" If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." john 15:18
His Holiness Shenouda III was a distinguished and prominent religious leader, a profound theologian, a gifted preacher, a talented author, a spiritual father, a man of God his entire life that we have seen and experience in our time.
His Holiness was born Nazeer Gayed on August 3, 1923, to a pious Christian family in Egypt. By the age of 16, H. H. was active in the Sunday School movement, which wrought to enrich Christian Education in the Coptic Orthodox Church.
After graduating from Cairo University, he joined the Coptic Orthodox Seminary, and upon graduation, joined the faculty of the seminary.
On July 18, 1954, H. H. chose to live the solitude of the Egyptian desert and the life of monasticism leaving the world behind, following in the steps of our desert father of St. Anthony the Great. As a monk, and later a monk priest, H. H. carried the name of the Christian monk and was know as Fr. Antonious El-Syriani.
he live in solitude for six years, but on September 30, 1962, he was called by the late Pope Cyril VI to be consecrated Bishop of Christian Education and President of the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary. As of that moment he was known as His Grace Bishop Shenouda. Through his leadership of the seminary, the number of students tripled.
So it was that on November 14, 1971, His Grace Bishop Shenouda was consecrated as His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, the 117th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark.
He became the first patriarch of Alexandria since the Fifth Century to have been Dean of the Theological Seminary and continues to lecture at the branches of the Seminary in Cairo, Alexandria, and abroad and the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. He also established other branches of the Seminary in Egypt as well as in America, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
not to mention that His Holiness is the author of 101 books on a variety of subjects, most of which have been translated into English, French, German, Italian, and other languages.He gives special attention to the youth of the church. H. H. has said many times,
“A church without youth is a church without a future.” And one of our youth once replied to H. H., “And youth without the church are youth without a future.”
the most obvious and notable cchange in the Coptic Orthodox church became evident in the first century of hi Holiness oversea activities the expansion of the church worldwide from 1971 was eminent there were only four churches in North America. Today, there are over 100.
This include the establishment of a mission churches in the U. S. Virgin Islands in St. Thomas, Bermuda, and St. Kitts. Moreover, he founded the first Coptic Orthodox Church in South America in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and the second in Bolivia. Furthermore, a growth in Australia and New Zealand, where there are currently twenty-eight churches. In 1999, we witnessed the enthronement of the first bishop over Australia and New Zeland. In Europe, there are currently over fifty church and ten bishops. Africa currently has two bishops serving in missions in nine African countries.
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III worked hard to see Christian Unity. In an speech he gave at an ecumenical forum during the International Week of Prayer in 1974, he declared,
“The whole Christian world is anxious to see the church unite. Christian people, being fed up with divisions, are pushing their church leaders to do something about church unity and I am sure that the Holy Spirit is inspiring us.”
H. H. has emphasized that Christian Unity must be found upon a unity of faith and not a unity of jurisdiction. As a result, H. H. has paid many visits to the various sister Orthodox churches and their patriarchs, such as those of Constantinople, Moscow, Romania, and Antioch. A full communion of these churches with the Oriental Orthodox Churches is very close.
His Holiness Shenouda III passed away on 17 March 2012 at the age of 88 after struggling many year with health issues. May his soul rest in peace.
1And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25Behold, I have told you before.
26Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
It has been an amazing week for all oriental church goes, as this past week and the following week is a special period in the Oriental Orthodox Christian calendar. As we commenced our fast on August 1st (Geez), 7th(Julian) calendar we have seen the importance of this fast as our church has been blessed daily with liturgy and holy prayers from early hours of the morning. This fast is called the ‘The Fast of The Virgin’ or ‘Tsome Flseta’. Firstly lets look at the reason for the fast and its importance, the fast is significant because it is in this fast that the apostles prayed to see the body of St Mary to come back to them so that they may see what the beloved St John saw in the heavens. This is because when St Mary died, the apostles went to bury her body but where not able to stay, they were approached by the Jews who intended to kill them and burn the body of St Mary. However, all the apostles had run away but only the beloved St John evangelist remained with the body of St Mary. At that moment St John remembered the words of Christ on the day of the crucifixion:
“When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” John 19:26-27 St Mary lived on earth for 64 years during her life she had a sacred existence and was truly blessed. At the age only three St Mary was give to a convent by her father Eyacheim and mother Hana, she was their only daughter as her mother Hana was a barren women, but Hana’s prayers was answered and God allowed her to give birth to a truly blessed child at her old age. St Mary spent her youth in the convent as a servant of God, and this is where St Gabriel gave her the blessed massage to be the true mother of God,
“And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.” Luke 1:28-31
Today’s bible study was one of a kind. The good Lord has revealed so much and has filled and sown his kind words to harvest my heart. As I sat there in the old pews listening to the words of God, I kept think where I am going? Where would I be with out Christ as my guide through life? How will I get through life without Christ? Surely I am not prepared to answer all this now. Perhaps I should have thought my life long and hard and should be careful when making important decisions. How do you carry yourself in the world while trying to place God before anything you choose? It is important to think about the consequences of your action, as they will follow you in your life. But how do we relate this to the bible, what can we learn from the bible that gives us reason to be careful and to choose carefully. In the Old Testament a humble and God fearing man called Lot who was a nephew of Abraham lived a simple life until one day a question of choice was to be answer. Lot did not see what was coming and how his life would be influenced by his choice. We read in Genesis 13:7 "and there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lots cattle". Because Abram (as he was called before his covenant with God) saw this was problematic he reasoned with his nephew Lot and asked him to choose a place to rest his cattle so that they would not be in disagreement anymore. We read further that Lot chooses to rest in the further land of Jordan where the area was surrounded with water and seemed life the unimaginable garden of Eden. Lot choose the place that seems most beautiful and suitable to make a comfortable living with his family. However, he did not know what awaited him as the place he had chosen would be the one God would destroy because of the sinful acts present in that place. Still in this world as our human nature we want to live good eat well and be merry, we ask for this things in our lives and we ask to have all the pleasure of life without realizing these things may draw us further from God’s intended spiritual home the church that is so beneficial for our souls. So when asking God to better our lives should we not ask him to better our spiritual live instead. Christ thought us to seek the Kingdom of God first “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto you” Mathew 7: 33. So why is it that we run to get something from the world and slow down when it comes to church. Christ tell us not to think and worry of what we shall eat and drink or aspire in our live for he know what we have less and more and what we need the right amount of in our lives. “For your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” Mathew 7:32. Should we not ask God for our daily bread first knowing that everything else will follow, surely this does not mean we should sit at home doing nothing but it should mean that we work hard with honesty yet still put our trust and hope in God because without him nothing is possible, and with his power anything is POSSIBLE.
