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Encountering the sunrise on Waimanalo Beach is one of the most incredible experiences. The Hawaiian breeze brushes across my face as the sun’s rays peek from the horizon. God orchestrates a symphony as the waves crash against each other, blending with the tune of the red-tailed tropicbirds. He swipes His fingers over the dark cloudy canvas with the most striking yellows, oranges, and reds. As I grab handfuls of sand and let them cascade through my fingers, I experience God’s extraordinary masterpiece. But amidst this paradisal landscape, one vexing question echoes in my mind: What am I really doing here? Traveling 4,500 miles away from my quiet Ohio country home to the populated tropical rock of Oahu in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, I experienced quite a cultural shift. Fresh out of high school, I had no intention of going to Hawaii, but I knew I wanted to serve God by doing mission work. None of my research about where to go or what to do led me to the West Coast. After spending a month in Hawaii with my family, Father Anastasi Saint Anthony, who was searching for a mission coordinator, suggested for me to take on this role and offered that I live at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church for however long I could. For the first time in my life, God’s will for my next step was incredibly clear to me. As my time in Hawaii began, I quickly learned that I would be receiving much more than those I hoped to serve. My suspicions that I would be a student of humility were quickly realized as I began to encounter mentors and teachers in the form of all kinds of people. Indeed, the true diversity of people lies in gifts, not in color. Little Tony taught me that joyfulness does not depend on circumstances; Uncle Mako taught me that true humility lies in understanding creation; Ten-year-old Mikey taught me that every human being is beautiful, as he excitedly introduced me to every adult and child at his shelter; Abbi helped me recognize that seemingly insurmountable tribulations can be overcome with the Lord Jesus Christ. As I continued serving that year, I found myself in a constant state of awe at the vibrancy of God’s creations — in both Hawaii’s beautiful scenery and its beautiful people. I often contemplated what my real purpose was for being in Hawaii. I wished to help others, but felt foolish, as it seemed that I was doing all the receiving: making food for the homeless felt like a tremendously uneven trade when compared to the deep lessons I was learning; playing tag with orphaned children did not feel like mission work, as it was just as fun for me as it was for them; the conversations I had with indigenous youth while planting and weeding Taro plants were eye-opening and fulfilling. Realizing my duties as mission coordinator seemed to me to be the only way I was helping. I encountered many kinds of people as various groups arrived to the island throughout the year. Some volunteers signed up for mission work and possessed an easily-identifiable sincere heart keen on service, while others came hoping to enjoy a vacation disguised as mission work. I realized Oahu can become a stumbling block for the foolish because the temptation for the pleasures of this world is stronger there. To counteract and avoid these pitfalls in myself, I had to define for myself what mission work truly entails. As I compared the behaviors of these various groups, I concluded that mission work has nothing to do with the self, requiring instead a complete denial of the pleasures of the world in order to find and serve Christ and His people. Human nature defaults to serving the self, but the Lord Jesus Christ commands us to deny ourselves (see Matthew 16:24). How can I give measly sandwiches to the poor and then have sushi soon thereafter? How can I find Christ in Poke restaurants, luaus, or Waikiki’s glamorous shopping malls? As Uncle Jonathan taught me, finding Christ — finding Love — requires forgetting myself so I can witness Him in His creation — in His children and in nature. It was in the poorest of the poor that I found Christ. Waikiki, Hawaii (like many major cities) is divided between the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich. Spending time with both groups, I learned that it is the rich who are poorer than the poor. Amongst the homeless, I felt a great fulfillment because many of them were Christian and had a sense of purpose in Christ. Their joy was not dependent upon their circumstances. I was uplifted. During these times, I remembered my own home and community in Ohio and realized that people in my own city, while financially stable and of a “respectable” socioeconomic status, are in many ways poorer than those poor men and women I saw and with whom I interacted, albeit in a different way: while some do lack money, many others lack purpose and true kinship. Of all the lessons I learned during my time in Hawaii, perhaps the greatest lesson about mission and love came from Uncle Jonathan. We met at the littered park of Waikiki, which was full of men, women, and children with skin blemishes and scorched sun marks sound asleep on their beds of grass. The scents of the salty ocean breeze and sunscreen mixed with the distant but distinct smell of urine. As I stepped aside from the group to answer a call from another organization and shield myself from the scorching sun, I locked eyes with this smiley elderly man. When I noticed him hobbling toward me with a shopping cart full of all he owned (a popular way for the homeless to carry their belongings there), I quickly ended my phone call and met him halfway. In his cart were a few booklets about Christ, an old worn-out Bible, a notebook in similar condition, some food cans, two water bottles, a small bag with three stale pieces of bread, a thin blanket neatly folded, and a flimsy, ineffective pillow. His eyes crinkled as he smiled again, and, without saying a word, he bent over his cart and fished around. I did not know what he was doing until he shakily reached for my hand, turned it so my palm faced upward, and placed into it a water bottle and a piece of bread. Too awestruck by his self-denying gesture to do anything but blink, I remained silent. As he turned to find the next recipient of his generosity, I jerked back to life and stepped alongside him to return the bread and water, assuring him that I did not need anything and thanking him for what he did. I explained that I was with the organization that was currently handing out sandwiches. He responded with a quiet belly laugh, so hearty that I could not help but laugh too. So began an unlikely friendship. He explained his situation and how he was introduced to Christianity. We sat on the park bench eating our sandwiches. He spoke about his life and I spoke about mine. He was frequently the one to comfort me when he saw the tears welling up in my eyes as I heard him recount his suffering. I could not bear his selflessness. Little did I know, this would be the first of many encounters with Uncle Jonathan. Throughout the year, he taught me many lessons, but the theme that shined through all of his stories and actions was merely love. I learned that the only requirement to do mission work, or any type of service for Christ’s sake, is to love. Uncle Jonathan, who had very close to nothing, denied himself to give me what little he had. Love. I feel that I must debunk the myth that one must travel to exotic places to do mission work. I must assert that these journeys change us more than those we intend to help. When we travel for the sake of mission work for two weeks and return to the comfort of fancy cars, memory foam pillows, and air-conditioned homes, we forget about the call to serve. The habit of service has not yet solidified in us. We forget that our own cities, communities, neighbors, and even our families are in need. Our local homeless shelters and orphanages are just as in need as the dry side of Oahu. The call to serve is the call to love. Are not all acts of service simply acts of love? St. Peter wrote, “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’ Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:8-10). There is a different type of mission service that does not require preaching the gospel or giving food to the homeless. It is to reach out to those in despair and loneliness — those with no purpose. It is simply to love. It is as easy as sending a text to a struggling friend, letting them know that you are praying for them, or buying your coworker a coffee because yesterday was a rough day, or holding a screaming baby so the mother can rest for fifteen minutes. Real love is fearless. It is to see people as Christ sees them. There are many ways within our own reach to minister every day without needing to say a word. Mother Teresa declared, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Mindlessly spilling the sand back and forth between my fingers, I sat before God’s exquisite masterpiece and pondered my purpose. Serving in Hawaii for a year was a beautiful adventure that God arranged for me. Service, humility, and love were redefined for me. The call to serve did not end with my trip, but was all the more magnified by the experience. I learned I can continue that call right here from my quiet country home. No matter the exotic opportunities given to me, God’s work is not done. The Lord declared, “For you have the poor with you always.” (Matthew 26:11) He did not profess, “His poor are only in far-off lands across oceans.” The needs of God’s children are plentiful everywhere because sin and corruption produce poverty everywhere. No one is exempt from sin, but love is its antidote. To serve (anywhere) is to love. — Cover Image: Sunrise over Waimanalo Beach, captured by Anastasia Bibawy. Image Original. — Anastasia Bibawy was mission coordinator at The Hawaiian Mission for one year following high school. She is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree and hopes to one day open a music studio to teach children how to play the violin. DossPress.com is a place for Christian men and women to collaborate for the sake of our common edification by sharing their written works. As we strive to uphold a standard of doctrinal and spiritual soundness in the articles shared, we note nonetheless that the thoughts expressed in each article remain the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Doss Press.

The following is an original English translation of a Homily delivered by H.H. Pope Shenouda III at his weekly Wednesday Meeting on August 22, 1990. In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: One God. Amen. I wish to speak with you today about our preeminent teacher, Archdeacon Habib Girgis, to whom we all owe a debt of gratitude and without whom we would neither be seated in this place now nor would we have any understanding or knowledge. To speak about Habib Girgis, it behooves me to first speak about the time in which he lived, and whether it assisted the existence of a person of that sort. If I speak of him, I must recall certain verses found at the beginning of the book of Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light…’” (Genesis 1:1-3a). This light, of course, was Habib Girgis. How was the earth “without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep?” The generation that preceded Habib Girgis and in which he lived in his youth was among the worst times that have faced the Church — from every angle. [] The priests were uneducated and did not know preaching or teaching. The most educated priests, when teaching the people, would merely take one of the old books and read from it an ancient homily. No one knew teaching whatsoever. There was no preaching and no Sunday School. Before, there were some booklets from which they learned hymns and the word of God, inasmuch as the ‘urafa’[1] were able to teach. And the ‘urafa’ were not intellectuals as they are in our days. Today, in the Didymus Institute, which graduates ‘urafa’, they study rites and the Holy Bible, the Coptic language, spirituality, and many other things, [including] Braille, and they could read the Bible [in Braille]. This was nonexistent. As a result of this state of darkness which was devoid of teaching, before [Habib Girgis] the denominations had begun to spread. Habib Girgis was born in 1876. Meaning 114 years have passed since his birth. The Protestant Church then was beginning to work [in Egypt]. Dr. [John] Hogg and Dr. [Andrew] Watson came, and their work began to spread, and they began to establish a headquarters in al-Azbakiyya and a headquarters in the American School in Assiūt, and they began to enter and work in al-Zarabi and Mir and Abū Tīj. There was no one to guard the flock. The Catholics also began to work and [made] a bishop for themselves, and the bishop [was] elevated to become a patriarch named Kyrillos Maqār, and then they began to have a bishop for the Bahāry[2] side, and a bishop for the Qiblī[3] side, and they began to become headquartered in Tahta, and the foreign schools and missionary schools began to work and the preeminent Copts began to study in these schools and therefore came out [of them] Catholics and Protestants, and the situation began to become chaotic. No education, no preaching, and not even doctrine — foreigners began to enter. There was nothing. Even the state of the Church from within had become confused. [] Errors began to become apparent, and laypeople began to enter the politics of the Church and began to say “let us create the Lay Council[4] and the Lay Council will handle the awqaf[5] of the Church and will begin to manage them.” And the Lay Council began in 1875 and 1882 — a law was promulgated and they began to hold the power in the Church. They clashed with Pope Kyrillos V and sent him to the monastery and brought the bishop of Sanabo[6] to replace him. The bishop of Sanabo, [which is] next to Dairut, was coming by train through Upper Egypt, and [] at every stop the metropolitan [of the area] would meet him to excommunicate him. [] The train was coming from Dairut. When it reached Assiūt, the metropolitan of Assiūt came out and excommunicated him. When it reached Minya, the metropolitan of Minya came out and excommunicated him. When it reached Benī Suef, the metropolitan of Benī Suef came out and excommunicated him. When it reached Gīza, the metropolitan of Gīza came out and excommunicated him. Until he received all of these excommunications and reached Cairo, and those in Cairo also excommunicated him. To the point that he, undeterred, went to the church [], and when he came to offer the Eucharist, the chalice fell from [his hands], things became disorderly, and the Church began to become confused — the pope is exiled, the bishop is excommunicated, the authority is in the hands of the laypeople, the denominations are working, there is no teaching. In this time, Habib Girgis was born. [] There was no Clerical School[7]. The ancient School of Alexandria that once existed was relocated after the fifth or sixth centuries from Alexandria to the monasteries, and its work ceased, remaining so until the days about which we are speaking. Habib Girgis was born in 1876. His father was Head Clerk of the Office of the Abolition of Slavery, which was an office that was created at the time of Khedive Ismā’īl as a humanitarian effort. His father passed away six years after his birth, and his mother accorded him a religious upbringing. Afterwards he enrolled in the Great Coptic School in Klot Bek in al-Azbakiyyah. He completed his primary [studies] and began his secondary studies, and was hard working and sharp. Then the Church found that things could not continue as they were, and needed to restore the Clerical College in order to teach people to become learned pastors to administer the churches. There was a previous attempt, and the Clerical College was in a run down area in al-Fajjālah, or near the Coptic School, and did not even have [benches] on which the students could sit [] and no support either financially or by food or drink, to the point that once, some time ago, Sargīos, who was a student in the Clerical College, organized a protest and said, “board it up or fix it up,” and it became a big issue. To the point that the students found the environment unavailing, so they left and there was nothing remaining. “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.” Nevertheless “Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” The Spirit of God was waiting for the birth of Habib Girgis and when he would grow up to become a young man, and when he became fit to enroll in the Clerical College and to become a teacher and to entrust him with this great task. It happened that Hanna Bek Bakhūm went to the Coptic School to choose students to enroll at the Clerical College. They chose ten — five from among the students and five from the priests. The first student was Habib Girgis. He left the Coptic School and entered the Clerical College. They were ten [students]. The first two who graduated were Habib Girgis and Fr. Hanna Shenouda, whose son was Fr. Shenouda Hanna who [served] al-Kanīsa al-Mu’allaqa[8] and who departed long ago — ten or fifteen years ago. [] So Habib Girgis entered the Clerical College. What was the Clerical College in which Habib Girgis enrolled? They brought a principal for it whose name was Yūsuf Bek Manqariyūs, who was a history teacher and knew nothing about religion. He was not a religion teacher, but a history teacher — and secular history, not even Church history. There, [Habib Girgis] studied languages, history, geography, some sciences, and one lesson titled “Religion.” This was how the Clerical College was. Then they looked for a teacher of religion and did not find one — they found no religion teacher for the Clerical College. To the point that they thought to bring a Protestant teacher to teach religion, so they called al-Khawaja ‘Ayyād Marzūk, I believe his name was, to come, and he told them: “my path is different than yours; how can I teach?” So they brought Fr. Philotheos Ibrahīm. Fr. Philotheos Ibrahīm was in Tanta, and they transferred him to Cairo and entrusted him with the great St. Mark’s Church in Klot Bek, and he was the only one who knew religious education and had published works, so they had him teach religion in the Clerical College. He is considered the teacher of Habib Girgis. Besides, Fr. Philotheos Ibrahīm’s health had deteriorated — one day while he was teaching, he fell, so they took him home and he remained ill while the Clerical College remained without a teacher of religion. Finally, they chose the student Habib Girgis to teach religion to his fellow students while he was still a student in his last year. So he began to teach in the Clerical College while a student in the last year. Here, I would like to mention two foundational points from a psychological perspective. One person says, “when the Church is fixed, I will enter it,” while the other says: “I will enter it while it is weak and will work so that it is fixed.” Do you understand? I recall when I resigned from my job to become a teacher in the Clerical College, the situation was unfortunate at that time as well, and the students were protesting and had a sign [saying], “fix it up or board it up,” and had overtaken the dean’s room [] and closed it up. And it became a big issue. So one of the teachers told me, “is this the Clerical College for which you will resign from your job?” I told him, “but it is the Clerical College for which I will resign from my job.” We must enter and work, regardless of what the atmosphere is like. We enter and work. If we find trouble, we must strive so that it is corrected. But if each one who finds trouble steps aside or distances himself or flees, there will never be results. The Church in that time was ailing. When I say the Church, I mean the entire Church — from top to bottom, from Alexandria to Aswan, to Sudan, to Ethiopia. The people [then] were of a variety of sorts. One sort wept for the Church, saying: “What a loss, the glory of the saints is gone, what a loss!” And weeping did not benefit the Church and did not bring about any results. Weeping does not mend the Church. Some, seeing the Church ailing, swore and criticized and cursed the priests and cursed monasticism and cursed the bishops and cursed the patriarch himself, and these curses did not bring about any benefit. The Church is not mended by swearing. The Church is mended neither by weeping nor by swearing. The Lay Council also stood up and brought lawsuits against the metropolitans regarding how the awqaf and finances and such things could be placed under their command, and how they could take these things from them, and lawsuits and countersuits were being brought, and thousands were being spent on lawyers, and the Church was not benefitted by lawsuits. It was not benefitted by weeping, or screaming, or swearing, or lawsuits. Habib Girgis stood up, dug a foundation, and placed two foundational stones therein — one stone called the Clerical College and the other called Sunday School. And he repeated, “as for your people, they will be in blessing, thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, doing your will.”[9] And he labored in the field of positive, edifying work. [] To say, “the Clerical College does not have one religion teacher, this does not mean that I will not enter the Clerical College; I will enter and strive, and I will become the religion teacher and will graduate teachers,” this is positive work. But for one to scream, another to curse, another to weep, another to fight, another to bring lawsuits, this is not what brings about results. What brought about results in the Church was Habib Girgis. When God saw the world dark on every side, “God said, ‘let there be light,’ and there was light,” and light began to dawn. Habib Girgis became a teacher in the Clerical College while still in his last year of study. He enrolled in 1893, and graduated in 1898, and he was a student in the Clerical College. He became principal of the Clerical College, or Dean of the Clerical College, twenty years later, in 1918. But because he was not yet the Dean did not mean that he would only teach. He began to circle the entire country, preaching in cities and villages and in every place, and he began to gather donations for the construction of the Clerical College. [] And people began to love his preaching. And elderly people who had no inheritors [donated to him], so he would take from them. He bought for the Clerical College 365 acres of waqf. He began to receive money and donations, and purchased more than 3000 meters of land in Mahmasha, and he began to work and build, so the Clerical College was built in Mahmasha, and he built for the Clerical College a church, so that the students could be trained in preaching and so that they could have liturgies for the students, which is the Church of St. Mary in Mahmasha, in which I taught Sunday School in 1939 []. At that time, we would call it the Church of the Clerical College, [and] Fr. Tawadros was teaching there, whose name [before ordination] was Mr. Tadros. He was the teacher of the Coptic language in the Clerical College who then become a priest and [continued] to teach at the Clerical College and pray in the Church of St. Mary in Mahmasha. Now [the church in Mahmasha] is alone.[10] [Habib Girgis] began to build the buildings and rejoiced greatly when he built it. I hold his book al-Qulliyah al-Iklīrīkiyah bayn al-mādī wa-al-hādir[11] which he published in 1938; he called the new building he built there “The Bride of Mahmasha.” But alas, this “Bride of Mahmasha” grew old, and her teeth fell out, and her hair fell out, and she was demolished and removed entirely, and we came to Anba Reweiss in 1953. We entered in 1952 and they evicted us, and then we returned in 1953 and have remained there until today. [] Habib Girgis continued to build the Clerical College. When he came to build the Clerical College, he said “my desires are thus: first, to purchase land; second, to build; third, to bring students to enroll; fourth, to cultivate competent teachers, so that I might elevate its standard so that the Ministry of Education might recognize it.” He made its level quite high. In the days of Habib Girgis, they studied logic, philosophy, Old Testament Hebrew, New Testament Greek, [and] Ecclesiastical Coptic. When Habib Girgis taught in the Clerical College, he was initially called the teacher of religion and then the teacher of theology, [and he was] teaching theology. So [they studied] all of the Church subjects. And he began to send out from among his students people to work. [] He sent out Sim’ān Selīdes, who became the teacher of theology after him. And Sim’ān Selīdes has great fame in the Clerical College, and he authored the book al-salāh ‘al-almuntaqilīn[12]. And he sent out Fr. Ibrahīm Attiya, who was named Ragheb Attiya, who became a teacher of preaching and then a teacher of theology. And he sent out Kāmel Mātta, who is now Fr. Mikhaīl Mātta in Quseya, who became the teacher of the Holy Bible. And he sent out Fr. Tawadros to teach Coptic language. And he sent out Mr. Yassa ‘Abdelmassīh, who was the trustee of the library of the Coptic Museum, to teach the Greek language. He began to send out generations. And Edward Yostos, who afterwards became Fr. Antonios al-Baramosī and then became Anba Dioscorus, Bishop of Menofiyyāh, who has since departed, to teach Church History. And thus subjects that were absent began to enter. Initially, there was only one lesson called “Religion.” Then it was called “the Science of Theology,” then there was Theology and Preaching, and then there was Theology and Bible Studies and Exegesis and Church History and Hymnology, and things began to become organized. He introduced [many] subjects and the level of the Clerical College began to increase, so students began to come and multiply. And he created two sections: one for proficiency and one baccalaureate, which subsequently became the primary and secondary sections, and so the school grew. And metropolitans graduated from it, such as Anba Sawīrus, the departed Metropolitan of Minya, and Anba Yakobos, Metropolitan of Jerusalem. And he had many friends from among the metropolitans who loved him, and he continued well in the Clerical College. Then he initiated the evening section in 1945, which was a collegiate section. The class in which I graduated, which was the first class of college students who graduated from the Clerical College, was only five students, no more. Only five students. The only one of them who entered the priesthood was myself, and the others had their services but were not devoted to religious teaching. He began to work by teaching. But Habib Girgis did not only care about teaching. Teaching in the Clerical College was one of many branches. Habib Girgis began to lead religious education in the entire Church. In 1900, he founded Sunday School, which was a class he taught in the old patriarchate. The group of youth he taught became teachers who went out [to teach in the] east and [the] west. In the ‘20s, Sunday School began to appear with strength. In Assiūt, the one in charge of it was named Labib al-‘Assāl, I believe, who was a teacher of geography [if I recall correctly] and had published an Atlas called Atlas al-‘Assāl. In the ‘30s, [Sunday School] began to grow and spread, and [Habib Girgis] called himself the General Secretary of Sunday School, meaning the general trustee. Then, in the reign of Pope Yu’annis XIX, the pope became the president of Sunday School, and the title of Habib Girgis became Deputy of His Excellency the Supreme President of Sunday School[13]. He began to bring for the Sunday School nice colored pictures, some of which were printed in Italy and some in Germany, and on the back of the picture was written the [Sunday School] lesson. He began to prepare curricula for ecclesial education, he began to prepare pictures for ecclesial education, he began to prepare lessons for ecclesial education, he began to prepare training [materials] for teachers of ecclesial education, and ecclesial education began to spread throughout the entire [Church]. Without him, we would not be teachers of ecclesial education, and we would not be servants, and you would not be [female] servants. He is the father and guide and leader, and he is the one who became responsible for leading this matter. He is considered the true originator of the Clerical College and the true originator of the ecclesial education of Sunday School. Habib Girgis was not satisfied with this. He said, “we must introduce teaching in the schools.” He began to communicate with the Ministry of Education; there was no [religious] education in the [schools]. Religion only became an official subject [in the schools] with Mohammad Nagīb. Before that, religion was not an official subject. So he said, “at least let us teach the children, at least in additional classes.” “Where will we find teachers?” “We will prepare [them], if even on a volunteer basis without pay.” “Fine, volunteers.” So he would prepare the teachers, he would encourage [them] to teach religion, and he would prepare religious curricula for them. He authored three books titled al-khilāsat al-īmāniyah[14]. And when teaching spread further he authored a book called Mabādi’ al-‘Akīdah al-Urthudhūksiyah[15], eight books — four for primary school and four for secondary school. He began to author books. [And regarding] the stories of the Holy Bible, he prepared three books titled al-Kanz al-anfas fi tarīkh al-Kitāb al-Muqaddas[16]. He began to work to author books for religious education. The teachers would tell him, “how can we teach religion? We do not know how!” So he would tell them, “I will prepare books for you.” He would prepare these nice books and every lesson had its picture, and the lesson had its ends and its spiritual meanings and everything, the teacher takes it prepackaged, like a peeled boiled egg. He began to enter religious education in the schools and to establish curricula for it and to author books for it. In 1909, he had authored [] al-khīlasat al-īmāniyah[17] and in 1913 the fifth edition was printed — every year he prepared a new edition, and the teachers and students longed for his books because he was teaching them religion. So he was responsible for the Clerical College, and Sunday School, and religious education in the schools, and establishing the curricula and lessons and authoring books and importing pictures, all of these things. And then he said “this is not enough; religious education needs something else.” So he began preaching. He was among the most powerful preachers of his day, and is considered the strongest preacher after Fr. Philotheos Ibrahīm, may God repose his soul. He began to preach in the cathedral, [and] the pope loved him — Pope Kyrillos V — and made him his personal deacon and the preacher of the great St. Mark’s Church, which was the patriarchate. He routinely preached at the patriarchate, and began to form religious societies to work by preaching — the churches were few in those days. He graduated from the Clerical College in 1898, and then all of Cairo had [very few churches]. The Church of St. Mark was there. In all of Shubra even after that time there was only one church — the Church of Saint Mary in Massarah. That was it. [] As for the other churches, in the ‘30s the Church of Anba Antonios began and the church in Toson, and even the church in Jazīrat Badrān was [established] in the ‘40s. And the church in al-Qolalī was one of the old churches. I am speaking about Shubra, which only had [the church of] Massarah. And then began the church in al-Giushi. Mr. Sidrāq built the Church of Anba Antonios and Mr. Matta Sawīrus founded the church in al-Giushi. And then every area began to make a church — [] the church in Rod al-Faraj did not exist at first. Its building began in the beginning of the ‘50s when Fr. Dawoud al-Maqarī began to go and build it. [] I was teaching Sunday School [] on the rooftop [of that church], which afterwards became the floor of the church that is there now. The first floor was built and then they built a second story on the rooftop so that it became a two story [building]. Preaching then was in the societies[18]. These societies were being built and did not even need to be licensed [] because the Ministry of Social Affairs did not yet exist. The Ministry of Social Affairs only came into existence at the end of the ‘30s, in ‘38 or ‘39. [] Before that, there was no Ministry of Social Affairs, and societies were easy for everyone to make. These societies had preaching, and trained people to teach and preach, and they were in charge of social services and took care of the poor and needy and the orphans and widows. The societies were the ones that took care of the villages and they were the ones that established the churches. In order to establish a church, a society would be established. The Society of Peace[19] established the Church of St. George in al-Giushi, the Society of Faith[20] founded the Church of St. George in Jazīrat Badrān, the Society of Love[21] established the Church of the Angel [Michael] in ‘Ayyad Bek, the Society of the Angel [Michael][22] instituted the Church of the Angel [Michael] in Toson. A society would be founded and the society would build the church. In the days of Habib Girgis, there were not many churches, so he worked in the societies. He would preach in the societies. The first sermon he delivered was in 1898 about the Christian religion, and he delivered it in a hall in the Great Coptic School. It was an eloquent sermon, and Tādrus Bek al-Manqabādī, who founded the Misr Newspaper, was in attendance and asked him for permission to print the sermon. After he printed it, he distributed it free of charge to the people because he enjoyed it. He then delivered a sermon at the Society of Growth[23], which established the church of Haret al-Sakayyīn, and which would publish a calendar. Pope Kyrillos V was in attendance, and the sermon took about an hour. The pope stood during the entirety of the hour, signing the cross towards him and towards the congregation. He was overjoyed. Nobody could preach, and here was this young prodigious man full of knowledge and understanding. He established many societies. [] He established the Society of Love[24] which took care of the poor, and the Great Central Society of the Faith[25]. He began in the Clerical College to establish societies for preaching such as the Society of Spreading the Word of Salvation[26] and the Society of the Soldiers of Christ[27] and the Society of Graduates[28]. And the societies spread. The Clerical College oversaw 84 branches of service as a result of the operative societies. The man taught, and not only taught but also filled the world with teachers. There came a time when he was not only the preeminent teacher in the Church but also the only teacher in the Church. And he began to cultivate teachers and graduate [them], and to send them into every village and every city. He was the first to attend to the service of the villages. He traveled throughout the entire country, on one hand to preach and teach and on the other to collect donations to build the Clerical College. Some would give him personal donations, but he would transfer even these to the Clerical College, remaining poor as he was. To the point that Pope Kyrillos V gifted him a home in which to reside, so he gifted it also to the Clerical College so that it would be a house for the ‘urafa’, for the school of the ‘urafa’. He was a wondrous man. He began to work in preaching everywhere. Once he gave a sermon in the Great Central Society [of the Faith][29] about the history of preaching and its importance in the Church. As soon as he finished, they printed it in a book. The book made a profit, but he dedicated all the money to the Society so that it could operate. For this reason, he lived in poverty. He lived in poverty and virginity. And all his siblings were celibate. Mr. Habib Girgis was celibate, his brother, Mr. Kamel Girgis, was celibate, and their sister was also celibate. The three lived to teach []. He worked in teaching in the Clerical College, he worked in religious education, he worked in Sunday School, and he worked in preaching. How else could he teach? He taught with his pen. He published a journal called al-Karmah. al-Karmah journal was the most powerful journal in its time. It was at an academic level and in it wrote the greatest authors in knowledge and understanding and also in position. It had ‘Aziz Bek ‘Osa, Gabriel Bek al-Tūkhī, Mr. Yassa ‘Abdelmassīh [who was] the trustee of the library of the Coptic Museum, Mr. Sim’an Selīdes, Mr. Takla Rizq who taught Science and Religion. It was a journal of the highest caliber. The al-Karmah journal was the first journal in our modern time to begin translating the sayings of the Fathers. He established it in 1907, and it continued for 17 years. “Why did it not continue,” you may ask. He bore all of its financial obligations until he could no longer do so. So it ceased for financial reasons. [] But the one who reads it finds an exceedingly high standard in science and knowledge for that time period. The man worked in education by teaching, preaching, authoring, publishing, and Sunday School. He was the leader in all of this. [] Afterwards he found that personal status issues were handled by the Lay Council. Before the law of ‘55 was passed, which transferred [ecclesial] personal affairs to secular courts that deal with personal affairs, the Lay Council oversaw those issues. He feared lest the Lay Council was doing things at its own whim, because it expanded the bases for divorce, and especially the regulation that was passed in ‘38, so he nominated himself to the Lay Council and would come out first or second or third in the ranking of the 24 [members]. The people loved him very much and voted for him. So he joined the Lay Council and attended the personal status [meetings]. He joined the Lay Council not because he desired membership, but for many reasons: to support the Clerical College in the Lay Council, to support religious education [], [and] to participate in the personal status cases []. So he was the [bastion] of the Faith in the Lay Council. Of course they did not elect him to be the trustee of the Lay Council because in that time they would choose the trustee [] from among the bashawāt. For example, Ibrahīm Fahmy al-Minyāwī [was] a Pasha and a trustee of the Lay Council, Habīb al-Masrī [was a] Pasha and a trustee of the Lay Council []; Tawfīq Doss Basha [is another example] []. And when the bashawāt decreased, they would choose from al-bahawāt, such as Azīz Bek Mishreqī. Of course he was not of those, but he was the religious representative. [] He was respected by the religious bodies, to the point that when Pope Kyrillos V would convene the Holy Synod, he would tell them: “why don’t you bring Habib Girgis, he is like us.” He loved him dearly. The best days he lived were the days of Pope Kyrillos V. He was nominated to the papacy three times, but was not chosen because he was not a monk. He was also nominated to the bishopric of Gīza in 1948, but the Holy Synod refused him because he was not a monk. He could have been a monk, but he remained as he was. He was an archdeacon. And he was a true archdeacon — completely devoted to religious education. His [spiritual] children and disciples became priests, while he remained a deacon. He remained a deacon his whole life. He could have been ordained a priest because his children were priests; he taught them and would kiss their hands because they were priests. And from among his children were bishops and metropolitans and hundreds of priests, but he remained a deacon, celibate, devoted to the service of teaching, with no function except that he was the teacher of the whole Church. He authored more than thirty books, besides 17 volumes of the al-Karmah journal. He served during the reign of four popes — Pope Kyrillos V, Pope Yu’annis XIX, Pope Macarius III, and Pope Yusāb II, in whose days he departed. When Pope Yu’annis went to Ethiopia, he took him with him, and there the emperor and empress presented to him certain badges and medals, which are now found in the museum we established for him. Habib Girgis was distinguished in his life by seriousness. [] Meaning since the establishment of the Clerical College, hundreds have graduated from it, but none like Habib Girgis. The famous graduates, who have a reputation in the Clerical College and who took things seriously, can be counted on the fingers. He was the first serious man [in the Clerical College]. He found no one to teach him, so he would sit in the library reading night and day. Reading! Who taught Habib Girgis? He studied a bit with Fr. Philotheos Ibrahīm, but he was ill and so [Habib Girgis] would consult him on only a few issues. But he began to read []. He authored books on spirituality, like Kitāb sirr al-taqwah[30] and Nazarāt rūhiyah fī al-hayāt al-Masīhiyah[31]. He found them not knowing what to say at funerals, so he authored a book called ‘Azā’ al-mu’minīn[32] containing lectures for funerals. He found that the spiritual songs [in the churches were] overtaken by the Protestants, so he authored three books of Orthodox spiritual songs. Even for young children, he authored a book called ‘In’ash al-damīr fī tarānīm al-saghīr[33]. He began to work. He was a poet, but not a poet as we are. I will tell you what I mean by “poet.” Habib Girgis as a poet — I recall when he departed in ‘51, and we issued a special volume in the Sunday School Journal about him, they asked me to write an article about Habib Girgis as a poet. So I said in the introduction to this article, I began to study Habib Girgis as a poet — the man did not study the meters of poetry,[34] nor its measuring units,[35] nor its scansions,[36] nor the zihāf[37], nor the ʿilla[38], nor its prosody,[39] nor its rhyme,[40] nor any of that. But he studied, as a deacon, the hymns of the Church. [] He would then produce a poem on the tune of a θεοτοκια, or a Ⲯⲁⲗⲓ, or one of the hymns of the Church. For example, he would study a hymn like Ⲁⲣⲓⲡⲁⲙⲉⲩⲓ[41], and then he would take its tune, the tune would fill his heart and mind, and then the words would disappear, and the tune would remain, and he would place his own words upon the tune. [] The experts in poetry then ask, “is this of the trembling meter[42] or the trilling meter[43] or the complete meter[44]?” Our great professor did not know trilling meter or trembling meter, but he knew Ⲁⲣⲓⲡⲁⲙⲉⲩⲓ. In this way, he created songs. He would take the hymn, repeat it until the tune stuck to his mind, and then place the words on the tune. And he became a poet in this way. This is Habib Girgis. And he created songs. The anthem of the Clerical College is an attuned poem [] on the tune of Fā’ilātun Fā’ilātun Fā’ilun, which is the trotting meter.[45] He did not know trotting meter, [] but he began to attune it. He wrote spiritual books, he wrote spiritual songs, he wrote books of condolence, he wrote books for Sunday School, he wrote books on the Holy Bible. Regarding doctrine, he wrote the book Asrār al-Kanīsah al-sab’ah[46]. He wrote the book al-Sakhra al-Urthūdhuksiyah[47] to answer other denominations — Protestants and Catholics. He began to work in every area. In history, he wrote the book al-Qiddīs Murqus[48]. He began to work in many areas; he entered all areas of education. You may find someone in the Clerical College who only knows one subject, but beyond it [he does not know]. But one like Habib Girgis could speak on any subject — he could speak on theology, doctrine, the Holy Bible, personal status, hymns, [in a word] everything. He led teaching in the entire Church and was known by all Copts from one end [of the country] to the other. Of course [he was not distinguished by] only seriousness in work, and his reliance on himself and God, and his self-edification, but also his consistent productive work. [] He encouraged the people and never criticized or rebuked or uttered a harsh word. Never. I remember in the poem I wrote about him, I recall that one of its stanzas says: لك اسلوب نقي طاهر ولسان أبيض الفاظ عارفه لم تنال بالذنب مخلوق ولم تذكر السؤ إذا محله وصفه [(Your behavior is pure and chaste; A tongue that is [pure] with familiar words. You do not accuse any creature of wrongdoing, and You do not mention evil if even it is apparent.)] He was a man who never criticized. One of the members of the Higher Committee of Sunday Schools once sent to Habib Girgis, who had published certain research, severe criticism, and [that person] recounted this [incident] in an article we published in the [special] volume of the Sunday School Journal issued on the occasion of the forty-day memorial [of Habib Girgis]. He says, “I sent him a strongly worded letter,” perhaps one that would have been intolerable to anyone besides Habib Girgis. What was the outcome? He did not become upset whatsoever, but rather sent to this young man a letter of thanks, saying to him: “I thank you for taking the time to read my research and I thank you for the comments you sent to me.” What is this! Habib Girgis was of this sort. I remember when I was a young man and there was a great love between myself and Habib Girgis, I would visit him weekly, especially during the final two years of his life on earth. What would happen, honestly, is I would place a notebook in my pocket, and at every visit I would record one or two sentences from which to benefit in my life, [] writing it in the notebook. I could never leave any of the visits without first recording a few words from the wonderful conversation. He was an incredibly meek person, to an unbelievable extent. Unbelievable! Once as I was contemplating the meekness of Habib Girgis, I was walking down the street, and I said: “Lord, if Habib Girgis is meek to this degree, how meek must You be!” How meek must God be [if Habib Girgis is so meek]! He was a wondrous man. Sometimes there would be a problem, and we would say, “so and so did this or that.” So he would respond, “why, my children, why did he do that? But no matter, it will be corrected, God willing. God will correct it.” Right away, he caught it and turned it [into a positive thing]. He was an example of meekness, powerful humility, the spirit of fatherhood, and exemplary spiritual ethics. Did I not tell you that he taught by way of preaching, teaching, authorship, publishing, and Sunday School? He also taught by way of his upright leadership. One would sit with him and walk away having learned several lessons, if only by looking at his face! Many times people criticized him and opposed him, and he would remain silent. Especially when the Sunday School nominated him to be metropolitan and the monks rose up against him, saying: “how can he be a metropolitan; he will destroy monasticism!” But how could he destroy monasticism? Monasticism has always been far removed from the priesthood. They began to oppose him. [] Someone nominates him to the papacy, and they would oppose him. Someone would nominate him to the bishopric, and they would oppose him. People praise him, and they would oppose him. [] Once, one of his students, whom he graduated from the Clerical College and who was a preacher, found Habib Girgis and began to curse at him extensively. There was another preacher who was serving in the same church and who was this man’s colleague, who had submitted a request for a raise from the Lay Council. Habib Girgis was responsible for the Committee of Churches, so he determined that the man who requested a raise was entitled to a raise []. He then said, “he is entitled to a raise, but he also has a colleague in the same church who is under the same circumstances, so he must also be given a raise like him.” Who was that man? The one who cursed at him. So he gave a raise to that man also, because it was right to do so, despite the fact that that man had been the one to curse at him. To the extent that after that preacher received the raise because of Habib Girgis’ advocacy, he went to him and wept [], saying: “I sinned against you. I did not know that you were like this.” He was gentle to the greatest degree. He worked positively and never responded at all to any criticism directed at him, whether from his children or his disciples or from jealous people or from those who were envious. He never responded whatsoever. He worked with positivity and did not involve himself [in such matters]. This is our professor, Habib Girgis, from whom we learned much. I recall at the forty-day commemoration we held for him on September 28, 1951, they asked me to recite a poem. I told them "Mr. Riyyād Surīel is more gifted than me in poetry and recites poetry powerfully," but they said: “no, we want you because you will say affectionate words, because you loved him.” [] It happened that Mr. Riyyād Surīel recited a poem, and I delivered an oration at that time. I do not know if I will recall it, but I remember saying هذه تقواك ايمان في حب هذه دنياك اشواق وصلب أنت من أنت؟ رسول ها هنا أنت أبهى من رسولا أنت قلب أنت قلب واسع في حضنه عاش جيل كامل بل عاش شعبه أنت نبع من حنان دافقا أنت عاطف أنت رفق أنت حب [(This is your piety: faith in love. This is your world: thorns and crucifixion. You, who are you? An apostle among us? But you are more exalted than an apostle. You are a heart. You are a wide embracing heart in which lived a full generation but a whole nation! You are a fountain of overflowing compassion. You are passion, you are companionship, you are love.)] And it ends by saying: و أب أنت و نحن يا أبي عشنا بالحب على صدرك نحن [(You are a father, and we, my father on your breast were nourished with love.)] This is the man that discipled an entire generation, and taught an entire generation. Some people write history, as we are doing now by speaking about the history of Habib Girgis. There are those who record history, and there are those who are more powerful — who make history. What does this mean? It means that they make the events that historians come later and record []. Mr. Habib Girgis is one who created our history, and at least created the history of the first half of the twentieth century. He worked at the end of the nineteenth century, but created the history of the first half of the twentieth century. Without him, we would not be here. We ask God to repose his pure soul in the paradise of joy. Let us say a small song and then I will speak to you about a small spiritual topic. [Here, Cantor Ibrahim Ayad chanted the hymn Ϧⲉⲛ Ⲫ̀ⲣⲁⲛ in honor of the Virgin Mary and Archdeacon Habib Girgis, and His Holiness proceeded with a sermon on the Virgin Mary]. — [1] Ar. عرافاء, lit. sages, denoting cantors/teachers. [2] Ar. بحري, lit. Nautical, denoting the northern area of Egypt, which is towards the Mediterranean Sea. [3] Ar. قبلي, lit. Tribal, denoting the southern area of Egypt. [4] Ar. المجلس الملي, lit. al-Majlis al-Millī. [5] Ar. أوقاف, singular وقف (waqf) denoting charitable donations and land endowments. [6] in the Assiut Governorate [7] Throughout the homily, His Holiness uses “Clerical College” to refer to the Coptic Orthodox Seminary at which Habib Girgis studied and subsequently served from 1893 until his death in 1951. We note that the institution was named the Clerical School (al-Madrasah al-iklīrīkiyah) from its inception until 1946, at which time it was renamed the Coptic Orthodox Seminary (Kulliyat al-lāhūt al-Qibtiyah). See Bishop Suriel, Habib Girgis: Coptic Orthodox Educator and a Light in the Darkness, 21. [8] lit. The Hanging Church, which is the ancient Church of Saint Mary in Old Cairo. [9] See the Three Long Litanies in the Coptic Orthodox Liturgical Prayers. [10] The church stood alone in Mahmasha in 1990 because the Clerical College had been relocated, as His Holiness will clarify hereafter. [11] The Clerical College Between Past and Present; cited by H.G. Bishop Suriel as al-Madrasah al-Iklīrīkiyah al-Qibtiyah al-Urthudhūksiyah bayn al-mādī wa-al-hādir (The Coptic Orthodox Seminary: Past and Present). [12] Prayer for the Departed. [13] Ar. نائب غبطط الرئيس الأعلى لي مدارس الأحد [14] The Doctrines of Faith; cited by H.G. Bishop Suriel as Kitāb khilāsat al-usūl al-īmāniyah fī mu’taqadāt al-Kanīsah al-Qibtiyah al-Urthūdhūksiyah (The Doctrines of the Coptic Orthodox Faith: A Foundational Synopsis). [15] Principles of the Orthodox Doctrine; cited by H.G. Bishop Suriel as al-Mabādi’ al-Masīhiyah al-Urthūdhūksiyah lil-madāris al-ibtidā’iyah (Christian Orthodox Principles for Elementary Schools). [16] The Invaluable Treasure in the History of the Holy Bible; cited by H.G. Bishop Suriel as al-Kanz al-anfas fi mulakhkhas al-Kitāb wa-al-tarīkh al-Muqaddas (The Invaluable Treasure: A Summary of the Bible and Biblical History). [17] The Doctrines of Faith. See footnote 14, above. [18] Jam’iyāt [19] Jam’iyat al-Salām [20] Jam’iyat al-Īmān [21] Jam’iyat al-Mahabbah [22] Jam’iyat al-Malāk [23] Jam’iyat al-Nash’ā [24] Jam’iyat al-Mahabbah [25] Jam’iyat al-Īmān al-Markāziyyā al-Qubrā [26] Jam’iyat Nushr Kālemat al-Khalās [27] Jam’iyat Junūd al-Massīh [28] Jam’iyat al-kharījīn [29] Jam’iyat al-Īmān al-Markāziyyā [30] The Mystery of Godliness. [31] Spiritual Perspectives in the Christian Life. [32] The Consolation of the Faithful. [33] Children’s Songs for Awakening the Conscience. [34] Ar. buhūr. [35] Ar. taf‘īlah. [36] Ar. wazn. [37] Minor variations of meter which only affect the cords. [38] Major variations which affect the beginning or end of a line. [39] Ar. ‘Arūd. [40] Ar. qāwafi, denoting the rule in rhymed poetry that every verse must end in the same rhyme. [41] A hymn for Good Friday and certain other somber rites in the Coptic Church. [42] Ar. Rajaz. [43] Ar. Hazaj. [44] Ar. Kamil. [45] Ar. Ramal. [46] The Seven Sacraments of the Church. [47] The Orthodox Rock. [48] Saint Mark; cited by H.G. Bishop Suriel as al-Qiddīs Murqus al-Anjīlī: Mu’assis al-Kanīsah al-Misriyah (Saint Mark the Evangelist: The Founder of the Egyptian Church). — To access the video of this lecture, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7_99Xb8jWA&feature=youtu.be

H.H. Pope Shenouda III, 1989 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: One God. Amen. Being that this week is the Week of Prayer, I would like to speak to you about Prayer. Prayer according to its simplest meaning is a dialogue with God. But is it a dialogue of the tongue or that of the heart? Doubtless it is a dialogue of the heart. For this reason, the Lord Christ rebuked those who pray with their lips only, saying: “these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me” (Matthew 15:8). Thus, prayer is not merely words. Nor is it merely recitations or memorized utterances. But prayer is firstly the longing for God [] as David the Prophet says: “my soul longs for you, O God, as a thirsty land longs for water” (Psalms 143:6). And he also says: “O God, you are my God, my soul thirsts for you” (Psalms 63:1). And he says again: “as the deer longs” — the male deer which gallops quickly and tires [as a result] — “as the deer longs for the fountains of water, so my soul longs for You, O God.” (Psalms 42:1) The more your soul longs for God, and speaks to Him as a result of this longing, the more you feel that you are speaking to Him from your heart and benefit from prayer. [] For prayer is not merely a longing, but it is a longing that springs forth from love. Thus prayer begins firstly in the heart as love, is then elevated to the mind as thought, and finally the tongue utters it as word. But it is in the first instance love. Love! [David] tells Him, “Oh how beloved is your name, O Lord, for it is my meditation all the day” (Psalms 119:97). Out of his love for God, the name of God is on his tongue and mind all day long in meditation. He also says to Him, “in your name I will lift up my hands; my soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods” (Psalms 63:4-5). So prayer is satisfaction for the soul. Just as the flesh is nourished by food, so also the soul is nourished by being in the presence of God, and by conversing with God, and with the connection of the heart with God. This is nourishment for the soul. If you pray and do not feel satisfied, then you are not truly praying. Prayer, as I have said, is love. Just as a droplet of water journeys until it pours into the great sea and unites with it, so also does the heart of man journey so as to unite with the heart of God and become joined to Him. And the first matter [here] is prayer. For this reason, prayer was said to be a golden bridge connecting the creature to the Creator. [] It was also said that prayer is likened to the ladder of Jacob which connected earth and heaven. Prayer was also said to be the language of the angels, or the praise of the angels. Imagine — the Seraphim were standing before the throne of God saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth” (Isaiah 6:3), being satisfied with this love and their souls being satiated by it. This is prayer. Believe me, many claim that they converse with God while in fact they do not pray. They do not pray because they merely utter words without any feeling or emotion. For this reason, prayer is connectedness[1] with God. [] In prayer you find a connection between yourself and God. You connect with God. As in the Divine Liturgy when we say, “stand [earnestly].”[2] You develop a connection between yourself and God such that you experience being in the presence of God. [] This is prayer. It is not mere words. You experience the presence of God and being with God, and the connection between you both. Some think prayer to be words they utter or beautiful phrases they say. It is not so. I will give you an example. You see these lights — there are small bulbs and a large spotlight [] — imagine you have incredibly powerful lightbulbs — a bulb with the power of many volts — but it has no electric current running through it. What would be the benefit of this lightbulb to you? What is the benefit of a powerful lightbulb if the electric current is absent from it? In your prayers, you must feel this current running through your veins. You feel pleasure in being with God [] so that even when you try to stop praying or cease from prayer, you find it difficult to do so. One stands to pray, and every time he tries to conclude the prayer, he says: “Lord let me spend some more time with You… [] a few more minutes… let me have some more time.” He is unable to leave Him! [] As it says in the Song of Songs, “I held him and would not let him go” (3:4). I can’t leave him! This is prayer. This sort of prayer purifies the heart, [] because man, when he finds himself in the presence of God, is purified thereby. Even if a sinful thought comes to him, he is ashamed of it, saying: “My thoughts were just with God, how can I now mingle it with evil?” If any external warfare comes to him, you find him impervious to it, fortified by the inner purity which he obtains from prayer. Deep prayer leads man to renounce the entire world, because after he finds himself in the presence of God, everything else becomes trivial in his eyes. For this reason, the Spiritual Elder[3] said: “the love of God alienated me” — that is, rendered me a stranger — “from mankind and the things of mankind.” St. John of Assiut was once asked, “what is pure prayer?” He told them “it is death to the world,” meaning when one is praying, this world is wholly absent from his mind; because of his preoccupation with God, he no longer feels the present world. Prayer is an honor for man — a great honor, for him to speak with God. There are many who occupy prestigious positions with whom you cannot speak. But God, out of His humility, permits you to speak with Him, even while He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings and Creator of all. Thus, prayer is an honor with respect to man, and humility with respect to God. Of His humility He communicates with us. [] Do not dare to think that when you pray, you give to God anything at all — time, words. No. In prayer you receive and do not give. Just as we say to God in the Divine Liturgy, “You are not in need my worship, but rather I am in need of Your Lordship.” You need to be found with God. You need to speak with Him. You need to receive from His love. Imagine, regarding the pleasure of prayer, that David, when he prayed his psalms [] did not find the flute sufficient. We read in history that David had a large musical ensemble — a substantial chorus — one with a flute and one with a harp and another with an oud and another with stringed instruments and another with timbrels and another with cymbals and another with a trumpet — all of the musical instruments in his day, and sometimes the number would reach seventy people! And he prayed his psalms with the wondrous pleasure of music, and told them “Selah,” meaning “let us stop here and change the melody.” [] For this reason, sometimes prayer is a song sung by the soul to God. Imagine standing and singing to God! Where does this singing come from? For this reason he says, “sing to the Lord a new song” (Psalms 96:1). [] A song! One who rejoices in another — who loves another — and sings to Him. And God rejoices with this heart — this musical heart, in which one does not pluck the strings of the oud, but instead the strings of his heart, so that the words that spring from it are a beautiful song in the hearing of God. See Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Moses! She held the timbrel in her hand and sang to God! [] And we, do we not sing? We certainly sing! From this we see that our hymns are prayer. See the words, “Agios, Agios, Agios, Holy, Holy, Holy.” In joyful times we sing “Agios” to Him in a joyful hymn, and with melisma. And in mournful times, in the Passion Week, we sing “Agios” to Him in a mournful tone. And in Ⲕⲟⲓⲁϩⲕ we say it in a different way. And every time we say “Holy,” we say it to Him in a different way. The psalmody, is it not a prayer? But it is a song we sing to the Lord. We stand before God singing, rejoicing — one rejoicing greatly in God, and, seeing Him, sings for joy! [] For this reason we find praises — spiritual songs. The Bible says, “with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in your hearts to God” (Ephesians 5:19). [] Indeed, singing always springs forth from inner feeling. And we stand before God singing always: people rejoicing in God and singing to Him. How? When we come to read the gospel, we say it in a melody in the Church; when we come to read the Psalm, we sing it to Him. We have Psalms which, when the chanter stands to chant them, he says them with the fullness of love in his heart before God. And the prayers and hymns of the Divine Liturgy are sung. For this reason, I am uncomfortable with those who rush through the Liturgy in a few minutes and without care for its hymns. No singing! What will God say to such people? “Is there no feeling? Do the strings of your heart not move?” In every word we say in the Liturgy, we sing. We sing before God, saying to Him: “Lord I am overjoyed in You [] and will sing to you all day and night!” Long ago, each Psalm had its own hymn, and they said it in chant. Just like the hymns we have in the Second, Third, and Fourth ϩⲱⲥ. These are all Psalms. Here is the heart that prays. But for one to pray with his tongue while his mind wanders in other things, where is the connection between him and God? Where is the dialogue between him and God? What is more, where is the etiquette of discussion between him and God? Do you speak to God while you are distracted, or while your senses are distracted; praying while looking here and there? From here, prayer requires certain qualities so that it may be considered an acceptable prayer before God. There are prayers that are acceptable and those that are not. To offer an acceptable prayer before God, the first point is to pray with understanding. While speaking, you understand the meaning of each word. You say, “Our Father who art in Heaven,” and every word is understood and has its depth, and is uttered in harmony between the tongue and the mind and the heart and the spirit and the flesh and the whole person. For this reason, you find in our hymns: “my heart and my tongue praise the Trinity” — “ⲡⲁϩⲏⲧ ⲛⲉⲙ ⲡⲁⲗⲁⲥ.” [] Prayer does not only involve the tongue. Your tongue speaks, while your mind is occupied with the same words, while your heart experiences the same feeling, while your spirit calls to the Lord. And your body also participates: in kneeling with meekness, prostrating, lifting up your hands, your eyes directed upwards. In all of this, your body participates with your spirit. Thus, prayer encompasses the whole person: mind, heart, spirit, flesh, and tongue together. For this reason, the one who prays often closes his eyes so as not to be distracted by or think about whatever is in front of him. He does not feel [] what happens around him. He leaves everything and devotes himself to God. Prayer with understanding denotes meaning every word you say. For example, when you say to Him, “Thy kingdom come,” your mind should contemplate the meaning of the kingdom of God, how His kingdom rules over your heart, how His kingdom may spread among the people, how His kingdom may spread among those nations who do not yet know Him, how His kingdom may rule over the mind and heart and flesh and spirit, how His kingdom is the longing for the eternal kingdom. And you say the word “kingdom” as you find yourself entering into the deepest depths of this kingdom. Meaning every word; praying with understanding. And if you pray with understanding, you will find that you also pray with concentration. [] Your mind will be occupied with the words, without deviation of thought or distraction. You will find yourself concentrating on the words and their meanings. You will pray with understanding, with concentration, and with depth, as David says, “out of the depths I have cried to You O Lord” (Psalms 130:1). Out of the depths! Out of the depths of my heart. Out of the depths of my mind. Out of the depths of my need for You. Out of the depths of my desires. Out of the depths in which I have fallen, I am lifted up to You and say: “Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord” (Psalms 130.1). You are in my inner depths, and I will to also reach Your depths. The one who prays such prayer, which is with love and understanding, will necessarily also pray fervently. Because he pours himself out before God. See Hannah, who became Samuel’s mother. The Bible says that she “prayed a prayer” (1 Samuel 1.9-10). [] What does this mean? It was not just any prayer! [] She prayed a prayer which bore all the fullness of the meaning of the word. Her lips merely moved, as her heart was ablaze for God. To the point that Eli the Priest thought her to be drunk. Because she poured herself out as an offering before God. Imagine the term “pouring” himself out; a soul being “poured” out before God. I cannot find in the Arabic language words sufficient to express how one pours himself out, but you understand it. One who pours himself out before God. His soul is wrung out and he pours it into the hearing and heart of God, telling Him, “my very self is poured out before You.” He who pours himself out before God does not have any awareness of his surroundings. If he is conscious of his surroundings, then his mind has become distracted and he is not poured out before God. The fervency of his prayer may be evident in his language, in his eyes, in his tears — from the extent of the fervency within him — in his love. He prays! You feel that this person prays. You may find two priests standing before the altar praying the Divine Liturgy, but you feel that one is praying and one is not. He is not praying, he is only saying the Liturgy. You may find two chanting a spiritual song, but only one chanting it from the depths of his heart so that you feel that he truly chants it, while for the other it is mere words. Words and musical melodies without spirit. [] She “prayed a prayer.” She poured herself out before God. Hannah. I read this very expression also concerning Elijah the Prophet in the fifth chapter of the Epistle of our teacher James. He says: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed a prayer that the heavens would not rain” (James 5:17). “Prayed a prayer” means not just any words. “Prayer” here means true prayer. One might stand for fifteen minutes speaking, and the angels would say, “why isn’t this fellow praying?” You might say, “You see him speaking!” And they would say, “these are just words. There’s no prayer. It is only words but not prayer.” But there is another sort of person — when he stands up for prayer, you find that the twenty four priests from the Book of Revelation take the golden censers in their hands and retrieve the prayer and take it up with them (see Revelation 8:3). If you ask one of them why, he would say, “this is a prayer, I can’t leave it. I must store it in my golden censer and lift it up to God as a fragrance of incense.” The angels sitting in heaven would smell the sweet aroma of the incense coming from earth and ask, “what is this beautiful fragrance of incense?” And they would be told, “Oh, so and so is praying.” [] For this reason, just as God rejoices in our prayer, so also do the angels. They participate with us. [] They empower us in prayer, give us spirit, and take our prayers and ascend with them. Just as it was written about Jacob’s ladder, that there were angels ascending and descending on it (see Genesis 28:12). Ascending with the prayers from the earth, and descending with God’s response to them. The angels are always ascending and descending with our prayers. The angels in heaven, when they hear someone praying, say to one another: “come, we have work today!” What is that work? “We will take [the prayers] and ascend and descend and connect heaven and earth!” Hence why it is said that prayer shakes the heavens. Not the earth. The heavens. The heavenly hosts. When a saint stands for prayer, they stand for prayer with him, participating with him, feeling that he is one of them — that he is one of the earthly angels from among the heavenly humans. Just like the angels. Or is prayer mere words? Does every person who says “I am praying” truly pray? No! What does “prayed a prayer” mean? It means not just any words. I would that you understand what prayer is and how to pray. Do you realize that if we pray for oneness with this spirit, it would be accomplished immediately? Why? Because then souls are [truly] standing before God. God — what can I say, Lord? Just as He says in the Psalms, to the soul that pours itself out before Him in prayer, “turn your eyes from me, for they have overcome me” (Song of Solomon 6:5).[4] God says, “enough, I can’t withstand it any longer. Whatever you want I will give you. Enough.” How could God tell someone, “for your eyes have overcome me?” What is this [wonder]. In language I do not know an interpretation, but in the spirit we may understand its meaning. As it was said, “God was overcome by His compassion.”[5] Out of His love. He sees before Him a person who has been transformed into an angel on earth, speaking with Him in truth. When God encounters hundreds of people, one of whom speaks to Him with a wandering mind, and another speaks to Him and then runs away, and another speaks to Him for a short while and then says “enough, I am bored of prayer,” and then finds one steadfast and speaking to Him with all love, He says “I can’t leave this person.” So what does He do? He grants that the Holy Spirit intercede for him with unutterable expressions, so that he is no longer praying but the Holy Spirit works in him and gives him the fervency (see Galatians 4:6). [] Just like one who says “heat up the car so it can run.” The Holy Spirit “heats up this car,” so it can run and ascend to the heavens. There are those who have specialized in prayer. They have become specialists in prayer. Their work is prayer, such as the monks and solitaries and hermits. And there are those on earth who give to God some of their time, and there are those who give to God the leftovers of their time, and there are those who say to God, “go away for now and when it is more convenient I will call for you again,” as the [procurator, Felix,] told Paul (Acts 24:25). For prayer to be accepted before God, it must also be offered with humility and lowliness of heart. Humility. Our Lord gave us an example in the prayer of the Pharisee and that of the tax collector. The prayer of the tax collector was accepted because it was offered with a humble heart, but the prayer of the Pharisee was not accepted. Not every prayer is accepted; the one who humbles himself before God[, that one’s prayer is accepted]. For this reason, you find some who speak to God with an unbefitting boldness, whereas we bow our heads and prostrate on the ground and sign the cross and ask Him to “make us worthy to say ‘Our Father.’” [] “I am not worthy to stand before You. Who am I? ‘I am a worm and not a man’ (Psalms 22:6), as David says. Who am I to put myself between the angels and archangels and the Seraphim and Cherubim to speak to You? Who am I? I am but dust! ‘I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes,’ (Genesis 18:27),” as Abraham the Father of Fathers said. For this reason the one who prays with humility prays with meekness. One might say, “I am a son, and I have my rights as a son.” What rights are you speaking of, beloved? Are we discussing rights? Tell Him, “Lord, I am unworthy of anything. ‘I am unworthy to be called Your son’ (Luke 15:19). It is true that You have called me a son out of Your love, but I have not abided as a son. I am utterly cast down. How can I speak to You?” With lowliness of heart, one prostrates, one kneels, one lifts up his hands, and begins a beginning that evidences his humility before God. It is true that God called you a son. But does His calling you a son lead you to lose your meekness or respect for Him, or to pray with a prideful heart? All of this is unfitting. Do you need more [evidence] than the Cherubim and Seraphim? They stand before God praying. How? “With two wings they cover their faces, and with two they cover their feet” (Isaiah 6:2). They stand ashamed before God, covering their faces for their inability to look toward the great glory of God. [] For this reason, when the priest prays the Reconciliation Prayer in the Divine Liturgy, he holds a handkerchief [over his eyes], and so does the deacon across from him. Why? For their inability to lift their eyes toward God; ashamed before God and the divine glory, so they cover their eyes from the glory of God. But there is another who holds the handkerchief without understanding its meaning, [saying] “well, this is what they taught us in church.” As for the person who stands before God in meekness and lowliness of heart, God does not forget his lowliness of heart. He truly prays. He recognizes before Whom he stands. He is standing before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. See Moses, after he spent some time with Him, how his face was so radiant that the people could not look to him when he came down [from the mountain]. And that only because he spent a little time with Him. John the Beloved, who leaned on His chest, when God appeared to him in the Book of Revelation, said, “I fell at his feet as one dead” (Revelation 1:17). Why? For the greatness of God. Your love for God and favor with Him should not lead you to lose your meekness before God. Your favor [with Him] might otherwise lead you to merely say words, like the one who prays while seated at mealtime. “Why are you sitting, brother? To Whom are you speaking?” He says, “I’m sitting to eat.” Are you sitting to eat or sitting to pray? Whenever I am in a foreign country and they ask me to pray before eating, I stand and they all follow suit. They are used to praying over the meal while seated. Is there no respect when speaking to God? Stand before Him with meekness. Tell Him, “thank you Lord for granting me food for my body. Grant me also food for my spirit.” And pray from your heart. Many in the church pray while seated, and if someone tells one to stand, he says, “stand? You forget that we’re in the twentieth century, the age of technology, which exhausts the flesh and robs us of our energy. Before, the people were strong and could stand, but now the people are tired.” Remain as you are, O tired one, and pray prayers that are as tired as you, which do not ascend to the heights. When you stand to pray while tired, God will grant you the strength and energy to stand, because as you give, so you receive, and you receive what you give and say to Him, “of Your own we have given You” (1 Chronicles 29:14). Prayer needs meekness; to stand before God meekly. But for the one who stands before God while his legs are moving, his hands are moving, his eyes are looking around, as if he is praying with a wind-up, this is not prayer. If this one stands in the army, and they tell him to stand still, he would. If one stands still before an officer or a sergeant, how much more should he do so before God? Pray with meekness, pray with concentration, pray with respect and reverence before God. Pray also with faith. He says, “whatever you ask for in prayer will be yours, if you only have faith” (Mark 11:24). Many times one prays but does not believe that what he asks will happen. He just prays to fulfill the obligation. But without faith. We need people to pray with faith — faith that he stands before God, and that God will respond, and that God will respond with whatever is good, regardless of the outcome. [] Prayer with persistence, never tiring. This is prayer. [] Prayer before God with spirit and thought, with love and feeling, and with concentration. This is all regarding the depth of prayer. The one who experiences the beauty and tastes the sweetness of prayer loves to pray at all times. He loves that his mind is preoccupied with God at all times. He never tires from prayer. He does not say: “I don’t have time.” How do you not have time? As I have said to some, “do you not have time? See David the Prophet. He was a king and commander in chief of the army and led the people and had a large family and difficult circumstances, but regardless, he prayed evening and morning and at noontime” (see Psalms 55:17). And he told Him, “seven times every day I do I praise You for your righteous judgments” (Psalms 119:164). Only during the day? He also told him, “I remembered you on my bed,” (Psalms 63:6), when he came to sleep, and “in the morning watches [I sang to you]” (Psalm 5:3), [] and “my eyes stay open through the watches of the night that I might meditate on your word” (Psalms 119:148), [and] “at midnight I arise to praise You for your righteous judgments” (Psalms 119.62). And after all this, he tells Him: “O God, you are my God, early will I seek You. My soul thirsts for you…” (Psalms 63:1). After all this, your soul [still] thirsts for Him? This is the one who wants to pray. He does not tire from prayer, he is patient, he prays with long-suffering, and whenever Satan says “enough,” he tells him, “depart from me, you have no business with me. This is between me and God.” [] — [1] Arabic: سلاه [2] lit. “stand intently/earnestly;” Arabic: نقف بإتصال [3] i.e. John of Dalyatha [4] In instances such as this, when His Holiness misremembers the source of a verse or passage, it is important to note that His Holiness, in his usual manner, delivers the majority of his homily from memory and without much, if any, reference to written materials). [5] See Monday Ⲑⲉⲟⲧⲟⲕⲓⲁ, Fifth Part —

Introduction Digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and Social Media today predominate the non-physical online realm, transcending time and space and allowing for instantaneous communication and connectivity from any location globally. With this unprecedented technological proliferation, the notion of remoteness is quickly becoming obsolete, as even in the deserts, one can be completely engaged in and connected to a world of communication and information. Despite the overbearing inescapability of this modern immersive condition, the desert still lends her wisdom, for there can be found until today the richest Christian men and women following in the footsteps of those who have sought for centuries to fulfill through monasticism the high calling of Christianity. The founder of this monastic movement, Antony of Egypt, himself retreated to the desert in a quest to live out the Christian Faith in complete devotion, being convinced that the message of Christianity must be internalized and transfigured within himself so that he might fulfill the Lord’s command to be perfect.[1] Equipped with this conviction, Antony forsook all his possessions and began his long journey into the inner desert — a journey to perfect virtue and true Christlikeness — ultimately becoming the lamp of monasticism (as he is called in the Coptic Orthodox Tradition) and an example for all Christians. Antony recognized that Christianity properly lived requires unwavering personal devotion and complete integration into one’s life — the Christian is required to “put on Christ” (Romans 13:14) and not be “conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2). As online technological advancements continue to gain prevalence in people’s daily lives, imposing upon Christians a new “gospel,” a conscious consideration of the necessary features of the human experience according to the Christian framework is perhaps more necessary today than ever before.[2] Of these advancements, Artificial Intelligence, being by its very nature antithetical to and devoid of any measure of living experience, raises especially alarming concerns, particularly for evangelization and the Christian life. In contrast to several of those concerns, however, stands the life and standard of Antony, which remains until today a grounding example for Christian believers and emphasizes several features of the human experience which they must consciously guard within themselves in the face of the threats posed by these technologies. Encountering Antony of Egypt Journeying from his village to the desert, Antony sought to fulfill the calling of Christian discipleship to Christ, creating a balanced environment conducive to Christian formation[3] and not evading any component of the human experience. Athanasius’ description, in The Life of Antony, of Antony's emergence from the Roman fort in response to the demands of the masses depicts this state of balance that Antony achieved: “…Antony came forth as out of a shrine, as one initiated into sacred mysteries and filled with the spirit of God. It was the first time that he showed himself outside the fort to those who came to him. When they saw him, they were astonished to see that his body had kept its former appearance, that it was neither obese from want of exercise, not emaciated from his fasting and struggles with the demons: he was the same man they had known before his retirement. Again, the state of his soul was pure, for it was neither contracted by grief, nor dissipated by pleasure, not pervaded by jollity or dejection…No, he had himself completely under control — a man guided by reason and stable in his character.”[4] The balance of personal development with interpersonal communication and communal connection which Antony maintained deserves not only admiration, but also emulation,[5] for he became thereby the model of a complete Christian — “the man of God.”[6] Antony and the Self The primary resources pertaining to Antony — The Life of Antony, his sayings, and his letters — depict and emphasize the absolute necessity of sound identity formation in Christian experience, dependent upon scriptural internalization, virtue attainment, and enlightened self-understanding. This formation led Antony to order his life in submission to the Scriptures and thereby to become a conduit for the Lord to permeate the lives of his disciples. From a young age, Antony knew the Scriptures, contemplated upon them often, and took them personally. Upon hearing the Gospel being read in church shortly after his parents’ death, he submitted to its teaching and allowed it to radically transform his life. It was the Scriptures, after all, that initiated his journey into the wilderness. In his later encounters with demons, his mastery of the Scriptures is especially evident, as he used them as his shield to overcome demonic attacks.[7] His scriptural formation also flows seamlessly into his teaching: when many came to learn from him, he said to them, “The Scriptures are really sufficient for our instruction.”[8] Similarly, when asked what one must do “in order to please God,” he responded “…always have God before your eyes; whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures.”[9] His second letter,[10] moreover, is almost entirely formulated out of scriptural passages woven together. By thus internalizing the Scriptures, and that through memorization rather than relying on any exterior aids to merely read them,[11] Antony succeeded to embody them in his real lived experience. “[L]ike a wise bee,”[12] Antony built upon his scriptural grounding by cultivating within himself the good qualities he observed in virtuous people: “He observed the graciousness of one, the earnestness at prayer in another; studied the even temper of one and the kindheartedness of another…and in one and all alike he marked especially devotion to Christ and the love they had for one another.”[13] Understanding the necessity of good works,[14] he urgently worked to internalize and assimilate virtuous qualities in himself[15] rather than simply observing and admiring virtuous people. He would later teach his disciples: “Really, [virtue] is not far from us, nor is its home apart from us; no, the thing is within us, and its accomplishment is easy if we but have the will. Greeks go abroad and cross the sea to study letters; but we have no need to go abroad for the Kingdom of Heaven nor to cross the sea to obtain virtue.”[16] By pursuing virtue, Antony became a powerful witness to the Lord, so that those whom he imitated[17] identified him as “God’s Friend” even though he strove to surpass them in virtuosity.[18] His virtue thus became a powerful instrument of evangelization and exhortation, attracting many to the desert to encounter and imitate him.[19] Having learned the Scriptures and become virtuous, Antony recognized and frequently emphasized the importance of knowing oneself. Echoing the advice of Paul the Apostle to Timothy (1 Timothy 4:16), he advised his disciples to know themselves — at least six times in his first seven Letters — for “he who knows himself knows God and his dispensations for his creatures.”[20] He consequently identified any doctrinal or behavioral deviance from the Faith of the Church as a result of improper self-understanding and a failure to cultivate the fruits of the Spirit in oneself: “As for Arius…that man has begun a great task, an unsealable wound. If he had known himself, his tongue would not have spoken about what he did not know. It is, however, manifest, that he did not know himself.”[21] In knowing himself, moreover, Antony recognized his natural dependence upon his brethren in the Faith, and was for this reason deeply concerned with his neighbors in the world as they struggled against general laxity in spiritual life[22] and consequent heresy. He therefore takes up the medium of writing in order to exhort them to take personally and submit to the true Christian Faith: “I beseech you, my beloved in the Lord, who are joint heirs with the saints, to raise up your minds in the fear of God.”[23] Antony and Community Believing that “…he who loves his neighbor loves God, and he who loves God loves his own soul,”[24] Antony sought his salvation not only in the context of solitude, but also in that of interaction and communication with others. Upon commencing his monastic commitment, Antony first discipled himself to an elder, and sought to maintain this discipleship when he desired to venture deeper into the desert: “He met the old man referred to above[25] and begged him to live with him in the desert.”[26] Later, he would become a father and teacher to monks,[27] caring not only for their spiritual wellbeing, but also for their physical nourishment: “…seeing that people were coming to him again, he began to raise a few vegetables too, that the visitor might have a little something to restore him after the weariness of that hard road.”[28] Later, when he was ninety years old, Antony sought out Paul of Thebes, who had undertaken monasticism prior to him, and traveled to visit and converse with him.[29] Interestingly, the first question Paul asked Antony was “how fares the human race?”[30] While Antony and Paul retreated to the desert, seeking in its stillness to discern the voice of God, they nevertheless remained deeply connected to the city and community of believers, understanding, in Antony’s own words, that “our life and our death is with our neighbour.”[31] Evidently, Antony did not leave for the desert to escape from human interaction, but rather out of his longing for a deeply contemplative atmosphere, away from the distractions of the city, in order to live in complete relation with God,[32] recognizing that “silence is necessary for prayer and for effective communication.”[33] He therefore remained connected to and interested in the affairs of the city, saying to those who came to him, for example: “Be you, therefore, like children and bring to your father what you know and tell it, while I, being your senior, share with you my knowledge and my experience.”[34] Having heard of the spread of Arianism, Antony traveled to Alexandria to encourage the faithful in their defense of the orthodox Faith: “The entire city ran together to see Antony. Pagans, too, and even their so-called priests came to the church saying: ‘We would like to see the man of God’ — for so they all called him…and, indeed, as many became Christians in those few days as one would have seen in a year.”[35] At the time of the persecution under Maximin, Antony went again to the city, longing to suffer martyrdom, and “ministered to the confessors in the mines and in the prisons.”[36] His care for the edification and salvation of all is evident even in his interaction with Emperor Constantine, who had written to him. Although he “did not like to accept letters, saying that he did not know what to answer to such things,” he decided to write back to Emperor Constantine simply so that he could exhort him “not to think highly of the things of this world, but rather to bear in mind the judgment to come; and to know that Christ alone is the true and eternal King. He begged them to show themselves humane and to have a regard for justice and for the poor.”[37] The importance of interpersonal communication and community to Antony is therefore easily perceptible. Along with offering his guidance to the monastic community that was forming around him, seeking in the process to balance his social interaction with personal reflection, Antony communicated with Christian believers generally through visits and letters. In a word, having actively and intentionally submitted to and identified with the Christian message, Antony permitted it to mold him into an icon of the Lord Jesus, becoming in the process the image of what it means to be a truly living human, “the glory of God.”[38] His witness and life therefore became the inspiration for the monastic movement until today, converting and leading countless people into a deeper love of and life with Christ. Artificial Intelligence and the Human Experience Contrary to the immersive, incarnate, and deeply personal experience of Christianity as expressed and lived in the person of Antony of Egypt, modern technologies discarnate the human experience, being deeply formative and developmental, even at the neurological level.[39] Moreover, as Neil Postman points out: “Technology…carries with it a program, an agenda, and a philosophy that may or may not be life-enhancing and that therefore require scrutiny, criticism, and control.”[40] It is necessary, then, to examine the place of digital technologies in the human experience, especially as humanity furthers its dependence on such mediums. Indeed, “a discarnate world, like the one we now live in, is a tremendous menace to an incarnate Church.”[41] Artificial Intelligence and the Self Artificial Intelligence, more than the digital technologies that preceded it, is a deeply non-human technology, facilitating creation without human involvement and depriving products of the human element that was previously inherent to their production. Romano Guardini, in observing the rise of machine reliance, makes an important distinction: in times past, “people did, of course, use tools and aids in great numbers and with great delicacy. But these were only supports, extending the range of activity of natural human organs…and a limit was always set to make possible direct and living execution.”[42] With the availability of Artificial Intelligence, however, a human can simply command technology to produce a desired product, and within moments, that product is packaged together irrespective of that person’s knowledge, skillset, or experience, and without their contribution. Walter Ong comments: “Knowledge is hard to come by and precious, and society regards highly those wise old men and women who specialize in conserving it, who know and can tell the stories of the days of old. By storing knowledge outside the mind, writing and, even more, print downgrade the figures of the wise old man and the wise old woman, repeaters of the past, in favor of younger discoverers of something new.”[43] Because the need to internalize information is minimized by Artificial Intelligence, its user is made perpetually dependent upon it, rendering it the arbiter of truth, knowledge, and goodness: “The manner in which one asks a search engine, the algorithms of an artificial intelligence, or a computer for answers to questions that concern private life reveals that one relates to the device and its response with a fideistic attitude.”[44] Such technology therefore divests the human of humanity, substituting knowledge and firsthand experience with emptiness and reliance on exterior aids for information and fulfillment. Artificial Intelligence and Community Artificial Intelligence’s divestment of humanity’s humanity also carries communal consequences. As a powerful analytical tool, Artificial Intelligence introduces a novel way of thinking: “This knowledge does not inspect; it analyzes. It does not construct a picture of the world, but a formula. Its desire is to achieve power so as to bring force to bear on things, a law that can be formulated rationally. Here we have the basis and character of its dominion: compulsion, arbitrary compulsion devoid of all respect.”[45] Establishing a new primary residence for humanity within the virtual world and introducing a new role for humanity as spectator rather than creator, Artificial Intelligence threatens humanity’s very nature: “What takes place here is not human, at least if we measure the human by the human beings who lived before us. It is not natural if we measure the natural by nature as it once was.”[46] Having identified such trends in the early stages of the technological age, Guardini remarks: “A system of machines is engulfing life. It defends itself. It seeks free air and a secure basis. Can life retain its living character in this system?”[47] Only in the ecclesial community, “the place where the experience of God creates communion and the sharing of life,”[48] in the real, physical world, can life retain its living character.[49] Christianity, as experienced by Antony, is wholly concerned with reality, and is inherently meant for life — personal and communal experience. Through primarily physical means of encounter and perception, one most effectively “tastes” (Psalm 34:8) the Christian message and becomes transformed by it, allowing it to permeate his encounters with others. It was in this way that Antony succeeded to inspire others to venture deeper into the Faith. His effort in evangelization and exhortation flourished without the aid of any sophisticated technologies because it was purely and wholly incarnate. Michelle Borras identified that “since the Gospel is a message of the incarnate Love that alone saves, it can only be proclaimed adequately in an incarnate way…The Gospel must always have a ‘face.’”[50] Because Antony internalized the Christian message and lived through it, thereby allowing it to reflect the love of Christ to others, the Gospel in him indeed had a face — the face of Christ. Conclusion The monastic movement was inaugurated by Antony as Christian men and women imitated him by flocking to the desert to embody and live out the Christian message of discipleship to Christ. Understanding that the Faith must be taken personally, Antony and all who imitated him left the world for the desert in order to focus on fulfilling the divine commandments. Thus, in writing The Life of Antony, Athanasius exhorts his readers “to model [their] lives after his zeal”[51] and advises that his biography be read even to pagans.[52] Artificial Intelligence, being by nature an external and non-human tool of creation, is in contrast an obstacle to venturing into a personal and intimate relationship with God, developing within the human an authenticity-limiting exterior dependency in creativity, communication, and informational retention. Artificial Intelligence’s inability to capture or express human life and spirit is evident in a simple yet revealing exercise: when tasked with writing a doxology for Antony, ChatGPT produced a biographical, impersonal, and detached composition[53] in comparison to the personal and exhortatory doxology for Antony authored by Coptic Orthodox believers for liturgical prayer.[54] If we “hope for the word of God to dwell in us richly in the digital age,”[55] Artificial Intelligence and similar technologies must be thoroughly examined in light of the ethos of Christianity, with those among these technologies that do not comport with the Christian “spirit and life”[56] being actively guarded against, lest by becoming tools of evangelization and mediums for Faith delivery and formation, they compromise rather than uphold the message and spirit of Christianity. — [1] He reached this understanding through hearing the words of the Scriptures being read during the liturgical service: “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me” (Matthew 19:21); “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34). Antony understood these divinely-inspired words as being “directed especially to him” (See Athanasius, The Life of Antony 2-3, in Robert T. Meyer, Ancient Christian Writers: The Works of the Fathers in Translation, Volume 10: St. Athanasius: The Life of Saint Antony, 19-21). [2] Daniella Zsupan-Jerome notes: “After [the Word], communication of his good news becomes the Spirit-led task of the Church. This age-old mission to communicate is at the heart of the Church. From this perspective, the digital media are but the latest chapter in the long story of how the Church has gone about expressing this identity and mission to communicate” (Connected Toward Communion: The Church and Social Communication in the Digital Age, 2). [3] Daniella Zsupan-Jerome offers a definition to Christian formation as being “part of the language of articulating the task of catechesis, the process by which believers are nurtured toward conversion of mind and heart to Jesus Christ” (Ibid., 10-11). [4] Athanasius, The Life of Antony 14 (Meyer, 32) [5] See Ibid., Prologue (Meyer, 17) [6] See Ibid., 93 (Meyer, 96) [7] See e.g., Ibid., 6-7, (Meyer, 23-26) [8] Ibid., 16 (Meyer, 33) Antony sought to understand the Scriptures even through personal encounters with the saints. When he found difficulty with a passage of Scripture, for example, he did not first seek to discover its meaning in books, but rather “went out into the desert…a long way off and stood there praying, crying in a loud voice, ‘God, send Moses, to make me understand this saying.’ Then there came a voice speaking with him” (Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 7 (Anthony the Great, Saying 26)). [9] Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, 2 (Anthony the Great, Saying 3) [10] See Samuel Rubenson, The Letters of St. Antony: Monasticism and the Making of a Saint, 203-205 [11] “Again, he was so attentive at the reading of the Scripture lessons that nothing escaped him: he retained everything and so his memory served him in place of books” (Athanasius, The Life of Antony 3 (Meyer, 21)). In response to those who sought to discredit him for not receiving any schooling, Antony also said: “…one who has a sound mind has no need of letters” (Ibid., 73 (Meyer, 80)). [12] Athanasius, The Life of Antony 3 (Meyer, 20) [13] Ibid., 4 (Meyer, 21) [14] See e.g., Matthew 5:16; James 2:14-26; Titus 2 [15] See Athanasius, The Life of Antony 4 (Meyer, 21-22) [16] Ibid., 20 (Meyer, 37) [17] See 1 Corinthians 11:1 [18] Athanasius, The Life of Antony 4 (Meyer, 21) [19] See e.g., Ibid., 46 (Meyer, 59-60) [20] See e.g., Rubenson, 208 [21] Ibid., 211 [22] “The Peace of Constantine, which brought about mass conversions, had the paradoxical effect of diminishing the lay contribution to the activity and holiness of the Church. Monasticism is a witness to this fact; for the monk is not a layman, and his status is to be explained as a reaction against the growth of mediocrity in the ranks of the simple faithful. The fervent part took its stand deliberately, and as an institution, over against the majority of the flock. This is no matter for surprise; the ideal conditions for a full Christian life do not coincide with taking things easy” (Henri de Riedmatten, “The Part of the Laity in the History of the Church” in Blackfriars, November 1958, Vol. 39, No. 464, p. 458). [23] Rubenson, 230 [24] Ibid., 222 [25] See Athanasius, The Life of Antony 3 (Meyer, 20) [26] Ibid., 11 (Meyer, 29) [27] Ibid., 14 (Meyer, 32-33) [28] Ibid., 50 (Meyer, 63) [29] See Jerome, The Life of Paulus the First Hermit [30] Ibid., 10 [31] Ward, 3 (Anthony the Great, Saying 9) [32] “This making a City of the Wilderness was no mere flight, nor a rejection of matter as evil…It was rooted in a stark realism of faith in God and acceptance of the battle which is not against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual things of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Derwas Chitty, The Desert A City, xvi). [33] Fr. Jonah Lynch, FSCB and Michelle K. Borras, Technology and the New Evangelization: Criteria for Discernment, 30 [34] Athanasius, The Life of Antony 16 (Meyer, 33-34) [35] Ibid., 70 (Meyer, 79) [36] Ibid., 46 (Meyer, 59) [37] Ibid., 81 (Meyer, 87) [38] See Irenaeus, Against Heresies IV.XX.VII [39] “Gutenberg attaches itself to the left hemisphere [of the brain]; the oral, the acoustic and consequently the electric, to the right hemisphere” (Marshall McLuhan, The Medium and the Light: Reflections on Religion, 52). [40] Neil Postman, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, 185 [41] McLuhan, 50 [42] Romano Guardini, Letters from Lake Como: Explorations in Technology and the Human Race, 66 [43] Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, 41 [44] Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, Directory for Catechesis 366 [45] Guardini, 44 [46] Ibid., 73 [47] Ibid., 49 [48] Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, Directory for Catechesis 372 [49] Timothy O’Malley, emphasizing the importance of liturgical participation to evangelization efforts, writes: “Liturgical prayer is essential to the new evangelization. Precisely, because in every liturgical rite, we human beings return to our vocation as those made in the image and likeness of God. We are capacitated for the kind of self-gift, which comes to transfigure society. Those who return to our sacramental life should encounter there a beautiful and humanizing liturgy, one that elevates the desires of the human heart, allowing them to become an offering of love to the Father. We are immersed in a cosmos in which the primary narrative is not one of grasping, seizing, but the prodigal logic of self-gift. Lay communities, connected to parishes, may incarnate this liturgical life in concrete ways in cities and rural areas as we seek to manifest to the world that wisdom of a Catholic life, given over to the sacramental logic of the triune God” (Liturgy and the New Evangelization: Practicing the Art of Self-Giving Love, 132). [50] Lynch and Borras, 27-28 [51] Athanasius, The Life of Antony Prologue (Meyer, 17) [52] See Ibid., 94 (Meyer, 98) [53] The ChatGPT-produced doxology reads: “Praise be to Antony, the desert’s sage, whose wisdom guided countless souls on pilgrimage. In solitude he found divine embrace, a beacon of light for all seeking grace. With fervent heart and humble ways, he taught love, compassion, and righteous praise. In Egypt’s sands, his spirit soared high, a timeless legacy that will never die. Amen.” [54] “Remove from your hearts the thoughts of evil and the pretentious images that darken the mind. Contemplate with understanding the great miracles of our blessed father, my great lord Abba Antony — this is he who became our guide and harbor for salvation; he invited us with joy to the eternal life. The fragrance of his virtues delighted our souls, like the blossomed aroma in the Paradise. Let us truly be confirmed in the upright faith of the great Antony, proclaiming and saying: ‘I sought and I found; I asked and I was given; I knocked and I believed that it will be opened for me’ (see Matthew 7:7-8; Jerome, The Life of Paulus the First Hermit 9). Hail to our father Antony, the lamp of monasticism; hail to our father Abba Paul, the beloved of Christ. Pray to the Lord on our behalf, O my masters and fathers who love their children, Abba Antony and Abba Paul, that He may forgive us our sins” (Coptic Doxology for St. Antony). [55] See Zsupan-Jerome, xv [56] See John 6:63 — This paper is an adaptation of course work submitted for “Evangelization, Media, & Technology,” offered by Dr. Brett Robinson in Summer 2023 at the University of Notre Dame. I express my gratitude to Dr. Robinson for his helpful guidance and encouragement, and wish to acknowledge his efforts in the preparation and delivery of this course, which provided the framework of this paper and many resources used throughout. — Cover Art: Gowdat Gabra, The Treasures of Coptic Art, 94 (Coptic Icon depicting the visit of St. Antony (left) to St. Paul of Thebes (Old Cairo, Monastery of St. Mercurius)).

A blessing, indeed, belongs to the land of Egypt, which welcomed the Lord Jesus Christ into its borders as a refugee, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: “Behold, the Lord sits on a swift cloud, and shall come to Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and their heart shall faint within them…In that day shall Israel be third with the Egyptians and the Assyrians, blessed in the land which the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, ‘Blessed be my people that is in Egypt, and that is among the Assyrians, and Israel mine inheritance’” (Isaiah 19:1, 24-25). Egypt is recorded in the Scriptures as often serving as a place of refuge. During a time of famine, Abraham “went down to Egypt to sojourn there” (Genesis 12:10). Joseph also found refuge in Egypt, where he was eventually given authority over the whole land of Egypt under Pharaoh (See Genesis 41:41-44). His father, Jacob, was directed by God: “Fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will make thee there a great nation. And I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will bring thee up at the end” (Genesis 46:3-4). Likewise Moses found refuge in the house of Pharaoh in Egypt (See Exodus 2:1-10). From the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we learn of the Lord’s own flight to Egypt and His taking up refuge there: “Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt have I called my son’ (Hosea 11:1)…But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.’ And he rose and took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel” (Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23). By His presence in Egypt, our Lord Jesus Christ affirmed His coming for all people — Jews and Gentiles: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). This message, which God consistently revealed to the Israelites, most prominently in the experience of Jonah the Prophet but also throughout the Scriptures, was proclaimed by Simeon the Elder when he carried the Lord in his arms (See Luke 2:25-35) and made clear to St. Paul by the Lord when He called him to the ministry while he was on his journey to Damascus: “But rise and stand upon your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and bear witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles — to whom I send you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:16-18). This gift, of being turned “from darkness to light,” is granted in the mystery of baptism, whereby the baptized is granted the grace of the Holy Spirit and the gift of adopted sonship to God: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). It is according to this truth that all who are baptized and placed into the Body of Christ — that is, the Church — ought to live: no longer downcast and identifying with sin and weakness, but rather living the life of victorious resurrection in Christ by His Spirit.[1] The blessing of our Lord’s visitation to Egypt is observed immediately upon His coming to the land, at which time the idols of the pagans were destroyed and many of the gentile Egyptians believed in Him. On the 18th of Ⲙⲉⲥⲱⲣⲏ, the Coptic Church commemorates St. Wadamon el-Armanti, who was among those who believed in our Lord Jesus Christ while He was in Egypt, and who eventually accepted martyrdom for His sake. The remarkable account of his life, presented in the Synaxarium (the Lives of the Saints), relates: “One day, he hosted in his house some of the idol worshippers and they were saying, ‘We have heard that a lady arrived to the city of Ashmonain carrying a young Child who looked like the children of Kings.’ After the guests had left, Wadamon rose up, rode his donkey and went to the city of Ashmonain. When he arrived, he searched for the Holy Family until he found them. He saw the Child Jesus with His mother Mary and he worshipped Him. When the Child saw him, He smiled and said, ‘Peace be with you, O Wadamon. You have labored and come here to verify what you have heard from your guests about Me. Therefore I will stay in your home, which will be a house for Me forever.’ Wadamon marveled and said, ‘O My Lord, I wish that You will come and live in my house and I will be Your servant forever.’ The Child replied saying: ‘Your home will be a house for Me and My mother forever. When you return home and the heathen hear that you came to Me, they will be indignant and hurt, and they will shed your blood in your house. Do not be afraid, because I will receive you in My heavenly kingdom forever, the place of perpetual joy, which has no end. You will be the first martyr in Upper Egypt.’ Then Wadamon knelt down before the Lord Christ, Who blessed him, and then he departed and returned to his home…”[2] Despite the tribulation that our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Family endured, it nevertheless became a joyous commemoration and an occasion for many to come to know the Lord and believe in Him, becoming the first-fruits of Christianity in Egypt. In the visit of the Lord to Egypt, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: “In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of the Egyptians, and a pillar to the Lord by its border. And it shall be for a sign to the Lord for ever in the land of Egypt: for they shall presently cry to the Lord by reason of them that afflict them, and he shall send them a man who shall save them; he shall judge and save them. And the Lord shall be known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day; and they shall offer sacrifices, and shall vow vows to the Lord, and pay them” (Isaiah 19:19-21). The Coptic Orthodox Church today, having her foundation and roots in Egypt, also dwells outside her homeland — among those who do not believe in God and who do not walk in His way — as Christ did in Egypt. It is therefore the duty of each of her members, who have been baptized into Christ and have put on Christ (See Galatians 3:26), to emulate Him in being “christ” in “Egypt” once again — a living reflection of the Lord and a conduit whereby the life and truth of Christ may be transferred anew to the “land of Egypt” and its inhabitants, so that “they may see [their] good works and glorify [their] Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). In doing so, just as Christ established an altar in the land of Egypt (See Isaiah 19:19), those who believe in Him may become participants in the establishment and edification of His altar, upon which are offered appropriate spiritual sacrifices and where God is glorified and witnessed to not only by word, but also in manner of life and deeds, all over the world. While the cause for the Lord’s flight to Egypt was evil, especially as Herod “sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under” (Matthew 2:16), it nevertheless became an occasion of great blessing and benefit. St. John Chrysostom therefore writes: “Egypt receives and preserves Him, driven from His home, and plotted against, and obtains a sort of first impulse towards her union unto Him; so that when in after-time she should hear Him preached by the apostles, she might have this at least to glory of, as having received Him first…And now, should you come unto the desert of Egypt, you will see this desert become better than any paradise, and ten thousand choirs of angels in human forms, and nations of martyrs, and companies of virgins, and all the devil’s tyranny put down, while Christ’s kingdom shines forth in its brightness.”[3] In similarly evil, difficult, or troubling circumstances, especially today, the example of our Lord Jesus Christ shines forth as a cause of comfort and hope — in times of tribulation, He is our joy, preparing for us those things that are much better if we continue to abide in Him and live by His word, emulating His profound humility, and that of His mother and St. Joseph, in submitting wholeheartedly to the will and plan of God, even as they sought refuge in Egypt, becoming there a shining light and a powerful witness to Christ, the Savior of all people. We therefore chant with great pride: “Rejoice and be glad, O Egypt, with her sons and border cities, for the Lover of Man who existed before all ages has come;”[4] “Let us worship and ask Him to grant us a share on Judgment Day with the children whom Herod killed,”[5] lifting up our hearts in pure prayer to God, as did St. Wadamon the martyr, seeking the Lord and asking Him to abide in us as He resided in the land of Egypt, to work in us for the glory of His Name — that is, the salvation of the world through our living witness to Him in it — and to grant us the blessings of this Feast. To God is due all glory. — [1] See Antony the Great, On the Character of Men and on the Virtuous Life in G.E.H. Palmer, The Philokalia: The Complete Text vol. I, 328-355. [2] Synaxarium: The 18th Day of Ⲙⲉⲥⲱⲣⲏ. [3] John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel According to St. Matthew 8.5-6. [4] Doxology for the Feast of the Lord's Entry into Egypt, 4 [5] Verses of Cymbals for the Feast of the Lord's Entry into Egypt, 2 — Cover Art: Gawdat Gabra and Marianne Eaton-Krauss, The Treasures of Coptic Art in the Coptic Museum and Churches of Old Cairo, xii

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.”[1] One often wonders about the place of suffering in the human experience, especially as wars and bloodshed flood the news. This “problem of suffering,” as it is termed in the study of apologetics, has been examined in detail over the course of centuries by many writers — both ancient and modern. In the Christian perspective, Basil of Caesarea, Augustine of Hippo, and John Chrysostom all approach this “problem” in a similar way: struggle and pain in the world are means of strengthening humanity, purifying the human for the world to come.[2] In contemplating the sufferings encountered in daily life, however, people often wonder how rather than why — that is, while some might seek to philosophically challenge the idea of God’s goodness because of suffering, humanity generally does not face the troubles of the world abstractly, but rather encounters suffering face-to-face. In this regard, Christianity is more often challenged. The problem of suffering certainly features in abstract contemplation and philosophical debate, but is more commonly encountered firsthand as a topic of contemplation and struggle during times of war, catastrophe, and hardship. As a result, many find the pertinent apologetic stances and logical deductions unsatisfactory. Jonathan Haidt, a contemporary moral psychologist, describes in his book The Righteous Mind how people use logic to justify their emotional experiences rather than to reflect on their feelings. Furthermore, Jonathan Shay discusses in his book Achilles in Vietnam the concept of how ritual readings of ancient stories served as a means of helping many recover from encounters with tragedy and seemingly meaningless suffering. Many Christians, however, might feel stranded in this regard. The Christian predicament vis-à-vis the problem of suffering therefore seemingly remains: arguments and logical reasoning, while prevalent and pertinent, cannot fully console the human in the face of calamity. Where logic and philosophy fall short, the Church is found to be the bearer of true consolation. Indeed, she does not ignore the heart of man even as she satisfies his mind. In times of hardship, even in the absence of human instructors, the Church has long both strengthened and educated her members, through her hymnology, Lectionary, and liturgical experience, delivering to them the Faith by translating the theological, apologetic, and intellectual language of Christianity into the language of everyday life. Most evidently, the Midnight Praises of the Coptic Orthodox Church enable the Coptic Christians to embody and express the worldview that the Church forms in them. Therefore, for more than a millennium, the faithful have risen to praise God in the depths of the night, at the times of the greatest darkness. In this darkness, they are called to “Arise, [you] children of the Light.”[3] In spite of any darkness that may surround them, their attention is drawn to the source of all goodness, the True Light, who reminded His disciples: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”[4] Notably, the Lord does not promise to remove the tribulations of the present life, but instead promises that peace is to be found in Him; He does not eliminate the darkness of the night, but enables us to become children of the Light. Continuing in their praise, the believers chant the First Canticle (ϩⲱⲥ) — the song of Moses and the Israelites which they sang after crossing the Red Sea.[5] When the Israelites needed to cross the Red Sea, God did not make the water disappear for a time, nor did He create a bridge or a strong wind that would aid them in crossing the water. In fact, when one considers the many ways that God could have enabled the Israelites to cross the Red Sea, His choice that they walk through it may seem odd. Gregory of Nyssa and Cyril of Jerusalem draw our attention to this crossing of the Red Sea as being symbolic of humanity’s drowning its sinful passions — symbolized by Pharaoh and the Egyptians — and coming out on the other side.[6] Bishop Mettaous of Dayr al-Suryan echoes this view, explaining that Pharaoh can be understood as a symbol for Satan, who is defeated by the Lord’s crucifixion, descent into Hades, and resurrection: “It is clear that the church is living now in the faith of its salvation of the sea of the world and the Pharaoh of the mind… Pharaoh and his soldiers who had enslaved the children of Israel is exactly like Satan and his soldiers enslaving the human beings. As Moses saved the children of Israel, Jesus Christ saved us from the slavery of the devil.”[7] If the Israelites did not go through the sea, the enemy would never have been overcome and abolished. Likewise, if humanity does not go through suffering in the world, the works of the devil would never be destroyed, “for whatever is born of God overcomes the world.”[8] In facing such suffering, moreover, they are consoled in finding God in their company — here, the Angel of God is seen as a pillar of fire and cloud.[9] The believers therefore chant the hymn of victory sung by Miriam the Prophetess after the Lord’s triumph over Pharaoh.[10] After chanting the First and Second Canticles, in the Third Canticle, the believers encounter a similar story in the three saintly youth as that of the Exodus. The children of Israel find themselves once again in a strange land with a ruler who declares war against their God. Refusing to submit to his decrees, they are threatened with the fiery furnace, which, as also the Red Sea, can be taken to represent the world. Because of their refusal to participate in the worship of idols, the three youth stand against the world and, as such, it becomes suffering and pain to them. They find themselves threatened with a fire that burns seven times hotter than the original punishment decreed,[11] yet despite this, they remain resilient and steadfast in their commitment to the Lord their God. Interestingly, even those who were tasked with throwing the youth into the fire are burned and killed. Truly, no one can avoid the sufferings of the world. But, as it becomes evident, those who seek to endure tribulations through the support of God are found victorious. “Then [the three youth] were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ ‘Look!’ he answered, ‘I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’ Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.’ Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.”[12] Once again, the solution which God finds acceptable seems strange to man’s reason. Rather than subduing the fire so that the youth would not be faced with such daunting circumstances, God instead allows them to be thrown into it, and by His presence with them in it, the fire becomes to them as a cool mist — a place of refreshment. As He walked with His people through the Red Sea, God — discerned by Nebuchadnezzar as being “like the Son of God”[13] — does not resolve the problem at hand by putting out the fire, but by accompanying the youth in their struggle. In the case of any tribulation, or when suffering is encountered, those who walk with God are strengthened and granted victory while those who reject Him and propagate suffering are consumed in their violence. The suffering itself becomes an opportunity for God to be glorified through the endurance of His people. Thus, in the Third Canticle, the believers beautifully chant: “Bless the Lord, you fire and heat. Praise Him and exalt Him above all forever.”[14] These experiences particularly elucidate the proper context of suffering and become for the Israelites the means by which they can accept the Lord Jesus Christ and understand the mystery of His Incarnation. The true healing of the human condition, which had become entirely inundated by sin, does not occur through the elimination of suffering, but rather through experiencing it with the support of God. The Angel of the Lord walked with the Israelites through the midst of the Red Sea and one “like the Son of God” walked with the youth through the fire. God Himself became Man “and dwelt among us,”[15] taking on flesh and experiencing pain, betrayal, temptation, loss, humiliation, torture, and death. In doing so, He leads His people out of their deepest afflictions by sharing with them in their sufferings. While the First and Third Canticles are hymns expressive of particular experiences amongst the Israelites, the Second and Fourth Canticles are hymns from the book of Psalms. Particularly, the Second Canticle is Psalm 136 (135 LXX) and the Fourth Canticle is Psalms 148, 149, and 150. These four Psalms call all of creation to praise the Lord — a theme that can be understood in relation to the motif of Exodus 15 and Daniel 3 which we have already addressed. If the Red Sea and fiery furnace can be understood as symbols of the world and its suffering, then the Psalms of the Second and Fourth Canticles do not exclude such elements in their exhortation to the praise of God. The world in which suffering exists is the same world in which God is glorified — even the means by which tribulation or calamity afflict the world, such as fire and heat or snow and ice, work for the glory of God. Moreover, the Psalms here are continuations of the stories that precede them in the Midnight Praises. Our earthly life is the time we spend “sojourning through” the world, just as the Israelites passed through the Red Sea and the three saintly youth passed through the furnace. At the end of the journeys of the First and Third Canticles, we therefore chant these particular Psalms, calling all of Creation to praise God. These Psalms must then represent what the believers who traverse the earthly life in spiritual soundness and safety will continue to do in the Kingdom of God, especially as they will then, in the eternal life, see His creation restored, just as these Psalms see all of creation praising God. The predicament of inevitable suffering certainly remains in the world. Every human knows suffering, which is encountered by all in varying forms and to varying extents. However, there are two perceptible approaches to the problem of suffering. The anti-theist uses suffering as an opportunity to deny the existence of God, disingenuously gathering his evidence from tragic events, news reports of horrors and extreme suffering, or harsh living conditions globally. On the other hand, those who experience the same tragedies and submit their lives to God, who supports and accompanies them in their suffering, proclaim their belief in and reliance on the beneficent God even amidst those difficulties, defending their belief in Him and proclaiming their love for Him even to their dying breaths. These must be accorded more careful consideration than the armchair philosopher who considers their behavior nothing more than an irrational coping mechanism. Through suffering, the Christian follows Christ: “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”[16] Thus it is not suffering, but instead comfort in and friendship with the world, that estranges us from God: “Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”[17] The Christian does not hope for convenient solutions to the troubles in her life. Rather, she seeks God’s will in all things, that He might walk with His children through the difficulties they encounter in their daily lives — wars, natural disasters, tyranny, illness, grief, or any other circumstance. In all tribulations, the believers are called to seek the Truth and to find their comfort in Him alone. If they are led to stormy waters or raging fires, they are reminded, through the daily prayer life which the Church presents to them in the Midnight Praises, that God walks with them. Truly, then, the greatest antidote to suffering is praise. “Let us sing to the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously.”[18] — [1] Isaiah 43:2 [2] See Basil of Caesarea, On the Human Condition, 65-80 (Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir's Press, 2005); Augustine, On Free Choice of the Will, Book I, 1-3 (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 1993); see also John Chrysostom, On the Providence of God (Platina, CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2015). [3] The Midnight Praises' introductory hymn, Ⲧⲱⲟⲩⲛⲟⲩ [4] John 16:33 [5] Exodus 15 [6] See Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, 82-85 (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1978); Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume VII: Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nazianzus, 373-375 (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library); This event is also prominently viewed as being a type of Baptism, for through immersion in the waters of the baptismal font, a person is cleansed from their sins and "puts on" the new life of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. [7] See H.G. Anba Mettaous, The Spirituality of the Praises, 70-71 [8] 1 John 5:4 [9] See Exodus 14:24 [10] See Exodus 15:20-21 [11] See Daniel 3:19 [12] Daniel 3:21-27 [13] Daniel 3:25 [14] See Daniel 3:66 (LXX) [15] John 1:14 [16] Mark 8:34 [17] James 4:4 [18] Exodus 15:1, 21; see also First Canticle of the Midnight Praises of the Coptic Orthodox Church — Daniel Ibraheem serves as a Reader at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in Jersey City, New Jersey. He is currently a medical student at the Yale School of Medicine, pursuing a career in Psychiatry. Cover Art: Coptic Psalmody – Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Vat. Copto 38. DossPress.com is a place for Christian men and women to collaborate for the sake of our common edification by sharing their written works. As we strive to uphold a standard of doctrinal and spiritual soundness in the articles shared, we note nonetheless that the thoughts expressed in each article remain the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Doss Press.

“Make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). How honorable it is to welcome the Lord of Hosts, the uncontainable God, and His faithful ministers into one’s home! Such visitation “in the name of the Lord” (See Psalm 118:26) is a practice that is prominently featured in the Lord’s earthly ministry and an essential component of the service of the Church. When practiced within the framework provided in the Scriptures, visitation is a source of great blessing and an abundance of grace to both those who visit and those who are visited. For this reason, the Copts traditionally proclaim, upon being formally visited by a clergyman or designated servant of the Church, that “Christ has visited us today.” However, when the ministry of visitation is practiced in a manner that does not comport with the biblical model — for purely social reasons, or by those in whom is not found the spirit of God, for instance — it becomes a cause of disturbance, a danger to the integrity of the worshiping community, and an altogether harmful practice veiled behind the appearance of piety. From the many biblical examples of visitation, whether by the Lord Himself or the righteous saints, we may therefore ascertain the true meaning and purpose of, and proper approach to, the ministry of Christian visitation, so that we might guard against the snares of the enemy and practice this service with the necessary wisdom and intentionality, in a manner that befits the One whom we serve. A. Illustrative Examples of Visitation in the Old Testament Abraham, being a faithful servant of God, was granted to host Him in his house; in this visitation, God fulfilled the earnestly-desired request of Abraham and his wife Sarah, granting them Isaac their son, through whom Abraham would become a great and mighty nation, chosen and consecrated to be the people of God (Genesis 18:1-19). At another time, he was visited by Melchizedek, a type of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the true High Priest, who blessed him (Genesis 14:17-24). Lot, the nephew of Abraham, would also enjoy the blessing of hosting the Lord’s messengers, who through their visitation to his home granted him to be saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-29). Similarly, the harlot Rahab was granted salvation from the destruction of Jericho for welcoming Joshua’s spies into her home. Thus it was written: “But Rahab the harlot, and her father’s household, and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive; and she dwelt in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho” (Joshua 6:25). Moreover, it is written about Elijah that during the time of the drought, he was instructed by God to stay at the house of the widow of Zarephath. In return for her hospitality and generosity in accepting His prophet Elijah as a guest and visitor in her home, God would work many wonders for her family through Elijah — blessing the flour and oil so that they would flow abundantly and not run out, and also raising her son alive after he had fallen ill and died (1 Kings 17). Also the commander of the army of the king of Syria and “a mighty man of valor” (2 Kings 5:1), Naaman, sought healing from the God of Israel; by visiting Elisha and heeding the words of this blessed man — after being persuaded by his own servants — he received healing from his leprosy such that “his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” (2 Kings 5:14).[1] Visitation is not only identified in the Old Testament scriptures by way of specific examples, however. Indeed, the entire experience of the Old Testament was itself a collective anticipation by the people of God of the visitation of the Savior, by whose visitation to humanity — in His glorious incarnation — He would grant us salvation and victory over sin, corruption, and death: “Bow down Your heavens, O Lord, and come down” (Psalm 144:5). B. Illustrative Examples of Visitation in the Ministry of Christ to the Jews At the fullness of time, the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, upon hearing that her relative Elizabeth was with child, immediately traveled to minister to her, becoming a visitor in her home for approximately three months in order to serve her. During this visitation, a great blessing was granted to Elizabeth and her family, whose son John recognized the presence of the Lord in the womb of the Virgin and leaped for joy while still in his mother’s womb. It is most helpful to observe here also the humility of the Virgin Mary, and her selfless heart — despite her most honorable calling, to be the Mother of God, she still sought to serve and minister to others in all humility and love, becoming for us a true icon of the genuineness and selflessness that mark the acceptable service (Luke 1:39-56). The Lord Jesus Christ would Himself visit the homes of many people for many purposes throughout the duration of His earthly ministry. He blessed the wedding at Cana of Galilee by His visitation to this event, granting the family established there not only to enjoy the physical presence of the True Bridegroom at their wedding, but also the abundant gift granted to them by His visitation — wine which did not encourage or further drunkenness, but rather led to a sobering and awareness on the part of the attendees such that they were able to discern and proclaim: “You have kept the good wine until now!” (John 2:1-11).[2] He, the True Physician, would also perform many acts of healing and restoration during His visitation to people’s homes. At the house of His disciples Peter and Andrew: “…Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told Him of her. And He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she served them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to Him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered together about the door. And He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew Him” (Mark 1:30-34). Later, He would raise the daughter of Jairus, who besought Him to raise her: “While He was thus speaking to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before Him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.’…And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players, and the crowd making a tumult, He said, ‘Depart; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at Him. But when the crowd had been put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose” (Matthew 9:18-25). Also at the house of a ruler who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, He healed a man with dropsy on a Sabbath (Luke 14:1-6). The Lord Jesus Christ did not only heal or perform wondrous miraculous acts in the setting of the home, however; He also worked signs and wonders among many away from their homes. The faith of the Centurion was so powerful that the Lord did not find a need to physically visit him in his home: He healed his daughter by a word, “and when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave well” (Luke 7:1-10). Near the gate of the city of Nain, He raised the son of a widow, and the large crowd “glorified God, saying ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and ‘God has visited His people!’” (Luke 7:11-17). Moreover, regarding Lazarus, whom the Lord loved, when He received news that Lazarus was ill — though, as the incarnate Logos, He, being omniscient, does not need to be informed of Lazarus’ condition — He did not immediately go and heal him in his home. Rather, after Lazarus had died and been placed in the tomb, then the Lord went, first consoled those who mourned, mourned Lazarus with them — weeping “with those who weep” (Romans 12:15; John 11:35) — and then raised him from the tomb in which he had been placed for four days (John 11:1-44). Regarding such signs and wonders, and particularly those of healing — both in the context of house-visitations and other environments — many examples abound: “there are many other things which Jesus did” (John 21:25). The Lord also sought out the lost, visiting them for the sake of restoration, and by parables He revealed the importance of this ministry: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:4-10). It is important to note that in the very next parable — that of the prodigal son — the Lord reveals that the father did not seek after his son who had forsaken him and taken his portion of the inheritance, for he had left of his own accord (Luke 15:11-32). Rather, he awaited him patiently at the door of the house until he, of his own will, understood the value of his father’s home, recognized the error of his ways, freely decided to return, and journeyed back to his father’s home.[3] Thus, to those who freely reject the Lord and consider sin or the world more valuable than the life with God, as did the prodigal son prior to his repentance, He will say: “Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate” (Matthew 23:38). As for those who are lost for other reasons — whether their own ignorance, as was the lost sheep, or the neglect of those responsible for them, like the lost coin — they are to be diligently sought by the Church, as the lost sheep was sought by its shepherd and the lost coin was by its owner, such that they might be restored. Thus the Lord taught: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I come not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:10-13). In exemplifying this teaching, He sought Zacchaeus only after he was first moved within himself with an earnest desire to see Him and acted upon this desire in climbing the sycamore tree. Only thereafter did the Lord specifically approach him, address him, and visit him in his home, much to the displeasure of the multitude: “And when they saw it they all murmured, ‘He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.’ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’” (Luke 19:1-10). It was fitting also for these same reasons for the Lord to visit the Samaritans — descendants of Israel who were separated from the Jews and who disagreed with them about where God ought to be worshipped. Beginning at this point of disagreement, He engaged in conversation with the Samaritan woman, who said to him: “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship” (John 4:19-20). During this encounter, the Lord not only corrects her misunderstanding — “the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father” — but leads her to repent from her sinful habits and to believe in Him as the Savior. Thus, by the end of this conversation, the woman is led from viewing Christ as a mere “sir,” to considering Him “a prophet,” and finally to recognizing and confessing Him to be “the Christ,” which newfound realization and confession compels her to share this Gospel with her city, so that “many Samaritans from that city believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony…they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His word” (John 4:1-42). C. Illustrative Examples of Visitation in the Ministry of Christ to the Gentiles Being “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:25-35), our Lord in His ministry sought out not only those of the people of God, but also those of the Gentiles, who did not belong to His chosen people, so that by their firsthand experience of Him, they might also accept Him and His Gospel for the sake of their salvation. In His infancy, the Lord visited Egypt as a refugee, fleeing the persecution of Herod who sought to destroy Him (Matthew 2:13-23). By His presence in Egypt, our Lord blessed the Gentile nation of the Egyptians, among whom many believed in Him during His stay in Egypt. Thus was the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled, that “in that day…the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them” (Isaiah 19:19-21). The Gerasene Demoniac was also healed by the Lord, who visited him and exorcised the legion of demons that had possessed him. In healing this man, the Lord granted him more than merely physical healing — he also imparted on him spiritual healing, for he was found “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind” (Luke 8:35), believed in Him, and “begged that he might be with Him; but He sent him away, saying ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him” (Luke 8:26-39). In this way, this man was freed by Christ, granted holistic healing, and transferred from being a prisoner of Satan and his kingdom to being a messenger commissioned by Christ to proclaim the joy and deliverance granted to him by the Lord amongst his Gentile community. Besides these examples, the Lord also healed the centurion’s daughter, as discussed above, and also the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30). In all of these instances, and many others, Christ actualized His message and mission, proclaiming by deed and word that the salvation He grants is prepared for all people, and not exclusively the people of Israel. D. Visitation in the Church According to the Example of Christ and the Teaching of the Scriptures In the example of the Lord, and the many instances of visitation found in the Scriptures, the benefits imparted by properly practiced visitation, and its importance in Christian ministry, are clear. Visitation grants the gifts of peace and joy: it is noted about Zacchaeus that he received the Lord “joyfully,” and the Lord instructs His disciples that upon entering a house, they should “salute it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you” (Matthew 10:11-13). Visitation also becomes a means of providing consolation and healing, as is most evident in the Lord’s visit to Lazarus’ tomb. Among the gifts of visitation are also abundance and blessing: in the context of God’s visitation to Abraham, he was blessed and given the promise of innumerable offspring, and it was in the visitation of the Lord to the house of Simon the leper that the woman freely poured out in abundance the alabaster flask of expensive ointment on the Lord, who blessed her with a great appreciation for her sacrifice, “for she has done a beautiful thing to Me…Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Matthew 26:6-13). The most important gift imparted by visitation, however, is that of salvation. By His own visitation, whether to humanity generally in His incarnation or specifically in the various instances of visitation He carried out during His earthly ministry, the Lord granted salvation to mankind, and the opportunity for many individuals to encounter Him intimately and experience Him deeply, so that they might be drawn to Him and thereby believe in Him and receive salvation from and through Him. Thus, to Zacchaeus, who believed in Him and showed a complete metanoia,[4] saying “[b]ehold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold,” the Lord responded: “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9). It is Christ who is Himself the salvation that visited Zacchaeus here; He is the One who grants salvation to those who believe in Him. The central goal and purpose of visitation as it is practiced in the Church and by the believers today must therefore be the same — for the ones who are visited to encounter the Lord, accept Him, and live in Him and through Him for the sake of their own salvation. The Lord did not visit anyone without this purpose and mission; it was never for the sake of mere socialization that He visited a home. From the example of the Lord Himself, we are able to ascertain the proper purpose, spirit, and setting of Christian visitation. The ministry of visitation, in imitation of the ministry of the Lord, is necessary for those who are beginning new families (for the sake of guidance and to bless their newly-established homes, as Christ visited the home of those who were married in Cana of Galilee, at their wedding), the sick (for healing, as Christ healed Simon’s mother-in-law and countless others, both while He was in their homes and also while He was not), those who are lost due to their own ignorance or the negligence of their ecclesial leaders (for restoration, as He describes in the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin and as He exemplified in His intentional visit to the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s Well), those who require evangelization (for preaching, as He did in His visitation to Egypt and also in Samaria), and those who are mourning (for consolation, as He visited Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, before raising Lazarus from death). As for those who maintain their family altar[5] and have a place for the Lord amongst their families and in their homes — for the spiritually sound and thus appropriately-called Christians — there is no need for additional visitation from the Church. They have made their hearts and homes dwelling places for the Lord, which is the goal for every believer. But those who, through no fault of their own, fall short or stray from this calling and life, must be visited by the Church in order for the Church to awaken their consciences, correct their ignorance, encourage their repentance, restore them to the life in Christ, and support them as fellow members of the same Body. This is the work and responsibility of the Church — to care for the salvation of every soul, serve everyone according to their needs, and to abide not as a mere social entity, but as a sound worshipping community — the living Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom is due all glory, now and forever. Amen. — [1] In this way, Elisha became both a peacemaker between the kings of Israel and Syria and a harbinger to the Gentiles of the great message of God’s existence, truth, majesty, and power. Moreover, the healing, which was offered freely and without stipulation to Naaman by God through Elisha, led Naaman to recognize and clearly identify the truth of the God of Israel. It is evident, then, that signs and wonders are for unbelievers, intended by God to lead them to Himself; it is for their sakes that the message of the Gospel was accompanied with and confirmed by signs and wonders as the Church began to spread everywhere by the preaching of the Apostles (See Mark 16:20). As for those who believe already, fitting are the words of the Lord: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed” (John 20:29). [2] Indeed, this sign signifies the whole of Christ’s redemptive mission — His visit to earthly life through His blessed Incarnation — in which He took flesh and became Man in order to refashion and redeem humanity, not only restoring to it the Image in which it was originally created, but also granting it an even more blessed and exalted state than that which it once possessed, pouring out into the hearts of Christians the new wine of the Holy Spirit (See Acts 2:12-24), thereby granting them to become temples of the Spirit, to abide in Him as members of His Body, and to enjoy His grace and work in their lives. [3] “The grace of God to the returning prodigal is exhibited, in this parable, in the pitying and restoring aspect. The father does not, in this instance, seek his son, as the shepherd had his sheep, and the woman her piece of money. He has not to deal with an irrational being, but with a rational man, who must be brought to choose, for himself, the way of truth. The father has, however, been indirectly working for his recovery, by allowing him to bear all the consequences of his transgressions; he has, besides, been waiting patiently, and keeping both his heart and his house open to him. Scarcely does the son take his first homeward step, than the father observes him with a compassionate eye, goes to meet him […] and while he does not refuse his confession of sin, remits so much of it as was painful and humiliating. He not only testifies his joy at the prodigal’s return, but proves it; and not only pardons him, but reinstates him in the possession of the forfeited rights and privileges of sonship” (J.J. van Oosterzee, Theological and Homiletical Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, 72). [4] That is, a complete change of heart and mind. [5] See e.g., Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History 2.17.9-13; John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians, 43.7 —

Christian Mentorship, Sponsorship, and Service According to the Biblical Model and as Lived and Practiced in the Church Until Today Discipleship is the way of the Church. It is the first component of the divine commission given by our Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostles, and to the whole Church, at His Ascension.[1] Properly practiced discipleship — involving the spirit of truth-oriented love, humility, and selflessness by both those being discipled and those who disciple — is foundational in the Christian Faith and to the life of a sound worshipping community. Only through the life in Christ, necessarily encompassing discipleship practiced both liturgically and socially according to the teaching of the Scriptures, can the believers fully live out their Christian calling together as the one Body of Christ and overcome by the grace of God the destruction of lovelessness, intergenerational conflict, and selfish ambition that devastates the Church in the absence of such a divinely-ordained ecclesial environment. Discipleship in the Old Testament Scriptures The teaching of the inspired Scriptures includes several paradigmatic examples of discipleship, including the necessary elements of love, humility, and absolute selflessness — both in sponsorship[2] by the teacher and submission by the disciple — in order to guide the faithful to properly order both their lives individually and their believing communities collectively. Moses the great prophet, for instance, recognizing his own natural limitations, empowered certain qualified Israelites and publicly designated them to positions of service for the benefit of all the people, such that he “chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.”[3] When the time of his departure drew near, he happily delivered the leadership of the people to his own disciple Joshua, — an obedient and faithful disciple “full of the spirit of wisdom,”[4] “in whom [was] the spirit”[5] and “who wholly followed the Lord”[6] — seeking neither to secure his legacy nor to defend his preeminent position. At that time, he encouraged his disciple “in the sight of all Israel,” saying: “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”[7] Thus, for Moses, as is the case for every Christian to whom God has entrusted the service of leadership in the Church, the glory of God and the edification of His people, rather than any selfish ambition or love of power or glory, were the primary goals of the service entrusted to and carried out by the servant of God. Discipleship in the Educational System Employed by Our Lord Jesus Christ The importance and practice of sound discipleship, repeated often throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, was emphasized frequently in the example and teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. Even prior to His crucifixion, while He still went about teaching, preaching, and healing,[8] our Lord Jesus Christ provided for His disciples a significant share in His ministry: He granted them to baptize[9] and cast out demons in His name,[10] and sent them to preach in the surrounding regions.[11] He did not await their perfection, but finding in them the proper spirit and necessary qualifications, He encouraged them, practically enabled them to serve, and corrected them as He deemed necessary.[12] While empowering, mentoring, and sponsoring them in these ways, He also warned them against imitating the Gentiles by lording their authority over the people,[13] and taught them firstly by His behavior and then by His words that they were to exercise the position and rank He bestowed upon them with all humility and selfless love, being last of all and servants of all.[14] In order to follow Christ as He desired, they would have to “deny [themselves], and take up [their] cross, and follow [Him].”[15] As His disciples, moreover, they were to imitate Him in serving rather than being served,[16] washing one another’s feet, both literally and metaphorically, as He Himself did for them at the Passover meal on the eve of His crucifixion.[17] Discipleship in the Lives of the Lord’s Disciples and Apostles This example and teaching of Christ — The Teacher — was internalized, practiced, and taught by His Disciples and Apostles, and the early believers generally, regardless of the measure of their authority or influence in the Church. While the Disciples initially, due to the worldliness that had not yet been extracted from within them, erred on various recorded occasions in their understandings and perspectives — such as by contending with one another several times regarding who among them was the greatest,[18] measuring their success in the service by worldly criteria,[19] and thinking or acting contrary to Christ's teaching and preferences[20] — they accepted and grew through Christ’s training and correction such that this foreign spirit was ultimately uprooted from their hearts and they were entirely reshaped as clay in the hands of The Potter.[21] Having undergone this transformation and been so converted, they became able to imitate and obey the Master in maintaining sincere love and humility, acknowledging His Lordship over all, and selflessly seeking the glory of God and the growth and establishment in faith of the believers more than their own power or influence. These great teachers were therefore first truly disciples, not only in name but also in spirit and deed — asking questions of or seeking to learn from the Lord, accepting His correction, exhibiting true consecration of heart, and proving time and again their faithfulness to Him and to the mission to which He entrusted them. In all things, they desired that Christ increase and they decrease[22] and denied themselves as He commanded them,[23] such that they sacrificed not only their money and time but even their very lives for His sake. Because of this training and spirit of discipleship, and having seen and experienced the Lord[24] intimately for over three years, they were also able to make disciples, understanding in doing so that it was not to themselves that their disciples were disciples — indeed, not to Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or any other Apostle, as St. Paul reminds the Corinthians[25] — but to Christ Himself, the true Teacher, Shepherd, and Master, whom they deeply loved and wholeheartedly served. It would be superfluous to assert that the Apostles without exception accorded particular concern to discipling others, as they are in all places throughout the New Testament found conducting their lives and services with this spirit and in this manner. In doing so, they were keen to fulfill the great commission entrusted to them by Christ — that they go, “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that [He] commanded [them]…”[26] To name but a few paradigmatic examples of this spirit and mindset: St. Barnabas emphasized in his life and service the discipling and empowering of others in the ministry, such that he embraced and promoted a young Saul, later St. Paul the Apostle, risking even his own position and credibility in order to persuade the Apostles that he was no longer a threat to them or to the Church, had truly come to believe, and should be accepted in the ministry and given the “hand of fellowship.”[27] Later he supported a young John Mark — St. Mark the Evangelist — to the extent of disagreeing with St. Paul in preferring to take him on the second missionary journey, resulting in his separation from St. Paul at that time.[28] St. Paul thereafter also made countless disciples; recognizing the value of discipleship and the interpersonal transmission and receipt of the Faith, he instructed one of them, St. Timothy, and certainly the others as well, to entrust what he had received “to faithful men who will be able to teach others also,”[29] thereby perpetuating the chain of Christian discipleship and the transmission of the faith, mind, and spirit of Christ in and through the Church. Besides Sts. Barnabas and Paul, St. John the Beloved, as a representative example from among the Twelve, also discipled many, including the two great bishops and second century martyrs — Sts. Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna.[30] Discipleship in the History of the Church The Catechetical School of Alexandria was later a school of discipleship, with Pantaenus discipling St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Clement discipling Origen, and Origen discipling countless fathers and teachers from his time until today “by the deeds he did more than by the doctrines he taught.”[31] Thereafter, Pope Alexander I of Alexandria discovered a faithful young boy named Athanasius,[32] built upon the foundation laid by his parents in delivering to him the Faith and manner of the Christian life, and sponsored him such that he permitted him to speak in the assembly of 318 clergymen assembled at the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, even while he was still only a 27-year-old deacon, and to participate there in defending the Faith delivered by Christ and His Apostles to the Church.[33] St. Athanasius himself was also a disciple to the great Abba Antony, having been “his attendant for a long time, and poured water on his hands.”[34] Perhaps it was St. Alexander who facilitated that relationship between his disciple and the great monastic father — in any event, this discipleship also played an important role in St. Athanasius’ formation. St. Antony, in his own right, was also a disciple — first to his family, then to his local church, then to an elder and at the feet of countless spiritual masters on the outskirts of his village, and then to solitude, silence, prayer, fasting, and the Scriptures for twenty years.[35] Having been so discipled, and having in himself, like the Disciples and Apostles, the spirit of selfless, faithful, and heartfelt discipleship, when others ultimately came to learn from and become disciples to him, he humbly said to them: “The Scriptures are enough for instruction, but it is a good thing to encourage one another in the faith, and to stir up with words. Wherefore you, as children, carry that which you know to your father; and I as the elder share my knowledge and what experience has taught me with you.”[36] This spirit of discipleship and sponsorship — submitting to being discipled and trained by an elder in the Christian life and then recognizing the importance, and accepting the task, of discipling others — extended far beyond Abba Antony, such that it became a foundational component of all monastic systems that developed thereafter. In this very spirit, in the generation after Sts. Antony and Athanasius, Pope Theophilus I of Alexandria discipled his nephew, Cyril, facilitated his education and theological training, sent him to learn from other great saints and teachers of his day, and upon finding in him the necessary qualifications and proper spirit and faith, promoted him to the rank of deacon and then to priest, granting him even to preach in the cathedral in Alexandria.[37] Having been trained, discipled, and sponsored by St. Theophilus in these ways, St. Cyril was the natural choice to succeed him in the papacy, and was elected to this great post soon after the death of his uncle.[38] He in turn never forgot his own discipleship and never abandoned his selfless humility and Christian love, such that even while being a great teacher in his own right, he humbly, faithfully, and competently delivered and defended the Faith he had received from his family and through his discipleship. Thus embodying the spirit and mindset of a disciple, he zealously submitted to and learned from the writings of the Fathers who came before him, and especially St. Athanasius, many of whose writings he committed to memory and certain of which he summarized in his own works for the benefit of the believers in his time.[39] Besides his work in defending the Faith against the threat and heresy of Nestorius, St. Cyril also championed the cause of a young man named Dioscorus, granting him to teach in the Catechetical School of Alexandria, including him in his delegation to the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D., and ordaining him to the rank of Archdeacon.[40] Having been thus discipled and sponsored, St. Dioscorus was thereafter chosen to succeed St. Cyril to the papacy and, in the same power and spirit of his predecessor, held fast to and defended the sound Orthodox understanding of the nature of Christ, faithfully striving to deliver the deposit of Faith he had received to the following generation unchanged.[41] Over the course of the Church’s history, spanning countless generations, this spirit of Christian discipleship and sponsorship continued, even until modern times, when in the late nineteenth century a young man named Habib Girgis studied at the revived Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary in Egypt, became discipled to a renowned preacher and teacher of his day — Hegumen Philotheos Ibrahim Baghdadi[42] — and was sponsored such that he became a professor at the Seminary even while still a student there.[43] He in turn discipled many, including innumerable servants, priests, and bishops, most prominent among them being a prolific teacher, faithful shepherd, and pious monastic father: Pope Shenouda III of blessed memory.[44] Pope Shenouda III himself also had many disciples, whether direct or indirect, through his many decades of writing and public and private teaching, many of whom continue to faithfully serve the Church until this day, and who themselves also have disciples to whom they deliver the faith as they have received it. Moreover, his great predecessor in the papacy, St. Kyrillos VI, was likewise discipled, not only to his family and certain spiritual elders in the Church community — such as Archdeacon Iskander Hanna of St. Mark’s Cathedral[45] — and then in the monastic life, but also to the Scriptures and Fathers of the Church, and especially Isaac the Syrian,[46] many of whose works and words he committed to memory out of his deep love for that great monastic teacher.[47] St. Kyrillos VI himself was also sponsored in his discipleship, so much so that his nomination to and ultimate inclusion in the altar lot that led to his election as patriarch came about as a result of the selfless and unprompted effort of a metropolitan — Athanasius of Beni Suef, Egypt — who nominated him, even while he was still a solitary monk and only a priest, without his prior knowledge.[48] This lifelong experience of sponsorship and humble discipleship permeated all aspects of this great patriarch’s life, motivating him to keenly seek out and empower countless qualified believers in the ministry of the Church — such as Nazir Gayed (subsequently Fr. Antonios al-Suryani,[49] then Bishop Shenouda, and ultimately Pope Shenouda III), Wahib Atallah (subsequently Fr. Bakhoum al-Muharraqi[50] and then Bishop Gregorios), Saad Aziz (subsequently Fr. Makari al-Suryani[51] and then Bishop Samuel), and Cantor Ibrahim Ayad[52] — and to disciple them, while never permitting either the exalted honor of the papacy or his position as a renowned mentor and spiritual guide to rob him of his simple monastic identity and spirit of discipleship. In these and countless other examples, the Church is found to have faithfully carried out the command of Christ by making disciples in every generation, maintaining the Apostolic Tradition and Apostolic Succession unblemished from St. Mark until today despite centuries of persecution and wholly unfavorable odds. Moreover, truly Christian teachers, in imitation of the Master and according to His teaching, have always maintained unceasingly their Christian humility, selflessness, and desire to serve God through serving their disciples, preferring them even to themselves and seeking always to promote, encourage, and benefit them. Never forgetting their own discipleship, and knowing themselves well,[53] these have always borne in mind the mutual interdependence of the Christian teacher and disciple upon one another, and ultimately their shared dependence on God, for growth in holiness, understanding, wisdom, grace, and perfection, seeking with all love and humility their own salvation and that of one another while always keeping before their eyes their common purpose. In this tradition of sound discipleship, the principle recognized and proclaimed by St. John the Baptist has always been the standard: it is Christ, the True Master, who must increase, and we, teachers and students, who must decrease.[54] Thus St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians, “imitate me as I imitate Christ,”[55] reminding them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:[56] “For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ and another, ‘I belong to Apollos,’ are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”[57] It is always Christ who is the aim and center of all things: He is the one we must serve, all with the same spirit, in “the oneness of heart that is of love,”[58] “attuned together by the Holy Spirit as a Cithara, always blessing God.”[59] Discipleship and the Church Today In the service of God, let us submit to the teaching of Christ and abide by this spirit of discipleship — that great commission — with all humility, learning from His meekness and lowliness of heart[60] and understanding that “no servant is greater than his master.”[61] Let the teachers, leaders, and examples of the flock[62] carry themselves as “the last of all and servant[s] of all,”[63] imitating our Lord in emptying themselves[64] and washing the feet of the flock,[65] while shunning the best seats and exalted places[66] and without lording their authority over those whom they serve.[67] Let them fulfill the command of Christ to make disciples.[68] Let them carry out their entrustment by preaching and delivering the Teaching[69] without alteration, just as it was given by Christ, preached by the Apostles, and kept by the Fathers.[70] Let them heed the inspired guidance of the holy Apostles to speak the truth in love,[71] and to love according to the truth.[72] Let them correct, rebuke, and exhort the believers[73] without concern for personal, political, social, or financial gain.[74] In the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch, let them “preserve unity, than which nothing is better,”[75] while avoiding “foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.”[76] Let them imitate St. Paul in seeking to raise their disciples to maturity such that they surpass the need for mere milk and become capable of enduring solid food,[77] attaining maturity in their theological understandings and soundness in their Christian lives such that they can themselves be granted to make disciples and deliver to others that which they had received, firstly within their own homes and then to others if necessary and as God provides. Let them submit to the word of God in showing no partiality towards the believers based on wealth, poverty, or status.[78] In a word, let them become “all things to all men, that [they] might by all means save some.”[79] Let us all, masters and disciples, parents and children, teachers and students, heed the God-breathed words of the Scriptures.[80] Let the elder, who has attained maturity and become experienced in the virtuous life, hear the inspired words of St. Peter: “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock.”[81] Moreover let the young — whether in age or wisdom or spiritual maturity — “be subject to the elders,”[82] joyfully obeying and submitting to them, “for they watch for [their] souls, as they that must give account…”[83] And let us all clothe ourselves “with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”[84] In this way, we will “walk worthy of the calling by which [we] are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring diligently to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” as St. Paul urges the Ephesians by the Spirit[85] and as the Coptic Church reminds her members every day in the First Hour of the Ⲁϫⲡⲓⲁ.[86] The Church, by the grace of God, is sufficient to embrace and effectively serve every generation, every ethnicity, and every race — male and female, young and old, rich and poor — within the united community of believers — the one Body of Christ. We, as those members, are therefore called to embody this spirit of impartial love and selfless service: the elders teaching, discipling, selflessly promoting, embracing, and being an example to the young, and the young in turn learning from, receiving, preferring, honoring, and submitting to the elders. As St. Clement of Rome, in his first-century Epistle, advises, “let us honor the aged among us; let us train up the young men in the fear of God.”[87] In abiding by the Christian spirit in this manner — and in so doing, guarding against and shunning any semblance of worldliness as exhibited by self-interested apprenticeship, domineering leadership, and strategic networking aimed at self-serving ends or facilitating the advancement of personal status — the Church will flourish by the grace of God from generation to generation, and the believers will live according to the guidance of the word of God: “Practice hospitality ungrudgingly to one another. As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who utters oracles of God; whoever renders service, as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies; in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”[88] — [1] See Matthew 28:16-20 [2] In this paper, “sponsorship” is to be understood according to the biblical and ecclesial examples set forth throughout, whether that of Christ or His Apostles or several of the Fathers and teachers of the Church who are mentioned. It may be summarized and understood as: the Christian teacher’s selfless support of his or her disciples, as demonstrated by the teacher in: (1) embracing and praying for those who come to be discipled with the proper spiritual and intellectual qualifications; (2) undertaking the responsibility of training and teaching those accepted for discipleship, delivering to them the spirit and doctrine that the teacher has first received through his or her own discipleship; and (3) preferring those disciples to himself or herself after having trained and delivered the Faith to them, including by facilitating opportunities for them to utilize their gifts and training in the service of the Church as appropriate, whether directly by promoting their cause using his or her own measure of authority or influence or indirectly by acknowledging them as legitimate, qualified, and trained disciples in the public eye and before those with such authority and influence, as Christ did with His own disciples. [3] Exodus 18:25-26 [4] Deuteronomy 34:9 [5] Numbers 27:18 [6] Numbers 32:12 [7] Deuteronomy 31:7-8 [8] See, e.g., Matthew 4:23; Acts 10:38 [9] See John 4:1-2 [10] See, e.g., Matthew 10:1, 10:8, 12:27; Mark 3:14-15, 6:7, 6:13; Luke 10:17-20, 11:19. The Lord granted His disciples both authority and legitimacy in the service to which He appointed them, and they in turn acted not on their own power or authority, but by reference to and through Him. [11] See, e.g., Matthew 10:5-42; Mark 6:7; Luke 10:1 [12] See, e.g., Matthew 8:23-27, 17:14-21, 20:20-28; Mark 9:33-37, 10:35-45; Luke 9:46-56, 10:17-20, 22:24-30; John 12:1-7 [13] See Matthew 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45; Luke 22:24-30 [14] See Mark 9:35 [15] Matthew 16:24; See also Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23 [16] See Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45 [17] See John 13:1-17 [18] See Matthew 18:1-6; Mark 9:33-37; Luke 9:46-48, 22:24-27 [19] See, e.g., Luke 10:17-20 (rejoicing in evil spirits being subject to them in His name) [20] See Mark 9:38-41 and Luke 9:49-50 (forbidding the man casting out demons in Christ’s name); Luke 9:51-57 (James and John asking whether they should pray for fire to rain down from heaven on Samaria); Matthew 19:13, Mark 10:13-16, and Luke 18:15-17 (forbidding children to come to Christ); John 13:35 (Christ emphasizing that the Disciples will be known as disciples of Christ if they love one another); John 8:31-32 (“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”). [21] See Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:6 [22] See John 3:30 [23] See Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23 [24] See John 20:25; See also 1 John 1:1-4 [25] See 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 3:1-9 [26] Matthew 28:19-20 [27] See Acts 9:26-31; Galatians 2:9 [28] See Acts 15:36-41. St. Paul, coming to recognize the productivity and usefulness of St. Mark in the service, ultimately requested that St. Mark rejoin him along with St. Timothy (See 1 Timothy 4:11), who was among St. Paul’s closest disciples. [29] 2 Timothy 2:2 [30] See, e.g., St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.3; Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, 32.2; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 5.20.6; Jerome, On Illustrious Men, 16-17; Jerome, Chronicle, 275-76 [31] St. Gregory the Wonderworker, Oration and Panegyric Addressed to Origen, 9 [32] See Socrates, Ecclesiastical History, 1.15; Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, 2:17 [33] See, e.g., Socrates, 1.8; Sozomen, 1.17 [34] St. Athanasius, Life of Antony, Prologue [35] Ibid. at 1-14 [36] Ibid. at 16 [37] For a helpful account of St. Cyril’s life, see John A. McGuckin, St. Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy. [38] See Ibid. The choosing of the patriarch was then unlike it is today, as the altar lot was formally established for the election of the pope in the Coptic Church quite recently. For a detailed account of the relevant history on this point, see Petro Bilaniuk, “Pope in the Coptic Church,” in The Coptic Encyclopedia, Vol. 6, 1998b-2000b. [39] See Cyril of Alexandria, Letter 39.7: “That we follow the doctrines of the holy Fathers in all ways, and especially of our blessed and all-glorious father, Athanasius, praying earnestly not to depart from him in anything at all, let your holiness [the bishop John] be persuaded, and let none of the others be in doubt.” See also Letter 100.2: “For I adhere to the faith of the sainted Fathers who assembled at Nicaea in all my discourses. No other path do I know but the orthodox faith, for I was nurtured, as were your holinesses, in the faith of the Gospel and the words of the Apostles. It is this faith which I shall do my best to teach the churches.” [40] For a helpful account of the life of St. Dioscorus, see Martiniano P. Roncaglia, “Dioscorus I,” in The Coptic Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, 912b-915b. [41] See Ibid.; See also Severus of al’Ashmunein (Hermopolis), History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria. Part 2: Peter I – Benjamin I (661 AD); Arabic text edited, translated, and annotated by B. Evetts., Patrologia Orientalis (1904), pp. 443-4 [42] See Bishop Suriel, Habib Girgis: Coptic Orthodox Educator and a Light in the Darkness, 21 [43] Ibid. at 22 [44] See Ibid. at 108, 169-170, 181, 259 [45] See Daniel Fanous, A Silent Patriarch: Kyrillos VI, Life and Legacy, 43-45 [46] See e.g., Ibid. at 103 [47] See, e.g., Ibid. at 133 [48] See Ibid. at 219-22; Indeed, Pope Kyrillos VI is the only Coptic pope consecrated from the beginning of the 20th century until today to have not had at least the rank of bishop prior to his enthronement as patriarch. [49] The name assumed by Gayed after he undertook monastic vows. Pope Kyrillos VI subsequently ordained Fr. Antonios to the episcopacy with the name Shenouda, General Bishop for Christian Education and the Religious Institutes. In 1971, Bishop Shenouda succeeded Pope Kyrillos VI to the papacy under the name Shenouda III. [50] The name assumed by Atallah after he undertook monastic vows. Pope Kyrillos VI subsequently ordained him bishop with the name Gregorios to oversee Higher Theological Studies, Coptic Culture and Scientific Research in the Church — the only person to be entrusted with this responsibility in the history of the Church until today. [51] The name assumed by Aziz after he undertook monastic vows. Pope Kyrillos VI then ordained him bishop of Public, Social, and Ecumenical Services with the name Samuel. Bishop Samuel was ultimately assassinated along with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by the Muslim Brotherhood on October 6, 1981. [52] In 1968, Pope Kyrillos VI specifically requested Cantor Ibrahim Ayad, when he was only 16 years old, to remain as a cantor at the Cathedral under the tutelage of Cantor Fahim Girgis, Cantor Asaad Moussa, and Dr. Youssef Mansour. For certain of Cantor Ibrahim Ayad’s autobiographical retellings of his four years of experience with Pope Kyrillos VI, see (in Arabic): Video One, Video Two, and Video Three. [53] For a general overview of the necessity of proper self-understanding in the Christian life, see Abba Antony’s Letters, and especially the third and fourth Letters. [54] See John 3:30 [55] 1 Corinthians 11:1 [56] See Epistle of Clement, 47 [57] 1 Corinthians 3:4-6 [58] See the Petitions of the Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory the Theologian [59] Coptic Matins Ⲁⲇⲁⲙ Doxology for the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 [60] See Matthew 11:29 [61] John 13:16 [62] See Luke 12:32; Acts 20:28-29; 1 Peter 5:2-3 [63] Mark 9:35 [64] See Philippians 2:7 [65] See John 13:14 [66] See Matthew 23:6-7 [67] See Mark 10:42-43; 1 Peter 5:2-4; See also Epistle of Clement, 16 [68] See Matthew 18:19 [69] See 1 Timothy 5:17 [70] See St. Athanasius, First Letter to Serapion, 28 [71] See Ephesians 4:15 [72] See 1 John 3:18 [73] See 2 Timothy 4:2 [74] See Romans 16:18 [75] St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Polycarp, 2 [76] 1 Timothy 2:23 [77] See 1 Corinthians 3; See also Hebrews 5:12-14 [78] See James 2:1-13; See also 1 Timothy 5:21 [79] 1 Corinthians 9:22 [80] See 2 Timothy 3:16 [81] 1 Peter 5:1-3 [82] 1 Peter 5:5 [83] Hebrews 13:17 [84] 1 Peter 5:5 [85] Ephesians 4:1-3 [86] “Agpeya” or Horologion: the Coptic book of the ten hourly prayers of the day. [87] St. Clement of Rome, Epistle 21 [88] 1 Peter 4:9-11 —

In the Coptic Calendar, which finds its roots in the ancient Egyptian calendar in use as early as 4250 B.C., and had been in use in Egypt until as recently as the 18th century, there are 12 months, each consisting of 30 days, with a remainder of 5 or 6 epagomenal days at the end of the year, called in Arabic “el-Nasi,” deriving from “the forgotten.” In keeping with the agricultural nature of common Egyptian life, the Egyptian people invented and passed on idioms characterizing each month — the Egyptian equivalent of “April showers bring May flowers.” In celebration of the Coptic New Year, we have assembled this amusing and instructive chart, providing these monthly idioms as an example of Coptic culture and a window into the self-perception of the Egyptian people! Happy Coptic New Year! Ⲛⲟϥⲣⲓ ⲣⲟⲙⲡⲓ ⲙ̀ⲃⲉⲣⲓ Nofri rombi emwari

There is a man in Egypt whose name is unknown to the ruling class, and who is yet the most talked of and the most deeply venerated man in all the valley of the Nile. Although he is a Christian bishop he is just as much a saint of heaven to the Moslem as to the Christian; and the Christians who join in the daily throng that seek his spiritual help and blessing number Copts and Greeks and Romans — the latter being by no means confined even to natives of Egypt. Before I even thought of seeking an audience of this wonderful old man I had heard Catholic people as far away as France speaking of the Bishop of the Fayoum and Gizeh in Egypt as an ascetic in whose powers were confirmed all the signs which our Lord had said should follow them that believe — “In My name they shall cast out devils…they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” This old saint, whose power is known over all the Eastern world, is in the direct and unbroken succession of those early Christians who — again in the words of our Lord — spoke with new tongues; they took up serpents; and if they drank any deadly thing, it should not hurt them. These words have been understood alone in the East. When the Western Christians comment on the manifestations of Oriental Christianity, it should be kept in mind that these “signs” are all included in the first promise of the risen Christ to them that believe (Mark xvi. 17, 18). No matter where I had gone in Egypt, I had heard again and again of the Bishop of the Fayoum; and incredible stories were told to me of his self-denials, his fastings, his mystical wisdom, his power of divination, his faculty to exorcise evil spirits and to cure all manner of sickness; and of the comfort his words gave to the afflicted both in soul and in body; of his unstinted kindness to the poor, whom he helped out of a coffer which was like unto the widow’s cruse; and how, with flashes of insight, he reproved the evil-doers who thought to deceive him, the spiritual force that was in him seeming to overtake such even when they had left his presence. And of course the power was attributed to him, as it is to all Eastern saints, of being able to confound all thieves by a sort of spiritual detective gift. Many stories are told of his detachment from every sort of mundane claim, and of his contempt of the needs of the body which was like that of the saints of old. As he has now reached nearly a century of years, the veneration always felt for him has gained in depth as he has survived one generation after another of those who have felt his influence. […] The old man apparently had no liking for the idea of being sought out by travellers as a celebrity; this was not his Master’s work. If the Englishman was poor, or sad, or ill, or had need in any way of spiritual ministration, or counsel, then he would see him, but not otherwise. Again I was told what was not the old man’s answer, but that a serious relapse in the Bishop’s health that day had made it impossible for him to fulfil his earnest desire to see me. Still the troublesome Briton would not be satisfied, or say ma’aleesh (do not trouble), as the polite and easily turned aside Oriental would. Fortunately ill-manners are excused to the English by the Egyptian, on the ground that it is our national habits that are peculiar, and we are not altogether to be held accountable for them. Oriental courtesy will often cover the rudeness of a European guest, with this as a sufficient excuse; the host will still go on striving to create a feeling of satisfaction and content in his visitor, so long as there is a chance left of meeting his wishes. I ought to have said ma’aleesh, but if I could not show this politeness — well, I had left my friends in trouble which they must still struggle as my hosts to overcome. These men looked very gravely concerned when I maintained my protests, with an assumed mulishness that I knew well enough would intrigue them to try again to remove the direst of trouble to them, the displeasure of a guest. A Coptic friend, whom I have known in Cairo for some time, now had a brilliant inspiration. Had I not a weak throat; had I not, two years before, made a long stay in Egypt purely for health reasons? That was enough. The Bishop was quickly informed that an Englishman out of health sought his blessing. “Bring the poor man to me,” he said at once, and appointed the next afternoon at five o’clock for the visit. When the deputation returned with this news (they forgot now to be even plausible about the Bishop’s ill-health) we beamed upon each other with restored good feeling, like a party of children who, after prolonged sulks, are overjoyed to “make it up.” I recalled what I had read of that early Coptic saint, Anthony, who when persons of rank often sought, in vain, to tempt him from his hermitage, had but one reply, “As a fish dies out of water, so a monk dies out of his cell.” The only chance of gaining an interview with St. Anthony of old was to claim his intervention for some one in distress. The last thing that hindered the happiness of a great Coptic gathering of friends that evening were the misgivings, which now cropped up again, of what I might think of the state in which I should find the Bishop living. By every kind of delicate suggestion and apology they tried to prepare my mind for the visit, so that I might put the most favourable interpretation possible on things. The next day we set off in the carriages of my host, to be driven through the picturesque town (at that dashing pace which is the Egyptian’s delight) to the out-of-the-way slum in which the church of Fayoum is hidden. […] We reached an outer apartment, dark and bare as a garret in a ruined tenement, the floor black with grime, the walls naked as the builder left them ages since, except for the dust-laden festoons of spiders. The windows were opaque with dirt, and much of the glass was broken. In this apartment we waited, while the chief priest passed once or twice in and out of an adjoining room, whispering comments in Arabic to our party which I could not hear. Now the word is given, and we are ushered into a chamber, proving to be rather larger than the anteroom; in much the same condition, and equally bare, but for a square bed, and two chairs obviously imported for the occasion. On the bed, sitting in the Eastern posture, and wrapped in a threadbare robe of black, with a black plaited turban on his head, sat the frail, emaciated form of the Bishop. Introductions were made, the old man being particular to know correctly the names of those who were strange to him. He took the hand of each visitor in turn, but kept his own hands all the time partly concealed in the wide sleeve of his robe. The instinct of every Oriental is to kiss the hand of any man for whom he has deep veneration, but Bishop Abraam, I found, will never allow his hand to be kissed, if by covering it in this way he can avoid it. It was with deep emotion that I looked into the face of this modern saint. To doubt his right to the title was impossible, for the power of a pure and beautiful soul made itself felt at once, with a force that was almost overwhelming. The eyes looked out of a calm, grave face, fringed with a small white beard, which in no way obscured the sensitive mouth. The turban was worn farther back than is usual, leaving the broad unwrinkled forehead to suggest that the ascetic, in this case, had been governed by a fine intelligence. That the Bishop was a centenarian seemed difficult of belief; he might be as weak as the frailness of his body suggested, but nothing about him even hinted that the mind was touched with age; and when one caught the steady glance of his eye, and heard him speak, the physical limitations were forgotten, which perforce made of his bed the throne from which he ruled his diocese and ministered to the larger world of suffering humanity. The two chairs were placed close to the bed, so that my wife and I might sit near to the Bishop. He then questioned me earnestly about the Church in England, and the Bishop of London, who was visiting Egypt at that time, for he had heard of him, and that I was acquainted with him, and that we had met in Khartoum. Then he turned to more personal matters, and was concerned for our general well-being. To my request that the Bishop would give us his blessing, he asked, in a very quiet voice, one of the priests who were present to bring to him his hand-cross. I had often heard of this particular cross, which had been held in blessing over tens of thousands of Egyptians, and was believed by most of them to have in itself mystical powers. It is the cross the Bishop has used all his clerical life, and I know that he himself is so attached to it that he considers his powers would be disturbed by its injury or loss. It is usual, I believe, in every Christian Church to kneel in receiving a bishop’s blessing; but on no account would Amba Abraam consent to any person kneeling before him — to God, he said, alone was such obeisance due. He was distressed that I felt obliged to kneel, but when I explained that my first reverence was to God, and then to His good servant, he gently gave way. Taking the cross in his right hand, and holding it closely over our heads, the Bishop poured out, mostly in the Coptic language, in tones of rapt devotion, the wonderful prayers and blessings of his Church. Of the mere words, I of course recognised little, except the oft-repeated “Kyrie Eleison!” (Lord have mercy!). But I was thrilled nevertheless by the childlike earnestness of the man who uttered them; never had I heard a prayer which seemed to establish a link with the Throne of Grace with such instant security; it seemed as if earth fell away, to leave this man speaking in the clear presence of God Himself. The form of the blessing was so very Oriental that I afterwards asked the one priest present who knew both Coptic and English well, to transcribe it for me; and I give it here, omitting only the passages that were personal to my wife and myself. If I should relate the long-drawn-out endeavours by which I got this translation I should have to tell a story of many months’ ingenious persistency on the part of faithful Coptic friends and myself, which any one who knows the bookra (to-morrow) of the East would read with sympathy. The Coptic form of the Lord’s Prayer is of interest. I give the whole form as the priest wrote it. […] The blessing over, the gentle old man again inquired, in tones of tender solicitude, as to the welfare of all, myself and family. In Oriental terms he spoke of the pleasure such a visit had given him. Turning to a priest, the Bishop asked him to bring to him certain little gifts, consisting of as many coloured manâdîl (The Arabic word for handkerchief. These were red, stamped in black of a coarse quality, possibly of the value of a penny) as there were members of our party. Taking these separately in his left hand, he held his little cross over them and blessed them, in the name of each of us in turn, handing them to us as a souvenir of the visit. It is usual in the East, as I have already noted, always to make presents to visitors; this trifling gift was at the same time a sign of politeness and a symbol of the poverty in which the Bishop lived; it is the form the Bishop’s presents always take, and because of the personal blessing going with it, the little red handkerchief, distributed all over Egypt, is treasured in thousands of homes, doubtless as a sort of holy talisman. We now saluted the Bishop and withdrew. The chief priest, Abd-el-Sayed, accompanied us to the outer gate, where quite a crowd of natives of that quarter of the town were awaiting our appearance — and before the final leave-taking he formally addressed us, as we stood in the open court, in these words: “Your visit has brought us great honour this day. The Bishop Amba Abraam, the speaker, and all the people of El Fayoum, take a great delight in your visit. Accept our deep thanks. May God preserve you for ever. Amen.” So long as any Coptic record has been kept it has been usual to address visitors to the churches and monasteries in this way — generally at vastly greater length. […] After I had written the above sketch, I heard of the death of the sainted Bishop of Fayoum. From friends in Fayoum and in Cairo I have received particulars of his passing. A representative was at once sent from the Patriarch to report on the personal property of the Bishop, and the only things he found were the hand-cross and a walking stick. He had given to the poor all the money he had, so that the chief Copts of the town had to contribute the money to pay the funeral expenses. Over twenty thousand people attended the funeral, all mourning as for a personal friend. The poor people of that countryside are desolate and quite inconsolable. He has been buried in the cemetery of one of the desert monasteries. I am able to give a purely Coptic version of the Bishop’s life, translated from a little book published in Arabic, since his death, by a Coptic priest who knew him — the Rev. M. A. El-Baramousi El-Saghir: Amba Abraam was born in a village called Galada, in the Assiout province. His parents were true Christians, and they brought him up on sound Christian principles, which he always followed. He was sent to a kuttab (or village school). When he left this kuttab he was deeply interested in reading the Bible, Church songs, etc. At the age of nineteen he entered the Monastery of the Virgin Mary, known as Deir El-Moharrac, which is near to Assiout, and of which some speak as the place where Jesus stopped when He fled from Herod the King. He was very popular in the monastery. The monks got very fond of him, especially the Head, the Rev. Abd-El-Malik. The duty of Amba Abraam was, at that time, to receive the visitors and to attend to the sick. It was necessary to take the opinion of the monks present in the monastery about any one who was going to be nominated as a monk; so the Chief held a meeting of all the monks, and asked their opinion about the character of Amba Abraam, and whether he deserved to be their companion and brother. They all spoke favourably of him, and consequently he was nominated a monk, and was then called Bulos Gahabrial El-Moharrakawi. He has been always a good example in the monastery. He used even at that time to give all he possessed to the poor. He had a strong will, and was able always to rule himself. There was a Bishop at Minieh at that time called Amba Yakovous. He was very fond of spending his time with the monks. He chose Bulos Gahabrial El-Moharrakawi to be his companion, and wanted him to stay at Minieh. The Chief of the Monastery did not like the monk to live away, but he had to fulfil the duty of obeying the Bishop of Minieh, who was higher in the Church rank; and so Bulos Gahabrial El-Moharrakawi went to Minieh, and was authorised to take charge of the Visitors’ Department, and keep an eye on the Bishop’s house in general. The Bishop of Minieh used to admire him very much, and some time later, when he wanted to go back to his monastery, the Bishop before he left promoted him to the rank of Reverend, and asked him to pray for him. He encouraged him, and showed him great admiration. So he lived quietly in his monastery for some time with his brethren, who had great reputation at that time for their piety and purity. Being all admirers of him, they now joined in asking the Patriarch to appoint him Head of the Monastery, and he was officially appointed to this influential position, which enabled him to exercise his generosity. He continued five years as the Head of the Monastery, during which the institution was known as a shelter for thousands of the poor. During his tenure of this office he cultivated a four-acre garden, increased the buildings, and raised the morality of the monks, from whom there are now Bishops. The present Bishop of Abyssinia, as well as Amba Locas, Bishop of Keneh, Amba Marcos, Bishop of Esneh, and others, were monks at the monastery under his presidency. After five years as Chief of the Monastery he resigned, and went to another monastery called Deir-El-Baramous. He was followed by a great number of monks, who could not live without him. Deir-El-Baramous is one of the oldest monasteries in Egypt. At this last monastery he did not take an active part in managing affairs, but he took apartments for himself and his followers, and engaged himself in prayers and religious study, always showing great sympathy with the poor; he used to share his clothing with the bedouins and fellaheen in the neighbourhood. In the year 1597 (Coptic) he was chosen Bishop of Fayoum and Gizeh. When he got this important position, he showed great attention to the poor and the widows and orphans, and he lived exactly like one of God’s men. He never cared about wealth. His food was always very simple. He used to spend his nights in a narrow room on a rough bed — he never used a bedstead until the end of his life, when he was strongly advised to do so, on account of his age. When his name got widely known as the friend of the poor, his house was crowded with needy people, come from every part of the country. Consequently, he brought a nun, who was at one time Head of one of the nunnerys in Cairo, and asked her to take charge of the poor. This woman once thought to give to the Bishop food of a better quality than that given to the poor. This fact was unknown to the Bishop, but one day he decided to go and have his dinner with these poor people. It was a surprise to him to see that the food offered them was different from his own. He therefore approached the nun, and asked the reason why this was done. She did not utter a word in reply. He took the keys from her. She was greatly shocked, and has been lying ill ever since. I should not be exaggerating if I called him our father Abraham, for his faith and love to strangers; he might be called Moses for his patience; or David for the purity of his heart; or Elijah for the eloquence of his tongue; or Paul for the strength of his proofs. I once stayed a week with the Bishop of Fayoum. These are the things I saw during my stay. A woman of Balout, a village near Manfalout, in Assiout province, was ill for a very long period of time. She had spent all she possessed on doctors, with no good result. At last she heard the people talking about the Bishop of Fayoum. This woman was doubtful whether the Bishop’s blessing was given only to Christians, as she was not a Christian herself. However, she was taken by four men of her relatives to Fayoum. In addition to all her other ailments, she was dumb. When they arrived at the Bishop’s house, they laid the woman before him, requesting him to pray for her. So he continued praying for her for three days. After these three days, the woman was able to walk in the streets, and went back to her village, telling the people about the result of the Bishop’s prayers. Another man who had changed his Christian religion, and left his wife, was brought to him. The Bishop tried in vain to influence him to go back and live with his wife, and follow his original religion. The man did not listen. The Bishop said, “God knows what to do with you.” So the man went, but died shortly afterwards. I saw great numbers of women coming from all parts, with different diseases, and all were cured through his prayers. His annual visits to the people of his diocese were unique of their kind. The first thing he used to do when he entered a village, was to ask about its poor people. During his stay in villages he used to think a great deal about the peaceful relations between the community, and do his best to make them live on friendly terms. He used to examine carefully any candidate for the ministry. He used to consider greatly the people’s will, and unless the candidate was very popular, he would not appoint him. He used to follow the saying of Paul to Timothy, “Do not be hasty in putting your hand on one.” Very often he preferred poor candidates to rich ones. In any case, the approval of all the people was very essential. In the year 1618 (Coptic) the chief Bishop of Abyssinia visited Egypt. He was one of those nominated monks by the Bishop of Fayoum. After being received in Cairo by the Patriarch and the Khedive, he went through some of the capitals of the provinces. Then he intended to visit his old monastery. He asked his old Bishop to accompany him on this visit. He granted his request. They were joined by the Bishops of Alexandria and Esneh, and others, and they stopped at several places in response to invitations from Coptic notables. In Abu Kerkasa they were the guests of Adib Bey Wahba, who was until that time without a son. All the Bishops joined in asking the Bishop of Fayoum to pray for him, that God might give him a son. So the Bishop prayed that God would, after a year’s time, give him a son. The Bey believed strongly in the Bishop’s prayer, and after ten months God granted the prayer of the Bishop, and Adib Bey Wahba was granted a son, who is now about twelve years old. In remembrance of the Bishop’s visit, Adib Bey Wahba used to visit the Bishop every year, and he used to kill a number of beasts for the poor, and give meat and other things to the poor and needful. During recent years, owing to his age, the Bishop was unable to make his tour in the villages. He was a self-denying man. Once the Patriarch wanted to promote him to the rank of Metropolitan, but he courteously refused it. What makes the generosity of this Bishop more appreciated, is the fact that he never made a distinction between different religions and creeds. He was always ready to give when asked, and he never delayed a prayer when needed and when requested to make it. Most of his time was spent in praying, especially for the poor. — Adapted from S.H. Leeder, Modern Sons of the Pharaohs, 265-304. DossPress.com is a place for Christian men and women to collaborate for the sake of our common edification by sharing their written works. As we strive to uphold a standard of doctrinal and spiritual soundness in the articles shared, we note nonetheless that the thoughts expressed in each article remain the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Doss Press.

The continued growth and rapid advancement of digital technologies in recent years has created an urgent need for thoughtful examination of these mediums by Christians. While such new technologies present for many people and disciplines exciting new opportunities, previously untapped (and in some instances previously nonexistent) frontiers, and innovative methods for learning, study, and exploration, Christianity fundamentally differs from all other disciplines in that it is particularly and centrally concerned with those things that are absolutely real, personal, and tangible. Indeed, God Himself took real flesh and became truly human for the sake of our salvation. The experience of Christianity is inherently meant to be lived and “tasted” by each individual in an intimately personal way. For this reason, the Scriptures call each believer to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8), and the Lord Jesus Christ invites His disciples to “take, eat; this is My Body,” and “drink this, all of you; this is My Blood…” (Matthew 26:26-29). It is in tasting, eating, and drinking — through primary physical means of encounter and perception — that the believer most effectively experiences the Christian message, being transformed by it so that through the physical — sight, smell, taste, hearing, and the rest — the spirit may begin to enter into the spiritual realm and there encounter the living God. In the same vein, the work of Christian ministry also entails a faithful transmission of the deposit of Faith — spirit and life (see John 6:63) — from person to person. For this reason, the Apostles often sought to refrain even from writing to the early Church communities in order to resolve or address any problems or questions that arose in them, preferring to handle any such issues in person, “face to face” (see e.g., 2 John 12; 3 John 13-14). In contrast to this fundamentally personal milieu of Christianity, digital technologies have increasingly adopted an impersonal mode of expression, communication, and interaction with reality itself, thereby posing, in their prevalence and through their indiscriminate consumption by Christians, a significant threat to the very essence of Christianity as it is intended to be experienced. The Medium of Television In 1977, renowned journalist and television personality Malcolm Muggeridge published a series of lectures titled Christ and the Media wherein he offered a critique of an emerging media-oriented culture. The medium of television, for Muggeridge, carried the potential for the realization of either benefit or detriment to its consumers, being able to “enrich as well as debase a life.”[1] As it was at Muggeridge’s time and continues to be true today, the possibilities for television extend far beyond its ability to instantaneously provide communication and entertainment. Through television, evangelization is capable of reaching the eyes and ears (and thereby also the minds and hearts) of even the most passive consumers of this medium, inspiring them to begin their journey to Christianity. In illustrating this point, Muggeridge shares his experience of filming a television program of Mother Teresa, commenting: “…the fact that she does truly live in Christ, and he in her, shines triumphantly through the camera’s fraudulence.”[2] He recalls that he encountered many who enacted positive changes in their lives through viewing the program in which Mother Teresa was featured, and concludes: “the moral would seem to be that what is required to make a successful Christian television programme is merely to find a true Christian, and put him or her on the screen. This, rather than any televisual skills or devices, would seem to be the key.”[3] Here, however, lie the dangers of endeavoring into television evangelization: the operation of mass media by a select few and the anti-Christian ideologies they often embrace and proclaim, combined with the influential and formative power of television as a media outlet, poses a great danger not only for viewers, but also for those intending to utilize it to undertake the noble task of evangelization. It would be, according to Muggeridge’s powerful imagery, as if the Lord Jesus Christ produced a television program sponsored by the “very reputable” Lucifer Inc.[4] By developing a significant presence on the medium of television, which widely operates upon non-Christian principles and goals, Christian media developers may unintentionally sponsor or encourage the depiction and influence of unchristian ideals. Undoubtedly, television is a tremendously powerful visual tool. The Church, moreover, combines many audiovisual and literary components in her liturgical experience: for instance, the celebrant and altar deacon(s) dress in white, fixed prayers are used, and the Scriptures are read aloud melodiously. Incorporating the television in liturgical worship, however, introduces many detriments to worshippers, including what is perhaps among the greatest misdeeds of twenty-first century churches — liturgical “live-streaming.” Televising and providing worshippers — and virtually anyone — with the ability to live-stream liturgical services from their homes or mobile devices amounts to a total destruction of the sacramentality of liturgy. Liturgy is no longer the gathering of the community of believers in prayer if the believers are able to participate remotely through television. If one is unable to attend the liturgy in person — due to physical ailment or other restriction — the Church traditionally goes to them, not through television or computer screens, but in liturgical and sacramental prayers such as the Sacrament of the Unction of the Sick. Besides this point, televising or streaming liturgy also offends the sanctity of the worship itself, as cameras and sometimes even production lights are utilized to film the service, a person or team is tasked with overseeing the live-streamed production, thereby being deprived of attending the prayer, and elaborate cut scenes and multiple angles are sometimes captured in order to afford the viewer a high quality video product. Another detrimental emerging trend amongst Christian Churches is the use of television screens in worship rather than books to present the words of the prayers, which poses both spiritual and practical dangers that undermine rather than enhance the practice and intended benefit of the liturgical experience for the faithful. Liturgy is meant to be practiced with reverence, representing a multi-sensory formative encounter intended to unite the believers with God, lead them to recognize and abide in His presence, and inspire in them the desire and purpose of bringing this spirituality to the world beyond the walls of their church. In liturgy, incense is burned in the censer, icons are present all around the worshipers, with the icon of Christ the Pantocrator centrally placed in the front and center beyond the altar, the prayers — with their words being hymnically attuned in a reverent and stilling manner — are chanted with solemnity, and the rites are carried out in order. In all these and many other ways, the liturgical experience is meant to look, sound, and feel entirely different than anything else in the world — an “otherness” that is both practically instructive and spiritually inspiring. Thus, the believer is invited to “let [his or her] senses enjoy the beauty of Orthodox worship in all its aspects[,] including hymnology, iconography[,] and the richness of all our liturgical practice and teachings.”[5] With the incorporation of television screens in the liturgical experience, however, a pervasive[6] technology that is in many ways emblematic of the world is injected into what is built to be an otherworldly experience. Rather than gazing upon the face of Christ, believers are physically reoriented to the glaring screen; instead of being learned and recited, or read from physical books, the Scriptures and prayers are read from a television screen, tablet, or even a phone — devices that are often even affixed or placed upon the Holy Altar itself. These not only undermine the reverence and intended sanctity of the liturgical experience, but also represent an unwelcome invasion of the world and its hallmarks into the liturgical and sacramental encounter with God. In utilizing television screens in liturgical settings, churches also promote the spectatorship of their congregants in much the same way as recreational television, thereby rendering the liturgical experience a passive process of consumption rather than an active process of transformative struggle. The personal active involvement and struggle that books require — in turning the pages, spatially associating the words on the page, feeling the book in the hand, and being required to know the general structure of the prayer such that the prayer or hymn being chanted may be located, for instance — is replaced by a standardized, impersonal, and consumptive method of engagement.[7] What is more, the attention that is due to God is instead offered to the television screen which, by virtue of the prevalence of screens in our daily experiences and our habitual conditioning, coaxes the eyes towards it, numbs the congregants’ minds and hearts (as the shows and movies they recreationally watch on such screens are made to do), and nullifies within them any semblance of activity or requirement of mindful presence, attentiveness, or participation. This sort of exterior reliance on visual aids also diminishes one’s ability to memorize, retain, and internalize[8] the prayers themselves, because “intelligence is relentlessly reflexive, so that even the external tools that it uses to implement its workings become ‘internalized,’ that is, part of its own reflexive process.”[9] In utilizing the impersonal medium of television screens, it becomes all the more difficult to retain any of the words of the prayers so that they might become ours, leading to a wholly “external” encounter with liturgical prayer. Such prayers are rather meant to be internalized, so that worshippers, through the internalization process, come to embody in their own daily lives the doctrine, spirit, and life of the Church that are expressed in and through the words of those prayers. While learning and memorizing the Scriptures, prayers, and doctrines of the Church are not themselves the goal of the Christian life, they are nevertheless essential steps for properly and effectively living out the Christian message: “the mere memorization or knowledge of the church’s doctrine, her creedal statements, her liturgical regulations and moral wisdom is not adequate for evangelization. The knowledge of such doctrine…should become incarnate in family life, in human work, in politics and society, in art and leisure.”[10] The Medium of Social Media The continued development of audiovisual entertainment, with the introduction and popularity of social media platforms such as TikTok and its seconds-long “reels” concept, further complicates the landscape for Christian ministry. While such content was previously consumed at a much slower pace, thus allowing for the development of an idea or message in a fuller, more meaningful way, new social media platforms instead facilitate for their users a fast-paced bombardment of content disabling such thought development to any meaningful degree while de-conditioning their users from being able to tolerate slower, more deliberate, and intricate modes of experience, including communication, formation, and education. The Christian message, being one of personal intimacy with Christ, cannot be fully communicated in such a fast-paced or superficial way. The Apostles, when establishing churches, spent years and toiled night and day to establish the Faith and guide individuals to proper growth in Christ (see e.g., 2 Corinthians 11:16-28). The delivery of the Faith for them, as it was also for Christ, was formational before it was informational; it required personal relation and consecration of life. Social media, being a fully digital realm, falls short of creating personal, “incarnate” experiences. As such, this technology can quite easily transmit a message and spirit that is not only foreign, but also contrary, to the Christian message, thereby constituting a disservice to those whom Christian ministers may seek to serve using such platforms. The work of Christian ministry is to inspire a personal desire within individuals to delve deeper into the Faith; this growth, while it can be certainly aided by media technologies, cannot occur solely through virtual communication. The message of Christianity, requiring a complete transformation of one’s life (see 1 Corinthians 6:11) and being irreconcilable with the world (see John 17:14-16), stands in stark opposition to viral trends and popular movements; its proclamation must be guided by the ethos of Christianity rather than any worldly philosophy of administration or standard of success. St. Paul writes: “To those outside the law I became as one outside the law — not being without law toward God but under law of Christ — that I might win those outside the law” (1 Corinthians 9:21). In venturing to minister on digital platforms, the same approach, of having primary regard for the integrity of the proper Christian spirit and message, must be observed. The Mediums of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are quickly being embraced and adopted not only by educational institutions across disciplines and at all levels — institutions at which Christians also learn, interact, and grow — but also by Church parishes, ministries, and ministers. These technologies eliminate the physical boundaries of a classroom, enabling users to explore the world from their personal computers and handheld devices. In an article for Forbes, author Bernard Marr writes: “VR also enables teachers and students to explore different worlds without having to leave the classroom; this could include visiting historical sites, exploring outer space, or touring foreign countries virtually…With AR, we can also overlay digital elements on top of real-world classroom objects…[Froggipedia] walks students through the process of studying the internal organs of a frog without requiring any real-life dissection.”[11] The positives identified by Marr, however, are tempered by their practical implications, both generally and with particular consideration of Christian ideals. Indeed, while, as Marr describes, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality can walk students through the dissection process, for instance, in a detailed and visually engaging manner, these technologies simply cannot mimic the experience of dissecting a real frog — an activity that is vastly more intimidating and daunting in person, and formatively so. There are certainly many things that any (religious) classroom might be unable to do, due to geographical or financial constraints, in which case Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality might serve as similarly positive resources. Rather than simply speaking about the architecture of a particular cathedral, or even showing images or videos of it, for example, it would be a more engaging experience for students of a Christian institution or church class to take a virtual tour of that same building. However, in light of the necessities of social interrelation and tangible firsthand experience in Christian formation and communal experience, those students would be all the more benefitted by simply visiting a local church building — an even more immersive undertaking that furthers, rather than undermines, the goals of Christian education and Christian identity formation. The benefits of adopting a hybrid format may therefore not be in the best interests of the Christian person, or of Christian education more generally. The primary objective of Christian education and life in the Church is invariably to develop within the believers a personal, immersive, real, and living experience of the Lord Jesus Christ, and through Him, with one another. Being comprised of both soul and body, the human is called to “glorify God in [his or her] body and [his or her] spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20). Truly, “we do nothing without the body…Since then the body has been our minister in all things, it shall also share with us in the future the fruits of the past.”[12] Such truths are unrealizable in the experience of Virtual Reality technologies, which facilitate intangible experiences in the realm of cyber-reality. Through Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, a dissociation of body from space and time occurs, as experiences can be formed without one’s complete involvement, away from true reality. In such mediums, sin[13] can be practiced almost entirely metaphysically, encouraging the misconception that sinful practice in the virtual realm, being that it may not directly involve bodily activity and can be hidden by privacy settings, is in fact not sinful at all. The division and compartmentalization in experience made possible through Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are therefore discernibly detrimental to the sort of holistic Christian experience of total immersion and permeation into every aspect of one’s life that is meant for the Christian believer. Such technologies, carrying far-reaching anthropological, ethical, and spiritual implications, require further study and attention, and therefore ought not be eagerly introduced into Christian ministries. The Medium of Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence technologies, in a more direct and abrupt way, divest the human experience of humanity. Facilitating creation apart from human involvement, Artificial Intelligence renders human experience obsolete, replacing personal experience and knowledge with algorithms and computation. The submission to and reliance on such technologies, illustrated by the recent astronomical growth of the Artificial Intelligence platform ChatGPT,[14] is emblematic of the very central “gospel” of digital culture, placing technology at the apex of human existence and rendering the human a spectator rather than a creator. In doing so, Artificial Intelligence severely debilitates one’s ability to establish an intimate relationship with God, for the path to goodness is not in submitting to Artificial Intelligence — or any technology, for that matter — but rather in discovering and personally abiding with God Himself and submitting to His will. In affirming this very principle, Origen of Alexandria profoundly writes: “What each man worships in preference to the rest, what he admires and loves above all other things, this is God to him.”[15] It follows, then, that all Christians must examine whether they put their trust in God or in “human beings, who cannot save” (Psalm 146:3), or what is now further, in man-made technologies. Substituting the human for an algorithm or some other technological tool, most especially in the realm of the spiritual life — whether in preparation of exhortatory sermons and lessons,[16] Scriptural commentary and translation,[17] or similar endeavors — represents an unnatural, spiritually counterintuitive, and detrimental effort which perpetuates a sacrilege of the Scriptures and Tradition of the Church, which are inherently meant for personal experience and life. In the Church, teaching begins with receiving the deposit of Faith, which is meant to form and transform the teacher such that they can likewise transmit that Faith to others: “When we continue to keep Him in our inner being, He will make us rich so that we can give to others.”[18] The Apostles therefore spoke extensively about the need for preparation, the importance of discipleship, and sound Christian formation and education, yet after all of this, they advise that not many become teachers (see James 3:1). The matters and spirit of the Faith are meant to be received and delivered from living person to living person; utilizing Artificial Intelligence in the work of Christian education is therefore to outsource this important responsibility, of preserving and delivering the deposit of Faith, to digital tools, representing unfaithfulness at worst and misunderstanding at best on the part of Christian educators, who are entrusted by God through the Church to be discipled and to teach, having received and continuing to possess sound doctrine and exhibiting an exemplary Christian manner of life (see 2 Timothy 2:2). Out of one’s own learning and discipleship, one’s teaching should spring forth; in fact, a proper and full discipleship will transmit to each individual the teaching of the Scriptures, the Church Fathers, and more generally the Tradition of the Church, enabling them to deliver that which they had received to those whom they teach and serve. When Artificial Intelligence technologies become themselves the sources and teachers, being relied upon by those who teach to provide them with the content of their teaching, the necessary struggle of growth and advancement in understanding and knowledge that is required and expected of all believers — and most especially those entrusted to teach in the Church — is circumvented, to the detriment of both the teacher and the disciple. Artificial Intelligence must, for these and several other reasons beyond the scope of this paper, be carefully examined and understood before it can be considered for use in any capacity in the service of the Church. Conclusion The psychodynamics of today’s media landscape is malleable due to the speed by which technologies are introducing new mediums of communication and interrelation. With a simple update, often being pushed instantaneously “over the air,” the technologies we use on a daily basis can rather easily introduce novel ways by which we may experience reality and interact with others and information. With this unprecedented technological proliferation, we find ourselves at a crossroads. For each person and culture, and for every Christian ministry, a conscious and deliberate approach to the available technologies is essential: “Technology, properly interiorized, does not degrade human life but on the contrary enhances it…The use of a technology can enrich the human psyche, enlarge the human spirit, intensify its interior life.”[19] The technologies we possess and utilize today, and those yet to come, are what we make of them; they can either divest the human of himself or, if used properly and in appropriate settings, become powerful tools that enable the human to express and understand himself in deeper ways. As renowned Catholic theologian Romano Guardini suggests in his Letters from Lake Como, we might benefit today in our personal Christian lives, and in administering the services of our churches, from slowing down and carefully considering the technologies we use and their far-reaching implications (both good and bad), while submitting ourselves to God who “is at work.”[20] — [1] Malcolm Muggeridge, Christ and the Media, 68 [2] Muggeridge, 70 [3] Ibid. [4] Muggeridge, 41 [5] His Grace Bishop Suriel, Rethinking the use of Technology in Liturgical Services, (Facebook, accessed on August 9, 2023) [6] "The control screens have over our daily life is staggering. We spend countless hours at the office staring at a computer screen then come home to watch another big, flat screen for our evening’s entertainment. Between tablets, laptops, smartphones, and e-readers, there’s no getting away from the bits and bytes, the ones and zeros” (Tom Raabe, Why Churches Should Ditch the Projector Screens and Bring Back Hymnals, The Federalist, accessed on August 9, 2023). [7] "Screens represent a move away from permanence to the transitory. The words contained in a hymnal were printed in a book that was published with care. Inked on the paper accompanied by notes and staffs, hymnals were real. The words on a screen may look like the words in the book, but they lack substance. They’ll disappear the moment the switch is flipped off” (Ibid.). [8] See W.J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, 79; Plato, Phaedrus 274-277 [9] Ong, 81 [10] Timothy P. O’Malley, Liturgy and the New Evangelization: Practicing the Art of Self-Giving Love, 13 [11] Bernard Marr, The Future of Learning Reshaped by VR, AR, and Blockchain (Forbes, accessed on July 1, 2023) [12] See Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 18.19 [13] Indeed, the very concept and notion of sin has become extinct in the narratives promulgated by mass media and when technological advancement is considered, and in turn, in the societies and cultures in which we live, think, and interact. [14] Within two months of its launch, OpenAI’s ChatGPT had 100 million monthly active users, according to a study published for Time (Andrew R. Chow, How ChatGPT Managed to Grow Faster Than TikTok or Instagram, Time, accessed on August 7, 2023). [15] Origen of Alexandria, Homilies on Judges 2 (Elizabeth Ann Dively Lauro, The Fathers of the Church Vol. 119: Origen: Homilies on Judges, 55) [16] See Kirsten Grieshaber, Can a chatbot preach a good sermon? Hundreds attend church service generated by ChatGPT to find out (Associated Press, accessed on July 18, 2023) [17] See Fiona Andre, USC researchers use AI to help translate Bible into very rare languages (The Washington Post, accessed on July 17, 2023) [18] Wednesday Ⲯⲁⲗⲓ, 13 [19] Ong, 83 [20] Romano Guardini, Letters from Lake Como: Explorations in Technology and the Human Race, 96 —

A translation of an excerpt from a sermon delivered by His Eminence Metropolitan Kyrillos of Milan. — My beloved, I thank God with all my heart for this great blessing and this great grace, and His Grace Bishop Abakir was attempting to direct your attention from Sweden to Milan; truly tremendous efforts were undertaken in these countries, and we are grateful to His Grace that with God’s work and the labor of those who serve with him, the service grew and multiplied, and you have not yet seen anything — you will see many things, and God will bless, and the diocese will possess a sweet fragrance that will be enjoyed by all of the surrounding countries, and it will carry out a mission that all the people will [experience], and it will undertake a heavenly work from which we can all benefit. We as fathers always serve God, knowing full well that God knows how to work with both the worm and the whale; with both a crow and a dove. God works in the turbulent sea and the calm sea. Perhaps the most significant story that conveys to us this message — that God is the one who works, not us, and that we are merely people who observe the work of God with us […] — before the grace of the episcopacy, it was easy for me to deliver a sermon on blessing, for instance, and speak about God’s blessings. I would speak about what I would read in the Scriptures. But after God’s work with the person, he is able to say: “I have seen the blessing; I have touched the blessing; I have held onto the blessing; I have felt the blessing.” The one story that can easily lead us to recognize this, that God cares for both the one who serves and the one who is served, and cares for the edification of souls — is the story of Jonah the prophet and the great people of Nineveh. When you sit and contemplate this story, you will find that it is a beautiful one — God, the great teacher; God, the great governor; God, who “longs for the salvation and deliverance of everyone,”[1] desires to find everyone returning to Him. He desires houses of prayer; He desires houses of purity; He desires houses of blessing.[2] So what does He do? He calls a mischievous person, perhaps a mischievous servant, and tells him: “Come, Jonah, and go to this or that place.” Jonah knew God very well and understood Him, so he rebelled, and God then began to remedy Jonah’s problem so he would then remedy for Him the problem of the great Nineveh. What did God do? He gave him a lesson, as the Good teacher, in mysterious ways. All of creation moved so that the great Nineveh would be changed and so that Jonah would be changed. He escaped, but God pursued him. He went to sleep, and God woke him up. They brought him up from beneath: “Come here! What are you doing? Where are you from? What is your name? Where did you come from? Where are you going? Tell us about yourself.” And at the very end, we find that God began to teach him, and that every time he rebels, God teaches him not by means of a person but by means of a small plant that grows above his head, so that he loves it and rejoices, and then the plant is taken away by a little worm so that he becomes upset and depressed and tells Him to take his soul. He was by disposition a bit grumpy. He was easily angered and easily felt suffocated [by his circumstances]. And at the very end, the result was that the one who served was God. We do not know how to serve. It is God who serves through us. Just as His Grace told us. His Grace said that none of us serve — God is the one who serves in us. And God is the one who serves by us. And God is the one who serves with us. Without Him, we cannot. Yesterday we celebrated the enthronement of His Grace Bishop Luka in Geneva, and we as bishops recalled a few things about our pastoral work, whether bishops or priests [or] servants, and we always express our conviction that “without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Forgive me, but logically speaking, if I could do something, would God interfere? He would not interfere. But as His Grace said, if I cannot [do something], then God will intervene. If I tell God, “come intervene,” He will intervene. And this is very clear in God’s providence. It is clear that He comes to the one who cries out to Him. God comes to the one who calls for Him. Whether the priest or the bishop or the servant, all of us, before we serve, we tell God: “We want you to support us; without you we can do nothing.” And as the Psalm says: “the Lord will hear you” (cf. Psalm 20:1). If you ask for Him, He will come. And in our nature, we must always seek God and draw near to Him. And for every one of us who comes close to God, this is evidence of his love for God. Some people love God for the sake of selfish gain. Some people love God to gain His protection or because they are afraid of Him, lest He torture them. But some people love God for the sake of God Himself. For this reason I will remind you of a beautiful saying of one of the saints. He told God, “God if I love You due to a selfish desire for the Kingdom, prevent me from it. If I love You for fear of the suffering of Hades, burn me with it. But if I love You for the sake of Your love, confirm me in Your love.” When we serve, we serve for the sake of love. When one of us is asked, “why do you serve?” There is only one sound answer: “the love of God renders me incapable of being silent.” Why did His Grace join the monastery? Because the love of God was enflamed in his heart. He wanted God. This is undeniable. He had a job, a workplace, a community, a home, and the means by which he could establish his own home. And the same applies to his brothers the bishops and the fathers the priests who consecrated themselves and left their jobs for no reason except to enter the vineyard of the Lord. The love of God renders them incapable of being silent. I cannot be silent! I have tasted Him and I therefore want to lead others to also taste Him. Even as I speak to you now, the desire of my heart is not that I deliver a sermon. All of my heart’s desire is that God will dwell in your hearts and that He will fill your hearts. This is the desire of my heart. I know that God dwells in this house. This is the house of the Lord and the Lord of the house is in it. It is called the house of the Lord, and the Lord of the house dwells within it. So all of my thoughts concern these two things. I am coming to the house of the Lord to meet with the Lord of the house. This is what occupies my mind — that when you and me and all of us are in his house, we are wholly concerned with God who dwells in this house. We want God. We do not merely want to greet Him in His house, but we want to tell Him: “we long to be like the Virgin Mary, about whom we say in the [Midnight Praises], ‘she is exalted above than the cherubim and more honored than the seraphim, for she became a temple for one of the Trinity.’[3]” When the Virgin was a child, she entered into the house of the Lord, and in the fullness of time she became a temple for God. If we all come here and meet with God, who is present in this place and fills all places, who is uncontainable by any place — if we meet with God here, we must leave having also been filled by God in our hearts. How can one leave the house of God and feel that he is lacking anything unless he did not meet God there? The service of the father priest, the service of the father bishop, the service of the brother servant, all of these services concern one goal — that we are all united with God. Without Him, we can do nothing. The second thing is: who is the one who changes the people? What changes the people is the beauty of Christ in us. This is what effects the change in the people. Do we not hear about Abba Antony, “it is enough for me to see your face?”[4] You look at Abba Antony and say, “it is enough for me to see your face.” Why? What is in you, Abba Antony? He is preoccupied with God. He is wholly concerned with God, and the image of God has become imprinted upon his face and in his whole person. I love a saying of St. Habib Girgis: “the image of God is not imprinted in your heart unless your heart is as clear as water.” The image of God is not imprinted in my heart or yours unless our hearts are as clear as water. So we come to the house of God to purify the heart, so that it is pure, clean, and spotless. And not only does the image of God become imprinted in the heart, but when the heart is pure and clean and spotless, we also see God Himself. Without God, we can do nothing, as I have told you. [. . .] — Please find the full sermon at the following link: https://youtu.be/QyZJGjkR0Zw Cover Image: His Eminence Metropolitan Kyrillos of Milan of blessed memory (left) with His Eminence Metropolitan Arsenius of Minya of blessed memory (right), to whom he was a faithful disciple and alongside whom he served for many years in Minya and its surrounding regions prior to his reappointment to Milan, Italy. Image Original. — [1] cf. ⲡⲓⲟⲩⲱⲓⲛⲓ, An ⲁⲇⲁⲙ Doxology for the Lord Jesus Christ in the Coptic Orthodox Church, 11 [2] cf. Litany for the Assemblies in the Coptic Orthodox Church [3] The Wednesday θεοτοκια of the Midnight Praises of the Coptic Orthodox Church, 6.3 [4] cf. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Anthony the Great, 27 —