On Sunday, November 23, 2014, His Eminence Metropolitan Mikhail, the most senior Metropolitan of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church, departed in the Lord.  His Eminence was laid to rest at the age of 93 after 68 years of faithful service as the shepherd of the Diocese of Assiut.

Metropolitan Mikhail was born in Qena, Egypt on July 4, 1920, and joined the monastery of St. Macarius the Great in 1936.  His Eminence was ordained as Bishop of the Diocese of Assiut by the late Pope Yusab II in 1946 at the age of 26.  In the almost seven decades of his service, Assiut and Drunka were the sites of many blessings and significant events in the modern history of our beloved Church.  Indeed, His Eminence was himself a tremendous blessing to the Church, having served as an example of a life of prayer and service, and witnessed the Church’s emergence and tremendous expansion in the modern era.  His Eminence leaves behind a vast flock of children throughout the world who grieve for the departure of a beloved father, but rejoice in the knowledge that he has gained the reward for which he struggled, and is now united with all the Saints in the paradise of joy.

The Diocese of New York and New England offers its deepest condolences, with His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church, to the countless children of His Eminence Metropolitan Mikhail worldwide, who grieve his departure, and prays that our Lord Jesus Christ reposes the soul of His Eminence in the bosom of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.