At noon on Saturday, September 22nd / October 5th, 2024, at the Church of the Holy Trinity on Zion hill, there was the Funeral Service of the young man who was unjustly killed along with other fellow human beings in the attack in Tel -Aviv on October 1st 2024.
Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem led the service, with con-celebrants their Eminences, the Metropolitan Hesychios of Capitolias and the Archbishops Theophanes of Gerrash, Dorotheos of Avila, Aristarchos of Constantina, Demetrius of Lydda and Aristovoulos of Madaba and many Holy Sepulchre Hieromonks and priests of our flock, in the presence of the parents of the departed and relatives and the Ambassador of Greece in Tel Aviv Kyriakos Loukakis, the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem Mr Dimitrios Angelosopoulos and a large number of Christians and members of the Jewish Community.
The obituary was delivered on behalf of the Patriarch by the Elder Arch-Secretary Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina as follows:
“Your Beatitude Father and Master,
Your Eminences, Holy Archbishops,
Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem,
Ambassador of Greece to Israel,
Dear Fathers,
Dear Christians,
Dear friends of the Karousis family,
Sorrow and distress, lamentation and weeping much grief and anger, fill the hearts of the family of doctors Mr Dimitrios and Mrs Ourania Karousis, members of the Hellenic Parish of Jerusalem. They “do not wish to be comforted”, they “weep” for their only son, “their only comfort”, Jonah the beloved, “who is no more”. Just a few days ago, while carrying out his work, he was one of the victims of a violent and deadly attack by an irreverent hand. This one, our beloved deceased, was brought up by his parents “in the education and admonition of the Lord” and from his childhood to his youth “he chose rather to be an outcast in the house of our God than to dwell in the tents of the sinners” (Ps. 83,11), that is, he liked to visit the house of the Lord, the holy Monastery of Saint Simeon in Katamon. He was a distinguished final-year student in his Architectural studies at the University of Tel Aviv.
Nevertheless, what do we say about his parents, who greatly love our Patriarchate, and who implanted in the soul of their son the desire to learn, the kindness of character and the usefulness of morals? What can we say about his mother, the Kyreneus of her husband Dimitrios Karousis, who has been assisting him to unimpededly carry out his original and pioneering scientific medical work at the “Hadassah” University Hospital in Ein Karem, as a neurologist, Director of the Neuro-Immunology Unit and distinguished professor to the University, specializing in multiple sclerosis, treating seriously ill patients from Israel, from all over the Holy Land, from Greece and from many other countries? Professor Dr. Karousis has been offering his beneficent medical humanitarian contribution to the Holy Sepulchre Fathers, to the members of the Hellenic Parish of Jerusalem and to everyone without exception. The door of his clinic has always been open to everyone.
In honour of all these, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Pastoral Church of the Holy Places, Shepherded by the Preeminent of this mortuary Congregation, His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos and founded on the immortal and life-giving blood of Christ Incarnate, Crucified and Risen, prays, that its spiritual child, our beloved deceased, young Jonah, may be forgiven for every fault, because as a man he sinned voluntarily or involuntarily, since there is no man without sin, even if he lives only for one day of his life on earth. We pray that his unjust death may be counted for the salvation of his soul and that he may hear the blessed voice of Christ our Saviour and God: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world” and that his soul may be placed in the land of the living after the righteous and the holy. We also express our deepest condolences, and pray for the Divine and sweet comfort, to his parents and other relatives. May his memory be eternal!”
After the Funeral Service was dismissed, the beloved Jonah was buried in the Cemetery next to the Patriarchal School of Zion.
After the burial, in the school’s ceremony hall, his parents received the condolences of His Beatitude, the Holy Sepulchre Fathers, the Ambassador of Greece, Mr Kyriakos Loukakis, who said in his address that “Jonah was an olive branch of peace and hope, which his murderer did not let bear fruit in the end”, the Consul General of Greece and many members of the Jewish Community, with whom the murdered Jonah and his parents were acquainted.
In this touching event, the Director of the Hadassah Hospital, medical organizations and his black-clad fellow students offered their condolences to his parents and praised his personality and activity as an example and symbol of a Christian, humanitarian and peaceful offer to today’s youth and to everybody.
