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Hilarion Heagy, from a Russian Orthodox priest to a Catholic priest in the United States and now converted to Islam. Photo/Twitter @IlmFeed
CALIFORNIA – Reverend Hilarion Heagy, a prominent Catholic priest in United States of America (USA) sparked an uproar in the church community after announcing his decision to convert to Islam.
Heagy, who lives in California, was previously a Russian Orthodox priest. He then joined the Antiochian Orthodox Church around 2003 before switching to the Eastern Catholic Church in 2007.
He graduated from the Holy Resurrection Monastery at St Nazianz in Wisconsin to become a Byzantine Catholic priest and recently announced plans to establish an Eastern Christian Monastery in California.
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However, in a blog post of her own, Heagy, who now goes by the name Said Abdul Latif, said: “After decades of being attracted to Islam on various levels, I have finally decided to take the plunge.”
“For this to happen, however, physical and regular steps are required, because I live in a Catholic convent. One cannot be a priest and a monk openly, and a Muslim privately,” he continued, as quoted by the Middle East Monitor, Monday (27 /2/2023).
He described his conversion as a “Return to the East” and a return to his “primordial identity”.
He also gave an explanation of his conversion by quoting, giving an explanation by quoting the Al-Qur’an Surah Al-A’raf Verse 172.
“And (remember) when your Lord took out from the spine (backbone) the descendants of Adam and their descendants and God took witness against their souls (saying), ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They replied, ‘True (You are our Lord), we bear witness’. (We did that) so that on the Day of Judgment you would not say, “Indeed at that time we were negligent about this,” the translation of the Qur’an’s arguments which quoted Heagy.
He further confirmed his status as a convert.
“It is for this reason that converts often don’t talk as much about ‘conversion’ as they do about ‘returning’ to Islam – our primordial belief. A long process of Return,” he wrote on his blog.
In response to the blog entry, a recent article by Catholic.com titled “Sad Journey of the ‘Muslim Priest” mentions that news of the former priest’s acceptance of Islam also received mixed reactions on social media, where Muslims welcomed him and some Christians judged him for “apostatising”.
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