The Evangelical Church in Lebanon and Syria Bids Farewell to Rev. Dr. Salim Sahyouni

Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs: “Sahyouni was an example in Ecumenical work and a pioneer in its fields”

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On Wednesday morning, December 8, 2021, the Evangelical Church in Syria and Lebanon bid farewell to the former President of the National Evangelical Synod in Syria and Lebanon Rev. Dr. Salim Sahyouni during an official funeral held at the National Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Rabieh, Lebanon.

The funeral service was presided by the President of the National Evangelical Synod in Syria and Lebanon Rev. Joseph Kassab, assisted by heads of affiliated Churches, and the Pastor of the Evangelical Church in Rabieh, Rev. George Mrad. Present at the funeral were Representative Edgard Traboulsi representing the President of the Lebanese Republic General Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and Representative Eddy Maalouf, representing the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Deputy Gebran Bassil.

His Eminence Bishop George Saliba representing His Holiness Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Father Zare Sarkissian representing His Holiness Armenian Catholicos of Cilicia Aram I, High Priest Nektarios Khairallah representing the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut His Eminence Bishop Elias Audi, and Heads of Evangelical Churches in Syria and Lebanon all participated in the Prayer. Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs also assisted in the Prayer accompanied by a delegation, in addition to a group of believers from the Evangelical Church and friends.

After reciting the Holy Gospel, Reverend Joseph Kassab addressed a word of condolence, he said: “Reverend Salim Sahyouni was a loving, humane, ecclesiastical, pastoral, and Ecumenical energy affecting our lives, individuals and groups. Reverend Salim preserved the unity of Evangelical Churches in their diversity. Many may not understand in the East, that one could not understand unity except through its association with the number ‘One’. Reverend Salim encouraged Evangelists not to lose sight of the fact that they are first and foremost a Church, not to be drawn into understanding themselves as a sect...”

He added: “Reverend Salim wanted Evangelists to stick to their Christian mission in being light and salt as the Lord asked us. The light of education through schools, universities, health and social services, renunciation of violence and general fraternity.”

Kassab continued: “Your departure, Reverend Salim, is no pleasant event for us, but it becomes bearable because of our belief in God’s promise and our confidence in the work of Christ. You will not seek eternity to meet Christ but you will go to Christ to find through him eternal life. You take with you your good efforts, your good deeds, and years of sincere service to your Church and your community.”

Following the Prayer, Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs gave a speech, saying: “At the heart of the Ecumenical movement, I met Rev. Salim Sahyouni as I was taking my first institutional footsteps... I had just started working in the Blessed Middle East Council of Churches when I met Rev. Salim and we exchanged views and discussed about the Church, its concerns, aspirations, and the tempests besetting it from far and wide.”

He continued: “I found in Rev. Salim a shepherd conscious for the interests of his parish, ensuring the proper functioning of its institutions and defending their permanence. I also found in him an open shepherd capable of dialogue until the end, to reach a conclusion or an understanding, or to avoid misinterpretation. I admit that we had our differences, whether in views or aspirations, but I remember always finding a friendly middle ground, despite the intensity of the dispute at times.

Rev. Salim was a very humble, open-minded man with a loving heart filled and a soul that did not know hatred. Rev. Salim, son of the Eastern Evangelical School, and son of the Synod, my dear friend, was an example in Ecumenical work and a pioneer in its fields.”

Dr. Abs considered: “The National Evangelical Synod in Syria and Lebanon, from which pastors graduated and wrote luminous pages in the history of Eastern Christianity, the Synod of institutions and education, providing our Eastern society and the Arab world with the best of its cadres and human energies. This Synod had Rev. Salim as a backbone and leader.”

He added: “I will not go over the stages that brought me together with Rev. Salim during my first service in the Middle East Council of Churches from 1981 to 1990, for they are many, but what I can talk about is his unquestionable role in developing the work of the Council and its institutions. His critical approach, his insight, and his clarity of goals were key elements in his approach. Rev. Salim bids us farewell today, leaving behind a history of Ecumenical and faith battles in his ecclesiastical society and beautiful memories in the minds of those who knew him.”

Dr. Abs concluded: “A generation comes as another goes, but the importance is to keep the institutions embracing the word of the Lord alive, performing their duties to the fullest. Blessed are the leading and young faces in the Synod who cooperated with us in the work of the Middle East Council of Churches with all their energy, not once hesitating to meet the needs of the Ecumenical work constituting the Synod. The Evangelical family in the Council is one of latter’s most important pillars. Rev. Salim passes today, leaving behind a legacy we consider to be a testament. Christ is risen!”