St. Mary of Egypt

Introduction

The story of St. Mary of Egypt first circulated among the monastic communities of the Eastern Church in the early sixth century. Her story spread very quickly to the West, and by the end of the century she was well known throughout all Christendom. Western churches celebrate her feast on April 2nd, the Coptic church on April 14 (Pharmuthi 6th), and the Greek churches on April 1st. and on the fifth Sunday of Great Lent. The story of this fifth century Egyptian Saint has become a model of repentance for all Christians.

The present lecture was delivered on the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, April 16. 1989, the commemoration of St. Mary of Egypt. It was presented during the celebration of Vespers at Dormition of the Theotokos Orthodox Church in Cumberland, Rhode Island, USA. The service was part of a Lenten Vesper series sponsored by the Rhode Island Fellowship of Orthodox Churches. The 'Fellowship' represents eight Orthodox parishes in the state including: Anthiochian, American, Coptic, Greek, Romanian, and Ukranian. All of the clergy and faithful from each parish joined in celebrating this great saint of Egypt.

The lecture was presented by Professor Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Ph. D. Doctor Harvey is a faculty member of the Religious Studies Department at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Professor Harvey received her Doctorate in Byzantine Studies from the University of Bermingham (England). She has taught Church History at the University of North Carolina and at the Universitv of Rochester and served a fellowship at the Dunbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies. Doctor Harvey is a recognized Syriac scholar responsible for numerous translations and commentaries. With Doctor Sebastian Brock, she co-authored Holy Women of the Syrian Orient, a collection of newly translated lives of saints. At Brown University she offers courses in Orthodox Church history, monasticism and the ascetic tradition, Syriac and early Christian Literature. Doctor Susan Harvey is a parishioner of St. Mary's Anthiochian Orthodox Church in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where she serves as a reader and chanter.

Fr. Matthias F. Wahba
On Saint Mary of Egypt

"O Lord, open Thou my lips. and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise"

Today, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, is for the Orthodox Church the Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt - she whose story has been called "an icon in words of the theological truth of repentancc" (Sr. Bcnedicta Ward). We have heard this story many times. It is a simple one: the sinful woman becomes the penitent, and the least worthy is revealed as God's chosen treasure. It offers us familiar words about the power of faith, and familiar inspiration in the heroic actions of St. Mary herself. But it is, above all, a disturbing story. In the end. it haunts me far more often than it comforts me. Today. I would like to explore where the heart of this story lies, and why it is given to us especially to remember it on the Fifth Sunday of Lent each year.
Three Stories
1. Mary's Life

The story of Mary of Egypt as it is written for the church is really three separate stories: The story of Mary's life, the story of the priest Zosimas, and the story of their experience together. Without doubt, the action and thrills come in Mary's story, which she tells to Zosimas when he finds her wandering in the desert. She had been a wanton harlot form her youth, not for money, she told Zosimas solemnly, but "out of insatiable desire". One day she saw the crowds of pilgrims preparing to go to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. It sounded like fun. She went along, announcing to her fellow-travellers, "I have a body and that will serve as both fare and food for me". The trip rwas an eventful one, as Mary explored the outer limits of lust and passion with her companions (both those who were willing and those who were not, she added.)

In Jerusalem, when the day of the Feast came round, Mary too set off for the church, drawn by the energy of the crowds thronging to venerate the True Cross. But something happened. At the doors of the church, at its very threshold, Mary was driven back "by some kind of force". Trying as she might, she could not enter, although those around her went in with no difficulty at all. Then she understood: it was her own self that prevented her entrance, the sinfulness of her life that held her captive outside the church. Praying fervently to the Virgin Mary, with her heart open and clear, Mary begged forgiveness and again sought entry at the church. She remembered it like this, "A great terror and stupor came over me, and I trembled all over, but when I came to the door which until then had been closed to me, it was as if all the force that had previously prevented me from entering now allowed me to go in. So I was admitted without hindrance, and went into the holy of holies and I was found worthy to worship the mystery of the precious and life-giving Wood of the Cross. Thus, I understood the promises of God and realized how God receives those who repent.

Guided then by a vision of the Theotokos, Mary left at once for the desert beyond the Jordan river, for there, her vision told her, she would find rest. On the way, she stopped at a church built on the river banks; there she washed herself in the jordan, receiving thus her baptism, and partook of the Eucharist in that church, all the while utterly alone. From there, she came to the desert, led still by the vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her new life was begun.

A powerful story, indeed! here was a woman ot true courage, a woman who had the courage to know herself. She lived life with a perfect freedom and a perfect love that few of us could match. Prior to her conversion, she embraced life with her whole heart, with her whole body, with her whole self - with the sheer power of her love for life (not for money, she had said, but for the love of it). Once an early bishop of the church had seen such a harlot in Antioch, and had lamented to his priests, "if only we would adorn our souls for the Lord with half the care this woman has shown in adorning herself for Satan!" (Bp. Nonnos, from the Life of Pelagia). hlary knew herself and understood herself in all of this, again in a way that few of us could match. Hers was a life of total honesty, in the sense of that old adage, "to thine own self be true." It was in fact her very honesty that brought her to her conversion.

At the doors of the church, Mary had hesitated - the first time in her life she had ever hesitated before doing exactly what she desired. At that moment, her honesty enabled her to see beyond herself. And there, beyond herself, she found God. Her conversion was immediate; but so, too, was the grace that answers genuine repentance. For in that single moment on the steps of the church, Mary was both changed in herself, and found worthy in the eyes of the Lord. Her response was entirely in character: with perfect freedom and perfect love, Mary turned the whole of herself to God - her heart, her body, her very life. With the huge courage that had once enabled her to lead her life of sin with clear self-understanding, she now lived her life in the presence of God. The desert became her home, the place where she found her rest. Her conversion and turn to the life of solitude were unknown to any other living being, until after forty-eight years the priest Zosimas came and found her.
2. Zosimas' Story

Now Zosimas' story is, alas, far more akin to our own lives. For we are all too glad to dissociate ourselves from Mary and her sinfulness. Hers is a story so different from our lives, after all. Here we are, in church on Sunday, in our ordinariness. We have our homes and families our spouses and children, our work, our life in the church and in the community. We try to be good Christians, to lead good lives. Even though we know our weaknesses, we know (faithfully) that at least we have nothing so spectacular as Mary's life for which to repent. Who among us could truly identify with her story, either the degree of her wickedness, or the degree of her repentance - for who among us would drop everything (everything) and turn to a life of ceaseless and solitary prayer? But this is exactly why we are so much like Zosimas.

Zosimas was a priest and a monk, sincere, devoted, and earnest. He sought to live a good Christian life, and he did. From his childhood he had pursued the monastic vocation, with piety and discipline: a man who early on had achieved an enviable sanctity. It would be hard to imagine a life more different than Mary's has been: the life of the monastery as opposed to the life of the city streets. But at the age of fifty- three, Zosimas came to a crisis in his life. "It was then that he began to be tormented by the thought that it seemed as if he had attained perfection in everything and needed no teaching from anyone. And so, as he himself said, he began to say to himself, "is there a monk on earth capable of affording me benefit or passing on to me anything new, some kind of spiritual achievement of which i either do not know or in which I have not succeeded as a monk?" Foolish man! For Zosimas had become a prisoner to his own idea of himself, a man who deceived himself about who he was, the life he lived and why he lived it in that way. He did not know himself honestly, and so he became captive to his own life. How far from the freedom with which Mary had lived, and loved, and lived again! But the Lord was compassionate with Zosimas, and spoke to him in a vision telling him to go to the desert beyond the Jordan, 'so that you may know how many and varied are the ways to salvation.'

Zosimas went, expecting to find a great and holy monk who would become his teacher. When he entered the desert, he walked for twenty days into its deepest and most desolate part, rwhere no sign of life could be found. Then he found Mary. The encounter was terrifying and wonderful. When first he saw her, the good priest could not tell whether she was an apparition, a Demon or an animal, and he crossed himself repeatedly to protect himself from the works of the devil. With a jolt, he realized this was a woman. She was naked, blackened by years of harsh desert sun, emaciated from her fasting, her hair short and pure white; and she fled from him, running away as fast as she could. Zosimas knew that here, in this utter wilderness, in this strange and frightening creature, he had at last met something he had never before known: the naked power and presence of God.

And so Zosimas, good man of God, found salvation and truth where he least expected it: in the life of a woman who had been as unashamedly sinful as he had been earnest in his life of devotion. And she, not he, was the Person in whom grace was found. Like the gospel story of the Pharisee and Publican, Zosimas' story is above all a plea for humility in our lives - for fighting against the complacency (both spiritual and social) which is the constant danger for us as we seek to live the life of faith. It reminds us vividly that appearances and actions deceive, that only God knows the intentions of the heart, and that the moment we think we have accomplished true Christian living we have lost our way. At such moments, the penitent sinner becomes our guide and our hope.

And so we come to the third story: The Story of Mary and Zosimas together. It is nbove all a story of giving gifts to one another. From the moment they met, their lives were found to be reversed. Mary, the sinful woman, became teacher and giver of grace; Zosimas, the venerable priest and monk, became disciple and suppliant.
3. Their Experience Together

When Zosimas first found Mary, she fled from him while he ran after her, begging for an audience. Finally, she stopped. He did not know who she was, and she had never seen him. But she knew him before he had even spoken to her, and addressed him by name, "Father Zosimas, forgive me." The priest was struck with dread: was she an angel? Mary, for her part, was alarmed because of her nakedness, and begged him to lend her his cloak so that she could stand in modesty before him. But it was not simply that she knew his name; with no word from him to explain who he was or why he had come, Mary new. She asked for his blessing, reminding him that this was his proper role and recalling his years of priestly service. Then, the story goes, "these words threw Zosimas into greater dread, and he trembled and was covered with a sweat of death. But at last, breathing with difficulty, he said to her, "O Mother in the spirit, it is plain from this insight that all your life you have dwelt with God and have nearly died to the world... But since grace is recognized not by office but by gifts of the Spirit, bless me, for God's sake, and pray for me out of the kindness of your heart." And so Mary gave the blessing.

Eventually, with great difficulty, Zosimas extracted her story from her. He was alternately terrified and wonderstruck as he watched and listened to her. She knew about him - about his life as a priest and the monastery in which he lived, and she clearly understood it all better than himself. When she prayed she levitated. Although illiterate and unschooled in Christianity (she had, after all, fled to the desert as soon as she converted) she quoted scriptural proofs for her teachings. But most of all, there was the enormity of her story. Zosimas drew out from her (much against her will) the details of her former life and her conversion; and he questioned her closely on the hardships of her desert life through those many years. She was as honest with him in the telling as she had been in her living. Not only was she blunt about her harlotry, she was also poignantly forthright about her life in the desert - how hard it had been, the suffering from cold and heat, hunger and thirst; temptation, longing for company and comfort; and yet her determination to live out her repentance in a manner suitable to her sin. She did not see, though Zosimas could, that she had attained a degree of sanctity that could only be measured by the degree of sinfulness she had known. For unlike him, she had no illusions about her accomplishments. She knew only the truth of God, and her love for him.

Then she asked a favor, for she understood that the Lord had sent Zosimas for a purpose. She asked him to return to his monastery and tell no one about her, but in a year's time return to her on Holy Thursday, the night of the Last Supper, and bring her the Eucharist, of which she had not Partaken since her conversion so many years before. Reluctantly, Zosimas left. He had become her disciple. Her presence and story renewed him, giving him life he had lost in the complacency of the monastery. At last he returned at the appointed time, yearning for her presence. She came to him, walking on water to cross the Jordan while he again gave way to awe. As he knelt to reverence her she reproved him, 'What are you doing, Father Zosimas, you who are a priest of God and carrying the holy mysteries?' And at once he obeyed her, resuming his priestly duties with fumbling fervor. Then, the story says, "Mary received the life-giving gifts of the sacrament, groaning and weeping with her hands held up to heaven, and she cried out, 'Lord now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word: for my eyes have seen your salvation."'

Again she sent him away, to return again the following year at the same time. But when the time came and Zosimas hastened on his journey, he found his beloved guide dead, with a letter to him written in the sand beside her body. From this he learned that she had died within an hour of receiving the sacrament the previous year - the fulfillment of her hope. He learned, also, for the first time her name: she signed herself "Mary the sinner." Grieving and marvelling, Zosimas buried the holy woman, helped by a lion who came to venerate the body of the saint. Then, he went back to the world to give the gift of her story to others, even as she had given it to him. And so we, too, know it.

Here we have a story in which the sinner knows the heart of the saintly monk: in which a humble woman gives blessing to the worthy priest because he has seen that her own gifts of the Spirit exceed the ranks of ecclesiastical office; in which sanctity is found outside the monastery more than within; in which the desert, the place of death, becomes the place of life; in which the peace of God's kingdom is restored as the lion and the man become partners in piety. It is a breathtaking story, and it moves us accordingly.

SAINT KARAS

St. Bemwa explains, "I will teach you my brothers of what went on during one of these days." I heard a voice saying to me three times "YA BEMWA...YA BEMWA...YA BEMWA...", and it came to my attention that the voice was a heavenly voice from the sky and not familiar to me. Since not too many people called me by my name I raised my eyes towards heaven and said, "Speak O' Lord for your servant is listening", and the voice said to me "get up Bemwa and hurry speedily to the inner wilderness where you will meet St. Karas and take his blessing for he is very honorable to me more than anyone else for many are the times that he has tired himself for Me, and My peace will be with you."

So I left my church and headed out in the wilderness alone in great joy while I did not know the way, assured that the Lord which has commanded me will lead me. Three days passed, and I still traveled alone. On the fourth day I arrived at one of the caves and the entrance was closed with a great rock. I proceeded to the entrance and knocked as it is a habit of the brothers and said AGHABY (AGAPE) meaning LOVE and said bless me o saintly father. Instantly I heard a voice from the inside saying to me "it is good that you be here today Bemwa, priest of the church of the mountain of sheebhat that is worthy of the burial of the blessed St. Elarya, daughter of the great king Zenon." The door was opened for me and I entered and he kissed me and I kissed him, and we sat discussing God’s greatness and His glory. I said to him "My saintly father, is there another in this mountain that resembles you?". He stared at my face and sighed then said, "My beloved son there is in the inner wilderness a great saint that the world is not deserving of a single step of his feet, and he is St. Karas." Then I stood and asked, "then my father who are you?" He said to me, "I am Simon El Kallah, and it is to me this day sixty years without seeing the face of a man, and was blessed every Saturday with a loaf of bread placed on that stone which you see outside the cave."

After I was blessed by him I walked on in the wilderness three more days in prayer and praises until I reached another cave with it’s entrance closed. I knocked and said bless me my saintly father. He answered me saying, "It is well your arrival to us saint of God, St. Bemwa, who was deserving of anointing the body of St. Elarya daughter of king Zenon enter in peace." I entered and we sat speaking and I said to him "I was told that there is in the wilderness another saint that resembles you?" He stood, sighed and said to me "great is my... I inform you my father that in this wilderness is a great saint that his prayers stops the anger that descends from heaven, he is him that truly a partner of the angels." I asked him "And what is your name my father the saint?" He said " My name is Abbamoud El Kallah, and it has been to me in this wilderness seventy nine years living on these palms that yields dates, thanking Christ."

After he blessed me I left his dwelling with joy and peace and proceeded at night finding myself unable to see the road and unable to walk. After a while had passed I opened my eyes and found myself in front of a cave in a stone of a mountain, I proceeded to the entrance and knocked and said "AGHABY" and instantly a voice spoke to me from the inside saying, "It is well that you came today St. Bemwa, saint of god, who was worthy of anointing the body of St. Elarya daughter of king Zenon." So I entered the cave and stared at him for a long while, for he was of a strong presence and great humbleness. He was a person of great radiance and the grace of God reflected in his face, his eyes were very shiny, and he was of medium stature with a long beard with a few black hairs left in it. Wearing a simple galabia (gown), for he was very skinny with a light voice and a cane in his hand. He said, "You have came to me today and brought me with you death, for today a long while I have waited for you my beloved." I said to him "And what is your name my father the saint?" He said to me "My name is Karas." So I asked to him, "how many years have you been in this wilderness?" He said to me, "In fifty seven years I have not seen the face of a man, and I waited for you with all joy and eagerness." Then I dwelt with him for a day, at the end of the day our father Karas became sick with a great fever, and he would sigh and cry. He said "That which I have feared all my life has come to me today so Lord where do I hide from your face? How do I hide? Truly great is the fear of this hour...according to your mercy O' Lord and not according to my sins."

When the sun had rose the second day and St. Karas was laying in bed unable to move, a great light that surpasses the sun shined at the entrance of the cave, and entered a man with great radiance wearing white clothing bright as the sun. In his right hand a glowing cross. I was in that time sitting at the feet of St. Karas and was overcome with fear and awe. This radiant man proceeded towards St. Karas and placed the cross on his face, and spoke with him many words and gave us peace and departed. I proceeded to our father St. Karasto investigate who is this man with all this glory? So he said to me with all happiness"That is CHRIST THE LORD as it is His habit to come to me everyday to bless me, andconverse with me and departs." I said to him "My father the saint I desire for the Lord of grace to bless me." So he said to me "Before you leave this place you will see CHRIST THE LORDin His glory and He will bless you and talk with you also." When we had come to the seventh day of the month abib I found that St. Karas had raised his eyes to heaven while gushingwith tears and sighing deeply and said to me "Today a great pillar has fallen in rural Egypt, and the whole earth has lost a great saint that the whole world is not worthy of being his footstool. He is Anba Shenouda the Archimandrite and I have seen his blessed spirit ascending to the highest of the heaven in the praising of the angels, and I hear crying and wailing allover the land of rural Egypt, and the monks have gathered around the blessed body, being blessed by it as it radiates with light." When I heard that I kept in mind the remembrance of the passing away of Anba Shenouda the Archimandrite as the seventh of abib. On the following day or the eighth of abib the illness of our St. Karas grew stronger, and in the middle of that day a strong light appeared at the door of the cave and entered the Savior of the world and preceding Him the archangels Michael and Gabriel with a fleet of angels with six wings and the sounds of praises here and there with the smell of incense. I was seated at the feet of St. Karas, so the Lord whereof glory proceeded sat at thehead of St. Karas, who held our Savior’s right hand and said to him "For my sake O' my Lord and my God, bless him for he has come to me from a far place for the sake of this day." The Lord of glory looked to me and said, "My peace be with you bemwa, what you have seen andheard you say and write to be made for good use of it, but as for you karas, my beloved, every man that knows your story and makes remembrance of your name on earth, my peace shall be with him and i shall count him with the commemoration of the holy saints, and every man that offers wine or bread or incense or oil or candle in remembrance of your name i shall reward him multiples in the heavenly kingdom, and whoever feeds him who is hungry or gives drink to him who is thirsty or clothe him who is naked or takes in a stranger in your name i reward him multiples in my kingdom. and he who writes your holy story i will write his name in the book of life, and everyone who has mercy in your memory i will give him what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what has not ocuured to a man’s heart. and now my beloved karas i want you to ask me a favor to do for you before your passing on" So St. Karas said to him "my Lord I used the psalms day and night and I desired to seeDavid the Prophet while I’m in the flesh." And in a blink of an eye David came holding in his hand a harp and playing the psalm ‘this is the day which the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ St. Karas said, "I want to hear all ten strings in one tune and the songs and praises together." So David moved his harp and said "precious before the lord is the soundof those who obey him." While David sang the psalms with the harp and his beautiful voice, the saint in great rejoice let his spirit leave his holy body to the bosom of our good Savior, Who took it, kissed it, and gave it to archangel Michael. Then I, Bemwa, leaped and kissed the bodyof St. Karas and anointed it, and the Lord of glory signaled to me to walk out. So I did and He walked out and with Him the angels with praises and prayers in front of the spirit of the saint and we left his body in the cave. The Lord placed his hands on the cave and it became as it never had an entrance, and all ascended to heaven in joy, and I remained alone in that position until that beautiful sight was gone from me. Then I closed my eyes from the strength of the light and glorious sight, when I opened them again I found myself in front of the cave of St. Abbamod El Kallah so I dwelt with him three days then I left and went to saint SimonEl Kallah and dwelt with him three days more. Then I left him and returned to mount sheehat where my church is. There I met all the brothers and told them the story of blessed St. Karasthe great and his words about the passing away of Anba Shenouda the Archimandrite. After five days a letter came to us from rural Egypt saying that the St. Anba Shenoudathe Archimandrite had passed away in peace on the same day as St. Karas saw him. The blessings of St. Mary, the mother of the true light, and the St. Anba Shenouda the Archimandrite and St. Karas be with us, and to our Lord, all glory forever amen.

Saint John The Short (Yoannis Pi Kolobos)

Introduction

Saint John, surnamed Kolobos, that is ``the Little'' or the ``the Dwarf'', was among the most eminent saints that inhabited the desert of Skete. In the Divine Liturgy, he is mentioned in the Congregation of the Saints and in ``Pi nishti''.

His Way to Monastic Life

He was born about the year 339, around the Theban region in Upper Egypt in a poor but holy family. His desire for monastic life led him since his early years to remote places where he trained himself for this austere life style. It was not long before he was led by Divine inspiration to leave his town. He retired, when only eighteen years old, into the wilderness of Skete (also called the Natroun Valley) and set himself with his whole heart to put on the spirit of Christ.

He went to become a disciple of the old hermit, Aba Pemouah (who was also the teacher of Saint Pishoy - the perfect man). Aba Pemouah tried to deter him from adopting this harsh monastic life. By night an angel appeared to him asking him to accept the young John as a monk. After three full days of fasting and prayers, the master and the disciple witnessed an angel blessing the new cloths John was to put on.

His Obedience

Saint John renounced all distraction and entertainment; and since monasteries were not built at that time, only hermits were populating the desert. He endured all the difficult tests as an experienced master rather than a bright disciple. Aba Pemouah led him to perfect watchfulness, solitude, subduing the body, meekness, silence, humility, simplicity and obedience.

Aba Pemouah, who was his director for his first lesson, bade him to plant in the ground a walking-stick, and water it every day till it should bring forth fruit. Saint John did so with great simplicity, though the river was about 12 miles away from the stick. When he had continued his task, without speaking one word about it, into the third year the stick, which had taken root, pushed forth leaves and buds and produced fruit. The old hermit, gathering the fruit, carried to the church, and giving it to some of the brethren, said, ``Take, and eat the fruit of obedience''. Postumian, who was in Egypt in 402, assured that he was shown this tree which grew in the yard of the monastery and which he saw covered with shoots and green leaves.

About silence he taught him saying, ``My son, be silent lest evil thoughts overtake your mind and lose your soul. Particularly in church, we ought the most to be careful in order to be worthy of the presence of Holy Mysteries."

Consecration of the Mind

Saint John believed that the perfection of a monk consists in his keeping to his cell, watching constantly over himself and having God continually present to his mind. He never discoursed on worldly affairs and never spoke of ``News'', the ordinary amusement of the superficial. He stressed the importance of ``quietness''; he says, ``The longer quietness prevails, the weaker the pains of lusts become, and the healthier the mind becomes until it reaches peace.'' His mind dwelt constantly on Divine issues; he used to take one of the commandments each day and work hard to perfect it. He was so intent on the things of God that he became very absent-minded. At his work he sometimes plaited into one basket the material which should have made two, and often went wrong through forgetting what he was doing. One day when a carrier knocked at his door to carry away his materials and tools to another place, Saint John thrice forgot what he went to fetch in returning from his door, till he repeated to himself, ``The camel, my tools. The camel, my tools. The camel, my tools.'' The same happened when someone came to him to fetch the baskets he had made, and as often as he came back from the door he sat down again to his work, till at last he called the brother to come in, and take them himself.

He avoided the words of men and their discussions and so cultivated the things of peace that his words held the attention of all. A brother coming once to speak to him for a few minutes, so ardent and sweet was their conversation on spiritual things that they continued it till morning. Perceiving it was day, they went out, the one to return home, the other to go with him for a few steps, but their talk again returned to God and His Kingdom and it lasted till midday. Then Saint John took him again into his cell to eat a little; after which they really parted.

A Teacher Responsible for Many Souls

In 374, Aba Pemouah departed after 12 years of illness during which Saint John was ministering to him. At his last moments, Aba Pemouah called Saint John ``the angel of God on earth'' and instructed him to make his abode next to the ``Tree of Obedience''. He went with Aba Pishoy who shortly later settled two miles away. Saint John then dug a cave and worshipped in it in solitude. His virtues were spreading quickly and many monks, among which was his older brother, came to him to learn about and follow his angelic life. He was then leading by example; he surpassed all the elders in their self-control. When he had made a comment to a non-obedient brother during harvest, he begged him to forgive him and spent the whole year fasting (eating only bread and salt every third day) praying, ``Forgive me, O Lord, for I angered your creation''.

Saint John's disciples were increasing in number and came from everywhere to his abode by the ``Tree of Obedience'' where a monastery was built and remained open until the 17th century. We know how he had tested the good dispositions of Saint Arsenius when he first came to Skete. He became then responsible for the salvation of many of his children. A certain charitable young woman, named Paesia, after the death of her parents opened her house to care for the needy and the strangers. She was so generous that her wealth was entirely spent and, not finding money to survive, she fell gradually into a disorderly life. The monks entreated Saint John to try to reclaim her, and he went to her house and sitting down by her he said with his accustomed sweetness, ``What reason can you have to complain about Jesus that you should thus abandon Him?'' At these words she was struck silent, and seeing the saint in tears she said to him, ``Why do you weep?'' Saint John replied, ``How can I not weep whilst I see Satan in possession of your heart?'' She was moved by his gentleness and concern for her, and grace entered into her heart and she asked him, ``Father, is the path of penitence still open to me?'' ``It is,'' he replied. ``Then show me the way.'' He rose up and she followed him without saying another word. As he was leading her to one of the nuns' monasteries, they slept in the desert. During the prayer of midnight, Saint John saw the soul of Paesia going up to Heaven carried by angels and heard a voice telling him that her penitence was perfect before God. And in the morning he found Paesia dead.

His Late Life away from Skete

When the Berbers raided Skete around 395, Saint John went across the Nile towards the Red Sea, and there, at one day's walk from the place hallowed by Saint Anthony, he remained until his departure. His rare visit to the village (the current city of Suez), he brought most of its inhabitants to Christ and he worked several miracles.

When he drew near his end, his disciples entreated him to leave them some final lesson of Christian perfection. He sighed, and that he might shun the air of a teacher alleging his own doctrine and practice, he said, ``I never followed my own will; nor did I ever teach another what I had not first practised myself''.

When he departed, his servant who was coming back from the village saw the angels carrying his soul to Heaven accompanied by the spirits of the saints. He then treated the body with honor and carried him to the village. Later, in 515, his body was taken to the desert of Skete.

Saint John Chrysostom Doctor of the Church (A.D. 407)

Introduction

Saint John Chrysostom's life gives us a sense of the awesome cost of Christian discipleship and of the truth that with God all things are possible. This incomparable teacher, on account of the fluency and sweetness of his eloquence, obtained the surname Chrysostom, or Golden Mouth.

His Earlier Life

He was born about the year 347 at Antioch in Syria, the only son of Secundus, commander of the imperial troops. His mother, Anthusa, who was left a widow at twenty, divided her time between the care of her family and her exercises of devotion. Her example made such an impression on her son's master that he could not forbear crying out, ``What wonderful women are found among Christians!'' Anthusa provided for John the ablest masters. Eloquence was esteemed the highest accomplishment, and John studied that art under Libanius, the most famous orator of the age; and such was his proficiency that even in his youth he excelled his masters. Libanius being asked on his deathbed who ought to succeed him in his school, ``John'', said he, ``would have been my choice, had not the Christians stolen him from us.''

According to the common custom of those days young John was not baptized till he was over twenty years old, being at the time a law student. Soon after, he suddenly turned against the teachings of Libanius and decided to become a monk. He attended a school for monks under Diodorus; and in 374 he joined a community of hermits among the mountains south of Antioch. He passed four years under the direction of an old Syrian monk called Hesychius (quietness); and it was quietness that he wanted to deaden the pain of his mother's death, to put away the temptations of Antioch, to bury forever his love of physical pleasure. Later, he decided to practice self-mortification in a cave as a solitary. He denied himself sleep, read the Bible continually and spent two years without lying down. The result was inevitable; his stomach shrivelled up and the dampness of this abode damaged his kidneys. His digestion permanently impaired, unable to doctor himself, he was obliged to come down the mountain and walk to Antioch in 381. Shortly afterward he was appointed as an acolyte and then received priesthood.

His Early Service at Antioch

The aged Bishop Flavian constituted him his preacher when he was about forty, and he remained in this office for twelve years. The instruction and care for the poor he regarded as the first obligation of all, and he never ceased in his sermons to recommend their cause and to impress on the people the duty of almsgiving. Antioch, at the time, had 100,000 Christians and as many pagans; these he fed with the word of God, preaching several days in the week, and frequently several times on the same day. He had no care in the world except that Antioch should be brought to Christ, but in the middle of his preaching came the crash of tragedy.

In the tenth year of the reign of Theodosius (the fifth of that of Arcadius his son, the same year that Saint Augustine received baptism from the hands of Saint Ambrose in Milan) Antioch rioted against a newly levied tax. The mob revolted, tore down the statues of the Emperor and waited breathless for the punishment -- the destruction of the city. In spite of his age, Bishop Flavian, a man of eighty years, set out in the worst weather and made his way through eight hundred miles of snow to Constantinople, to implore the imperial clemency for his flock and the Emperor was touched by his appeal; an amnesty was accorded to the delinquent citizens of Antioch.

During the absence of Bishop Flavian, during the Lent of 387, Saint John could not contain himself seeing the executions of the Antiochenes. He began to deliver a long series of sermons known as ``On the Statues'' in which he said very little about the statues. In those twenty one homilies, he spoke of God's mercy, how there are things far more dreadful than death or slavery, and his hope that the people should embrace death, if they had to, or life, with equal courage. He says of Flavian ``God will not suffer this errand to be fruitless. This is the holy season. This is the season when we remember how Christ died for the sins of the world. Flavian will remind the Emperor of the prayer `Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them who trespass against us.' He will bring to his memory that in this city the faithful were first called Christians by name. Let us assist him with our prayers; let us supplicate; let us make an embassy to the King who reigns above, an embassy of tears. And remember how it is written of repentant Nineveh, `God saw their works,' `They turned every one from their evil ways, and the Lord repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them.''' Saint John kept excoriating the people for their past vices, their addiction to wealth, their love of the theatre, their sensual enjoyments. If they had lived more strictly, they would not have behaved like wild beasts, and if they were true Christians they would have not possessed this abject fear of the Emperor.

These staggering homilies delivered daily kept the flock together and hope filled the air despite the continuing tortures and imprisonment. After the storm he continued his labors with unbeaten energy, but before very long God was pleased to call him to glorify His name upon a new stage.

Archbishop of the See of Constantinople

Nectarius, Archbishop of Constantinople, died in 397, and the Emperor Arcadius, at the suggestion of Eutropius, his chamberlain, elected Saint John for the see of the city. He therefore dispatched an order to the count of the East, enjoining him to send John to Constantinople, but to do so without making the news public. The count repaired to Antioch and desiring the Saint to accompany him out of the city to the tombs of the martyrs, he there delivered him to an officer who conveyed him speedily to the imperial city. Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, had come thither to recommend a nominee of his own for the vacancy; but he was forced to enthrone Saint John on February 26 in 398 as Patriarch of Constantinople. He who hated power was now in the seat of power. He who fought against luxury and despised the kings of this world lived in a luxurious palace close to that of the Emperor.

It was from that time that he was the unwilling victim of all those who feared his power. From this point onward he assumed the fiercer colors of Constantinople. He began to sweep Constantinople with his broom. He emptied the episcopal palace of the costly plate and furniture and sold the newly purchased marble columns and built a hospital with the money. He reformed the life of the clergy who, within three months, were up in arms against him.

After a tumultuous horse race held on Good Friday, attended by many Christians, he delivered a sermon ``Against the Games and the Theatres.'' He ridiculed the wealth of Constantinople: the marble floors dusted with gold, the rich carpets, the silver couches, the ivory doors and the golden horse bits. He objected strongly to dancing girls and singers who accompanied the bride and the bridegroom home after a Christian marriage, singing indecent songs. He objected as firmly to female mourners at funerals, wailing dirges. He spoke against slavery and on behalf of the equality of women. He must have known that the weapon would one day be turned against him for his exhortations seemed in their severity to have been lacking tact.

The Empress Eudoxia, who previously sent magnificent gifts to the churches and the poor and spent long hours listening to Saint John, turned against Saint John when he was wrongly accused of referring to her as ``Jezebel''. Knowing the sense of grievance entertained by Theophilus of Alexandria, Eudoxia, conspired with him to depose Saint John Chrysostom in 403. For three days Constantinople was in uproar, after which Saint John surrendered himself and was exiled but soon to return after an earthquake shook the city. Then again, a silver statue of the Empress was erected before the great church of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), to which Saint John objected and spoke loudly against. He was deposed again two months after Easter and was banished. He spent the last three years of his life from exile to exile where his health suffered from many illnesses. He uttered his last words, ``Glory be to God for all things'', and gave up his soul to God on September 14, 407. His body was returned to Constantinople in 438 with great glory, while the Emperor Theodosius II and his sister were begging forgiveness of their parents who had so blindly persecuted the servant of God.

Samples of His Homilies

On the resurrection of the flesh he says: ``If God had not intended to raise up us again, if it was His desire that we should all be dissolved and blotted out in annihilation, He would not have wrought so many things for us. He would have not spread the heavens above, or stretched out the earth beneath. He would have not fashioned this whole universe, if it were only for the short span of our lives. The heavens and the earth and the sees and the rivers are more enduring than we are; ravens and elephants live longer, and they are more free from griefs and cares. What then? you ask. Has God made the slaves better than the masters? I beseech you, do not thus reason, O man; nor be so ignorant of the riches God spread out before you. From the beginning God desired to make thee immortal. Ah, but thou wert unwilling!''

And about the monastic life and monks he says: ``They do not demand a few hours in which to shake the sleep from their eyes. As soon as they have opened their eyes, they are like people who have been immersed in contemplation for many hours; for their brains are not chocked by an excess of food, and their hands too are pure, being composed in sleep and quietness. Among the monks, none snores or breathes hard or tosses in his bed or lies with his body exposed, but they sleep as decently as those who are awake, and all this is due to the orderly progress within their souls. These men are truly saints and angels. And do not wonder when you hear these things: their fear of God is so great that they do not suffer themselves to lose themselves in the depths of sleep and drown their minds. Sleep falls gently on them, giving them only a peaceful rest.''

Saint Demiana

How many of us ever stand up and tell other people what we believe about Jesus Christ? How many of us are really convinced that our faith is so completely a part of what we are that is worth proclaiming happily to those who question us? Being one of Jesus' disciples can not be easy, for as Jesus once said:

"Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils... You will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, and bear testimony before them and the Gentiles... Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you will say... It will be given to you in that hour... You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved." (Matthew 10:16ff)

Toward the end of the third century, there lived a Christian man named Marcos. He was the ruler of the Borolos and Zahfaran districts in Egypt. Marcos had only one daughter called Demiana. Her beauty and good character were legendary. Her father loved her dearly, and he did his best to raise her up in a true Christian way.

Demiana loved to pray and read the holy books in the seclusion of her room. She often cried, while praying, as she felt the love of her Savior the Christ fill her little heart.

When Demiana was old enough, her father wanted her to get married to one of his noble friends, but Demiana refused. She said that she gave herself up as a bride to Christ, and that she intended to live without marriage all her life, so she could serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Demiana also asked her father to build a house for her on the outskirts of the city, so that she could live in it, with her friends, as a nun away from the world and its temptations.

Knowing her deep desire for a righteous life, her father reluctantly granted Demiana her wish, and built her a large palace. Demiana changed the palace into a convent, and lived in it with forty of her friends. They were all unmarried girls, and the Lord's hand was with them, giving them strength and comfort.

At that time Diocletian, the Emperor, began to torture and kill the Christians who refused to worship his idols (Apollos and Artemis). When Marcos was invited to kneel before the statues and offer incense, he refused. But Diocletian convinced him by promising to give him a higher position in the Roman Empire.

When Demiana heard that her father had knelt before the idols, she left the palace and went immediately to him. She said, "How could you deny your Savior who shed his blood to save you, and kneel down to stone idols dwelled by satan. What you did, my father, is cowardly and shameful." When Marcos heard his daughter's words he came back to his senses. He said, "Woe to me, how could I fall in the Devil's trap and worship those idle statues."

Then he got up immediately, and went to Diocletian. He crossed himself in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in front of everybody, and cried with a loud voice, "Let every one know that I worship the God of heaven and earth, my only God and Lord Jesus the Christ." Diocletian was troubled and tried his best to change Marcos' mind, but this time the Holy Spirit had filled his heart, and he testified even boldly that he was willing to die than to deny his Savior. Diocletian got really infuriated, and ordered the soldiers to kill him.

When the Emperor learned that it was Marcos' daughter Demiana who had changed her father's mind, he ordered one of his commanders to take one hundred soldiers and attack the palace. "First, try to convince her to worship our idols", said Diocletian. "But, if she refuses, threaten her, torture her, and even kill her so that she will be an example for the other Christians."

When Demiana saw the soldiers approach the palace, she prayed to God to strengthen their faith until death. Then she told her friends, "If you are willing to die for Jesus' sake you can stay, but if you can not stand the torturing of the soldiers, you would better hurry and escape right now." The forty virgins answered that they would not lose the eternal life just to enjoy a few moments in this evil world.

When the commander relayed Diocletian's message to Demiana, she answered, "How can I leave my Lord and God Jesus Christ and bow in front of blind, dumb, and deaf statues! You and your Emperor should be embarrassed of your shameful deeds, and I am telling you that even if you kill me, my faith will not be shaken."

The commander was very embarrassed, and he ordered the soldiers to torture Demiana in different cruel ways. As she felt the terrible pain through her body, she lifted her face up toward heaven, and prayed, "My Lord Jesus, the Son of the Most High who was crucified in order to save me, give me the strength to stand the pain." The forty virgins were watching and crying, but Demiana told them, "Do not cry, my sisters, our Lord Jesus Christ was tortured and killed because He loved us, even though He did not commit one sin. How much more should I welcome death in His name, especially if I am sure of the heavenly glory awaiting me!"

After the soldiers got tired of torturing Demiana, they threw her half-dead body in jail. But the Archangel Michael appeared to her, touched her with his heavenly wings, and healed her wounds. The next day, the commander thought that she had died, but when she stood in front of him in perfect health he was very puzzled. When some people saw what had happened, they cried, "We are Christians. We believe in the God of Demiana. We have no other God but Jesus Christ." The commander was even more troubled, and killed all of them.

The torturing of Demiana continued in an even crueller way for many days, but again, and again the Archangel Michael appeared and healed her.

On the last day before her martyrdom, our Lord Jesus Himself came to her and told her, "Have courage, my chosen one. I have prepared for you the crown of your wedding in heaven. Your name will be remembered forever as it will be the cause for many miracles, and in this place a great church will be built to honor your blessed name."

Finally the commander ordered the soldiers to behead Demiana by the sword, along with the forty virgins. The total number of people who were martyred with Demiana was about four hundred.

Few years later, when King Constantine (the first Christian king) came to power, he sent his mother Queen Helena to Demiana's palace. Helena buried all the bodies that she found in great honor. She put Demiana's body on a bed made of ivory and decorated it with silk linen, and in the same place she built a church.

Saint Demiana has also a great convent in Belkas and many churches in Egypt bear her name.

May the prayers and the blessings of this great martyr, Saint Demiana be with us all. Amen.

Saint Cyril I The Pillar of the Faith (444 A.D.)

Introduction

In the year 412, after the departure of Abba Theophilus, his nephew, Abba Cyril the First, the 24th Pope of the See of Saint Mark, succeeded him. He received various descriptive titles of honor such as ``the Daring Lion,'' ``the Burnished Lamp,'' ``the Second Athanasius,'' and more specifically ``the Pillar of the Faith.'' He was 36 years old when he was unanimously elected to take the helm of his Church. Throughout his life he made it a rule never to advance any doctrine which he had not learnt from the ancient fathers.

His Enthronement

As a lad, Cyril was sent to the monastery of Saint Macari, where he assimilated the wisdom of the desert Fathers. After having acquired all the education the desert could give, he returned to Alexandria where he was ordained a priest and then a Pope.

He began to exert his authority by causing the churches of the Novatians to be closed and their sacred vessels to be seized. He next drove out the Jews, who were numerous and who had enjoyed privileges in the city since the time of Alexander the Great. Their generally seditious attitude and the several acts of violence committed by them decided him to take this step, which incensed Orestes the governor, although it was approved by the Emperor. During this period, Hypatia, a pagan woman of noble character, was the most influential teacher of philosophy at that time in Alexandria, and her reputation was so great that disciples flocked to her from all parts. Among these was the great Bishop Synesius, who submitted his works to her criticism. She was much respected by the governor, who used to consult her even on matters of civil administration. Acting upon a suspicion that Hypatia had incensed the governor against their bishop, the crowd in 417 attacked her in the streets, pulled her out of her chariot, and killed her.

His Christian Zeal

As soon as he was consecrated Pope of Alexandria, he dedicated all his power to defend the Church against the apostasies of Emperor Julian and the rise of the Nestorian heresy. Abba Cyril directly set himself to refute them in terms that were clear, strong and convincing.

In the year 428 Nestorius, a priest-monk of Antioch, was made archbishop of Constantinople; and he there taught with some of his clergy that there were two distinct persons in Christ. According to the Nestorian concept, Christ was two separate persons, the one divine and beyond the reach of human frailty, and the other human and susceptible to all the fragility of the flesh. The divine Christ could neither suffer or die, and therefore, on the Cross it was the human Christ alone who suffered and died apart from the divine Christ. Nestorius had spoken out against calling the blessed Virgin Mary the ``Theotokos'' or ``Mother-of-God.''

Abba Cyril strongly contested these views expounding the Orthodox doctrine of the indivisible union of the divine and human natures of Christ, and arguing that if Jesus Christ is God, it follows that his mother is the ``Mother-of-God'' who bore Him forever. This is what the Apostles taught us and the doctrine of our Fathers. And just as the human mother, has no share in creating the soul of her child, yet is considered the mother of the whole person, and not merely the mother of his physical nature; so it is with Mary who is the Mother of Christ in His entirety.

Saint Cyril wrote letters to Nestorius urging him to stop promoting an idea which is equivalent to blasphemy, but the later obstinately refused to be convinced that he had fallen into a heretic way of thinking. A situation developed that was somewhat similar to that which had developed between Saint Athanasius and Arius. Saint Cyril was as full of faith and fiery zeal in his tenacious stand against Nestorius as Saint Athanasius had been against Arius. Just as Saint Athanasius had saved the Faith concerning the Logos in the Nicene Creed, so did Saint Cyril in defending the Theotokos maintaining the Orthodox Doctrine concerning the incarnation of the Logos in the Introduction to the Creed which he wrote in this regard.

Saint Cyril sent Nestorius a mild expostulation, but was answered with haughtiness and contempt. He also sent a number of letters to the Heads of other Churches (Antioch, Jerusalem, Rome and Aleppo), and to the imperial family. He received several replies lauding his efforts and siding with him. Saint Cyril also wrote another letter to Nestorius with an exposition of the Nicene Creed and a second part, an affirmation of the true faith, followed by 12 anathemas. Nestorius, however, showed himself more obstinate than ever, refused to sign, and exerted every effort to antagonize Emperor Theodosius against Saint Cyril.

Calling a General Council in Ephesus

The people of Constantinople themselves urged the Emperor to call a Council of all the bishops to deal with this subject. This occasioned the summoning of the third general Council which was held at Ephesus in June 431, attended by 200 bishops who elected Saint Cyril to preside over them on the authority of his own dignity. The attitudes of the Emperor and of Nestorius towards him had not been changed; they called him ``the proud pharaoh.'' Nestorius was present in the town, but refused to appear; so after his sermons had been read and other evidence received against him, his doctrines were condemned, and a sentence of excommunication and deposition was pronounced by the 200 who proved themselves to be indeed the worthy successors of the Nicene Fathers. The people of Ephesus who had gradually gathered outside the Church, and on hearing the verdict of the Council, they shouted for joy, lit torches, brought their incense-burners, and formed a long procession for the bishops escorting them to their abodes.

Six days later there arrived at Ephesus Archbishop John of Antioch, with several of his bishops who had not been able to reach Ephesus in time. They were in favor of Nestorius, although they did not share his errors, of which indeed they deemed him innocent. Instead of associating themselves with the council, they assembled by themselves and presumed to depose Saint Cyril, accusing him in turn of heresy. Both sides appealed to the Emperor, by whose order Saint Cyril and Nestorius were both arrested and kept in confinement and the verdict of the Council annulled. When three legates arrived from the Roman Church, the matter took another turn. After a careful consideration of what had been done, the legates condemned Nestorius, approved Saint Cyril's conduct, and declared the sentence pronounced against him void.

With the obstinacy of the Emperor in this regard, anger and consternation seized the people of Ephesus who supported the Ephesian Council. At their head was the hermit Dalmatius who had never gone out of his cell for 48 years, and whom Emperor Theodosius venerated highly. Dalmatius broke his habit and lead the people to the imperial palace chanting the psalms in the streets. The Emperor afterwards was completely changed and vindicated Saint Cyril with honor and ratified the sentence passed on Nestorius and ordered his exile. Though the bishops of the Antiochene province continued their schism for a while, they made peace with Saint Cyril in 433, when they condemned Nestorius and gave a clear and orthodox declaration of their own faith.

His Great Devotion

We have to thank Saint Cyril for the firm and uncompromising stand he took with regard to the dogma of the Incarnation - an attitude which led to the clear statements of the great council over which he presided. We ought indeed to be grateful that we, in our generation, are left in no doubt as to what we should believe with regard to that holy mystery upon which we base our faith as Christians. He was declared a doctor of the Universal Church in 1882.

The great devotion of this Saint to the Blessed Sacrament is manifest from the frequency with which he emphasizes the effects it produces upon those who receive it worthily. Indeed, he says that by Holy Communion we are made concorporeal with Christ. And it must surely be difficult for those who profess to hold the same faith as that defined in the first six general councils to shut their eyes to the vigour and conviction with which Saint Cyril before the year 431 affirmed his eucharistic doctrine. In a letter to Nestorius, which received the general and formal assent of the fathers at Ephesus, he had written:

``Proclaiming the death according to the flesh of the only begotten Son of God, that is, Jesus Christ, and confessing His resurrection from the dead and ascent into Heaven, we celebrate the bloodless sacrifice in our churches; and thus approach the mystic blessings, and are sanctified by partaking of the holy flesh and the precious blood of Christ the Savior of us all. And we receive it, not as common flesh (God forbid), nor as the flesh of a man sanctified and associated with the Word according to the unity of merit, or as having a divine indwelling, but as a really the life-giving and very flesh of the Word Himself.''

His Later Works

One of the noblest legacies bequeathed by Saint Cyril to the Church is the Liturgy which bears his name. According to tradition, it had been given orally by Saint Mark himself, but Saint Cyril completed it and wrote it. This Liturgy overflows with deep spiritual insight and reverberates the inmost yearnings towards God. It is an ancient custom in the Coptic Church to chant it during Lent and during the month of Koyahk.

His ceaseless activity took heavy toll of his health. Worn out by labors rather than by years, he entered into the joy of his Lord after steering the Church through storm and calm for 31 years.

Pope Benjamin I and the Islamic Conquest

This era is particularly special for the Christian Egyptians because it marks the beginning of the Arab Conquest, which continues until today. In many incidents, the Copts were prevented from practicing their religion freely, and were denied the right to build new churches or even renovate old ones.

Nowadays, the Moslem fundamentalists are pushing hard for the application of Islamic Sharia (the law of the Quran) on all Egyptians, Moslems and Christians alike.

Naturally, the Copts are worried about their future particularly if the fundamentalists come to power.

Benjamin was one of those spiritually sensitive youths who in his early life felt a strong urge to renounce worldly pleasures and dedicate himself to the service of God.

Responding to this urge, he went to one of the monasteries near Alexandria where he became a disciple of a wise old man called Theonas. Theonas guided him in the study of the Scriptures and in striving toward Christian perfection. One day Theonas accompanied Benjamin to Alexandria to visit Abba Andronicus the Patriarch. The Patriarch was impressed with the young man's personality and asked Theonas to leave him by his side. The Patriarch later ordained him a priest and appointed him to be his personal secretary. So when Abba Andronicus passed away, the clergy and the Coptic dignitaries unanimously elected Benjamin to be the 38th Pope of the Church of Alexandria.

Pope Benjamin lived through three different eras: The Persian occupation (623 - 628)

Under the yoke of the Byzantine empire -- a continuation of the Roman empire in the east Mediterranean -- the Copts were treated very badly. The Byzantines imposed on them an alien patriarch who was sent to Egypt from Constantinople. But in 623 A.D. the Persians captured Egypt as a result of the immense chaos all over the country. The Copts were prevented from practicing their religion, and their human and national rights were denied. Nevertheless, some Copts felt relief because alien Patriarchs were no longer appointed by Byzantium to oppress the Egyptian church. However, we find that during that era the Persians ruined and destroyed many churches and monasteries.

The return of the Byzantine rule (628 - 640)

This was a bitter period in which Emperor Heraclius' only concern was to oppose and shatter the church. He gave orders to transfer Bishop Visas of Asia Minor to Alexandria with power to exercise both ecclesiastical and civil authority. During that period, Pope Benjamin was forced to flee to Scetis. He was particularly saddened by the devastation that took place during the occupation of the Persians. From there, he fled to Upper Egypt where he disappeared in one of the monasteries near Thebes.

When Cyrus the alien patriarch came to Alexandria, and did not find Pope Benjamin, he arrested his brother Minas. The soldiers tortured him by burning his sides to force him to reveal his brother's hiding place. He endured all that pain in silence. Then Cyrus commanded his men to place him in a bag full of sand and throw him in the sea. Minas became the first martyr at the hands of that alien patriarch.

The Arab conquest in 640:

In that tense atmosphere the Arabs were advancing. They conquered Persia, then headed towards syria and Palestine, while Heraclius was motionless in Constantinople.

The Arabs marched under Amr Ibn Elaas, reached Egypt at Al Farama on the Red Sea. After a month of fighting they conquered the city and headed west. They occupied Belbais then headed to Babylon, what is now Old Cairo. They surrounded it for seven months, then Al-Muqauqus - a name synonym of the Byzantine governor -negotiated with them to surrender the land. After that they marched on Alexandria, where they fought for months before they could conquer the city.

The historian Alfred J. Butler thinks that there was not a single Copt in the battlefields, and that it is wrong to assume that the Copts were at that time capable of assembling their strength. Indeed they were suffering from the Byzantine rule, but never considered liberating themselves by negotiating with the Arabs.

The Return of Pope Benjamin:

Amr Ibn Elaas settled in the "Fustat" and when everything stabilized, dialogue started between him and the Copts about the return of the Pope and his bishops to their seats. Sanathius, who was a religious person, spoke to Amr Ibn Elaas about the matter. He asked him to send a message to the Pope to return to his see in peace. It was Sanathius who carried the message and delivered it to the Pope in Upper Egypt.

Amr cancelled the heavy Byzantine taxes and did not ask the Egyptians to pay more than the tribute. He opted to collect reasonably moderate sums of money and differed on this matter with Omar Ibn Al-Khattab (his commander the caliph). He also gave the Egyptians freedom to worship and freely exercise their legal and administrative matters. He appointed some Copts as directors in various districts, yet he exempted them from the military service. In an amicable atmosphere, the Pope met with Amr who showed him esteem and veneration.

The Caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab was not happy with Amr because he was expecting him to provide larger amounts of money than he actually did. In one of his fits of anger at Amr, he appointed Abdallah Ibn Said governor of Upper Egypt and limited Amr's authority to Lower Egypt. Amr didn't accept that and resigned from his position as governor of Egypt.

Before his departure, Byzantium sent her navy to attack Egypt. A fierce battle occurred and both sides suffered immense losses in lives. Amr was victorious and he vowed to destroy the walls of Alexandria and burn the city.

With regards to burning the library of Alexandria, the historians found that Amr used its contents as fuel in public baths at the orders of Caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab who said that if the contents of the library agreed with the Quran, they were unnecessary but if they disagreed, let them be burned. Today, this opinion provokes discontentedness among the Islamic circles which think that it never happened.

May the Lord guard and protect His Coptic Church and our people in Egypt, and surround them with His holy angels through the intercession of St. Mary and Pope Benjamin. Amen.

St. Basil the Great Bishop of Caesarea (330 - 375 A.D.)

St. Basil was born in Caesarea, Asia Minor, and received his education in Constantinople and Athens. He joined the University of Athens in 351 where he studied philosophy and the great classical works for five years. There he did very well in his studies and lived as an ascetic. He returned to Caesarea in 35S to teach at the university. He then traveled extensively in Syria and Egypt, where he visited the great hermits in the monasteries of the Eastern and Western Deserts of Egypt. He was deeply influenced by the life of the Egyptian monks and their great devotion to the worship of God. He was attracted to monasticism as a result of his visit to the Egyptian monasteries. He retired for study and contemplation at the bank of the River Iris, in Pontus. There he devoted his life completely to spiritual meditation in solitude until a number of followers gathered around him.

As a monk. St. Basil was influenced by St. Pachomius (A.D. 290) of Egypt who called for combatting idleness among monks and advocated a unique rganization of the monastic order which earned him the title "The Father of Monastic Communities". This inspired St. Basil the monk to build a house for the elderly and the disabled, as well as a hospital adjacent to one of the Orthodox monasteries at the outskirts of the city of Caesarea. St. Basil later became the founder of an important eastern monastic order, the Basilian Order.

St. Basil was a very close friend of St. Gregoryn the Bishop of Nazianzus - Constantinople. Together they wrote an outstanding work, The Philocalia, a collection of articles dealing with Origen (A.D. 185), the great Alexandrian theologian.

St. Basil became Bishop of Caesarea in the year 370 A.D. One of the greatest contributions of St. Basil to the Christian faith was his opposition to Arianism. Arianism was a movement which took place in the first third of the Mth century. Arius, the chief representative of the movement claimed that God, the Father, created Christ in time as His son, similar to Him but not completely equal to Him. In this Arius was attacked and proven totally wrong by a great number of the fathers of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt. One of those fathers with whom St. Basil collaborated in the fight against Arius was St. Athanasius (A.D. 296-373) Patriarch of Alexandrian who at the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) ably defended the doctrine of Christ's Divinity by proclaiming and proving beyond any doubt that Christ existed in eternity as God, and was and is and has always been consubstan- tial with God the Father in every aspect. It was St. Athanasius who formulated the Athanasian Creed, also known as the Orthodox Creed.
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+ The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is the one most commonly used year around in the Coptic Church. The Basilian Liturgy was established at the end of the 4th Century, it drew heavily from that of St. Mark the Evangelist, the founder of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt. The Basilian Liturgy is addressed to God the Father.

+ St. Basil the Great, the champion of Eastern Orthodox, was born at Caesarea, the capital of Cappodcia in 330 A.D. of wealthy and noble Christian parents. He was deeply influenced by the life of the Egyptian monks and became attracted to monasticism as a result of his visit to the Egyptian monasteries.

+ As a monk, St. Basil was influenced by St. Pachomius (A.D. 290) of Egypt. St. Basil became Bishop of Caesarea in the year 370 A.D. Among his great contributions to the Christian faith is his collaboration with St. Athanasius (296-373 A.D.), the 20th Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt in fight against Arianism and in defending the doctrine of Christ's Divinity.

Saint Barbara Martyr of the Lord (ABOUT 236 - 254 A.D.)

Martyrdom means "witness." It is the absolute dedication and witness to Lord Jesus that is exemplified in these accounts of the martyrs. For them "DEATH IS NO MORE, FOR CHRIST IS RISEN." Their deaths are celebrated by our church as the day of their births - their birth into the eternal life. The power and joy of Christ's resurrection lived in them, and it can live in us also. This is the true message we should get every time we read about one of the martyrs of the Lord.

It seems as if the whole world was collapsing throughout the Roman Empire. Disease was spreading in every village and town, and even the mighty emperor had been slain by his own troops. Looking about his palace, Dioscuros, who lived in Asia Minor wondered if anything was secure in these times. Although he was the governor of a large and wealthy city located near the Persian border, Dioscuros could not help but worry. Perhaps, he thought, the only true help lay in the gods - in Jupiter, Appollo, and Mercury. Dioscuros had always been loyal to his pagan gods, ever since his childhood.

It was then that Dioscuros' eye caught sight of the large tower located in the courtyard of his palace. He smiled when he saw it, for here was a tower no enemy, no disease, no danger could ever penetrate. At the top of the tower lived his daughter, Barbara. Beautiful, virtuous, Barbara was his only child and his one special joy.

Barbara had spent all of her life in an apartment in the pinnacle of the tower. Although she had committed no crime, she was never allowed to leave her tower. There were too many dangers outside, said her father. 8ecause of his love for her, Barbara was a special kind of prisoner. The tower had been constructed to protect her from anyone her father did not trust. So Barbara grew up in her lonely tower, her only contact with the outside world being the windows through which she could look out and marvel at the countryside below.

In Barbara's studies, her teachers had told her about the world outside, Being an intelligent girl, Barbara began asking them more questions. Gazing out from her tower, she had looked in wonder to the beauty of God's creation. She delighted at the millions of stars which nightly lit up the dark sky, and often arose early to see the bright orange sun rise in the east. She often asked herself: "Who created this world, this infinite space, full of stars, and moon, and sun and this earth with its seas and woods, and birds? " Finally, she came to the conclusion that there must be one Creator, one wise and Almighty Giver of Life.

From her friends, Barbara began to hear about the new teaching that was secretly being spread throughout the land - teachings about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Creator of the World. Soon she discovered that one of the girls who knew much about Jesus was herself a Christian. Barbara begged to be instructed in this new faith, and secretly decided to become a Christian herself.

One day, when Dioscuros was away, Barbara decided to lnspect the new bathhouse that her father ordered to be built for her. In it was a large pool - a perfect place for baptism. Barbara told the builders to make a few changes in the design. Instead of two windows, there would be three - in honor of the Holy Trinity. And there, on the wall above, a Cross would be cut into the stone.

Then Barbara wrote a letter to the great teacher Origen from Alexandria to come and baptize her. Origen taught her more about the love of Jesus, and His Salvation on the Cross to save mankind. He also gave her few religious books, and told her that she must suffer a lot because of her faith, but at the end she will be crowned with eternal glory. A few days before her father returned, Barbara was baptized in the new pool.

When her father returned he went straight to greet his beloved daughter. As he walked by the new bathhouse he noticed the three windows, and saw the cross. "Who had authorized these changes?" he asked himself. "Who could have dared to influence his daughter with signs of those Christians?" Barbara greeted her father warmly, then she revealed to him that she had made the changes in the building, for she was now a Christian. Dioscuros was furious. "Have you been baptized yet?" he asked. "Yes" she replied.

Dioscuros was enraged because all of his plans had been ruined. All of his precautions were for nothing. Barbara.saw her father reach for his sword and she dashed out of the room and ran down the stairs of the tower. She escaped from the palace and went to a nearby mountain and there she prayed to God for help.

From her friends, Barbara began to hear about the new teaching that was secretly being spread throughout the land - teachings about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Creator of the World. Soon she discovered that one of the girls who knew much about Jesus was hterself a Christian. Barbara begged to be instructed in this new faith, and secretly decided to become a Christian herself.

One day, when Dioscuros was away, Barbara decided to inspect the new bathhouse that her father ordered to be built for her. In it was a large pool - a perfect place for baptism. Barbara told the builders to make a few changes in the design. Instead of two windows, there would be three - in honor of the Holy Trinity. Anc there, on the wall above, a Cross would be cut into the stone.

Then Barbara wrote a letter to the great teacher Origen from Alexandria to come and baptize her. Origen taught her more about the love of Jesus, and His Salvation on the Cross to save mankind. He also gave her few religious books, and told her that she must suffer a lot because of her faith, but at the end she will be crowned with eternal glory. A few days before her father returned, Barbara was baptized in the new pool.

When her father returned he went straight to greet his beloved daughter. As he walked by the new bathhouse he noticed the three windows, and saw the cross. "Who had authorized these changes?" he asked himself. "Who could have dared to influence his daughter with signs o those Christians?" Barbara greeted her father warmly, then she revealed to him that she had made the changes in the building, for she was now a Christian. Dioscuros was furious. "Have you been baptized yet?" he asked. "Yes!" she replied.

Dioscuros was enraged because all of his plans had been ruined. All of his precautions were for nothing. Barbara,saw her father reach for his sword and she dashed out of the room and ran down the stairs of the tower. She escaped from the palace and went to a nearby mountain and there she prayed to God for help.

But the soldiers of Dioscuros were sent out and the next day they found her. When Barbara refused to give up her faith, her father ordered the soldiers to take her to the imperial governor. There she was given two choices: sacrifice to the pagan gods or die. Barbara answered quickly, "I would rather die, for in this way I will witness my love for my Savior Jesus." The governor sent her to be tortured but Barbara remained firm in her faith. Finally they threw her into jail with another woman called Julia, who became Barbara's friend and tried to care for her wounds.

Around midnight in the dark cell, a bright light shone. Christ himself appeared to Barbara and told her, "Don't fear, my child, for I will be always with you." After these words, all her wounds from the many tortures were healed. Julia decided to accept Christ herself and follow Barbara in her martyrdom.

In the morning when Barbara stood in front of the governor, everybody was amazed by the absence of her wounds. Again Barbara was mercilessly tortured and when it was discovered that Julia also was Christian, the governor ordered her to be tortured as well. As for Barbara, they stripped her clothes off and forced her to walk in the streets of the city naked. Yet as Barbara stepped outside the prison walls, she was covered with brilliant light. Not only could her naked body not be seen but also all her wounds had been healed again.

The imperial governor had grown tired and afraid of this young woman with so much power. He ordered his soldiers to have Barbara and Julia beheaded at the same time. Immediately the earth shook and swallowed the bodies of the two martyrs. The governor, in terror, became insane and died.

Several days after, a pious Christian discovered the two white-robed bodies. He buried them in a manner befitting those who died a martyr's death.

Today a famous church in old Cairo bears the name of the great Saint Barbara and contains her relics. May the prayers of those two great saints be with us. Amen.

Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo, Doctor of the Church (A.D. 430)

His Childhood and Youth

Saint Augustine, who used commonly to be called Austin in English, was born on November 13, 354 at Tagaste, a small town of Numidia in north Africa, not far from Hippo. His father, Patricius, was a pagan and of a violent disposition; but through the example and prudent conduct of his wife, Saint Monica, he was baptized a little before his death.

As a child, Saint Monica instructed him in the Christian religion and taught him how to pray; falling dangerously ill, he desired baptism and his mother got everything ready for it: but he suddenly grew better, and it was put off.

His father wanted him to become a man of learning and cared very little about his character. In his writings, Augustine accuses himself of often studying by constraint, disobeying his parents and masters, not writing, reading, or minding his lessons so much as was required of him; and this he did not for lack of wit or memory, but out of love of play. But he prayed to God with great earnestness that he might escape punishment at school. He later on did so well with his studies that he went to Carthage in 370 when he was still 17. He studied rhetoric with eagerness and pleasure; but his motives were vanity and ambition, and to them he joined loose living.

Years away from Christ

At Carthage, he entered into relations with a woman (to whom he remained faithful until he sent her away from him 15 years later). She bore him a son, Adeodatus, in 372. His father had died in 371, but he continued at Carthage and switched to philosophy and the search for the truth. He also studied the Scriptures but from a subjective attitude. He was offended with the simplicity of style, and could not relish their humility or penetrate their spirit. Then he fell into Manichaeism - a combination of pagan religions and philosophy. The darkening of the understanding and clumsiness in the use of the faculties helped to betray him into his company; and pride did the rest. "I sought with pride", he says, "what only humility could make me find. Fool that I was, I left the nest, imagining myself able to fly; and I fell to the ground."

For nine years he had his own schools of rhetoric and grammar in Tagaste and Carthage, while his devoted mother, Saint Monica, spurred on by the assurance of a holy bishop that "the son of so many tears could not perish", never ceased by prayer and gentle persuasion to try to bring him to conversion and reform.

In 383 he departed to Rome, secretly, lest his mother should prevent him from going to the big city. He opened a school or rhetoric, and then was appointed by the government as a teacher in Milan, where his mother, and his friend Alipius joined him. Saint Monica's only ambition was to convert her son to Christianity.

His Repentance

In Milan, Saint Augustine came under the influence of Saint Ambrose the bishop; he began to go to his sermons, not so much with an expectation of profiting by them as to gratify his curiosity and to enjoy the eloquence. He found that the discourses more learned than the heresies he adopted and began to read the New Testament especially Saint Paul's writings. In the same time, the mother of Adeodatus his son left back to Africa leaving the child behind.

Saint Augustine's spiritual, moral and intellectual struggle went on; he was convinced of the truth of Christianity, but his will was weaker than the worldly temptations, and delayed his return to Christ for many months. "Soon, in a little while, I shall make up my mind, but not right now" he kept telling himself. In his half desires of conversion he was accustomed to beg of God the grace of chastity, but was at the same time in some measure afraid of being heard too soon. He realized that his problem was a moral one. The Divine truth for which he was seeking would never be his unless he first overcame his weakness.

Soon after, Pontitian, an African, came to visit Saint Augustine and his friend Alipius; he told them about two men who had been suddenly turned to the service of God by reading about the life of Saint Anthony. His words had a powerful influence on the mind of Saint Augustine. He was ashamed his will has been so weak and said to Alipius:

"What are we doing to let the unlearned seize Heaven by force, whilst we with all our knowledge remain behind, cowardly and heartless, wallowing in our sins? Because they have outstripped us and gone before, are we ashamed to follow them? Is it not more shameful not even to follow them?"

He rushed to the garden, greatly upset; tears filling his eyes, he threw himself on the grass under a fig tree and reproached himself bitterly crying out:

"And Thou, O Lord, how long? How long? Is it to be tomorrow and tomorrow? Why not now? Why not this very hour put an end to shame?"

As he spoke these words he heard a child's voice singing "Tolle lege! Tolle lege!" (Take up and read! Take up and read!). He could not remember any childhood game he played with any such words. He remembered that Saint Anthony was converted from the world by hearing a single verse. He took up Saint Paul's epistles and read the first chapter that met his eyes: "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, fulfil the lusts thereof." (Romans 13:13-14)

When he told Alipius what he had experienced, Alipius took the book and read, he found the next words to be: "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye" and applied them to himself and joined his friend in his resolution.

This high point in the conversion of Saint Augustine took place in the September of 386, when he was 32 years old. He, his son Adeodatus and Alipius were baptized by Saint Ambrose at Easter the following year in the presence of saint Monica. She knew that her prayers were answered and died shortly after. Saint Augustine prayed:

"Too late, have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, too late have I loved Thee! Thou wast with me, and I was not with Thee; I was abroad, running after those beauties which Thou hast made; those things which could have no being but in Thee kept me away from Thee. Thou hast called, Thou hast cried out, and hast pierced my deafness. Thou hast enlightened, Thou hast shone forth, and my blindness is dispelled. I have tasted Thee, and am hungry of Thee. Thou hast touched me, and I am afire with the desire of thy embraces."

A Priest and then a Bishop

From that time, Saint Augustine went back to Tagaste, his native city, and lived for three years with his friends and shared a life of prayer, study and poverty. All things were in common and were distributed according to everyone's needs. He had no idea of becoming a priest, but in 391 he was ordained as an assistant to Valerius, Bishop of Hippo, and he had to move to that city.

He established a sort of monastery in his house, living with Saint Alipius, Saint Evodius, Saint Possidius and others according to the rule of the holy Apostles. Valerius who had an impediment in speaking appointed Saint Augustine to preach in his own presence and he has not interrupted the course of his sermons until his death (nearly 400 sermons). He vigorously opposed the Manicheans and the Donatists.

In 395 he was consecrated bishop as co-adjutor to Valerius, and succeeded him in the see of Hippo on his death soon after. He established regular and common life in his episcopal residence, and required all the priests, deacons, and subdeacons to renounce property following the regular mode of life recognized by the early Church as instituted by the Apostles.

He founded a community of religious women and on the death of his sister, the first "abbess", he addressed a letter on the general ascetic principles of the religious life; this letter is known as the "Rule of Saint Augustine".

He employed the revenues of his church in relieving the poor and in redeeming the captives. Like another Moses or Saint Paul, he said to his people: "I do not want to be saved without you. What shall I desire? What shall I say? Why am I a bishop? Why am I in the world? Only to live in Jesus Christ: but to live in Him with you. This is my passion, my honor, my glory, my joy and my riches."

There is a good example of Saint Augustine's modesty and humility in his discussion with Saint Jerome over the interpretation of a text of Galatians. Owing to the miscarriage of a letter Saint Jerome, not an easily patient man, deemed himself publicly attacked. Saint Augustine wrote to him: "I entreat you again and again to correct me confidently when you perceive me to stand in need of it; for though the office of a bishop be greater than that of a priest, yet in many things Augustine is inferior to Jerome."

Through his 35 years as a bishop of Hippo, Saint Augustine had to defend the faith against one heresy or another. He opposed the Donatists, the Pelagians, and the Alarians. In order to finish his valuable writings, and to provide against a troublesome election after his death, he proposed to his clergy and people to choose for his co-adjutor Heraclius, the youngest among his deacons, and his election was confirmed by acclamation in 426.

Saint Augustine calmly resigned his spirit into the hands of God on August 28, 430, after having lived 76 years and spent almost 40 of them in the labors of the ministry. Among his greatest work is the 15 volume "On the City of God" which took him 30 years to write, and his "Confessions".

May the prayers and supplications of the great Saint Augustine be with us. Amen.

Saint Arsenius the Great The Teacher of the Kings (A.D. 445)

His Early Life

Arsenius was born to two rich parents in A.D. 350 in Rome. His father was a senator and judge. His parents were very righteous and honorable people. They sent Arsenius to the teachers of the Church and was raised in the fear of God. He was eager to read the Scriptures and the holy books, and was ordained a deacon then an arch-deacon by Saint Damasus the Bishop of Rome.

After his parents died, his sister Afrositty and he gave all their riches to the poor, and lived an ascetic life. Arsenius became famous for his righteousness and wisdom. He was a disciple of Rophenius the monastic historian from whom he admired the Egyptian monastic life and its fathers, and he wished to meet them.

When the Emperor Theodosius the Great wanted a man to whom he might entrust the education of his children, Saint Damasus recommended Arsenius, a man of senatorial rank learned in both sacred and worldly knowledge. Arsenius accordingly went to Constantinople in 383 A.D. and was appointed to the post by Theodosius who, coming once to see Arcadius and Honorius at their studies, found them sitting whilst Arsenius talked to them standing: at once he caused Arsenius to sit and ordered them to listen to him standing. But neither then nor in after-life were the two augusti any credit to such a father or such a tutor; added to this Arsenius had always a tendency to a retired life.

Flight to the Desert of Egypt

When therefore after over ten years at the court he seemed clearly to hear the voice of God through the Gospel, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26). He left Constantinople and came by sea to Alexandria and fled into the wilderness. When he first presented himself to Abba Macarius the Great, the father of the monks of Skete, he recommended him to the care of Saint John the Dwarf to try him. In the evening, when the rest of the monks sat down to take their meal, Saint John left Arsenius standing in the middle without inviting him. Such a reception was a severe trial to an ex- courtier; but was followed by another much rougher, for Saint John took a loaf of bread and threw it on the ground before him, biding him with an air of indifference to eat it if he would. Arsenius cheerfully sat on the ground and took his meal. Saint John was so satisfied with his behavior that he required no further trial for his admission, and said, "This man will make a monk".

Arsenius at first used thoughtlessly to do certain things which he had done in the world, which seemed inappropriate to his new companions, for instance, to sit cross-legged. The seniors were unwilling through the respect they bore him to tell him of this in public, so one agreed with another that he should put himself in that posture and then be rebuked for his immodesty. Arsenius saw that the reproof was meant for him, and corrected himself of that trick.

His Spiritual Strife

Being asked one day why he, being so well educated, sought the instruction and advice of a certain monk who was an utter stranger to all literature, he replied, "I am not unacquainted with the learning of the Greeks and the Romans; but I have not yet learned the alphabet of the science of the saints, whereof this seemingly ignorant Egyptian is master". Evagrius of Pontus who, after he had distinguished himself at Constantinople by his learning, had retired into the desert of Nitria in 385, expressed surprise that many learned men made no progress in virtue, whilst many Egyptians, who did not even know the letters of the alphabet, arrived at a high degree of contemplation. Arsenius answered, "We make no progress because we dwell in that exterior learning which puffs up the mind; but these illiterate Egyptians have a true sense of their own weakness, blindness, and insufficiency; and by that very thing they are qualified to labor successfully in the pursuit of virtue".

Arsenius often passed the whole night in watching and prayer, ad on Saturdays it was his custom to go to prayers turning his back to the evening sun, and continue with his hands lifted up to Heaven till the sun shone on his face the next morning.

His Self-Imposed Poverty

One of the emperor's officers brought him the will of a senator, his relation, who was lately dead, and had left him his heir. The saint took the will and would have torn it to pieces, but the officer begged him not to, saying such an accident would get him in trouble. Arsenius, however, refused the estate, saying "I died eleven years ago and cannot be his heir".

He employed himself in making mats of palm-tree leaves; and he never changed the water in which he moistened the leaves, but only poured in fresh water upon it as it wasted. When some asked him why he did not cast away the filthy water, he answered, "I ought to be punished by this smell for the self-indulgence with which I formerly used perfumes". He lived in the most utter poverty, so that in an illness, having need for a small sum to procure him some little necessities, he was obliged to beg for it.

His Solitude and Tears

Due to his desire for quiet and solitude, Saint John allowed Saint Arsenius to live alone in a hidden cave in the desert 32 miles away. He would seldom see strangers who came to visit him, but Theophilus, Pope of Alexandria, came one day in company with others to visit him, and begged he would speak on some subject for the good of their souls. The saint asked them whether they were disposed to comply with his directions; and being answered in the affirmative, he replied, "I entreat you then that, whenever you are informed of Arsenius' abode, you would leave him to himself and spare yourselves the trouble of coming after him". He never visited his brethren, contenting himself with meeting them at spiritual conferences. The abbot Mark asked him one day why he so much shunned their company. The saint answered, "God knows how dearly I love you all; but I find I cannot be both with God and with men at the same time; nor can I think of leaving God to converse with men".

This disposition, however, did not hinder him from giving spiritual instruction to his brethren, and several of his sayings are recorded. He said often, "I have always something to repent for after having talked, but have never been sorry for having been silent".

Nothing is so much spoken of about Arsenius as his gift of tears, weeping both over his own shortcomings and those of the world, particularly the feebleness of Arcadius and the foolishness of Honorius.

His Departure

Saint Arsenius was tall and comely but stooped a little in his old age; he had graceful carriage and a certain shining beauty and air of both majesty and meekness; his hair was all white, and his beard reached down to his girdle, but the tears which he shed continually had worn away his eye-lashes. He lived in the same austere manner till the age of about ninety-five; he spent forty years in the desert of Skete, till a raid of barbarians compelled him to forsake this abode about the year 434. He retired to the rock of Troe, over against Memphis, and ten years after to the island of Canopus, near Alexandria; but not being able to bear the neighborhood of that city, he returned to Troe, where he died.

His brethren, seeing him weep in his last hours, said to him, "Father, why do you weep? Are you, like others, afraid to die?" The saint answered, "I am very afraid - nor has this dread ever forsaken me from the time I first came into these deserts". Notwithstanding his fear, Saint Arsenius died in great peace, full of faith and of that humble confidence which perfect charity inspires, in the year 445.

May the prayers of this great Saint Arsenius, the teacher of the king's children, be with us all. Amen.

Conclusion

Parents' responsibility in educating their children. "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?". "I have always something to repent for after having talked, but have never been sorry for having been silent". Virtues that allowed him to decide to change albeit at old age. Saint Arsenius before and after joining the fathers of the desert.