Holy New Priestmartyr Ḥabîb (Kheshy) of Damascus

Greek Orthodox Church in Port Sa‘îd, Ægypt

The sixteenth of July is the anniversary of the repose of one of the newer martyrs for the Faith of the Orthodox Church in Antioch, Father Ḥabîb Kheshy. Though he has not yet been formally glorified by the Church, a significant local cultus for him exists among Syrian Christians, and his cause therefore has considerable support in the great Church of Antioch. He should be remembered fittingly, for without doubt he is praying for us!

Ḥabîb Kheshy was born in 1894, the eldest of eight children; his father Niqûlâ [or Nicolas] Kheshy was also a righteous priest who served the Lord. Young Ḥabîb was given a solid education by his parents, and they taught him to love Christ and to keep the ascetic disciplines and prayers of the Church from an early age. He read from the Horologion, from the Psalter and from the Lives of the Saints. He also took his primary education at ‘Ayn Ṭûrah in Lebanon, and took his baccalaureate at the American University in Beirut. Ḥabîb took a keen interest in musicology, theology and Church history, and of particular interest to him were the ancient holy places of the Levantine Church.

Physically, Ḥabîb was slender, with a narrow, bright face. Inspired by the lives of the saints, he had a modest form of asceticism in his own life, which never overstepped the bounds of his calling, whether sæcular or in the Church. His personality was clear, simple and uncomplicated. He was also honest and direct, and did not mistrust or think ill of any. His attitude toward the natural world was one of wonderment; he approached all human beings with love and affection. His mouth was quick to comfort and prayer, and his hands were quick to give gifts and blessings, and to work good deeds for others.

Fr Niqûlâ moved his family to Myrsinē (now Mersin in Turkey) in 1914 after his son’s graduation. He served with distinction there as a parish priest, until he met a martyrific death during a political repression by the Turkish government aimed at religious minorities.

The Kheshy family had to flee Turkey. In 1922 they settled in Ægypt’s Port Sa‘îd, where Ḥabîb worked for some time as an accountant and translator for a foreign petrol company. During this time he met, fell in love with and married Wadî‘a Tûmâ, the observant daughter of Orthodox Christian refugees to Ægypt from Syria. He was drawn to Wadî‘a, it was said, because she had a generous and compassionate spirit, and used whatever free time she had to study from the Scriptures and read her prayer-book. The couple would have five children together: Jûlîyt, Mârsîl, Fadwa, Niqûlâ and Sâlim.

Ḥabîb was described as a caring and attentive husband and father – firm but gentle, and possessed of a sense of humour. Even while working as a parish priest, and this sometimes at a great distance from his family, he did not neglect them, but whenever he could he ate together with them, kept the fasts of the Church together with them, took trips together with them and attended to his children’s education.

In 1924 Ḥabîb and Wadî‘a moved back to Lebanon when his company transferred him to its branch in Beirut. Ḥabîb remained with that company for a further seven years. However, he was not content with his position and constantly felt the desire of his childhood, to enter the priesthood and to serve Christ. He resigned his position at his company and returned to Damascus. There, he went before the newly-enthroned Patriarch Alexandros III (Tahan), fell at his feet, and expressed his desire to become a priest. The Patriarch appears to have given the matter long and thoughtful consideration. Saint Ḥabîb’s ordination was something which his wife Wadî‘a, at first, opposed. She was concerned for the œconomic wellbeing of her husband and children, and did not want him to trade a life of relative wealth for the hardscrabble life she had seen parish priests lead in Ægypt. As long as she was opposed, Ḥabîb did not press the matter or try to badger her into changing her mind. However, she had a vision of Archangel Gabriel, who pointed her to two taps in the wall: one which was flowing freely, and the other which was flowing in a slight trickle. Gabriel said to Wadî‘a: ‘From now on you must be satisfied with little.’ From this she understood that the angel was supporting her husband’s desire to become a priest, and after this vision she consented in his wish. In the following year, 1932, he was ordained as a deacon, and then as a priest, by the Patriarch. He was consecrated in the Mariamite Cathedral in Damascus, and served there as a parish priest for three years.

In the years following 1935, Fr Ḥabîb often travelled between Damascus, Port Sa‘îd and Cairo. During this time his son Niqûlâ died at the age of five. This was the cause of great grief to Fr Ḥabîb and Wadî‘ah, though it also drew them closer together. Wadî‘ah was a trustworthy keeper of the secrets of her husband’s personal life as well as a compassionate co-sufferer with him in sorrows such as young Niqûlâ’s death.

However, in 1943 he permanently settled in Damascus. Still being based as a rector at the Mariamite Cathedral, Fr Ḥabîb did much of his work in the surrounding countryside, ministering to people in the villages outlying the Archbishopric of Damascus. Ḥabîb loved the rural poor, and his hagiography describes them as being among his best friends. Wealthy parishioners would often give him lavish gifts – which he would waste no time in giving to the poor, though he usually kept his gifts secret, such that his charity was known only to a few close friends and the direct beneficiaries. This was a cause of complaint among some other jealous parish priests. And one Ægyptian who was a friend of Fr Ḥabîb said of him: ‘It’s crazy how he disburses his money to the poor!’ On one occasion a hungry woman with several children knocked on his door and asked for some food. Looking into the kitchen, Fr Ḥabîb saw a whole pot of malfûf (stuffed cabbage rolls) that his wife had made for dinner. Without a second thought he gave the woman the whole pot and his blessing for a double portion of health.

On one occasion Fr Ḥabîb’s brother Yûsif sent him a rich, elaborate black cassock from Ægypt. He had occasion to go to the Mariamite Cathedral, and so he put the cassock on and went into aš-Šâri‘ al-Mustaqîm to meet Patriarch Alexandros. When Sayyidnâ Alexandros saw him, the Patriarch noted Fr Ḥabîb’s new cassock and exclaimed: ‘What a beautiful new cassock you are wearing, Abûna. May it be blessed!’

To this Fr Ḥabîb answered the Patriarch: ‘And may God bless you as well, Sayyidnâ! My brother sent me this as a gift from Ægypt.’

‘Then where is your old cassock, Abûna?’

‘It is at home, Sayyidnâ.’

‘Well, then. Later today I will send you an older priest from Ḥawrân. He and his flock are very poor. If you would be so kind, please give him your old cassock, for he cannot afford one himself.’

At this Fr Ḥabîb bowed his head, placed his hand on his heart, and said: ‘As you wish, Sayyidnâ.’

Later that evening, just as Patriarch Alexandros had said, the elderly priest from Ḥawrân showed up at Fr Ḥabîb’s home. Ḥabîb was wearing his old cassock. With joy Ḥabîb hugged the elderly priest, kissed him, invited him inside, served him coffee and candy, gave him the seat of honour in his parlour, and then gave to him a neatly wrapped package. When the elderly priest returned home and opened the package, of course what should he find there but Fr Ḥabîb’s new cassock, which his brother had given him!

Similar to his late father’s and his late son’s patron saint, Fr Ḥabîb would often give secretly to poor fathers so that they could afford dowries for their daughters to marry well – and would do this with particular speed if he discovered that a girl in his parish was being courted, on account of her poverty, by a Sunnî. To give these kinds of gifts, he would often borrow from rich parishioners, claiming some personal need of his own. He never let them know what he actually did with the money, but after his martyrdom his family found a notebook listing all of the parishioners to whom he owed money. Even though these parishioners had given this money to help the poor, he still considered the money as debts he owed himself, which he would repay.

Towards the middle of July, in the year 1948, Fr Ḥabîb left Damascus for Jabal aš-Šaykh. Those who had promised to go with him had backed out, and he planned to set out alone. Before he left, however, something strange happened to him: he felt as though, when he was praying, he was being lifted bodily off the ground. Khûriya Wadî‘a, when she heard of this, felt as though her heart were on fire. She begged him not to go, and even closed the door in his face when he refused to reconsider. Fr Ḥabîb began to laugh, saying, ‘What is wrong with you today, Khûriya? This isn’t the first time I’ve gone up the mountain. It’s strange that you would forbid me this time.’ For another hour she tried to convince him not to go, and that in front of his whole family, but to no avail. When at last she reluctantly agreed, Fr Ḥabîb gave her his blessing, and as she said goodbye she returned the blessing, making the sign of the Cross upon him and entrusting him to the care of the Theotokos.

On the sixteenth of July, Fr Ḥabîb was praying in a remote spot outside the village of ‘Arna on Jabal aš-Šaykh, when he was attacked by a band of smugglers. When they discovered him to be a Christian, and indeed a priest, they began to mock Fr Ḥabîb, beat him, kick him and subject him to cruel tortures for over four hours. In all that time, Fr Ḥabîb never once lifted his hand to defend himself, but instead told them of God’s mercy, blessed them as they cursed him and Christ, and asked God to forgive them. At length they flung the priest from a high cliff.

His killers were caught by the Syrian authorities. At first they tried to defend themselves by claiming Fr Ḥabîb was an Israeli spy. However, under cross-examination it was found that they had lied. They had killed him because they knew him to be a Christian and a priest. One of his killers, ’Ahmad ‘Ali Ḥasan ’Abi al-Ḥasan, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by the Syrian government, and executed two months later. The relics of Fr Ḥabîb, the great New Martyr for Christ, were found and returned to Damascus, where they were interred in the St George Cemetery on the eastern side of the city. Holy new priestmartyr Ḥabîb, ever patient father and friend to the poor, pray unto Christ God for us, that he may show us great mercy!

‘Arna, Jabal aš-Šaykh, Syria