Interview: Melkite Priest Fr. Nicholas Nunis

Fr. Collin (Nicholas) Nunis is a Melkite Catholic priest based in Australia. Baptised into the Latin Church as a cradle Catholic, he underwent a Canonical Transfer to the Melkite Church in 2015. He was ordained as a married man to the Melkite priesthood in 2022 by Bishop Robert Rabbat. He is married to Agnieszka and father to Stefan. He currently works for the Catholic Development Fund of the Archdiocese of Melbourne as an Integration Engineer within the Information Technology department.

1) The vocation of a married priest is often described as a Double Vocation, requiring distinct discernment of marriage on one hand, and the priesthood on the other. How does a man in the 21st century discern such a vocation? What are some important points to know regarding that process?

In my mind, it is important to look at the substantial aspect of diakonia and the various ways it can be exercised in the Church. On the one hand there is ordained ministry, and on the other, there is marriage. Both are different ways of exercising diakonia.

This is perhaps why the Church calls both the Sacraments of Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony “sacraments of service” or “sacraments of vocation.” The experience of marriage provides the foundation and somewhat prepares the way for being in ministry. And of course, St. John Paul II himself set the stage in Familiaris Consortio, where he emphasises the ecclesial vocation and ministry of the Christian family (cc. 49-50). With language like that, it's really not that hard to subdivide the two. Moreover, while the Church does say that celibacy is preferred and holds great value, it does not say that celibacy is intrinsic to the priesthood. 

In my case, and in the case of any millennial married man wishing to serve, I think that its important to do a few things, in addition to having a personal habit of prayer and contemplation: i) Have the blessing of his wife; ii) ensure he has stable employment and that his family and marriage are stable as well; iii) is actively attending liturgical prayer on Sundays and feast days; iv) is actively helping out in various apostolates of the parish; iv) spend some years as a subdeacon and deacon; vi) do ecclesial studies to a specific level; vii) have an open and flexible attitude.

2) What are some of the pros and cons of the married priesthood as compared to the celibate one?

I’ll start with the cons. Firstly, being a husband and a parent is a full-time job, especially if you are also employed outside the Church. Holding secular employment does mean that your ministry is limited, and what your Bishop can assign you is also rather limited. And of course, if you have many Latin celibate confreres, you’d be the odd one out. Also, being a married priest, I guess that there is tendency to have to “do better” than the average priest. Lastly, there just isn’t enough time in the day to do anything apart from the routine.

What I have just said might sound superficial, but surprisingly, these cons have become my pros as well. To give you an example, despite the battle with time that I have juggling marriage, family, and being a professional, I do think that it gives me a certain insight into how I view things, which resonates with most adults in the congregation. Lastly, I do believe that it has deepened my heart even more, which, somehow, helps me tend to my priesthood in the same way I would tend to my child – with care and affection. Remembering the words of Blessed Karl Lentz, every Mass must be celebrated as if it were your first, your last, and your only Mass (sicut prima, sicut ultima, sicut unica).

3) What is the role of a Presbytera (priest’s wife) in the Church, specifically regarding her husband’s role as a priest?

The Presbytera has a special vocation within the Church, and each Presbytera is free to exercise it in the way that they see fit. In my case, I have never put expectations on Agnieszka apart from being present. Looking at things, I would say that she exercises this ministry by being the backbone of my priestly ministry. She supports my ministry in ways that are unseen but very important. I think the better way to put this is “picking up my slack” or “filling in the gaps,” especially when I’m up at the altar celebrating Divine

Liturgy or attending to a sick call, because for that whole hour, Stefan is not someone who can just sit still, even with Jesus around! So, she has to follow him around so that he doesn’t disrupt the Liturgy or even hurt himself. Thankfully, our churches are fascinating, which means that it is possible to walk around the church without disrupting anyone. If I were to add anything else, it would be the feminine genius that she brings to my ministry. In a sense, I can minister in areas that I never thought I would be able to.

4) You were not born into a family that comes from a historically Melkite region, particularly the Levant. This is a beautiful testimony to the changing identity of the Melkite Church from an ethno-nationalistic Church into a truly universal one. How do you perceive this change in Australia and the broader Melkite community? It is being welcomed or fought?

I think that this has been better achieved largely in the United States. In Australia, Eastern Catholic Churches are still, by and large, “particular” in the sense that they cater to a certain language group or people from a certain nation. In the case of the Melkites, there is now a fixed roster to have an English Divine Liturgy alongside an Arabic one, whereas some parishes set one Sunday a month to have Divine Liturgy in English. The situation here is largely around the fact that the migration from the homeland is still quite new, and also, in some parts of Australia, the Melkite Church is the only Arabic-speaking Church in that city, which means that you will not just have Melkite Catholics, but other Arabic-speaking Christians attending.

I do admit that it did take me a while. I am personally not sure how I survived, because

I’ve seen many non-Middle Easterners enter our Churches looking for something, and we weren’t able to do so because of the language and cultural barriers. But when I became a deacon, there was a lot of support from the parish community, and even my Parish Priest was able to entrust me with the celebration of the Arabic Liturgies whenever he needed to be away, but also on major feast days like Christmas and Pascha! For someone to rely on a priest who doesn’t speak Arabic is a pretty big deal! But I do think that it has something to do with the fact that I managed to secure a copy of the Divine Liturgy in transliterated Arabic. So far, this has been the biggest game changer. Of course, there will come a time when I need to be able to preach in Arabic. Give me time.

5) As the Melkite diaspora diversifies culturally, it loses a direct link to the original reasons behind some of the Church’s practices. Let us take the example of Olive Oil. It is a substantial part of Lebanese cuisine but not of the Australian one. As such, during fasts, abstaining from Olive Oil has vastly differing effects for a Lebanese Melkite vs an Australian Melkite. What are your reflections on such aspects of the Melkite Church?

As far as I know, the Melkite Church has given its faithful the option of following either the traditional fast or the “mitigated fast,” where the abstinence required is just from meat and meat products. But I do think that further reflection is needed, because while there is a need for us to stay with the tradition, I think it's important to focus on the ascetic aspect of Lent and encourage abstinence from whatever we know we will indulge in. I am very wary as well, that in keeping the fast, people need to be aware not to get caught up in the details while failing to fast from bad and sinful behaviour, which I would say is the absolute priority and needs to be considered first. This is where the Letter of St. John Chrysostom on fasting is very useful and necessary. Lent is not a score-keeping exercise but a time and space to work on our personal holiness.

 

6) You were originally baptized into the Latin Church before transferring to the Melkite one. What were your most significant reasons for doing so? What do you advise Catholics discerning such a transfer?

As a young Catholic growing up in Malaysia, I was always fascinated by Orthodoxy and the Christian East. Moreover, I grew up surrounded by certain misconceptions like Arabic being a Muslim language (whatever that means!), and that Allah is the “Muslim God.” So, given my hobby of reading, I tried to read up as much as I could. I was going to become Orthodox at some point, until I saw St. Pope John Paul II’s funeral, where the Eastern service was led by our then-Patriarch Gregorios III Laham! This fascinated me somewhat, but I don’t think I resolved to stay in the Catholic Church very firmly until an encounter with the late Archimandrite Fr. Serge Keleher in 2007 in Singapore. Fr. Serge was a Russian Catholic priest incardinated into the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford, and he had stopped by in Singapore to celebrate Divine Liturgy before continuing with his journey to Melbourne, Australia for an Orientale Lumen conference. This experience proved to be fruitful, but it was not until my own move to Australia in 2008 that I got to be immersed in the life of the Melkite Church. When I started living on campus, who knew that the Melkite parish was a 10-minute walk away?

So, why move to the Melkite Church? Firstly, there is something beautiful about the Byzantine Rite, but more so being celebrated and expressed in the Arabic language. The Melkites have got this wonderful balance of the Greek and the Arabic going. Secondly, I do think that there is something special about the role of the Melkites in the Catholic Church, not just for being a medium for Church unity, but also in the contributions made at Vatican II. Funnily, rather than it being a medium to exercise my Orthodox tendencies, being Melkite has made me become more Catholic! And lastly, in learning about the Melkite Church, its history and theology, and understanding how one becomes Melkite, I became an instant theologian, liturgist, and canonist!

I don’t think I can give any real concrete advice apart from the following: i) Don’t just come and see, but come and stay; ii) Understand and appreciate the linguistic and cultural element of the Church; iii) Yes, we need to celebrate in English, but if we are to expect them to be at the English liturgies, they are also entitled to expect us to be at the Arabic liturgies; iv) Stay for the coffee and the fellowship; v) If they feed you, don’t say no, vi) Always check with your Parish Priest before you initiate anything; vii) The Parish Priest is accessible, not sitting in an faraway office.

7) As a Melkite priest, what are some aspects of your life and vocation that you wish the laity was more aware of?

Basic ecclesiology, as well as about the Melkite Church in general; especially that we exist and that we are Catholic. Also, paying more attention to local social issues and not just those in the homeland. Given that most Melkites come from the Levant, there is understandably significant concern as to what is happening with Lebanon, a country that is also a “message,” to quote St. John Paul II again. However, everything that is happening in Australia also requires our Christian response; not just regarding Middle Eastern affairs, but also the greater common good. We are just as responsible for this country as our Western Christian brethren are.

8) Having been a Latin layperson, now a Melkite priest, what are some significant differences you perceive in the life of a Catholic between both traditions?

I would think that largely, it is the observance of the feast days, especially if it fell on weekdays. Thankfully, one of the things that I love about the Melkite Church is its observance of the 12 Great Feasts of the Church, and how people try to make it to Church for these feasts. Rather than have these feasts transferred to the closest Sunday, there is something special about doing this. On the other hand, I also do believe that our faithful should make more frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I do have

young people asking for the Sacrament these days, but wouldn’t it be nice if the priest had a queue for people seeking the Sacrament?

9) Your formation has been in Liturgical-Sacramental Theology. Can you develop on that? What is its importance? What are some major modern themes to be addressed by the Melkite Church?

In very simple terms, liturgical and sacramental theology can sound like a hodge-podge, and I apologise if I’m not doing any justice to the greats or to my instructors, but here goes:

Liturgical theology is focused on the larger question of “why we do what we do.” In other words, liturgical theology helps us understand the theology behind the rituals, practices, and symbols used in the liturgical celebrations. With this, we come to an understanding of how the Church’s worship and prayer reflects and shapes who she is and what she stands for. The study of the Sacraments fall within this category.

However, within Sacramental theology, we are going beyond texts. Rather, we now contemplate on Christ’s presence and action within the Sacraments and how we “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pt. 1:4) as we receive the Sacraments. In other words, in addition to receiving the Sacraments, there is also that moral element, as Sacramental theology is also about how we live and act according to the grace that we have received in the Sacraments. This is very important to consider, especially since we are all called to be “missionary disciples” and that, for most of us, the best proclamation of the Word is through our lives now sanctified by the reception of the Holy Mysteries.

I do believe that aspects of these fields would be very useful for our Church, especially since our celebration of the Divine Liturgy and that of the liturgical prayers are focused on this partaking of the divine life, or theosis: The image of God is now restored, so now it’s time to be the likeness of God. We need to know what we pray and sing, because what we pray (and sing) in these prayers reflect what we believe in (lex orandi, lex credendi). I think that we would do well to try and see this aspect as we celebrate the Divine Liturgy. Considering that our Church underwent a liturgical reform in the years after Vatican II to make the Liturgy more accessible to the faithful, if there is anything left to be done in this area, is that we need to help people see the “genius” of our Liturgy and the Byzantine Rite, and that everything that we do is geared for our salvation and not to be taken for granted. This is perhaps why I have become perhaps a little OCD about ensuring I say every prayer in the Liturgy; because I feel that these are the exact words that my soul, the soul of an unworthy sinner, is trying to say!

10) Are Melkites just Byzantinised Latins and Papist Greeks? How do you perceive the Melkite Church in its own unique identity? What does it have to offer to the world?

I don’t know what the most appropriate label would be here, as both apply to some degree. But if there is anything I can say, I can certainly say that we are unique in the sense that we have a beautiful patrimony, combining the Syriac and the Byzantine. There may be a small tinge of Latin in there, but I don’t think we should be too worried, as we have proven that we can be wholly Eastern without being against the West. In other words, considering that St John Paul II calls the Church to “breathe with both lungs,” this must also be our vocation, without undermining our Eastern heritage. We do have a lot to offer in the Western world, especially in a world that has lost its Christian fundamentals. But to do so, we must be able to re-harness the spirit of engagement with the West, which we have always done in history; rather than shelter ourselves in a ghetto mentality.