Biography

· Born in Beirut, Lebanon on 14th of February 1960.

· He studied at Collège des Frères in Beirut and after the war he continued his studies at Ashrafieh High School.

· In 1979, he travelled to the United States and in 1982 graduated from Ohio State University, USA with a Bachelor in Chemical Engineering and another Bachelor in mathematics.

· He worked in the field of Chemical industry with many multinational companies and was responsible for the region of Middle East and Africa

· In 1989 he enrolled as a Melkite seminarian at Saint Paul Institute for Theology and Philosophy in Harissa Lebanon under the auspices of the Archbishop of Beirut. He graduated in 1994 with a "License” in Philosophy and a "License” in Theology.

· Ordained in 1994 as a priest by the late Archbishop of Beirut Habib Basha, he was assigned to help at Saint Anthony the Great Church in Akkawi (Ashrafieh), prior to leaving to the USA. He arrived to the USA in August 1995 to serve Saint Michael the Archangel Melkite Church I Hammond, Indiana.

· In 1997, he received a master’s degree in Communication from Purdue University in Indiana.

· In 1999, Bishop John Adel Elya assigned to him the responsibility of Editor-in-chief of Sophia Magazine, the Melkite diocesan Magazine for the whole USA, in addition to his pastoral work.

· In 2000, he was assigned to serve at Saint John the Baptist Church (Northlake, IL) and Holy Saviour mission (Oak lawn, IL)

· In October 2003, he was nominated to be a member of the board of directors of Télé -Lumière International. He accepted the nomination upon receiving the blessing of Bishop Elya.

· Ecumenically, he was able to initiate an active coordination between the Antiochian Churches in the Metro-Chicago area with his arrival to Northlake area. Hence, for the first time four Antiochian Churches (Greek Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Maronite and Melkite) came together for picnics, Lenten spiritual talks by four respective Eparch, fund raising for Tele-Lumiere, Peace prayers for the ending of the siege of Bethlehem, New Year Eve 2003, and many other events all driven by the dream of becoming "one” very soon as Jesus wants us to be: "United in our diversity”.

· He is a strong believer in the role of the media to reach out to people. He hope that very soon he will be able to grab the chance to implement a pastoral project under the auspices of the
Patriarchate. This project’s goal is to educate the Melkite all over the world about their rich heritage through the usage of the latest technology available to mankind.

· In 2005 he was elevated to the dignity of Archimandrite and was assigned as Rector of the Annunciation Cathedral, Newton.

· In June, 2010, he was elected to the episcopate by the Holy Synod. On 14 June,2011, Pope Benedict consented to his appointment as Eparch of Australia. The newly elected bishop received Episcopal consecration on 16 September, 2011, at the Church of St John Chrysostom in Beirut.

· On 8 October, 2011, Sayedna Robert was enthroned in St Michael’s Cathedral, Sydney, as the third Eparch of Australia.

Eis polla eti, Despota!

For many years, O Master!

لسنين عديدة، يا سيِّد