Gregory III Laham, B.S. (; ; born Lutfy Laham, December 15, 1933, in Darayya, Syria), Emeritus Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and Jerusalem, is the former spiritual leader of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. He was elected on November 29, 2000, succeeding Patriarch Maximos V Hakim. He retired on May 6, 2017.
He took the name Gregory in honor of Patriarch Gregory II Youssef, who was the last member of his religious order, the Basilian Salvatorian Order, to be elected Patriarch. Gregory III, who studied in Rome, Italy, and is multilingual, is also the author of several books on Eastern Catholic spirituality and theology.
In addition, he served as the Spiritual Protector of the United Obediences (formerly the Paris and Malta Obediences until 2008) of the Order of Saint Lazarus.
Early years and education
Gregory III Laham was born Lutfy Laham in Darayya, Syria, on December 15, 1933.
He entered the Seminary of the Holy Savior of the Basilian Salvatorian Order near Saida, Lebanon, in 1943. He took his simple religious vows in 1949 and his solemn religious vows in 1954. He received his religious and philosophical education at the Holy Savior Seminary, Joun, Lebanon. He continued his theological studies in Rome, Italy, where he was ordained priest on February 15, 1959 in the Church of the Abbey of Grottaferrata.
Church
Priesthood
The future patriarch received a doctoral degree in Oriental Theology from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome following his ordination . He then served as superior of the Holy Savior Major Seminary from 1961 until 1964. In 1962 he founded the magazine Al-Wahdah - Unity in Faith, the first ecumenical magazine to be published in the Arabic language. He also founded several orphanages and trade schools in Lebanon.
He was appointed administrator of the Patriarchal Vicariate of Jerusalem in 1975, in the wake of the Israeli arrest of the Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem, Archbishop Hilarion Capucci of the Aleppin Salvatorian order. Laham founded the Student Fund in Jerusalem to help needy students and in 1978 the Family Assistance Fund to help needy families in the troubled areas of his diocese. In 1967 he founded at the Patriarchate the Oriental Library to promulgate the knowledge of Eastern traditions. He initiated a variety of social projects such as repairing churches, opening clinics and building public housing, including a guest house for pilgrims at the Patriarchal Center in Jerusalem.
Episcopate
On September 9, 1981 he was named Archeparch by Patriarch Maximos V Hakim and continued his work as Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem as successor to Archeparch Hilarion Capucci. On November 27, 1981 he was enthroned as the titular archbishop of Tarsus and consecrated Archeparch by patriarch Maximos V Hakim. His co-consecrators were Saba Youakim, Archeparch of Petra and Philadelphia and François Abou Mokh, titular bishop of Palmyra dei Greco-Melchiti.
In 1992 Laham was named Patriarchal Exarch of Jerusalem and in 1998 became Protosyncellus of the same city.
Appointed by Patriarch Maximos V as president of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission, he edited the Anthologion, the prayer book or breviary of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and The Book of the Liturgies, an updated compendium of the Divine Liturgy. As secretary of the Ecumenical Commission of the Melkite Patriarchate, he led the dialogue between the Melkite Greek Catholic and the Antiochian Orthodox Churches.
Patriarchate
Patriarch Maximos resigned in 2000 at age 92 due to failing health. The episcopal synod of the Melkite Church, met at the patriarchal residence in Raboueh on November 22, 2000 to select a new leader. On November 29 the synod elected Laham patriarch. He chose the name Gregory after the Patriarch Gregory II Youssef, the last member of the Basilian Salvatorian Order to serve as head of the Melkite Church. On December 5, 2000, Pope John Paul II accepted Patriarch Laham's request for ecclesiastical communion.
On May 8, 2008, along with other Melkite bishops and archimandrites, Patriarch Laham was received at the Vatican by Pope Benedict XVI. He repeated this visit on March 15, 2012.