Tag: resurrection

Raising Lazarus

Raising Lazarus

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Elijah Iskander

There are so many characters with varied roles in the story of the raising of Lazarus that we can learn from.

Two of the characters we meet are Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus. Martha runs to the Lord and says, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). She had some understanding of who Christ was, but she didn’t have a complete understanding. She knew Jesus was powerful and had authority over death but she also had a misunderstanding that His power was limited by distance. IF You were here, perhaps she didn’t know the number of miracles He did when He healed from a distance. The centurion’s daughter for example.

When Jesus tells her that he will rise, she responds with theological insight when she says, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24). Jesus clarifies that He meant beyond this.

Her sister, Mary, comes to the Lord with the exact same sentence, word for word. Jesus doesn’t seem to engage with Mary theologically as He did with Martha but simply completes the miracles.

Regardless of if I am Mary, coming to the Lord broken-hearted with no understanding or if I come to Him with questions, concerns and debates, He still comforts me in the language I understand best and is for my benefit.

Another character that is easily missed in this story is Thomas. The one known as, “doubting Thomas,” has a powerful role in this story. When Jesus informs the disciples that Lazarus had died and they must go to him, Thomas replies, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (John 11:16).

Earlier in the Gospel, Jesus makes a bold claim of divinity, saying that He is the Son of God. The Jews hearing this want to kill Him for making Himself equal to God. And now the disciples see that Lazarus has died, that the Jews are surrounded in the area after they had just escaped from them. It would natural for the disciples to think that if they went to the Jews, they would kill Jesus. Thomas concludes the same but sees this is an opportunity to follow the Lord even unto death.

Are we like Thomas, ready to follow the Lord regardless of the cost and consequences? For Thomas, this became an accidental prophecy of his own martyrdom. Doubting Thomas, in this instance, proved to be brave and courageous. What can we learn from Thomas’ example today? Even if I must sacrifice for you, Lord, I am ready. Let us also go that we may die with Him. Let us aspire to have the courage of Thomas.

The compassions of our Lord are magnified in the shortest verse of the Bible which reads, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). When He saw His beloved weeping, He also wept. How can we perceive the depth of this verse? He groaned in the Spirit and was troubled. The Comforter, the Counsellor, weeps and is troubled. This gives us an insight into the compassion of the Lord and how much He loves us. We call Him, “Abba, Father” which is to say, “Dad.” This is a real mystery, a compassionate father or mother carry the burden of their children’s needs, even if it is nonsense, even if it is not a big deal. Jesus does not take humour in our requests but He shares with us every feeling that distresses us.

Can I bear the burdens of others? Can I share in the joy and sorrow of others? The Creator wept, groaned and was troubled.

We see a final group that responds saying, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” (John 11:37). Does this not sound like those who mocked Christ on the Cross saying, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him” (Matthew 27:42). Do I see myself in this group? Lord, if You are so powerful then why did I fail my exam, why did I endure such hardship, where were You in my struggles?

This brings about the second groaning within the Spirit of our Lord, perhaps this was not sharing in grief but in the hardness of their hearts, their utter lack of faith.

Which of these characters am I like?

  • Mary, who approaches the Lord in broken-heartedness
  • Martha, who approaches the Lord with a question and incomplete understanding
  • Thomas, who was ready to die for the sake of the Lord
  • The Jews, who questioned why Jesus would not save Lazarus from dying
  • Jesus, who we are called to like. Full of compassion and sharing the burdens of others. Groaning and weeping for those that are pained
  • Lazarus, the one raised from the dead

St Augustine describes the difference between the raising of Christ and the raising of Lazarus. When Jesus rose, the woman found the linen folded and left behind. Lazarus rose while still bound in linen. Simply because Lazarus will need those again, but Jesus will not. In whatever earthly things we receive from the Lord, we will eventually lose. If I am healed, I will be sick again. If I have a job, a time will come when I don’t have a job. Whatever earthly things we have, will be taken.

When I come to the Lord, let me ask for the imperishable. For any worldly concern, I bring forth before the Lord, He cries with me, He shares my suffering with me. Let me ask of something that is fitted for the Giver. Lord, teach me to pray.

Pope Kyrillos would wake up at 2am for his formal prayers would end at 10am and he has a constant dialogue with God. When people asked how he had such great insight, his response was simple, if you spend time speaking with God more than anyone else, He will speak to you. Lord teach me to imitate Pope Kyrillos.

For any wrongdoing, help me to let is go. Teach me to sacrifice, to love, to be humble. We pray for things worthy of the Giver.

The Proposal of Christ

The Proposal of Christ

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily

One of the most unforgettable days in someone’s life is the day they either proposed or were proposed to. Whether good or bad, yes or no, it’s still unforgettable. The words used on the day are ingrained in your mind.

The reason why it is such a significant day is that it is a transitionary point in your life. It marks the official transition from a relationship heading preparation for a wedding and on to marriage.

On that day, there is so much love, so much hope for what it will become, and so much faith in each other.

The Jews had a different process, they didn’t get down on one knee. The process would begin when the man would bring a gift to the girl which would mark the covenant. If she accepted the gift, it was done. He then says, “I’m going to go prepare a place for you. When it’s ready I will come back and take you with me to that place and we will be there together.”

After he said this, he would leave to build an extension to his father’s house for him and his new bride. This would take approximately one year to prepare and build. The father would then determine the right time and he would go in a procession to bring his bride back to his father’s home.

What we read in the gospel of John in the last supper discourse sounds, Christ frames His departure in very similar fashion;

“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know” – John 14:2-3.

In essence, this was a Jewish proposal – a transition point in the relationship of Christ and the disciples. This was now heading toward a marriage.

He stays on earth for 40 days after His resurrection, until the Ascension. The ascension we celebrate this coming week. The Ascension is major event that gets overlooked midweek, between the Resurrection and the Pentecost.

Why did Christ stay for 40 days? Why this particular number of days, why couldn’t He remain of Earth forever? If you read through scripture, every time the number 40 is used, it is a transitionary moment.

During the time of Noah, they remained in the Arc for 40 days and 40 nights. When Moses takes the Israelites out of Egypt, they wonder in the desert for 40 years searching for the Promised Land. A transitionary point in the history of Israel from being in the bondage of slavery to being heirs of God’s people in their own land.

Before Jesus begins His ministry, He spends 40 days and 40 nights in the desert where He was tempted by the devil. A transitionary point from which He would begin His public ministry and miracles.

Here, we have the Ascension that takes place 40 days after the Crucifixion. This was a transitionary moment for the disciples. From fear to courage, from not understanding who Christ was or what He was saying to being able to fully comprehend His divinity and preparing for the marriage feast that was to come.

After His ascension, we read, “And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:52)

This is a strange reaction to a loved one leaving. If you really loved someone, you would not be joyful at their departure. Why were the disciples so joyful at the ascension of Christ? Because the proposal is now coming into effect.

They remembered the words of Christ, I will go to prepare a place and when it’s ready, I will take you with Me.

They were joyful to see Him leave so that when He returned, they would be going with Him. Just like the bride is joyful when her groom leaves to prepare a place for her, the disciples can say goodbye to Christ with joy. It was joy in anticipation of what is to come. They spend the next nine days waiting for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. How did they spend those nine days?

“These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” – Acts 1:14

In prayer and supplication, they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

We today, hear these words of Christ as though Christ is on one knee proposing to you, and saying, “I am going to My Father house to prepare a place for you and then I will come again and receive you to Myself that where I am, you may be also.”

On the day of Ascension, we celebrate the day He leaves to prepare that place as a transitionary moment in our lives, looking toward eternity. We ought to return to our lives with joy for we wait in hope of His return when we will be with Him. We live joyful in prayer, preparing for wedding that is to come. We live in this hope, in this faith, and in this love.

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Finding the Light

Finding the Light

Adapted from a sermon by Fr David Shehata

Passage: John 12:35-50

Many years ago, I wanted to get a great present for my household to make life easier. I thought a robotic vacuum would be the perfect solution. The sales man described it as a miracle solution, the entire house would be clean at the push of a button. It would take it a while to navigate and get around everything but in a few weeks, it would know exactly where to go.

I took it home and tried to turn it on. I came back 30 minutes later and found it spinning in circles. I called the sales man and told him the issue and he said to give it a bit more time to adjust. I tried it in a different room, turned it on and came back after 30 minutes to find it spinning in circles.

I took it back to the sales man and he asked if I had been using it in day or the night, if I had the left the blinds closed or open. Turns out that because I had been leaving it in the dark, it didn’t know where to go.

This reminds me of the Gospel of today. Sometimes in our lives we act robotically, we only walk into areas where there are light. Have you ever tried to walk in area that is completely dark? Our lives are full of unseen territory, we don’t always know what will happen next year, next month or tomorrow even. Although we can predict certain things, there is a good chance we may stumble if we cannot see clearly.

But Christ tells us, “I am the light of the world.”

Unless you are walking in the light, then there is a good chance that you will stumble. You might just be going around in circles, and getting frustrated that you’re not moving forward. Walking in the light is something that the Lord stresses for He knows the importance of seeing for our own progress.

It makes sense, where the light is on, you can see where you’re going. We are not fearful when we walk in the light, but fear begins when we are in darkness and we cannot predict what is coming next. When we are in darkness, we are likely to fall into trouble. In the light, even if something bad is coming, it helps and it reassuring to see it first. Christ is telling us, “I know life can have tribulation, but I am the light. Stay close to Me and I will guide you.”

When we say, “Life is too hard” – It is true, being Christian doesn’t mean you won’t be exposed to trouble and the tribulation of the world. Christ even said, “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life.” He acknowledges the problem, and gives us the solution, Yes, you will have hardship, but He is with you. He is the light of the world.

The devil may try to mimic the light by giving us assurance in the temporal. Our current times are the proof of that. So many that once relied on health, on riches, on success, may have found that this is now in jeopardy. God is always with us, and He is the light that remains constant in our lives. Nothing can diminish this light.

In other parts of the Gospel we hear Christ say, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16

The Lord is the source of light. If I am His son/daughter, then I can’t sit back and think that my salvation is secured. There is no such thing as a passive Christian. When Christ resides in us, we reflect His light, His glory and the way, truth and life to rest of the world. The purpose of life is to be close to God, enter into salvation and to to bring as many people with us as possible.

The beauty of our church is in the 2000 years of history of pillars of light. Both early saints and modern day saints that have walking along a path. Every path is different but the destination is the same – to be with Christ.

St Pope Kyrillos VI lived as an ascetic monk for three years in the mill. In that time, he says that he, “saw the light,” and was transformed into the hero of our church. He saw the light and then became the light.

The martyrs were being convinced to renounce their faith but they were so filled with the light that they would not let anything materialistic be taken away from them. On any Coptic icon, there is a gold metallic background. When you put a candle in front of them it reflects the light. They don’t emanate light but they reflect the light.

When we ask ourselves if we are truly Christian, a good test is to see how much we reflect Christ’s light? My responsibility as a Christian is to reflect the light of Christ. Am I fulfilling that responsibility?

There can be detrimental outcomes, like we see with St Augustine. His mother tried to bring him to Christ but when he would go to church and see how the Christians of the church acted, he wanted nothing to do with Christianity. This was until he saw St Basil – a true example of Christianity. He was transformed from the moment he saw the reflection of Christ’s light in St Basil.

This is our responsibility. What I say, what I do and the way I behave reflect my Christianity. Yes, I will fall, but how long does it take me to get back up again?

We see an example of what stopped the Pharisees from spreading Christ’s light when St John recounts, “Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” – John 12:42-43.

Isn’t it incredible that I can believe in something, have faith, but because of what other people say and other worldly consequences I am stopped? How many opportunities have I had to preach, to follow the commandments and to spread the light of Christ? How many times do I second guess myself because of concerns I had for the perception of others? This is easier said than done, but we can grow in courage by spending time with Christ. When I spend time with Him, I grow in love for Him and He becomes everything beautiful in life and all else becomes meaningless in comparison.

The Lord says, “Seek ye first the kingdom and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). The things of the world will pass, they can never give us peace. Christ tells us, “I am not coming to judge, but to bring you to the Father.” Time spent with God is never regretted but in the last days, we will regret not taking the opportunity to spend time with Him. We pray and beg the Lord to help in joyful times that we see Him as the true light and we remain unmoved about the opinions of others.

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He Blessed, He Broke, He Gave

He Blessed, He Broke, He Gave

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily

This is the First Sunday after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. After the resurrection of Christ, our Lord appeared to many of His disciples and to others many times. If you read through the Gospels and in the book of Acts, you’ll be able to see at least twelve documented times that Jesus appeared after His resurrection. There probably may have been more that were not documented.

In one of these appearances He appeared to over 500 people at one time. St Paul says this in Corinthians, “He was seen by Caiaphas then by the twelve and after that He was seen by over 500 brethren at once of whom the greater part remain to the present but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James then by the Apostles, then last of all He was seen by me as by one born out of due time.” An undeniable proof of the resurrection is the appearance to many eyewitnesses and as St Paul says at one point it was to over 500 people at the same time.

In today’s Gospel, we are presented with two of those appearances. The first is on the same evening of the resurrection – He enters into the closed doors where the Apostles were gathered and he enters with “peace be with you” in the upper room. The second appearance we read today is that Thomas was not present and He struggled to believe that Christ had risen and appeared to them. So Christ appears again, a second time eight days later, which would be the following Sunday. This time Thomas was gathered with them and our Lord demonstrates and shows the wounds in His hands and His side. These are some of the appearances of Christ.

What about His disappearances? We know that Christ appearing to them will give them tremendous joy and peace, but what about his disappearance? When He would leave them – how would that leave them? Remember as a child whenever we would have guests over our house and it would come time for them to leave, there would be always be this sad feeling. When they come there’s joy – family is coming over, friends are coming over, but when they come to leave you feel this sense of sadness and emptiness. We see here Christ appearing, but what about when He comes to disappear? It is always joyful and happy to say hello and welcome, but very difficult to say goodbye.

Another appearance that took place just before the appearance we read in today’s Gospel in the Upper Room, is a very beautiful appearance that happened with two disciples who were travelling on the road to Emmaus. St Luke presents to us this story on the day of the resurrection, on the Sunday. They leave Jerusalem and head seven miles a way to a village called Emmaus. As they were travelling on their way to Emmaus, they were talking. As they were talking, Christ appears and joins them. They did not know it was Him because their eyes were restrained. The Lord asked, “what conversation is this that you have with one another?” One of them named Cleopus answered and said, “are you the only stranger in Jerusalem and have you not known the things which happened there these days?” Christ entertains the question and says, “what things?”

 They then said to Him,

“The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:19-21)

You see here that the disciples had some loss of faith, they referred to Christ as the prophet, not the son of God. They said that they were hoping that it would be Him who would redeem Israel, as if now their hope have somewhat been dashed. Christ responds to them and says,

 ““Oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (Luke 24:25-27)

Essentially Christ walks with them and gives them the greatest Bible study in the history of mankind. He explains the starting from Moses and Genesis and throughout the prophets, and explains how all of these point to the crucified One – to Christ. When they had gotten near to Emmaus, which probably had felt like five minutes when walking with Christ, it was now time to say goodbye. Christ would continue His journey, and the two would go to their home. It was at this point they were meant to say goodbye. What actually happened was they constrained Him saying “…for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” They clung to Christ and said don’t leave us, stay with us, come into our home, have a meal. The Lord went to stay with them, however it did not last very long. He sat with them at the table and He took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. This action of Christ is unique to Him – the same action in the last supper and the same action in the feeding of the multitude of the five thousand. It was a trademark of Jesus. It was then their eyes were opened and they knew Him and He vanished from their sight – disappeared.

These days we are focusing on Christ’s appearances, but I would like us to think of his disappearances, like how He vanished from their sight. After He vanished, they said to one another, ““did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.”

Why did He disappear, why at that particular moment at the breaking of the bread? The reason is profound but simple. Jesus was pointing them to the way that He would remain present with them. When they begged Him saying stay with us, this was the way that He would stay with them – through the Eucharist. This is how He would remain with them. After His crucifixion and death, He appeared in different glorified forms, but now He is saying this is the way He will remain with you – the breaking of the bread, the eucharist, He is with us.

There is a story that came out of Russia during communism when the Priests and Bishops were thrown into prison and they could no longer celebrate the Eucharist. When they were sitting in the cell, they thought, ‘well they are giving us bread and cranberry juice, why don’t we pray the liturgy with the bread and cranberry juice.’ One of them said, “but we do not have an alter, not even a table,” they cannot put the offering and the Eucharist on the floor. So one of the priests lied down with his back on the floor, and they prayed the liturgy on the chest of the priest. Christ was present with them even in the prison cell. This is the extent that is taken to have Christ stays with us. In every liturgy, our Lord is answering this request of those two disciples who begged Him to “stay with us.” In every liturgy He is saying I am with you in the breaking of the bread, and he says to us I am with you always even to the end of time.

Glory be to God forever Amen.

Am I Truly Clean?

Am I Truly Clean?

By Ereeny Mikhail

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” – Luke 11:24-26

Every year after Passion Week and the Resurrection feast, sometime in the following week, this is the first passage from the Bible that pops into my head. One moment we are attending prayers every morning and night, fasting, doing prostrations, singing at the top of our lungs, sleepless nights filled with prayer, not distracted by television, secular music and social media and spending the week in repentance. And then in a moment…everything changes.

When it should for the better because of what we just witnessed during Passion week, it becomes overeating, catching up on T.V., changing back to our normal Spotify playlist and our time with God drops dramatically. Of course, every year it takes me a few days to come out of the food coma in order to realise that this is the case. That is when this parable (which is also in some of the other gospels) comes to mind. Likewise, following confession this parable again arises. Every time I walk out of confession, I am cautious of my actions, my words and my thoughts. However, as humans we have weakness and we fall back into old ways.

So, I asked myself, what is the solution? How do we try to the best of our ability to maintain that spirituality? How do we not fall back? This parable tells us that when we become clean and our sin is wiped away, we then find that same sin and seven others make their way back into our hearts. Why? Aren’t we clean?

St Augustine of Hippo contemplates on this and says, “When there is forgiveness of sins through the sacraments, the house is cleaned; but the Holy Spirit must be a necessary inhabitant.”

It makes a lot of sense. We may be clean, but we are empty. We need to fill our home with good.

Think back to King David, who flourished in strength and victories but still fell like any of us. He saw Bathsheba bathing and lusted over her, fell into sin with her and left her with child. To cover up for his sin, he sent Bathsheba’s husband, one of his most trusted soldiers, Uriah the Hittite, to the front line of battle to get him killed. Let me just emphasise the loyalty of Uriah, so after his sin, David sent for Uriah in hope that Uriah would go home and lay with his wife and she would appear to have conceived from her husband. But Uriah was so loyal that when he found no one was protecting the king that night, he slept at David’s footsteps two nights in a row even after David tried to convince him to leave. It says “Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants…” After all this loyalty, David sent him to the front line of battle and Uriah died. Although his sin was so great, he repented. But he says something very specific, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:10-11). He repents and is sorrowful, but he specifically asks the Lord not to take the Holy Spirit from him. The Lord obviously saw his sorrow and repentance and amongst all his sins of murder and adultery, in Acts 13:22 it says: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.” But to reach this, the importance of the Holy Spirit to him was tremendous. Why was it so important?

Again, St. Peter was not without fault. A number of times in the gospels St. Peter fell, to which the Lord answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:23). Or when he denied the Lord, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.” (Luke 22:34) Contrast his actions here to following the resurrection of our Lord, he showed acts of desperation to return to Christ, “But Peter arose and ran to the tomb…” (Luke 24:12) and “…when Simon Peter head that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea.” (John 21:7) Likewise, when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and they began to bring all nations to Christ, St Peter says “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk,” (Acts 2:6) and “…Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them…” (Acts 4:8) He was not about the things of the world anymore, he only filled himself with the Lord. And he continued on to become one of the most important Saints of the church, with no more fear. To the extent, that he requested to be crucified upside down, because he felt unworthy to be crucified like Jesus. Why was the Holy Spirit also so important in this transition?

On both accounts, and many others, two of the greatest Saints in the church became the greatest Saints because they filled their life with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit already abides in us, but we must provide its fruits. In Galatians 5:22-23 it says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Against such there is no law.

Yes, we must repent like King David and we must desperately run to the Lord like St. Peter. But we cannot just repent and leave our house empty. We must fill it with the Holy Spirit like the both of them. They changed their life after the repentance. They didn’t just return to their old ways. They didn’t switch back to their secular Spotify playlist. They didn’t fill their lives with T.V. shows. They didn’t overindulge. When we do this, there is no space for Christ. They continued to fill their lives with the Lord. Because if we leave our house empty of the Lord, it will only be filled with more sin. It isn’t a fast solution. We will fall. But “…narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there is few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) We must become resilient in the way to life by continuing to fill it with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

St Cyril of Alexandria says; “For just as the Holy Spirit, when he sees a person’s heart desisting from all uncleanness, abides and dwells and rests in that one, so also the unclean spirit likes to take lodging in the souls of the lawless.”

A Death Leading to Life

A Death Leading to Life

by Angelo Hanna

Christ led a life pointing toward His climactic death, so we may have a death that leads to His promised eternal life. In this we live a life of true internal comfort; we mould into unbreakable fortresses that are hidden under the wings of Christ. No author, no matter how masterful, can fully express the comfort we gain once we learn to understand and feel the seismic shift Jesus’ life brought upon us. We lose our comfort externally by enduring in hunger, prayer and resisting temptation only to receive it tenfold internally. We wish not to live a life of glory, to the extent we see the glory of men as theft, theft from the beneficent glory of God. This is what the life of death looks like. 

We don’t belong here, we are not of this place, we belong somewhere else and we long for somewhere greater. If God was to lead the Israelites to a place on earth He described as “a land flowing with milk and honey,” only if they would obey Him; how much more shall we strive for the transcendent Kingdom that Christ promised if we obey Him? Jesus tells us the Kingdom is in us, then why, Lord, do I not feel this?

‘My Child, I AM this Kingdom. Open the door I always knock, allow Me into you. Only if you knew the wonders that are to come if you would just let Me in. I want you, just trust me, I yearn that you would only just neglect the exterior comfort. Comfort is not riches, it is not the love of men, It does not come from outside. No. No. No. Comfort is Me. I implore you to not worry about this life. Become an inner man so that you may dwell in the kingdom within you; the secret place within you where I shall preserve you under My wings.’

We have the chance now to be with Him, and we MUST yearn for the kingdom to come, not for His sake, but for ours. We MUST live with our eyes up. Christ came and “cried out,” the teachings of everlasting life. It is to our benefit to have no benefit in the world. It is to our detriment to have no detriment in the world. Even St Paul says, “we also glorify in tribulations,” (Romans 5:3); why then seek a life of exterior comfort if not even Christ lived this? Christ willingly becoming the innocent lamb died for us so we may “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

Old testament Scripture points towards this internal struggle, and we see this through the narrative of the Israelites; 

During the Babylonian exile, there were two very popular ‘ways of exile’ which the Israelites would take; to ardently reject the Babylonians or to give in to their customs, ultimately forgetting the God of Israel. To many, these were the only two ways possible to take, however we see a third way of exile, the way of Daniel. Daniel and his friends adhere to the harmless aspects of Babylonian life, without compromising his foremost priority, his Godly life. Daniel prays for the wellbeing of Babylon, and even finds favour in the eyes of the King. He lives a righteous life, within the exile. 

We who live now are in exile and have been since the time of Adam and Eve. We too, have these paths to choose from. But one thing is inevitable within the Christian path – continual death to the world and its desires. Daniel fasted despite being told he couldn’t and Daniel didn’t bow down to idols but instead decided to seek a God that he may not see with his eyes- depriving himself of the gratification of seeing this physical ‘god’ of theirs. We too must live a similar life, a life of deprivation, hardship and prayer. 

But how? 

Well, it is important to make a clear distinction between the soul and the body. We hear Christ say to His disciples, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”, Mat 26:41. Our flesh desires earthly and temporal life, and too often do we follow it, neglecting the will of the soul, a will guided by the Holy spirit. In reality, our soul truly wants death, it wants to be free of this exile from God.

Our soul is like the Israelites,

Being entrapped within Babylon,

The ways and desires of our body meander the individual.

The soul wishes to be free of our bodies through death, to enter true life. But just like Daniel and his friends in Babylon, we must live a Godly life- a life which nourishes the soul so that it may be able to enter into eternal life. And then we will come to realise that truly, 

Death is what grants us life.

Drumroll, Please

Drumroll, Please

By Marc Bastawrous

Just as my friend was about to share his news with us, he paused, took a breath, then turned to me and said, “drumroll, please.”

You’ve almost definitely been in this situation before. The drumroll has been around longer than most of us have been alive. In fact, it is known to have originated in the early 20th century and was frequently used during the rise of the travelling circus and vaudeville (some musical thing, don’t worry). Its purpose was to build suspense leading up to a final act. For example, a performer in the 1920’s known as “The Great Regurgitator” would request a drumroll before spitting a mouthful of kerosene into flames, igniting the cheers of onlookers wherever he travelled.

As time went on, the drumroll made its way into our daily lives as a prelude to our ‘good news.’ In the process of delivering good news with the aid of a drumroll, there is always a silence that breaks up the drum roll and the news. It’s often just a brief moment of silence that precedes the news, but it is long enough to build suspense up to a climactic point. The news is then delivered at this pinnacle of suspense and what often follows is jubilation. Hysteria at the joyful news! Scenes will often look as such:

*drumroll*

*silence*

“We’re having a baby!”

*drumroll*

*silence*

“I got the job!”

You get the point.

Essentially, the picture I am trying to paint is one of preparation. Not just any preparation, but preparation for something joyful, something that will make hearts dance. This image is just a fraction of the build-up that we have undertaken towards what is undoubtedly the most joyful day in the Church’s calendar – the Resurrection of Christ.

Picture the period of Lent as our drumroll. Each week we are being inundated with lessons on the Lord’s journey to accomplishing salvation for the whole world. First, He triumphs over temptation in the wilderness. Then we are introduced to the concept of repentance in the story of a boy and his Father. We discover that His mission is not only for the Jews, but that His message is for anyone with a heart open to listening – and that includes a certain Samaritan by the Well. There is sense of urgency as each week passes, a sense that we are in fact, building up to something momentous. The climax of this drumroll is reached as He rides a donkey victoriously into the city, basking in the praises of the people and entering the temple in power and glory!

And then, the sounds of the drumroll cease.

We enter into the church for the very first Pascha service, the reader gets up to read the very first prophecy of the week from the book of Zephaniah and says:

“Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD; For the day of the Lord is at hand, For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests.” (Zephaniah 1:7)

The first reading of the week is a call to silence. And this year, more than any other Holy Week in our lives, this is precisely how we spent this past week. In the silence of our homes. In the quietness of our secret places as we followed the Lord through His Passion.

We were quiet as He rebuked the fig tree, contemplating our own fruitlessness. We were quiet as He spoke of the end to come, reflecting on the frailty of our lives. We were quiet in His betrayal, His denial, His loneliness, His trial. We have been quiet through it all.

And in front of the Cross, we stood – just like all of Heaven did in that very moment – in stunned silence. As the Lamb of God took our place, stretched out His hands and died in place of us all in an act of spectacular love.

This week is our brief moment of silence. But the Church, like Christ, could not remain silent. Because what follows the silence must be, the good news.

All of Heaven and Earth, in unison, is at its loudest the moment Christ rose from the grave. A friend once told me, “the silence of this past week is just a way to set us up for the thunder of Joyous Saturday.” And I feel that statement every time I hear the Church singing ‘Come All You Heavenly Hosts.’ Because the greatest news in the history of the world was shared today. Christ is risen so now our faith is not empty (1 Cor 15:14). Christ is risen so now we have become victors over death (1 Cor 15:55). Christ is risen so now we have new life (Romans 6:4). This is news worth shouting over!

And so what if we’re in our homes? Sing loudly! We’ve had the drumroll, we’ve endured the silence, now it’s time to join in the greatest news ever shared. Let the world hear it from every home, from every corner in the globe. Christ is risen!

There’s a story that has been making the rounds on social media since the closure of the churches about a Caliph in 11th Century Egypt who closed all churches for 9 years. When, one day, he decided to take a stroll through a street where he knew Copts lived and heard loud chanting coming from each of their homes. He turned to his advisor and said, “open up their churches.” The advisor, confused, asked him, “why?” To which the Caliph responded, “I wished to close a church on every corner, they opened one in every home.”

I tried long and hard to dig up more details on this inspiring story but had very little luck. I was specifically after a date of this occurrence asking myself the question, “what happened on this day within the life of the church that made her voice so audible?” Maybe I’m wrong (I’m usually wrong), but I believe this day was Joyous Saturday. A day when the Church could not keep silent. A day when the Church would have her voice heard!

And now it’s our turn to let history hear our voices. Because I have some news.

You ready?

*drumroll*

*silence*

“He’s alive!”

You know the rest…

The Struggle for Victory

The Struggle for Victory

By Archbishop Angaelos

There are many Christians in the world… and we are all trying to find the right way to live. We’re all trying to find a way to be a faithful, committed Christian, and that’s going to mean many different things. Our Lord says, “if you do not take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.” And for us, “taking up the cross” can mean different things. Sometimes we visualise “taking up the cross” as being this incredibly different feat, this challenge, this constant struggle… and that’s how we see our Christian lives. For others it will be this glory and this grace and this victory… and that’s how we see it.

The problem is, if we live in either of these extremes, it becomes difficult, and it becomes problematic for us as Christians, because if we just look at the “challenge” and the “struggle,” it becomes burdensome. God has not come to give us a burden, in actual fact He comes and says to us, “Come to me if you are burdened, if you are heavy ladened, if you are tired, and I will give you rest.” But then… if we look at the other side of the Cross just being this glorious, victorious symbol of authority, that is also problematic because that could quite easily slip into us becoming quite proud and arrogant… and there is nothing worse than an arrogant Christian, because that again, is the furthest thing from what we are supposed to be. We are supposed to be meek and lowly and humble and giving and sacrificial. All of those things. None of those things equate to arrogance and self- righteousness.

So what is the reality of our journey then? The reality of our journey is the Cross, that it is sometimes… a struggle, but at the end of it, it is a glorious victory. In our lives, we will struggle. We will struggle daily. Sometimes they’re large, significant, sometimes its crippling struggles, otherwise, there will be your daily struggles that just happen as we live life. Neither of those should overcome us, none of that should make us feel that we have no source or strength or foundation to go back to. We remember at that point that while there was pain and struggle and even a sense of ill-repute in the Cross, when our Lord was there crucified. Yet before He left this world, He left us the glory of the resurrection. He told us that there was something to come afterwards… no matter how strong, how significant, how even crippling the struggle, there is always the glory of that resurrection of the Cross. And that is the reality of our journey.

It is a complete, holistic journey. It is not one that is rooted in an absolute, because our journeys continue to shape and unfold. The only absolute is the presence of God and the salvation to which He calls us. The way we live it, the message and the hope and the victory and even the struggle is going to be shaped daily by our experiences and the presence of God in our lives. So… we give thanks for the struggles, we give thanks for the glory and we give thanks for the victory, knowing that when we “take up our cross,” we follow in the footsteps of our Saviour. Just as He suffered, we will sometimes suffer, but just as He, at the end of that journey, experienced and shared with us the glory and victory of the resurrection, so too will we, at the end of our struggle rise in glory and in the beauty of His kingdom and His promises.

Evidence for the Resurrection

Evidence for the Resurrection

By: St Mark Youth 

‘For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; and you are still in your sins!’ (I Corinthians 15:16-17)

 The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith without which the whole building falls. It seems hard to imagine that such a supernatural event could stand the scrutiny of scores of historians and philosophers unless there was some proof for its occurrence. This proof is put forward by William Lane Craig, through four objective facts:

Fact 1: After His crucifixion, Jesus was honourably buried by Joseph of Arimathea in a tomb. As a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, well known by many of the Jews and evidently Pontius Pilate himself, he is unlikely to be a Christian invention. This, along with the fact that the chief priests posted guards on Jesus’ tomb, shows that the location of the body of Jesus was known, prior to its disappearance on Easter Sunday.

Fact 2: On the Sunday after the crucifixion, Jesus’ tomb was found empty by a group of His women followers. The discovery of the tomb by women (whose testimony in 1st century Israel was regarded so untrustworthy that it would not even be admitted into a Jewish court) is further proof to the truth of the whole story. For if the resurrection was a fabrication then its authors would not have used women as the first discoverers, rather men in hope of convincing the Jews. Also, the early Jewish allegation that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus (Matthew 28:13) proves that the body was in fact missing from the tomb on Sunday morning to which the Jewish leadership had no better explanation.

Fact 3: On multiple occasions and under various circumstances different individuals and groups of individuals experienced appearances of Jesus risen from the dead. The appearance narratives in the Gospels provide multiple, independent attestations of the appearances which are then summarised by Paul in I Corinthians 15:5-8.

Fact 4: The disciples suddenly and sincerely came to the believe that Jesus was risen from the dead despite their having every predisposition to the contrary. The disciples were in a catastrophic state following Jesus’ death; not only was their Lord dead but He had been crucified and thus by Jewish law is considered accursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). What would drive this group of mostly uneducated, scared men and women to then suddenly and openly proclaim that He is risen from the dead and preach to the whole world? Not only that, but to accept torture and even death for their preaching. Could it be seeing and talking to the very Man they buried with their own hands?! Certainly yes.

But more importantly than this mere historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is our personal proof that ‘God raised Him from the dead’ (Acts 13:30); which is our own experience of the Risen Lord and His work in our individual lives. Alfred Ackley, in his Easter Hymn, writes:

‘You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.’

The Resurrection of the Dead

The Resurrection of the Dead

For reference while reading this blog, join and contemplate on the following readings:
1 Corinthians 15-16
Matthew 24
1 Thessalonians 4-5
2 Thessalonians 2
2 Peter 3

The Resurrection is at the centre of our faith and St Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians 15, when he states that if Christ is not risen from the dead, then we, as Christians, are the most pitiable of people because our faith is empty. However, fear not, St Paul confirms that Christ truly has risen, through the testimony of his life, where he preaches Christ’s Resurrection to his martyrdom!

Sometimes we find ourselves doubting the resurrection because we think it doesn’t make sense scientifically, which requires that something be observable and repeatable under certain conditions. But one thing we have to realise is that the resurrection is not meant to be looked at scientifically, but it is to be looked at as a historical event. And one of the biggest pieces of evidence that this historical event really occurred is the witness of the Apostles after Christ’s resurrection. These normal people could have gone back to their everyday lives, and accepted that they were fooled in the three years of Christ’s ministry. Instead they dedicated their whole lives to spreading the message of Christ and His Resurrection. Would they dedicate their lives to a lie? Some may argue they just did it because it made them fill their time, kept them united or made them famous. Sure, that would have lasted for a while. But when they were threatened with and were at the point of death, for any sane person, that would have been the final straw. Nobody would die for a lie! And yet we see all of the Apostles, except for John the Beloved, being martyred for the sake of Christ. And if you think they did it because of peer pressure or because they were together and everyone was doing, then think again! St Mark was martyred in Egypt, St Paul in Italy and St Thomas in India, and so they weren’t there supporting each other at their toughest moment and it would have been easy for them to admit that they were preaching a lie so that they could save their lives. And yet they didn’t! And they didn’t because they were sure of what they had seen and what they had heard, and they knew that Christ had truly risen from the dead! So the question still stands, why would so many of them die for a lie? And if you can’t find an answer then this is just one piece of evidence to convince you that Christ truly is risen!

The rest of the readings mentioned tell us how to respond to the Resurrection of Christ. The gist of it is that we should always live with the Resurrection at the forefront of our mind, living out what we say in the Creed where “we look for the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”  The chapters tell us to be ready for His coming, since we know neither the day nor hour, but that we should not wait in fear, but in joy and comfort, as we know that Jesus will come to save those who believe. This waiting time should also be used as an opportunity to “put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.” (1 Thessalonians 5:8) and to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18) And the best way to do this is in the Church, and by living her life of prayer, repentance, and by participating in her Sacraments.