My Beloved, the Blessed Children of the Holy Church Christ is Risen Truly He is Risen Today, we rejoice in the Resurrection of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. Indeed, today is the day which the Lord has made. The Resurrection of Christ is not just a historical event, but is a living event which we live and rejoice in it. The Resurrection of Christ is the resurrection of all of us, as St. – …

My Beloved, the Blessed Children of the Holy Church, Christ is Risen Truly He is Risen “But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.” (Matt. 26:32) It is my pleasure to wish you a glorious Feast of the Resurrection, asking our Good Lord to grant us the joy and power of His glorious Resurrection. The Resurrection of Christ gives us power and joy in the midst of the difficulties and – …

The Coptic Orthodox Church brings to mind the present reality of the power of Christ’s resurrection from the dead on the third day. By His death, Christ has trampled death and has bestowed eternal life to those in the tombs. The Lord of Glory raised Himself from the dead on the Sunday of Resurrection. He rose for us to clothe us with the new man and grant us eternal life. Quote: Before the divine sojourn – …

During these blessed and joyous weeks, we celebrate the The Feast of Nairouz and the beginning of another Coptic New Year. The Church chose the beginning of the reign of Emperor Diocletian in 284 A.D. to mark the beginning of the Church Calendar, because he was one of the cruelest emperors, who severely persecuted the Christians, especially in Egypt. The Coptic Orthodox Church offered thousands of martyrs during the reign of this emperor.When we celebrate – …

Come, my beloved, the season calls us to keep the feast. Again, ‘the Sun of Righteousness, causing His divine beams to rise upon us, proclaims beforehand the time of the feast, in which, obeying Him, we ought to celebrate it, lest when the time has passed by, gladness likewise may pass us by. For discerning the time is one of the duties most urgent on us, for the practice of virtue; so that the blessed – …

Today we rejoice as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, Who by His death trampled down death, and bestowed eternal life upon those in the tomb. At the beginning of this year, the Church offered a group of righteous martyrs in Nag Hammadi. We pray that God may repose their pure souls in the Paradise of Joy. We also pray for their families that God may grant them the – …

The Church recently celebrated the 29th day of the Coptic month of Paopi. The 29th day of certain months in the Coptic calendar is very special, because the Church, in Her wisdom, commemorates the Feasts of the Annunciation, Nativity, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on these days. We have this commemoration on the 29th of every Coptic month with the exception of two months, Tuba and Meshir. When we think about these three – …

My Beloved, the Blessed Children of the Holy Church, Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen! Today, we rejoice in hope as we celebrate the Glorious Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the midst of today’s culture of despair, which is prevalent throughout the world, we as Christians nonetheless rejoice in hope. The Feast of the Resurrection is a source of everlasting joy and hope in the midst of – …

The period of the Fifty Holy Days is a special period in the ecclesiastical cycle. The prominent feature of this period is joy. The Church prays with a festal tune in all Her liturgies and prayers, including the funerals. During this period, the Church lives the life of happiness, which was experienced by the holy disciples after Christ’s resurrection and His appearance to them. The Divine inspiration describes this joy as such, “Then the disciples – …

The death on the Cross, then, for us has proved seemly and fitting, and its cause has been shown to be reasonable in every respect; and it may justly be argued that in no other way than by the Cross was it right for the salvation of all to take place. For not even thus–not even on the Cross–did He leave Himself concealed; but far otherwise, while He made creation witness to the presence of – …

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, – …

Many regard the period of the Fifty Holy Days to be a time to lax spiritually, especially that it comes after the asceticism of Great Lent, with its daily Divine Liturgies, and Holy Pascha Week, with its long prayers and comforting hymns. What further strengthens this belief in the mind of many is the fact that the Fifty Holy Days is a period that is unique for being devoid of any fasting days, something that – …