Gregory IV of Antioch

Gregory IV (Haddad) of Antioch (1859–1928) was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch from 1906 to 1928. He was a recipient of the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky. He was the second Arab patriarch to become Patriarch of Antioch after the position had been held by ethnic Greek bishops for 175 years. In 1913, he was a special guest in St. Petersburg of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia at the three hundredth anniversary of the rise of the Romanov dynasty to power.

Ghantus Haddad was born on July 1, 1859, the son of son of Girjis, son of Ghantus Haddad in the village of Abayh of the Shuf district of Mount Lebanon. He began his education in a village school conducted by an American Protestant Mission. Ghantus developed the desire for a career in the Holy Orders, and as a teenager requested of Archbishop Ghufara’el, who was Metropolitan of Archdiocese of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, to be allowed to join his ecclesiastical school. Receiving the approval of Abp. Ghufara’el, Ghantus joined the school on May 10, 1872. There, he studied under Shahin‘Atatiyyah. Having shown himself a model student who surpassed all other students in academic achievement, Ghantus became the private secretary of Abp. Ghufra’el on December 24, 1875, at the age of sixteen.

On December 19, 1877, he entered the Nuriyyah Monastery with the name Gregory. On August 29, 1879, he was ordained a deacon. With his new dignity, Dcn. Gregory was placed in charge of the St. Paul’s Society which was responsible for aiding the Orthodox Churches and schools of Mount Lebanon. He continued with this responsibility until the St. Paul’s Society was dissolved when the Archdiocese was split into two: that of Beirut and Mount Lebanon in 1901. In 1883, Gregory was made editor and published the Orthodox newspaper Al-Haddiyah.

In May 1890, Gregory was elected Archbishop of Tripoli. He was consecrated by Patriarch Gerasimos of Antioch shortly before Gerasimos moved to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. As Archbishop of Tripoli, Gregory led with love and dedication to the common good, and soon healed the divisions that had grown under his predecessor Abp. Sofronios Najjar. Under his leadership, Orthodox life in Tripoli grew, including new churches, schools, and charitable organizations. Among the schools he founded was that of Kiftin which from 1893 to 1897 produced many of the learned men of this period.

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