About

Archpriest Theodoros Daoud was born in Lebanon in 1966. He acquired his BA in History in 1994 from Lebanese University, Beirut and completed a two-year seminar in Theological studies. He was ordained to the holy deaconate on June 4, 1995 at the hand of His Eminence Archbishop Elias Korban of Thrice Blessed Memory, former Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Tripoli and Koura in Northern Lebanon. He served as a deacon in Lebanon until Metropolitan Korban ordained him to the holy priesthood on December 20, 1996. From 1999 to 2004, he served as a parish priest in Rio De Janeiro and Brasilia, Brazil. In 2002, he was elevated to Archpriest in Brasilia at the hand of His Eminence, Archbishop Boulous Bandaly of Akar, Lebanon.

While serving in Brazil, Fr. Theodoros enrolled in the St. Stephen’s Course in Orthodox Theology through the Antiochian archdiocese of North America, beginning his path towards graduate studies. In 2005, he left Brazil to serve in the Antiochian Archidocese of North America under the omoforium of His Eminence Metropolitan Philip Saliba of Thrice-Blessed Memory. In 2009, he was awarded a Masters in Theology from Balamand University, Lebanon. His Master thesis is entitled “Latinization of the East at the Hands of the Crusaders.”

From 2005 to 2016, he served as the pastor of St. Mary Antiochain Orthodox Church in Baltimore, MD. With the love and support of † Metropolitan Philip Saliba, Fr. Theodoros—by the intercessions of the Theotokos—designed and built a traditional, Byzantine church, hiring Greek iconographer Dionysios Bouloubassis to adorn it with authentic iconography. On the same 22-acre lot, he built the traditional 17th century Byzantine chapel of St. George to celebrate weekday services. All construction and land purchase was sponsored by pious and generous individuals.

Fr. Theodoros is also a writer and began publishing his Arabic and English articles in 2014. His article "We Are Not Arabs," where he describes how the origin of the Levantines is different from the Arabs, received international attention. Another work, "The Cowardice of Christians" received similar renown and was published in The Word, a magazine part of The Associated Press, Ecumenical News International, and the Orthodox Press Service.

Some of the writing has been met with controversy, especially from the then newly elected Antiochian Bishop of America, Joseph Zehlawe. On March 2016, within a few months of publishing "We Are Not Arabs" and five months before the consecration of the new church, Mr. Zehlawe suspended Fr. Theodoros, promised and failed to conduct a spiritual court, then defrocked him on July 25 without cause except that he participated in a Divine Liturgy in Jerusalem on July 24, 2016 with the blessing of Patriarch Theophilos III. In response, many faithful families of St. Mary's departed from the parish and the Antiochian Archdiocese.

On the feast day of St. Markella on August 4, 2017, he joined the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians (GOC) of America, the Traditionalist Orthodox Church serving the faithful of North and South America under the Presidency of His Eminence, Metropolitan Demetrius. The Church of the GOC of America is an autonomous Eparchy following the Julian Calendar and whose Mother Church is The Holy Synod of the Church of the GOC of Greece, under the Presidency of His Beatitude, Archbishop Kallinikos.

Fr. Theodoros has started a new parish in Baltimore with his spiritual children and their families. He continues to write articles on a variety of topics, including spiritual, social, historical, and life lessons. He is fluent in Arabic, Portuguese and English and has some knowledge in French. Having been trained in Byzantine music, he can chant in all the aforementioned languages.