Description and research notes
Official Patriarchal letter dated 17 September 1943 and issued from the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate residence in Fleming–Ramleh, Alexandria. Typed on cream chancery paper with faint laid lines and bearing the crowned Patriarchal emblem at upper right, the document is internally registered as 'عدد 305' and 'سجل 16,' confirming it as an authenticated in-period chancery file copy.
Addressed to Dr. Tawfiq Hajjar in Cairo, the letter opens with the formal Melkite invocation of peace and apostolic blessing. However, its content is explicitly political, offering a rare glimpse into the diplomatic and intercessory functions of the Patriarchate during the final months of World War II and immediately before the proclamation of Lebanese independence (November 1943). Hajjar had requested patriarchal support for his appointment as a Lebanese political representative in the Egyptian kingdom. Cyril IX acknowledges this request and commends Hajjar’s standing among Cairo’s senior figures, noting that his reputation strengthens the legitimacy of the proposed appointment.
The central body of the letter records concrete political action already taken by the Patriarch. Cyril IX states that on the previous day, he dispatched a detailed directive to Metropolitan Maximos Sayegh of Beirut—later the famous Patriarch Maximos IV—ordering him to intervene with Lebanese authorities and foreign diplomatic channels to support Hajjar’s nomination. Three additional ecclesiastical deputies were also instructed to advocate on Hajjar’s behalf. Cyril IX further promises that once the new Lebanese President has been elected, he will write directly and insistently to the President with renewed support, employing every available ecclesiastical and diplomatic means to secure a favorable outcome.
This mixture of pastoral tone and high-level political engagement reflects the unique position the Melkite Patriarchate occupied in the 1940s. Alexandria and Cairo served as geopolitical hubs linking the Levant, British authorities, and emerging Arab-nationalist leadership circles. Patriarchal letters explicitly engaging in political intercession—particularly those naming individuals, bishops, and concrete diplomatic instructions—are almost never found outside church archives.
The document concludes with a bold handwritten dip-pen signature 'كيرلس التاسع' (Cyril IX), exhibiting natural ink pooling, pressure variation, and letterform irregularity consistent with authentic 1940s signatures. Its combination of full header, registry marks, complete typed content, and strong autograph make it one of the finest extant examples of Cyril IX’s correspondence.
As a primary-source artifact, this letter is exceptional. It captures the Patriarchate acting as a political broker during a moment of seismic regional change—linking Egyptian, Lebanese, ecclesiastical, and diplomatic worlds at the height of wartime uncertainty. Surviving signed political letters of Cyril IX are almost unknown in private hands, with most retained in institutional or monastic archives. Estimated total survival of comparable documents is believed to be no more than 2–4 pieces, placing this example firmly in the R9 tier of extreme rarity and making it a Tier-6 ecclesiastical–political manuscript of the highest research value.