Fr. Matthew Baker: Memory Eternal!

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Friends,

We just learned the very sad and shocking news that Fr. Matthew Baker, a promising, brilliant scholar and priest who has contributed a number of articles to this site and is the close friend of a number of us, passed away in a tragic car accident this evening while traveling home from his parish assignment in Connecticut.

The following message has been published by the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston:

To the Faithful Stewards of the Metropolis of Boston:

With a very heavy heart, His Eminence informs you of the untimely passing of the Rev. Fr. Matthew Baker, who tragically died in a car accident early this evening. Fr. Matthew was recently assigned to the Holy Trinity Parish of Norwich, CT, following the retirement of Fr. Paul Pantelis. During this evening’s snow storm, Fr. Baker was traveling home from the parish when he had an accident from which he did not survive. His children who were traveling in the car with Fr. Matthew are thankfully not injured. The Metropolitan spoke directly with Presbytera Katherine a few moments ago and expressed the love and sympathy of the entire Metropolis and assured her of our prayers, presence and support.

More information will be forthcoming tomorrow. Please join His Eminence as we pray for Fr. Matthew’s eternal repose. We pray for Presbytera Kate, their six beautiful children, Fr. Matthew’s mother and their entire family, that the Lord surround them in His comforting and peaceful embrace. May he rest in peace! May his memory be eternal!

Fr. Matthew and his family were my neighbors in seminary, and we have remained close in the years that followed. He was not only one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met, but also one of the most dedicated to all that was good and beautiful and fine in this world.

Please remember him and all his family in your prayers.

Update: A site has been set up by a close and trusted friend of Fr. Matthew’s for the direct support of his wife and children. Please consider giving generously.

Update 2: I have written some remembrances of Fr. Matthew at my personal blog.

31 comments:

  1. His insight was a guiding star to my personal journey. May Fr. Matthew’s memory be eternal!

  2. I hope that the community will support his wife and children. Tragic loss of a very intelligent and kind man.

  3. Memory eternal! I can’t imagine! Lord have mercy! he such a wonderful brilliant man! Please Pray for his wife and children!!!

  4. I am absolutely shocked. This is such an immeasurable loss to all of us. May God be with his family and grant him memory eternal.

  5. Fr. Matthew was so helpful when I began reading on George Florovsky. I am so sad to hear about his death. Condolences to his family, and may his memory be eternal.

  6. Fr Matthew is a man of great integrity, with deep clear thought, and absolutely fearless to express in writing and with his words how he believed and what not only the Church Fathers thought but how more recent thinkers, including non-Orthodox, grappled with important theological and moral questions. His breadth of reading and insights are a gift to the Church.

  7. I was shocked to hear of his passing. May his memory be eternal and may the Lord who lovest mankind offer strength and comfort to Presbytera Katherine and their children.

  8. I am deeply saddened by this very tragic news. May Fr Matthew rest with the blessed, and may the Holy Spirit of God be there to console his wife and children in this unimaginable grief. Lord, have mercy on this wonderful family!

  9. I know many could roll eyes at this statement, but I firmly believe he was the Orthodox Church’s next Florovsky. An utterly brilliant man with a giving and loving heart.

  10. Fr. Matthew is the most brilliant researcher of Florovsky’s work. I had the oppurtunity to get in touch with him via email where he shared with me his thoughts about his theological research. My sincere condolences to his family!

  11. After a robust e-mail correspondence going back several years, I only met Fr. Matthew in October at OTSA in Brookline, where I could see what a first-rate scholar he was from whom we could continue to expect so many good works. And now that talent is gone too soon–a loss for the academy, but an especially wrenching loss for his young family. Eternal memory!

  12. May the memory of the Lord’s servant, Matthew be eternal!

    I was blessed to be a classmate with him at HCHC and agree his intellectual gift was great and his loss is truly a tragedy. May God bless and keep his beautiful children and presvytera at this time of loss.

  13. Memory Eternal. I am reminded of Commemoration Saturday and prayers for the departed.

  14. What is the address for the church? A fellow parishioner would like to mail a check, rather than use the site. I think I have the right one from the goarch site, but would like someone who knows for sure to verify it for me. Thanks!

    1. The following address has been set up for help with such questions: email hidden; JavaScript is required

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