By Phoebe Farag Mikhail

In the span of two weeks, two women I love and admire passed away. Both were older–great-grandmothers—and both had fallen ill in the months before their deaths, so they weren’t surprises. But these were women that were always there, the mothers and grandmothers of some of my dearest friends. These were women whose losses will be felt deeply by their families and friends. These were women whose generation built a Coptic Orthodox community in the United States and exemplified the prayer and hospitality that were the rocks that built it.

Awatef Geerges, departed 30 June 2018

One of those women was Awatef Geerges. I always knew her as Tant Awatef, and met her through her daughters, who were friends, colleagues, and fellow servants in church. As I got to know her, I was enthralled both by the strength of her character and by the fervency of her prayers. A journalist in Egypt during the Nasser years, she emigrated to the U.S. with her husband and three daughters. Not only did she start her life from scratch again, but she started a church from scratch. Starting off in New York cleaning the Staten Island Ferry and ending up in Washington, DC as a highly respected translator for the FBI, along the way she not only successfully raised her daughters but also helped establish what is now one of the largest Coptic Orthodox churches in North America, St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church of Washington, DC.

Tant Awatef greeting my husband after our wedding in January 2008. She traveled from Virginia to New Jersey to attend.

While she was known for her strong personality, I knew her first for her hospitality. My first introduction to Tant Awatef was through her daughter Mimi. Mimi and I met at a youth retreat in New York, and when I started a new job in Washington, DC and needed a place to stay for a few days, Mimi and her husband wholeheartedly opened her home to me. The day I arrived Mimi told me that her mom called. “Why didn’t you have her come stay with me?” Tant Awatef scolded her. Nothing makes one feel more welcome than to have two people fighting to have you over. I would soon learn that many families got their start in the U.S. in Tant Awatef’s home. Hospitality builds communities.

Tant Awatef was a founding member of St. Mark’s and a fixture in the church. I could tell that it was not just her strong personality that raised her family but her unwavering prayers. She occasionally shared some with me, an act that humbled me greatly. Her prayers built a family, a church, and a community.

Souad Sourial, departed 18 June 2018

Souad Sourial, who I knew as Soosoo, was cut from the same cloth. I knew Soosoo through my longtime friend and college roommate, Mora. Soosoo was her grandmother, and clearly a consistent presence in her life. I grew up without grandparents around for the most part, as many children of immigrants do, and so I envied Mora her good fortune of having another trusted adult figure in her life to help guide her and, of course, to pray for her.

When I moved back to New Jersey after many years of living away, I was surprised to find Soosoo occasionally attending a mid-week liturgy at my church, although she lived almost an hour away. I would eventually run into her at almost every church-related event I attended. That was how I grew to know her outside of her family relationship with Mora—she spent her retirement with God, filling her time with prayer, liturgy, and meetings. Hers was a quieter leadership, by example and prayer, but nonetheless powerful.

I’ve written before about the loss of Fr. Yohanna Tadros, another pillar to the Coptic Orthodox community in the United States, and realize that though they were not clergy, these women were pillars this community as well. They lead by courage and example, by prayer and action. They did not wait for someone to serve them—they saw what was needed and did it themselves, not just for themselves, but for thousands of others. They did so not for fame or glory, but for the love of God.

These are the giants who have walked before us. They are our matriarchs, examples not just for the Coptic community, but for anyone who wants to know what strength and perseverance look like.

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