Wichita, May 22, 2026
Photo: Instagram
Warren Farha, founder of the Eighth Day Books bookstore in Wichita, Kansas, reposed in the Lord on May 20 at the age of 70.
His funeral service will be held on Tuesday May 26 at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Wichita. He will be buried the next day at Kensington Gardens, according to his obituary on cozine.com.
Warren is survived by his wife Chris, three children, and eight grandchildren.
Many messages have appeared on social media remembering Farha as a pious man of deep wisdom. Matthew Namee of Orthodox History writes:
Warren’s death has brought that moment to mind, for me: he was a humble bookstore owner, a widower who remarried and raised his kids and taught catechism. But hundreds of people credit Warren as a pivotal influence in their journey to Orthodoxy, and everyone who ever met the man could sense something special about him, something wise and kind and even holy. I’m not just saying this after the fact, in light of his repose. When I was a kid, my dad would tell me, “Warren doesn’t say many words, but listen to every word he says, because he’s full of wisdom.” At that point, Warren was still in his 30s. He got wiser as the years went by, and every interaction with him left me edified.
Many have also praised Eighth Day Books as the greatest Christian bookstore, or even simply the greatest bookstore in the world.
Photo: theoym.org
Orthodox author Rod Dreher writes:
Just waking up to the awful news that Warren Farha has died. He was the genius behind Eighth Day Books in Wichita, the greatest Christian bookstore in the English-speaking world. He was also a dear, dear man.
In an interview given to Orthodox Youth and Young Adult Ministries last year, Farha noted that he founded Eighth Day Books in Wichita, Kansas in 1988, following a profound personal tragedy—the death of his first wife in an auto accident. A lifelong member of St. George Orthodox Cathedral and part of Wichita’s Lebanese immigrant community, Farha left his family’s building materials business to pursue a new calling.
“I see my work as an extension of my Baptism,” Farha explained. “As an Orthodox Christian, my faith is at the core of who I am, and my work reflects that.”
The bookstore became known for housing one of the most extensive Orthodox sections in the country, alongside classics in literature, philosophy, and the arts. Farha’s guiding principle came from St. Justin Martyr: “That which is true is ours.” He believed this meant the Orthodox faith embraced “everything that is good, true, and beautiful.”
His advice to young Orthodox Christians was simple but profound: “Pay attention to your loves. Pay attention to your passions... because those loves and drives are expressions of the image of God in you.”
Despite challenges from big-box retailers and Amazon, Eighth Day Books thrived, with Farha noting the last four or five years were “the best in our business history.”
His final message in the interview remained characteristically focused: “Go out there and find a good book and read it. It’ll be good for your soul.”
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