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→Orthodoxy in the Philippines
There are a number of accounts about the history of Orthodoxy in the Philippines.
It appears that the first Orthodox Christians on the islands were Syrian and Lebanese merchants and sailors, who arrived in Manila after Manila was opened to outside trade. The first recorded Orthodox Christians in the Philippines were a Syrian and Lebanese family, referenced (''who arrived?'') sailors in 1802 ''(citation?)''according to the Syrian Consulate in Manila. Many of the Lebanese sailors married and their families still reside in the Philippines and have become Filipino citizens, including the owners of a famous pizza parlor in Manila. The oldest Orthodox Christian in the Philippines, a Lebanese by the last name of Assad, was born around 1904 and is still alive.
Around the beginning of the twentieth century, Greek sailors settled in Legaspi city on the island of Luzon about a century ago. Descendants of these Greek Orthodox Christian sailors now number no more than 10 families, who have kept their Greek surnames and many of whom have become distinguished public figures and intellectuals in the Philippines. They do not, however, speak Greek.
