Ignace Philip I Arqous

Mar Ignace Philip I Arqous (or Arqus, Harcus, Arcous, 1827–1874) was Patriarch of the Syrian Catholic Church from 1866 to 1874.
==Life==
Philip Arqous was born in Amid on 11 April 1827 (on 30 March according to the Julian Calendar used by the Syrian Catholic Church up to 1836). He was sent to study in the Patriarchal seminary of Charfet in Libanon and was ordained priest in 1850. On 28 July 1862 he was consecrated bishop by Patriarch Ignace Antony I Samhiri and appointed bishop of Amid (i.e. Diyarbakır).
At the death of Patriarch Ignace Antony I Samhiri on 16 June 1864, the Congregation Propaganda Fide of Rome asked that the new Patriarch should live in Mardin where was the traditional See of the Syrian Patriarch of Antioch. Because of a pestilence the electoral synod could be summoned only in 1866 in Aleppo, and when three metropolitans declined not to go to live in the cold Mardin, Philip Arqous was elected Patriarch (21 May 1866). He was enthroned Sunday 24 May 1866, and soon traveled to Rome where he was confirmed by Pope Pius IX on 3 August of the same year.
Philip Arqous was a poor leader without the energy and the strength of his predecessor. The Syrian Catholic Church suffered of a period of problems, due to the too high number of bishops and to some cases of misconduct. 
Philip Arqous did not keep a clear position towards the attempts of Pius IX to decide the appointments of bishops in the Eastern Catholic ChurchesThe bull Reversurus dated 12 July 1867 was written for the Catholic Armenians but this issue was common to all the Eastern Catholic Churches. While the Chaldean Patriarch Audo and the Melkite Patriarch Youssef, as well as the Armenian Catholic Church, reacted fiercely and later obtained substantial changes, Philip Arqous pretended initially not to have received any instruction from Rome.
In this climate Philip Arqous went to Rome to attend the First Vatican Council (together with other six Syrian Catholic bishops: Behnam Benni of Mosul, George Chelhot of Aleppo, Athanase Jarkhi of Baghdad, Flavien-Pierre Matah, and other two bishops converted from the Syriac Orthodox Church). In Rome, not to be forced to take a position on the issue of the appointment of the bishops, he offered his resignation as Patriarch that was rejected by the Pope. Throughout his staying in Rome, Philip Arqous, probably already ill, did not participate to the works of the Council nor to the liturgies. When back home, in 1872 he ordained a bishop without the previous approval from the Pope. 
Philip Arqous died in Mardin on 7 March 1874.
==Notes==
==External links==
* Painting and biography (in Arabic) of Ignace Philip I Arqous
Category:Assyrian people
Category:Syriac Catholic Patriarchs of Antioch
Category:1874 deaths
Category:1827 births