View source for Germanos (Shehadi) of Zahle

[[File:Metr. Germanos Shehedi.jpg|thumb|250px]]
Metropolitan '''Germanos (Shehadi) of Zahle and Baalbek''' was a hierarch of the [[Church of Antioch]] who attempted to become the successor to Bishop [[Raphael of Brooklyn]] as leader of the Syro-Antiochian parishes in North America after the [[saint]]'s death.

Met Germanos had come to America in 1910s as a visitor, raising funds for an agricultural school in his archdiocese in what is today Lebanon. 

[[Metropolitan]] Germanos Shehadi of Zahle was a diocesan [[bishop]] in the Lebanon area of Syria in the second decade of the twentieth century who, before Bishop Raphael died in 1915, came to the United States of America to raise funds for an agricultural school in his own [[diocese]] of Zahle. Zahle is a mostly Christian area in today's Lebanon with primarily an agricultural economy.

After St. Raphael's death, Metr. Germanos remained in America and campaigned to become his successor as the leader of the Syro-Antiochian parishes in America, claiming to be the representative of the Patriarch of Antioch. Those who wanted to be under the [[jurisdiction]] of the Church of Antioch formed parishes under Metr. Germanos, and he eventually formed his own rogue diocese in 1916 This group became the basis of the later split in the Syro-Antiochian mission. Metr. Germanos remained in America despite many orders from the Antiochian [[synod]] in Damascus calling on him to return to shepherd his own diocese of Zahle.

Much of Germanos' success amongst the Syro-Antiochians was based not only on his fine singing voice and great charisma, but also because he was well known and related to many [[clergy]] and parishioners from the Zahle region. As a result, many of the parishes that followed Germanos eventually became part of the [[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America|Antiochian Archdiocese of Toledo, Ohio]] under Metr. [[Samuel (David) of Toledo|Samuel David]], who also was from Zahle.

In 1919, Metr. Germanos also supported the establishment of the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada]] by acting as their temporary bishop at the UOCC  sobor of [[November 27]], 1919.

Metr. Germanos finally returned to his own diocese in, then, Syria in 1933.

April 7, 1934, Metropolitan Germanos Shehadi died in Beirut.

==Sources==
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/asdamick/3336074853/  Metr. Germanos Shehadi of Zahle]
* [http://www.stmaryorthodoxjohnstown.org/history.html  Our Parish Family History: 1904-2008]
* [http://orthodoxhistory.org/2012/04/02/this-week-in-american-orthodox-history-april-2-8/ This week in American Orthodox history (April 2-8)]

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[[Category:Bishops]]
[[Category:20th-century bishops]]