Father Constantine-Paul Michael Belisarius (Charles J. Bell, Jr. prior to his ordination to the holy priesthood) passed away on Sunday, November 27 at Winchester Medical Center. He had gone to the hospital on Thanksgiving Day and was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Funeral Services will be held on Friday, December 2, 2016 at 10:00 AM at Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek Catholic Church, 8501 Lewinsville, Road, McLean, Virginia, with Father Joseph Francavilla officiating. Burial will follow at Prospect Hill Cemetery, Front Royal, Virginia.

Father Constantine was born on July 7, 1943 in Charlotte, North Carolina to the late Charles Allen Bell and Edna Young Bell. He was also preceded in death by his sisters, Mona Kay Bell Maxwell and Peggy Lou Bell and brother-in-law, James Mills.

Father Constantine studied at St. Mary’s College in Kentucky and Fordham University in New York City. After being ordained to the diaconate, he served the Ukrainian Catholic community in Toronto in the 1970s and was later ordained to the Holy Priesthood by Melkite Patriarch Maximos V in 1982. He taught at the Patriarchal College in Heliopolis, Egypt from 1982 until 1995. He returned to the United States in 1995 due to health reasons and began working for Seton Home Study School as a counselor of Latin, French and Religion where he stayed until he died. He likewise was the spiritual father of a number of grateful souls through his regular services at the Holy Family in Exile and The Holy Innocents chapel which he also maintained from 1995 until his death.

Survivors include his sister, Betty Sue Mills of Yorktown, Virginia; brother, Phillip and his wife Anne Bell of Asheville, North Carolina brother-in-law, Stephen Maxwell of South Pasadena, Florida and several nieces and nephews.

The family will receive friends on Thursday, December 1, 2016 from 6-8 PM at Maddox Funeral Home, 105 West Main Street, Front Royal.