Services at St Mary’s Church
Monday: Mass 9 - 11 am
Tuesday
Liturgy 5:30 - 7am
7:30pm 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 & Eng-
lish
2nd Mass.7:45 – .9:30am English
3rd Mass 9:30 - 11:15am Arabic
Hymns Class - English 11:4512:30pm
Church Priests:
Fr Tadros Sharobeam 0414251251
Email: frtadros@me.com
Fr Habib Girgis Younan:
0401238177 – 94498871
Email: habibgirgisyounan@hotmail. com
Fr Michael Salib: 0422431821
Email: frmichael@sac.edu.au
Church Address: 5 Epsom Rd., Kens-
ington Vic 3031 Tel: 93766651
Fr Kerillos Tawadros
0411 518 399
Fr John Macary 0433 445 636
The Departure of St. Takla Haymanot, the Ethiopian.
30th August - 24th Mesra
On this day, the great hermit and the blessed St. Takla Haymanot, the Ethiopian, departed. He was born in a village nearby Jerusalem which was the share of Zadok and Abiathar the priests during the reign of King Soliman, son of King David.
Zadok begot Azariah, Azariah begot Zadok, who was named after his grandfather, and Zadok begot Levi, and so forth till the father of this saint was born. His name was Tsega ZeAb (which means the Grace of the Father) and he married a woman whose name was Sarah. They were righteous, God fearing and very rich. They always celebrated the commemoration of the honorable Archangel Michael on the twelfth day of each Coptic month, and gave alms to the poor and the needy.
Sarah, the mother of this saint, was very beautiful, meek and adorned with many virtues, hence they called her «EgeziHareya» (i.e. God has chosen her). However, She and her husband were bitter and sad because they did not have any children. She went daily to the church imploring God to give her a child that would delight her heart. Her husband also went to the church at the time of the offering of the incense and taught the congregation the fundamentals of faith. Every time he went to the church he took from his own money an offering to the house of God. They both agreed to disperse their money to the poor, the needy, the monasteries and the churches.
Meanwhile the king died, and another king reigned who worshipped the idols. The new king demolished the churches and built pagan temples. He was unjust and he plundered and captured women, among them «Egezi-Hareya», the mother of St. Takla. Later she returned safely to her husband and both glorified God and praised His Holy Name. Afterwards, the angel of the Lord appeared to them in a vision at night, and announced to them the birth of this saint. When the saint was about one and half years old, a famine befell Ethiopia. When the twelfth day of the blessed month of Baramhat, the commemoration of the honorable head of the Heavenly hosts, drew near, Sarah, the mother of the child, was crying because she was not able to celebrate this occasion. The child wiped away her tears with his little hands and yet he was still unable to talk. He pointed to her to carry him to where there was a plate with a little flour in it. She took him to the plate where he dipped his hand in the flour. The flour increased until it was pouring onto the floor. She brought baskets and every time she emptied the plate, it became full again, until she had filled twelve baskets. His mother then knew that God was with the child. Then she brought to him the empty container of oil. He placed his hand over it and it was filled with the power of God. In the same fashion, other containers in the house were filled. When Tsega Ze-Ab, the father of the child, returned from the church and knew what happened, he glorified God. They celebrated the commemoration of the archangel Michael, fed the poor and all the neighbors.
God honored this saint with many miracles that he performed during his life and also after his departure. When
St. Takla Haymanot completed his good strife, he departed in peace. May his prayers be with us. Amen.
The Departure of St. Bessarion, the Great.
31st August - 25th Mesra
On this day, the great ascetic father, St. Bessarion, departed. He was born in Misr (Egypt) to Christian parents. When he grew up, he longed for the monastic life, so he went to Anba Anthony (Antonius), under whose direction he remained for a while. Then he went to Anba Macarius, and stayed under his guidance for a while. Later on, he wandered about in the desert, never lodging in a place with a roof. He possessed absolutely nothing of this world, and he had only one coarse hairy sack-cloth. He used to carry the Gospel, and went round the cells of the monks crying. If they asked him the reason for his weeping, he would reply, “My riches have all been stolen, and I have escaped from death. My family have fallen from honor into disgrace.” His words referred to the great loss that befell the human race by the fall of the first father Adam by breaking the first commandment. Those who did not understand what his words meant would console him saying, “God shall restore what has been stolen from you.” The fathers had recorded for him many signs: Once he was walking with his two disciples, John and Dulas, by the shore of the Red Sea (salty water). When they became thirsty, St. Bessarion took some of its water and prayed over it. The water became sweet and they all drank of it. Another time, they brought to the wilderness of Scetis a mad man, who was possessed by demons, for the elders to pray over. Because the elders knew that St. Bessarion despised the glory of men, they did not want to ask him to pray over the sick man, but rather they put the man in the church where the saint usually stood. When St. Bessarion came into the church and found the man there asleep, he woke him up, and the man rose up healed and with a sound mind. God wrought many signs on his hands. He pleased God and then departed in peace. May his prayers be with us. Amen.
The Martyrdom of St. Moses (Moisees) and his Sister Sarah.
1st September - 26th Mesra
On this day, St. Moses (Moisees) and his righteous sister Sarah, were martyred. They were born to rich, Christian parents. When their parents departed, St. Moisees wanted to give his sister in marriage, and to hand over to her all their possessions, and to go and become a monk. She answered him and said, “If you would get married first, then I also can get married.” He said, “I have committed many sins, and I want to become a monk to blot out my sins. I can not attend to the marriage and the salvation of my soul at the same time.” She answered him saying, “O my brother, how can you cast me to the snares of this transitory world, while you seek to save your own soul?” He said, “Whatever you wish, I will do.” She said, “What you do for your self, I likewise will do for myself.”
When he saw her strong determination, he dispersed all their money to the poor and the needy. He took his sister to a convent for virgins, which was outside Alexandria. He also entered one of the monasteries for men. They did not see each other for ten years.
When Emperor Decius incited persecution against the Christians, during the papacy of Pope Demetrius, the twelfth Patriarch of Alexandria, many were martyred. St. Moses (Moisees) sent to his sister Sarah to bid her farewell and to inform her that he wished to shed his blood in the Name of the Lord Christ. She rose up immediately and asked the abbess to release her. After she took the blessings of her sisters the nuns, she joined her brother on his way to Alexandria. They confessed the Lord Christ before the governor. After they had been tortured severely, their heads were cut off, and they received the crowns of martyrdom. May their prayers be with us. Amen.
The holy Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
3rd September - 28th Mesra
On this day, the church celebrates the holy Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
1. Our father Abraham
Who can describe the virtues of he who became father to many nations? He believed in God, obeyed Him, and did not doubt His promises. The Lord appeared to him in a vision at night and told him, “Get out of your country, away from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:1-2) Then the Lord appeared to Abraham in the form of three men. He welcomed them, for they were strangers, and God promised him the birth of Isaac. Abraham was then one hundred years old; Sarah, his wife, was advanced in age, and they believed the promise of God. When Isaac was born, Abraham, his father, circumcised him on the eighth day of his birth. Although he was sure that through his procreation all the nations of the earth would be blessed, God told him, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and offer him there as a burnt offering.” He did not doubt the promise of God. He began to offer his son as a sacrifice, confident that God would raise him, and raise offspring through him. When he fulfilled the sacrifice of Isaac by intention, God revealed his virtues to the generations to come by saying, “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven.” )Genesis 22:1-18( That was fulfilled and he was called the father of Christ in flesh. )Luke 3:34( He departed in peace when he was one hundred seventy-five years old. May his prayers be with us. Amen.
2. Our father Isaac
He was born by a divine promise, and he was perfect in piety and obedience to God and to his father. He was willing to be sacrificed by his father as an offering to God, although he was the son of the promise, and his father begot him when he was one hundred years old. Isaac was not a child then, for the Bible said, “So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and went to the place which was afar off.” Some historians say that Isaac’s age then was about thirtyseven years old. He obeyed his father, and laid down his neck for slaying, but the angel of the Lord ordered his father not to lay his hand on the lad. As it was considered that Abraham had fulfilled the sacrifice of his son by intention, it was also
considered that Isaac was sacrificed by intention. He suffered many tribulations and sorrows. God gave him two sons, Esau and Jacob. Isaac loved Esau for his bravery. When Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, “My son ... behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now therefore, please ... go out to the field and hunt game for me. And make me savory food ... that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.” Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. She spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “... Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves ... that he may bless you before his death.” Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.” But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son.” (Genesis 27:1-29) She did that by a divine inspiration. Jacob did as his mother ordered him, and his father ate and blessed him. Isaac departed in peace when he was one hundred eighty years old. May his prayers be with us. Amen.
3. The father of the Tribes Jacob Esau, his brother, hated him for he took the blessing of their father from him. Jacob feared Esau, and fled to Laban, his uncle. He shepherded Laban’s sheep for seven years and Laban gave Jacob his daughter, Leah, in marriage. Then Jacob served another seven years, and Laban gave him his second daughter, Rachel, in marriage. (Genesis 29:15-30) Then Laban, his uncle, told him, “The sheep that are streaked shall be your wages, then all the flocks bore streaked.” )Genesis 31:4-8)
God made him exceedingly wealthy. He returned with his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and God blessed him with twelve sons. He saw God face to face and wrestled with him until the breaking of day, and God called him Israel. He suffered many sorrows and tribulations, such as the selling of Joseph his son as a servant to the Egyptians, the loss of his sight, the severe famine, and others as mentioned in the Holy Bible. His son Joseph then rose to power and became the second man in Egypt after the Pharaoh, and he tried until he was able to bring his father Jacob to Egypt, where he stayed for seventeen years. When his departure drew near he called his twelve sons and blessed them. When he blessed Judah, he said, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” That was a prophesy about the coming of the Lord Christ from his seed. When he was one hundred forty-seven years, he departed in peace, after commanding that he be buried in the tomb of his fathers. Joseph carried him in the chariot of Pharaoh, brought him to the land of Canaan, where he was buried with his fathers. May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
Sunday the third of the Blessed Month of Mesra Mark 3:22-35
“How can Satan cast out Satan?” Mark 3:23 Can evil be cured by evil?? Will violence be met by violence?? Is this the correct course of treatment? Evil, violence and all manner of different sins are ways of Satan … is it comprehensible then for one to revert to Satan to cast-out another Satan?? One has to wonder for a person who in his or her dealings with others, does not know any other way but quarrels and estrangements … or by demeaning others and being superior to them … and (sadly) when one asks him or her why, they would explain that it is the only way which makes others know your worth and respect you … and, as a matter of fact, he or she will not gain any respect from such attitudes but only for others to avoid him or her and stay away ..
Bulging muscles and the appearances of physical powers has no value in world of inner strength … for a very small germ which can not be seen by the (naked) eye, can destroy the physically strongest person … similarly a small neglected sin allowed among the greatest and richest nation in the world is capable of turning it to rubbles … for those who revert evil will only gain evil from it … indeed, nothing worse than evil than the one who plants evil … whilst, good and acts of mercy … will convert the worst of enemies to a closest of friends … it transforms wolves into lambs … and you beloved, how do you castout Satan …??
+ By the ruler of demons He casts out demons .. This is the false rational which is understood by the world … reverts to the ruler of demons to cast out a demon … and amazingly, the thing which the world does not understand … is that this ruler of demons is petrified and cannot last before God’s children …
King Saul with all his might and powers could not overcome David had run away to the mountains because he refused to stretch his hand against who has been anointed by the Lord … violence, strength and armies failed when confronted by love, forgiveness and humility … Haman the Agagite with all his might and influences failed before a simple man who had no weapons or authority, namely Mordecai who brought up queen Esther … Haman intended evil towards (Mordecai) and planed to kill him and all the Israelites but the Lord saved him and all the Jews from his hands … a true story told by one of our (past) patriarchs (the late Anba Makarios III the 114th patriarch of the see of Alexandria) about a simple man who was a stonemason called Jacob, who went to work in the quarry and took with him a bag of food … there he met another man who called him by name at a cemetery … Jacob asked this man to come and share with him his meal … the man accepted … so, Jacob took food from his bag and gave to the man and he was surprized
that the food was disappearing very quickly as if there were 10 men eating so he asked the man (where does the food go), so the man told it is his un-seen helpers and he has sent them to his (Jacob’s house) house to bring more food and put his hand behind his back and brought another bag full of food … then this magician told him; if it wasn’t for a thieving woman in his house hold, he and his helpers would not have been able to get in and bring some food … then he asked him; what is the secret behind Sundays where his helpers come back empty handed as if there were a strange force stopping them … also he asked him about this strange oil called mai-roon (chrism oil), then went on to him the what happened in a pervious night, when he saw a very luminous lady accompanied with luminous beings and show ordered them to open a tomb where a man was buried recently and exhumed his body and put it in a vat full of hot water and the lady was collecting the few drops of oil floated on the surface of the water saying; this person who denied the faith and apostate does not deserve the mai-roon of my beloved Son … And you beloved, Satan will not enter your house unless he )Satan( finds sin in it … the love of sinful acts is an open invitation to Satan to enter your life … but also, see how weak is Satan when faced with powers of prayers and before God’s children who carry His commandments … but, God’s children mute Satan and overcome him regardless of how many worldly powers and strength he gathers against them.
Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363AD) denounced the faith and went back to pagan worship … and there was in Antioch a huge pagan idol with a great fame and is known to speak and answer questions raised to him and it was called Apollo … of course, this was a trick from Satan to deceive those poor people … and Emperor Julian the Apostate came one-day to seek advise from this idol Apollo … and he offered many offertories to the idol … but to his surprise, (the idol) did not answer back as usual … and after many attempts and various offertories the idol answered with a frightened low voice that it is unable to answer because of the remains of St Babilla (12th patriarch of Antioch 237AD) is kept in the church near the pagan idol … the bones (of a dead) saint has chained and silenced it (Satan) … and instead of this Emperor denouncing the pagan idol and know how weak Satan is, he ordered the bones of the saint to be shifted away to another place … so, the story of the Emperor and the idol admitting the powers of the saints were known and all Christians rejoiced and they decided to honour the saint by relocating his bones to the great cathedral in Antioch and the Christians carried the remains with great respect singing hymns of praise and psalms … this enraged the Emperor and decided to take revenge of the Christians and at this point a great fire descended from heavens and
burned the temple of the pagan idols and destroyed it to rubbles.
In fact, Satan and the ruler of demons are completely unable to face the mere bones of the saints … how then would anyone revert to Satan to cast out another demon …
The reason of your (beloved) failure in many matters is that you revert to the worldly solutions … how many problems could have been resolved simply with a loving word, an apology or a simple word of praise … or even by keeping silent … but the world had interfered and it became very complex and now we see strange (actions) … we see a husband taking his wife who is a part of him to courts of law and a wife would take her husband who is one with her to the lawyers and people of the world … refusing to carry out God’s commandments … believing that the world will give them what they could not achieve or they wish according to their human thinking … but is the results … more problems and a chain of complicated problems … + If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand...
Truly he cannot stand … no matter, how much the world sees of temporally wins, it is a mere mirage and only for little while and deceiving …
It truly saddens God’s loving heart when we leave God’s hand which is stretched for our help and we seek the hand of the world …
Cain reverted to Satan … and became an evil human … and all his offspring’s became evil doers and because of their evil, earth was full of evil and sin … and what did they achieve with their evilness?? They angered God’s heart … and He destroyed the whole world because of their evil.
Beloved, the council of the wicked shall not stand nor the help of evil will not prevail … be warned not to revert to evil for help … do not listen to the council of the wicked for it is destruction for the body and the spirit. What did bad council do to Rehoboam the king … it made him loose ten tribes of Israel )1Kings 12-22( …
What had wicked advice done to Absalom … it led to destruction and made him arise against his father them to suffer the worst death (2 Samuel 17-18) … how weak are the hands of the wicked and how little is their strength … their days are numbered … why then do you then revert to them … where are the wicked of the world?? Look (and examine) the history and search for all those mighty ones who tried to degrade the world with their wickedness and might … they all gone, forgotten and no-one wants to remember them … but search for those who taught the world love and charity … those who planted peace and goodness … their names are on every one’s tongue and everywhere … it is
enough for them, that their names are written the book of heavenly life.
+ For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother …
This is what pleases God’s heart … to do His will … and how does God honour those who do His will … He makes them His own and His people … but He makes them His beloved whom He loves and pleased with them …
The lord was very pleased with Saint Mary the Virgin … the full of grace … therefore the Lord agreed to make her, His dwelling … but also, He was content and please for her to be His mother and blessed by all generations … and the Lord will not accept or agree for anyone to degrade her for she is the Mother of God (the Theotokos)
…
God loved Anba Bishoy … He loved his obedience and simplicity and his full adherence to God’s commandments … the Lord was very pleased with him and given him the (blessing) to wash His feet … but also to Carry God Himself on his shoulders … and God honoured him after his death that his body has not decayed till this day … indeed, he is beloved of our Righteous Savour … a star in the wilderness the great saint Anba Bishoy..
God loved David and was pleased with him … to the extent that He said of him … I tested David son of Jesse’s heart and found it to be like My heart … even, the Lord was pleased to be called son of David … was pleased to be a Descendant of David …
Saint John the beloved had a special place in the Lord’s heart … for he was the humble man full of love and purity … who did the Lord’s will and commandment … and the Lord was very pleased with him to the extent that He trusted him with saint Mary the Virgin to become a mother to him … that is the Lord gave St John the honour to be a brother to Him …
Indeed, how great and beautiful is the significance of God’s children to Him … He loves them and honour them and gives them a special treatment … didn’t God speak to Moses face to face … did not God openly told Abraham what He intended to do and accepted Abraham’s supplications … didn’t the Lord accept and was pleased with the requests of St Mary the Virgin, His mother at the wedding of Cana … and you beloved, do you want to be one of God’s own people. This is very simple … Do His will.
Saint Augustine
Bishop of Hippo, Doctor of the Church (A.D. 430)
28th August - 22nd Mesra
Introduction
“And Thou, O Lord, how long? How long? Is it to be tomorrow and tomorrow? Why not now? Why not this very hour put an end to shame?”
These words of repentance marked the beginning of Augustine’s new life. A few years after he came in contact with God, he said, “Our hearts, O Lord, were made for you, and they are restless until the rest in you.”
Saint Augustine is one of the greatest Fathers of the Church. He was an original thinker who became recognized as a remarkable leader of Christian faith. One of the guiding forces in Saint Augustine’s life was his Christian mother, Saint Monica.
His Childhood and Youth
Saint Augustine, who used commonly to be called Austin in English, was born on November 13, 354 at Tagaste, a small town of Numidia in north Africa, not far from Hippo. His father, Patricius, was a pagan and of a violent disposition; but through the example and prudent conduct of his wife, Saint Monica, he was baptized a little before his death.
As a child, Saint Monica instructed him in the Christian religion and taught him how to pray; falling dangerously ill, he desired baptism and his mother got everything ready for it: but he suddenly grew better, and it was put off.
His father wanted him to become a man of learning and cared very little about his character. In his writings, Augustine accuses himself of often studying by constraint, disobeying his parents and masters, not writing, reading, or minding his lessons so much as was required of him; and this he did not for lack of wit or memory, but out of love of play. But he prayed to God with great earnestness that he might escape punishment at school. He later on did so well with his studies that he went to Carthage in 370 when he was still 17. He studied rhetoric with eagerness and pleasure; but his motives were vanity and ambition, and to them he joined loose living.
Years away from Christ
At Carthage, he entered into relations with a woman (to whom he remained faithful until he sent her away from him 15 years later). She bore him a son, Adeodatus, in 372. His father had died in 371, but he continued at Carthage and switched to philosophy and the search for the truth. He also studied the Scriptures but from a subjective attitude. He was offended with the simplicity of style, and could not relish their humility or penetrate their spirit. Then he fell into Manichaeism - a combination of pagan religions and philosophy. The darkening of the understanding and clumsiness in the use of the faculties helped to betray him into his company; and pride did the rest. “I sought with pride”, he says, “what only humility could make me find. Fool that I was, I left the nest, imagining myself able to fly; and I fell to the ground.”
For nine years he had his own schools of rhetoric and grammar in Tagaste and Carthage, while his devoted mother, Saint Monica, spurred on by the assurance of a holy bishop that “the son of so many tears could not perish”, never ceased by prayer and gentle persuasion to try to bring him to conversion and reform.
In 383 he departed to Rome, secretly, lest his mother should prevent him from going to the big city. He opened a school or rhetoric, and then was appointed by the government as a teacher in Milan, where his mother, and his friend Alipius joined him. Saint Monica’s only ambition was to convert her son to Christianity.
His Repentance
In Milan, Saint Augustine came under the influence of Saint Ambrose the bishop; he began to go to his sermons, not so much with an expectation of profiting by them as to gratify his curiosity and to enjoy the eloquence. He found that the discourses more learned than the heresies he adopted and began to read the New Testament especially Saint Paul’s writings. In the same time, the mother of Adeodatus his son left back to Africa leaving the child behind.
Saint Augustine’s spiritual, moral and intellectual struggle went on; he was convinced of the truth of Christianity, but his will was weaker than the worldly temptations, and delayed his return to Christ for many months. “Soon, in a little while, I shall make up my mind, but not right now” he kept telling himself. In his half desires of conversion he was accustomed to beg of God the grace of chastity, but was at the same time in some measure afraid of being heard too soon. He realized that his problem was
a moral one. The Divine truth for which he was seeking would never be his unless he first overcame his weakness.
Soon after, Pontitian, an African, came to visit Saint Augustine and his friend Alipius; he told them about two men who had been suddenly turned to the service of God by reading about the life of Saint Anthony. His words had a powerful influence on the mind of Saint Augustine. He was ashamed his will has been so weak and said to Alipius:
“What are we doing to let the unlearned seize Heaven by force, whilst we with all our knowledge remain behind, cowardly and heartless, wallowing in our sins? Because they have outstripped us and gone before, are we ashamed to follow them? Is it not more shameful not even to follow them?”
He rushed to the garden, greatly upset; tears filling his eyes, he threw himself on the grass under a fig tree and reproached himself bitterly crying out:
“And Thou, O Lord, how long? How long? Is it to be tomorrow and tomorrow? Why not now? Why not this very hour put an end to shame?”
As he spoke these words he heard a child’s voice singing “Tolle lege! Tolle lege!” (Take up and read! Take up and read!). He could not remember any childhood game he played with any such words. He remembered that Saint Anthony was converted from the world by hearing a single verse. He took up Saint Paul’s epistles and read the first chapter that met his eyes: “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, fulfil the lusts thereof.” )Romans 13:13-14( When he told Alipius what he had experienced, Alipius took the book and read, he found the next words to be: “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye” and applied them to himself and joined his friend in his resolution.
This high point in the conversion of Saint Augustine took place in the September of 386, when he was 32 years old. He, his son Adeodatus and Alipius were baptized by Saint Ambrose at Easter the following year in the presence of saint Monica. She knew that her prayers were answered and died shortly after. Saint Augustine prayed:
“Too late, have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, too late have I loved Thee! Thou wast with me, and I was not with Thee; I was abroad, running after those beauties which Thou hast made; those things which could have no being but in Thee kept me away from Thee. Thou hast called, Thou hast cried out, and hast pierced my deafness. Thou hast enlightened, Thou hast shone forth, and my blindness is dispelled. I have tasted Thee, and am hungry of Thee. Thou hast touched me, and I am afire with the desire of thy embraces.”
A Priest and then a Bishop
From that time, Saint Augustine went back to Tagaste, his native city, and lived for three years with his friends and shared a life of prayer, study and poverty. All things were in common and were distributed according to everyone’s needs. He had no idea of becoming a priest, but in 391 he was ordained as an assistant to Valerius, Bishop of Hippo, and he had to move to that city.
He established a sort of monastery in his house, living with Saint Alipius, Saint Evodius, Saint Possidius and others according to the rule of the holy Apostles. Valerius who had an impediment in speaking appointed Saint Augustine to preach in his own presence and he has not interrupted the course of his sermons until his death (nearly 400 sermons). He vigorously opposed the Manicheans and the Donatists. In 395 he was consecrated bishop as co-adjutor to Valerius, and succeeded him in the see of Hippo on his death soon after. He established regular and common life in his episcopal residence, and required all the priests, deacons, and subdeacons to renounce property following the regular mode of life recognized by the early Church as instituted by the Apostles.
He founded a community of religious women and on the death of his sister, the first “abbess”, he addressed a letter on the general ascetic principles of the religious life; this letter is known as the “Rule of Saint Augustine”.
He employed the revenues of his church in relieving the poor and in redeeming the captives. Like another Moses or Saint Paul, he said to his people: “I do not want to be saved without you. What shall I desire? What shall I say? Why am I a bishop? Why am I in the world? Only to live in Jesus Christ: but to live in Him with you. This is my passion, my honor, my glory, my joy and my riches.”
Saint Augustine calmly resigned his spirit into the hands of God on August 28, 430, after having lived 76 years and spent almost 40 of them in the labors of the ministry. Among his greatest work is the 15 volume “On the City of God” which took him 30 years to write, and his “Confessions”.
May the prayers and supplications of the great Saint Augustine be with us. Amen.
Expression of Interest Enrolment Form: https://forms.gle/ wXJj3fKVEksWzTJu5 (or scan the QR above)
Construction of New Buildings started Thursday 28th April
The new Building is expected to be ready early November 2023. Church services are continuing as normal as in the Timetable inside the Bulletin. You can donate monthly contribution using Direct Debit forms available in the church or downloaded from church website. Cost of building works is around $13,000,000. Your support and donations will be blessing and very appreciated.
