Leadership — Institute for Eastern Christian Studies

Charbel Makhlouf (born Youssef Antoun Makhlouf; May 8, 1828 – December 24, 1898) was a Lebanese Maronite monk and priest. During his life, he obtained a wide reputation for holiness, and for his ability to unite Christians, Muslims and Druze. He was a member of the Baladites.

He is known among Lebanese Christians as the "Miracle Monk of Lebanon" because of the favours received through his intercession, especially after prayers are said at his tomb in the Monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya, Lebanon. He was beatified in 1965 and canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI. His feast is celebrated on 24 July by the Latin Church, and on the third Sunday of July by the Maronite Church.

He is our Patron Saint because of his holiness and ability to unite people. The Saint has many miracles attributed to him.

Patriarch Josyf was a man of strong character and unbending loyalty — a staunch defender of the faith. On account of this he suffered 18 years of imprisonment in Russian prison camps but continued, throughout his life, to fight undauntedly for the rights of his Church and nation.

During his 21 years in freedom, Patriarch Josyf consistently strived for the establishment of a single Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Church for both faithful of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its formal recognition by both the Vatican and the Phanar.

Cardinal Slipyj offered the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the Orthodox Church offers the same liturgy. The Cardinal saw first hand through his relatives that were both Catholic and Orthodox and how they were living in unity with each other.

It was the Cardinal's wish and strategy that he would establish a new jurisdiction, with Papal Privilege, and consecrate +Amvrosi to lead this jurisdiction of uniting both East and West.

At the Church of Santa Sofia in Rome, Italy, Cardinal Slipyj secretly consecrated +Amvrosi and elevated him to this high and sacred ministry to shepherd the united Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox flocks in the American diaspora with wisdom, discernment and evangelical zeal.

This primatial ministry was to preserve the unity of Orthodoxy and Catholicism which he was able to give to a successor before his passing. Over the last 50 years His Beatitude, Archbishop Metropolitan +Amvrosi continued to ordain men to the priesthood and consecrate a few of them to be bishops in the Byzantine Eastern Rite through the Divine Liturgy in this sui juris, autocephalous jurisdiction.

Joel was ordained a deacon by Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Ratzinger, at the Basilica of St. Peter in October of 1999. After his studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (the Angelicum) were completed, he returned to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and was ordained a priest in May of 2000 by Archbishop Harry J. Flynn.

After serving in the Archdiocese as pastor, associate pastor, chaplain to a high school and various other assignments, Joel asked to leave ministry to pursue marriage and it was granted to him and he is in good standing with the Church. Joel now is married with two children and lives in St. Paul, MN.

In 2019 His Beatitude met Joel and validated him as a Byzantine Catholic married priest with bi-ritual faculties giving him the privilege to offer both the Roman Rite and Eastern Rite liturgies. In 2021 Father Cycenas was elevated to Archpriest and in January of 2024 was elevated to Chorbishop.

Chorbishop +Cycenas is the Chancellor of the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies whose sole purpose is to help East and West unite by assisting, behind the scenes, the Pope and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.