Born in
Aleppo,
Syria in November 1779, Mazloum was ordained priest in 1806. Mazloum was a protégé of
Germanos Adam, the Melkite Archbishop of Aleppo. Adam, a theologian, was wary of the Latinizing influence of Western missionaries and championed the rights of the Melkite Church but also was taken by the
Jansenist ideas of
Scipione de' Ricci and not liked by the
Latin missionaries of Aleppo because of litigations on properties. As a consequence, in June 1810 Rome opposed the elevation of Mazloum as Adam's successor in Aleppo. But Michael Mazloum was elected bishop of Aleppo on July 26, 1810, and consecrated bishop on August 5, 1810, by patriarch
Agapius II Matar, taking the name of Maximos. His appointment as bishop of Aleppo was contested by the
Propaganda Fide (and by
Ignatius IV Sarrouf, Archbishop of
Beirut and future patriarch). In May 1811, a compromise was reached: Mazloum was offered the position of superior of the first Melkite seminary established in
Ain Traz. In 1814 Mazloum was sent to
Rome by the Melkite Episcopal Synod to appeal his dismissal from the See of Aleppo:
Pope Pius VII on July 24, 1814, rejected the appeal and asked Mazloum (who was given the
titular title of
Myra) to remain in Europe. Mazloum remained in Europe until 1831, living mainly in Rome, and endearing himself to the
Roman Curia because of his untiring efforts in aid of the Melkites. From 1817 to 1823 Mazloum traveled in
France and in
Vienna. In 1819 he petitioned the Catholic authorities to lean on the
Ottoman Empire to stop the persecutions of the
Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch against the Catholic Melkites. He returned to the East in 1831. On March 24, 1833, he was elected patriarch of the Melkites. In 1834 he entered in
Damascus, whence his predecessor
Cyril VI Tanas had to escape because of religious persecutions. On October 31, 1837, he was recognized by the
Ottoman Empire as the civil authority of a
millet, a distinctive religious community within the Empire, thus obtaining civic emancipation for his Church. In 1838
Pope Gregory XVI granted him the titles of Patriarch of Alexandria and Jerusalem, and from then on the title held by the leader of the Melkite Church is
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and Jerusalem of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. His action as patriarch was strong (he was named "untiring fighter"): he carried on a legislative reform of Church (synods of 1835 and 1849) and reformed the religious instruction, giving also new life to the patriarchal
Ain Traz Seminary. As patriarch he resided in
Beirut until his death in 1855. ==See also==