I am already over 64. In my age, I have become much less patient than when I was young. My confessor understands me when I tell him that I shouted at my beloved family members...When I was in my late teens, I was introduced to the man, Paul Antaki, who taught me by example how to be good and patient with others. Although Paul Antaki was Patriarchal Vicar and Bishop of the Melkite Catholic Church in Egypt and the Sudan, his humility was extraordinary. Every time he called me by phone, he would say "This is Fr. Antaki..." In 1971, I met Bishop/Archbishop Paul Antaki in the Patriarchate after a lecture given by then Bishop Paul Minas of the Antiochine Orthodox Church. It was his overture to Orthodox Christians following the declarations of Vatican II in which the Melkite Catholic Patriarch Maximus IV prominently defended the Tradition of the Eastern Churches. In 1973, he introduced me to the leaders of the Apostolic Movements including Michel Farah,PhD., and the late Dr. Boutros Kassab, the prominent lawyer who was in charge of the Christian Worker movement and whose cause for beatification has been started recently. In the same year, he participated in the ordination to the priesthood of our beloved Georges Bakar who is today Bishop of the Melkite Catholics in Egypt. He held small Bible study meetings in the Patriarchate in which I participated. This and other spiritual conferences deepened our relationship. In 1979, he blessed my engagement ring to my future wife in the presence of my mother of blessed memory, and her parents of blessed memory as well as my brothers who were in Cairo, and her sisters in Cairo. The event took place at their home in Garden City. Upon Paul Antaki's recommendations, I worked as a teacher of math at the Patriarchal College in Heliopolis under Fr. Jules Zerey for two years. Most Reverend Joseph Jules Zerey has retired this year after serving the Melkite Catholics in Jerusalem and its surroundings. In our wedding on April 25, 1982, Bishop Paul Antaki headed the celebration at St. Cyril's parish in Heliopolis. Upon my request, he said a homily on the bond of marriage and the symbolic meaning of the rings we exchange. The choir of Our Lady of Peace headed then by Habib Naccache and the gifted Rafic Greiche (who is today the popular and married-pastor of St. Cyril in Heliopolis) sang the service In the same year, as he knew of our plan to immigrate to Canada, he encouraged us with words that we could be apostles to the atheist Western world.
Again, when my wife was away in Egypt, he visited me in our one-bedroom apartment and slept in our bed while I slept on the couch in the living room. He visited us again in 1990 and said Mass in our apartment. The last time I saw him was in 1993 as he celebrated Mass in a Ukrainian parish with the Homsy choir that sang the Divine Liturgy.
When Bishop Paul Antaki departed to God on December 30, 2011, I wrote a post:
Paul Antaki The Great
and again here a few days later:
An Inspiration
http://todayquestions.blogspot.com/2012/01/inspired.html
Today as ever, Paul Antaki inspires us to be followers of Christ. He was one such great follower.
