Press
Release
For
immediate use
21
March 2014
Coptic Orthodox
Church UK
Media and
Communications Office
Coptic Orthodox
Church (Europe)
Media and
Communications Office
His Grace Bishop
Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom
offers condolences and prayers to the Syrian Orthodox Church on behalf of the
Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom upon the departure of Patriarch Mor
Ignatius Zakka Iwas I of Antioch, 122nd patriarch of Antioch and All
the East on the Apostolic Throne of St Peter.
Expressing his
condolences, Bishop Angaelos said:
“Upon hearing of the departure of His Holiness,
the late Mor Ignatius Zakka, I spoke to Archbishop Athanasius to assure him and
our sister Orthodox Church of our prayers. The historic and fraternal
relationship between our two Churches means that we have also lost a beloved father.
I fondly remember the visit of His Holiness
to The Coptic Orthodox Church Centre here in the United Kingdom, and the
numerous occasions in which I, along with members of the Coptic Clergy and
community received His Holiness both in Cairo and London.
We pray repose for the soul of His Holiness and
that God reward him for his many years of faithful ministry to his children who
have undergone and continue to undergo huge struggles and pressures in Iraq,
Syria and throughout the Middle East.”
Mor
Ignatius Zakka departed on 21 March 2014 after a long and courageous battle
against illness.
**Ends**
