Nicholas Samra

Nicholas James Samra (born August 15, 1944) is the eparch of the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton in the United States, elected in 2011. He is also Apostolic Administrator of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Nuestra Señora del Paraíso in Mexico City since 2015. Bishop Samra has written extensively on the subject of ecumenism and the Eastern Catholic Churches.

His Grace, The Most Reverend Nicholas James Samra
Eparch of Newton
Bishop Nicholas delivering a homily during a Memorial Service a Ukrainian Catholic Church in 2008.
Church	Melkite Greek Catholic
See	Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton
Appointed	June 15, 2011
Installed	August 23, 2011
Predecessor	Cyril Salim Bustros
Other posts	Apostolic Administrator of Eparchy of Nuestra Señora del Paraíso in Mexico City
Orders
Ordination	May 10, 1970
Consecration	July 6, 1989 by Joseph Elias Tawil, Michel Hakim, and Boutros Raï
Personal details
Born	(1944-08-15) August 15, 1944 Paterson, New Jersey
Previous post	Auxiliary Eparch of Newton Titular Bishop of Gerasa
Motto	Steward Of The Mysteries

Styles of Nicholas James Samra
Reference style	His Grace The Most Reverend
Spoken style	His Grace
Religious style	Eparch

Biography

Early life and priesthood

Bishop Samra was born on August 15, 1944 in Paterson, New Jersey to George H. Samra and Elizabeth Balady Samra. His grandparents and his father were immigrants to the United States from Aleppo, Syria. He was ordained a priest for the Eparchy of Newton on May 10, 1970 and served as a pastor in Melkite parishes in Los Angeles, Chicago and New Jersey. Bishop Samra earned the B.A. at Saint Anselm College, Goffstown, New Hampshire, and a B.D. from St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts.

Episcopate

On April 21, 1989, Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Samra to Auxiliary Bishop of the Eparchy of Newton and Titular Bishop of Gerasa. Archbishop Joseph Tawil consecrated and installed him on July 6 of that year.

Bishop Nicholas Samra at Annunciation Melkite Catholic Cathedral, January 2012

Bishop Samra served as Auxiliary Bishop and Protosyncellus until he retired on January 11, 2005 to devote himself to scholarly work.[1]

In June 2011, the Synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church nominated him as Eparch of Newton to succeed Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros, and Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to the position on June 15, 2011.[2][3]

On Friday, January 16, 2015, he was appointed by Pope Francis to serve also as Apostolic Administrator of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Nuestra Señora del Paraíso in Mexico City, following the death of the former eparch[4] until a successor was appointed on December 20, 2019.

Scholarly Work

In October 2014, Bishop Samra presented "Eastern Catholicism in the Middle East Fifty Years after Orientalium ecclesiarum" at the conference "The Vatican II Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches, Orientalium ecclesiarum - Fifty Years Later" organized by the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies held at the University of Toronto.[5]

An active speaker and author, Bishop Samra has written extensively on the subject of ecumenism, Christian leadership and stewardship. He has also published a multi-volume history of the Melkite Church and a book on the legacy of Archbishop Joseph Tawil.

Other activities

Bishop Samra is the past president of the Eastern Catholic Association of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Having celebrated his 75th birthday on August 15, 2019, it is suspected that Bishop Samra has submitted his request for retirement to The Holy See.

See also

• Catholic Church hierarchy
• Catholic Church in the United States
• Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
• List of Catholic bishops of the United States
• Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops

References

1. Catholic News Service (January 13, 2005). "Melkite Bishop Nicholas Samra retires". The Georgia Bulletin. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008.
2. Robert M. O'Grady (June 24, 2011). "New bishop named for Melkite Catholics". The Boston Pilot.
3. "Bishop Nicholas James Samra". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
4. "Rinunce e nomine, 16.01.2015" (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. January 16, 2015.
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHia3p0tuLc

External links

• Official Website of the Melkite Church in the US.

Episcopal succession

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Cyril Salim Bustros	Eparch of Newton 2011-Present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by -	Auxiliary Eparch of Newton 1989-2005	Succeeded by -