Racism

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." -Galatians 3:28

Racism is something that plagues society, causes division among humans, and is by no means a stranger to our society. Not even fifty years have passed since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, which so many people consider as the end of racism in America.

Outside of America, in South Africa for example, who are hosting the World Cup this year, racism was a regular part of life, until very recently, 16 years ago, when the elections were held in 1994, and Nelson Mandela was elected. It was then that apartheid (segregation in South Africa) ended.

These are just some stories among many others of racism throughout the world over the years.

But it makes us wonder, where did this idea of race come from?

Well, it is hard to say.

We can look at the origin of the word “race” and see what the word originally meant, maybe from there we can start determining how it began. This process of examining the original meaning of a word and from where it is derived is known as etymology.

Many dictionaries say that the origin of the word “race” comes from the French word “razza” which is unclear as to what it actually means. The French word is derived from an Italian word “razza” which is also obscure.

So the original words for race, were just words without meanings, maybe a sort of slang. This actually helps us understand more about the origin of racism.

This shows that racism, just as the original meaning of the word race, has no meaning. As many slang words are made in society for the purpose of denigration and hatred, it is possible that the word “race” was made in the same way.

It is safe to say that racism is a result of hatred which is in turn based off strange ideologies as is clearly seen throughout history with such events as the lynchings (murder hangings) that occurred in the Southern United States. And also with such organizations as the Ku Klux Klan who were devoted to maintaining the power of those who were of Northern European descent and were Protestants at the same time. And even the Mormons in their beginnings, with their ideas that black people should not receive the gospel, and that they were cursed.

We have seen the effects of racism in history and even sometimes today.

Slavery is probably the first thing that we think of as Americans when we hear the word “racism.” Slavery of Africans lasted in America for at least three hundred years before it was abolished because of such people as Abraham Lincoln. However, the end of slavery did not mark the end of racism by any means. Abraham Lincoln lost his life because of his actions that helped free the slaves. The Ku Klux Klan was still at large and even reformed a couple of times up until the 1960s, and segregation (legally) ended in the United States only around the decades of the 1950s and the 1960s.

An interesting note is that birth control (in the way we think of it now) began as propaganda in the early 1900s to try to get working class people, many of whom were of “undesirable races” to stop reproducing and according to the hopes of the racists that their physical features would eventually disappear. The racists did this in a deceptive way because it appeals to people. Birth control will help them avoid having ten children, which was not uncommon back then, and instead maybe having 2 or 3 children. Just an interesting note, the opposite of their expectations has happened, these “undesirable races” have actually continued to give birth to many children, while it is the “favored races” meaning white to them, that have actually begun to decrease and even disappear. A famous example of this is that of the Germans, their “race” is running out faster than the amount of children they have; in order for a country to maintain its population size they have to at least have two children (called the replacement rate), if they have more they will grow. The Germans are having 0-1 kids on average these days. As someone I know says, “Their own sorcery has worked (turned) against them.”

Racism is still present today, though hidden. It is clear in the workplace, when less qualified people are given jobs or promotions and such, and more qualified aren’t then when you compare them, you see there is a correlation (connection) between whiter people, less qualified, and getting jobs. I was sitting in my microeconomics class earlier this year, and my teacher was talking to me and the group I was working in about how racism is still around. She is white and her husband is black, and the city they live in is predominantly white and not “friendly” in terms of race. She talked to us how an obese, black woman, is the least likely to get hired for a job, because people like hiring based on outward appearances. I personally know, non-European white people who have been discriminated against, just because of their nationality, in very professional jobs. It’s a sad and vicious continual repetition and failure to learn from history and change that causes this sort of discrimination.

Now what does the Bible teach about race?

Well, race is nonexistent.

The Bible teaches that all human beings are descended from Adam and that Eve is "the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20).

St. Paul the Apostle told the Greeks that God "has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26).

As seen from the above verse there is only nationality present in the Bible, not race. There is no such thing in the Bible as all Europeans are “white,” or all Africans are “black.” Rather there are Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, and so on for Europe, and for Africa, there are Egyptians, Libyans, Ethiopians, and so on. There are no hasty generalizations which lead to racism.

The history in Genesis preserves the fact that the entire world as we know today, are descended from Noah and his three sons: "Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth… These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated" (Genesis 9:18-19).

In Genesis 10, sometimes referred to as the Table of Nations, it talks about Shem, Ham, and Japheth’s children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and in some cases even further. This chapter shows from where such people as the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Libyans, Jews, Greeks, Russians, and others came from. Of course, the names written here are the Hebrew names. For example Egypt is called Mizraim in Genesis 10 (because Mizraim is Egypt in Hebrew), and we still call it Misr in Arabic.

If one wants to generalize and isolate groups from these three sons of Noah (not for the sake of racism but of study), then Shem is the father of those who became Middle-Easterners, Ham is the father of those who became Africans, and Japheth is the father of those who became Asians and Europeans. The Bible doesn't refer to people by skin color (race), but by nation. It is never racist.

What about God’s choosing the Jews as His people for approximately 2000 years until the Advent of Christ?

God chose them to prepare them and give them His Holy Law, so that there would be a people on the Earth that preserved the history of God’s working in the world. He also did this so that the people from whom he would become incarnate, would be following the Law of God, and would not be living in total sin. But God revealed Himself and appointed prophets also from the Gentiles even after He had given the covenant to the Jews. Job the Righteous, was not a Jew, nor were his friends. He was an Edomite, yet one book is devoted to his story in the Bible as an example for us from which to learn, and God spoke to him. Balaam also was a prophet (Gentile), although he had issues with fulfilling what God told him.

After the New Testament has come into effect, the people of God are no longer limited to a geographical and ethnic line. There are a couple of prophecies in the Old Testament pertaining to the creation of a new people that will worship God, other than the Jews.

In Psalm 22, which talks about Our Lord’s Crucifixion, it says, “A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, they will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this” (Psalm 22:30-31). So this psalm links the Christ to the birth of a New People.

Another prophecy says, “This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD” (Psalm 102:18). This psalm refers to the psalm itself, saying that a purpose of the psalms is for the people who are not yet created to praise the Lord. And this is in fact what happened. Ever since the beginning, the Church has used the psalms to pray the canonical hours (known as the Book of Hours, also known as the Agpeya in the Coptic Orthodox Church).

At this point it should be noted that the word “Christian” does not mean “little Christ” as some assert, but it actually means “From the nation of Christ.” The ending of the word Christian, the –an, is like the word American, or Armenian, or Mexican, or Italian. It designates a nation.

Jesus commanded His disciples saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

The Apostles fulfilled this commandment by preaching all over the world from Britain to India.

The Book of Acts highlights three cases of conversions, they can best be remembered as Acts 8, 9, and 10, which show one person who is descended from each of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, becoming Christians. This is to signify that all of humanity was saved, not just certain "races." It is also interesting to see that God Himself intervened directly and clearly to bring these people to the faith.

The first of these was the Ethiopian Eunuch, who was descended from Ham (Acts 8).
The second of these was Saul of Tarsus, who we know better as St. Paul the Apostle, was descended from Shem (Acts 9).
The third of these was Cornelius the Centurion, who was descended from Japheth (Acts 10).

So what can we conclude about racism from our faith?

It is wrong. It has no basis in the Bible. It is in fact hatred. St. Paul the Apostle writes, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him" (Romans 10:12). "The new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all" (Colossians 3:10-11).

So when we hear the word “race” let us think of the race that we have to run as Christians, which is symbolic of the spiritual life.

Therefore the only races there are, are the ones to run.

And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.

After High School

Well the school year is pretty much up for all high schoolers throughout the country, so I thought it would be a good time to share some of my experiences with you, especially Seniors who have just graduated, and give some advice.

Life is going to start moving very quickly now that you are finished with high school. The atmosphere that we have been used to as high schoolers: a place filled with young people, seeing many of our friends everyday, same teachers throughout the year, being dependent on mom and dad, this is all going to change.

Whether you decide to go to college or decide to go to work, or any other path within or outside of these, that atmosphere is going to change. That vibrant, life-filled environment that we were once in (high school) will disappear. I remember after my graduation (in 2008), life quieted down tremendously. Graduation was like a movie coming to its climax and resolution toward the end. I remember a student who was in front of me in the line said as we entered the stadium for the ceremony that she felt like she was on a really high roller coaster about to go down the track really quickly. Commencement was like one of those big musical scores at the second to last scene of a movie, where the entire orchestra holds a note (fermata) and then fades away.

I haven’t seen the majority of my class since graduation; the same is true for many other graduates. I remember a couple of weeks after graduation I was sitting with two of my closest friends from high school at a Starbucks we often used to go to during our Junior and Senior years, and we were talking about friendship and if we didn’t see or talk to each other after high school, then was that friendship a Christian friendship, or was it just because we happened to be in the same geographic location for a while? This is one example of a question we should ask ourselves.

Afterward we saw a student we had known from high school, same class, and she also remarked that “everybody disappeared” after graduation.

It makes us think, why do we have friends? Is it just because we don’t want to be called loners and we want to run with a pack or be included in a circle? If these are the reasons, maybe that’s why this country is getting spiritually sick, because there is no real basis as to why this friendship exists other than a fear of exclusion (a type of selfishness). And these “circles of friends” become major influences in our life whether good or bad.

Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the example of friendship; He Himself called us His friends in the Gospel of John (15:14-16). We see from His example that He gave us what He had. This brings up the reminder that love always gives. The type of friendship we should offer, as Christians, should be like that of our Lord Jesus, we should give, and not just take. And just like His friendship is lasting, we should try to make our friendships last. With the advent of such facilitators as e-mails, cell phones, text messaging, and facebook, we can make our friendships last better even if our friends are far away from us. Most importantly we should be very concerned with the salvation of our friends as our Lord Jesus was with us.

About a month and a half before my graduation, I started thinking a lot about the future. I started thinking long about things I had only given a couple of seconds at a time in the past such as my future career, marriage, and having children. I started thinking about marriage a lot more than any other subject. I had not really contemplated on the subject until this wave of thinking started.

Marriage is not a small thing, it is very important in the Church; it is one of the Seven Sacraments. Someone was arguing with me about Monasticism and Marriage, and accusing the Church of glorifying monks more than married people, and I answered him, “Marriage is a Sacrament; Monasticism is not.” Also there would be no monks without marriage. I also listened to a set of sermons delivered by Father Anthony Messeh about marriage to high schoolers and he said something very profound, he said that the time to start preparing for marriage is not during the engagement, but it is now. He said this because if we start thinking about this VERY IMPORTANT subject now, then we will prepare better for marriage. These thoughts of the future then are a blessing.

But we shouldn’t dwell on it as our Lord Jesus said, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 5:34). His advice for us concerning life is simple “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 5:33). If we do this, then we will be led by Him.

I feel safe to assume that while in high school these sorts of thoughts never really cross the minds of students on a profound level such as this.

Some things, however, will not change in life. There will still be groups of people you will hang out with, people who will cause drama, people who will become really good friends of yours, and people who will hate you, people who will like to show off, and people who will cause you to change for the better.

Always remember that your faith is the most important thing.

Focus on God this summer (both graduates and non-graduates alike). Thank God, glorify Him, pray, read your Bibles, go to Church, grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ, and enjoy the beauty of the wonderful creation of God.

Let us also take St. Augustine’s advice, "Pray as if everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you."

God will do what He knows is best for you.

I will leave you with the words of this following quote, let it be a guiding principle, and a source of encouragement, “Don’t worry about tomorrow; God is already there.”

Glory be to God forever. Amen.

The First Day of the Week

Happy Feast of Pentecost!

Has anyone ever wondered why we as Christians worship on the first day of the week, on Sunday?

One of the reasons we worship on Sunday is because God began His work within this universe on the first day of the week. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… so the evening and the morning were the first day” (Genesis 1:1, 5).

Another of the reasons we worship on Sunday is because the Resurrection, our hope, also happened on the first day of the week. (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1). Jesus Christ rose from the dead on this day, bringing eternal joy to us, and the hope that we will follow Him. As God began the original creation on the first day of the week, He also began the new creation on the first day of the week. It is the new beginning of humanity, and it is sometimes called the Eighth Day (the number of eternity), because for us it is our entrance into eternity.

The Pentecost, which we are celebrating today, was seven weeks after the Resurrection, making it a Sunday. This is the day that the Promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. The Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the likeness of tongues of fire. And the end of days began. As St. Peter the Apostle preached quoting Joel the Prophet, “‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams… And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved’” (Acts 2:17, 21). As such Pentecost then is the birthday of the Church, because all that was promised for the Church to start its mission was fulfilled.

The Apostles also from the beginning began to meet on Sunday for fellowship and this tradition carried on to the rest of the Church by the will of God, as St. Luke the Apostle records in the Acts emphatically, “On the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7).

Therefore let us as Christians following in the Holy Tradition of the Lord and His Apostles keep the first day of the week as the day we as the Body of Christ meet and have fellowship.

Glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.

St. Patrick

We just had the feast day of St. Patrick the Bishop of Armagh and the Enlightener of Ireland, and it might be that not many people know the story of this saint, so I have decided to write a little about Patrick’s life based off his own work, The Confession.

St. Patrick was born in Britain to Calpurnius the deacon, and his grandfather, Potitus was a priest. At the age of sixteen, pirates captured Patrick and took him to Ireland where he became a slave. He had not really known the true meaning of Christianity and had not had a relationship with God when he was captured. One day as he was shepherding his sheep he came to believe. From that day on he began to pray long hours of the day and also in the night. He sat on mountains that were filled with snow and under freezing rain when he prayed.

One day, he heard of a ship going back to Britain, and he decided to board it. He ran away from his master whom he had served for six years. When Patrick arrived, the sailors didn’t want to take him. He turned aside and prayed, and when he came back they asked him to board the ship. After three days they arrived on land, but it was uninhabited. They kept wandering for twenty-eight days and ran out of food then they started asking Patrick that if his God was all powerful why he was leaving them to die. Patrick told them that if they believed, God would save them. He turned aside and prayed and then they received food and ate until they were filled. When they ran out of food the second time, it happened to be that they finally reached inhabited land.

Patrick went back to his family in Britain with his Christian faith. One day, as he was asleep, he received a vision: “And, of course, there, in a vision of the night, I saw a man whose name was Victoricus coming as if from Ireland with innumerable letters, and he gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of the letter: ‘The Voice of the Irish’; and as I was reading the beginning of the letter I seemed at that moment to hear the voice of those who were beside the forest of Foclut which is near the western sea, and they were crying as if with one voice: ‘We beg you, holy youth, that you shall come and shall walk again among us.’ And I was stung intensely in my heart so that I could read no more, and thus I awoke.” Now, God speaking to him to go preach to the Irish, Patrick became a Bishop and went back to Ireland.

Patrick is most famously known for using the Shamrock or the Three Leafed Clover to teach the Irish about the Trinity. The Shamrock, even though it has three leaves, has one stem and is one plant. Patrick, in his work the Confession, always gives glory to God the Trinity. In his icons, he is usually holding the Shamrock in his right hand. Here is something that Patrick wrote concerning evangelism, “According, therefore, to the measure of one’s faith in the Trinity, one should proceed without holding back from danger to make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation, to spread God’s name everywhere with confidence and without fear.”

Overall, Patrick is a good example of prayer, obedience, and evangelism. He prayed regularly and whenever he was in trouble, instead of just being discouraged. Even though he loved his home country of Britain and wanted to travel abroad to Gaul (France), he obeyed when God in a vision told him to go and preach to Ireland. This is a prayer that Patrick said that we should all share in and say, “I pray God that he gives me perseverance, and that he will deign that I should be a faithful witness for his sake right up to the time of my passing.” Let us learn from this saint’s example.

May his prayers be with us and glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.

The Olympics

Well, today’s article has been inspired by my watching the Olympics these past two weeks. I love the Olympics, it is thrilling just to watch these athletes compete in the various events and I look up to them as role models because I myself take interest in athletics. It has also been an interesting two weeks, A LOT of things have happened.

A few hours before the opening ceremony our Orthodox Christian brother Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia was killed after a practice run at the luge track where he reached a speed of almost 90 miles per hour and flew off the track hitting a steel post. The opening ceremonies of the XXI Winter Olympic Games were dedicated to his memory. The Georgian team wore black armbands and left a space for him in their march. The flags also flew at half staff with a minute of silence for him.

Also I don’t think I have seen as many crashes in the Olympics as I have in these games, practically all the events I have watched in these Olympics from Alpine Skiing to Speed Skating all have had big crashes.

And I have enjoyed watching my favorite Olympic athlete Apolo Anton Ohno speed skate in his third Olympics.

Anyway aside from the details of the games I wanted to write about the analogy of the athlete.

This analogy of the Christian being an athlete was used a few times in the Bible and I would like to expand on that.

First of all, athletes train, they don’t just sit around and expect to become Olympians. They train long and hard. So we too as Christians need to train ourselves through praying to God, reading the Bible, spiritual books, going to church, serving, showing love to others, controlling ourselves, and practicing the rest of the virtues.

When athletes train their bodies burn because of the acids secreted in their muscles. If you have ever tried to run a long time without stopping you know what I mean. But the athletes don’t give in to these feelings they keep going, they have a strong will and their will is stronger than the discomfort they feel in their bodies. We too have to have a strong will, especially in times like these when we are fasting. When we see, smell, or think of a hamburger, or chicken, or eggs, or whatever other type of food that is not permitted for fasting, we have to control ourselves and make our will stronger than our desires. And also not only in fasting but when an opportunity comes for us to sin, we don’t. We should be able to say no to these types of things when they come up in front of us to tempt us.

Training also increases endurance. This takes time, nobody can exercise one day and expect to become superman tomorrow. This process takes time, and sometimes a long time at that. Same with us, we can’t all of a sudden want to pray all the hours of the Book of Hours, memorize several psalms, finish the Bible quickly, and most importantly (and dangerously) want to instruct others in Christ. All this has to be done gradually. If we want to pray the Book of Hours, we should start praying one psalm in the beginning. If we want to memorize several psalms, how about we start with one verse. If we want to finish the Bible, how about we start by reading a couple of chapters at a time instead of an entire book. And if we want to instruct others in Christ, we should have spent a long time in the faith and in practicing virtues, so we can teach being both doers and hearers of the word (James 1:22). This is why patience is a virtue because we wait on God to work in us until we clearly see the end result, when we become likened to His Son Jesus Christ.

Training however, especially in the level of the Olympics, requires coaches. Coaches, firstly, are athletes themselves, and specifically to the sport they are coaching. So they know very well how the sport works, and most importantly they see things that you don’t. For example, figure skaters might be happy with their performance, but their coach might see that they land in an unsafe way so he advises them to do it another way. Even though it might be a little change in landing form for the figure skaters, it might be much more physically challenging on them. But if the skaters take the advice, they are safe now, and are perfected in their technique. Because of these qualities, coaches are able to guide their athletes to the highest of levels. For us our spiritual coaches are our Fathers of Confession. They see things we don’t, and they advise us on how to change (repentance), even though it might seem hard on us, it will perfect us in the end. This also requires humility to achieve, which the athletes have, because sometimes our Fathers of Confession might tell us things we don’t like or even want to hear, but if we are humble, we will see that what they are saying is true and we will obey.

Athletes also have a strict diet, so they can maintain their weight and maintain their performance ability. We should have a strict diet both with physical eating and with spiritual food. Physically eating too much is a sin in itself (or having a strong uncontrollable desire for food), gluttony. Even if one is thin, and doesn’t gain weight after eating too much, this is still gluttony. Fasting helps us exercise control over gluttony, and if one breaks a fast (unless they have a reason pertaining to health or another reason absolved by the Father of Confession), this is gluttony, even if it’s one small piece of food, because one’s desire for food was stronger than the desire to fast and spend time with God. With spiritual food we have to take in as much as helps and this differs between believers, not all believers are on the same spiritual level of progression. Maybe when we read the Bible we read an entire book at a time, but do so once in a long time. But one who reads three chapters a day from the Bible everyday for a year will finish the Bible in one year. It’s like the story of the Hare and the Turtle. The hare got into a race with the turtle, which is a very slow animal, and to show off the hare used to run much farther ahead of the turtle then rest for a while, but the turtle had patience and never stopped moving until the hare lost focus after his many runs and rests and the turtle won. So we should have a spiritual diet where we are constantly growing and becoming stronger.

The final point, and the one that I think to be most important, is that the athletes know themselves. They know who they are, their sport, their abilities, their weaknesses, their strategies, routines, and their goals. We too have to know ourselves, if we don’t we can’t continue in the faith. We must know our abilities so we can know how to serve God and the Church. We must know our weaknesses so we don’t do something that tempts us or causes us to fall into sin. We must know God, the Bible, our Church and goals, otherwise we will be easily shaken. We must know how to grow, going back to the patience and temperance. As St. Paul says, “Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

Therefore we should learn from the analogy of the athletes and start during this Holy Fast to spend more time with God, and we should do everything as our Church prescribes, because the Church is our Mother and She brings us to Christ. So let us be athletes: “If anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5).

And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.

The Great Lent

The Great Lent is the holiest time of year, and also the longest fasting period of the Church. We should then make the season holy by devoting whatever time we can to God, through prayer of course, almsgiving, and service to Him.

St. Athanasius called the Great Lent, “The Holy Season,” and again it is a period full from start to finish with fasting. We should consecrate the fast, as we should for other fasts, for something we need or would like to do in our spiritual life. If we need to pray more often, let’s consecrate the fast to pray more often; if we need to read the Bible more often, let’s consecrate the fast to read the Bible more often.

In the Bible sacrificial worship is described in three contexts; Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving.In the Great Lent, these are meant to be united, not only in our spiritual life at once, but also by the Church altogether so our will would be one.
When Bishop Serapion was at St. Demiana Coptic Orthodox Church, on the eve of the beginning of Jonah’s Fast in 2008, he said something that started to make the church think about the way we organize things. He said, “In the Old Testament they had the Law, (and they obeyed it), and in the New Testament we have the organization, so let us be of one mind and all of us would fast together from the beginning of the Great Lent.”

In the Early Church, in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, it said of the Church, “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” -Acts 2:44-47

So we should be of one accord during the Great Lent, and if we work we should give, because if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t receive anything. So we should have all things in common, most importantly our accord (our oneness in mind). Just as our examples, the Apostles and the early Christians were.

Finally we should consecrate this time to God, and the only way to do that is through prayer, because it is only through prayer that we speak to God. Although don’t get it confused as to what prayer is, prayer is not just one activity, it is a variety. The degree of prayer that most people are familiar with is when you say “Our Father,” or recite Psalms, or to ask God for something, but prayer really covers much more than that. Prayer is a life, and if you make your life with God, your life is a prayer life. You can pray by reading the Bible, you can pray by doing what your supposed to do as the Book of Sirach speaks of those who hold various jobs, says, “And their prayer is in the practice of their craft.” –Wisdom of Sirach 38:34. You can pray by singing hymns and spiritual songs, you can pray by reading spiritual books. There is more to prayer, but I won’t get into that now. But keep your thoughts lifted up, as it said in the liturgy, “We have them [our hearts] with the Lord.” St. Ephraim the Syrian said, “Virtues are formed by prayer,” and St. Isaac the Syrian said, “Prayer is superior to all other virtues.” And as Solomon says, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come.” -Ecclesiastes 12:1

So let us set aside all our excuses (because there can be no excuse when talking to the Creator) and remember our Creator and make Him the focus of our lives. We might complain because of certain things, but remember, you wouldn’t even be here to complain about those things if he hadn’t given us the gift of life.

So let us make Him our focus, and pray.

And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.

Martyrdom

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” -Tertullian the Scholar

Zakaria Toma, Mina Helmy Said, Bishoy Farid Labib, Boula Atef, Ayman Zakaria Hanna, and Abanoub Kamal.

Martyrdom is the highest form of love one can offer to God. This is so because, the Savior Himself says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:13-14).

Life is the most precious thing that we have, and if we give that to God as an offering for witness (“martyr” is a Greek word meaning “witness”), then we have given God the most precious thing we could have given.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, in His Humanity, was a Martyr, because He gave His life to God for us, His friends. As He said, “Greater love has no than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” and we are His friends. So if we lay down our lives for Him, then we have shown the greatest love. We believe that martyrs are the closest people to God in the Kingdom of Heaven, because they have given the greatest love.

St. Clement of Alexandria clarified, "We call martyrdom perfection, not because the man comes to the end of his life as others, but because he has exhibited the perfect work of love."

Martyrdom also likens us more to Our Lord Jesus Christ because He Himself was martyred, and He referred to this as a baptism. He said to His disciples, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38). And also, “But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:50). This baptism, as it is referred to in the writings of the Church Father is called the Baptism of Blood. Even if there was a catechumen who was not baptized and died as a martyr, this baptism saved them, and they went to Heaven.

The Martyrs hold a very high place in the Church, they are venerated as the greatest of Saints. Martyrdom is something that has been there since the beginning of the Church, in fact the Church began with a Martyrdom, that of Our Lord Jesus Christ, when water and blood ran from His side at the same time (John 19:34-35). This is why Tertullian made the observation that, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” His observation is also an observation of a paradox; that when Christians are killed for their faith, Christianity grows, not decreases.

St. Augustine records the situation at his time, and this situation is still the same in the Orthodox Church, “Now, who hasn't heard of martyrs, or in what Christian mouth does the word "martyrs" not daily dwell? (And would that it might also dwell in our hearts such that we may imitate the martyrs' sufferings and not trample them underfoot!)”

Eleven out of the Twelve Apostles died as martyrs to show us this example because Christianity is not ideas, but it is a life, and these martyrs show us that this life can be lived. One example after the Apostles is St. Cyprian of Carthage who used to write a lot in praise of the martyrs, he himself was martyred, and here is one account of his martyrdom,

“The proconsul Galerius Maximus ordered Cyprian to be brought to him…

Galerius: Are you Thascius Cyprianus?
Cyprian: I am.
Galerius: Do you appear as the pope of these impious men? [The word ‘pope’ was used of all bishops down to the fifth century. It means ‘father’]
Cyprian: I do.
Galerius: The most sacred emperors have commanded you to conform to the Roman rites.
Cyprian: I refuse.
Galerius: Take heed of yourself.
Cyprian: Do as you are bid; in so clear a case I may not take heed.

Galerius, after briefly conferring with his judicial council, with much reluctance pronounced the following sentence: ‘You have long lived an irreligious life, and have drawn together a number of men bound by an unlawful association, and professed yourself an open enemy to the gods and the religion of Rome; and the most pious, most sacred and august Emperors, Valerian and Gallienus, and the most noble Caesar Valerian, have endeavored in vain to bring you back to conformity with their religious observances; - whereas, therefore, you have been apprehended as principal and ringleader in these infamous crimes, you shall be made an example to those whom you have wickedly associated with you; the authority of law shall be ratified in your blood.’ He then read the sentence of the court from a written tablet: ‘It is the sentence of this court that Thascius Cyprianus be executed with the sword.’

Cyprian: Thanks be to God.”

Christians are martyred because of persecution, and persecutions happen because people hate the Truth and don’t want to change. Even in this country there is a saying that is said many times, and all of us have heard it at least once, it is, “You can’t handle the truth.”

Martyrdom is not something of the past, it is still occurring, and a very recent example of this is what happened in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, on January 7, 2010 (Coptic Orthodox Christmas). The names mentioned in the beginning of this article are the names of the martyrs of Nag Hammadi. What happened was, it was Christmas Eve in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, and the Bishop of Nag Hammadi, Bishop Kyrillos, received threats that a group of Muslims were going to attempt something against him and his church. So he let the service out two hours earlier than usual for Christmas, between 10:00 to 10:30. A group of youth as they were exiting the church, were gunned down by three Muslims with machine guns. These six were martyred and others were injured.

A group of youth martyred, because of openly practicing their faith and confessing Christ.

What an example!

“Can the lover of the martyrs ever have enough of their memory?” -St. Basil

May their prayers and their holy blessing be with us all and glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.