Standing on Their Shoulders: Stories of the First Melkite Priests in America

Volume one in the history of the Melkite Church in the USA.

This volume focuses on the priests who came from greater Syria to serve and establish parishes in the USA. The first two priests arrived in 1889. This book traces all the clergy from 1889 until 1914 (the beginning of WW1, the Great War). The clergy and the communities are listed in chronological order of arrival.

Each story is based on research from the Melkite Eparchy of Newton, but mainly from the archives of the Latin (Roman Catholic) dioceses where the Melkite churches were located. Additional research is based on archives and books from the Middle East that relate to our Melkite churches.