Mar Elias Educational Institutions
Ibillin - Galilee
A Life Dedicated to Peace and Education
A three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Archbishop Emeritus Elias Chacour retired after serving since 2006 as the Archbishop of the Melkite Catholic Church for Akko, Haifa, Nazareth, and all of Galilee. He is living again in Ibillin in the small village of Mar Elias Educational Institutions within the village of Ibillin, a small Arab village in the Galilee region near Nazareth, where Christians and Muslims have lived together peacefully for many decades.
In 1965, Father Chacour was ordained and appointed as priest of St. George Melkite Catholic Church in Ibillin. He remained there until 2006, when he was promoted to Archbishop and moved to Haifa.
Father Chacour realized early on that his work in Ibillin would require more than routine priestly duties. His vision was, and is, that through education, children, youth, and young adults of different faith traditions will learn to live and work together in peace. That vision is a reality in the Mar Elias Educational Institutions (MEEI) schools. Over a 30-year period, as Father Chacour’s dreams became a reality, schools were established in Ibillin. The cluster of schools now serves 2,750 students from preschool through high school.
Many international groups and educational institutions have honored Archbishop Chacour for his work on behalf of peace.
In addition to his nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize (1986, 1989, 1994), he received the World Methodist Peace Prize in 1994, and in May 2001, a Buddhist group in Japan awarded the prestigious Niwano Peace Prize. Also, in 2001, Emory University and The University of Indianapolis recognized the work of Father Chacour with honorary doctorates.
Archbishop Chacour is the author of 'Blood Brothers' (1984, updated in 2002 and again in 2013) and 'We Belong to the Land' (1990). 'Blood Brothers' has been translated into more than twenty different languages. A 2011 book, 'Blessed are the Peacemakers' by Patricia Griggs, is written for middle-schoolers and tells Abuna’s story in his voice.
He was born to a Palestinian Christian family in the village of Biram in Upper Galilee in 1939. Along with his whole village, he experienced the tragedy of eviction by the Israeli authorities in 1948 and became a refugee in his land. He and all his family members became citizens of Israel when the state was created.