Saint Joseph of Damascus

Saint Joseph of Damascus (May 15, 1793 – July 10, 1860), born Joseph George Haddad Firzli (Arabic,جوزيف جورج حداد الفرزلي), was a Greek Orthodox Christian priest and educator who was canonized as a saint in 1993. He is also known as "Father Joseph."

Life

Father Joseph was born in Beirut on May 15 1793. He was the son of George Mouhanna Haddad Firzli, a Lebanese craftsman of Byzantine and Ghassanid descent. He was ordained a priest in 1817 for the Diocese of Damascus and served as director of the Patriarchal School in Damascus 1836 – 1860: under his leadership, the Patriarchal School became the leading Orthodox institution of higher learning in the Middle-East.

He was martyred during the 1860 Damascus massacre when Druze marauders destroyed part of the old city of Damascus and killed more than 3,000 Greek Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholic Christians.

Legacy

Many alumni of Father Joseph’s Patriarchal School became bishops in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, and the USA, notably Father Raphael Hawawini, known as Saint Raphael of Brooklyn, the first Orthodox bishop of New York- sent to the United States in 1895 by Saint Nicholas II the Passion Bearer Tsar of Russia.

References

* [http://www.query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E0CE3D7173CE433A25756C1A96F9C94649ED7CF “Christian Church to be Filled by a Damascus Preacher”] (New York Times, Sept 15 1895)