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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 [[Balamand Orthodox Theological Seminary|Minor Seminary]] at [[Balamand Monastery of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos|Balamand Monastery]], near Tripoli, Lebanon, at the age of fourteen, where he met his lifelong friend, the future Metropolitan [[Philip (Saliba) of New York|Philip (Saliba)]]. At the Balamand he completing his junior and senior high school studies and then went on to receive his diploma in theology from the [[St. John of Damascus Patriarchal Institute of Theology (Tripoli, Lebanon)|Balamand Theological Academy of Saint John of Damascus]].
On [[October 28]], 1951, he was ordained to the [[deacon|diaconate]] by His Beatitude, [[Alexander III (Tahan) of Antioch|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 (Damascus, Syria)|Assiyat Orthodox College]] from which he was graduated in 1957. In the same year he was assigned to the [[Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Sao Paulo, Brazil]], where he served at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Paul and as secretary to His Eminence, Metropolitan Ignatius (Forzley).
===Graduate education and priesthood===