YOUTH MOVEMENT (ANTIOCH)

YOUTH MOVEMENT (ANTIOCH). Begun in the immediate post-World War II years in Lebanon and Syria, the Orthodox Christian Youth Movement has contributed significantly to the renewal of Arabic-speaking Christianity within the Patriarchate of Antioch (qq.v.). Encouraging Bible study, the reading of the Church Fathers (q.v.), and discussion, it has managed to maintain a consistently open and generous attitude toward both Islam (q.v.) and the culture of Western Europe. Many, if not most, of the current hierarchy of the Antiochian Church have participated in it in their youth.