Just checked multiple sources and the priest is indeed Orthodox. Christianity, as practiced in the Middle East, often poses these quandaries. I am Roman Catholic but practice my faith in a Maronite Church. Among our parishioners, are Melkites who celebrate with us because there is no Melkite Church in this area. We also have Maronite families that have married Syrian Orthodox christians. They go back and forth between both churches to celebrate major events.
Who is Fr Fadi Haddad, the Priest who was Killed by Terrorists in Qatana?
Father Fadi Jamil Haddad was born in the city of Qatana on February 2, 1969, to zealous Christian parents, Jamil Haddad and Wadia el-Ayn. He studied in schools in Qatana, elementary school at el-Thaura School and middle and high school at Baath Secondary School for Boys.
After obtaining his secondary diploma, he studied at the Saint John of Damascus Theological Institute at Balamand in Lebanon, from which he graduated with good grades in 1994. He married and was ordained deacon in the Maryamiyya Cathedral in Damascus during the celebration of the name's day of His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV Hazim.
During the liturgy on July 14, 1995 His Beatitude and Bishop Elias Kfoury, who was the patriarchal vicar and is now metropolitan of Sidon, Tyre, Marjayoun, and Rashaya el-Wadi, laid hands on him, ordaining him to the priesthood.
He took up service in the parish of Qatana as the cornerstone was being laid for the new church by His Beatitude. Father Fadi Haddad was a son of the Qatana parish and participated in the founding of the Orthodox Sunday School there along with other pious sons of the parish and with the help of priests who would come to Qatana, including Father Nicholas Baalbaki and Father Georges Baalbaki.
Terrorists assassinated Father Fadi Haddad, pastor of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Elias in Qatana, some days after his being kidnapped in the new town, Artouz, by a group of armed terrorists.
A source with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus stated that Father Haddad's body was found shot in the head near Drousha on the Damascus-Quneitra highway.
Fadi Haddad was priest of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Elias in Qatana in the outskirts of Damascus.
One of the residents of the city told Agence France-Presse that the body was found in the town of Drousha, near Qatana and Damascus, indicating that he was murdered.
He stated that the priest was acting as an intermediary for a doctor from Qatana who was kidnapped over ten days ago. He was communicating with the kidnappers, who demanded from the family more than 50 million lira ($700,000) to release him.
