Friends, kin mourn; Some say his kindness may have led to killing

Members of an Eastern Orthodox church in northwest Dallas mourned without answers Sunday, wondering whether their priest’s unfailing kindness led to his violent death.

The Rev. Anthony Boake, 50, was found beaten to death early Saturday in his home across the parking lot from the Saints Constantine and Helen Antiochian Eastern Orthodox Church. He was the victim of an apparent robbery.

Parishioners who gathered Sunday at services in the morning and evening said the priest often took homeless or troubled men into his home, giving them food and shelter for days, weeks or months.

“The father was a very generous person,” said 9-year church member Angie Fares. “He would often answer the door for anyone in need. I guess it’s possible he opened the door to the wrong person.”

Dallas police said Sunday that they have no leads or suspects.

Father Boake’s 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier, a four-door sedan with license plate 032-ZJK, was still missing late Sunday.

A man staying with Father Boake discovered the body after returning from work early Saturday. Some church members said the man was a cousin or nephew of Father Boake’s, but the priest’s sister, Barbara Smith of Austin, said he was not related.

Police have said the man staying with Father Boake is not a suspect.

“My brother was a very good man and did everything he could for the community,” said Ms. Smith, who attended a Sunday evening memorial service at the church.

Father Boake’s mother, Louise Boake of Austin, joined her daughter at the 30-minute memorial service. Church members prayed and filed past an open casket, pausing to kiss a gospel book that was laid on Father Boake’s body. His face was cloaked and he was dressed in the priest’s vestments he normally wore during church services.

“We are living in sad times,” Father Constantine Nasr, dean of the denomination’s southwest region, told the parishioners. “Evil is around us, hunting us day and night. I don’t know what’s happening to our society.”

Father Boake knew that some of the homeless people who sometimes slept in bushes beside the church could cause trouble, Ms. Fares said. In the past two years, police have responded to at least four reports at the church of attempted break-ins, trespassing and criminal mischief, police reports indicate.

Edmond Massad, who helped found the church, said Father Boake’s home had been broken into three or four times in the past four years.

But despite his concerns, church members said, the priest refused to turn away people who asked for help.

“He’s had lots of people knock on the door and ask for food,” said Susie Sobchak, a two-year church member. “Sometimes they’re legitimate and sometimes they’re not, but that’s the environment of the church. . . . It should be open to the needy.”

Viewing of Father Boake’s body will resume at noon Monday at the church, 3755 Walnut Hill Lane. At 7 p.m. Monday, the church will conduct a priest’s funeral. Another funeral will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Greek Orthodox Church Holy Trinity, 13555 Hillcrest Road.

As church clergy and members prepared for Father Boake’s funeral and Austin burial, many expressed concern about finding who killed their pastor.

“We want to know and get to the bottom of this,” said a church member who asked not to be identified. “It’ll be easier when we do.”