Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Honors Metropolitan PHILIP with the John Anderson Award
Reprinted from Panorama, Vol. XLVI, No. 2, Advent 2006.
Metropolitan PHILIP Saliba has been a strong supporter of seminary education, as well as furthering the Orthodox education of those lay persons who have a strong desire to learn their faith in depth, but who are unable to attend a full-time seminary. This passion led to his founding of the Antiochian House of Studies, which has made in-depth Orthodox education available to hundreds of people. It is under this program that the partnership with Pittsburgh Theological Seminary was formed, with the resulting Doctor of Ministry Eastern Christian Focus.
The Seminary acknowledges Metropolitan PHILIP with the John Anderson Award of Merit, the Seminary’s highest honor, for his respected and inspiring leadership role in culture, philanthropy, social concern, pastoral life, mission outreach, education, jurisdictional cooperation, and unity.
He has vigorously pursued a vision of Orthodox Christianity in this country and aboard which has balanced numerous concerns in a harmonious whole. He has dedicated his life to making the church a vibrant, living, and forward looking expression of the Orthodox Christian faith.
Born in Lebanon, he attended the famed and historic Balamand Orthodox Seminary, where he subsequently taught. His life of service to the Orthodox Church as a clergyman began in 1949 with his ordination to the Holy Diaconate. This was followed by theological studies in England and at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA., with additional education at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI., and at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York.
Ten years after his ordination to the Diaconate, Metropolitan PHILIP was ordained to the Holy Priesthood and served the St. George Antiochian Orthodox parish in Cleveland, Ohio. He focused his ministry on education, culture, spiritual formation, ecumenical outreach, and civic outreach.
In 1966, he was consecrated Metropolitan of the Antiochian Archdiocese in North America and was later enthroned at this cathedral of St. Nicholas in Brooklyn, NY. There followed a hierarchical ministry of rich contributions to the growth and development not only of his own Antiochian Archdiocese, but of all the Orthodox Churches in America. Metropolitan PHILIP has distinguished himself and his Church as leaders in the struggle for justice in the Middle East for the Arab populations, both Christian and Muslim. He presently serves as the chairman of the Standing Conference of American-Middle Eastern Christian and Muslim Leaders, representing two million Americans of Arab heritage.
Metropolitan PHILIP has not only served his people organizationally, but he has been personally active in numerous successful fundraising efforts for charitable, educational, and humanitarian causes. Parallel to this activity has been his strenuous leadership in fostering Orthodox cooperation in the Americas. He has been active in the work of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America, serving as vice chairman. He courageously encouraged and realized the return of two thousand Christians of evangelical background to Orthodoxy in 1987 as an expression of the missionary tradition of the Orthodox Church.
Congratulations to Metropolitan PHILIP on his recent award; thank you for your years of faithful dedication to education and the Church.
Courtesy of the
April 2007 issue of The Word magazine.