Nicolas Antiba

Nicolas Antiba B.A. (born 25 December 1945 in Aleppo, Syria) is a Syrian archbishop of Melkite Greek Catholic Church. He is the current Patriarchal Vicar of Damascus, Syria.

Life

Nicolas Antiba professed his initial vows to the Basilian Aleppian Order on 23 March 1964. He pursued philosophical and theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome beginning in 1967, and obtained a licentiate. A year later, upon the request of Maximos V Hakim, he moved to the patriarch's seminary of Saint Anne in Rabweh, Lebanon to "provide spiritual leadership and be in charge of the pastoral year". His co-consecrators were his predecessor Boulos Nassif Borkhoche and the apostolic exarch in Venezuela, Georges Kahhalé Zouhaïraty.

Antiba's studies long career have given him fluency in Arabic, English, French and Italian. He also has a working knowledge of German, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Armenian. He has taught at three universities in Lebanon, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Antonine University and St. Paul Institute of Philosophy and Theology, and has written articles and studies in the areas of theology, scripture, liturgy and spirituality.