PATRIARCHS OF ANTIOCH: 16TH–19TH CENTURIES.

Ignatius Antonius Samhiri. After Ignatius Petrus died, the Syrian bishops, presided over by an apostolic delegate, gathered in Lebanon and consecrated Antonius Samhiri, who was elected patriarch on December 8, 1853, taking the name Ignatius. Ignatius Antonius died in 1865 in Mardin, the city where the Roman Pontiff subsequently willed that the patriarchal seat be held.

Ignatius Harcus, born in Mesopotamia in 1822, was appointed to succeed Antonius Samhiri on August 6, 1866; he resides in Mardin. Subject to him are: Cyrillus Behnam Benni, Archbishop of Mosul; Jacobus Heliani, Archbishop of Damascus; Ephræmus Estateos Tocmagi, Bishop of Karputh.

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