Topic: Nasrallah Sfeir

Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir (Arabic: الكاردينال مار نصر الله بطرس صفير Al-Kārdīnāl Mār Naṣrallah Buṭrus Ṣufayr; born May 15, 1920) is the patriarch of Lebanon's largest Christian body, the Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See. He is also a Cardinal. He was elected Patriarch of Antioch for the Maronites on April 27, 1986, after the resignation of Cardinal Anthony Peter Khoraish. His official title is "His Beatitude and Eminence the seventy-sixth Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant".

Sfeir was born in Rayfoun, Lebanon. He was educated in Beirut, and at Mar Abda School in Harharaya where he completed his primary and complementary studies, and Ghazir where he completed his secondary studies at St. Maron seminary. He graduated in philosophy and theology in 1950 at Saint Joseph's University in Beirut. He was ordained to the priesthood in the same year on May 7. From 1951 to 1955 he served as priest to the parish of Rayfoun. In 1956, he was appointed the secretary of the Maronite Patriarchate, based in Bkerké. In the same year, he became the professor of translation in literature and philosophy at the Frères Maristes (Marist Brothers) School in Jounieh.

In June 1961, he was appointed the titular bishop of Tarsus and Patriarchal vicar. In July 1961, he was elected a Bishop. He was elected to the primacy of the Maronite Church by the Council of Maronite Bishops, on April 27, 1986.