“Last Sunday, His Beatitude, accompanied by the Metropolitans of Tripoli and Carthage conducted the inauguration of the newly built Patriarchal Church of St Paraskeve in Sidi Bisr, which was built by the Zerbinis family”. This was how the Patriarchal Publication “Pantainos” began its report regarding the inauguration of the Patriarchal Church of St Paraskeve by the late Patriarch Nicholas V of Alexandria. 74 years later the population of Alexandria may have changed but the flame of Orthodoxy remains.
On 27th May 2011, His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa appointed as the new Parish Priest of this church the Reverend Protopresbyter Sami Medawar. He succeeds the ever-remembered Father Meletios Giannios, who served parish communities of the Patriarchate of Alexandria from 1941, and as a Parish Priest of the Holy Church of St Parakeve for decades.
After praising the family of the new Parish Priest for the valuable necessary means they equipped him with, His Beatitude called on him to be a worthy continuer of the work of his predecessor and to work with zeal for the progress of the Orthodox witness in this suburb of Alexandria. He then gave him a silver blessing cross and a set of vestments and awarded him the keys both of the church as well as of the house which is behind it, which was renovated specifically for the new Parish Priest and his family. A festive reception followed in the grounds of the Church.
