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ABSTRACT
This article sheds light on the Melkite Catholics in Galilee. It strengthens the assumption that many Melkite Catholics arrived in the Acre region during Ḍāhir al-ʿUmar's reign (1730s–1775), and it shows that relations between the Christians and adherents of other faiths were good enough in day-to-day life, allowing the Christians to develop their business and to share important properties with Muslims. It also shows that some familial traditions have been preserved since the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the branch of the ʿAssāf family discussed here preserved the tradition of higher education and business. This study proves that in the village of Miʿilyā, and probably in other Christian villages, there is a relationship between the arrival date of the families, the location of their quarters in the villages and the feasts that they are responsible for. In Miʿilyā, the earlier families settled the castle and were responsible for the most important feast days.
Acknowledgments
My great thanks to Professor Denys Pringle for reading and commenting on the article. I would like to dedicate this study to the late Dr Peter Afif ʿAssaf who passed away during the writing of the article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. For long lists of bibliography, see http://www.csc.org.il/db/browse.aspx?db=Holy.
2. D. Melling, Melkite Catholics, in The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999), p.312; D. Pringle, The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (4 vols, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993–2009), Vol.4, p.30; I. Dick, Les Melkites: grecs-orthodoxes et grecs-catholiques des patriarcats d'Antioche d'Alexandrie et de Jérusalem [The Melkites: Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholics of the Patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem] (Brepols: Maredsous, 1994), p.32. For the original Melkites, see Dick, 1994, pp.21–32.
3. A. Shipman, Greek Catholics in America, in The Catholic Encyclopedia (15 vols, London: Caxton Publication Company, 1909), Vol.6, pp.744–52. For the Mass, see ibid., p.751.
4. Pringle, 1993–2009, Vol.4, p.30.
5. A. Cohen, Palestine in the 18th Century: Patterns of Government and Administration (Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1973), pp.8–10.
6. T. Philipp, Ẓāhir al-ʿUmar al-Zaydānī in The Encyclopaedia of Islam (13 vols, new ed., Leiden: Brill, 2002), Vol.11, p.393 (later appears as EI).
7. Cohen, 1973, pp.14–16. For Dahir's development, see T. Philipp, Acre: The Rise and Fall of a Palestinian City, 1730--1831 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), pp.30–48.
8. The author was unable to find any Greek Catholic family from the Western Galilee villages of Miʿilya, Fassuta, Tarshiha, al-Buqay'a and others, which harks back to earlier dates than Dahir. However, in order to confirm that, further detailed studies will be carried out by the author, intending to discuss all the families of Miʿilya as well as families from other villages in the region, including those from Fassuta, Tarshiha, Iqrith, al-Buqay'a, and al-Ba'ina.
9. Cohen, 1973, pp.250–53.
10. Ibid., p.252.
11. See, for example, the suggestion by Philipp, 2001, pp.23, 177.
12. B. Bagatti, Antichi Villaggi Cristiani di Galilea [Ancient Christian Villages of Galilee] (Jerusalem: Tipografia dei PP. Francescani, 1971), pp.139, 149, 150, 158, 159, 173, 174, 176, 181, 184, 191, 204, 272.
13. V. Guérin, Description géographique, historique et archéologique de la Palestine [Geographical, Historical and Archaeological Description of Palestine] (3 vols, Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1880), Vol.3/2, p.4.
14. This point is under study by the author and will be published in the near future.
15. K. Salibi, Fakhr al-Dīn in EI, Vol.2, pp.749–51; al-Safadi, Ahmad Ibn Muhammad al-Khalidi, Lubnān fi ʿahd al-amīr fakhr al-dīn al-maʿanī al-thānī [Lebanon in the Time of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Maʿanī II], ed. A. Rustum and F. al-Bustani (Beirut: al-Matba'a al-Kathulikiyya, 1936).
16. R.G. Khamisy, ‘The Treaty of 1283 Between Sultan Qalāwūn and the Frankish Authorities of Acre: A New Topographical Discussion’, Israel Exploration Journal Vol.64/1 (2014), pp.72–102, at p.83. This is not the place to discuss this point, but it will be published in the near future.
17. Philipp, 2001, p.108.
18. Ibid., p.23.
19. A. Schneidleder, ‘The Imagined Christian Ecumene and the Quest for Return: Christian IDPs in Israel and the 2009 Visit of Benedict XVI’, Journal of Levantine Studies Vol.3/1 (2013), pp.33–59.
20. A. Pacini, Socio-Political and Community Dynamics of Arab Christians in Jordan, Israel, and the Autonomous Palestinian Territories in Christian Communities in the Arab Middle East: The Challenge of the Future (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), pp.259–85.
21. B. Sabella, The Emigration of Christian Arabs: Dimensions and Causes of the Phenomenon in Christian Communities in the Arab Middle East: The Challenge of the Future (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), pp.127–54.
22. Members of the ʿAssaf family live in various places throughout Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and other Arab countries (see endnote 43 below). Some individuals emigrated to Latin America and elsewhere throughout the world and established new families abroad. However, there is not one piece of evidence of a genetic tie to the ʿAssaf family of Miʿilya (except in the case of those who had emigrated from Miʿilya).
23. S. Arraf, Miʿilya (Miʿilya: The Rural Research Center, 2002), pp.122–49 (Arabic).
24. This manuscript (Daftar sijill ṭāʾifat al-rūm al-kāthūlīk fī qaryat miʿilyā [A Notebook of the Greek Catholic Sect in the Village of Miʿilya], later referred to as MS Fawwaz) has not yet been published; I hope to do so in the near future. However, according to my detailed study of the manuscript, it may be assumed that it is very accurate. I am very grateful to the Waqf of Miʿilya for allowing me to use the manuscript.
25. MS Fawwaz: 1. According to our study, there were several stages in which the families of Miʿilya arrived in the village. This happened since the mid-eighteenth century onwards. Thus, Fawwaz spoke to people belonging to the first-fifth generations of the different families. These certainly knew reliable information about their first ancestors in the village.
26. In the author's survey (license S-390/2013), a prehistoric site was discovered (7500–6000 B.C.). For the other periods, see R. Frankel, N. Getzov, M. Aviam and A. Dagani, Settlement Dynamics and Regional Diversity in Ancient Upper Galilee: Archaeological Survey of Upper Galilee - Israel Antiquities Authority, Report 14 (Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2001), p.25, No.161.
27. E. Strehlke (ed.), Tabulae Ordinis Theutonici (Berlin, 1869, repr. Toronto: Prelum Academicum Universitatis Torontonensis, 1975), pp.2–3, No.2; H.E. Mayer, 2010. Die Urkunden der Lateinischen Könige von Jerusalem [The Deeds of the Latin Kings of Jerusalem] (4 vols, Hanover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 2010), Vol.1, pp.460–62.
28. For Frankish Miʿilya, see Tabulae, 1975, pp.120–21, No.128; R. Ellenblum, Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp.41–53; R. Khamisy, ‘The History and Architectural Design of Castellum Regis and Some Other Finds in the Village of Miʿilya’, Crusades Vol.12 (2013), pp.13–51; Pringle, 1993–2009, No.2, pp.30–31. For the district of Miʿilya, see B. Lewis, ‘An Arabic Account of the Province of Safed’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies Vol.15 (1953), pp.480, 484.
29. W.-D. Hütteroth and K. Abdulfattah, Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century (Erlangen: Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft, 1977), p.194. The researchers assumed that the tax rolls are from 1596, but later examination leads Rhode to claim that the year should be changed to 1548–49. He also claimed that the place is actually Mibliyya and not Miʿilya. See H. Rhode, The Administration and Population of the Sancsk of Safed in the Sixteenth Century (PhD thesis, Columbia University, New York, 1979), pp.6, 86, 88, 184. We believe that the dates suggested by Rhode are more accurate because he discussed this field in detail, but the names given by Hütteroth and Abdulfattah are more accurate because they studied the places that appeared in this specific document in detail. Actually we have had no opportunity to examine these documents and thus we cannot verify this information.
30. Rhode, 1979, p.86; see also D. Grossman, Expansion and Desertion: The Arab Village and Its Offshoots in Ottoman Palestine (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1994), p.81 (Hebrew).
31. S. Schultz, Fernere Nachricht von der zum Heil der Juden errichteten Anstalt [Further Message from the Institution Erected for the Salvation of the Jews] (Halle: Instituti Judaici, 1774), pp.272–8.
32. G. Mariti, Viaggi per l'isola di Cipro e per la Soria e Palestina fatti dall'anno 1760 al 1768 [Travels Through Cyprus, Syria, and Palestine Done in the Years 1760–1768] (9 vols, Firenze: Lucca, 1769–76), Vol.2, p.159.
33. My great thanks to Mr Salim Shufani (88 years old) for telling me this story, which is well known in the village. See also Arraf, 2002, p.52.
34. It seems that some Greek Catholic families inhabited the region several decades before Dahir ruled it. For example, a document dated 1714 proves that such community inhabited the village of al-Damun, ten km east of Acre (see L. Cozza and E. Castellani, Atti del Rev.mo Padre Lorenzo Cozza, Custode di Terra Santa (1709--1715), Tomo I–II, Parte I–II, in Biblioteca bio-bibliografica della Terra Santa e dellʼOriente Francescano. II Serie “Documenti”. Tomo IV–V (Quaracchi: Collegio di S. Bonaventura, 1924), I, pp.388–90. Also, both families of Yusuf al-Sallal and Ibrahim Sabbagh inhabited Acre before Dahir ruled it. See Philipp, 2001, pp.35, 108.
35. Mariti, 1969–76, Vol.2, pp.77, 87.
36. See Schur, 1990, p.231. Schur mistakenly assumed that al-Sallal was Greek Orthodox. For Yusuf al-Sallal and Ibrahim Sabbagh, see also M. Sabbagh, Tarikh al-shaykh zahir al-ʿumar al-zaydani: ḥakim ʿakka wa bilad ṣafad [The History of Shaykh Ḍar al-ʿUmar al-Zaydani, Ruler of Acre and the District of Safed], ed. Q. al-Basha (Hariṣa: Maṭbaʿat al-Qiddīs Būlus, 1927), pp.73–4; Philipp, 2001, pp.101, 108–9.
37. Personal communication with Mrs Hanna Matar/Shahin from Tarshiha and Mr Khalil Mu'allim from Miʿilya. For a different story, see below.
38. MS Fawwaz, pp.3–15. It should be noted that the manuscript does not follow the Alphabet.
39. This is not the place to deal with this point and the question of the chronological arrival of the families to the village. Nevertheless, it may be assumed, based on the manuscript by Fawwaz and other documents from the village, that the first families arrived together, or over the span of a few years.
40. A village located in the Lower Galilee.
41. We are trying to obtain this document from the Vatican archive and from the manuscripts of al-Basha in the archives of al-Mukhallis Monastery. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned Father, Father Qustantin al-Basha, was a historian who carried out a great deal of research and published several manuscripts. He visited the Vatican several times and was regarded as ‘the historian of the sect’ (see I. Kuwaitir, al-Sinkisār al-ruhbānī al-mukhalliṣī (Junyi: al-Matba'a al-Bulusiyya, 1982), pp.235–7, No.534. Thus, it may be assumed that the document is reliable, although a mistake might have occurred when Father Habib Mu'allim quoted al-Basha journals.
42. Surur, Ilyas Saliba 1997. Ilabun tarikh wa dhikrayat [Ilabun, History and Memories] (Nazareth: Matba'at al-Hakim), pp.201–4 (Arabic). It is very important to note that both Yusuf al-Sallal and Ibrahim Sabbagh appeared respectively in the document as presenting the leading families of Acre. This information corresponds with the historical events because in 1753 Yusuf al-Sallal still was the leading figure in the court of Dahir and Ibrahim Sabbagh was not yet Dahir's medical doctor (he took this position in 1757 (Sabbagh 1927, pp.73–4)) but seems to have been a leading figure before that. Later, in 1761, Ibrahim Sabbagh replaced al-Sallal and started to serve as a minister (Philipp (2001, pp.101, 108)). This correspondence strengthens the suggestion that the 1753 document is authentic and reliable.
43. See U. Kahala, Muʿjam Qabāʾil al-ʿArab, al-Qadīma wa'l Ḥadītha [Dictionary of the New and Old Arab Tribes] (5 vols, 8th ed, Beirut: al-Resalah, 1997), Vol.2, pp.780–1; A. Zakariyya, ʿAshāʾir al-shām [The Tribes of al-Sham] (2 vols, 2nd ed, Damascus: Dar al-Fikir, 1983), Vol.2, p.590; F. al-Hamad, Kitāb ʿarrāba al-awwal al-nās (Amman: Dar al-Aml, 1995), pp.509–10; Arraf, 2002, p.138; Kuwaitir, 1982, pp.161, 301–2, Nos.358, 700); P. Hitti, Tārīkh lubnān mundhu aqdam al-ʿuṣūr al-tārīkhiyya ilā ʿaṣrinā al-ḥāḍir [The History of Lebanon from the Most Ancient Periods Until Our Recent Period] (Beirut: Dar al-Thaqafa, 1978), pp.450–51.
44. MS Fawwaz, p.43. This was added later by someone who tried to extend the work. This information may be true, but we put it in doubt.
45. Notebooks of Jabbur ʿAssaf who was born around 1892. These notebooks seem to have been passed down from previous generations, but, unfortunately, they are missing now, and this information was taken from the archives of Shukri Arraf, who briefly referred to them.
46. This study will not deal with Yusuf's branch.
47. MS Fawwaz, p.43. We will not deal with the branch of Hanna.
48. Al-Jazzar ruled Acre and Sidon after killing Dahir. During his reign (1775–1804), he changed the main policies of Dahir such as being closer to the Ottoman court and governors and by establishing relations with Britain rather than with France. For further information, see K. Salibi, al-Djazzār Pasha, Aḥmad in EI, Vol.2, pp.268–9; Philipp, 2001, pp.48–78, 157–64; Cohen, 1973, pp.19–29, 53–77.
49. It should be noted that this story is also still told in the village by families other than the ʿAssaf family.
50. MS Fawwaz, p.43.
51. The gravestones helped us study the history of Miʿilya and its families and their socio-economic situation. All of the gravestones are under study and the results will be published in the future.
52. This is the oldest document we were able to find in the village. It includes very important information other than that discussed above, which is not relevant to this current research but will be published soon in another study. My great thanks to the family of Mr Hanna Najib ʿAssaf, the owner of the document, for allowing me to use it, and to Mr Ilyas Adib ʿAssaf for telling me about it. This is the first time these owners of the mill are mentioned in a published study.
53. The author of this article was able to find only one ‘Jami’ al-Zaituni’ (Zaituni mosque) – the one in Acre. Moreover, the Waqf of the mosque (http://www.iaqsa.com/%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%83%D8%A7/) contains one half of a mill. Unfortunately, the author tried but was unable to check the mosque's Archive in order to know if it is the same mill that appeared in the 1841 document. However, it seems that the half mill that appears on the website is in one of the mills to the east of Acre and not the one from 1841.
54. Sulayman Basha was the successor of al-Jazzar and he ruled Acre for almost 15 years (1804–1818). He was called al-ʿĀdil (the equitable). See the next note; I. al-ʿAwra, Tārīkh wilāyat sulaymān bāshā al-ʿādil [The History of Sulayman Basha the Equitable Ruler], ed. Q. al-Basha (Sayda: Matbaʿat Dayr al-Mukhallis, 1936). The book proves that this Christian family (al-ʿAwra) was very close to Sulayman Basha and served his household for long time.
55. Ibid., pp.108–27. For the Farhi family and Hayim, see A. Shmuelevitz, Farḥi in Encyclopaedia Judaica (16 vols, Jerusalem: Keter, 1974), Vol.6, pp.1182–3; Philipp, 2001, pp.85–91, 121, 156, 161, 168.
56. Ibid., p.126.
57. For material about these events, see Schur, 1990, pp.337–8.
58. U. Seetzen, Reisen durch Syrien, Palästina, Phönicien, die Transjordanischen Länder, Arabia Petrea und Unter-Ägypten [Travels Through Syria, Palestine, Phenicia, Transjordan, Arabia Petrea and Lower Egypt], ed. K. Friedrich (4 vols, Berlin: G. Reimer, 1854–9), Vol.2, p.94.
59. The author will compare this manuscript with the published ones, and if finding significant differences, he will publish it.
60. al-ʿAwra, 1936, p.92.
61. Ibid., p.24. See also Shmuelevitz, 1974, p.1182.
62. al-ʿAwra, 1936, p.160.
63. The sentence was not written well and thus was not completed and was crossed out. Thus, it might be that the two Yusafs are actually the same although the word ‘servant’ appeared between them.
64. Y. Toledano, Otzar Genazim (Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook, 1960), pp.93–118 (Hebrew).
65. According to the owners, this book belonged to al-Jazzar library, but it actually seems to belong to Farhi.
66. It should be noted that both Ilyas and his wife remember this document very well.
67. L.H. Stanhope, Travels. ed. C. Meryon (3 vols, London: H. Colburn, 1846), Vol.1, pp.255–7.
68. Schur, 1990, pp.231–2.
69. Ibid., p.234; Philipp, 2001, p.90.
70. MS Fawwaz.
71. A detailed study will be published later by the author.
72. Personal communication with the researcher.
73. However, this will not be discussed here.
74. MS Fawwaz and the author's personal archive. It is also possible that Khalil was married during his stay in Acre and that he fathered Ibrahim there, and when he returned to the village he fathered Habib. The difference between the ages between brothers at the time was very big and sometimes reaches over 20 years. This might be the case between the sons of Khalil.
75. According to MS Fawwaz, p.43, Khalil had only two sons, and Ibrahim died before he married.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid, p.55.
78. We did not hear this story in Fassuta and found no documents regarding this act. However, according to Mrs Badriyya ʿAssaf (85 years old), until several decades ago, the name of Mikha'il was still mentioned every Sunday in the church.
79. Jabbur's document mentions 23 instead of 24 carats.
80. This information was found in a journal belonging to Najib Shahin from Tarshiha whose mother was Fahum the daughter of Habib ʿAssaf. My great thanks to Mr Ilyas Shahin for allowing me to use this manuscript (MS Shahin, p.7).
81. My archives.
82. As a gesture of respect in Arab culture, a person is called by the name of his or her eldest son, to show that they (he or she) have male children.
83. This article is not the place to deal with these points, which we will publish later.
84. For al-ʿAssafiyya, see Arraf, 2002, pp.503–4; S. Avitsur, Survey of Water Power Facilities in Israel (Tel Aviv: Avshalom Institution, 1963), p.24 (Hebrew).
85. This information is based on documents mentioning him as mukhtar in the suggested years.
86. We are counting the sons and daughters of the male sons because only these are regarded as with the family.
87. My great thanks to Joseph Fahim ʿAssaf for allowing me to use his archive. Part of this archive will be published later by the author.
88. For this one, Dr Peter Afif ʿAssaf, see above, the first note in the article.
89. Arraf, 2002, p.210, and personal communication with his brother, Mr Ilyas ʿAssaf, who worked for the Iraq Petroleum Company and still keeps his employee card.
90. None of the many people in the village whom I asked, including those of Nadim's generation, knew anything about the society.
91. Nadim, for example, studied in Acre. This is not the place to discuss the changes in mentality during the different periods.
92. Actually he had more grandchildren, but we know almost nothing about the daughter of his son Nadim. She is somewhere in Europe and her father died and was buried in Venezuela.
93. It might be asked whether this was a one-off occurrence or a more general problem. This topic necessitates detailed studies hopefully to be carried out by the author in the near future.
94. Many of these were mentioned several times in contemporary documents and will be published by the author in the near future.
95. This issue will be checked in each of our future studies regarding the Greek Catholic families in the Galilee.