Dall'Oronte al Tevere. Scritti in onore del cardinale Ignace Moussa I Daoud per il cinquantesimo di sacerdozio (review)

Abstract

Dall'Oronte al Tevere. Scritti in onore del cardinale Ignace Moussa I Daoud per il cinquantesimo di sacerdozio. Edited by Gianpaolo Rigotti. [Congregazione per le Chiese Orientali: Edizioni «Orientalia Christiana».] (Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale, Edizioni Orientalia Christiana. 2004. Pp. viii, 310. Paperback.) The work is a Festschrift, a collection of articles published on the fiftieth anniversary of the priestly ordination of His Beatitude, Ignace Moussa I Daoud, Patriarch Emeritus Antioch for the Syrian Catholic Church and Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches since 2000. There are three sections in the work: the first section treats the life and ministry of the cardinal prefect; the second section comprises articles treating the activity of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches; and the third section is a collection of studies on miscellaneous orientalia. The first article, written by Theophile Georges Kassab (Daoud's successor as Archeparch of Horns), is a brief biography of Moussa Daoud until his appointment as prefect. Moussa Daoud was born near Horns, Syria,in 1930 and was ordained a priest in 1954. In 1977, he was elected as bishop of Cairo and was appointed as archbishop of Horns in 1994. Elected as head of the Syrian Catholic Church in 1998, his tenure as patriarch was brief because in November 2000, Pope John Paul II appointed Daoud as prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches. Maurizio Malvestiti, in his chronicle, offers insights into the role of the prefect. Activities include traveling with the Pope on apostolic as well as follow-up visits to those countries with Eastern Catholic hierarchies, meetings with Eastern Catholic hierarchs on their ad limina and newly-elected patriarchs, oversight of institutes for the formation of priests and religious women and men and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, and participation in the canonization of saints. The second section encompasses topics relating to the Congregation. It opens with a detailed study by Michel Berger of Byzantine iconography, especially the iconostasis of Pimen Sofronov and the murals and the iconostasis executed by Jerome Leussink in the Byzantine Chapel of the Congregation. A memoir of Lucian Lamza details the events that occurred during his long tenure at the dicastery. Francesco Brugnaro describes the challenges facing the Congregation in the formation of church leaders subsequent to the collapse of communist regimes and throughout the decades of turmoil in the Middle East. Krzysztof Nitkiewicz provides a sympathetic biography of Wladyslaw Cardinal Rubin, who served as prefect from 1980 to 1985. …