18 November 2007

Fr Joseph Lester Angwin - May He Rest in Peace

We have been informed by Father Michael Massouh that Father Joseph Lester Angwin departed this life earlier today. Here follows a brief obituary written by Father David Lynch.

The Right Reverend Archimandrite Joseph Lester Angwin the sometime Rector of the Church of the Holy Incarnation, Detroit, Michigan, departed this life on Sunday, November 18th, 2007. Father Joseph was born in Toronto, Ontario in Canada. He was a graduate of Wayne State University in Detroit. He attended Nashotah House Seminary in Wisconsin and received the Bachelor of Divinity degree and was ordained to the priesthood of the Episcopal Church in 1954. He served at the Church of the Incarnation until 1977, when the parish became the first congregation to be received “whole and entire” into the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese. He was ordained to the priesthood and elevated to be an archimandrite by the Most Reverend PHILIP. Under his leadership, the Liturgy of St. Tikon was refined and initiated in the parish. His ministry, lasting almost fifty years, concluded with his retirement in 2001. Since then he has lived in retirement in Florida where he was attached to St. Nicholas Church, Pinellas Park.

Arrangements for Father Joseph’s funeral are pending. A requiem Mass for Father Joseph at Holy Incarnation will be announced later this week.

Into paradise may the angels lead thee:
At thy coming may the Martyrs receive thee,
And bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem.
May the Choir of Angels receive thee,
And with Lazarus, one poor, mayest thou have eternal rest.

In paradisum from The Orthodox Ritual

3 comments:

Unknown said...

My parents were members of Church of the Incarnation in Detroit since the early 50's when Farther Angwin was the assistant rector under Father Clark Attridge. Father Angwin faithfully held the church together for many years as the neighborhood deteriorated and following the 1973 departure from the Episcopal church. I was a Cathechist under Father Angwin and was confirmed in 1971. I remember him as a humble man who knew his theology and was able to stand by it. Ironically we all had spoken with him on the phone right after he returned from his kidney failure surgery - a week or so before he went to be with the Lord.

Unknown said...

My parents were members of Church of the Incarnation back in the late 50's when Father Angwin was assistant rector under Father Clark Attridge. Father Attridge - who died in 1969.
Father Angwin was faithful to the church and held Incarnation together as the neighborhood deteriorated and following the 1973 departure from the Episcopal church. He was a man who knew his church theology and stood by it. I was in Father Angwin's Cathetcism class and was confirmed in 1971. Ironically, my folks and I spoke with Father Angwin following his return from kidney failure surgery - roughly a week or so before he went home to the Lord.

Unknown said...

I recall Father Angwin as a man of great faith. Despite his health, he worked tirelessly and was of great comfort to my mother as she suffered and died from cancer. I recall that he warned me in 1970 that homosexuals were influencing the thinking of the Church, and that they would attempt to gain control of it. I wasn't sure what a homosexual was at the time.

He was a notoriuosly bad driver and could get lost driving around the block. We had lunch together on a number of occasions. I ALWAYS drove.