View Oca.org's photo gallery of the service (Photos: Roman Ostash)
Memory Eternal! On Sunday at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral of Brooklyn, New York, a Trisagion Service was offered for His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV (Hazim) of Antioch and All the East. His Beatitude reposed in the Lord on December 5, 2012, after suffering a stroke. His Eminence, Metropolitan Philip, Seminary Vice-President presided over the memorial at which he hosted numerous hierarchs and dignitaries for the service, including clergy from Oriental and Catholic communions.
In addition to Metropolitan Philip, others from SVOTS served the Trisagion: the Seminary's President, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), The Very Rev. Dr. John Behr, dean, and The Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield, chancellor and CEO. Alumni and faculty members also served the Liturgy preceding the memorial service, including The Very Rev. Thomas Zain, Cathedral Dean and former lecturer in Liturgical Music, Fr. Adrian Budica (SVOTS '10), and Fr. Charles Baz (SVOTS '00), lecturer in Liturgical Music.
Reflecting upon the service, Fr. Chad noted, "The visual image as the Trisagion prayers were offered clearly reflected the close bond between the Seminary and the Antiochian Archdiocese." In addition to clergy serving at the Trisagion, others associated with SVOTS also attended the historic memorial, including Board of Trustees member and former Executive Chair Mrs. Anne Glynn Mackoul, Director of Admissions and Alumni Relations Pdn. Joseph Matusiak, and five current seminarians: Scott Miller, Joshua Burnett, Jabra Tannous, George Katrib and Alejandro Rodea.
Several diplomatic dignitaries attended: Ambassador of Lebanon Mr. Antoine Chedid, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations H.E. Bashar Ja'afari, Ph.D., and Majdi Ramadan, the Counsel General of Lebanon in New York.
"On the heels of this occasion," noted Fr. Chad Hatfield, "the Lebanon Daily Star reported that during a meeting of eighteen bishops at the Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, Patriarch John Yaziji had been elected as successor to Patriarch Ignatius IV. Axios, and many years, to the newly elected Patriarch John!"
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