On the Holy Epiphany (Part 1)
O you who are the friends of Christ, and the friends of the stranger, and the friends of the brethren, receive in kindness my speech today, and open your ears like the doors of hearing, and admit within them my discourse, and accept from me this saving proclamation of the baptism of Christ, which took place in the river Jordan, in order that your loving desires may be quickened after the Lord, who has done – …
The Great Lent: The Journey to the Bosom of the Father
The Church has a strong program during this fast put by the Fathers through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which became to the soul a source of survival and spiritual filling, and to the Church a source of communal repentance and deep fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ in His fast…For Christ fasted for us and with us-and certainly He is a partner with each fasting soul. The monks used to take this opportunity – …
The Holy Spirit in the Mysteries of the Church
Our Lord Jesus Christ promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His disciples "I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever" (John 14:16). He assured them that the Holy Spirit would reveal truth to the Church. "When He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He – …
Treasures of the Fathers: First Sunday of Amshir
"And the people that were there saw that there was none other boat there save the one into which the disciples had entered, and that Jesus went not into the boat, but His disciples." [v.22] And why is John so exact? Why didn’t he say that the multitudes having passed over on the next day departed? He desires to teach us that Jesus allowed the multitudes to suspect what had happened–if not openly, then in – …
Treasures of the Fathers: The Day of Wednesday of the Holy Pascha
The Church Pours Ointment Many have met the Lord Jesus representatives of the catholic church, for He is the bridegroom. But this woman seems to me she has surpassed them all, after the Mother of God Saint Mary who has carried the Lord in the womb. She is the symbol of the church, and His Kingdom has been carried inside her, the mystery of the church’s life and its joy.” The Church that has not – …
Treasures of the Fathers: 1st Sunday of the Holy Fifty Days (Thomas Sunday)
The following is excerpt from St. John Chrysostom’s Homily 87 on the Commentary on John found in Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, s. 1, v. 14, edited and published in Treasures of the Fathers Volume 4: The Holy Fifty Days, pp. 47-51. "…24Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, – …
The Holy Theotokos: A Model For All Mankind
The Holy Virgin St. Mary had certain characteristics, which makes her the model for all of us. She was the first one to receive Christ, and has become the model of what we can become in Christ. In the midst of our troubled world, St. Mary offers us the personification of humanity saying “Yes” to God; she stands as the greatest example of humanity’s free response to God’s offer of salvation. St. Mary reveals to – …
He First Loved Us
Our relationship with God is a relationship of love. Saint John the Apostle says, “We love Him, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). Our perception of God’s love for us leads to loving Him. God’s love for us is an unlimited subject, as it is related to God’s unlimited and incomprehensible love for mankind as a whole. We cannot perceive the depth of God’s love for us because our mind and perception are – …
Carrying The Cross
Our Church celebrates two feasts for the Cross. One is on Parmhat 10th (March 19th), which always falls during Great Lent. The other is on Tout 17th (September 27th), which falls at the end of our celebrations of the The Coptic New Year (The Feast of Nairouz), and this latter Feast of the Cross is celebrated for three days. Our celebration of the Cross is actually a celebration of Christ’s victory over Satan and conquering – …
Treasures of the Fathers: Fifth Sunday of Abib, The Five Loaves and Two Fish
“THE FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH” by Saint Augustine Sermon 80 (on John 6:9), NPNF, s. 1, v. 6, p. 1075. It was a great miracle that was wrought, dearly beloved, for five thousand men to be filled with five loaves and two fishes, and the remnants of the fragments to fill twelve baskets. A great miracle: but we shall not wonder much at what was done, if we give heed to Him That did – …
Egyptian Monasticism
Transcript of a Speech Delivered at the Opening of the Exhibit, “A Still, Small Voice: Sixteen Centuries of Egyptian Monasticism,” at the Washington National Cathedral, March 15, 1992. I want to tell you now about Coptic monasticism. Egypt is considered the motherland of monasticism. The first monk in the whole world was St. Anthony, a Copt from Upper Egypt. He was born in the year 251 and departed in the year 356; he lived 105 – …
Why Did the Lord Fast for Forty Days?
The number forty is a sign of that laborious period in which, under the discipline of Christ the King, we have to fight against the devil. This is also indicated by the fact that both the law and the prophets solemnized a fast of forty days– that is to say, a humbling of the soul– in the person of Moses and Elijah, who each fasted for a period of forty days. Through the fast of – …