Wisdom of the Oriental Orthodox Fathers

[minasoliman]

And now, Lord of hosts,
awesome majesty, unwavering vision,
all expansive will, undiminishing bounty,
how can our dances and songs of joy
do honor to even one drop of your goodness?
You earnestly strive to prepare for my salvation,
but let me write what is greater, that it might be
         told in the future.
You have not been called "angel lover,"
although the founder of their kingdom.
And of the heavens with their luminaries,
         all your handiwork,
never have you been described as loving them.
Rather to your greater honor and praise,
you preferred the love of mankind.
For this reason you doubly magnified your name
         beyond telling,
with frightening mystery.
You called the heavenly host dressed in light,
your servants and stewards of special missions,
and us mortals, born below,
you adorned with your worshipful, lordly, and
         godly name,
exceeding again all bounds of measure and weight,
by the flow of your power and exceeding goodness,
your inspired endless praise.
And by becoming man, you, one of "the One who is,"
your gifts of life, diverse talents,
splendid divine works and miracles,
poured down abundantly upon some who
asked for themselves, and others who
asked blessings for others.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[geovar]

Write 'sugar' on a piece of paper, it won't taste sweet. Only sugar when tasted will give one sweetness. Though many think of God, they never taste him. Taste and see that he is good
HG Kuriakose Mar Gregoriose
(Pampadi Thirumeni)
(5 April, 1885- 5 April, 1965)
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

[minasoliman]

My dear reader, you may live for tens of thousands of days, so it would be prudent for you to dedicate a few minutes everyday asking God to shed His light on you.  Through this you would come to know the truth about yourself.  This truth is that God occupies Himself with you as if there were no other creature in all of creation to concern Himself with besides you.

...

When the son who spent all of his money came back to himself (Luke 15:17), his father's great love was very clear to him as he immediately ran towards him, fell on his neck, and kissed him.  The son could not fathom his father's favorable reaction before he decided to return.  He hadn't even considered his welcoming embrace a possibility.

...

The Psalmist says, "For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness" (Ps. 18:28).  It is hard for a person to know the depth of their soul on their own.  If one tries, he will fall in one of two dangers:  he will either consider himself righteous and idolize himself with pride, or suffer destructive depression upon discovering his weaknesses, sins and inability to change him.  The light of God gives us amazing hope, and opens the doors of His heavens before us; those heavens being the home of our Father Who awaits our coming and welcomes us as though we are in our own home.

...

The Lord Jesus Christ assures us of His appreciation of the human being when He says: "For what shall it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (Mark 8:36)  He wants us to care for ourselves and not for our belongings.

...

St. Clement of Alexandria states that the human being is the greatest of creatures, and most precious to Him.  Man was in His thought before the creation.  With His infinite love, God made the world for the human being, and then created him on His image and likeness so that man could taste the partnership with Him.

St. Gregory of Nyssa, Origen's student, states that man is the most beloved creature to God.  He did not create him through necessity, but through His great love.

...

The apostle Paul gives us the following advice:  "For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged," (1 Cor. 11:31).  Our serious self-examination and our grievances against ourselves before God bring us before the Cross and open the gates of hope in front of us, exempting us from judgment in the Great Day of the Lord.  Our Christ elevates us to the throne of His grace and instead of being concerned with our sins, our energy will be consumed in His great love.

Fr. Tadros Malaty, 21st Century

[dhinuus]

"Prayer is not an attempt to subdue the will of God for our desires, but is always an attempt to subjugate our will to the will of God,"

- Patriarch Ignatius Zakka

[minasoliman]

In the manner of Peter, seeking to follow you,
          God of all,
I was swallowed by the waves of the sea of my sinful life.
Extend your life-giving right hand to help me, for I am
          foundering.
In the voice the Canaanite women, I pray from
          the bottom of my heart,
like a starving dog yelping, wretched and anxious,
          begging for scraps,
a few crumbs of the bread of life
from your bountiful table.
Save my physical altar, Son of bitterness,
who came to rescue me when I was lost.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

No matter how great the mounting debt of my sins,
the saving grace of your trials
is greater by far.
You were nailed to the cross, the instrument of death,
on your all-embracing creative hands, which
          hold all souls,
so my disobedient hand might be stilled.
Out of compassion for my wantonness,
you bound the motion of your two life-giving feet,
so they might be pawned for my miserable feet,
always racing toward brutishness.


St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

You did not order the hands of those who beat
          your head to shrivel.
You, who could uproot the fig tree without effort.
This example gives me hope of reprieve.
You did not threaten me with the evil whipping
that was you own lot,
          though you are proclaimed God.
You who darkened the sun
and grant rest with goodness to me a mortal.
You did not dry the evil mouth of those who cursed you,
you who tinted the image of the moon with
          the color of blood,
so you might strengthen my meek tongue to praise you.

You did not rebuke the wanton insulators,
you who shook the very firmament,
so you might anoint my miserable head with
          the oil of compassion.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

Today the churches of Egypt became like a censer with fire coming out of it mixed with incense raised to the heavens as a sweet aroma so that God may have compassion on His people and perform unprecedented wonders.

His Eminence Metropolitan Mikhail of Assiut, August 2013 (on the burning of the Churches during the turmoil in Egypt)

[Mor Ephrem]

Today the churches of Egypt became like a censer with fire coming out of it mixed with incense raised to the heavens as a sweet aroma so that God may have compassion on His people and perform unprecedented wonders.

His Eminence Metropolitan Mikhail of Assiut, August 2013 (on the burning of the Churches during the turmoil in Egypt)

With faith like that, how are seas not parting and mountains not drowning in their midst?  Those must be "precedented". 

[minasoliman]

Today the churches of Egypt became like a censer with fire coming out of it mixed with incense raised to the heavens as a sweet aroma so that God may have compassion on His people and perform unprecedented wonders.

His Eminence Metropolitan Mikhail of Assiut, August 2013 (on the burning of the Churches during the turmoil in Egypt)

With faith like that, how are seas not parting and mountains not drowning in their midst?  Those must be "precedented". 

I pray that the seas that are parting to bring people to a new state of mind, worthy of "milk and honey", and I pray that the mountains removed be the evil dispositions of the bigots.

[minasoliman]

We also have in the God-inspired Scripture supplies of humility, and no lack of arguments to bring us down and help us to keep silence. If you, as if you were about to go up to Mt. Sinai, shrink from writing 'to such a man' (referring to me), and think fit to use David's words which he says to those who were urging him to take Saul's daughter in marriage, "Is it a small thing in your eyes that I should be son-in-law to the king?" (1 Sam. 18:23), while I am a poor man and inglorious, I also, when required to make answer to your question, make use of these words: "I am not a prophet, nor the son of prophets, but I am a shepherd, and a scraper of sycamore fruit" (Amos 7:14), if it is not too much for me to say even this: for I am not worthy to tell the righteousnesses of God, and to take his covenant in my mouth (Ps. 49:16 LXX). However, since the time of the present struggles does not allow silence, I accept an honourable defeat from you, and turn to the question. And in this I defeat you, since I show that you do not practise humility in a philosophic spirit.

St. Severus of Antioch, 6th Century

[minasoliman]

Perfection is not found in anything by nature, except in God only.

St. Severus of Antioch, 6th Century

[minasoliman]

History will exalt the memory of Pope Peter (Petros), because the Russian Caesar sent his delegates to offer putting the Coptic Church under the protection of Caesar. The Pope refused the proposal graciously by asking: "Does your Caesar live forever?" When the envoy answered that he would die like all human beings, the Pope told him that he preferred the protector of the church would be her true shepherd, the King that does not die.

From the Coptic Synexarium on HH Pope St. Petros VII, 19th Century

[minasoliman]

You did not rip the jaws of the God-killer who called you
          a fanatic, charlatan,
you who rent the hardness of the rocky tomb,
so you might mercifully grant my soul,
though it is incapable of goodness,
a respite from the burden of emptiness.

You did not run the swords of the guards through
          their bowels,
you who condemned the snake to slither on the ground,
so you might preserve the bones of my tormented body,
to be worthy of resurrection.

You flatten and thrust into the abyss,
those who sealed the tomb upon the bearer of life,
in order that you might rest the token of your light
in the tomb of my soul.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

You did not absolutely and for all generations
          strike down
those who rumored your hand perished and
your body stolen like that of a mortal,
so that you might permit me, insignificant as I am,
to partake of that goodness which neither perishes nor
          can be harmed,
together with those chosen for salvation.

You did not turn into stone, as with Moab in
          days of old,
your frenzied persecutors who twice stole silver bribes
from the offerings in your Father's sanctuary
to betray and degrade you,
so that you might set me upon the steadfastness
          of your rock.
Although I waver and am sold to the powers of death,
I am redeemed by your blood.
You are blessed twice over and blessed again,
praised in all things, forever and ever.
Amen.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

For the true fast is a life pure from every evil act, and that we should break bread for those who are hungry.

St. Severus of Antioch, 6th Century

[minasoliman]

Even though the Word of God is infinite, the whole of him was united to the flesh that was received from the holy Virgin, the God-bearer and ever-virgin Mary, even the very person of the Word and not a partial operation as in the prophets. How then is it anything but ridiculous for us to say that he who was in the actual divine hypostasis wholly united to a body naturally as well as miraculously is without flesh, even in the greatness of his infinite Godhead? For "there is no limit to his greatness" (Psalm 144:3 LXX), as David said, and he fills everything, and is above everything, and cannot be comprised by anyone. And the subtlety of the mystery cannot be explored by reason and intellect, how the whole of him was in flesh, and the whole of him is in all things and the whole of him is superior to all things and he himself is Ruler of all in infinity. But, that we believe that the very hypostasis of God the Word became incarnate, according to the apostolic tradition of the church that has been handed down from of old, it is superfluous for us to demonstrate by testimonies to those who have once believed in the Gospel, when John who was divine in words beyond the evangelists said, "The Word became flesh and came to dwell in us" (John 1:14).

St. Severus of Antioch, 6th Century

[minasoliman]

For I sorrowed not for you (no tears are needed for you) but for the countries which have been deprived of you...

...

For on your account I have no weight of care and no anxiety: for well I know that everything is easy to you, and there is no impediment or difficulty of walking for your feet, which are adorned in apostolic fashion with bareness, and by their steps are able to bless even the uninhabited deserts and make them habitable; and that the lack of money in your girdles is a fulness of all abundance, so that it provides a superfluity for others also, and the staff in your hands is a symbol of the very fixity and firmness of the faith that is in you, so that it supports those who are shaken also and they do not fall; but the earth and the heaven and the air are your purse, and all the elements supply food in diverse forms and coming of itself, and make it known to everyone that "man liveth not by bread alone, but also by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).

St. Severus of Antioch, 5th Century

[minasoliman]

For the next 50 days, I only want you to say to one another, "Christ is risen!" No "good morning", no "good evening", no "the food was good".  If the food was burnt, at least you don't have to admit it.

"How was the food?"

"Christ is risen!"

Fr. Abraham Wassef, Resurrection Feast 2014

[CoptoGeek]

'This Church battered by the events of history and torn by schisms is still the custodian of a great heritage. I am hopeful that through prayer and dialogue, its scattered parts can be brought together again, and its wounds healed. Communion of Faith could be restored among its different sections, and excommunications and curses could be wiped out. Then grace will abound, leading to the unity that was at the dawn of Christianity, and the gospel imperative “That all may be one”, will be fulfilled.'

The Thrice Blessed MOR IGNATIUS ZAKKA I IWAS
Patriarch of Antioch and All The East

THE SYRIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF ANTIOCH AT A GLANCE, p. 55

[minasoliman]

Your victory in the battle for goodness,
for a new, immortal life of grace, baptism, resurrection,
          and renewal,
for our kinship with you and union with
          your Holy Spirit,
for forgiveness, liberation, and enlightenment,
for eternal purity, true bliss,
in communion with the angels, in unfading glory,
is the plea for reconciliation upon our lips voiced by
          our Lord on high.
And what is more awe-inspiring,
for it is a monument to your magnanimity:  the gift of
divine nature by election of your grace,
uniting us with you, Creator, by partaking of your body
and sharing in your light of life,
the fulfillment of the good promise,
which, in Paul's words, the Old Law did not have.
You, Savior, came with your father's bounty,
perfected and fulfilled in perpetuity
our undiminishing hope in you, Redeemer of all.
To you glory with your Father,
with praise and blessings to the Holy Spirit,
forever and ever.
Amen.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

"God is love" (1 John 4:8 ). God is neither an idea that we believe in, nor a Supreme Being who is far away in the heavens and isolated from our world. He is not a solid Being, but the Lover of mankind who grants His divine knowledge so that we may enjoy His love and feel His fatherhood. God likes to be very close to humans to unite them with Himself, and to live within their souls, conferring on them the power to participate in His glory.

In other words, God reveals Himself to mankind neither to involve them in theoretical discussions, nor to practice His authority on them. He attracts mankind to Himself as children to their natural father. In our heavenly Father, we find the source of life, immortality, eternal gratification and glorification.

Fr. Tadros Malaty 1994

[minasoliman]

What is infinite for me You hold in the palm of Your blessed hand.

St. Grigori Narekatsi, 10th-11th Century

[minasoliman]

In vain does the missionary try to preach, if he does not feel in his heart that he is "as the first sinner" preaching to other sinners.

Fr. Matta al Maskeen, 1963 (+2006)

[minasoliman]

God's Kingdom is not a temporal kingdom, so we do not look within the realm of time for His coming.  He is always present, and our need is to discover Him within us: "the Kingdom of God is in you" (Lk. 17:21).
...
The Lord Christ ploughed man's heart to accept the joyful message of the Kingdom. ... His teaching about the Kingdom was not like that of the Saducees and Pharisees but as one who sees truth before uttering it, an eye-witness.

Fr. Matta al Maskeen, 1963 (+2006)

[minasoliman]

Christ never paid attention to how to arrange a sinner's life when he repents, nor legislate civil laws.  The Lord did not heed how to make the repentant happy with worldly manners and the joys of this age to compensate him for his previous misery.  Christ did not promise repentant sinners anything of this world's treasures but fixed the repentant' heart to look at the treasures of heaven warning him that the way is narrow and hard and that he will surely come across disgrace and humiliation, trouble and persecution, promising him that he would not have provisions of comfort on this long journey except joy in his name being written in the book of life.

Fr. Matta al Maskeen, 1963 (+2006)

[minasoliman]

When the Church calls for repentance and the thoughts of the disobedient return to the thinking of the righteous, the Church has done its work and fulfilled its testimony.  The return of sinners is its greatest glorification, and the repentance of the disobedient is the incense it offers to its bridegroom to complete the joy of His heart.

Fr. Matta al Maskeen, 1963 (+2006)

[minasoliman]

Man, by his nature and his emotions, is in heaven.  We need to understand our Christianity by the spirit, and not by our minds - for our spirits are able to embrace, touch and even kiss God.  "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth" (Song of Songs 1:2).

HG Bishop Youannis of Gharbia, 1974 (+1987)

[quietmorning]

Mina, thank you for posting these - they are a blessing.

[minasoliman]

•The visible sign of repentance is worship, and for every kneeling, there exists a rising.
•Every time we kneel, we confess our sins in brokenness. We fall to the ground and dust smears our foreheads, as it does the dead, or rather as He who died for our sins! Every time we rise we receive forgiveness from Him who rose in order to justify us.
•For that reason kneeling and rising (metanoia) is a constant remembrance of the death and resurrection of Christ and an eternal sign of repentance to God!

...

...      We will find that there is no work accomplished in the Church except that originally based on repentance to insure salvation.
--If it be baptism or anointing with the sacramental oil "Myron" it is for the forgiveness of sins and to sanctify those who have repented.
--If it be celebrating Holy Liturgy with all the prayers it includes it is to give forgiveness, and steadfastness to those who repent.
--If it be confession and anointing of the sick, they are mysteries that serve to complete repentance and the acceptance of forgivenss.
--If it be the sanctification of marriage it is to ensure a repentant life.
--If the work be the anointing of a deacon, priest or bishop it is but for him to preach repentance in the likeness of Christ.

Both inside and outside it, beyond repentance there exists no work or service for the Church.

So Christianity does indeed have roles to fill:
+In its object, the sinner.
+In its purpose, the Kingdom of God
+In its means, the call to repentance.



Fr. Matta al Maskeen, 1963, (+2006)

[minasoliman]

Mina, thank you for posting these - they are a blessing.

np

[minasoliman]

In Christianity, charity and offerings confirm the fact that man is a heavenly creature. ... Man is a heavenly creature who stands on earth but whose hands can reach the heavens. ... Anyone who gives charity to someone in need is someone who touches heaven with his hand while he is still on earth.

HG Bishop Youannis of Gharbia, 1974 (+1987)

[minasoliman]

He who serves Christ must also give Him to people. Christ is given to people through the action of love, for love is able to transport Christ from one heart to another.

...

Love in Christianity has no equal in any other religion, because the love Christ fulfilled cannot be named love unless it is supported by the willingness to sacrifice until giving up the spirit.

...

In Christianity, the act of giving has no limits. He who says he gives tithes errs.  Giving must surpass numbers and rise above all finances, as well as above the world and the body, because the essence of Christianity is love, and the essence of love is divine.

...

Giving and serving the poor are two acts of faith in Christ. ... God exists in the act of giving and the act of serving the poor in exactly the same way as in the act of love.

Fr. Matta al Maskeen, 1963 (+2006)

[minasoliman]

The one who meditates on the Holy Gospels finds them full of many expressions mentioned by the Lord of Glory that testify of man's fundamental relationship with heaven.  This is not surprising because the Lord Jesus was the first to link man to God in a clearly strong image that speaks of love and a firm foundation.  The Lord Jesus called Himself the "Son of Man," or the "Son of Mankind," whereas He called humans, "sons of God."  In other words, He has made God Father to mankind.  This is a direct fruit of the mystery of the Divine Incarnation.

Our Church expresses this in the annual Friday Theotokia. The praise says about Christ, "He took what is ours and gave us what is His, we praise and glorify Him, and exalt Him."  He took what is ours, that is the body; He gave us what is His, that is that we may be "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).

...

Christ taught us when we pray to cry out, "Our Father who art in heaven" (Matthew 6:9). The sonship of God is not a matter of honor or social dignity only, but it is sonship in an actual level. This is obtained by man in his second birth which is blessed baptism (John 3:3-13).  Christ has two births: the first is before the ages, "begotten of the Father before all ages"; the second one is temporal.  Likewise man also has two births.  Christ has come for our salvation and has blessed our nature by uniting God's divinity with humanity, which Christ has taken from the chaste Virgin Mary.  He too (that is mankind) has come to have two births: a physical birth by natural delivery and a second birth from God and the Church, which is of the water and the Spirit, by means of the holy baptism.

HG Bishop Youannis of Gharbia, 1974 (+1987)

[minasoliman]

The Church does not serve society, but serves faith, serving Christ in the person of thsoe naked, hmliated, and homeless.

Fr. Matta al Maskeen, 1963 (+2006)

[minasoliman]

While on earth, we build the house which will be ours when we enter heaven.  We build it with our life, our deeds, our attitude, and our strife.

HG Bishop Youannis of Gharbia, 1974 (+1987)

[minasoliman]

If man feels a persecution complex and it gets established within him, it will remain there regardless of how much he suppresses and hides it.  It will also remain working in him to destroy his psychological being and faith no matter how many rights and gains he acquires in compensation for what he lacks.

...

Accept persecution!  Again, accept persecution!  Accept it with all your heart, without reason or argument, with thanksgiving, as God's commandment.

...

Beware! Not being thankful prepares a way for the persecution complex to live in you, get a hold of you, prevail, and destroy the soul and the body, as well as faith.  Where are our faith and the Church's prayers of Thanksgiving?

Fr. Matta al Maskeen, 1963 (+2006)

[minasoliman]

This does not mean that the Christian can live without ritual, Church order, or invent for himself rituals and another order.  No, rather, it deals with the way to fulfill our worship and rituals and conduct in life in general.  The Christian knows what he is doing before he does it.  The true knowledge makes him reach the Divine truth.  The truth makes man accomplish his spiritual acts without becoming slave to them.

• Without knowing its spiritual value and the truth revealed within us, every spiritual act we do, whether in worship, ritual, or prayer, will be done as obligation.  Every spiritual act done under compulsion is slavery to spiritual worship and not worship of God himself.
• Any person who carries out spiritual actions under compulsion, that is, without having reached Christian freedom in executing them, will be blindly fanatical about them and intolerant in discussion.  They have taken hold of his life, and he worships them.  The result is they enslave his will and logic, distancing him from the truth and depriving him of the freedom of "the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom. 8:21).

Fr. Matta al Maskeen, 1963 (+2006)

[minasoliman]

Furthermore, I have come to know another righteous person, a saint in Saint Antony's Church in Shobra, Cairo, the deacon named Habib Farag.  This man departed at the age of twenty-seven.  Amazingly, he wrote down in his own handwriting in his personal diary which he kept in his pocket the day and hour in which he would depart to heaven!  His story is a magnificent one that impresses upon us great spiritual comfort.  This young man began his life away from God.  He used to live with his family, near Saint Antony's Church.  The servants there were driven to bring him and insisted that he attend the Bible Study lessons in the church.

At first, he refused to go, but after their insistence, he accepted to go on one condition - that he would attend only one lesson.  If he liked it, he would attend more of those meetings; but if he did not like it, he would not want to see the faces of those servants again.  The young Habib attended theBible Study and the grace of God touched his heart.  The same night, the Holy Virgin Mary appeared to him in a dream.  She took him by his hand to hell and said to him, "This is hell, and these are the wicked ones who await the Judgment."  The scene moved him tremendously, such that he was seized with fear and begged the Mother of Light to quickly take him out because of this terrible sight.

The Virgin answered his plea and took him to Paradise.  There, he saw brilliant shining people, each of whom was sitting on a bright, beautiful seat.  He recognized many of those in Paradise.  As he was walking around with the Virgin in Paradise, he found an empty chair and no one sitting on it.  He asked the Virgin in amazement, "Whose empty chair is this and who will take his seat?"

The Virgin answered, "Do you not know whose chair this is?  It is yours, if you follow Christ!"

The dream ended with these exhilarating words.  Habib woke up and lived a life of chastity, constant prayer, and struggle to attain this empty seat that was awaiting him.  This is the story of a young man who witnessed heaven while still in the flesh.

HG Bishop Youannis of Gharbia, 1974 (+1987)

[minasoliman]

Sectarianism and fanaticism are based on securing the peace and survival of one's self.  Christ came to shake the security of self, its peace and survival, in whole and in part.  No matter how upset and annoyed we may be in the world, we are at peace with Him, and no matter how threatened we are by annihilation and death, our presence and existence are through Him till death and after death!

Sectarianism and fanaticism exist on the basis of hatred, or the existence of enemies, whether true or imaginary.  "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:44,45).  When enmity toward any person or group is completely removed from man's heart and soul, sectarianism dies and fanaticism is extinguished forever.  Christ is the source of love, and love never fails.  Love annuls disunity, divisions, and factionalism.

...

We later see how these disciples put away fanaticism when they put on Christ, changing from killers to being killed for the love of the crucified Christ and for their love of the enemies of the cross! ... If we are not prepared to forgive whoever crucifies us, we are liars if we say we are crucified or the world or that we are the beloved of Him who was crucified.

...

The cross is therefore not for me alone but for all and for all sinners and even the enemies of the cross. ... Hence the Christian does not accept antagonism, does not approve it, nor believe in it.  He overcomes it with his death.

What then?  Should I not defend the cross?  Or should I not be a fanatic for the Gospel's right?

Surely, I defend the cross even with my own death, and never by the death of any other ones, because through this situation I will live forever.  I am a fanatic for Gospel truth through losing my self for Christ's sake and the Gospel, and not through the loss of other people's lives for my own self and [not] the sake of my sect.  Because if I lose my life I will find it in Christ with the whole Church and all those for whom I die.

Fr. Matta al Maskeen, 1963 (+2006)

[minasoliman]

Sectarianism, creating human clusters, is foreign to Christ, and has no relationship whatsoever with the Spirit and spirituality. Sectarianism is a social disease that opposes the individual's and the group's psychological growth.  The first seed of sectarianism is a refuge for psychological safety ensuring self peace.  The child begins it with his mother, then his family and then, and here lies the error, with his church (i.e. his belief).  But the church is not a refuge for psychological safety but a place to crucify self.  It is not a place to form a cluster, for us to avoid worldly loss, or in which to ensure a joint existence that guarantees earthly interests.  It is the complete contrary, for in the church we pledge to lose everything for Christ's sake and count all that is in the world waste and loss for the sake of the benefit of knowing Him and His love.

In the Church we form a cluster around the cross of Christ, around the shed blood to pledge to die together and with Him for the sake of every person in the world no matter who he is.

The place of sectarianism, as the only extension of a human cluster following the family, is not in the church, rather, in the nation.  The nation alone absorbs sectarianism while the church is to remain forever a place of liberty from the world, a place for the denial of self, a place to replace worldly stability with heavenly stability, and bodily peace with spiritual peace.

Fr. Matta al Maskeen, 1963 (+2006)

[minasoliman]

This concerns heaven and the earth, but what about the verse that says, "there was no more sea" (Revelations 21:1)?  There is more than one reason for saying the sea will be no more - for the sea symbolizes seperation. The seas in our world are known to separate and divide the world's continents, it's regions and its peoples.  The heavenly city is one perfect unit, without division or separation among its members.  The sea also symbolizes the disturbance, uproar, worry and mystery.  "But the unrighteous shall be tossed as troubled waves, and shall not be able to rest" (Isaiah 57:20). Eternity in heaven has no confusion, disorder, or worry.  Also, the salty waters of the sea refer to bitterness, which has no place in heaven.

HG Bishop Youannis of Gharbia, 1974 (+1987)

[minasoliman]

One wonders and asks about St. Mina, why did he die at such a young age?  Why couldn't he live longer to be a deacon, priest, bishop, or even just a very successful servant in the Church while working on the side?

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Perhaps, we as Christians concentrate more on outward appearances of success, such as donating this much to the Church, being part of the Church committee, visiting certain people, doing service for the Church, counting pretty much your points of success, collecting them, thinking these are the most important to get into the Kingdom.

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Imagine your last days on earth before you go to heaven and meet God, and you wonder to yourself what you have done to deserve His presence.  As a priest perhaps you can say "I have visited these many people, I have done these many liturgies, I have built these many churches, etc. etc. etc.", all of which seem transactional.  Instead, have you wondered perhaps how you are relationally, as a bride to your Divine Groom?  Imagine for a second this analogy, that you as a bride, you keep your house in tip top shape, you cook the best food, you do all these great services just to make your Groom happy, and He comes home and sees all these great things you did for Him, but then you tell Him, "Look, I want you to see how happy I'm trying to make You, but I don't have the time to talk to You."  What do you think about that, that a bride who does all her best for His comfort but lacks a hidden contact with her Groom?

I feel that the majority of Christians now do the same.  "Oh we build cathedrals!"  "Oh we gave the poor and needy millions of dollars!"  "We did many activities in the Church!"  And so on.  Everyone, even us as priests and bishops, wonders what can I do for the people.  No!  I want to ask myself, "What is my relationship with God?  Is it a hidden relationship?  What about my life in my private room?"  I don't mean something physical, I mean your heart as a private room.  When Christ says "close the doors", it concerns within you, so instead of outwardly being just one of billions of human beings, that it is hidden in you that *THE* Kingdom of God is established within you.  

Are we serious in our spiritual lives?  Are we serious about seeing the Lord in the last days?  Are we serious as ambassadors to our Lord Jesus Christ?  Are we serious as brides to our Groom?  I wonder to myself and I fear that many priests, deacons, bishops, monks will barely make it to the Kingdom of Heaven, but a little cute child will come in barging like a hero in the Kingdom, due to the fact that this child carried the cup that no one else was able to carry like him/her.  That's precisely what happened with the story of all those rich folks giving their gold to the altar, and Christ reacted to their sacrifice with indifference.  But the poor and shy woman giving all she had, which were only two mites, while she thought it made no difference before God, she did in fact also give her heart and her love to God, showing that she has no one else but Him, that she wants to talk to Him.  When she put the two mites in the altar, she put her heart there.  I wonder how many of us Christians in the whole world, in all the churches, are like this woman, who in the representation of the two small mites, give their whole heart humbly to God, rather than count all their riches and what they did for the Church or the people.

May the Lord grant, for the sake of His love and compassion upon us, that we be ready for the end with Him!  These days I have been concentrating on this prayer coming from the prayer of the absolution of the clergy, which I think is good for all of us to pray, "Oh Lord, help us over the time (or drunkenness) of death, and before death, and after death."

Before I die Oh Lord, raise my heart to You, and long for coming to You, and feel that the world is nothing but dust and ash, where the words of glory does not distract me, neither the words of fault, nor the complaints of people, nor the glory of the world, but to be attached to You, to know You, and to tell You, "I long to come to You soon."

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My dear beloved, St. Mina lived this relatively short life, and in his youth, martyred for the Lord.  And we hear many great stories.  But to be frank with you, we really do know nothing about St. Mina.  I remember there were questions going around asking those who personally knew Pope St. Kyrillos VI about him, and they came to me and asked, "I wonder what the most beautiful thing about the life of His Holiness was."  To which I answered and said, "No one knows anything about Pope Kyrillos, not even his disciples or closest friends.  His hidden and private life, no one else knows but our Lord, and now the angels as well."  I wish we all may do what is covertly pleasing to God and not what is outwardly pleasing.  

Glory be to God forever! Amen!

Fr. Tadros Malaty, From the Homily on the Feast of St. Mina, November 2014

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