Suheil Salman Ibrahim Dawani (born Nablus,

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, 1951) is a Palestinian Anglican bishop. He was the 14th bishop of the

Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem The Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem () is the Anglican jurisdiction for Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. It is a part of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, and has diocesan offices at St. George's Cathedral, Jerusa ...

from 15 April 2007, and Archbishop in Jerusalem from the restoration of the post in 2014, until his retirement in 2021. From 2017 to 2019 he was also the President Bishop of the

Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East The Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East is a province of the Anglican Communion. The primate of the church is called President Bishop and represents the Church at the international Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings. The Centra ...

. He is married and has three daughters.

Ecclesiastical career

Dawani graduated with a B.A. at the

Near East School of Theology NEAR or Near may refer to: People * Thomas J. Near, US evolutionary ichthyologist * Near, a developer who created the higan emulator Science, mathematics, technology, biology, and medicine * National Emergency Alarm Repeater (NEAR), a forme ...

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, in 1976. He was ordained an Anglican deacon in 1976 and a priest in 1978. He served for eight years at St. Andrew's parish in

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

, and St. Peter's in

Bir Zeit Birzeit (), also Bir Zeit, is a Palestinian Christian town north of Ramallah, in the West Bank. Its population in the 2017 census was 5,878. Birzeit is home to Birzeit University and to the Birzeit Brewery. Location Bir Zeit is located north ...

. He moved with his family to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1985, to study at

Virginia Theological Seminary Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, is an Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. It is the largest and second-oldest such accredited se ...

, where he completed his M.A. and began work on his Doctor of Ministry (D.Min). He was recalled to his diocese in 1987, and became priest at St. John's Episcopal Church in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. He went to serve once again at the

and

parishes, from 1992 to 1997. He was elected Secretary General of the Diocese of Jerusalem in 1997. He became then Canon for the Arabic-speaking congregation at St. George's Cathedral, in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. He went to serve for a third time in

, from 2004 to 2007. He became Coadjutor Bishop on 15 June 2005 and was consecrated on 6 January 2006. He was enthroned as Bishop of Jerusalem on 15 April 2007. The same year he completed his D.Min at Virginia Seminary. Dawani became Archbishop in Jerusalem in 2014 when synod voted to upgrade the concurrent role of representative of the Anglican Communion in the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

from a bishopric to an archbishopric, as it had been previously from 1957 to 1976. He was elected Primate of the

on 17 May 2017, for a two and a half year mandate, and served until the autumn of 2019. He retired in 2021, having reached the compulsory episcopal retirement age of 70.

Views

He was critical of the

Global Anglican Future Conference The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the Ang ...

, that took place in

, on 22-29 June 2008, stating that he believed that "reconciliation" was the way to solve divisions in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

. He addressed GAFCON III on its opening day, but wasn't a registered delegate of his province.GAFCON III largest pan-Anglican gathering since Toronto Congress of 1963, Anglican Ink, 20 June 2018
/ref>

References

External links

Suheil Dawani Biography
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawani, Suheil 1951 births Living people Anglican bishops of Jerusalem Palestinian Anglican priests 21st-century Anglican bishops in the Middle East 21st-century Anglican archbishops People from Nablus