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Fr. Mikhail Aziz was born on November 27th, 1945, in Suez, Egypt. He was named Michel by his parents, Aziz Rizk and Bahga Youssef. As the only brother to his two beloved sisters, Maizy and Marlene, he proved to be a caring and exemplary role model.
Michel Aziz was enrolled at the renowned Catholic boys’ school, "Les Freres", and continued his formal education at College de Lasalle. Eager to expand his knowledge and excel in his studies, he obtained a Master of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bordeaux (France) after completing his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Ain Shams University.
In May 1975, Michel immigrated to Canada, where he worked as a plant manager for various companies in different cities (Montreal, Thursu, and Cornwall, Ontario). Saint Mark’s Church became his home away from home, and unbeknownst to him, his journey towards priesthood began.
Michel served as a Sunday school teacher for many years and was dearly cherished by the children and the Church’s youth, taking them on camping trips and building a strong relationship with each one of them.
Michel met his wife, Wafaa Boutros, in Montreal. On July 17th, 1976, they were joined in Holy matrimony by Fr. Basanti, now Bishop Basanti of Helwan and the departed Fr. Rafael Younan Nakhla. Their crowning ceremony was the first to be celebrated at the newly purchased Saint Mark’s Church.
In April 1977, Michel was ordained a deacon at the hands of His Holiness the Thrice-Blessed Pope Shenouda III in his 1st papal visit to St. Mark, Montreal.
Shortly after, the couple welcomed their eldest daughter, Marie, followed by Martha, then Mina (Fr. Arseny) and finally Markos, whose arrival completed their happy family.
Michel was called to serve our Lord Jesus Christ as a priest following the nomination of H.G. Bishop Reweis and the departed Fr. Hegumen Pishoy Saad in 1994.
On December 24th, 1994, Michel was ordained a priest to serve the St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Montreal, Canada.
He was ordained at the hands of His Holiness the Thrice-Blessed Pope Shenouda III at Saint Pishoy monastery in Wadi el Natroun in Egypt and was given the name Fr. Mikhail.
In 2013, Fr. Victor Nasr was ordained to serve with them both.
As a priest, Fr. Mikhail served the congregation with utmost love and dedication for nearly 26 years. He exerted every effort to educate, support, encourage and draw his children closer to Jesus Christ.
His early service included welcoming youth for Christmas and Easter celebrations at his home, never wanting anyone to celebrate alone. He was always eager to be the first to greet the newcomers himself at the airport and helped them settle down in their new country.
Fr. Mikhail was always Christ-centered. He truly loved God and everyone. He loved his family, his wife, his children and children-in-law, Ayman, Amir, Sylvia and Erini. He loved his precious grand children: Maximus, Michael, Ilana, Daniel, Hannah Mahrael, Elijah Kyrillos, Matteo and Rachel.
His unconditional love extended to his spiritual children, young and old. He had a pure heart, like the heart of children, to whom he expressed his love with hugs and his warm smile. Famous for distributing candy and chocolate to anyone who walked in his office, he was greeted every Sunday by children exiting their Sunday school classes who were eager to benefit from his tenderness and generosity.
Fr. Mikhail was a man of principle and honour. He was passionate about the truth and always spoke his opinion honestly but lovingly. His wisdom drove him to continually read many books to expand his knowledge about Christ. He had an active, fervent spirit and was always eager to proactively meet the needs of his growing congregation by investing in edifying projects.
Fr. Mikhail, spent his entire life serving and caring for the Church. He worked hard on building our beautiful iconostasis, established the church daycare, and taught our children religion at the Coptic school, which he founded. He strongly encouraged the children to learn Coptic and Arabic. He loved Coptic hymns, praises, spiritual songs and Saint’s venerations. At every birthday celebration he would always follow the "Happy Birthday" song with chanting Khen Efran as he had a great zeal for the Coptic Church.
Fr. Mikhail worked tirelessly to build a bishop's residence. He decorated the Church with our beautiful stained-glass windows, which he carefully and devotedly designed. He took care of the youth and gave them their own building where they can feel that their Church is their home, and he expanded the Church in the surrounding vicinity.
Before the Church had projectors, he produced the first multi-lingual Eulogion and Holy Pascha books in order for everyone to follow the church prayers in English, French, Arabic, and Coptic. He also wrote several books on the Rites of various liturgical services to serve the English and French-speaking congregations. In addition, Fr. Mikhail wrote an account of the history of St. Mark Coptic Orthodox church that was presented at the 50th anniversary to mark its Golden Jubilee. His contributions to his beloved Church are too numerous to recount.
Fr. Mikhail also served the Kingston congregation for many years before they purchased the Church of St. Mina. He also initiated building of the Archangel Michael and Philopateer Mercurius church in Laval, Quebec.
His many accomplishments were fulfilled humbly and with great dedication. He lived a life of prayer and submission and was never afraid or worried about any problem that came his way.
In spite of the aggressive cancer diagnosis he received in February 2020, Fr. Mikhail continued to be involved and to work from home for his beloved Church. He exerted much effort to record sermons for all his children to maintain his relationship with them.
On August 22, 2020, Fr. Mikhail was exceedingly joyful to be granted permission to leave the hospital to pray the liturgy for the feast of The Theotokos, The Virgin Saint Mary. His life was the altar, and he had a special bond with St. Mark the Apostle.
Fr. Mikhail spent the last few months at home with his family.
On November 1, 2020, Fr. Mikhail peacefully departed to the heavenly glories after a 9-month battle with the disease.
Words fail to describe Fr. Mikhail's attributes and virtues. His humility and love for God, the altar and all of God's children were immeasurable.
Indeed, every inch of the Church will forever resonate with his beloved voice.
May his prayers be with us all. Amen.