Quick Facts
LeoBiography
Anthony II Peter Arida (born on August 2, 1863 in Bsharri, Lebanon – died on May 19, 1955 in Bkerké, Lebanon) (or Selim Ben Abdel Ahad Arida, Antoine Boutros Arida, Arabic: أنطونيوس الثاني بطرس عريضة) was bishop of the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tripoli and 73rd Maronite Patriarch of Antioch from 1932 until his death in 1955.
Life
Anthony Peter Arida was born in Bsharri, Lebanon on February 2, 1863. He learned Arabic and Syriac languages during his schooldays. From 1884 to 1890 he studied theology at the school of Saint-Sulpice, Paris.
He was ordinated priest on September 28, 1890 and served as secretary and canon lawyer of the Maronite Patriarch John Peter El Hajj. On July 31, 1905 Arida was appointed by Pope Pius X honorary prelate. He was appointed Maronite bishop of Tripoli, Lebanon in June 7, 1908 and consecrated bishop on June 18, 1908 by Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, Elias Peter Hoayek, being installed on his episcopal see on June 28 of the same year. Anthony Peter Arida was elected patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites on January 8, 1932 and the Holy See confirmed him patriarch on March 13, 1933.
Patriarch Arida openly condemned the treatment of Jews in Germany in 1933. He sustained the Lebanese independence in 1943 in order to maintain the specificity of Lebanon as a Christian nation into a Muslim world.
In the last years of his life he was joined in the management and administration of the Patriarchate by a committee of three bishops, including his successor, Paul Peter Meouchi.
He died on May 19, 1955 in the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate in Bkerké, Lebanon.