The Paralytic and Being in the Presence of God
On the first Sunday of the blessed Coptic month of Babah, we heard in the Divine Liturgy the Gospel according to St. Mark 2:1-12, in which we were confronted by a man who is paralyzed, but nonetheless has friends that care and bring him to our Lord to be healed. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to a city called Capernaum, a city that was like His second home after Nazareth. At the time of our story, our – …
Conflict Between Church and State: An Eighth Century Episode during the Patriarchate of Abba Mennas I (766-774)
The conflict between the secular rulers and the Church in Egypt is a constant and recurring danger in the life of the Church. A revealing episode takes us back to the eighth century during the patriarchate of Abba Menas I (766-774), the forty-seventh Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. The episode is narrated by B. Evetts in The History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church, published in the Patrologia Orientalis, T. X, Fasc. – …
Practical and Mystical: Patriarch Kyrillos VI (1959-1971)
Today the memory of Kyrillos has become somewhat overshadowed by the steady news of miraculous interventions attributed to Kyrillos’s intercession after his passing away. In death his influence stretches far beyond Egypt. For example, one of the latest miracles that happened during the fall of 2005 unfolded in Iraq where his miraculous intervention rescued the American husband of a Coptic woman deployed there from certain death. In this essay I discuss some of the bases – …
The Missionary Journeys and Epistles of the Apostle Paul
An understanding of the chronological order of events in St. Paul’s ministry can be very valuable as a tool for the study of the book of Acts and St. Paul’s epistles. The book of Acts and the epistles of St. Paul sometimes tell us the length of time between one event and another. However, determining the year in which an event took place can require some research. It is most helpful to know the year – …
On the Resurrection of Lazarus
A man was raised up by Him who made man: for He is the only One of the Father, by whom, as you know, all things were made. And if all things were made by Him, what wonder is it that one was raised by Him, when so many are daily brought into the world by His power? It is a greater deed to create men than to raise them again from the dead. Yet – …
The Exercise of the Arrow Prayer
The Concept Behind this Exercise These prayers are called “arrow-like prayers” by the Church for they are, in a manner of speaking, spiritual arrows that penetrate the thick veil that can exist between man and God, rises to the pinnacle of heaven and enters the sanctuary of the Lord and is most effective. When you repeat this prayer with concentration, you will experience the following: 1. You will feel that the Lord is opening you – …
The Christian in the Parables of Christ
Introduction The life of a Christian is not supposed to be spent haphazardly. That is, the Christian does not perform random acts hoping that the act that he has taken is a proper act. So if a Christian does not act randomly, then there must be a guideline, or standard by which he can evaluate an action and thus know what to do or what direction to take in a specific situation. Likewise, Christians should – …
Nativity Discourse
We behold now a great and wondrous mystery. Shepherds with cries of joy come forth as messengers to the sons of mankind, not on their hilly pastures with their flocks conversing and not in the field with their sheep frolicking, but rather in the city of David Bethlehem spiritual songs exclaiming. In the highest sing Angels, proclaiming hymns Archangelic; the heavenly Cherubim and Seraphim sing out praises to the glory of God: “Holy, Holy, Holy…” – …
The Promise to Abraham Fulfilled in Christ
Therefore Abraham also, knowing the Father through the Word, who made heaven and earth, confessed Him to be God; and having learned, by an announcement [made to him], that the Son of God would be a man among men, by whose advent his seed should be as the stars of heaven, he desired to see that day, so that he might himself also embrace Christ; and, seeing it through the spirit of prophecy, he rejoiced – …
St. John Chrysostom and Carrying our Cross
This week, as millions of Americans around the world give thanks during the Thanksgiving holiday, the Coptic Orthodox Church commemorates the exemplary life and departure of one of the most influential figures in the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church: St. John Chrysostom (the “Golden-Mouthed”). St. John was one of the most eloquent preachers of Christ’s Gospel as well as an ascetic and great teacher. His love for our Lord Jesus Christ was great, as was – …
The First Theological Oration
Not to every one, my friends, does it belong to philosophize about God; not to every one; the Subject is not so cheap and low; and I will add, not before every audience, nor at all times, nor on all points; but on certain occasions, and before certain persons, and within certain limits. Not to all men, because it is permitted only to those who have been examined, and are passed masters in meditation, and – …
The Mission of the Twelve
Our Lord Jesus Christ has appointed certain men to be guides and teachers of the world and stewards of his divine mysteries. Now he bids them to shine out like lamps and to cast out their light not only over the land of the Jews but over every country under the sun and over people scattered in all directions and settled in distant lands. That man has spoken truly who said: No one takes honor – …