Very Reverend Economos Faried Farkouh Pastor of St. George Orthodox Church of Boston in 1938

Fr. Faried Farkouh was born in Homs, Syria in October 1879, his father was Fatallah Farkouh. In about the year 1904 he married Wassila Trabulsi who was born in Homs on 2 July 1886. Faried was originally a merchant in Syria and made several trips to Brazil, doing business with his brother who lived there. He was later ordained a and served in Homs until 1927 when he immigrated to the United States with his wife and six of their children. The family left behind an older daughter, named Farisa. She remained there with an aunt and later married and had a family.

The Farkouh’s arrived in New York aboard the steamer ‘ss France’ from Le Havre, France on 2 March 1927. Abouna Faried, Khourea Wassila and their children; Olga, Aziz, Victoria, Azize, Salwa and Fatallah were destined for Willimantic, Connecticut at the invitation of a friend, Mr. Joseph Haddad. Their oldest daughter, Julia and her husband, Lewis, had settled in Willimantic some three years earlier and it was her letters home that prompted her parents to immigrate. Their son-in-law Lewis owned and operated a general store in town.

In Willimantic, Fr. Faried ministered to the growing community of ‘Syrian’ immigrants who had found work in the local textile mills. Although there were never enough of them to establish an official Syrian Orthodox , Fr. Faried devoted himself to providing for their spiritual care as a mission priest. With his daughters serving as chanters and his son as the acolyte, he would offer the Divine Liturgy each Sunday and Feast day in his own home or in the home of one of the community members. With Abouna Faried’s dedication, love and care, the homes of the faithful became the ‘church’ for baptizing their children, marrying their young people and burying their loved ones.

Four months after arriving in Willimantic, a horrific tragedy befell the Farkouh family. Two of the children, Olga and Aziz drowned while on a 4th of July outing with family members. The two were in a boat on nearby Crystal Lake along with their younger sister, Azize and a cousin George Shahood. In the late afternoon, as two of the children switched seats, the round bottom row boat tipped and capsized throwing the children into the lake. Responding to their screams, nearby boaters and fishermen rushed to rescue the panicked children. Azize and George were pulled unconscious from the water and two rescuers’, who were nurses, were able to revive them. Olga and her brother Aziz were not found and their bodies were recovered from the lake several days later by a team of deep sea divers from the Staten Island ship yard.

The children were buried at the New Willimantic Cemetery in Willimantic. The touching Arabic inscription on their tombstone reads; “He is the Everlasting One. These two graves belong to the two martyrs, Aziz and Olga Farkouh, the children of the priest, Faried Farkouh, from Homs, Syria. They came to this country on March 9, 1927 and died of drowning on July 4, 1927. Aziz was 17 years old and Olga was 18. May God inhabit them in His Kingdom Amen.”

Fr. Faried and his family resided in Willimantic at 138 Jackson Street from 1927 until 1933. That year, he was invited to serve as pastor at St. George Syrian Orthodox Church in Paterson, New Jersey. He served in Paterson from 1933 until the late 30’s when failing health prevented him from continuing with the rigors of full time parish life. Metropolitan Antony Bashir asked Fr. Faried to serve as an interim priest in several throughout the . It was during this time that Fr. Faried was asked to serve the community in Boston. He was assigned as the pastor of St. George Syrian Orthodox Church of Boston in 1938. He remained at St. George for several months and was instrumental in leading the parish through a turbulent period in its history. Four in succession are recorded as serving the parish during that single year.

Fr. Faried returned to Patterson and, at the request of Metropolitan Antony, he continued making mission trips to communities in need for the next two years. He is known to have served at St. Ellian Syrian Orthodox Church in Brownsville, Pennsylvania at a time when they were without a full time priest. In 1940 the family moved to 820 50th Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, in order to accommodate the daughters who were working in Manhattan. In Brooklyn, Fr. Faried assisted at St. Mary and with Makarios Moore and Archpriest Wakeem Dalack at St. Nicholas .

The Antiochian Archdiocesan records list Fr. Faried Farkouh as an Economos. There is no notation as to when this distinct honor was bestowed on Fr. Faried or by whom. His tombstone also identifies him as Economos.

Economos Faried Farkouh died in Brooklyn at age 71 on 6 September 1950 and was buried at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Maspeth, Queens, New York. He was buried alongside St. Raphael Hawaweeny, Bishop Emmanuel Abohatab, Bishop Sophronios Beshara and three Antiochian priests. One ornate tombstone lists the names and dates of longevity for the three hierarchs and the four priests.

Cemetery records indicate that they were buried in three adjacent grave plots. Fr. Faried was buried in grave number 52 with Bishop Emmanuel who died in 1933 and with Bishop Sophronios who died in 1940. In 1988 the remains of St. Raphael, Bishop Emmanuel and Bishop Sophronios were disinterred and removed to the Antiochian Village in Bolivar, Pennsylvania to be reinterred at the church cemetery there. The tombstone was also relocated to the Antiochian Village Cemetery at the same time. The bodies of Fr. Faried and the other three priests remain buried at Mt. Olivet.

As evident from his rank and title The Very Reverend Economos Farid Farkouh served the church with distinction. Additionally, the fact that he was considered worthy to be buried with three distinguished hierarchs, one of whom became the first Antiochian Saint in North America, points to the importance of this esteemed priest.

Following the death of her husband, Khourea Wassila Farkouh remained in Brooklyn and lived with her children. She died on 14 January 1976 and is buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Fr. Faried’s remains were subsequently relocated from Mt. Olivet to Greenwood to be buried with his wife. Several members of the Farkouh family still remain in Brooklyn.

Compiled and submitted by Fr. Timothy J. Ferguson