WATANI International
23 July 2010
Father Boulos Bassili of Anba Antonious Church in Shurbra. Cairo, passed away last Thursday. Fr Boulos was 94. He was born in the Upper Egyptian village of Manfalout in the region of Assiut on 17 May 1916. In 1938, he earned a degree in Theology and was appointed lecturer at the Clerical College in Cairo. During the same year he was selected to deliver sermons in the Shubra churches of Mar-Girgis (St George) and Abu-Seifein (St Mercurius) and later on at the Monks Theological College in Helwan. In 1949, he published the Mar-Girgis magazine which was issued regularly for 33 successive years and by virtue of which Fr Boulos joined the Journalists Syndicate.
Bassili founded Al-Karma (The Vine) charity in 1951, one of the first charities to serve the visually impaired in Egypt, and later expanded its activities to serve the aged.
Pope Kyrillos VI ordained Bassili as priest in 1966 and, in 1968, appointed him among the delegation which was sent to Rome to bring home from Rome the relics St Mark, which were the Coptic Church was able to obtain through an agreement with Pope Paul VI.
Fr Boulos was the only cleric ever who was elected to the Egyptian Parliament by popular vote for several rounds during the 1970s, and was among the 24 priests who were detained by President Anwar al-Sadat in September 1981 when he cracked down on those he considered political dissidents. In 1982, President Mubarak ordered the release of, among other clerics, Fr Boulos.
Fr Boulos was a prolific writer; many of his books were introduced by none other than Pope Shenouda III. In one of them the pope wrote: “Fr Boulos Bassili is a gifted preacher. Hundreds of students have learnt at his hands in the Clerical College. He is also an exceptional writer with some remarkable works that include 50 books. Among them are The Model Sermon Series, Who Is the Christ, Half a Century of Memoires, 50 Years Between Heaven and Earth, and Life of Moses. He is a patriot who served our beloved homeland through membership in Parliament. He is famous for his fluency, strong words, strong voice and broad perspective. His activity is legendary; it is as though he is a group of people in a single man”. The Archdeacon Habib Girgis described him as a gem of a cleric and a credit to the Church.
The Coptic Church has lost a lot for the departure of that man.