Services at St Mary’s
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Monday:
Mass 9 - 11 am
Tuesday
Liturgy 5:30 - 7am
8am The Way Orthodox Fellowship in Englisg for adults - All ages
Wednesday: Mass 9 – 11 am
6:30-8pm School of Deacons Adults
Arabic ; 7-8:15pm English (Zoom)
Hymns Class Arabic 8-9pm (Zoom)
Thursday
Mass 9 - 11 am - English
English Midnight Praises 7:30pm
English Bible Study 7:30pm
Friday: Mass Mass 9 – 11 am
Youth 25 and above 7-9pm
Family Meeting 7-9pm (fortnightly)
Discipleship Clas Class 7-8:30pm
Year 10-12 Sunday School 6-9pm
Saturday: Mass: 8:30 – 11am
Sunday School 4 – 5.30pm
Vespers & youth meeting 7-8:30pm English
Vespers &Bible Study Arabic 5:307pm
Scouts 1:30 - 3pm School of Deaconsgip 3 - 4pm Sunday:
1st Mass6 - .7:45am Arabic & English
2nd Mass.7:45 – .9:30am English
3rd Mass 9:30 - 11:15am Arabic
Hymns Class - English 11:4512:30pm
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The Departure of St. Paul of Tamouh 17th October - 7th Baba
On this day, Abba Paul (Paula) who was from Tamouh (ElTamouhi) (Thmoui), departed. Since he was inclined since his young age to solitary life, he went to Ansena Mountain. There he lived with his disciple Ezekiel, who was the witness of his virtues.
For his exceeding love to the Lord Christ, to Whom is the glory, he exhausted his body with asceticism, forsaking earthly things, with fasting and many prayers in a way that exceeds human endurance. For this, he deserved that the Lord Christ appear to him and bless him for his conduct in this life, for such is the behavior of those who are perfect and who fight against the flesh, the world and the devil till they overcome them. St. Paul said to the Lord, «All that is due to Your care, O You creator and redeemer of the human race, by Your death on our behalf, we the undeserving sinners.» The Lord Christ comforted and strengthened him.
When our father St. Bishoy went to Mount Ansena, he was joined by the saint Abba Paula. The Lord Christ told Abba Paul (Paula), «Your body will be buried with that of My chosen Bishoy.» When Abba Paula departed, his body was placed with the body of St. Bishoy.
When they wanted to move the body of St. Bishoy to the wilderness of St. Macarius in Scete, they carried it onto a boat and left St. Paul›s body behind; however, the boat would not move, until they brought the body of St. Paul and placed it beside St. Bishoy›s body. Then they brought them to the wilderness of Sheheat (Scete).
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
The Martyrdom of St. Sergius, the Friend of St. Bacchus 20th October - 10th Baba
On this day, St. Sergius, the friend of St. Bacchus, was martyred. He was a high ranking soldier, advanced in the court of Emperor Maximianus, who showed him great favor. Because this Emperor was pagan and these two saints were people of faith, he sent them to Antiochus, King of Syria, to torture them and slay them if they did not forsake their faith. Antiochus inflicted St. Bacchus with severe tortures and, when he did not dissuade him from his Christianity, he ordered his men to slay him. They killed him and cast his body into the River Euphrates. The waves brought him to the bank near two holy men. The Lord sent an eagle to guard the pure body and inspired the two saints to take it. They took the body with reverence and buried it(1). St. Sergius was sad for his friend Bacchus until he saw him in his sleep in a beautiful palace, shining brightly; so his soul was exceedingly comforted. Later on, the Governor commanded to drive nails into St. Sergius’ feet, and to send him to El-Rusafa (2)tied to the tails of the horses; his blood flowed down on the ground. On their way, they met a virgin damsel, who gave them water to drink. When she saw the condition the saint was in, she felt sad for him and she pitied his youth and his fine form. The saint told her, “Come, follow me to the city of El-Rusafa to take my body,” and she followed him. The Governor of El-Rusafa was a friend of St. Sergius, and it was through St. Sergius, that the Governor had this position. The Governor tried to convince
him to change his mind to save his life. When St. Sergius did not accept his advice, he ordered his head cut off. That virgin came and received the blood which flowed from his holy neck and kept it in a clip of wool.
However, the holy body was kept until the end of the days of persecution when they built a church for him at El-Rusafa. The church was consecrated by 15 bishops. They laid his holy body in a coffin made of marble. Those who were present witnessed that a fragrant oil flew from his body and it healed the sick. His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
The Departure of St. Pelagia.
21st October - 11th Baba
On this day also, St. Pelagia, departed. This righteous woman was born in the city of Antioch to pagan parents. Besides a corrupt faith, she had a corrupt manner of life also. She met a holy bishop, whose name was Paul, who preached to her. She believed in the Lord Christ through him, and confessed to him everything she had done. He encouraged her and taught her not to despair but to repent with a true determination. Then he baptized her in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and she was illuminated by the grace of baptism. She led a penitent life with a firm heart and a pure determination. she exhausted her body with strenuous worship.
She dressed herself in the garb of men and went to Jerusalem where she worshipped in its sanctuaries. She met Abba Alexandros, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who sent her to one of the convents nearby Jerusalem. She dwelt there for 40 years and departed in peace.
Her prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
The Martyrdom of St. Matthew the Evangelist.
22nd October - 12th Baba
On this day also, St. Matthew the Evangelist, was martyred. He was one of the Twelve Disciples and his name was Levi. He was the one sitting at the receipt of custom outside the city of Capernaum, when the Lord Christ said to him, “Follow Me.” He left all, rose up, and followed Him. He made for the Lord Christ a great feast in his own house. That made the Pharisees murmur against Him saying to His disciples, “Why do your teacher eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:27-32) He preached in the land of Palestine and Tyre and Sidon. Then he went to Ethiopia. He entered the city of priests and converted them to the knowledge of God. When he wished to enter the city, he met a young man who told him, “You will not be able to go in unless you shave off the hair of your head and carry palm branches in your hand.” He did as the young man told him. And, as he was thinking about that, the Lord Christ appeared to him in the form of the young man who had met him earlier, and after He encouraged and comforted him, disappeared. He realized that this young man was the Lord of Glory Himself.
He then entered the city as one of its priests. He went to the temple of Apollo and found the high priest, and talked with
him concerning the idols that they were worshipping. He explained to him how those idols did not hear or sense anything and how the true Mighty Lord is He who created the Heaven and Earth. The Lord made through him a wonder: a table came down to them from Heaven and a great light shone around them. When Hermes the priest saw this wonder, he asked him, “What is the name of your God?” The apostle replied, “My God is the Lord Christ.” Hermes, the priest, believed in Christ and many people followed him.
When the Governor of the city knew that, he ordered them burned. It happened at that time that the son of the Governor died. St. Matthew the Apostle prayed and made supplications to God to raise the son and the Lord answered him and raised the child from death. When the Governor saw that, he and the rest of the people of the city believed. St. Matthew baptized them and ordained a bishop and priests, and built a church for them.
After he had preached in other countries, he went back to Jerusalem. Some of the Jews which had been preached to, and had believed and been baptized by him, asked him to write down what he had preached to them. He wrote the beginning of the Gospel attributed to him in the Hebrew language but he did not complete it. It was said that he finished it during his preaching in India, in the first year of the reign of Claudius and the ninth year of the Ascension. His martyrdom was consummated by stoning by the hands of Justus the Governor, and his body was buried in Carthage of Caesarea by some believers, in a holy place. His prayers be with us. Amen.
The Departure of Abba Demetrius I, 12th Pope of Alexandria.
On this day of the year 224 A.D., the pure and celibate father, the fighter of lusts, and the vanquisher of nature, Abba Demetrius I, 12th Pope of Alexandria, departed. This saint was an illiterate farmer, and was married. He lived with his wife 47 years until he was chosen a Patriarch. They did not know one another as married people, but remained throughout that period in their virginity and chastity, a fact which no one knew.
When the departure of St. Yulianus, 11th Pope, drew near, the angel of the Lord appeared to St. Yulianus in a vision and told him about this saint and that he was to be the Patriarch after him. He gave him a sign saying, “Tomorrow a man shall come to you having a cluster of grapes, seize him and pray over him.” Then he woke from his sleep, he told the bishops and the priests who were with him about this vision.
So it happened on the next day that St. Demetrius found a cluster of grapes that was out of season. He carried it to St. Yulianus, to receive his blessing. The father, the Patriarch, took him by the hand and told those who were present, “This is your Patriarch who will be after me.” Then he prayed over him; they held him and kept him until the departure of Abba Yulianus, whereupon they finished the prayers of ordination over him and he was filled with heavenly grace. The Lord enlightened his mind and he learned reading and writing. He studied the church books
ابنلأا ةعيبطلا رهاقو ةوهشلا دهاجم ،رهاطلا
سيدقلا اذه .ةيردنكسلإا تاواباب نم ١٢ لاو لولأا
.اجوزتم ناكو ،ةباتكلاو ةءارقلا فرعي لا ،ايمأ احلاف لمو ،اكريرطب يرتخا نأ لىإ ،ةنس ينعبرأو اعبس هتجوز عم هذه لاوط اثبل لب ،جاوزلأا ةفرعم رخلآا ماهدحأ فرعي نم دحأ نكي لمو .ماهتراهطو ماهتيروكب في ماهو ةدلما .هيلع ماه ام فرعي بعشلا .شرع يداحلإ
and their interpretations. Words of grace flew from his mouth when he preached.
He established the reckoning of the Epacts, by which the dates of fasting were determined on a fixed basis. Christians used to fast the holy 40 days, Lent, right after the feast of Epiphany, as the Lord Christ fasted after His baptism. Then they fasted the Passion week separately, celebrating the Christian Passover on the Sunday that followed the Jewish Passover.
Some of the Christians used to celebrate Easter on the fourteenth of Neesan (April) and that meant they celebrated with the Jews, not recognizing that the Christian Passover was to be in memory of the Resurrection of the Lord Christ which was after the Mosaic Passover. For that reason, Pope Demetrius took interest in establishing a fixed bases for fasts and Christian holy days. He appended the Holy Fast to the Passion Week.
Pope Demetrius wrote in this respect to Agabius, Bishop of Jerusalem; to Maximus, Patriarch of Antioch; to the Patriarch of Rome and to others. All approved of it and continued to follow his rules up until the present. The Church of Rome deviated from that and followed, since the 16th century, the Gregorian Calendar. To the Popes of the Coptic Church was the prime credit in determining Easter Day; and they thus sent their Easter messages all over the world, so that the Christians would celebrate Easter on the same day forming a universal joy. God was with Abba Demetrius because of his purity. God granted him a gift that after he finished the Liturgy and the people came forward to partake of the Holy Mysteries, he used to see the Lord Christ pushing forward with His Hand those who were worthy. But if one came forward who was not worthy of partaking of the Holy Communion, the Lord would reveal to the Pope his sins and the Pope would not allow him to partake of it until he confessed his sins. The Pope would admonish him for them and would say to him, “Turn away from your sin and repent, after that come and partake of the Holy Mysteries.” His flocks conduct was straightened during his time.
Because he rebuked the sinners much, and urged them on repentance and purity, some of them murmured and said, “This man is married, how can he rebuke us?” The Lord Almighty wished to reveal to them his virtues, so the angel of the Lord came to him at night and told him, “O Demetrius, do not seek your salvation and let others be destroyed with their doubt.” The father asked him to clarify his statement and the angel told him, “You must reveal the mystery which is between yourself and your wife to the people that you might remove the doubt from them.”
On the following morning, after he had celebrated the Divine Liturgy, he ordered the people not to leave the church. He took red-hot coal and placed it in his wife’s shawl and his pallium, then they went around in the church and their clothes did not burn. The people were amazed at this miracle. He told them that he and his wife did not know each other as married people. The doubt was removed from the people and they realized the purity of this father and his virginity. During his time, some opposing men appeared whose names were Aklemos, Origen, and Orianus and others who wrote forbidden books, so he excommunicated them. During the days of his papacy, he did not stop teaching and confirming the believers in the Orthodox Faith. When he had grown old and became weak, they carried him on a litter to the church to teach the people. He was 15 years old, having spent 15 years unmarried, 47 years until he became Patriarch and 43 years in office, then departed in peace. The blessings of his prayers be with us. Amen.
Meditations on the Bible Readings
Sunday 1st of Blessed Month of Babah
Mark 2 :1-12
“Son, your sins are forgiven you.” Mark 2:5
Crowding … many people … noise … much to do … how many times, one delays his or her salvation … how often one’s spiritual life become tepid because of these issues … how numerous one’s cries and woos is lost among such noise … how many time your walk with God is delayed because of the crowds … how often do you feel lost and vanished among a crowded world … how often do you feel like a small cog in a huge machine, all that is required from you to stand still and bear all the knocks and hammering for ever without the right to object or speak … but in reality; among such crowd, one feels like a number and not a human being … even to the extent that at work they might forget your name … and might address you by your identity number … what is amazing is that, among this huge crowding, you will find some who will say; you live in a society which respects your humanity and existence … this might be true but only in this physical worldly measures which only caters for satisfying one’s physical needs … forgetting that your spirit (soul) within you is lost and almost perishing due to hunger and thirst.
Dear Beloved … you are the paralytic … paralysed among a crowded world which has no mercy … if you leave your self in the hands of this world, it will over-run you and crush you and no one will ever care … you will be paralysed for the rest of your life … Do you want to be paralysed still???
Never!! First open your eyes and see (observe) what this crowding has done for you??? … then ask for help … there are four honest (men) willing to help you … they will carry you high … above the crowd … to put you at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. + they could not come near Him because of the crowd How much hardship is the crowd … and how much difficulties we face because of it … many have suffered because of the crowd … and some have been annihilated because of it.
One of those is Felix the governor (Acts 24) … all his concerns were collecting money even through bribery and therefore he sent for Paul more often to converse with him thinking Paul will give him money to release him … but Paul used the opportunity to preach to him … about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time, I will call for you (Acts 24: 25) but a convenient time never happened.
Another one of those is the rich fool … all his concerns were collecting riches and storing it … he will tear down his barns and build bigger ones … to gather in it food and riches … to be laid up for him for many years … and said to himself “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19) … but this poor fool did not know that his time has finished among this crowding and he heard the voice “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:20). Also, one of those is the maiden of the Song of Songs … in the time of her lukewarm attitude … the bridegroom calls from the outside … open my beloved, my perfect partner … but she is too busy inside with other issues and answers … I have taken off my robe, how can I put it on again??? I have washed my feet, how can I defile them again )Song of Solomon 5: 3-4) … and so on … offering many excuses till the Bridegroom passes by and leave … then she will recognise her mistake … then she arises and sought Him in the city and market places but with no success … for He was not among the crowd … for He has gone to His garden … to the beds of spices (Song of Solomon 6:2) … And you beloved, it seems that the crowding made you too busy … you work 5, 6 and even 7 days a week … every day from morning till evening … and there is no more time for anything else … and what ever little time left is spent with T.V or talking with friends and socialising … there is no more time even for yourself … no more time for your offspring … no more time left for prayers in the morning or the evenings … even on Sundays only a few minutes or maybe an hour at most, is left for God! … no time left for confessions … no time left for reading the Holy Bible … too busy … busy … and I have no time left … By Beloved, I do not know what is more important to you? … if you are not willing to give some of your time for the Kingdom of Heaven, then how can you demand to have an inheritance in Heaven … you work and toil for your earthly life … well-done and you shall receive the rewards on earth for your labour … but what about Heaves??? … is Heavenly life so cheap for you … what about the salvation of your sons and daughters??? How many fathers and mothers weep bitterly and pour out tears because when they became aware of the crowding and sought their offspring, they did not find them … they were lost to the world establish
ing boy-friends and girl-friends … some even left home and live with them … some not ashamed to smoke and drink alcohol before their parents … some is willing to make of the home a disco-tech and a dancing hall for them and their friends … and we can see our children who we laboured and migrated for them, dressed in revealing clothing and a strange hectic life full absentee with no love, purity or seriousness … is this what crowding has done to you????????? What do I do??? Many sit with their heads on their palms pondering, what if we did not migrate and left our homes, families … or we wish; if we paid more attention for bringing up our children …. And alas … but what benefit does this have now!
+ a paralytic who was carried by four men .. You are in need of these four (men) … and it is amazing they are around you always and run away from them … these four are:
The Holy Bible … the Church Sacraments … Means of Grace … and your Spiritual Monitor … each one of them is willing (and ready) to hold you … and to lift you above the crowd … just ask …and in the Holy Bible you shall fins the living words of God which is fulfilling to your hungry soul … in it you will see the Lord Crucified for you, even though you are too busy and far from Him and in it (Holy Bible) you will know the way to the everlasting life … you will love God and rejoice in the company of the saints… Thus was God’s word to St Augustine … He taken him out of the crowd and sins to a life of repentance … and in the Church Sacraments … more specifically those Sacrament you have ignored for a long time; like the Sacraments of Repentance and Confession and the Sacrament of Communion (The Eucharist) … how powerful are these two Sacraments and how great is their effects on the life of God’s children … in the Sacrament of Repentance, you will recognise how the busy with the world issues you have been and to what wicked state you have become … and you shall become like the prodigal son feeling how terrible your sins and how far away from God; you have been … and you shall decide to escape to God desiring to live on His door steps better than living in the tents of the sinners … and in the Sacrament of the Eucha rist your eyes will be opened (to see) the glory of heavens … and the greatness of living with God in grace and freedom carrying the weapons of tri umph over Satanic wars.
And in Means of Grace … prayers … fasting …. Charity and all works of love … you will fill the void within you with God’s love … make the sweet name of Jesus your life and busyness … learn how to make your thoughts and heart pray and in this your life and house-hold will gain the lost blessings … and the peace will return to you and your house hold. As for the Spiritual Monitor … this can be your confessional-father … he is essential … don’t let your pride stop you from revealing your thoughts and sins to your confessional father … although he is a human like you … but he is praying for you and asks (God) to guide him in advising you and the Lord gives him wisdom and understanding to guide you … more importantly through true repentance and the Blood of our Lord Christ you will receive the forgiveness of your sins through the authority given to the priest. My Beloved … through these are the four honest (methods) … they will not deceive you … therefore be serious about salvation and entrust your paralytic self in the hands of these four … and how great is the results … they are ready to do anything for you … they shall carry you above the world and above the crowds … read the tales of the saints to see how they soared above the world and trampled upon all it’s busyness to the extent the world became rubbish … all things as a loss (Letter to the Philippians 3:8)
More than this, they (the honest four) will do the im possible for your return to the Lord Jesus … they will demolish all obstacles … they will uncover the roof to lay you down before the Lord Jesus … they have a strong faith for your redemption. + When Jesus saw their faith .. What a faith?? But do not forget the roll of the paralytic man here .. he entrusted himself in the hands of this four .. for the four are here always .. but without a paralytic man willing to entrust himself to them .. because there are many paralytics who enjoy being paralysed .. and here the paralytic leapt from the crowd and went above the world and settled before the Lord Jesus’s feet … how happy is the paralytic .. and how joyful are the four too. Here the paralytic hears the sweetest word he yearned to hear for a long time … “your sins are forgiven” and thus his tiered soul is rejoicing and fulfilled his hunger. As to his physical body, the Lord does not forget and accomplish all things … “Arise, take up your bed and walk” arise you have become free and strong and the world has no authority over you from now on.
Apologetics is the science of Defence, what are we defending then? We are defending our Faith; the Orthodox Christian Faith. The Christian Faith means that we believe that God does exist, God is one and we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is God, who manifested in the flesh. We also believe in one, Holy Catholic and apostolic church. In Christian apologetics, there are three main pillars:
The existence of God The divinity of Christ He Oneness/Unity of the church
Let’s talk about these three pillars in around 15 minutes over 8-10 episodes. We will start with very basic questions as we may face them and we need answers.
The first question that we are going to start with is: Does God even exist?
In fact, no one ever asked this question in the past because anyone who asked this question would have been considered crazy or lunatic. Nowadays, ironically we consider him a “scientist”. Long time ago, when an ordinary person look at the world around him; he would conclude that certainly someone must have created it; for example, when I find a neat peace of craftwork, like a cross “a priest’s cross” or a painting, I say that someone very talented must have made it. When I see a mobile phone, I also say that it takes a genius to make it. When we see the world, the universe, the human cells, the celestial world, the Sun, and the life cycle; we say “certainly a creator must have created all these creation”. Since there is a maker for every industry, then there is a creator for the creation.
If, for example, I am walking in a desert and found a CD lying on the ground; as a sensible person, it is impossible to say that the CD came in this place by itself especially and even more if the CD has information saved on it. It is impossible that the CD came by “chance” or coincidence or the sand particles of the earth has gathered next to each other with little of water and little lightening from the sky then they reacted and formed the fibres that made the CD! However, the components of the CD are actually taken from the desert sand, fibre optics and similar materials, but it is impossible for the CD to come into existence by coincidence especially as mentioned; if it has information saved on it.
DO you know that we need a million CD like this to store the information in ONE cell of your body?! If it is impossible to say that this CD which I found by chance was created by chance, then how much more for one cell in our body to have existed by chance?! Or there must be a very genius creator who made this cell. As surely as there must be a genius maker who made this CD?
Actually, this is a natural observation even before ancient philosophies. For example: Plato says: “the world is an artistic miracle of a great beauty and its organized system cannot be coincidental, rather there must be a perfect mind and an Eternal Engineer who made everything and arranged it with a purpose”.
So it is a shocking to find anyone today still denies the existence of God while seeing all this world around us!.
Like what Saint Paul the apostle said in Romans 1:20 “His invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by things that are made even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”.
So you couldn’t find a respectful school of thought in the old days claiming our Lord does not exist. They would consider him/her lunatic. Whereas now sadly, whoever says that, can be considered a scientist!
First of all, someone may tell you that this is an old view point and that the world was made spontaneously with no need for God to create it then he starts echoing some seemingly or that type of big talk such as “the big bang theory”!
Let us know more about the big bang theory; What is the big bang theory all about? Something is extremely small, much smaller than the pin head. Despite its very small size, it contains all the mass of the universe. Then a horrific explosion occurred in it, creating the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, Mars, and galaxies. All has been created from this little particle in which “big bang” took place, and the plants kept moving apart. The big bang theories which say this assured that the universe began with a point (a minute particle) but where did this minute particle came from? Let us assume that the theory is correct, by the way the theory is facing objections till now but mostly it can be correct. Many people have been awarded the Nobel Prize for it so it is most probably going to acquire the status of “fact” eventually. Even though, who said that the little particle in which the explosion occurred, has spontaneously come to existence? This could be the way by which, God created the universe when God said “let there be light and there was light”. (Gen 1:3). This is could be the explosion, why not? This theory neither denies the existence of God nor is that the universe the product of a creator. On the contrary, the strongest and greatest scientists did not say that this particle or point, in which the explosion occurred, was made by itself. On the contrary, this minute unique particle called “singularity” is miraculous. A miraculous explosion happened in something that we do not know how came into existence in the first place. Its existence has no explanation! This is a scientific interpretation for what happened after the big bang, but there is no explanation as to how the singularity came into existence. Well, this is our God our Lord who must have created something like that.
Rather, there is more than that; this theory “big bang” was originally developed in defence of Christianity and the Faith. The first scientist who said something related to this theory was George Lemaitre in 1927. He was a scientist and Belgian catholic priest. He developed this theory because the atheists in his time in the early 20th century used to say that the universe has no beginning and has no end, the universe is god! We say that God has no beginning or end. They assumed that there is no God, replaced Him with the universe and claimed that it has neither beginning nor end. According to them, the universe came out of nothing and will continue to infinity. So this man George Lematire developed this theory to challenge them. He told them “if I could prove to you that the universe has a beginning and has an end, then it cannot be God and there has to be God who created it”. They accepted the challenge. The scientist priest spent his entire life searching until he derived a theory and proved it to be right. He and Einstein later they were trying to prove that the universe is going through an accelerating expansion which means the universe began due to an explosion and most probably the theory is correct. They calculated that if the universe was expanding at a constant rate, consequently, if we returned back in time, when was the start point of the universe? They found it to be 13.7 billion years ago. They calculated that the universe has a beginning which is now what all scientists have agreed on. The universe is roughly 13.7 billion years old, then the universe in not eternal and that is not god and someone created it and has an end because at some point in time it will explode and ceases to exist. Therefore it is neither eternal nor everlasting. The truth, is none of the scientists today is saying that the universe is god or that God does not exist nor was the universe made on its own.
Even when Einstein himself introduced at some point in time the notion that the universe is static, before he believed the concept of the big bang theory by George Lematire, after that he said “I consider it the biggest mistake in my life” my biggest blander” “a disaster that I did in my life when I once thought that the universe has neither beginning nor end” so now there a pseudoscience that are introduced to our children at school, they start ignorantly echoing that the big bang teaches that the universe has no beginning!
Is the universe result of physical interaction?
Another assumption, for example, is that the universe could be the result of physical interactions; a blend of the law of motion” and the law of attraction” and all such big talk. This is what formed the first particle that exploded. NO one says this at all! This is empty rhetoric, groundless and with no foundation. Are these laws enough to make an aeroplane?! NO, on the contrary, engineers make the aeroplane uses these laws. It is impossible that the laws themselves make an aeroplane. Among those who believed in this false concept, a very famous man in the past named Sir Anthony Flew. He was the most famous atheist in the past century who preached atheism, like Richard Dawkins now in UK. Anthony Flew wrote a popular book called “There is NO God” in which, he talks about the laws are capable of creating life. The truth is, that man couldn’t deceive himself anymore, after a while; he believed and remained religious person preaching religion and faith. He wrote another book with the same title as before “there is no God but he crossed out the word no and wrote above it “a” so it reads “There is a God”. Therefore, the idea that the universe has no beginning or end is NOT scientific.
Is the universe the result of the multiverse?
Now, we are left with a third idea namely that the universe might be a result of what is called “multiverse”. We will dig deeper. This talk is not new for those who read about this topic. Stephen Hawking – you might have heard of him and know him. This man was a quadriplegic and he recently passed away. He was among the most famous scholars, he introduced “multiverse theory” so why did he introduce the theory; because for our universe to be inhabitable, everything about the universe has to be accurately calculated hence a very genius and very wise one must have made this magnificent universe, however, because Hawking wanted to deny the existence of God, he claimed that it is not necessary, if an infinite number of universes were to exist; it is possible that by mere coincidence one of them would have the necessary condition to make it inhabitable by human. He wanted to evade the concept that our universe is intelligently and intentionally fine – tuned for human existence. This is a concept called “Anthropic principle” which reasons that the universe is so fine-tuned to serve humans. This wouldn’t necessarily lead to God being the creator of this universe. He wanted to escape this concept by claiming that this universe is one of the infinite universes, which by mere chance, became inhabitable by humans!
The ironically surprise fact is that he presented this theory; yet he himself stated that it is impossible to prove, it is just an idea on paper! The Guardian newspaper, on May 7th 2018 wrote an article entitled “Did the dying Stephen Hawking really mean to strengthen the case of God?” by Philip Goff. “A smooth Exit from Eternal Inflation, Stephen Hawking wrote it before he died. It is very complex because it is full of theoretical physics terminology. This is the last scientific paper Stephen Hawking wrote before his death and was published after his death. At the end of this paper, he wrote that the theory of the existence of the multi universe has not been accurately proven and the claim that the universes are infinite in numbers, is also not correct, but he believes that “Anthropic principle means that the world was created in order for humans to survive on it, this is of course the need of a wise and powerful designer, who is above human beings, who is eternal and everlasting. The editor even wrote this sentence on behalf of Hawking; “we don’t yet have evidence that our laws were shaped by such a process” he means “multi universe” “but if the alternative is the postulation of a supernatural creator, then this seems like the more plausible proposal”
Thank you Stephen Hawking for saying these words before passing away, so it remains with us to prove that science changes but faith doesn’t. Faith is constant. You can read this article in this link.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/07/stephen- hawking-godmultiverse-cosmology
“The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man;” Genesis 39:2 Thank God for always being with us , thank all the servants for their great work with our kids , thank our blessed and beloved children for the great performance, thank all who worked with the beautiful and touching and meaningful play. thank all the parents who came and share with us the amazing day. Thank all who worked with the sound system and IT and those who worked behind the scenes to make this day a memorable day. Thank all and each one from the bottom of our hearts. God bless you all for your great and hidden service you’re always do for our beautiful St Mary’s church. God bless you all. PLEASE KEEP
the Foundation Stone by His Grace Bishop Rafeile
Next Saturday 22nd October His Grace Bishop Rafeile will be visiting St Mary’s Church. His Grace will be laying the foundation stone of the new building at the church building stie at 6pm. Then His Grace will be praying the Vespers at 6:30 - 8pm. It is a wonderful occasion for all of us to celebrate and pray for the Lord to support and complete for us this project for Glory of God and the benefir of all members of congregation.
of New Buildings started Thursday 28th April
