M E M O R Y   E T E R N A L

"...[O]ur beloved pastor emeritus, Very Rev. Fr Paul W. S. Schneirla, departed this life peacefully at his home in Readington Township, NJ, on Saturday, September 20, 2014, at approximately 1:30 PM at age 98. Fr. Paul served St. Mary’s Church from 1951 until his retirement in August 2002. ...

"In addition to his tenure as pastor of St. Mary’s Church Fr. Paul also served for many years as a professor of Old Testament at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, NY, as Corporate Secretary of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, as Vicar General of the archdiocese’s Western Rite, and as a frequent commentator and speaker for many media outlets. He served as the first chairman of the Department of Christian Education and as the Dean of the Atlantic Deanery. He was the first editor of the “WORD” Magazine. As the Ecumenical Officer for the Antiochian Archdiocese, Fr. Paul was a charter member of the Orthodox-Anglican, Orthodox-Roman Catholic, and Orthodox-Polish Catholic Theological Dialogues and had been a General Board Member of the National Council of Churches since the 1940s. Fr. Paul was the last surviving member of the original founders of the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America (SCOBA).

"Any time someone would ask Fr. Paul how he was, his patented and trademarked response was, “Never better!” as an expression of his lifelong progress in both the material and spiritual realms. We, therefore, pray for his soul “in a place of brightness, a place of verdure, a place of repose, whence all sickness, sorrow, and sighing have fled away.” Memory eternal!"

~excerpt from Fr. Michael Ellias's parish letter of 22 September, 2014

Remembrances

Remembrance at Antiochian.org

"A Memorial Minute" by Dr. Robert M. Haddad (click the viewer below):