Tag: st mary

The Beautiful Dove

Personally, I’m not sure I’d like being called a dove…I guess beautiful dove does make it a little better. So why do we call St Mary the beautiful dove. Surely it has to mean something.

Referring to St Mary as the beautiful dove is not common in other Christian denominations but it is very common in the Coptic church. Many of our hymns that speak about St Mary mention her as being the beautiful dove. So why do the Copts use this term more than other Christian denominations. What does this term “beautiful dove” refer to?

Across history and cultures, the dove is recognised as an image of peace and hope. Christ tells His followers to be as “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” – Matthew 10:16. There is something about seeing an image of a dove that makes you feel like everything will be ok. Which brings us to the reason why St Mary, the beautiful dove, is so often used in the Coptic Church. The Copts for many years have been under persecution, and while martyrdom is seen as an honour, it is easy to understand that the desire for peace is in the hearts of the Copts. It is in those same Coptic hearts that a huge love for St Mary, the mother of the King of Peace, resides. St Mary feels the heartbreak of her persecuted children and takes these broken hearted prayers to the Lord who cannot refuse His mother. St Mary is the beautiful dove that brings prayers of peace for her children to the throne of the Lord.

Perhaps more fittingly, the term refers to the dove that Noah released from the ark. The dove flew out of the ark and came back with a branch to let Noah know that the flood waters had receded. Likewise St Mary takes the prayers from the ark of the Church and brings them to the Lord who answers her prayers with a message that the floods of the world will not triumph over the Church. It is an amazing thought, that those of us who are in the Church, surrounded by the floods of the world, not only have a messenger to take our requests to God, but also to send us peaceful comfort from God. A hope of something better.

It is here the beautiful dove takes on another, more modern meaning. In a time where the world is facing new and difficult challenges, a world where man and woman may mean different things to different people. Where wars are becoming more accepted. Where standing up for what is right or wrong is classified as bigotry or outdated thinking, we now more than ever need to cling on to a hope that transcends our world. A hope that good can still overcome evil. A hope that the heavenly is still valued among the earthly. A hope that is seen in the beautiful dove, the bearer of the source of peace and hope. St Mary the beautiful dove. It is very important to note though, that although we are safe in the Ark, the embrace of the Church, we are to pray for the receding of the harmful waters in the world; not just for the salvation of the Church, but of the whole world, even those that may bring the most harm to us.

The last thing I wanted to speak about is the term beauty. I wonder if St Mary in this modern day would be considered beautiful by our society? Would she be fully dressed in designer? Would she pay thousands on her image? I can confidently say no, because even in her time she dressed simply, as a temple servant, and was of such a selfless nature that she spent more of her time worrying about others than herself. Of course there is nothing wrong with taking care of yourself, but if that is our only definition of beauty, then we only need to look at St Mary. What made her beautiful was not just her appearance but how she made others feel around her. She carried herself as a faithful servant of God who always put others above herself. This humility is what we as a Church call beauty! This love St Mary can’t help but show for everyone is the truest kind of beauty.

Beauty for our hearts, peace for our spirits, hope for our minds, St Mary truly is the beautiful dove.

She Chose Him

By Mirette Abraham

Of all the virtues of St Mary, her purity feels a little understated.

We know of her purity.

We recite hymn lyrics and read books about her purity.

We wish to emulate and embody her purity.

But I think we tend to glance over words without truly understanding the fervency in her commitment.

Mary was pure in her sacrifice of both her body and soul, bringing them into complete submission before God. What is even more beautiful about her submission is that her chastity was a choice she had made as a young girl; a young girl with her entire life before her. While girls her age were busy planning their futures and preparing themselves for marriage, she had set her eyes on eternity and consecrated her heart to God.

Think about the magnitude of this sacrifice for a moment!

By choice, she spent her childhood serving in the temple, rather than playing with girls her age and running around the neighbourhood.

By choice, she spent her evenings in the presence of God, rather than drinking and dining with her friends.

By choice, she committed her mind to learning about God, her body to kneeling before Him and her heart to being completely taken over by His love. 

Looking at her life through this lens-seeing her life as the complete embodiment of sacrifice and the purest of offerings-we can finally appreciate her response to Gabriel:

“How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1:34 NKJV)

Giving her heart and body to somebody else wasn’t ever on her agenda. She wanted God alone. She gave her heart to God alone. Her purity, though, was more than simply a vow of celibacy. A vow to keep her body untouched and sanctified.

It was more.

She set aside her whole self-mind, body, spirit. Everything she had, she gave to God. She knew that all the happiness and wealth this world could offer, “could not be compared to the glory” (Romans 8:18 NKJV) that was to be found with God alone.

She lived for more.

She lived in God’s grace.

She lived for Him alone.

She chose Him.

And because of her purity, “all generations shall call [her] blessed.” (Luke 1:48 NKJV)

So, may we learn how to become sanctified for God alone, letting go of all the treasures we are so desperately trying to hold onto here, in this impermanent, imperfect world. Instead, we need to lay down the foundation for our forever-home in heaven, offering up our hearts, bodies, minds, our entire selves, brick by brick. And may we esteem the virtue of purity and learn, from our mother Mary, how to make it a way of life.

Our Mother Mary

Translated from HH Pope Shenouda III

There is no woman about whom the prophets prophesied or whom the Bible cared about like the Virgin St Mary. There are numerous symbols about her in both the Old and New Testament. There are many glorifying expressions and contemplations cited about the Virgin in the books of the church fathers. How full of praise are the names by which the Church calls her, and which are inspired from the Spirit of the Holy Bible. The mother of us all, the lady of us all, the pride us all, the Queen at the right hand of the King, the Virgin, the pure, the full of grace, the powerful and compassionate mother, the mother of Light, the mother of mercy and salvation, the true vine.
She is the one whom the Church elevates over the rank of archangels as we say about her in hymns:


“O Mary, you have been raised above the cherubims, and have become higher than the seraphims.”


The Virgin Mary was bred up in the temple, lived a life of prayer and contemplation since her childhood and was the sacred vessel whom the Lord has chosen to come inside her.

Long generations waited for the birth of this Virgin, so that the fullness of the time would become complete by her (Gal.4:4)

She has removed the shame of Eve.

She is the Mother of God.

She is the Virgin who came to our country (Egypt) during the childhood of Christ and inhabited our land for years, during which she sanctified it and blessed it.

She is the Virgin who appeared in Zeitoun 32 years ago and attracted crowds with her light, her appearance, and her visit to us.

She is the Virgin who makes miracles in numerous places where we celebrate feasts for her. The stories of her miracles are innumerable.

The Virgin is not a stranger to us. What a great honour it is for our church to be visited in past times by our Lady the Virgin!

There is not a human being whom Christians have loved so much
as our Lady the Virgin Mary.

The Mind of Saint Mary

The Mind of Saint Mary

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily

Passage Luke 1:26-38

What are you thinking about right now?

What have you been thinking about for the past few days?

What has consumed your mind over the last month?

These are questions that we do not often reflect on. What consumes our thoughts? What is going on inside us?

On the 29th of each Coptic month, the church presents the reading of the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary. There is a lot going on in this passage. One thing revealed is what runs through the mind of St Mary. We can tell what’s on her mind by her reaction and response to the Archangel.

We see St Mary and the angel Gabriel comes in and he greets her.

In some icons of the Annunciation, we see the angel up high, looking down on St Mary and telling her the news. In this particular icon, the angel is lower and has his arms folded in respect for the Virgin.

This is how I imagine it would have taken place – not above, but below, in great respect for the Mother of God, bowing before her with arms folded, and saying, “Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

He calls her, “highly favoured” and the most blessed among all women! Imagine his posture while greeting her.

This greeting troubles her and she wonders what manner of greeting this could be. Why is she troubled? Is she not used to apparitions? Was she not used to seeing angels?

If an angel appeared to me, I would be troubled! I’m not used to that. But for Mary, an apparition would not shock her. She lived her whole life in the Temple, probably seeing apparitions regularly.

Why on this particular apparition was she troubled? This is the first insight we get into the thoughts of St Mary. For she was not troubled by the apparition, but by the manner of the greeting.

We might get troubled at the manner of greeting if someone was to disrespect us. If I was say, Doctor Joseph, and a patient walked in saying, “Hey Joey,” that would trouble me. I am a doctor, Doctor Joseph. That greeting is troubling in its disrespect. Or if I’m Fr Mark and someone calls out, “Hey Marky,” that would be troubling. But for St Mary, it was the opposite. She was troubled for the honour of the greeting of being highly favoured, and the angel bowed before her.

The first insight into her thoughts was how she saw herself. A simple slave girl in the Temple, in complete humility. She was bothered because she didn’t see herself the way the angel saw her.

How do we know she thought this? Was it a mere inference on the part of the reader? We know because St Mary must have told the author, St Luke, how she felt at that moment. We know that Luke spent time with Mary and she herself told him. He drew her first icon. This was probably St Mary’s account of the Annunciation and our first insight into the inner workings of her mind.

Then the angel presents the proposition of the conception of Christ from her; “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Mary’s next question gives more insight into her thoughts; “How can this be, since I [c]do not know a man?”

This question reveals to us Mary’s decision of life long consecration and virginity. If St Mary had plans to get married, she would not have asked this question. She would have assumed that when she married, she would have this child. On the contrary, she had no plans to marry and could not conceive. How could it be when she had consecrated her virginity to the Lord?

Her vow of virginity and service was on her mind. Finally her last word was, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” She submits in obedience to the request of the Lord. Her humility and obedience runs through her mind.

What consumes our minds? Elder Thaddeus was an Orthodox monk who wrote the book, “Our Thoughts Determine our Lives.” In his book he says, “Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquillity.”

Your thoughts will determine your life. What you think will determine how you live. That is why it is extremely important to stop and reflect on what is consuming my mind. Today and lately. A big portion of that must be spiritual. Peaceful. Meekness. Kindness. This determines how I live my life. If I find that my thoughts are consumed by worldly concerns, lusts, anger, hatred, I need to shake them off.

A few analogies from the fathers- consider any thought that comes is like an aeroplane. You see aeroplanes that fly around the airport then they come to land. Only allow the good thoughts to land. Thoughts will always fly around, never let them land and stay.

Or imagine your thoughts are like birds. Don’t let the bad ones nest on your head and lay eggs and reproduce and grow. If a fly lands on your face, naturally you flick it away, but you never let it sit there. You don’t let it sit on your face, and lay germs. In an instant, you get rid of it. The same applies to our thoughts, we need to develop an instinct that compels us to flick the bad thoughts away. For any lust, I flick it away. Any hate, I flick it away immediately. If I overthink of money, I flick it away and refocus my thoughts.

St Mary is the model of thoughts and feelings that were totally consumed by God. I pray that each of us shifts our thoughts away from evil and sin and closer to the Kingdom, for our thoughts determine our lives, and potentially our eternity.

Learning Patience

Learning Patience

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Michael Fanous

Passage Luke 20:9-19

The Lord uses the analogy of the wicked vinedressers in a parable that recounted the story of Israelites and God up until this point in history. The Lord set up everything nicely and entrusted the land to the vinedressers.

In the Old Testament, the Lord gave the people the law and the commandments. He was always amongst them and created the entire earth for humanity to inhabit. Similarly, the vinedressers wanted the gifts that God had to offer but they didn’t want God Himself.

Israel was God’s chosen people in the Old Testament. He gave them the land, the tabernacle, He dwelt among them, and despite all this, they still rejected Him. Today, people are given so many gifts and benefit immensely from these gifts, yet they continue to reject the source of these gifts. People want the good in life without God, the Provider of goodness.

This could be an issue we face from time to time. When we want the gifts of God, but we don’t always want God. God is patient with all His children. In the Old Testament, He sent prophets, Kings, priests, all people that could voice His Word. The message was clear – to strive for godliness and righteousness. And yet, they rejected Him. To the extent that the prophets were beaten. Isaiah was sawn in half. Zachariah was murdered between the temple and the altar. Jeremiah and Ezekiel were stoned.

All the prophets that were sent suffered and were destroyed for the message they preached. The Lord remains patient with them, and us, to the extent that He sent His Own Son, so that they may return to God. He too, was crucified. God is very patient with us all. He asked for a small amount of fruit among the entire produce, and even that was rejected. The vinedressers believed they were the owners and didn’t need Him.

In the fullness of time, Christ found someone patient and longsuffering who was the virgin Saint Mary. When she was born, she was given as a servant of the temple to do all the tedious jobs that no one else wanted to do, like clean after the animals. When she grew up and it was time for her to leave the temple, they needed somewhere for her live. Throughout this, she was patient. The angel came to her and told she would have a Son, but she wanted to remain a virgin. This was the ultimate answer from God, she was a virgin but still a mother.

Patience was exhibited when she gave birth in a manager. She suffered in her travels to Egypt by night which was a foreign land where no one wanted them. She suffered greatly, the height on this was Christ on the Cross and the accusations that followed.

All the glory that she was given was not something that she took to heart, but she gave glory to God. When she was told she was to be the mother of God, she called herself the maidservant of the Lord. This is all glory that she did not take upon herself. The miracles that followed did not cause her to esteem herself.

What do we learn from St Mary? Long suffering. When we are impatient when we are asked the same question more than once. This is the time to pursue long suffering. Are we impatient with the Lord and our requests of Him? We must recognise the importance of patience. The Lord teaches us, “By your patience possess your souls” – Luke 21:19.

Patience is a virtue we all need. When tribulation passes us by, in patience we trust that Lord will solve it. We need to be patient in order to attain peace with others. The Lord is telling us to be patient, to be like His own mother.

In the coming two weeks of fasting, let us practice patience with everyone. Let us wait on the Lord to give us joy. And in turn, imitate Saint Mary. People learn from the patience they see in others.