BISHOPRIC OF SAN GIOVANNI D'ACRI ('AKKĀ, TOLEMAIDE). – Episcopal see of the Melkites, with residence in Haifa, suffragan to Tyre.
It was an episcopal see from the 3rd century. The succession of Greek Catholic bishops began again around 1753. Today the diocese lies within the new State of Israel, and the situation has been thrown into turmoil by the mass emigration of the Arabs, including Christians, from the territory occupied by the Jews. Thirteen of the 40 churches
are closed for lack of faithful. Approximately 13,000 Greek Catholics remain.
BIBL.: Palestine, Christianity in present-day Palestine, in Civ. Catt., 1951, III, pp. 463–72. Guglielmo de Vries