Antony Bashir was born on March 15, 1898, in Douma, Lebanon, to Joseph and Zaina Bashir. He initially studied at the Balamand Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tripoli, Lebanon, from 1911 to 1916, then continued his education at the Law School of Baabda, Lebanon, and at the American University of Beirut where he later taught Arabic literature. He was ordained a deacon on April 16, 1916, and actively worked for the Church in Lebanon. In 1922 the Patriarch of Antioch sent him to the United States where for the next thirteen years he was active organizing societies, building churches, and serving Syrian (Arab) parishes of the "unchurched Syrians in America." In 1923, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.