The Very Rev. Basilios George Mahfouz + January 31, 1958

Basilios George Mahfouz, the son of the priest Fr. George Mahfouz and Susan Homsey, was born in Damascus, Syria in 1889. Basilios immigrated to Quebec in November 1902 along with his parents and siblings. His father was assigned to serve the church of St. Nicholas in Montreal. Basilios remained in Quebec and worked as a fruit merchant with his older brother George. He also worked briefly as a bookkeeper in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1917, he married Takla Neimy in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They were married by Fr. Phillip A. Assaley at the St. Nicholas Syrian Orthodox Church on September 30, 1917.

Basilios George Mahfouz was ordained a priest by Archbishop AFTIMOS Ofiesh on Sunday November 18, 1917, becoming the 21st priest in direct succession of the Mahfouz family of Damascus. His priestly ancestry extends to the fifteenth century. The ordination took place at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Holyoke, Massachusetts, during the consecration of the church.

Following his ordination, Fr.Basilios was appointed pastor of St. George Syrian Orthodox Church of Lawrence, Massachusetts. In April, 1920 he went to serve as the first priest of St. Ellian Syrian Orthodox Church in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. After a few years in Brownsville, Fr. Basilios moved to Sioux City, Iowa where he served as pastor at St. George Syrian Orthodox Church. He then relocated to Boston in April 1926 to serve at St. John of Damascus Syrian Orthodox Church. In Boston, like his father Fr. Basilios, he would concentrate his efforts on unifying the community and ministering to their spiritual needs. In 1927, Archbishop AFTIMOS appointed Fr. Basilios to serve as secretary of the "charter council" established to draft and present an official charter for the Archdiocese. In April 1928, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest.

Father Basilios also served as pastor of St. George Church of Cedar Rapids, Iowa in the mid 1940s and at St. George of Danbury, Connecticut in 1946. He went to St. Mary Syrian Orthodox Church in Wichita, Kansas in 1946 and served there until 1950. At St. Mary, he was instrumental in founding the Young People’s Club which became the backbone of the community. He also oversaw the publication of their first newsletter “The Orthodox Crusader.” In 1956, he moved to Indiana where he retired and eventually died at St. Anthony’s Hospital on January 31, 1958. He was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indiana.