Falling asleep of Metropolitan GABRIEL

METROPOLITAN GABRIEL (Saleeby), 82 of Paris, Archbishop of the Antiochian Archdiocese of Western and Central Europe, has fallen asleep in Christ. His Funeral and burial will be in Paris on Friday October 26, 2007. Metropolitan Gabriel was born in the Lebanese mountain town of Souq al-Gharb in 1925 and received his theological education in Russia. He was elected bishop and consecrated to the sacred episcopacy on August 22, 1966, and served as auxiliary to the late Metropolitan ELIA (Saleeby) of Beirut. In 1980 he was assigned Patriarchal Vicar for the growing Antiochian Orthodox presence in Western Europe, eventually relocating to Paris in 1982. In establishing the Vicariate Bishop Gabriel fully employed his considerable linguistic gifts, being a fluent speaker of Arabic, English, French, Spanish, German and Russian. In 1998 he was inducted into the prestigious "Legion d'-honneur" by the French State in recognition of his contribution to French society. In the fall of 2000 the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch elevated the Vicariate of Western and Central Europe to the status of an Archdiocese and Bishop Gabriel to the dignity of a Metropolitan Archbishop. Under his care the Archdiocese has grown to include dozens of parishes (with over thirty in Germany alone) and a monastic community of eighteen nuns in the south of France. May his memory be eternal, and may you be granted long life.