Fr. Joseph Lester Angwin, RIP

The former priest of (the original) Holy Incarnation Orthodox Church in Detroit, Michigan -- the first parish to celebrate the Liturgy of St. Tikhon, provided for more than 70 years earlier -- has passed away. Fr. John Fenton reported today on Conversi ad Dominum:

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. Tikhon 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

"Rest eternal grant unto [him], O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon [him]."

(Here's a satellite photo of the church bldg. on Dexter Blvd.; that's it on the left side of the intersection.)

(Mournful hat tip to Fr. Fenton)