Background
Joseph Qadi was born in Damascus, Syria.
Joseph Qadi was born in Damascus, Syria.
Ordained a Melkite priest in 1888, Qadi was apointed Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem in 1895, resigning in 1898. he was appointed eparch of Aleppo on October 27, 1903 and ordained eparch on November 29, 1903 by patriarch Cyril VIII Jaha, being Gaudenzio Bonfigli, O.F.M, titular bishop of Cabasa, and Joseph Dumani, Bachelor of Science, Eparch of Tripoli, his co-consecrators. On March 29, 1919 he was elected patriarch by the Melkite Synod of Bishops, being confirmed by the Holy See on July 3 of the same year. At that point the patriarchate had been vacant for three years since the death of Cyril VIII Jaha in 1916.
During his brief reign the Melkite Church experienced a rapid expansion in the Near East as situations for the Greek Catholics improved during the period of the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon.
Demetrius also began radical reforms in the Melkite Church, including preparations for Melkite councils to address canonical matters. However, Demetrius did not live to participate in these councils, and died on October 25, 1925.
He was succeeded upon his death by Patriarch Cyril IX Moghabghab. During his patriarchate he was consecrator of some Melkite eparchs:
Maximos IV Sayegh, Archeparch of Tyre
Etienne Soukkarie, Titular Archbishop of Myra dei Greco-Melkiti and Patriarchal Vicar of Alexandria in Egypt
Basil Khoury, Archeparch of Homs
Basil Cattan, Archeparch of Beirut and Jbeil
Anthony Farage, Titular bishop of Laodicea in Syria per i Melchiti and Patriarchal Procurator in Antioch
Meletius Abou-Assaleh, Eparch of Baalbek in Lebanon
Joseph Kallas, Eparch of Tripoli in Lebanon.