Last evening, 9 December, CTV (Coptic TV) channel broadcast live the funeral service held for its founder Tharwat Bassily (1940 – 2017) in Chicago, US where he passed away on 5 December.
Anba David, Coptic Orthodox Bishop of New York and New England, presided over the service which was held noontime at the church of the Resurrection in Chicago. The Bishop began by relaying to the Bassily family and the Coptic congregation the condolences of Pope Tawadros II who is recuperating from spinal surgery in Germany.
“The Pope never forgets his children,” Anba David said. “He has described Dr Bassily as a scholarly man and an honourable father in our contemporary Church. During his lifetime, Dr Bassily served Egypt as MP in the Shura Council [the upper house of Egypt’s parliament, which was abolished by the 2014 Constitution] and as a philanthropist who exercised extensive charity work for both Christians and Muslims. He served the Church as a deacon and prominent member in the Melli (Laity) Council, and he was also founder of CTV.”
Anba David offered his personal condolences to Dr Bassily’s family whose members, he said, follow in the father’s footsteps: Isis Shenouda, his widow; his businessmen sons Ilia, who is also a MP, and George; and his daughters Mona and Nevine.
The bishop said that Dr Bassily was a very generous giver; the more the Lord gave him the more he gave others.
“The few times I met him,” Anba David said, “made me feel he was a man who attained gratification in his relationship with God and his fellowship with the saints, especially the Holy Virgin.
“He should be a role model for every one of us,” he said. “Now he rests in peace, in hope of the blessed Resurrection.”
The body of Dr Bassily will be shipped to Egypt where he will be buried according to his will.
Watani International
10 December 2017