An obstacle frequently encountered by those among the Christian faithful who seek to fulfill the necessary Biblical directive to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) is that of disheartenment occasioned by questioning whether God truly hears their prayers. Particularly in difficult circumstances, these may feel that their cries fall short of reaching the “ears” of God, even as they continue to offer up prayers to Him, sometimes begrudgingly, in the hope that He might hear and grant their requests. In some instances, they may even abandon prayer entirely. It is therefore necessary to carefully consider the efficacy of prayer and its place in Christian practice, drawing from both the God-breathed Scriptures and the experience and wisdom of the early Church so that, from this reflection, we may altogether attain refreshment, a renewed vigor, and incitement to venture deeper into the life of prayer which is fellowship with God and nourishment in Him. God knows all things and “sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). The Lord “searches all hearts, and understands every plan and thought” (1 Chronicles 28:9). He “knows the secrets of the heart” (Psalm 44:21) and from His sight “no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare” (Hebrews 4:13). Nevertheless, the Scriptures advise that “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6) for “the Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth” (Psalm 145:18). In keeping with this divinely ordained emphasis on prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself prayed often and taught both His own disciples and the people more generally to pray. For instance, He prayed during His baptism in the Jordan (See Luke 3:21); after He healed Simon’s mother in law (See Mark 1:35); before He chose the twelve disciples (See Luke 6:12); before He walked on the water to His disciples in the boat (See Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46); at His transfiguration (See Luke 9:28-29); in His long prayer to the Father (See John 17); in Gethsemane, on the night of His betrayal by Judas (See Matthew 26; Mark 14; Luke 22); and in many other recorded, and doubtless also unrecorded, instances. Indeed, “He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16), and His prayers were of such power and beauty that once, after He had finished praying, one of His disciples asked Him: “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1). The Lord also taught frequently regarding prayer. In His Sermon on the Mount, He instructed the people to pray for those who spitefully use and persecute them (See Matthew 5:44), emphasized the practice of secret prayer (See Matthew 6:6-7), and noted the necessity of intelligent prayer (See Matthew 6:7-8). He also highlighted the prerequisite of forgiveness to prayer, saying, “whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25), and encouraged his hearers “to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). The Apostles, faithfully following the Lord’s example and teaching, also prayed often, and urged the believers to “be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12), and to “continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2) and “without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). They prayed individually and collectively, as is mentioned frequently in the Book of Acts: for instance, all who were gathered in the upper room after the Ascension “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14); the disciples prayed when choosing a replacement for Judas Iscariot (See Acts 1:24-25); Peter and John went together to pray at the Temple at the ninth hour (See Acts 3:1); the Apostles prayed when ordaining the seven deacons to serve the tables (See Acts 6:6); Saul prayed after the Lord appeared to him on the road, as he sat unable to see in Damascus (See Acts 9:11); Peter prayed before raising Tabitha from the dead by the power of God (See Acts 9:40) and on the rooftop at the sixth hour when he saw the vision of common and uncommon animals (See Acts 10:9); Paul and Silas prayed at midnight while imprisoned in Philippi (See Acts 16:25); and Paul prayed before laying his hands upon the father of Publius to heal him (See Acts 28:8). Prayer was not solely practiced by Christ and His Apostles. Rather, it is evident all throughout the inspired Scriptures that prayer was faithfully practiced in every generation by believing men and women who, regardless of their circumstances, sought to discern and fulfill God’s will and abide in the inexpressible joy of His presence. Prayer, then, is the means by which one enters into the life with God and communion with Him, and it is God who both teaches and enables the human to offer appropriate prayer. Origen therefore writes: “Just as a sick man does not ask the doctor for things which will restore him to health but rather for things which his disease longs for, so likewise we, as long as we are languishing in the weakness of this life, will from time to time ask God for things which are not good for us. This is why the Spirit has to help us. The weakness which the Spirit helps us with is our flesh…Whenever the Holy Spirit sees our spirit struggling with the flesh and being drawn to it, He stretches out His hand and helps us in our weakness.”[1] Elsewhere, he elaborates: “Therefore, the discussion of prayer is so great a task that it requires the Father to reveal it, His Firstborn Word to teach it, and the Spirit to enable us to think and speak rightly of so great a subject.”[2] In perfect prayer, the human, repeating the words taught by Christ, asks God: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” This petition is a sublime expression of the Christian life, for through it, the believer seeks to enter into communion with God. Truly the Scriptures teach that God’s will is for all men “to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4; See also 2 Peter 3:9; John 17:3); to be sanctified (See 1 Thessalonians 4:3); to love one another (See John 13:34-35); to be one with Him and with one another (See John 17:11,20-23); to abide with Him where He is (See John 17:24); and to discern His voice and live according to His will (See John 10:27, 14:23-24; 1 John 5:2-3). In prayer, as in life, the Christian believer seeks to align his will with that of His Lord by emptying himself in the presence of God so as to be filled and guided by Him. In silencing his own thoughts, he is able to hear the voice of God. But this is not enough: it is essential not only to hear His voice, but also to properly discern it. This capability is achieved by living with God and knowing His word, particularly through the life the Church freely offers to her members — the liturgical life of prayer, worship, and intimacy with the Scriptures. In the experience of the Church, “prayer was not an activity undertaken for a few hours each day, it was a life continually turned to God.”[3] Thus, in the monastic experience especially, prayer “was life orientated towards God. ‘Unless a man can say, ‘I alone and God are here,’ he will not find the prayer of the quiet.’ It is the other side of the saying of St. Anthony, ‘My life is with my brother.’”[4] In offering with sincerity this petition, “Thy will be done,” the Christian submits his personal ambitions, opinions, and plans to the will of God for him — “Thy will,” not “my will.” When we approach prayer in this way, we no longer find it necessary to present a checklist to God in our discourse with Him, nor do we any longer deal with Him as a banker, offering Him collateral or some valuable sacrifice in exchange for the objects of our prayers. Instead, in prayer, “setting our minds on things above” (Colossians 3:2), we enter into life with God, laying down our desires, our longings, and even our very lives before Him in order to become instruments in His hands to accomplish His will. It then becomes sufficient to heed the guidance of Abba Macarius, who, when asked how one should pray, said: “There is no need at all to make long discourses; it is enough to stretch out one’s hands and say, ‘Lord, as you will, and as you know, have mercy.’ And if the conflict grows fiercer say, ‘Lord, help!’ He knows very well what we need and he shews us his mercy.’”[5] Only then will we no longer await an immediate, perceptible, or apparently favorable answer to our requests and prayers. Instead, we will recognize, believe, and ask that all things are done according to the will of God, as He deems fit, being thankful for His presence in and management of our lives[6] irrespective of what His response is, or whether He responds at all, to our individual petitions. When the will of God becomes our own, we experience the realization of the Lord’s promise: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). Truly “this is the confidence which we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of Him” (1 John 5:14-15). Unanswered prayers ought not stir up resentment in our hearts towards God, for prayer is the accomplishment of a much greater task — namely, communion and fellowship with God, for “our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3) through the Holy Spirit (See Romans 8:9-17; 2 Corinthians 13:14). If we are disheartened by prayers which, in our eyes, have gone unanswered by God, let us remember the example of our Lord Jesus Christ who, in preparation for His Pascha, prayed saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). Highlighting this example, the Christian writer C.S. Lewis writes: “Prayer is not a machine. It is not magic. It is not advice offered to God. Our act, when we pray, must not, any more than all our other acts, be separated from the continuous act of God Himself, in which alone all finite causes operate. It would be even worse to think of those who get what they pray for as a sort of court favorites, people who have influence with the throne. The refused prayer of Christ in Gethsemane is answer enough for that…Does God then forsake just those who serve Him best? Well, He who served Him best of all said, near His tortured death, ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’ When God becomes man, that Man, of all others, is least comforted by God, at His greatest need. There is a mystery here which, even if I had the power, I might not have the courage to explore. Meanwhile, little people like you and me, if our prayers are sometimes granted, beyond all hope and probability, had better not draw hasty conclusions to our own advantage. If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver, we might be sent, with far less help, to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle.”[7] May God grant us His mercy and peace, fill our hearts with His joy and gladness, and support us as we venture deeper through prayer into our lives with Him, to Whom is due all glory now and forever. Amen. “Your servants, O Lord, who are serving You, entreating Your holy Name, and bowing down their heads to You, dwell in them, O Lord, walk among them, aid them in every good deed, and awaken their hearts from every vile and earthly thought, grant them to live and think of what is pertaining to the living and understand the things that are Yours” (Coptic Prayer of Submission to the Father). — [1] Origen, Commentary on Romans 4.76-78 [2] Origen, On Prayer 2.6 [3] Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Foreword [4] Ibid. [5] Ibid., 131 [6] See Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil (Coptic), Seven Prayers [7] CS Lewis, "The Efficacy of Prayer," The World's Last Night and Other Essays, 9-10 —

To the Youth of Austria Delivered December 5, 2015 In Commemoration of the Fortieth Day of His Departure September 23, 2017 In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – One God, Amen. Your Grace, thank you for allowing me to see these beautiful young men and women. I will speak to you today about how to be victorious in the world. In the world we face much warfare. The world has a prince, and this prince is Satan. Satan has an intricate system, like those of large companies. You are able to visit a company’s website, enter a product, and see whether it is carried by the company and at which location. You can visit Ikea’s website, search for a bed, and learn whether it is carried at the Ikea store here in Vienna, or in the store at Graz, or at Klagenfurt. Satan has a similar system. He has a system connecting the computer, the media, and the internet. He controls theaters, smoking, music, news outlets, and inappropriate places. A young man can enter Satan’s company through drinking. Then he will gradually bring his friend to the bar to drink. Then he will bring his friend to the brothel, or the club. A huge system, and this same system exists here in Vienna, and in Milan, Canada and America, and in the villages – everywhere. Satan gradually comes to influence a young man or woman, and expands his network through this new member, to reach the member’s friends, colleagues, and family. God gave us a commandment that we hear in church every day, except for Holy Week. 360 days a year we hear it: “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world…”[1] What does this mean? What is the world? Is it the earth which God created? The Holy Bible uses “the world” to mean at least three things. Sometimes it means “the earth,” or “the creation.” Other times, it means “humanity.” But in other instances, “the world” means this system of Satan that we have been discussing. This is what we are talking about today. Satan is responsible for this interconnected system we find in the world. He moves people to enmity; he leads nations to wage war on one another. He leads people astray; he guides young people to drunkenness and theft. He influences the boy or girl, as he or she gets older, to think: “Mom and dad do not think how our generation thinks. They are outdated, and don’t know anything. I know better. I’ll move out, I can’t stand them.” These are all components of this system of Satan. God tells us that this system is what we call “the world,” which is why Jesus says: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”[2] Could this possibly mean humanity? Of course not! But it is this system: the worldly way of thinking, the worldly pursuits, and desires. Which is why, at the end of the Catholic Epistle, we all hear: “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world, for the world passes away and all its lust…” If you want to overcome, and have victory over Satan, you must realize that you have to hate this system and avoid it at all costs. Suppose someone loves to drink alcohol. He begins with one sip, then one sip becomes two. Soon, he becomes intoxicated, and no longer knows what he is doing or where he is. He becomes powerless when it comes to this substance. A tobacco addict begins with one cigarette, which becomes two, which becomes a pack, then two, and finally he becomes a slave to smoking, unable to resist this sin. When God tells us to “not love the world, nor the things in the world,” he is telling us to totally avoid anything that takes us away from God. There is a verse that is both beautiful and frightening: “Do not be overly wicked, nor be foolish: Why should you die before your time.”[3] Can you really die before your time? The one who smokes and destroys his lungs dies before his time. The one who gets drunk and destroys his liver and his stomach dies before his time. The one who walks in sin and adultery, who cannot establish a holy family and a blessed household that would bless the earth with children to God because he is immersed in lust, destroys his life and dies before his time from sexually transmitted diseases and other related evils. God wanted to tell us how to overcome. He said: “My beloved, here is how you will overcome: do not love the world, and avoid its system at all costs.” Do not walk a path that will lead to destruction. Especially when we are young, we think that the way of the world is easy and pleasurable, and much more attractive than the asceticism and requirements of the life with God. But we do not realize that at the end of that easy road is death and destruction. It is an easy path, but its end is death. Our hands have five fingers each, and I will tell you five things that will help you overcome and live with God. You can associate these with your fingers, to help you remember them. First: “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world.” Do not love the system of Satan. But love one another! The love of people is different from the love of the world. I love you, and I love that you are successful. You can have a successful career, a good income, and much goodness. This does not mean that you love the world. So firstly, “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world.” Do not love this system of Satan; avoid his network. Satan does not sleep. He strives unceasingly to ensnare all of us. Satan does not love God, he does not love Christ the Son of God, and he does not love the children of God. He hates us. We have a beautiful story in the Paradise of the Monks. Satan came to Abba Macarius and told him: “I don’t know what to do with you. You stay awake, but I don’t sleep. You fast, but I do not eat. The only difference between us is that you are very humble. You are holding onto God, and I have no power over you.” Second: Flee for your life. Separate yourself from those people who love the world, and those who are children of Satan. Satan has children: those who do his will. The one who fills your ears and your mind with bad words is the child of Satan. The one who encourages you to visit sinful places is the child of Satan. But flee for your life. I will tell you a beautiful story. The Holy Bible prescribed medicine to everyone who deviates from the path to life. What is this medicine? God sent two angels to a man named Lot. They told him: “Lot, you live in a land full of evil. All of the inhabitants of this land are drowning in evil: adultery, sin, and deviant lifestyles.” God does not abide in a place of deviance and evil. He cannot live there, he cannot stand the smell of evil. The angels came to Lot and said: “Lot, flee for your life, you and your children!” “How can I flee?” “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”[4] God even gave him the way; He gave him the medicine that would save his life. “I will give you a dose of medicine that will save you.” What is this dose? “Flee for your life.” Replace Lot’s name with your own name. “Kyrillos, flee for your life.” “Get out of this place!”[5] What do you mean “Get out of this place?” “This place” is the place where there are evil people, or where there are evil activities. Suppose you go to school or the university, and you find a group of people you know. They tell you: “Let’s go to the club.” “What will we do there?” “Come on, you’re young, there’s nothing wrong with dancing. It’s just exercise: just some bodily movements.” And after you move your body this way and that, and she moves her body, and you both dance, what next? What are the emotions that are evoked? And what does it lead to? Then you’ll say: “There’s a bar here, let’s go have a drink while we dance.” And then two, and three. Then what? Soon, you will become habituated into clubbing, dancing, and drinking. And this “exercise” will cost you your holiness, your purity, and your life. “Get out of this place.”[6] Where there is evil, or sin, get out of that place. The angels told Lot not to look back. To this extent? Yes! “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”[7] Your life is precious! If it were not, God would not have taken flesh. God would not have become man. He would not have come closer to me and taken my hand and asked me to come follow Him. You are precious to God. Third: Learn to say “no.” But don’t say “no” to mom and dad and your priests, and say “Anba Kyrillos told me to say no.” No! Say no to evil, to sin; to Satan and those who advocate for his ends. There was once a young boy whose friends tried to encourage him to go to a cinema on their way home from school one day. He told them: “No. I’m not going.” They said to him: “Why? Just call your mom and tell her.” He said: “No. My mom tells me not to go to the cinema, and she tells me no for my own good. What my parents taught me, I will do. It is for my own good.” Your heavenly Father tells you “no” as well. “Do not lie,” “Do not steal,” “Do not commit adultery.” Say “no.” When your friends try to influence you to do evil, stand firmly and say “no.” Train yourself to resist. When you open your computer and your electronic devices, say “no” to sinful websites and unchristian scenes. Train yourself to feel God’s presence with you. When you feel His presence, you will find it impossible to watch anything sinful in His presence. When you say “no” for His sake, He will be the one to strengthen you. No one who has said “no” for the name of Christ has ever been abandoned by Christ. There were three famous young men, your age, who did this: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three were young, and they were taken bound with chains to Nebuchadnezzar as prisoners. And with them was Daniel the prophet. Those three young men drove the king crazy. He gave them work in his palace; he taught them the language, and gave them new names and ranks. Then someone told the king that these three young men did not live like everyone else in food and drink and prayer and everything else. So he called for them, and told them: “If you don’t worship this big statute, watch what we’ll do to you.” They could have taken the easy way out, but they said “no.” This same “no,” I’m telling you about. “We’ll torture you, we’ll strengthen the fire and throw you in!” “Still, no. We will only worship God. What we received from our homes, we will not abandon.” They were young men. They were thrown in the fire, but remember what happened? One like the Son of God was with them in the fire, and he protected them from the fire. Those who threw them in were killed by the heat. But these three were unharmed. They said “no” to evil, so the Son of God was with them. So firstly, “Do not love the world, nor the things of the world.” Secondly, flee for your life. Thirdly, say “no.” We have two fingers left! Fourth: Develop friendships with those who know Christ, and who love the person of Christ. If you do not find holy friends where you live, open the Holy Bible, and you will find friends there who loved Christ and who were victorious. Have friendships with those who are role models, with those who love Christ. And if you find none of these, open the Holy Bible and say, for example: “Today, I will open Genesis, and I will read chapters 37 to 50 to get to know Joseph the Righteous.” This young man who had beauty and power and intellect and love for God. He lived according to God’s commandments many years before Moses, such that “Do not commit adultery” was already in his heart when he resisted the wife of Potiphar and preserved his purity, saying: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”[8] He did not see God physically, but He loved Him and knew Him. Keep holy friendships. Be strong and wise in your dealings with your friends, male and female. Be strong and wise when you use electronic media. Why send unholy pictures, or look at unholy scenes? Look at your brothers and sisters with purity. Deal with them with edification and holiness. Live according to the spirit of Christ. Friendship is important, but only if your friends and your group love God and live in holiness. If I am wearing a white outfit, and I touch a newly-painted wall, my outfit will become stained. Even if you are pure, if you interact with uncleanness, you will become unclean. If you deal with good people, you will become good. If you deal with evil people, you will be evil. The Holy Bible says: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”[9] If you bring a basket of good apples and put one bad apple in their midst, all will become rotten. You know the saying: “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” If you sit with unholy people, you will become unholy. If you spend your time with peaceful people, you will become peaceful. When Peter the apostle was in the courtyard during Christ’s trial, they said: “This is one of them;”[10] and then again: “Surely you are one of them…”[11] He looks like one of Christ’s disciples, he acts like one, he sounds like one. Why? Because he was a friend of Christ, and spent his time with Him. Search for good friends. Spend your time on websites that teach you about Christ. But beware of those sites that look religious but will lead you to doubt and deviate. You can spend a few minutes on these sites and become confused. So “Do not love the world, nor anything of the world,” flee for your life from evil and sin, say no to the worldly things and worldly places, and develop holy friendships. Finally: Realize that Christ loves you. He searches for you. Not only does He love you, but He is also with you. If you call for Him, He will be with you. If you do not call Him, and then you don’t find Him, don’t blame Him. Our Lord said to His children: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”[12] “I am with you in elementary school, in middle school, in high school, in college, in marriage, in middle age, in old age, in career, in hardships, in success, in failure, in everything.” Abba Arsenius said: “If we seek God, He will appear to us; and if we hold on to Him, He will abide with us.”[13] When you call to God, He hears you. Can the Creator of the ear not hear you? But call to Him with all your heart. He is with you, searching for you. He longs for you to come to Him. When I say the Psalm “Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord,”[14] sometimes I think: “How can I say to God, ‘Out of the depths I have cried to you?’” Maybe it is God calling to me from the depths: “Out of the depths I have cried to you, Kyrillos.” Out of the depths, He is calling you and me: “Come, you are beautiful! Be careful, you are about to sin: your features that I love will begin to change, your true beauty will begin to disappear. Why let your beauty disappear?” If Christ is in my life, I will keep all goodness in myself and preserve my true beauty and will continue to increase in beauty and goodness. So, there are five things: first, “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world,” and this “world” is the system of Satan; second, flee for your life, by not standing where evil is, and not looking back; third, say “no” to evil and sin; fourth, develop holy friendships with those who love Christ and who have attained to victory; fifth, Christ loves you and me, He is searching for us. The more you think about these points, the more you will find to think about. Thank you and thank you to His Grace for allowing me to see you and take your blessing. [1] 1 John 2:15 [2] Mark 8:36 [3] Ecclesiastes 7:17 [4] Genesis 19:17 [5] Genesis 19:14 [6] Ibid. [7] Genesis 19:17 [8] Genesis 39:9 [9] 1 Corinthians 15:33 [10] Mark 14:69 [11] Mark 14:70 [12] Matthew 28:20 [13] Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Arsenius 10 [14] Psalm 130:1 This translation by Anthony & Andrew Doss was first shared by Fr. Bishoy L. Mikhail on August 14, 2018: https://frbishoylamie.blogspot.com/2018/08/attaining-victory-in-world-his-eminence.html?fbclid=IwAR288SI9CJ8oSCEQZZYwUwk7xWFnr9KNZenEr6fck35hkoHxdcwEGmd1F3M&m=1

[Click to expand] Prepared for Patristics V: The Fathers After Chalcedon, Fr. Athanasius K. Farag (Pope Shenouda III Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary, Spring 2020)

As humanity continues to struggle against another pandemic that threatens the entire world, many Christians have begun to express curiosity at how the Christians of the Early Church dealt with epidemics and crises such as this. We have compiled some resources relevant to that question in this article, providing some accounts of early Christian responses to epidemics and crises in order to allow us to develop a soundly Christian lens by which we might frame our understanding of, and responses to, today’s challenges and concerns. There arose in the mid-third century an epidemic commonly referred to as the Plague of Cyprian. Eusebius the historian records the testimony of St. Dionysius of Alexandria regarding this event, and especially the Christian response to it, as follows: “After these events a pestilential disease followed the war, and at the approach of the feast [St. Dionysius] wrote again to the brethren, describing the sufferings consequent upon this calamity: ‘To other men the present might not seem to be a suitable time for a festival. Nor indeed is this or any other time suitable for them; neither sorrowful times, nor even such as might be thought especially cheerful. Now, indeed, everything is tears and every one is mourning, and wailings resound daily through the city because of the multitude of the dead and dying. For as it was written of the firstborn of the Egyptians, so now 'there has arisen a great cry, for there is not a house where there is not one dead.' And would that this were all! For many terrible things have happened already. First, they drove us out; and when alone, and persecuted, and put to death by all, even then we kept the feast. And every place of affliction was to us a place of festival: field, desert, ship, inn, prison; but the perfected martyrs kept the most joyous festival of all, feasting in heaven. After these things war and famine followed, which we endured in common with the heathen. But we bore alone those things with which they afflicted us, and at the same time we experienced also the effects of what they inflicted upon and suffered from one another; and again, we rejoiced in the peace of Christ, which he gave to us alone. But after both we and they had enjoyed a very brief season of rest this pestilence assailed us; to them more dreadful than any dread, and more intolerable than any other calamity; and, as one of their own writers has said, the only thing which prevails over all hope. But to us this was not so, but no less than the other things was it an exercise and probation. For it did not keep aloof even from us, but the heathen it assailed more severely.’ Farther on he adds: ‘The most of our brethren were unsparing in their exceeding love and brotherly kindness. They held fast to each other and visited the sick fearlessly, and ministered to them continually, serving them in Christ. And they died with them most joyfully, taking the affliction of others, and drawing the sickness from their neighbors to themselves and willingly receiving their pains. And many who cared for the sick and gave strength to others died themselves having transferred to themselves their death. And the popular saying which always seems a mere expression of courtesy, they then made real in action, taking their departure as the others' 'offscouring.' Truly the best of our brethren departed from life in this manner, including some presbyters and deacons and those of the people who had the highest reputation; so that this form of death, through the great piety and strong faith it exhibited, seemed to lack nothing of martyrdom. And they took the bodies of the saints in their open hands and in their bosoms, and closed their eyes and their mouths; and they bore them away on their shoulders and laid them out; and they clung to them and embraced them; and they prepared them suitably with washings and garments. And after a little they received like treatment themselves, for the survivors were continually following those who had gone before them. But with the heathen everything was quite otherwise. They deserted those who began to be sick, and fled from their dearest friends. And they cast them out into the streets when they were half dead, and left the dead like refuse, unburied. They shunned any participation or fellowship with death; which yet, with all their precautions, it was not easy for them to escape...’” (Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, VII.22). This same epidemic is described by Pontius the Deacon, providing his account of the response of St. Cyprian of Carthage to the crisis: “Afterwards there broke out a dreadful plague, and excessive destruction of a hateful disease invaded every house in succession of the trembling populace, carrying off day by day with abrupt attack numberless people, every one from his own house. All were shuddering, fleeing, shunning the contagion, impiously exposing their own friends, as if with the exclusion of the person who was sure to die of the plague, one could exclude death itself also. There lay about the meanwhile, over the whole city, no longer bodies, but the carcasses of many, and, by the contemplation of a lot which in their turn would be theirs, demanded the pity of the passers-by for themselves. No one regarded anything besides his cruel gains. No one trembled at the remembrance of a similar event. No one did to another what he himself wished to experience. In these circumstances, it would be a wrong to pass over what the pontiff of Christ (i.e. St. Cyprian) did, who excelled the pontiffs of the world as much in kindly affection as he did in truth of religion. On the people assembled together in one place he first of all urged the benefits of mercy, teaching by examples from divine lessons, how greatly the duties of benevolence avail to deserve well of God. Then afterwards he subjoined, that there was nothing wonderful in our cherishing our own people only with the needed attentions of love, but that he might become perfect who would do something more than the publican or the heathen, who, overcoming evil with good, and practising a clemency which was like the divine clemency, loved even his enemies, who would pray for the salvation of those that persecute him, as the Lord admonishes and exhorts. God continually makes His sun to rise, and from time to time gives showers to nourish the seed, exhibiting all these kindnesses not only to His people, but to aliens also. And if a man professes to be a son of God, why does not he imitate the example of his Father? ‘It becomes us,’ said he, ‘to answer to our birth; and it is not fitting that those who are evidently born of God should be degenerate, but rather that the propagation of a good Father should be proved in His offspring by the emulation of His goodness’” (Pontius, Life of Cyprian, 9). It is clear that the Christians in the Early Church truly embodied the principles of their Faith, selflessly caring even for their enemies in times of widespread illness. Julian the Apostate, in his Letter to Arsacius, High-Priest of Galatia, expresses his envy of the Christians for this manner of life and urges that the pagans imitate the Christian “atheists” for their benevolence and holiness of life: “The Hellenic religion does not yet prosper as I desire, and it is the fault of those who profess it...why do we not observe that it is [the Christians’] benevolence to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead and the pretended holiness of their lives that have done most to increase atheism? I believe that we ought really and truly to practise every one of these virtues...For it is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galilaeans support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us.” Rodney Stark, in The Rise of Christianity, notes: “For all that [Julian] urged pagan priests to match these Christian practices, there was little or no response because there were no doctrinal bases or traditional practices for them to build upon” (Stark, The Rise of Christianity, 88). This spirit of Christlike service embodied by the early Christians is clearly seen in the time of St. Shenouda the Archimandrite, two centuries after the Plague of Cyprian ravaged the ancient world. When the Nubians carried out raids on villages nearby, St. Shenouda opened his monastery’s doors to 20,000 people, feeding and sheltering them while providing physicians to care for their illnesses and wounds. “In a short work by Shenoute, entitled Continuing to Glorify the Lord, found in an Appendix to Canon 7 he refers to this story himself relating how the Lord worked during this time to provide for the masses of people in need. Putting the two sources together, we learn how the federation fed multitudes of refugees (at times miraculously), buried 94 people, assisted with 52 new births, and provided seven physicians to care for the sick and wounded, entirely from out of the monastery’s own expenses which God had blessed for fulfilling these acts of charity in time of war” (Deacon Antonios the Shenoudian (A. Bibawy), St. Shenoute of Atripe and His Monastic Order, in John A. McGuckin, Orthodox Monasticism Past and Present, 241, 257-8). St. Basil of Caesarea, possibly inspired by the philanthropic efforts of St. Shenouda as well as St. Pachomius (Ibid., 254), erected the Basileiad, considered the prototype for the modern hospital, between 369-72, providing health care at no cost to all who required it. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, delivering an oration on his friend St. Basil after his death, says: “A noble thing is philanthropy, and the support of the poor, and the assistance of human weakness. Go forth a little way from the city, and behold the new city, the storehouse of piety, the common treasury of the wealthy, in which the superfluities of their wealth, aye, and even their necessaries, are stored, in consequence of his exhortations, freed from the power of the moth (Matt. 6:19), no longer gladdening the eyes of the thief, and escaping both the emulation of envy, and the corruption of time: where disease is regarded in a religious light, and disaster is thought a blessing, and sympathy is put to the test...My subject is the most wonderful of all, the short road to salvation, the easiest ascent to heaven. There is no longer before our eyes that terrible and piteous spectacle of men who are living corpses, the greater part of whose limbs have mortified, driven away from their cities and homes and public places and fountains, aye, and from their own dearest ones, recognizable by their names rather than by their features: they are no longer brought before us at our gatherings and meetings, in our common intercourse and union, no longer the objects of hatred, instead of pity on account of their disease; composers of piteous songs, if any of them have their voice still left to them. Why should I try to express in tragic style all our experiences, when no language can be adequate to their hard lot? He however it was, who took the lead in pressing upon those who were men, that they ought not to despise their fellowmen, nor to dishonour Christ, the one Head of all, by their inhuman treatment of them; but to use the misfortunes of others as an opportunity of firmly establishing their own lot, and to lend to God that mercy of which they stand in need at His hands. He did not therefore disdain to honour with his lips this disease, noble and of noble ancestry and brilliant reputation though he was, but saluted them as brethren, not, as some might suppose, from vainglory, (for who was so far removed from this feeling?) but taking the lead in approaching to tend them, as a consequence of his philosophy, and so giving not only a speaking, but also a silent, instruction. The effect produced is to be seen not only in the city, but in the country and beyond, and even the leaders of society have vied with one another in their philanthropy and magnanimity towards them. Others have had their cooks, and splendid tables, and the devices and dainties of confectioners, and exquisite carriages, and soft, flowing robes; Basil's care was for the sick, and the relief of their wounds, and the imitation of Christ, by cleansing leprosy, not by a word, but in deed” (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Homily 43.63). In these uncertain days, may we live by the example of our fathers in returning to God the True Physician, remembering that “if we consider ourselves humans, we can not neglect our own kind, for with our heartlessness and wickedness, we offend Christ Himself, who is the head of all” (Ibid.). Let us seek the healing of our souls before that of our bodies, while actively contributing however we can to the societal struggle against the disease that threatens us today.