--- title: "Departure of Nabih Fanous · St Cyril’s" url: https://stcyrils.edu.au/news/departure-of-nabih-fanous description: "We would like to express our condolences to the family of Nabih Fanous who passed away on Sunday 21 February. Nabih was one of the original faculty of the…" --- 1. [Home](https://stcyrils.edu.au/) 2. [News](https://stcyrils.edu.au/news) # Departure of Nabih Fanous 24 February 2021 ![Departure of Nabih Fanous](https://stcyrils.edu.au/_image?href=https%3A%2F%2Fstcyrils.edu.au%2F_emdash%2Fapi%2Fmedia%2Ffile%2F01M5HJ9Y3EBX5KN4024Q7M4JZ9.jpeg&w=280&h=380&f=webp&fit=cover&position=center) We would like to express our condolences to the family of Nabih Fanous who passed away on Sunday 21 February. Nabih was one of the original faculty of the Theological College in Sydney, having joined in 1983 (less than a year after the College was founded) to teach Liturgy and Liturgical Chant. He is also the father of Fr Samuel Fanous, currently Lecturer in Church History at St Cyril’s. In the 1980s, he worked with Fr Tadros Yacoub Malaty to produce one of the first widely used English translations of the Liturgy of St Basil. Some of his reflections on Coptic liturgical chant (quoted below) can be read here: [Brief Notes on Coptic Hymns (Nabih Fanous)](https://accot.stcyrils.edu.au/nf-copticmusic/). ![](https://stcyrils.edu.au/_image?href=https%3A%2F%2Fstcyrils.edu.au%2F_emdash%2Fapi%2Fmedia%2Ffile%2F01M5HJ9Q1PXKY4N05EMH3181VX.jpg&w=884&h=496&f=webp&fit=cover&position=center) In this historic photo, Nabih Fanous is at the far back, fourth from left, behind Fr Tadros Samaan. _“Coptic hymns are deep, harmonic and exactly defined songs meant to express the innermost emotions of the praising spirit. They do not follow musical notes or dedicated rhythm but rather they translate the pulses of the spirit._” **(From Nabih Fanous, “[_Brief Notes on Coptic Hymns_](https://accot.stcyrils.edu.au/nf-copticmusic/)”)** May the Lord repose his soul in the paradise of joy. ## More from the College * [2 September 2026Unveiling Paul](https://stcyrils.edu.au/news/unveiling-paul) * [14 August 2026Sacred Hospitality with Fr Stephen Muse, PhD](https://stcyrils.edu.au/news/sacred-hospitality-with-fr-stephen-muse-phd) * [9 June 2026Enrolments for Semester 2 are now open!](https://stcyrils.edu.au/news/enrolments-for-semester-2-are-now-open-2) --- St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College · 6/252–254 West Street, Carlton NSW 2218, Australia · +61 2 9546 6411 · registrar@stcyrils.edu.au Site guide for AI agents: https://stcyrils.edu.au/llms.txt