Justin Najmy

Justin Najmy, BA (April 23, 1898 – June 11, 1968) was a Syrian prelate who served as the first Eparch of Newton in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church from 1966 to 1968. He served for two years before his death at age 70. He was a member of the Basilian Aleppian Order.

Biography Justin Abraham Najmy was born on April 23, 1898. He joined the Basilian Aleppian Order, studied at the seminary at Deir-ech-Chir and at the Propaganda Fidei, and was ordained a priest in Rome on December 25, 1926.

On May 29, 1966, in a ceremony at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, Najmy was consecrated a bishop by Athanasios Toutoungi, archbishop of Aleppo, his former seminary colleague, and received the title of titular bishop of Augustopolis-in-Phrygia. The following month he was formally enthroned as exarch. He established his episcopal see at the Church of the Annunciation in suburban Boston, which became the cathedral for the newly created Apostolic Exarchate of United States of America, Faithful of the Oriental Rite (Melkite).

In the wake of the Six-Day War in June 1967, Najmy welcomed the bishops of Middle Eastern churches in the United States for a meeting in Boston. Bishops of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, the Maronite Catholic Church, and from Armenian and Syrian churches attended.

Bishop Najmy did not serve as exarch for long. He died of a heart attack on June 11, 1968, and was succeeded by Joseph Tawil. He is buried at the parish cemetery of St. Basil the Great in Cumberland, Rhode Island.