Ibrahim Barbour

I saw him in the hall of the “Church of the Mother of God of the Life-giving Spring” in the mid-eighties of the last century, standing alongside a few young people who had decided to embrace the engagements of the Word that always seeks to awaken us to understanding and the service of love. He was the eldest among all those who were waiting and the most experienced in the affairs of a church whose temple he was assigned to serve and that, to him, was heaven on earth. I remember his bowed posture in prayer and service. These things, which some brethren who followed him in his endeavor have learnt from him, speak of his secret. In the Church, he was one of those who bowed down so that people could rise to their calling. "Zeal for your house has eaten me up", he has served with continuous service, silently, thankfully, joyfully, skillfully, meekly, faithfully, and with reliable selflessness. I do not believe that his passing yesterday has shocked him as much as it shocked us. Ibrahim Barbour was convinced by his commitment to his Church that it is all, with its details, both death and resurrection. He will not lose his way to God. He is accompanied by many candles that will illuminate his path, and also by the Virgin Mary, who was both a mother and a home to him.