LOUIS MASSIGNON: ASPECTS OF HIS LIFE AND THOUGHT

A. O'MAHONY 269ARAM, 20 (2008) 269-297. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.20.0.2033133

LOUIS MASSIGNON, THE MELKITE CHURCH AND ISLAM

ANTHONY O’MAHONY

(Heythrop College, University of London)

LOUIS MASSIGNON: ASPECTS OF HIS LIFE AND THOUGHT

Louis Massignon (1883-1962) saw the relationship between Christianity

and Islam through the lens of the tragic figure of the mystic al-Hallâj (857-922).1 Al-Hallâj, who was ‘martyred’ in Baghdad for heresy, represented forMassignon a direct parallel to the suffering of Jesus on the cross.2 As Christi-

anity had suffering and compassion as its foundation, so too, according toMassignon, did Islam. Indeed, he regarded suffering as fundamental to Semiticand Jewish tradition: “This brings us to a fundamental problem of Semitic,

and particularly Jewish psychology, in its most ‘Kirkegaardian’ aspect: thereis a hidden but divine good in suffering, and this is the mystery of anguish, thefoundation of human nature”3 Massignon’s mystical Catholicism belonged to

the core and essence of his being, and it informed his entire understanding ofIslam. It was ‘commitment’ to the other outside his own Christian faith whichmade Massignon such a powerful witness. The Dominican scholar Jean-Pierre

de Menasce OP states, “If the attitude of Christians towards Muslims and Is-lam (and consequentially towards all the great religions) has changed in thelast forty-years, through objective understanding, through gripping the highest

and most central values, through a complete respect for people and institu-tions, and all this as a result of Christian intensity and not despite it, this is agreat extent owed to Louis Massignon”.4 Indeed, the explicit recasting of

1 Herbert Mason, ‘Louis Massignon et al-Hallâj’, Presence de Louis Massignon. Hommageset témoignages. Textes réunis par Daniel Massignon, Paris: Éditions Maisonneuve et Larose,1987, pp. 105-112.

2 Roger Arnaldez, ‘Hallâj et Jèsus dans le pensèe de Louis Massignon’, Horizons maghré-bins. Louis Massignon. Hommes de dialogue des cultures, no. 14-15 (1989), pp. 171-178.

3 L. Massignon, ‘Nature in Islamic Thought’, Testimonies and Reflections: Essays of LouisMassignon Selected and introduced by Herbert Mason, Notre Dame, Indiana, University of NotreDame Press, 1989, p. 83. For an interesting account of Massignon’s relations with Jewish orientalscholarship see, Joel L. Kraemer, ‘The Death of an Orientalist: Paul Kraus from Prague toCairo’, The Jewish Discovery of Islam, Edited by Martin Kramer, Tel Aviv, University Press ofTel Aviv, 1999, pp. 181-223. Kraemer states: “Even though Massignon’s study of Islam wasengage and mystique, he respected the philological skills of Jewish scholars like Goldziher andKraus. Goldziher had helped him with his Kitâb al-tawâsîn, and Kraus contributed to his Akhbâral-Hallâj. Massignon was impressed by the appreciation that Goldziher, Kraus and other showedfor al-Hallâj and tried to explain their attraction to Sufi texts”, p. 192.

4 J-P. De Menasce, ‘Reconnaisance à Louis Massignon’, Mémorial Louis Massignon, Cairo,Dar-es-Salam, 1963, p. 81. These views expressed by De Menasce are more surprising as he was

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270 LOUIS MASSIGNON, THE MELKITE CHURCH AND ISLAM

western missionary effort, by the French theologian and Cardinal of theChurch, Jean Danielou S.J. after the Second World War, as one finding Christ

even more then preaching him, can be traced directly to Danielou’s associationwith Massignon.5

Christianity and Islam have been pitted against each other because of their

overtly worldwide mission. There was for many centuries a territorial standoffbetween Islam and Christendom, with the attendant isolation of many of theEastern Churches from the Western Christendom.6 According to David Burrell

it would be difficult to find a longer, more sustained animosity than that be-tween ‘official’ Christianity and Islam. For if the Jew was the ‘other’ in themidst of Christendom. Islam was the ‘other’ facing it, and with power at is dis-

posal. Massignon came to the view that Islam was more resourceful spirituallythan it ever had been militarily and that these resources could be mined byChristians to recover dimensions of their faith hitherto hidden.7 The French

deeply sceptical of Islam as a distinct religious tradition, “Islam, without doubt, is to be rankedamong the heresies. The biblical revelation, although poorly known, is not unknown and is for-mally rejected with respect to the essential truths: the Incarnation and the Trinity”, in, ‘Lathéologie de la mission selon Kraemer’, Neue Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, Vol. 1, 1945,p. 251.

5 See on Jean Danielou see the systematic study by Fritz Frei, Médiation unique et transfigu-ration univer selle themes christologiques et leurs perspectives missionnaires dans la pensée deJ. Danielou Bern, Peter Lang, 1981. For relations with Massignon, see Marie-Thérèse Bessirard,‘Louis Massignon and le Père Daniélou’, Louis Massignon et ses contemporains (éd) JacquesKeryell, Paris, Éditions Karthala, 1997, pp. 163-180. We also think of here Massignon’s influ-ence upon his contemporary Jules Monchanin (1895-1957). On 5 May 1939, at the age of 44 andafter many years of patient waiting, Jules Monchanin embarked from Marseilles for India. It wasthe fulfilment of many years of studying, waiting and hoping. He had wanted to go to India forsome ten years hoping to secure the approval of an Indian bishop for a plan of total adaptation toIndian life, and, although two bishops were interested by the originality and uniqueness ofMonchanin’s plan of a Christian-Hindu contemplative life, at once totally Christian and fullyHindu, each for his own reason was hesitant to have the French priest establish a foundation inhis diocese. From ordination, Monchanin had been drawn to India as a result of his contact withmissionaries destined for the East. In their concern with the apostolate they deeply questioned forsociological, economic, and political matters relating to the westernization of Asia as well as theforms and the dynamics of Christian missionary work in Asian culture. The depth of Indian spir-ituality struck him perhaps most strongly in personal contacts. Indian students and friends in Ly-ons gave living proof of India’s vitality and convinced him of the great wealth of spiritual wis-dom India had to give the Church. Thus, in the early thirties it became apparent to Monchaninthat he called to give his life to the Church in India. He was convinced that not only does Indianspirituality have to be rethought as Christian but also Christianity must be rethought as Indian:Indian spirituality must be transfigured in the Trinity and Indian mysticism will infuse a new lifewithin Christianity. See Française Jacquin, ‘Pour une comprehension des cultures: Louis Mas-signon et l’abbé Monchanin’, Louis Massignon et le dialogue des cultures (Paris: Les Éditionsdu Cerf, 1996), pp. 341-356.

6 See the essays in the various volumes edited by A.O’Mahony, Palestinian Christians: Reli-gion, Politics and Society in the Holy Land, London, Melisende, 1999; The Christian Communi-ties of Jerusalem and the Holy Land: Studies in History, Religion and Politics, Cardiff, Univer-sity of Wales Press, 2003; Eastern Christianity: Studies in Modern History, Religion andPolitics, London, Melisende 2004; and Christianity in the Middle East: Studies in Modern His-tory, Religion and Politics, London, Melisende 2008.

7 David Burrell, ‘Mind and Heart at the Service of Muslim-Christian Understanding: LouisMassignon, as Trail Blazer’, The Muslim World, Vol. LXXXVIII, no. 3-4, 1998, pp. 274-276.

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Jesuit André d’Alverny S.J. observed of Massignon “Everywhere, it is a manof prayer, one of the great men of prayer to whom believers of all religions

relate and who give unbelievers themselves a secret and happy wound”.8

Massignon’s keen sense, as observed by David Burrell, of there “being butone God, complemented by his careful delineation of the proper notes of each

traditions which affirms that ‘onenesss’ as an article of faith, lead him to findresonances between the assertions of each tradition”. That is the very onenessof God leads him antecedently to suspect correlations between divergent tradi-

tions, while his respect for those divergences forbids him seeking commo-nalities in other ways.9 Jacques Waardenburg in one of the early accounts ofMassignon’s life and work has stated first his understanding was that of the

universality and unity of human reason. Wherever reason functions on data,which are analogous but which occur in different historical and social con-texts, the result will be a parallelism which at first sight would seem to have its

root in a borrowing or in an imitation, while in reality there is only the samefunctioning of reason in different individuals.10 Secondly to explain existingparallels if the idea of a certain realm of human imagination. The latter has to

use certain images in order to represent non-material and non-rational realitiesand such images occur at different places and times, and in different social andcultural contexts. At a deeper level, however, they may be considered to be the

expression of ‘archetypes’ which manifest themselves at singular points in his-tory, which have a eschatological significance. Lastly is theological rather thanphilosophical and is meant to explain religious rather than rational or imagina-

tive expressions in the realm of mysticism. Certain striking parallels, whichcan be established between religious or mystical vocations in different reli-gious traditions, could be attributed to one divine grace operating in different

minds and souls. It is thus assumed that authentic mystical experiences are dueto a divine action, which gives birth to inspirations and vocations, leading to acertain personalisation of the subject and to a direct if not intimate relationship

between man and God. Charles Journet (later Cardinal) closely read Mas-signon’s work stated and in his classic work of pre-Vatican II ecclesiologyThéologie de l’Église states:

“The witness of the saints of the Orthodox Churches, or the Protestant Churchesof of Judaism, or of Islam, or of India, if their sanctity is genuine, would dim thebrilliance of the sanctity of the Catholic Church only if the latter taught that genu-ine supernatural life and sanctity can be found only among those who belong to

8 A. d’Alverny SJ, ‘Louis Massignon, chrétien et mystique’, Mémorial Louis Massignon,Cairo, Dar-es-Salam, 1963 p. 2

9 David Burrell, ‘Louis Massignon, as Trail Blazer’, p. 274.10 J. Waardenburg, Louis Massignon's study of religion and Islam; an essay á propos of his

Opera Minora’, Oriens, Vol. 21-22, (1968-69) pp. 136-158. Waardenburg has returned to hissubject in ‘Louis Massignon (1883-1962) as a student of Islam’, Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 45,no. 3, 2005, pp. 312-342.

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her invisibly and spiritually, without knowing it, by virtue of the grace that theyhave received from Christ. The Church teaches the contrary”.11

Massignon investigated a number of such vocations in Islam, of which hejudged that of al-Hallâj to be superior to that of the others. One scholar has

observed that “yet the very exploratory character of his writings, and indeed ofhis often enigmatic prose, continues to draw from us something which merescholarship can never do: a glimpse of the spirit which animated these classi-

cal works”.12

Massignon understood that his views were controversial to many in thechurch, however, loyal to the fidelity of the Catholic faith, he always sought

clarification from theologians and church authorities. In many ways this whatmade his contribution to Christian thought on Islam so integral and profound,was that he held it was only by remaining close to the authority of the church

and authentically within the tradition that truth could be sustained.13

Louis Massignon was arguably one of the most important scholars of Arabicand Islam in the European tradition of the twentieth century,14 who was a

dominant presence in the field of Islamic Studies, and whose career which be-gun in 1900, spanned more than sixty years.15 However, distinguished as hiscareer was, today his name would probably be known only within the schol-

arly world as related to Islamic studies, were it not for a life whose range de-

11 Charles Journet (1891-1975), Théologie de l’Église, Paris, Desclée De Brouwer, 1958,p. 247. Journet would continue this theme: “The Kingdom, like its king, experiences two phases,one in which it is veiled and in pilgrimage, the other in which it is glorious and definitive”, ‘LeMystère de l’Eglise selon le Iie Concile du Vatican’, Revue thomiste, no.1, 1965, p. 11. We quotethis knowing that Journet was no outsider to reflection on Islam from within the Christian theo-logical tradition see his ‘L’Islam’, Nova et Vetera, Vol. 42, 1967, pp. 137-155.

12 David Burrell, ‘Louis Massignon, as Trail Blazer’, p. 26813 Massignon wrote in 1937 “Trying to live among my Christian brethren, just as I live it

among the others, my faith, hope and love, pregnant of the full dogma> My only way to love myfriends is to love them personally, with all that may seem to them, in their R.C. friend ‘queer,obsolete, or borrowed,’ with all that I recognize as the living structural personality of theR.C. Church: ecclesiastic hierarchy, sacramental realism, vows perpetual, all that warrants myirrevocable love; for me, and for them: immaculate in Her Conception, exclusive in Her infalli-bility, indissoluble in Her wedlock, wearing the threefold token of crowning union given by theSpirit to the Bride”, Opera Minora, Vol.III, p. 789.

14 Albert H.Hourani: Islam in European Thought, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press1990, pp. 43-49. Since his death from a heart attack on the night of October 31, 1962, manymemoirs, appreciations, scholarly and biographical studies of Louis Massignon have appeared,attempting to capture and convey something of his range of ideas, interests, and personal imprintson others. Because of the complexity of his life and thought, though he kept nothing of eithersecret from anyone, he remains richly elusive. And perhaps because of the devotion of his intel-lectual and spiritual disciples, anything approaching an objective, let alone full, biography is dif-ficult to achieve, however see the following studies: Présence de Louis Massignon: Hommageset témoignages. Textes réunis par Daniel Massignon, Paris: Éditions Maisonneuve et Larose1987; Jean Moncelon: ‘Louis Massignon', La Vie Spirituelle, Vol. 680, 1988, pp. 363-379);C. Destremau & J. Moncelon: Massignon, Paris: Plon 1994; G Zananiri: ‘Massignon', La VieSpirituelle, Vol 138, No 659, 1984, pp 226-231; Louis Gardet, ‘Louis Massignon’, Dictionnairede Spiritualité, Fasc. 66-67, Vol. 10, 1978, col. 750-753..

15 Mary Louise Gude's fine study in English: Louis Massignon: The Crucible of Compas-sion, Notre Dame, Indiana, Notre Dame University Press 1996.

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fies easy categories.16 He made a special contribution to our knowledge of Is-lamic mysticism, Sufism, and sociology and had deep and lasting influence

upon Islamic studies in general, particularly in France.17 However his mostlasting contribution was to how Islam was to be understood and interpretedwithin the Christian tradition and in particular within his own Catholic

Church18 and its thinkers.19 By the force of his personality and the originalityof his ideas Louis Massignon was perhaps the only Islamicist scholar who wasa central figure in the intellectual life of his time.20

Abbé Harpigny21 in his study Islam et Christianisme selon Louis Mas-signon,22 divides Louis Massignon's life into three episodes: ‘le cycle halla-

16 P Rocalve, Place et rôle de l'Islam et de l'Islamologie dans la vie et l'œuvre de LouisMassignon, (Thèse de doctorat, Sorbonne, 1990. which has now been published as P. Rocalve:Place et rôle de l'Islam et de l'Islamologie dans la vie et l' œuvre de Louis Massignon, InstitutFrançais de Damas, Collection Témoignages et Documents, No. 2, 1993.

17 Edward Said is critical of Massignon. However, as has been pointed out by others that Saidrarely engages with religious belief or discourse with sufficient rigour or understanding see his,‘Islam, the Philological Vocation and French Culture: Renan and Massignon', Islamic Studies: ATradition and its Problems, edited by Malcolm H Kerr, California, Malibu: Undena Publications1980, pp. 53-72; and Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient, London, Routledge &Kegan Paul 1978, pp 263-274. See the work of Roger Arnaldez as a counterpoint, ‘La pensée etl’oeuvre de Louis Massignon comme clés pour l’étude de la civilisation musulmane’, LouisMassignon au Coeur de notre temps, éd. Jacques Keryell, Paris, Éditions Karthala, 1999,pp. 305-320.

18 Roger Arnaldez: Abrahamisme, Islam et christianisme chez Louis Massignon, L'HerneMassignon, éd, J.-F. Six, Paris, Éditions l’Herne 1970, pp. 123-125; Neal Robinson, ‘Massignon,Vatican II and Islam as an Abrahamic Religion’, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol. 2,1991, pp. 182-205; Robert Caspar: La vision de l'Islam chez Louis Massignon et son influencesur l'Eglise, L'Herne Massignon, ed. J.-F. Six, Paris, 1970, pp. 126-147; Maurice Borrmans:‘Louis Massignon, Témoin du dialogue islamo-chrétien' , Euntes Docete, Vol. 37, 1984, pp. 383-401; A. O’Mahony, ‘‘Our Common Fidelity to Abraham is what divides’: Christianity and Islamin the Life and Thought of Louis Massignon’, Catholics and Interreligious Dialogue: Studies inMonasticism, Theology and Spirituality, Edited by A. O’Mahony & Peter Bowe osb, Leo-minister, Gracewing, 200, pp. 151-192.

19 For example the Cistercian Thomas Merton, see Sidney H.Griffiths: ‘Thomas Merton,Louis Massignon and the Challenge of Islam’, The Merton Annual: Studies in Thomas Merton,Religion, Culture, Literature and Social Concerns, Vol. 3, 1990, pp. 151-172; ‘Mystics and SufiMasters: Thomas Merton and Dialogue between Christians and Muslims’, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Vol. 15, 2004, pp. 299-316.

20 Massignon also had long relationship with Judaism and Jewish scholars see: DominiqueBourel: ‘Louis Massignon face à Israël', Louis Massignon et le dialogue des cultures, Paris, LesÉditions du Cerf, 1996), pp. 293-306; Jacques Nantet: ‘Louis Massignon et le Judaisme',L'Herne Massignon, ed. J.-F. Six, Paris, 1970, pp. 220-224; A. O’Mahony, ‘Le pélerin deJérusalem: Louis Massignon, Palestinian Christians, Islam and the State of Israel’, PalestinianChristians: Religion, Politics and Society, edited by Anthony O’Mahony, London, Melisende,1999, pp. 166-189.

21 See Guy Harpigny unpublished doctoral thesis, ‘Le Sacerdoce selon Louis Massignon(1883-1962) Attitude chrétienne devant l’Islam’ (1978), a version of which was published as Is-lam et Christianisme selon Louis Massignon, Louvain, Université Catholique de Louvain 1981.Harpigny gives us an overview and Massignon’s place in Catholic theological reflection on Is-lam, ‘L’Islam aux yeux de la théologie catholique’, Aspects de la Foi de l’Islam, Bruxelles,Publicatins des Facultés universitairés Sain-Louis, 1985, pp. 199-239.

22 G. Harpigny: Islam et Christianisme selon Louis Massignon, Louvain, Université Catho-lique de Louvain 1981, p. 27-28

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gien’ – which ended with the submission of his doctoral thesis: La Passiond'al-Hosayn-ibn Mansour al-Hallâj, martyre mystique de l'Islam in 1922; ‘lecycle abrahamique’ – up until his ordination as a priest in the Greek CatholicMelkite church in Cairo in 1950; and ‘un cycle gandhien’ – a period of politi-cal activism which ended with his death in 1962.

It was also during the latter part of his life he developed a strong interest inShi’a Islam. What he found in Shi’ism, was an appeal to heroism a fight fordivine justice but also for justice on earth, as well as disquietude, seeing an

anguished in the human condition that did not exist in Sunni thought. He alsosaw there an idea which was very dear to him: that of the restorative value ofsuffering. He would, in the future, be confronted with two great forms of Is-

lam: a serene Islam, that of the masses, that of the perennial faith which noth-ing threatened, confident in divine justice; and Shi’a Islam, with its desire forhuman justice which attracted him but without convincing him completely.

Massignon was also able to develop another one of his theological themes inrelation to Shi’a Islam – divine substitution. The premises of Islamic substitu-tion, to use his expression, can be found among the Shiites: ‘Ali was the first

substitute, Fatima is the female rôle model in Islam, and Sâlman Pâk, whoserôle among Shiites is known, particularly among extremist Shiites, was thefirst (or second) of the abdal, or apotrophe substitutes, in this continuous spir-

itual chain which follows the work of Redemption of the humanity.23

However we understand or measure the work and personality of LouisMassignon, there was a deep symmetry between his writings, his acts, and his

beliefs.24 At the centre of Massignon's scholarly endeavour was the search forwhat was, or is, original in a person, a society or a work. Authenticity, wherepresent, was one of the qualities he sought: there took place what was worth-

while and essential. Such authenticity could lie in the subject matter, which

23 See the studies by Pierre Rocalve, ‘Massignon et le shi'isme’, Luqmân (Tehran), prin-temps-été, 1991, pp. 53-64; ‘Louis Massignon et l'Iran, Louis Massignon et le dialogue des cul-tures, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1996, pp. 307-340; Michel Cuypers: Une rencontre mystique: ‘AliShari'ati – Louis Massignon’, Melanges de l'Institut Dominicain d'Etudes Orientales,Vol. 21 (1993), pp. 291-330; Yann Richard, ‘Ali Shar’iati et Massignon’, Louis Massignon etl’Iran, Edited by Eve Pierunek & Yann Richard, Paris – Teheran, Travaux et mémoires del’Institut d’études iraniennes, 5, 2000, pp.23-29, pp. 111-124. An attempt to synthesis these re-cent French studies on Massignon, Shi’a Islam and Iran see A.O’Mahony, ‘Mysticism and Poli-tics: Louis Massignon, Sh’ia Islam, Iran and Ali Sharia’ti’, University Lectures in Islamic Stud-ies, Vol. 2, 1998, pp. 113-134; ‘Mysticism, Politics, Dialogue: Catholic Encounters with Shi’aIslam in the Life and Work of Louis Massignon’, Catholics and Shi’a in Dialogue: Studies inTheology and Spirituality, Edited by Anthony O’Mahony, Wulstan Peterburs OSB & MhammadAli Shomali, London, Melisende 2004, pp. 134-184; ‘The Image of Jesus and Christianity inShi’a Islam and Modern Iranian Thought’, A Faithful Presence essays for Kenneth Cragg, Editedby David Thomas with Clare Amos, London, Melisende, 2003, 256-273; ‘Cyprian Rice, op.,l’Islam chiite et la mission dominicaine en Perse-Iran, 1933-1934’, Mémoire dominicaine: LesDominicains et les mondes musulmans, no. 15 (2001), pp. 217-225.

24 For Massignon's mysticism see: J. Keryell, Jardin Donné, Louis Massignon à la recherchede l'Absolu, Paris-Fribourg: Éditions Saint-Paul, 1993.

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was expressed, or in the way in which such subject matter was expressed. Hisinterest was aroused by the particular traits pointing to a certain authenticity.

Behind such originality or authenticity Massignon could detect, in some cases,a sensitivity to a testimony. This sensitivity was at the basis of his never end-ing attention to expressions of the human soul, especially those of a religious

connotation. Massignon's research constantly faced the methodological diffi-culty of proving that something was or was not a borrowing from somethingelse.25 This was particularly true in the debates with the Spanish Catholic

priest-scholar Miguel Asin Palacios on the Christian antecedents of Islamicmysticism.26 However, if Massignon could not present strict evidence, he al-ways attempted to discover other hypotheses than those of direct literary or

historical derivation, in order to explain similarities between different phenom-ena without any apparent relationship. For example, he showed considerableinterest in such coincidences as existed both in Islam and in Christianity and

sought to link them with each other or find some connection between them at adeeper level.27

As Sidney Griffith’s has demonstrated that a clear record of how Massignon

reconciled his scholarly work on Islam with his Orthodox Christian and Catho-

25 See the following works by Jacques Waardenburg who seeks to make a general assessmentof Massignon as a religious thinker and as an Islamicist:’; ‘Massignon: notes for further re-search’, The Muslim World, Vol. 56 (1966). pp. 157-172; L'Islam dans le miroir de l'occident,Paris: Mouton 1963; ‘Regard de phénoménologie religieuse’, L'Herne Massignon, ed. J.-F. Six,Paris, 1970, pp. 148-156; ‘L’impact du travail de Louis Massignon sur les etudes islamiques,Louis Massignon au Coeur de notre temps, ed. Jacques Keryell, Paris, Éditions Karthala,pp. 295-304; ‘The Impact of Louis Massignon (1883-1962) on Islamic Studies’, Encounter:Documents for Muslim-Christian Understanding, No. 311, 2005, pp. 1-13.

26 Mikel de Epalza, ‘Massignon et Asin Palacios: une longue amitié et deux approchesdifférentes de l'Islam’, L'Herne Massignon (éd) J.-F. Six, Paris, Éditions l’Herne, 1970, pp. 157-169.

27 Louis Massignon's bibliography as a scholar is impressive. For the complete bibliographyof see: Youakim Moubarac: L'Œuvre de Louis Massignon; Pentalogie Islamo-Chrétienne I (Bei-rut: Éditions du Cénacle Libanais, 1972-73). Amongst his studies, the first place must go to histwo doctoral theses of 1922: La Passion d'al-Hosayn-ibn Mansour al-Hallâj, martyre mystiquede l'Islam Paris: Geuthner, 1922, First Edition, 2 Vols. Massignon continued to work on a newedition of this work until his death in 1962. After his death, the new edition was assembled by agroup of scholars working together with the Massignon family and friends, which was publishedas: La Passion de Husayn ibn Mansur Hallâj, martyre mystique de l'Islam Paris: Gallimard1975, Second Edition, 4 Vols. The second edition was translated into English by Herbert Masonas: The Passion of al-Hallâj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam Bollingen Series XCVIII. PrincetonUniversity Press 1982, 4 Vols. An abridged version appeared as: Hallâj: Mystic and Martyr ed-ited and translated by Herbert Mason. Princeton University Press, 1994. And Essai sur lesorigines du lexique technique de la mystique musulmane. First Edition: Paris: Geuthner, 1922;Second Edition: Paris: Vrin 1954; Third Edition: Paris: Vrin 1968. Translated into English byBenjamin Clark as: Essays on the origins of the technical language of Islamic mysticism. Univer-sity of Notre Dame Press 1999); One important edition to this bibliography is: Testimonies andReflections: Essays of Louis Massignon. Selected and translated by Herbert Mason. University ofNotre Dame Press 1989. We also have three volumes of Opera Minora, containing some 207 ofMassignon's articles Opera Minora Edited by Abbé Y. Moubarac, Beirut: Dar al-Maaref 1963and Paris: Presses Universitaries de France, 1969.

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lic beliefs is found in Les trois prieres d'Abhraham: Seconde priere, which isa meditation on Abraham's prayer for Ishmael, as reported in Genesis. He

stresses that Ishmael's exile took place after he had been circumcised and hadreceived God's blessing in response to Abraham's prayer (Genesis 17:18-20).Massignon sees in Muhammad's own forced emigration, or hijra, from Mecca,

a repetition of Ishmael's banishment at the instigation of Sarah. He suggeststhat, when Muhammad encountered the Jews in Medina, he therefore declaredbefore God that he drew his inspiration from Abraham and claimed Abraham’s

entire spiritual and temporal heritage for the Arabs alone.28 In later years, hebecame particularly interested in those phenomena which show a convergenceor dialogue between Islam and Christianity: the meeting of Muhammad and

the Christians of Najran, the cult of Fatima as a parallel to the veneration ofthe Virgin Mary, the veneration of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus by Chris-tians and Muslims alike,29 vocations within Islam of mystical compassion and

substitution like that of al-Hallâj. Massignon, who was very interested in biog-raphy, liked to plot on the graph of what he called Curve de vie or ‘the curveof life’ of the life stories which attracted his attention. He also thought that

there are ‘Christic’ figures within Islam who could ultimately play a role inbringing Muslims to confess the divine sonship of Jesus, the Christ, if only atthe last judgement, such figures included Salmân Pâk,30 al-Hallâj,31 al-Ghâzali

and others.The renewal of Massignon's Christian religious consciousness was directly

linked in his own mind to Islam. Al-Hallâj, particularly, had moved forever

beyond the realm of mere academic interest to become an actual guiding fra-ternal force. Their extraordinary friendship: “filled the heart of Massignon andshaped his mind so thoroughly that he can be seen as the greatest Muslim

among Christians and the greatest Christian among Muslims”.32 Massignon,with his involvement in the political issues of his time, Jerusalem, Palestine,Morocco, Algeria, was not just a radical activist, but a radical exemplar of a

Hallâjian synthesis of the heart and mind, qalb and 'aql, ‘unalienated from oneanother’. This was his full achievement as a human being and the simplest,profoundest fruit of his friendship with al-Hallâj. In a letter to the American

mystic and Cistercian monk Thomas Merton, he wrote:

28 Sidney H. Griffith: Sharing the Faith of Abraham: the ‘Credo' of Louis Massignon, Islamand Muslim-Christian Relations, Vol. 8, no. 2 (1997), pp. 193-210.

29 A.O’Mahony, ‘Louis Massignon, the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus and the Christian-MuslimPilgrimage at Vieux-Marché, Brittany’, Explorations in a Christian Theology of Pilgrimage, Ed-ited by Craig Bartholomew and Fred Hughes, London, Ashgate, 2004, pp. 126-148.

30 Jean Moncelon: ‘Salmân Pâk dans la spiritualité de Louis Massignon’, Luqmân, Téhéran,autonme-hiver, 1991-1992, pp. 53-64.

31 R.Arnaldez, Hallaj ou la religion de la croix, Paris, Plon 1964; Herbert Mason, Al-Hallaj,Richmond, Curzon Press, 1995.

32 Ibrahim Madkour, ‘Louis Massignon’, L'Herne Massignon, op. cit., p.68

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“My case is not to be imitated; I made a duel with our Lord, and having been anoutlaw (against nature in love), against law (substituted to Moslems), andHierarchy…(leaving my native proud Latin community for a despised, brided andinsignificant Greek Catholic Melkite church), I die lonely in my family, for whomI am a bore…I am a gloomy scoundrel”33

He died during the night of 31 October 1 November 1962.

In his study “Une courbe personnelle de vie: la cas de Hallâj, martyr mys-tique de l’Islam”34, Louis Massignon wrote that to construct ‘une courbe devie’ ‘obviously one must choose for each individual their personal axis which

is particular to them’ for himself that axis was clearly Islam. Undoubtedly itwould conform to his personal spiritual journey to choose an axis, in his case aChristian vocation to witness, his relation to the divine, and even more pre-

cisely ‘the cross’ which was the guiding theme in his life. But to trace this‘courbe de vie’ one must penetrate the secret parts of his soul. Islam was mostclearly the key to his whole life, public and professional, as well as private and

intimate. Research, teaching, political and spiritual engagement, the seeker, theprofessor, the grammarian, the linguist, the sociologist as well as the publicman commissioned to the service of the state or the man of action defending

collective and individual causes, the religious man and even the priest, con-stantly offering himself to Muslim souls, all these aspects of Massignon met inone pivotal theme: Islam. This axial point, Islam, for Massignon also joined

his vocation to Arab Christianity as expressed in the religious culture andecclesiology of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

LOUIS MASSIGNON AND THE MELKITE CHURCH

On the 28 January 1950, Kemal Medawar, auxiliary of the Greek CatholicPatriarch Maximos IV, ordained Louis Massignon Priest in Cairo. Before de-scribing the sequence of events from Massignon’s entry into the Greek Catho-

lic Church and until to his ordination and his life as a priest, we will brieflysituate this church in the context of the Eastern Churches.

Melkite Greek Catholic Church.35

The name ‘Melkite’ originally applied to all Christians of the Byzantine ritein the historical Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, who ac-

33 Louis Massignon to Thomas Merton, 31 December 1960, Thomas Merton Study Centre,Bellarmine College, Louisville, Kentucky quoted in Sidney H. Griffith: ‘Thomas Merton, LouisMassignon and the Challenge of Islam’, The Merton Annual, Vol. 3 (1990), pp. 151-172.

34 L. Massignon, ‘Une courbe personnelle de vie: la cas de Hallâj, martyr mystique del’Islam’, Dieu Vivant, cahier 4, 1945, pp. 11-39.

35 I have found the account given by F.M. Pareja SJ of the modern history of Melkite CatholicChurch of great help in constructing this section, ‘Society and Politics’, Religion in the MiddleEast, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1969, Vol. 2, pp. 515-518.

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cepted the Christological faith professed by the Byzantine Emperor after theCouncil of Chalcedon (451). More recently it has come to refer to the Byzan-

tine Catholics in those Patriarchates who use Arabic in their liturgy.36

Jesuits, Capuchins and Carmelites began ‘pro-union’ activity in the Ortho-dox Patriarchate of Antioch in the mid-17th century. While there were some

conversions, the missionaries were primarily concerned with forming a pro-Catholic party within the Patriarchate itself. By the early 18th century, theAntiochene church had become polarized, with the pro-Catholic party centered

in Damascus and the anti-Catholic party in its rival city, Aleppo.Patriarch Athanasios III Debbas, who died on August 5, 1724, had desig-

nated as his successor a Cypriot monk named Sylvester. His candidacy was

supported by the Aleppo party and the Patriarch of Constantinople.37 But onSeptember 20, 1724, the Damascus party elected as Patriarch a strongly pro-Catholic candidate who took the name Cyril VI.38 A week later, the Patriarch

of Constantinople ordained Sylvester as Patriarch of Antioch. The Ottomangovernment recognized Sylvester, while Cyril was deposed and excommuni-cated by Constantinople and compelled to seek refuge in Lebanon. Pope

Benedict XIII recognized Cyril's election as Patriarch of Antioch in 1729.Thus the schism was formalized, and the Catholic segment of the Patriarchateeventually became known as the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.39

In the beginning this new Catholic community was limited to what is nowSyria and Lebanon. But Melkite Catholics later began to immigrate to Pales-tine, where Melkite communities had long existed, and especially to Egypt

from the eighteenth century onwards. In view of the new demographic situa-tion, the Melkite Catholic Patriarch was given the additional titles of Patriarchof Jerusalem and Alexandria in 1838.40

At first the Ottoman government was very hostile to this new church andtook strong measures against it. The first years of the nineteenth centurybrought persecution to these Catholics of Aleppo and Damascus, incited by the

Orthodox Greeks, which did not affect the Melkites of Lebanon under the pro-

36 Ignace Dick, Les Melkites. Grec-Orthodoxes et Grec-Catholiques des Patriarcats d’An-tioche, d’Alexandrie et de Jérusalem, Tourani, Brepols, 1994.

37 Robert M.Haddad, ‘Constantinople over Antioch, 1516-1724: Patriarchal Politics in theOttoman Era’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 41, no. 2, 1990, pp. 217-238.

38 Robert M.Haddad, ‘On Melkite Passage to the Unia: The Case of Patriarch Cyril al-Za’im(1672-1720), Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire: The Arabic Speaking Lands, Vol. I,Edited by B.Braude & B.Lewis, Boston, Holmes & Meier, 1982, pp. 67-90.

39 Markos Foskolos, ‘L’Unione parziale del Patriarcato di Antiochia (1724): una delleprincipali preoccupazioni della S.C. nel Medio Oriente’, Sacrae Congregationis de ProgandaFide: Memoria Reurm, 1622-1972 (Rome-Freiburg-Vienna 1973), Vol. 2 (1700-1815), pp. 319-334.

40 Thomas Philipp, The Syrians in Egypt, 1725-1975, Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag, 1985,pp. 1-54; Th. Phillipp, ‘Demographic Patterns of Syrian Migration to Egypt in the 18th century’,Asian and African Studies, Vol. 16, 1982, pp. 171-195.

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A. O'MAHONY 279

tection of Amir Shihab.41 The Orthodox prelates took these desperate remediesbecause they had not succeeded in preventing wholesale conversions to Ca-

tholicism a relatively easy matter since the converts were still subjects of theirmillet. The ‘Catholic Emancipation Act’ of 1831 put an end to the persecution,and after Muhammad ‘Ali's occupation of Syria the lot of the Christians of the

country took a turn for the better. But conditions improved with the passage oftime.

The Basilian, Salvatorian and Choueirite orders provided the core of the

Melkite Church owing to the scarcity of secular clergy.42 The most outstandingindividual in the Melkite church in those days was Maximos Mazlum. Madebishop of Aleppo in 1810, his election was quashed in Rome. He went to

Rome, and there he vas forced to remain from 1813 to 1831. When the EasternCatholics asked for the restoration of the Jesuit missions Mazlum offered him-self to the new Pope Gregory XVI as their guide. Gregory XVI was agreeable,

and Mazlum accompanied Fathers Ricadonna and Planchet to Syria. Rome or-dered the meeting of a synod in Zuq1831 to resolve the difficulties facing theMelkites. Mazlum was present and tried in vain to persuade the old patriarch

Ignatius V Qattan to appoint him as vicar; but after the patriarch's death inKisrawan in 1833, Maximos V Mazlum stepped into the Patriarchate.43 He wasregarded as intelligent, diplomatic and sincere in his faith. Egyptian rule made

it possible for Maximos V to make his solemn entry into Damascus in 1834and visit many dioceses. On 31 October 1837 he was invested with the berat,which now gave him civil jurisdiction over all his people in the Ottoman Em-

pire.44

In 1836 Mazlum had gone to Egypt, to find himself involved in the strugglebetween Muhammad ‘Ali and the Porte, so he wisely withdrew to Rome and

afterwards to France, until in 1843 he was able to return to Constantinoplewhere he stayed five years and contrived to obtain the complete independenceand recognition of the Melkite millet.

In 1848 the government formally recognized the Melkite Greek CatholicChurch, and the Patriarchate itself moved to Damascus from Holy SaviourMonastery near Sidon, Lebanon, where Cyril VI had established it after he fled

there. This was followed by a period of growth, enhanced by the popular per-ception of the Melkite church as a focus of growing Arab national sentiment

41 Hidemitsu Kuroki, ‘The Orthodox-Catholic Clash in Aleppo in 1818’, Orient, Vol. 29,1993.

42 Timothée Jack, Jésuites et Choueirites ou la fondation des religieuses Basilians Chouei-rites de Notre-Dame de l’Annociation à Zouq-Mikail (Liban) (1730-1746), Central Falls, R.I.1936. Reviewed and noted by Goerg Hoffman, SJ in Orientalia Christiana Periodica (Rome),Vol. 3, 1937, pp. 703-705.

43 Joseph Hajjar, Un Lutteur infatigable, le patriarche Maximos III Mazloum, Harrisa(Liban), 1957.

44 Alfred Schlicht, Frankreich und die syrischen christen (1799-1861): minoritaten undeuropaischer imperialismus im Vorderen Orient, Berlin, Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1981.

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against the Ottoman Turks.45 The Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, on theother hand, was viewed by many as dependent upon Constantinople and there-

fore upon the Ottoman government.With the object of re-organizing his Church he arranged for a council,

which took place in Jerusalem from May to June in 1849.46 After the council

passed his schemes, he proposed to promulgate them without reference toRome, against the advice of his prelates. During this council he had difficultieswith the metropolitan of Beirut, Agapios Riyashi. After the council Mazlum

had moved to Aleppo, but when a Muslim revolt degenerated into a Christianmassacre he fled to Damascus, where he stayed from 1851 till 1854. In 1852Pius IX ordered him to Rome with Agapios Riyashi. He refused to go. He set

out for Egypt in November 1854 with the object of building a cathedral andpatriarchal residence, but death overtook him in August 1855. His Patriarchateis conspicuous for the increase in membership of his Church which from

50,000 in 1833 had grown to 70,000 by 1855. He had brushes with his bishopswhen he meddled in their affairs, and occasionally with the laity. He laid thefoundations of a regular celibate clergy as a nursery for future bishops. There

were eight of these when he became patriarch, and thirteen when he died. Topromote this education the Jesuits had founded the seminary at Bikfayya in1833; this was moved to Ghazir in 1845 and later to Beirut in 1875. Until then

he had had to rely on the monks for parochial duties, but extra-conventual lifeproved fatal to monastic discipline, and the brotherhoods became a battle-ground of monks, fighting for bishoprics and benefices.

Rome had appointed the metropolitan of Tyre as topoteretes but he died in1854 and had not been replaced. When Mazlum died the Apostolic DelegateBrunoni convoked and presided over a synod which elected the Salvatorian

45 One of the first political expressions of discontent with Ottoman rule in Palestine, whichincluded a desire for an independent Arab state was given by Naj'ib ‘Azuri's (Najib Azouri) in abook he published in 1905 entitled: Le réveil de la nation arabe dans l'Asie Turquie en présencedes intérêts et des rivalités des puissances étrangères, de la Curie Romaine et du patriarcatoecuménique. Partie asiatique de la question de l'Orient et programme de la Ligue de la PatrieArabe.45 Azouri was born (c. 1870) in the village of ‘Azur in southern Lebanon. He was a SyrianChristian, a Maronite or Greek Catholic, educated in Constantinople and Paris. He was made anassistant to the Governor of Jerusalem and served as an official in the sanjak of Jerusalem from1898 until 1904. Azouri then proposes creating a national Arabic catholic church where Syriac,Greek and Latin are banned and the language of prayer and liturgy is exclusively Arabic. Azouriproposes that such a church should have a patriarch of its own and predicts that this new rite willabsorb all the others, which would include the Orthodox communities as well within a short pe-riod of time. He implores the Pope to take steps in this direction. Stefan Wild: ‘Negib Azouryand His Book: Le réveil de la nation arabe', Intellectual Life in the Arab East 1890-1939, Editedby Marwan R Buheiry Beirut, American University of Beirut Press, 1981, pp. 92-104. As can beimagined Azouri’s ideas did not receive agreement from other Arab Christian thinkers. See forexample St. Wild: ‘Ottomanism versus Arabism. The Case of Farid Kassab (1884-1970)', DieWelt des Islams, n.s. Vol. 28, 1988, pp. 607-627.

46 Cyril Charon, ‘Le concile Melkite de Jérusalem en 1849’, Echos d’Orient, Vol. 10, 1907,pp. 21-31.

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A. O'MAHONY 281

bishop of Acre, Clément Bahuth (1856-64)47, a prelate who had kept outsidechurch politics. He implemented the wishes of Rome to adopt the Gregorian

calendar, hitherto accepted by Maronites and Chaldeans alone. Mazlum him-self had given thought to this, but considered that some preliminary prepara-tion was advisable. The new patriarch's decision had few objectors to begin

with, but Agapios of Beirut, embittered against Rome among other things byhis rejection as candidate for the Patriarchate, organized a movement of resist-ance. He befriended two clerical groups in Egypt and Damascus, refused to

obey the pope and won over the bishops of Zahle, Sidon and Baalbeck to hisside. Without a word to Rome or the synod, Clément resigned and retired tohis convent; but Pius IX would not hear of it, so he took his seat once more.

Agapios ignored a summons to Rome, consulted his three allies in Zahle in1859, intimated that he took Clement's resignation for granted, and put him-self at the head of the millet. Rome condemned Agapios and advised Clement

to appeal to the Porte, but the Porte, on the eve of the massacres in Lebanon,was not interested in Christian reconciliation. These massacres in Lebanon andDamascus had an impact on the Melkites almost as hard as they hit the

Maronites. The three dissenting bishops yielded to the patriarch after the mas-sacres, but Agapios, encouraged by Russian agents, still held out in companywith other dissidents who had built their own chapels in Damascus and Alex-

andria, calling themselves sharqiyyun, (Orientals). However in the end most ofthem gave in.

In the 19th century the Melkite church experienced tensions in its relation-

ship with Rome because many Melkites felt that their Byzantine identity wasbeing overwhelmed by the Latin tradition.48 This uneasiness was symbolizedat Vatican I when the then Melkite Patriarch Gregory II Youssef left Rome

before the council fathers voted on the constitution Pastor Aeternus, whichdefined papal infallibility and universal jurisdiction.49 At Rome's request, thePatriarch later assented to the document, but he only did so with the clause,

“all rights, privileges and prerogatives of the Patriarchs of the EasternChurches being respected” added to the formula.

47 Cyril Charon, ‘Bahouth (Clément), Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésias-tiques, Vol. 6, 1932, col. 229-236.

48 At the Second Vatican Council, Melkite Patriarch Maximos IV Sayegh spoke forcefullyagainst the Latinization of the Eastern Catholic churches, and urged a greater receptivity to theeastern Christian traditions, especially in the area of ecclesiology. Today the Melkite bishops,including the former Patriarch Maximos IV, support the idea that, in the event of reconciliationbetween the Orthodox and Catholic churches, their church should be reintegrated into the Ortho-dox Patriarchate of Antioch. A bilateral commission for dialogue between the Melkites andAntiochene Orthodox was established in 1995, and both sides expressed the firm intention to healthe schism of 1724. See Gabriel Hachem, ‘Un projet de communion ecclésiale dans le patriarcatd’Antioche entre les Églies grec-orthodoxe et Melkite-catholique’, Irénikon, Vol. LXXII, 1999,pp. 453-478.

49 Joseph Nasrallah, ‘Mgr Gregoire et le concile du Vatican’, Proche-Orient Chrétien, Vol.XI, 1961, pp. 297-320; Vol. 12, 1962, pp. 97-122.

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Clément Bahuth again sent in his resignation which this time Plus IX ac-cepted, on 24 September 1864. In his place, the Salvatorian Gregory II

Youssef of Acre, an alumnus of Ghazir and Rome, received the title of the tri-ple Patriarchate. A zealous defender of the rites and privileges of his Church,he kept things going with a small body of clergy who ‘lacked education and

knowledge of their tradition’.50 He founded two patriarchal colleges, in Beirutin 1865 and in Damascus in 1874. In 1886 he re-established the seats ofPaneas and Tripoli, as well as the ‘Ayn Tiraz seminary. In 1887 he gave the

charge of the ancient seminary of St Anne in Jerusalem to Lavigerie and theWhite Fathers, and at the pope's suggestion it was opened as a purely Melkiteseminary, with complete respect for their rites.51 Gregory II died in Damascus,

in July 1897.The next election gave much trouble, while Cyril Geha of Aleppo was

topoteretes. Only by a majority vote after an election punctuated by unfortu-

nate incidents was Peter IV Jaraigiry of Zahle elected. The unrest attending theelection lasted for the duration of the patriarchate. His attitude during diocesanvisits occasioned protests to Rome, and only at his death did they cease.

Cyril Geha, topoteretes once more, was elected unanimously at ‘Ayn Tirazon 28 June 1902. His peaceful disposition induced calm after five years ofstorm. Cyril VIII did not look forward to the conciliatory council suggested by

Leo XIII, but it took place at last ‘Ayn Tiraz, lasting from 30 May to 8 July1909 -a sad spectacle of antagonism between reformers and monastics. Themonastics disliked the secular clergy from St Anne's, and the patriarch dared

not interfere. They were in the majority, and removed any hope of an agree-able settlement. He escaped this difficult situation by removing himself toAlexandria, where he died on 10 January 1916.

The terrible war of 1914-18 with its sequel of hunger, executions and ban-ishment made an election ordered by the Porte impossible. Basil Hajjar ofSidon only lasted a short while as topoteretes, for he died soon after he re-

ceived the firman. In March 1916 Dimitri Qadi, of Aleppo, was confirmed astopateretes by Rome until the interned bishops could return to their seats in1919 to elect him unanimously as Dimitri I. The new patriarch resolutely re-

fused the laity any part in episcopal elections; he undertook to repair the dam-ages of war, and began many charitable and cultural movements. He died inI925.

Next in line was Cyril IX Mughabghab of Zahle. In 1932 he created theeparchies of Petra and Philadelphia in Jordan, which progress towards the

50 F.M. Pareja SJ, ‘The Melkite Catholic Church’, p. 51751 Claude Soetens, ‘Lavigerie, le christianisme orientale et l’union des Églises’, Bulletin de

Littérature ecclésiastique, Vol. XCV, 1994, pp. 2-22; Frans Bouwen, ‘Le cardinal Lavigerie etl’union entre Égiles d’Orient et d’Occident’, Bulletin de Littérature ecclésiastique, Vol. XCV,1994, pp. 23-37.

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A. O'MAHONY 283

Catholic movement there during the twentieth century, had made imperative.In 1936 and the years following various, religious congregations were

founded, many churches built, and schools to meet the demands of the grow-ing streams of immigrants, to which the First World War had largely contrib-uted. Then the Egyptian Melkite numbered 30,000, but from 1956 their num-

bers started falling off rapidly.Cyril IX died on 8 September 1947, and on 30 October Maximos IV Sa'igh,

metropolitan of Beirut, was elected. In 1944 the Melkite church had 55,000

members.

Massignon, the circumstances of his ordination52

Massignon had desired to become a priest since 1908. When he considered

to which rite he should be ordained he thought that he ought to become a priestin the Chaldean Church.53 It was in Baghdad that he had found his faithagain.54 It was in Baghdad that Al-Hallâj had been intercessor.55 And it was in

the same city that Massignon had lived like an Arab with a Muslim family be-tween 1907-1908. Baghdad, the ‘Holy City’56 which had lead him to God and

52 My account of Louis Massignon as priest in the Melkite Church is deeply indebted to theGuy Harpigny chapter, ‘Le sacerdoce dans une Eglise orientale’, Islam et Christianisme selonLouis Massignon, Louvain, Université Catholique de Louvain 1981, pp. 124-138.

53 For the history of the Chaldean Church see, A. O’Mahony ‘The Chaldean Catholic Church:The Politics of Church-State Relations in Modern Iraq’, The Heythrop Journal, Vol. XLV(2004), pp. 435-450;‘Syriac Christianity in the modern Middle East’, The Cambridge History ofChristianity Eastern Christianity Vol. V., Edited by Michael Angold, Cambridge, CambridgeUniversity Press, 2006), pp. 511-535; ‘Eastern Christianity in Modern Iraq’, Eastern Christian-ity: Studies in Modern History, Religion and Politics, Edited by A. O’Mahony London,Melisende 2004, pp. 11-43; ‘Christianity in Modern Iraq’, International Journal for the Study ofthe Christian Church, Vol. 4, no. 2., 2004, pp. 121-142.

54 Jean-Marie Mérigoux, ‘La reconnaissance de Massignon envers l’Irak’, La vie spirituelle,Vol. 131, no. 620, 1977, pp. 434-443.

55 On Al-Hallâj see Ettore De Filippo, ‘Il caracttere cristiano della crocifissione del MartireMusulmano Al-Hallaj (+922)’, La Nuova Rivista di Ascetica e Mistica, Vol. 2 (1977), pp. 37-155; H. Mason: The Death of al-Hallaj: a dramatic narrative, Notre Dame, University of NotreDame Press, 1979.

56 With regard to Louis Massignon and Baghdad, one of the most distinguished contributionsto the understanding of the Islamic city and its institutions was by Massignon, whose topographi-cal studies covered such diverse locations as al-Fâs, al’Kûfah, al-Basrah, Ukhaydir and Baghdad.Guided largely by his experiences in cities of the middle east around the turn of the century,Massignon based his methodology from the outset on “un fait constant et general, la fixité de larepartition topographique des corps de metiers dans un cité islamique déterminée à partir du mo-ment de sa fondation”. It is, of course, true that the topography of a city may be altered by givenhistorical circumstances; but this will reflect only the changing surface of the city, its monumentsrather than its geographical setting. As this position was rigidly held for all Islamic cities, regard-less of their historical development, the picture of Baghdad, implicit in Massignon’s view, is thatof an integrated city covering land surface which must, of necessity, be limited by the distance ofany populated location from the services of its single set of markets; for there can be no largeurban occupation in the absence of these institutions. It is this particular position which is thebasis of Massignon’s controversial views on Baghdad which lead him into disagreement withother scholars on such fundamental questions. Jacob Lassner, ‘Massignon and Baghdad: the

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to the desire to offer himself up even more, just like Christ, in the compassionand exaltation for the accomplishment of his submission to God. It was there-

fore unsurprising for him to enter into the Catholic Church of Baghdad, theChaldean Church. Furthermore, Abraham came from Ur from Chaldea. Theinfluence of Abraham was fundamental to Massignon’s theological thought

and theology.57 That Al-Hallâj and Abraham were prime forces in his life.Both where connected with Chaldea.

Complexities of Growth in an Imperial City’, Journal of the Economic & Social History of theOrient, Vol. 9, 1966, pp. 1-27. His detailed historical studies of Baghdad in the 4th/10th century,in the time of her glory, were not just scholarly works on a long-past civilisation. They were in-tended also to indicate the “super-historical physiognomies” of cities and communities thatwould inspire, and so give hope, to those living in the present: “So for each person, each city,each community, there develops its definitive, super-historical physiognomy”, ‘Le Miragebyzantin dans le miroir bagdadien d’il ya 1,000 ans’, Opera Minora, Vol. 1 pp. 126-141. In thiscontext, Massignon recalls two of the ancient names of Baghdad: ‘The God-given’, ‘City ofPeace’: a peace, however, that often passes through the birthpangs by which ‘these Babylonscrumble for the new Jerusalems to arise’, see also ‘Bagdad et sa topographie au Moyen Age:deux sources nouvelles’, & ‘Les saints musulmans enterers Bagdad’, Opera Minora, Vol. 3,pp. 88-93, pp. 94-101. Nicole Massignon, ‘Louis Massignon et l’Irak’, Bulletin de l’associationdes amis de Louis Massignon, no. 14, 2003, pp. 16-76. The notion of the “Islamic city” is amodeled developed by colonial, mainly French, urbanists to describe the defining characteristicsof cities in the Middle East and North Africa, implicitly if not explicitly in contrast to those ofEurope. Among its central aspects is that Islam, which is understood as a fundamentally urbanreligion, gave rise to cities whose morphologies were determined primarily if not exclusively bythe fulfillment of the religious obligations of Islam. Thus the ‘real’ city is identified as such bythe presence of institutions like a Friday mosque (jâmi’) for conducting prayers, a market com-plex or bazaar (súq), where the various “guilds” organized according to religious strictures werefound (Massignon wrote some important works on the question of guilds which he invested withgreat religious significance see 'Enquête sur les corporations d'artisans et de commerçants auMaroc', Revue du Monde Musulman, Paris, Leroux, 1924; ‘Compléments', Revue d'ÉtudesIslamiques, Vol. 2, 1927, pp. 273-293; and his earlier study Enquête sur les corporationsd'artisans et de commerçants au Maroc. L Massignon: Tableau géographique du Maroc dans lesquinze premières années du XVIe siècle d'après Léon l'Africain, Algiers, Jourdan, 1906); andcommunal baths (hammâm) for maintaining ritual purity. For the debate see Janet Abu-Lughod,‘The Islamic City: Historical Myth, Islamic Essence, and Contemporary Relevance’, Interna-tional Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 19, 1987, pp. 155-176. For the Jewish presence inIslamic urban space see, Emily Gottreich, ‘Rethinking the “Islamic City” from the Perspective ofJewish Space’, Jewish Social Studies, Vol. 11, 2004, pp. 118-146.

57 Massignon’s vision of Islam as an ‘Abrahamic' religion was popularized by several of hisdevotees. The Maronite priest Youakim Moubarac, in his remarkable, controversial doctoral the-sis at the Sorbonne tried to prove that the message of the Qur’an right from its inception centeredon the figure of Abraham, Abraham dans le Coran. L’histoire dans le Coran et la naissance del’Islam, Paris, Vrin, 1958; and ‘Abraham en Islam’, Cahiers sioniens: ‘Abraham, père descroyants’, Vol. V, no. 2, 1951, pp. 104-120. Jean Daniélou who know Masignon’s position setsout the Christian tradition, ‘Abraham dans la tradition chrétienne’, Cahiers sioniens: ‘Abraham,père des croyants’, Vol. V, no. 2, 1951, pp. 69-87. There is some continuity between Masignon’sthought and contemporary Catholic theological reflection on the figure of Abraham, see, R.Caspar, ‘Abraham in Islam and Christianity, Encounter: documents for Christian-Muslim under-standing, no. 92, 1996, pp. 1-17; Jean-Louis Ska, ‘Abraham dans le Coran ou le prototype du,“musulman’, Abraham et ses hôtes. Le patriarche et les croyants au Dieu unique, Bruxelles,Éditions Lessius, 2001, pp. 61-84; Jean-Louis Ska, ‘Abramo nella tradizione musulmana’, LaCiviltà Cattolica, No. 3617, 2001, pp. 497-484.

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The reason why Massignon did not enter the Chaldean Church is simple.After 1934 Cairo replaces Baghdad.58 In Cairo Massignon had encountered

Luis De Cuadra (1877-1921)59 for whom he had offered himself in substitutionas early as 1909. In Cairo he met with Mary Kahil with whom he founded theBadaliyya in 1934. The substitution would therefore be lived out in Cairo

where Kahil continually reminded him of this ‘duty’, day in and day out.Just as Mary Kahil had asked him about the ordination in 1913.60 She never

stopped talking about it to him after 1934. Because Mary Kahil was a Melkite

and because she had some influence with the authorities in her church it wasunderstood that Massignon should enter this rite.61

It is not known if Massignon had made more than one request to be ac-

cepted into the Melkite church as a priest. It is certain that if he had made arequest during the pontificate of Cyrille IX Moghabghab (1925-1947)62 itwould have been refused. As Kamel Medawar explained:

“Our Patriarch Cyrille IX had reservations about these foreigners, priest or lay-men, who he feared might be competitors with our clergy, to endeavour to acquirean undue influence on the members of our church. This viewpoint was justified innumerous cases. In such an atmosphere it was not conceivable to accept the offerof a vocation such as that as Massignon, all the more as his ideas on the Badaliyawhere not understood. Furthermore Massignon did not reveal his desire to be or-dained until 1948-1949 in the more relaxed atmosphere of the new pontificate.”63

58 Edouard Méténier, ‘Massignon et l’Égypte’, Louis Massignon au cœur de notre temps,(éd), Jacques Keryell, Paris, Éditions Karthala, 19, pp. 153-172; Jacques Jomier, ‘LouisMassignon en Égypte’, Louis Massignon et le dialogue des cultures, Textes réunis par DanielMassignon, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1966, 281-292.

59 Herbert Mason, Memoir of a Friend: Louis Massignon, Notre Dame, Indiana, University ofNotre Dame Press, 1988, pp. 43-44.

60 Jacques Keryell, ‘Notice biographique de Mary Kahil’, Louis Masignon: L’Hospitalitésacrée, Paris, Éditions Nouvelle cité, 1987, pp. 77-132. Born in Cairo in 1889; her first encoun-ter with Massignon was in 1912; second encounter in 1934 with the founding of Badaliya; thefoundation of Dar es-Salm in 1941 at a former Anglican church transferred to the Melkite church,Sainte-Marie-de-la-Paix; she in Cairo died in 1979. Kahil was also active in the Egyptian femi-nist movement, in education and other social movements, Thomas Philip, ‘Feminism and Na-tional Politics in Egypt’, Women in the Middle East, edited by L. Beck & N. Keddie, Cambridge,MA, Harvard University Press, 1978, pp. 277-294.

61 Jacques Keryell, ‘Notice biographique de Louis Massignon’, Louis Masignon: L’Hos-pitalité sacrée, Paris, Éditions Nouvelle cité, 1987, pp. 33-76.

62 Daher Moghabghab, born 10 November 1855, His father was a Melkite Catholic Priest. Heattended the seminary at Aïn-Traz (1871), he went to Rome (1877), Ordained in 1883, he studiedfor a doctorate in philosophy and theology. Director of the Aïn-Traz Seminary (1886), secretaryto the Patriarch Pierre IV Géreijiry (1899) and Bishop of the Eparchy of Furzol and Zahle. Or-dained a Bishop by Pierre IV in Constantinople, 1899. In 1903 he visited Europe and South andNorth America. In 1920 he was charged with a political mission to France regarding the forma-tion of Lebanon. He was elected Patriarch in 1925, with the name Cyrille IX; in the same year hetravelled to Rome and France. In 1939 he travelled again to Rome and France. He died 8 Septem-ber, 1947, Le Lien, Vol. 12, no. 7-8, 1947, p.267.

63 Guy Herbigny, Islam et Christianisme selon Louis Massignon, Louvain, UniversitéCatholique de Louvain, 1981, p.127. For example the well-known case of Cyril Charon-CyrilKorolevsky (1878-1959), a French Latin catholic who in 1901 he was given permission to be or-

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The new Patriarch had a different approach to things, or a different concep-tion of these choices.64 He knew of the importance of the Arabic language to

Muslim culture, religion and mentality. He himself was fluent in Arabic andhad understood the strength of his Church as a bridge between the Arab Mus-lim world and that of the Occident. He wrote in a letter to Louis Massignon:

“(the Greek catholic rite is) destined to explain as an Arab rite, Muslim thought toWesterners both to Rome itself and to the congregations of the Latin rite of whichthe powerful means of action in both in terms of people and money should notdeceive; the congregation of Latin rite will not lead to anything as long as theywill not treat the Arabic language and those who speak it with the same equalityas the Latin Catholics.”65

Within the Melkite Patriarchate, Medawar as bishop had an important

rôle to play as an auxiliary patriarch. Medawar due both his past and hispersonal qualities was to have great influence on Louis Massignon and Mary

dained a Melkite priest. He was blessed as a lector 13 November 1901, ordained a deacon 6 Janu-ary 1902 taking the name Cyril in memory of St.Cyril, Apostle of the Slavs. On 24 August 1902he was ordained a priest by Patriarch Cyril VIII (Geha) in the patriarchal cathedral of Damascus.Charon began intense research on the history of the Melkite Church with his main focus on thetimes in which he lived. He published a series of chronicles in Echos d’Orient on the history ofthe Melkite patriarchates in modern times. However, after three articles in 1903-1904 onMaximos III Mazlum, he was asked by Patriarch Cyril VIII (Geha) not to publish any more with-out first submitting it for personal approval. This did not sit well with Charon and because ofother problems he faced at Melkite educational institutions; he began to seek a different positionrather than being a teacher of French, history and geography. He saw that his ideas were not wellreceived at the college and in June 1906 asked the patriarch to travel. He found his way to Kievand the summer residence of Ukrainian Metropolitan of Lviv, Andrew Sheptysky. There hesought his advice, made a retreat and returned to Beirut on 9 October, resolving to make a possi-ble transfer to work with Sheptysky. While at the Melkite patriarchate in Damascus, the patriarchfinally released him from his jurisdiction on 30 September 1909. on 20 October 1909 he wasincardinated into the metropolitan archdioceses of Lviv and on 28 November to the diocese ofKamyanets-Podilskyi so that he could be considered a Russian priest and not a Ukrainian.Charon, as Korolevsky wrote a series of important articles on the subject, ‘Le clergé occidental etl’apostolat dans l’Orient asiatique et Greco-slave’, Reuve apologetique (Paris), Vol. £5 (1922-1923) & Vol. 36 (1923); and ‘Le passage et l’adaptation des occidentaux au rite oriental’,Irénikon, Vol. 6, 1929, pp. 457-487; Vol. 7, 1930, pp. 137-166; 257-275, 402-419, 538-551.Giuseppe M.Croce, ‘Deux Romains de France au service de l’Orient Chrétien: Cyrill Korolevskijet Eugène Tisserant’, Le Cardinal Eugène Tisserant (1884-1972) Une grande figure de l’Église,Une grande figure française, Toulouse, Institut Catholique et Université Toulouse-Le Mirail,2003, pp. 25-31.

64 For the biography of Maximos IV (1878-1967), Document.Catholique., 47e année, tome62, 1965, 1444, p. 504-505; Proche Orient-Chrétien., Vol. 17, nos. 2-3-4, 1967, p. 350-351; LeLien, Vol. 33, no. 1, 196), p.6-11; L’Église grecque-melkite au Concile Discours et notes duPatriarche Maximos IV et des prélats de son Église au Concile œcumenique à Vatican II (Collec-tion: Dar el-Kalima), Beirut, 1967. Maximos IV affirmed this is in a letter to the Pope Paul VI,13 October 1965: “Le clergé marié n’est pas un usage toléré” p. 255-256; M. Villain, ‘Unprophète: le patriarche Maximos IV’, Nouvelle Revue Theologique, Vol. 90 (1968), pp. 50-65.

65 Quoted by Maximos IV in a letter to Massignon, Cairo 20 December 1953. From 1951Medawar was acted as ‘postal liaison’ between the two correspondents, Massignon and the Patri-arch. Harpigny, Islam et Christianisme selon Louis Massignon, p. 128.

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Kahil66 He was in constant contact with Mary Kahil – Louis Massignon sincehis arrival in Cairo in 1940. Medawar rarely left Egypt, especially as Patriarch

Cyrille IX liked to reside there, even though the patriarchal see was in Damas-cus.

“I therefore had the opportunity to see Louis Massignon a little more often almostalways with Mary Kahil. The main subject of our conversation was the“Badaliya” a work which was misunderstood …the founders of Badaliya foundin me in my capacity as Greek Catholic bishop a defender and protector. I effec-tively was able to give the imprimatur to Louis Massignon and Mary Kahil on the6 January 1947 under the charter they had drawn up. Ever since they have alwayswanted to consider me as a co-founder or as a general chaplain whereas in realityI was only a friend, a simple follower of the spirit of Badaliya and whose meet-ings I some times chaired. Until the death of our Patriarch Cyrille IX, 9 Septem-ber 1947, my dealings with Louis Massignon were limited to the subject ofBadaliya. Louis Massignon never spoke to me about a vocation to the priesthood.Rather it was Mary Kahil who during the Patriarchate of Maximos IV Sayagh,elected November 1947, began to talk about this subject discreetly but with insist-ence, mainly with the Patriarch and also with me. One could very well treat thequestion with Massignon himself, but Massignon did not have the ease of MaryKahil too meet us. (The motive given to ask for ordination) was not to satisfy aprofound piety, nor a particular devotion to the Eucharist, but rather the desire toperfect the total offering of himself in spirit of Badaliya, in substitution of Islam.Because the union of the priest with our saviour Jesus Christ in the celebration ofsacrifice of mass, a union which goes as far as a mysterious identification, wouldrender his propitiatory prayer more acceptable to God. Massignon also wanted tomake the official prayers of the church in Arabic, the official language of theMuslims and Arabs.”67

66 Kamal Medawar, born in Acre, 26 12 1887. After attending the primary school in Acre hestudied at the Patriarchal College in Beirut and in 1904 accompanied his family to Cairo. Hestudies at the French Faculty of law in Cairo, Faculté Française de droit au Caire, and he pre-sented his exams in Paris each year. In 1907 he graduated in law and served in Egypt in litigationdepartment of the Interior Ministry and served in various posts at the ministry of justice fromwhere he resigned in 1935. He was a legal expert by training and by profession and in his variousposts studied the personal status of non-Muslims in Egypt and in Shari’a Law. He even wroteseveral treaties on this subject. In 1935 Medawar entered the Convent of the Paulist Fathers inHarrisa, in Lebanon. During his novitiate and the two-year of study (1935-1938) he metMassignon for the first time in Harrisa. He was ordained priest 15 August 1938 by PatriarchCyrille IX (1925-1947) in the presence of the Metropolitan Sayegh of Beirut, the future MaximosIV as well as other bishops. Medawar was nominated director of al-Maçarrat, the patriarchalorgan published in Harrissa. In October 1940 he is appointed local Patriarchal Vicar in Cairo andat the same time curate of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Paix in Cairo. He was made a bishop on the 6 June1943 by Patriarch Cyrille IX and took the name Pierre/Peter, titular Archbishop of Peluse and thepost of auxiliary to the Patriarch. Following the death of Cyrille IX on 8 September 1947. TheHoly See, 14 August 1947 appointed Medwar the president of the Greek Catholic synod for theelection of a successor – who would be Maximos IV. Both Maximos IV (1947-1967) andMaximos V (1967-2001) confirm him in his post as patriarchal auxiliary. He resigned from theMelkite hierarchy at the Synod held 8/13 September 1968. From then on he continued to work inDamascus, Cairo and Aïn-Traz, on issues submitted to him by the Patriarch and other bishops.Proche Orient-Chrétien, Vol. 18, 1968, pp. 386-387.

67 Guy Harpigny, Islam et Christianisme selon Louis Massignon, p. 129.

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Louis Massignon established several contacts with the Roman curia and askedfor a private audience with Pius XII. On 4 Feb 1949 Monsignor Coussa, of the

Melkite patriarchate, prepared the audience in order to settle the details and thebackground. On 5 February 1949 Louis Massignon explained to the Pope hisdesire to pass from the Roman to the Melkite rite, in order to be able to recite

the official prayers of the church in Arabic. The request is granted.68 The re-quest formulated by Louis Massignon and the reply where sent by the Congre-gation for the Oriental Church to the Greek Catholic Patriarchate.69 It would

seem that Louis Massignon asked the Congregation of the Oriental Church forinformation on the subject of ordination of married men. Cardinal Tisserant70

68 Letter Louis Massignon to Maximos IV, 7 August 1962.69

Roma, 2 martii 1949no. 105/49Beatissime Pater,ALOYSIUS MASSIGNON, fidelis ritius Latini, ad pedes Sanctitatis Vestrae provolutus,humiliter postulat facultatem transeundi a ritu Latino ad ritum Byzantinum, ita ut in posterumeidem ritui legitime censeatur adscriptus, eidemque in omnibus sese confrormare teneaturCausa est: apostolus inter orientales excerdendus.Ex Audientis, SS.miSs. mus Dominus noster PIUS, Divina Providentia Pp. XII, in Audientia diei 5 februarii Oratoriprivatim concessa, benigne gratiam petitam indulgere dignatus est, ea tamen lege ut Orator adritum Latinum redire vel ad alium trasire, absque Sedis Apostolicae indulto, valide nequeat;servatis de lure servandis.Contrariis quibuslibet minime obstantibus.Datum Romae, ex Aebidu Sacrae Congregationis pro Ecclesia Orientali,Die 2 Martii a. 1949Locum SigilliSacra Congregtatio Orientalis+ Eugenius Portuen. Et S. Rufinae. Card. Tisserant+Valerius ValeriAds/.[As Guy Harbigny has noted Louis Massignon made an error in translating his forename:ALOYSIUS in place of LUDOVICUS.]

70 On this important figure see, Achille Silvestrini, ‘Eugène Tisserant et La congregation pourl’Église Orientale’, Le Cardinal Eugène Tisserant (1884-1972) Une grande figure de l’Église,Une grande figure française, Toulouse, Institut Catholique et Université Toulouse-Le Mirail,2003, pp. 101-115. Tisserant was head of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, 1936-1959 un-der three popes, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII. C.Korolevskij, ‘La fondation de l’Institut pontifi-cal oriental’, Orientalia Christiana Periodica, Vol. 33, 1967, pp. 5-46; Giuseppe M. Croce, ‘Alleorigine della congregazione Orientale e del Pontifico Istituto Orientale. Il contributo di Mons.Louis Petit’, Orientalia Christiana Periodica, Vol. 53, 1987, pp. 257-333. Born in 1884, ordainedpriest in 1907, Tisserant was a great connoisseur of the Muslim world. He was polyglot and mas-tered Arabic, but also Hebrew, Syriac and Assyrian. During World War One, Tisserant was ap-pointed to the ‘Second Bureau’ dealing with intelligence matters where he dealt with MiddleEastern concerns. In 1917, he was in Palestine as lieutenant of spahis and took part in the takingof Gaza at the side of the British, and he was present during the entry into Jerusalem in Decem-ber 1917. Had he met Massignon by then? It is not impossible. In 1926, he supported the founda-tion of the Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies in Cairo and regularly stayed in the Orient; in1937, Pius XI entrusted him with the management of Eastern Christian affairs. In May 1946, heattended together with Maritain, the ambassador to the Vatican, a conference by Massignon de-voted to Charles de Foucauld (Massignon had been received the same morning by the Pope).This demonstrates that he was perfectly informed of the itinerary of Massignon and his opposi-tion to the ordination of the latter was probably founded on other reasons than just pure form.

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is reported to have replied that ‘the pope could accept secret ordinations offamily fathers of a certain age’.71

On 25 August 1949 Louis Massignon paid a passing visit to Aïn-Traz, thesummer residence of the Patriarch and asked Maximos IV to ordain him. Patri-arch accepts but had to think about the date.72 Louis Massignon announces that

he will arrive in Cairo at the end of 1949 in order to take part in sessions of theArabic language academy.73 He discusses the possible date of his ordinationwith Mary Kahil. She immediately writes to Medawar: “our friend Louis

Massignon arrives on the 15 (December 1949), determined to offer himself upto the Lord in the way you know, however it is only you who can grant himthis favour-; you know it – you are the only one”74 The Patriarch and his aux-

iliary [Medawar] where in Damascus. Mary Kahil insisted and suggested toMedawar, he to travel to Damietta she would pay the travel costs. On the 24December 1949 she sent a telegram to the Patriarchate in Damascus: “Louis

Massignon greatly desires to see you [Medawar]”. Louis Massignon himselfhad requested to be ordained very quickly from the 20 December 1949. On the6 January 1950 he writes to Maximos IV, “I am in Cairo until 2 February 1950

at the latest and I must express to you the very profound desire in my heart toreceive holy orders before my return to France”. In the same letter he requeststhat he be secretly ordained through Medawar.

71 Letter Louis Massignon to Medawar, 20 December 1949, Harpigny, p. 130.72 Letter Louis Massignon to Medawar, 20 December 1949 and Maximos IV, 6 January 1950,

Harpigny, p. 131.73 Massignon made a significant contribution to the development of Arabic and Islamic learn-

ing in Egypt. He lectured at the new University of Cairo briefly in the 1930s, and in 1933 KingFu’ad named him to Egypt’s new Royal Academy for the Arabic Language, see Donald MalcolmReid, ‘Cairo University and the Orientalists’, International Journal of Middle East Studies,Vol. 19, 1987, pp. 51-76. Fu’ad had created the academy in 1932 in order to address the prob-lems of Arabic in the modern world and to produce an Arabic dictionary. Except for the waryears and until 1960 Massignon met with scholars in Cairo each winter to work on his assignedarea of the dictionary: social sciences and literature. Rached Hamzaoui, L’Académie de languearabe du Caire. Histoire et œuvre, Tunis, Faculté des letters et sciences humanines, 1975, p. 104.Massignon also developed a series of extremely important lectures, some forty in total, (whichhave now been published) in 1912-1913. These lectures are valuable chiefly as showing the earlyformation of Massignon’s ideas. These are markedly representative of the French Catholic re-vival at the beginning of the twentieth century, see ‘The Influence of Islam’, in Richard Griffiths,The Reactionary Revolution: The Catholic revival in French Literature 1870/1914, London,Constable, 1966, pp. 244-257. The most bitter hostility is reserved for Durkheim, who is sav-agely attacked for putting martyrdom beneath the heading of suicide. Here we encounter thosecentral to Massignon’s own life and thought. But Durkheim is overshadowed by other adversies:Hegel and the freemasons, who are metamorphosed respectively into Ibn ‘Arabi (d.638/1240),the principal systematizer of Islamic mysticism, and the conspiratorial esotericists of extremistShi’ism. As for the last, Massignon, is obliged, after manifesting his distaste for them throughout,to accept at the very end that they are right to concur with Catholics in believing in an infallibleleaders. Thus the lectures give a foretaste of his later development: after opposing Shi’ism formuch of his career, in his later years he displays a greater sympathy for it. Cours d’histoire destermes philosophiques arabes (du 25 Novembre 1912 au 24 Avril 1913), Edited by ZeinabMahmoud el-Khodeiry, Cairo, Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire, 1983.

74 Letter C.E. to Medawar, 3 December, 1949, Harpigny, p. 132.

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On 14 January 1950 Maximos IV informed the Oriental Congregation:

“For at least seven months Louis Massignon has directly and indirectly and morethan once requested to receive holy orders subject to certain secret conditionswhich are compatible with his apostolate…after examining the matter maturelywe have judged it to be the will of the Lord that his holy desire be granted… theexceptional and extremely rare case of Louis Massignon has not been providedfor in the decree dated 27 January 1940 of your Sacred Congregation, on the regu-lar training of oriental clergy.75 However, for your information and because of theeminent personality of the ordinal I have deem it appropriate to inform your emi-nence [Cardinal Tisserant] of it”.

Also on 14 January 1950 Medawar writes to Louis Massignon in order to

inform him of the patriarchal decision. He gives him guidelines for how to pre-pare for ordination and for the secret priestly life. The following day Medawarinforms Mary Kahil of the patriarchal decision. She replies on the 21 January

1950 that Louis Massignon and herself would be expecting Medawar in Cairofor the 24/25 January 1950. On the 25 January 1950 Mgr Valerio Valeri, of theScared Congregation for the Oriental Church writes to Maximos IV to inform

him of the invariable practice of the Holy See which refuses the ordination ofmarried men born in the Latin rite even if they have been received into anotherrite. This letter arrived after the ordination.

On the 28 January 1950 early in the morning Bishop Medawar ordains atthe church of Sainte-Mari- de-la-Paix in Cairo Louis Massignon priest. Only,Fr. Ayrouth, the parish priest of the Sainte-Marie-de-la-Paix who was the as-

sistant to Medawar and Mary Kahil where present. The minor orders and thediaconate had been conferred in the proceeding days. 76 Mary Kahil writesabout the ceremony: “At dawn, almost at night, that silent auto which Ayrouth

rushes between two showers, arriving in that small church which is closed likea tower, illuminated with a celestial light; the censer is handled by two clumsyhands and lets off mysterious, undefined wreaths, evaporating into clouds. I

breathe on the ashes and incense, in a continuous trembling. Unheard-of thingsare going on. Ibrahim! Ibrahim dressed in his long stole, the orarion, turningaround the altar, a victim, in procession. He turns, he blesses, then he comes

back carrying the royal ornament, he concelebrates, he consecrates, he says theholy words, and I, prostrate, I deliver myself, I lose myself, I no longer exist.This is the Body, this is the Blood and it is I who am given up, transformed. I

did not see, I am overcome, delivered, offered up.”77

75 The decree of the 27 January, 1940 of the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Church,Acta Sanctae Sedis, Vol. 32, 1940, p. 152-157, regulating the admittance to Holy Orders, a per-son who has had the minimal preparation and study: “Decretum de recta cleri orientalisinstitutione in territoriis patriarchalibus”.

76 The Statikon (the act of ordination) granted to Louis Massignon by Medawar refers toLouis Massignon as deacon.

77 Jcaques Keryell, L’sacrée hospitalité, p. 327-328.

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This ordination which Louis Massignon had desired to receive secretly leadto an exchange of letters between Maximos IV and Rome. Following the letter

received from Valeri.78 Maximos IV writes to Cardinal Tisserant 6 February1950. In it he informs Tisserant of the ordination of Louis Massignon and re-plies in some points to the comments made by the Oriental Congregation; the

practice of the Holy See is wise but does not concern Massignon as he hasbeen ordained secretly and was not likely to encourage others to follow hisexample.

“Finally, the exceptional personality of Louis Massignon, the circumstances ofhis life, his consecration to the apostolate, all of these amply justify the favour wehave granted to his piety. In doing this, we have realised posthumously Charles deFoucauld vivid desire which he had expressed to Louis Massignon, to see himenter the priestly life. For Louis Massignon this ordination is the consummationof his sacrifice.”

On his return to Europe Louis Massignon contacted the Vatican and helped

smooth the difficulties between Rome and the Patriarchate by committing him-self to the secret which he had requested himself.

Cardinal Tisserant writes to Maximos IV in a letter 22 July 1950. Amongst

the six points to which he draws the Patriarchs attention one is the request ofresignation letters to the Latin ordinary of Paris, the original diocese of LouisMassignon, as well as the revocation of the articles of the Latin canonical law

and of the Oriental canonical law codes, including the particular law of theMelkites.

On 3 Oct 1950 Maximos IV replied to the Cardinal Tisserant in responding

to each of the points puts forward criticism of the decrees of the oriental con-gregation restraining the powers of the bishops: “I repeat: ordinations are thedomain of the bishop. You have restated this right. Apart from theses cases of

restriction the role of the bishop remains intact.”After, looking at the legal question he then turns to Louis Massignon piety

and reiterates the eminent qualities of the ordained (Louis Massignon). He

concludes: “We have deemed it good and appropriate for the church to ordainhim”.

Maximos IV then comes to the crucial point: the attitude of the Holy See,

by its questions and its means, hardly favours the apostolate of the OrientalChurch by criticizing the Patriarchate: “I might have made mistakes…but Iam loyal and up right; you however supposed that the opposite was the

case…and there by undermine not myself, a sinner, but Patriarchal dignity.”Maximos IV goes to describe his pastoral, spiritual and civil, activities79 and

complains strongly over the lack of encouragement:

78 Letter written on 25 January, 1950, Harpigny, p. 132.79 According to Ottoman law, the Patriarchate was responsible for the civil status of the com-

munity: financial, legal tribunal, heritage, marriages and property. S. Sidarouss, Des Patriarcats:les patriarcats dans l’Empire Ottoman et spécialement en Égypte, Paris, 1907.

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“And for this overwhelming work – which we have accomplish with staff whichis reduced to its most simple and with almost no resources, instead of receivingthe encouragement and support from Rome, we are constantly obliged to lose endless time sending long reports justifying every single one of our activities, some-times even for every single action! Your eminence must realise how impossiblesuch a life is. We need to have a free hand in order to carry out our duties withdignity.”

On 17 Nov 1950 Cardinal Tissserant replied to the legal augmentation ofMaximos IV and points out to him that a priest in Paris has broken the “secretof the ordination”. A few days later, the Patriarch and Medawar go to Rome

on other business. The Greek Catholic Bishops celebrate on the 26 Novemberat St Peters in the presence of Pius XII, in the Byzantine rite in Greek (exceptfor some Arabic formulae); they also see Cardinal Tisserant at the Oriental

congregation on the 22 November 1950 and to their great surprise learn thatthe incident has been closed.80

On 15 December 1950 the Patriarch wrote from Alexandria to the Cardinal

Tisserant saying that following the meeting of the 22 November 1950 he willnotify Louis Massignon of the decision taken with regard to his case: “Whenhe is outside the territory of the Patriarchate he will be able to celebrate with

the permission of the local ordinary only. Such should thus be his guidance forwhen he is in Paris”.81

Sometime after this, the Patriarch and his auxiliary went to Paris. Medawar

is delegated to meet Beaussart, the auxiliary bishop of Paris in charge of for-eigners.82

“The impression I had [Medawar] of this visit as concerns the case of LouisMassignon, was that the Archbishop of Paris does not attach great importance toit and that what has been done has been done.”83

On 21 December 1950 Cardinal Tisserant prepares a trip to Cairo and asks

Maximos IV for permission to meet Louis Massignon whilst in Egypt.Massignon was to be in Cairo for the annual meeting of the Arabic Academy.We do not know if the two men actually met in Cairo.

80 Roger Peyrefitte took up the affair in Les Clefs de Saint-Pierre: “The Cardinal was veryagitated. I thought it was because the Melkite bishops had played a rotten trick on him. Theyhave slyly ordained priest your famous Massignon, a professor at the Collège de France and per-son who is just as much respected by Islam as by the oriental Church, and the doyen of the SacréCollège is losing his sleep over it”, Paris, 1955, p. 199.

81 The territory and jurisdiction of the Melkite patriarchate corresponded to the Arab NearEast.

82 Maximos IV had informed Beaussart on the 11 February 1950 of Louis Massignon’s ordi-nation. Beaussart acknowledges receipt on the 21 February 1950, but asks for another copy of thenotice as he burnt the first by accident. On 3 March 1950 Maximos IV sends Beaussart a newcopy. On 17 March Beaussart thanks the Patriarch.

83 Harpigny, Islam et Christianisme selon Louis Massignon, p. 134

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Two years later Professor Eli Denissoff of the University of Notre DameIndiana, requested ordination as a priest and discusses it with Louis Mas-

signon.84 Louis Massignon after asking Tisserant for advice writes to Medawaron the 31 October 1953:

“Tisserant does not object to his ordination [Denisooff], following his passage tothe Melkite rite…my case has now been admitted without reservation, as fecundbecause it has half opened a door it also shows me that in these times (where thereis no possibility of ordination in the Latin Rite), the Melkite Church is the refugeof oriental vocations in the Latin world”.

Medawar, rightly points out on the 7 November 1953 that the case of Pro-fessor Denisooff is different. He was born into Byzantine Eastern Orthodox,therefore not into the Latin rite, and lived in America. Having been told of the

possible reaction of Cardinal Tisserant, Medawar adds that it is necessary toask for a letter from the local ordinary or from the Oriental Congregation.

Louis Massignon did not want his priesthood to be contested by the bishops

or priests who would watch him celebrate the Eucharist. He had like everypriest received the Statikon as proof of his ordination. Not satisfied with this,he also wanted to verify the validity of his ordination. To this end, he asked

Medawar to establish a genealogy of his episcopal ordination going back as faras possible. The auxiliary bishop executed this in a note on the 13 March1950.85 Massignon also asked what he should do doing his travels for example

to North America.86

He had in reality received very precise instruction regarding celebrating theoffice and for his conduct in ‘ordinary’ life. As his ordination was secret at his

84 Denisoff, was originally Orthodox and married, he became a catholic of the Latin rite. Adoctor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. Pius XII refused his request for ordination.

85 Letter Medawar to Masignon, 13 March 1950:“Généalogie. 1. Pierre Kamel Médawar, ordonné prêtre le 15 août 1938 à Harissa (Paulistes) parle Patriarche Cyrille IX Moghabghab, et consacré par lui aussi comme archevéque titulaire dePéluse le 6 juin 1943 au Caire.2. Le Patriarche Cyrille IX Moghabghab avait été consacré évêque de Furzol et Zahlé en date du28 mai 1889, à Constantinople, par le Patriarche Pierre IV Géreijiry.3. Lequel avait été consacré évêque de Panéas (Césarée de Philippe) en date du 21 février 1886, àDamas, par le Patriarche Grégoire II Youssef sayour.4. Lequel avait été consacré archevêque de Saint-Jean d’Arce en date du 1er novembre 1856, °Damas, par le Patriarche Clément I Bahous.5. Lequel avait été consacré archevêque de Saint-Jean d’Arce en date du 29 juillet 1836, àDamas, par le Patriarche Maximos III Mazloum.6. Lequel avait été consacré métropolite d’Alep en date du 6 août 1810 (au couvent St. Elie deRichmaya) par le Patriarche Agapios III MatarEn sivant ainsi la liste des Patriarches d’Antioche on peut remonter jusqu’ à saint Pierre, premierèvêque d’Antioche avant d’ être premier évêque de Rome.”

86 For example he had to take with him the sacred vessels and how should he explain this tocustoms!, Where should he celebrate, which Greek catholic bishops and priest can he meet in theplaces he visited. Louis Massignon letters to Medawar dated 2 July 1952, 22 July 1952; and re-sponses, see Harpigny, p. 136.

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own request he was not obliged to where clerical dress. But for the liturgy hewas obliged to wear vestments over a ‘soutane’, in black, white, beige or

cream. The place of celebration in cases where it was not a church or publicchapel should be a room which was furnished as an oratory and contained allthe indispensable ecclesiastical furniture. Where ever possible a mass attend-

ant or assistance should be present. This clause was little respected because itwas impossible to find an assistant. There was no question of consecrating theHoly sacrament in the oratory. The office was recited whenever possible but

some parts where compulsory.87 Massignon was free to move everywhere,however the Patriarch insisted that Massignon informed him of his mainmovements so that he could contact him when needed.88

Massignon adhered by these guidelines, however he referred to twopoints:” I say as much of the office as I can, but every morning I have twohours of colloquy [an informal discussion on religious or theological matters]

(and of silence) with God. This is essential in my life these days“.89 He cel-ebrated in Paris on his own in the oratory set up in his home, in general beforedawn, so that he would not be disturbed by visitors or by the phone. Some

family members attended the celebration. In Cairo he would celebrate veryearly in the morning at Sainte-Marie-de-la-Paix, in a chapel in the recess ofthe church. Sometime he would even celebrate after midnight. Massignon had

received the church key as not to wake up the curate. When traveling he wouldcelebrate in his hotel room between two and four in the morning.90 Sometimehowever, he would celebrate for a religious community.91

The liturgy was very meditative. When on his own Massignon would cel-ebrate bear footed, just like Moses before the burning bushes. In a religiouscommunity he would celebrate with socks on which he would take of at the

épiclèse! He put on the altar Icons, photographs of people for whom he waspraying and list of names for intercessions. His confréres, never managed toconcelebrate with him because the rhythm of his celebration was too personal-

ized. Even when he celebrated on his own, without assistant, he would offerincense. He did not have a censer and nobody could prepare the incense forhim. He would therefore take a grain of incense, between his figures and burn

87 At the time the canonists wondered where the office should not be recited in a choir for theGreek Catholics. This discussion did to apply to Massignon. Patriarch Maximos IV knew thatMassignon had a tendency to prolong prayers rather then abbreviating them and had explicitlyallowed him to recite only “what he could according to his schedule”. Massignon was in thisrespect considered as secular priest, no choir, office according to possibility. Medawar had ex-plained to Massignon that the customary behaviour of secular priest in this respect.

88 Letter from Medawar to Massignon, 14 January 1950. Harpigny, Islam et Christianismeselon Louis Massignon, p. 136.

89 Massignon to Medawar, 4 April 1950. Harpigny, Islam et Christianisme selon LouisMassignon, p. 136.

90 According to Kemal Medawar, Mary Kahil, Youakim Moubarac and Father Xavier Eid,former curate of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Paix.

91 La Petite sœur de Jésus in Cairo; the Dominicans in Beirut for example.

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A. O'MAHONY 295

it in the flame of the candle. The grain would crackle and excel smoke, a sym-bol of the pray to God which once it had been touched would send the Holy

Spirit to consecrate the gifts and the priest, representing the people.92

Massignon’s theological understanding of his priesthood

We will now explain how Massignon saw his sacerdotal life during the

years following his ordination, by taking up the themes, developed during thepreceeding years.

He had been conferred the sacerdotal life as a result to special circum-

stances: he was thus an exception.93 The Patriarch had not only pointed thisout to him. Maximos IV made this very same point to the Rome followingMassignon’s ordination. Even such remarkable personalities as Montini, who

very attached to Massignon did not disguise their surprise.94

Massignon considered himself the guest of Muslims who had saved him in1908 and wished to contribute to ‘the union of all of Abraham’s children’. But

it was mainly in order to perfect the Badaliya that he had offered himself upwith regard to Islam. In order to complete the substitution he offered from1953 onwards the monthly personal fast each first Friday of the month in order

to achieve peace between Christianity and Islam. The private or personal fastwas approved and blessed by Pope Pius XII. The letter by the Secretary ofState (no. 305732) dated 19 August 1953 was signed by Montini and conveyed

by Fr. Paul Mulla.95 Massignon from 1956 onwards makes the prayers ‘the

92 According to priests and religious in Beirut and Cairo and reported to Harpigny, Islam etChristianisme selon Louis Massignon, p. 136.

93 “In principle the sacerdotal life is a burden then an honour, it is instituted for the benefit ofthe ‘neighbour' and the public service of the church, rather then for the particular good of priests.But in the given case, even your particular circumstances, his Holiness [Maximos IV] deems thatyour case does not come under the ordinary category and that an exception in your favour in suf-ficiently justified“. Letter from Medawar to Massignon 14 January 1950. Harpigny, Islam etChristianisme selon Louis Massignon, p. 137.

94 Jean-Baptiste Montini (1897-1978) was ordained priest in 1920. During his travels to ParisMontini would visit the Benedictines in Rue Monsieur. Massignon lived in the same road. In1935 Massignon choice Maurice Zundal (1897-1975) as spiritual director amongst others.Montini had translated into Italian the ‘Poème de la Sainte Liturgie’ written by Zundal in 1934.Massignon meet Montini several times. At the time of Massignon ordination Montini was at thesecretary of state of the Vatican. He became Archbishop of Milan in 1954 and remained in writ-ten contact with Massignon. It has been noted that Montini was deeply influenced by Massignon,in relations between the Catholic and Islam, see Mauruice Borrmnas, ‘Le Pontificat de Paul IV etles musulmans’, Isamochristiana, Vol. 4, 1978, pp. 1-10.

95 Mehmet Ali Mulla-Zadé was born in Iraklion (Candia) on the island of Crete, then still partof the Ottoman empire. His father was a Turk, his mother Egyptian-Albanian. As a student at theuniversity of Aix-en-Provence he met the philosopher Maurice Blondel (1861-1949) who was tomark his religious and intellectual outlook deeply. Blondel became Mulla’s godfather when hewas baptized in 1905, and chose the name Paul. In 1911 Mulla was ordained priest. Pope Pius XIin 1924 charged him personally with teaching ‘Insitutiones Islamicae’ at the Pontificio IstitutoOrientale in Rome. ‘Brèves notes biographiques sue Méhémet-Ali Mulla-Zadé, devenu Mgr PaulMulla (1881-1959)’ in Charles Molette, “La vérité où je la trouve” – Mulla, Une conscience

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night of destiny’ (27 Ramadan), “begging God to fulfil the faith” of the Mus-lims.

Massignon was often suspected of not keeping the catholic faith pure be-cause of his prayers and works of penitence and had to be defended by theGreek Catholic Melkites authorities, Archbishop de Provencehères of Aix-en-

Provence and Descuffi, Latin Archbishop of Smyrna. Massignon having fi-nally realized the full substitution in his ordination had the plaque of theBadaliya (with the emblem of Charles de Foucauld) inscribed on the altar

stone on the prison valence where his friend Luis de Cuadra had committedsuicide on the 12 August 1921. Not content with offering himself up he alsowanted to offer up the whole of the Oriental church in substitution.

But his suffering increased year after year and often he felt isolated and ex-cluded. He was rarely consulted on the relations between Christianity and Is-lam. He was suspected of heresy by some. Rejected by those compatriots who

could not understand his position in the Algerian conflict.96 Those whose sym-pathies lay with the State of Israel and the Jews, then with the Arabs vilifiedhim. He was sometimes ridiculed by some of his university colleagues and

carried the ‘solidarity burden of suffering’ he had not chosen. His compassionfor the sufferings of the Muslims now became one with the burden of his ownsufferings. Medawar wrote to him “God has chosen you to be one of those

great suffers for justice. And because he has imposed on you a destiny gener-ously accepted by you; he will certainly not fail to grant you the graces, whichsuch a destiny demands”.97

Massignon desired to achieve this passion to its end and incessantly wishedfor his death, just like Christ on the cross, and even death as an anathema,burnt by the fire of the love of Christ. 98 “For myself I desire to not to fail to

respond to the call of love which is also the call of death, where my heart is,where I have found and where with Gods help I have to consummate my voca-tion: in the Arab desert”.99 Massignon had so much desire to be ordained in

order to die with Christ: “I am more than sixty-six years old. At that age Iunderstand that Mass is an anticipation with love, with Jesus, of the deathwhich we desire to suffer for the salvation of the souls”.100

d’homme dans la lumière de Maurice Blondel. Préface du Cardinal Henri de Lubac, Paris, Téqui,1988, pp. 19-35. Paul Mulla was only one among many Muslims attracted to Christianity via theFrench Catholic revival see, Frédéric Gugelot, ‘Les convertis issus de l’Islam’, La conversion desintellectuals au catholcisme en France (1885-1935), Paris, CNRS Éditions, pp. 211-224.

96 Lucienne Portier, ‘Conditionnement et liberté dans la pensée de Massignon concernantl’Algerie’, L'Herne Massignon (ed) J.-F. Six, Paris, 1970, pp. 288-299.

97 Medawar to L Massignon, 29 April 1957.98 Massignon to Medawar 23 December 1952, “I die of pain at every morning offering”.

Harpigny, Islam et Christianisme selon Louis Massignon, p. 138.99 Massignon to Medawar, 24 October 1956. Harpigny, Islam et Christianisme selon Louis

Massignon, p. 138.100 Massignon to Medawar 20 December 1949, Harpigny, Islam et Christianisme selon Louis

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A. O'MAHONY 297

Towards the end of his life Massignon still thinks of it: “I have asked tooremain at the front until the end, in the scarified sector, our dear Arab church

(…), I count on your intercession in order to offer me, naked and denuded ofeverything, just like the master, in order to die”.101

It is with this aim in mind that Massignon upon entering the noviciate in

1951, had decided to associate Mary Kahil with his offering until his death. Heoften felt rejected by some of his fellow Christians, but also sufferedincomprehension and attacks from Muslims. He also, carried within him the

difficult witness of the church that had adopted him, the Melkite Greek Catho-lic Church in Arab and Islamic the Middle East.

This death then open itself onto the resurrection of Christ; “We have to die

of compassion with Jesus in order to be resurrected with him, and have to diein compassion with the beloved souls for which we have given”.102

Nevertheless, he felt clearly that he was faced with a Mystery, when speak-

ing of his priesthood, “if we knew what a priest was we would die. It is thePriests bloodless sacrifice which was prefigured to the angels during the test,in expiation of the doubt of several of them“.103

The death with Christ was really the centre of his life: “He had offered him-self to God so often for all the noble causes, especially for peace betweenChristianity and Islam, for the freedom of the people, for the union of Chris-

tians, he had so often united the sacrifice of his person to the unique sacrificeof our saviour Jesus Christ in the divine liturgy that his return to the Fathernow seems like the naturally consummation of his sacrifice, the definitive ac-

ceptance by God of his generous and persevering holocaust”.104

He died during the night of 31 October – 1 November 1962. The funeraltook place in Pordic in Brittany on 6 November 1962. Massignon was buried

in the family tomb, next to his son Yves who had died in 1935. A liturgy wascelebrated in Paris on 15 November 1962 in Saint-François-Xavier and atSaint-Julien le Pauvre on 1 December 1962, Joseph Nasrallah, the Melkite

Metropolitan, and distinguished scholar of Arabic Christian literature and thehistory of the Melkite Church.105

Massignon, p. 137.101 Massignon to Maximos IV, 23 August 1962. Harpigny, Islam et Christianisme selon Louis

Massignon, p. 138.102 Letter Massignon to Medwar 9 January 1952. Harpigny, Islam et Christianisme selon

Louis Massignon, p. 139.103 Letter Massignon to Medawar, 21 March 1957. Harpigny, Islam et Christianisme selon

Louis Massignon, p. 139.104 Letter Massignon to Medwar, 7 November 1962. Harpigny, Islam et Christianisme selon

Louis Massignon, p. 139.105 Joseph Nasrallah was a leading historian of the Melkite church, see his Histoire du

mouvement littéraire dans l’Église melchite du Ve au Xxe siècle an appreciation of his life andwork see Mémorial Monseigeur Joseph Nasrallah, éd, P.Canruet and J.-P. Rey Coquais, Paris,Institut Français de Damas, 2006.

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