Nicholas Khasha

Holy Hieromartyr Nicholas Khasha was a priest in Damascus and suffered at Mersin, in Cilicia, on 2 August 1917. As a layman he worked so that the Patriarchate of Antioch, which was under Greek leadership, should come again under Arab leadership, and he laboured to found and develop the schools of the community. Then he was ordained and served in the Archdiocese of Damascus.

Patriarch Meletios (Doumani) sent him as his vicar to the diocese of Mersin, which Bishop Alexander (Tahhan) had left because of its poverty and its troubles. At Mersin Father Nicholas gathered the scattered flock, cared for it and strengthened the faithful, who were subjected to various forms of persecution and ethnic cleansing. The Turkish authorities, displeased with him, arrested him on the basis of slander and tortured him to death.

His son, Father Habib Khasha, suffered too, in 1948. The Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch canonized them both on 19 October 2023, at Balamand, and decided that their memory be kept every year on 16 July. Their service and icon were approved.