A brief historical review on

St. George's Church
 

Saint George establish as a new Church with great hope and expectation, approved by His Eminence Mar Athanasius Y. Samuel, Archbishop of USA & Canada on Sept. 1st. 1987. The pride of Saint Church has been a new Church is born. For the first seven years Rev. Fr. Nemeh Farah served the Church as the main minister. With great effort on his part, the Church grew from few families to about two hundred families in 1993 Rev. Fr. Farah decided to partially retire. The Board with great gratitude accepted his decision, and asked for the ordination of Rev. Fr. Botrous Rouboz. Presently the main minister is Rev. Fr. Botrous Rouboz. Rev.Fr. Farah was assisting with all the advice possible until he passed away in peace on December 20. 2001 from heart failure, He has had previous health problems. He was laid to rest in Burbank, California.

For three years Saint George served its congregation by renting a Protestant Church. In 1991 a location with a Church on it was found, and purchased. The present location of the Church is:

925 Harding St.,  San Fernando, California  91340

The capacity of the sanctuary is 200 seats, and a social hall adjacent to it accommodates 200 people.  Plan is being studied to enlarge the social hall soon. We have 260 registered families in the Church. The members are scattered over many localities in southern California with a radius of about 150 miles.

An ultimate goal of Saint George is to work on producing a Christian young generation of the Syriac Orthodox faith, a generation believing in God and in themselves. The leadership recognize that the beauty of the Church depends to a create extent, on the deacons and the choir. All efforts are being given to neat that beautiful goal.

In November, 1995, the Holy Synod headed by our beloved Patriarch His Holines Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I, Iwas, decided to divide the Archdiocese of the United States and Canada into (3) three Archdioceses, one of which is that of the Western United States.  His Holiness further appointed H. E. Archbishop Mor Clemis Eugene Kaplan to be the Patriarchal Vicar for the newly created Archdiocese.  H. E. started his duties in April, 1996. St. George's Church become under His Eminence auspices.

May God bless our people.  May their work be for the glorification of God and the prosperity of our Holy Syriac Orthodox Church.