City of Seven Hills, Ohio Designates Pope Shenouda III Street

26/6/13

Bishoy M. Mikhail

(Seven Hills, OH) – St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church of Seven Hills held a ceremony on Sunday, June 23, 2013, to dedicate the honorary street designation of Pope Shenouda III Street and Pope Shenouda III Museum. Because of his connection to Archpriest Fr. Mikhail Edward Mikhail and St. Mark’s, the Cities of Seven Hills and Cleveland, became the Pope’s second home after Cairo, Egypt.

The Pope Shenouda Museum at St. Mark’s is a collection of personal belongings and vestments of the late Pope Shenouda.  The collection was made up of items Pope Shenouda left in Cleveland, blessed to remain in Cleveland by his successor, H.H. Pope Tawadros II,  as well as many rare items gifted to the museum by Pope Tawadros in recognition of the strong relationship between his predecessor and the Cleveland church.

The event was attended by U.S. Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, Ohio Representative Marlene Anielski,  Seven Hills Mayor Richard Dell’Aquila, two former mayors and members of the City Council, Police Department as well as members of Pope Shenouda’s medical and security teams from Cleveland Clinic.  The 600 plus attendees from the parish celebrated the unveiling of the sign and then took their first tour of the museum.

Fr. Mikhail, Pastor of St. Mark, said, “The enthusiastic support from our elected officials today represents why the City of Seven Hills is a magnificent place to worship and live—it’s why His Holiness, Pope Shenouda III, visited us more than any other place in the world.”  Since his first official visit in 1977, Pope Shenouda visited Cleveland more than 30 times, for both pastoral and medical visits.

Pope Shenouda’s connection to Seven Hills was particularly special. Fr. Mikhail enrolled at the Coptic Seminary in Cairo in 1967, where he became a spirtual son and student of then Bishop Shenouda who was the dean. As he visited Fr. Mikhail and later in life sought treatment at Cleveland Clinic, Seven Hills became home away from home.

Source:

Independent