Apostolic Exarchate of Iraq
Patriarchal exarchate · Melkite Greek Catholic Church · Iraq
The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Iraq (Byzantine rite) was erected by Patriarch Maximos III Mazloum on 17 September 1838 for Melkite faithful in Iraq. It has a single parish in Baghdad, the church of St. George, opened in 1962, and counted only about 70 Catholics in 2022. The see is vacant and administered by the Melkite Patriarch of Antioch, Youssef Absi, as patriarchal administrator.
The see
- Rank
- Patriarchal exarchate
- Tradition
- Melkite Greek Catholic Church
- Erected
- 17 September 1838
- Annuario code
- 001000548
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 70
- Priests
- 2
- Catholics per priest
- 35
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
The register holds no ordinary for this see. Where a chair is vacant the vacancy is the fact, and it is recorded rather than filled in. See the bishop.
The cathedral
St. George Melkite Cathedral, Baghdad stands in Iraq, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.
On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.
The province of Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch
The sees of this province:
- Archeparchy of Alep, Beroea, HalabAlep
- Archeparchy of Bosra e HaūrānBosra
- Archeparchy of Damas, Aš-Šām, Damasco, DimašqDamas, Aš-Šām, Damasco, Dimašq
- Archeparchy of Homs, EmesaHoms, Emesa
- Archeparchy of LattaquiéLattaquié
- Archeparchy of Petra e FiladelfiaPetra e Filadelfia
- Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate of AntiochDamascus
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
For part of Iraq, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church sui iuris (Byzantine Rite in the Greek language) maintains a Patriarchal exarchate, an Eastern Catholic pre-diocesan missionary jurisdiction, informally called Iraq of the (Greek-)Melkites. It answers immediately to the Patriarchate of Antioch of the Melkites, stands outside that or any other ecclesiastical province, and in Rome depends on the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. The see is currently vacant.
How to reach it
- Diocesan offices
- Exarchat Patriarcal Grec-Melkite, Karada Sharqiya 903/10/50, Baghdad, Iraq
This see keeps no website of its own, so the address of its diocesan offices is published here: withholding it would protect nothing and leave a reader with nowhere to go. Where a see publishes its own site, the register sends you there instead.
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Compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. Corrections: hello@catholicintelligence.com.