephew of previous Patriarch Euthymius III of Chios, who went to Constantinople where he obtained a firman in his favor from the Ottoman sultan and the appointment to Patriarch by the Ecumenical Patriarch Dionysius IV of Constantinople, thus splitting the Patriarchate of Antioch in two factions. In 1682 Neophytos of Chios, because of his debts, decided to retire, leaving Cyril V Zaim as the only claimant.

This situation lasted not for long: the next contender of the patriarchal throne was Athanasius Dabbas who was supported by the Franciscan friars (who opposed Cyril Zaim, charged of simony) and by his maternal uncle Michael Khayat, very influential with the Sublime Porte. In 1685 Michael Khayat succeeded to get from the Ottoman Empire a firman that appointed Athanasius Dabbas as Patriarch of the Melkite Church. Thus on July 5, 1685 Athanasius Dabbas was consecrated bishop and enthroned as Patriarch with the name of Athanasius III.

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