986 - Letters to George

Friends: A book has been published containing several of Abba Philemon’s letters to our great spiritual friend George Bebawi. The story and a link to the book is below. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #986

October 7, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Letters to George

By Bob Walters

“He is very dear to me … both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.” – Philemon 16.

From the fall of 2004 through 2017, Dr. George Bebawi (1938-2021) taught a series of Bible and theological classes in the fall and spring at East 91^st Street Christian Church here in Indianapolis.

All who spent any time in the class remember George’s copious pre-class notes filled with his own observations, writings of the ancient Christians, various Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic Bible translations with contexts and evaluations of modern Christianity.  This was no light Bible study; it was a deep dive into the spirit of the Lord.

And a special treat most weeks would be a brief piece of wisdom tucked in his class handout, a letter excerpt from George’s spiritual mentor, a monk he once knew named Philemon at the Monastery of St. Macarius in the desert north of Cairo, Egypt.

George grew up Jewish in a Muslim neighborhood in Cairo, learning the Koran with his young neighbors and then preparing for rabbinical school as a teenager. Raised by his Jewish maternal grandmother, George’s father, a Christian physician, was the one who said George ought to learn about the people around him, mostly Muslims.

This obviously gave George a 360-degree perspective of the Abrahamic religions, but the big surprise came at age 18 when both he and his grandmother converted to Christianity. George soon went to seminary, and became a priest in the Coptic (Egyptian Orthodox) Church founded by St. Mark in the first century.

It was early in his priesthood that George investigated becoming a monk and on a visit to Macarius monastery met Abba Philemon, an older, quirky brother of extreme biblical learning and spiritual depth whose birthplace and birthdate were unknown.

In his mid-20s, George was off to Cambridge University, England, for a masters in Christian Theology and a doctorate in Orthodox Studies. George became a renowned Eastern church scholar and expert on the Patristic period of the church fathers in the earliest Christian centuries.  Google “George Bebawi” (or GeorgeBebawi.com) and many resources pop up including his organizations and full Wikipedia biography.

Until Philemon’s passing in 1977, George regularly corresponded with him on deep personal and spiritual matters. This included frequent letters from Philemon in reply to George’s questions or difficulties. They also had numerous conversations at the monastery which George recorded from memory. Philemon claimed to be uneducated and most brothers thought him illiterate, but his letters belie a powerful intellect.

George often regaled our E91 class with stories about Philemon, many of them situated between hilarious, charming, and Oh My God revealing anecdotes. I still have 14 years of George’s class handouts plus my own notes, all peppered with Philemon’s erudite nuggets of faith, truth, Godly love, scriptural revelation, and the truth of Jesus.

The class ended in December 2017, and George died February 4, 2021.  Three years later, a surprise showed up, a book of Abba Philemon’s Letters to George (LINK).

Last fall a friend of George’s wife May – my classmate Joyce Van Atta – handed me a small book of Philemon’s letters to George. I couldn’t find any information about it then, but now it is available on Amazon.

George was a good man and a dear brother in the Lord, and I know many of his students and friends will be happy to hear that Philemon’s words live on.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) coordinated George’s classes at E91, but has no idea who actually published the Philemon book.