Antoun (Khouri) of Miami

Bishop Antoun (Khouri) of Miami and the Southeast

His Grace Antoun (Khouri), Bishop of Miami and Southeast America, was a diocesan bishop of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America until his resignation in 2017.

Life

Early years

His Grace was born Antoun Yssa Khouri on January 17, 1931, in Damascus, Syria, the fourth of six children born to the late Wedad Elias Abraxia and Yssa Khouri. After completing his elementary education at the Orthodox School in Meedan, Syria, he entered the Minor Seminary at Balamand Monastery, near Tripoli, Lebanon, at the age of fourteen, where he met his lifelong friend, the future Metropolitan Philip (Saliba). At the Balamand Seminary he completed his junior and senior high school studies and then went on to receive his diploma in theology from the Balamand Theological Academy of Saint John of Damascus.

On October 28, 1951, he was ordained to the diaconate by His Beatitude, Alexander III, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Damascus. While a deacon at the cathedral, he was instructor, then Dean of the Saint John of Damascus School. While in Damascus, he undertook undergraduate studies at the Assiyat Orthodox College from which he was graduated in 1957. In the same year he was assigned to the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Brazil, where he served at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Paul and as secretary to His Eminence, Metropolitan Ignatius (Forzley) of Sao Paolo.

Graduate education and priesthood

In 1959, Deacon Antoun arrived in United States for graduate theological studies at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary near New York City, from which he was graduated in 1962, having been ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 1960, by His Eminence, Metropolitan Antony (Bashir), the Archbishop of New York and all North America. On August 3, 1969, he was elevated to the dignity of Archimandrite by His Eminence, Metropolitan Philip (Saliba), the current Primate of Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. As a priest he served the following pastorates: St. George Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; St. George Church in Toronto, Ontario; St. George Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania and St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York. From 1969 to 1977, he worked from the Archdiocesan chancery in Englewood, New Jersey, as personal aide to Metropolitan Philip.

Episcopacy

Bp. Antoun vested

The General Assembly of the Archdiocese of North America, consisting of clergy and lay delegates from parishes throughout the United States and Canada, nominated Archimandrite Antoun for the office of auxiliary bishop to the Metropolitan on August 1, 1981, and the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East elected him to that office at a session in Damascus, Syria, on November 4, 1982, as titular bishop of Selefkia. He was consecrated to the episcopacy on January 9, 1983, at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York, by Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) of North America; Archbishop Michael (Shaheen) of Toledo, the Auxiliary of the Archdiocese of North America; Archbishop Elias (Saliba), the superior of the Patriarchal Monastery of St. George (Tel-Kalakh, Syria); Bishop Paul (Bandaly), the Patriarchal Vicar (now Metropolitan of Akkar, Lebanon); and Bishop Antonio (Chedraoui), the Patriarchal Legate for the Diocese of Mexico and Central America.

By a decision of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate dated October 9, 2003, His Grace became a diocesan bishop bearing the title of Bishop of Miami and the Southeast. Bishop Antoun maintains his office and residence at the Archdiocesan Chancery in Englewood, New Jersey.

Resignation and death

Bishop Antoun resigned from the episcopacy on August 3, 2017. He reposed two months later, on October 2, 2017.

External links

• Bishop Antoun (Khouri) (official biography)
• Diocese of the Southeast (Archdiocese site)

Succession box: Antoun (Khouri) of Miami
Preceded by: —	Bishop of Seleucia 1983–2003	Succeeded by: —
Preceded by: —	Bishop of Miami and Southeast America 2003–2017	Succeeded by: —

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