The Commemoration of the Ecumenical Council in Constantinople.

8th February - 1s Amsher

On this day of the year 381 A.D., one hundred and fifty fathers assembled upon the order of Emperor Theodosius the Great, in the city of Constantinople. They assembled to judge Macedonius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Sabellius and Apollinaris, for their blasphemy against God the Word and the Holy Spirit. When this blasphemy became widespread, the fathers of the church were concerned about the peace of the church, and made these heresies known to Emperor Theodosius. He ordered that a council be assembled, and invited Abba Timothy, 22nd Pope of Alexandria; Abba Damasus, Pope of Rome; Abba Petros (Peter), Patriarch of Antioch; and Abba Cyril (Kyrillos), Patriarch of Jerusalem. They came to the council with their bishops, except the Pope of Rome, who delegated others to attend on his behalf. When the holy council convened in Constantinople, they called upon Macedonius. Abba Timothy, Pope of Alexandria, who was presiding over the council, asked him, “What is your belief?” Macedonius answered that the Holy Spirit was created like any other creature. Abba Timothy said, “The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. If we say as you claim that the Spirit of God is created, we are saying, in essence, that His Life is created, and therefore, He is ‘lifeless’ without it.” He advised Macedonius to renounce his erroneous belief. When he refused, Macedonius was excommunicated, anathematized and striped of his rank. Then Abba Timothy asked Sabellius, “And you, what is your belief?” He answered, “The Trinity is one being and one person.” Abba Timothy said, “If the Trinity is as you claim, then the mentioning of the Trinity is groundless, and your baptism is futile, because it is in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Trinity would have suffered pain and died, and the saying of the gospel would be invalid, when it is said that the Son was in the Jordan River, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the likeness of a dove, and the Father called upon Him from heaven.” Then Abba Timothy advised him to renounce his belief. When Sabellius did not accept, Abba Timothy excommunicated, anathematized and striped him of his rank. Then Abba Timothy asked Apollinaris, “And you, what is your belief?” Apollinaris said, “The Incarnation of the Son was by His union with the human flesh without the rational being, for His divinity replaced the soul and the mind of the human being.” Abba Timothy replied, “God the Word united with our nature to save us, therefore if He only united with the animal body, then He did not save mankind but the animals. Humans will rise on the day of Resurrection with the rational and speaking soul with which there will be the communication and the judgement, and with it they will be granted the blessing or the condemnation. Accordingly, the Incarnation would be in vain. If that was the case, why did He call Himself a man if He did not unite with the rational speaking soul?” Then Abba Timothy advised him to turn away from his erroneous belief, but he also refused. He excommunicated Apollinaris as he did the other two friends. Ultimately, the council excommunicated these three and all those who agreed with them. Then they completed the creed that was established by the fathers at the Council of Nicea until its saying, “Of Whose Kingdom shall be no end.” The fathers of the Council of Constantinople added, “Truly we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, Giver of Life... to the end.” They put down many canons that are still in the hands of the believers today. The prayers of these holy fathers be with us. Amen. The Departure of the Great Saint Anba Paul, the First Hermit. 9th February – 2nd Amsheer

On this day of the year 341 A.D., the great saint Anba Paul, the first hermit, departed. This Saint was from the city of Alexandria and had a brother whose name was Peter.

After the departure of their father, they divided the inheritance between them. When his brother took the greater share, Paul’s feelings were hurt, by his brother’s action. He said to his brother, “Why don’t you give me my rightful share of the inheritance of my father?” Peter responded, “You are a young man, and I am afraid that you might squander it. As for me, I will keep it for you.” When they did not agree with each other, they went to the governor to judge between them. On their way, they saw a funeral procession. Paul asked one of the mourners about the deceased man. Paul was told that he was one of the noble and rich people of the city, and that he left his riches and his wealth behind, and that they were taking him to bury him with only his garment. St. Paul sighed in his heart and said to himself, “What do I have to do then with all the money of this temporal world which I shall leave naked?” He looked to his brother and said to him, “My brother, let us return, for I shall not ask you for anything, not even for what is mine.”

On their way back, Paul left his brother and went on his way until he came out of the city. Paul found a grave where he stayed for three days praying to the Lord Christ to guide him to what pleases Him. As for his brother, he searched for Paul diligently and when he did not find him, he was very sorry for what he had done. God sent St. Paul an angel who took him out of this place and walked with him until they reached the eastern inner wilderness. He stayed there for 70 years, during which he saw no one. He put on a tunic made of palm tree fibre. The Lord sent him a raven every day with a half loaf of bread.

When the Lord wanted to reveal the holiness of St. Paul and his righteousness, He sent His angel to St. Antony (Antonius) the Great, who thought that he was the first to dwell in the wilderness. The angel told St. Antony, “There is a man who lives in the inner wilderness; the world is not worthy of his footsteps. By his prayers, the Lord brings rain and dew to fall on the earth and bring the flood of the Nile in its due season.”

When St. Antony heard this, he rose right away and went to the inner wilderness, a distance of one day’s walk. God guided him to the cave of St. Paul. He entered, and they bowed to each other, and sat down talking about the greatness of the Lord. In the evening, the raven came bringing a whole loaf of bread. St. Paul said to St. Antony, “Now, I know that you are one of the children of God. For 70 years, the Lord has been sending to me every day, half a loaf of bread, but today, the Lord is sending your food also. Now, go and bring me back in a hurry the tunic that Emperor Constantine had given to Pope Athanasius.” St. Antony went to St. Athanasius, and brought the tunic from him and returned to St. Paul. On his way back, he saw the soul of

St. Paul carried by the angels up to heaven. When he arrived to the cave, he found that St. Paul had departed from this world. He kissed him, weeping, and clothed him in the tunic that he asked for, and he took his fibre tunic.

When St. Antony wanted to bury St. Paul, he wondered how could he dig the grave? Two lions entered the cave, bowed their heads before the body of St. Paul, and shook their heads as if they were asking St. Anthony what to do. St. Antony knew that they were sent from God. He marked the length and width of the body on the ground, and they dug the grave with their claws, according to St. Antony’s directions. St. Anthony then buried the holy body and went back to Pope Athanasius and told him what had happened. St. Athanasius sent men to bring St. Paul’s body to him. They spent several days searching in the mountains, but they could not find the place of his grave. St. Paul appeared to the Pope in a vision and told him that the Lord would not allow the revelation of the location of his body. He asked the Pope not to trouble the men, but to have them brought back. Pope Athanasius used to put the palm fibre tunic on three times a year during the Divine Liturgy. One time, he wanted to let the people know about the holiness of the owner of that tunic. He put it over a dead man, and the dead man rose up instantly. The news of this miracle spread all around the land of Egypt. His prayers be with us all. Amen.

The Martyrdom of St. Agabus, One of the Seventy Disciples. 11th February – 4th Amshir

On this day, St. Agabus, one of the seventy disciples, was martyred. The seventy disciples were chosen by the Lord to go before Him to preach the gospel. St. Agabus was with the twelve disciples in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. He received the gift of prophecy, as the Acts of the Apostles tells us, “And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

)Acts 21:10-11( This prophecy was fulfilled. )Acts 21:17-36(. He also prophesied about a famine on all the earth, and this was fulfilled during the time of Claudius Caesar, the Roman Emperor.

(Acts 11:27-28)

He preached the gospel together with the holy apostles. He went to many countries, teaching and converting many of the Jews and the Greeks to the knowledge of the Lord Christ. He sanctified them by the life-giving baptism. This moved the Jews of Jerusalem to arrest him, and they tortured him by beating him severely, and putting a rope around his neck, and they dragged him outside the city. They stoned him there until he gave up his pure spirit. At this moment, a light came down from heaven. Everyone saw it as a continuous column between his body and heaven. A Jewish woman saw it and said, “Truly this man was righteous.” She shouted in a loud voice, “I am a Christian and I believe in the God of this saint.” They stoned her also and she died and was buried with him in one tomb. Their prayers be with us and glory be to our God forever. Amen.

Jonah’s Fasting

Monday 6th - Wedesday 8th February

Jonah’s Fasting start on Monday 6th February - Wedesday

8th February. It is a restrict Fasting to be observed as Wedesdays and Fridays. St Mary’s Church services during this Fasting as follows:

Monday 10am - 12noon

Tuesday 5 - 7am (early morning)

Wednesday 9 - 11am

Thursday (Feast of Jonah)

6 - 8am

May the Lord grant us the blessings of this wonderful time of Jonag’s Fasting. Remember the Holy Lent will start on Monday 20th

February. Feast of Holy Resurrection: Sunday 16th April.

Reflections in the Gospel of Liturgy

The fourth Sunday of the blessed month of Toba

John 9: 1 - 38

“And he said, I believe Lord and he worshiped Him.”

John 9:37

Perhaps physical blindness is a very painful thing. It is undoubtedly a tragedy that a blind man is born. He has not seen anything in his life. But how painful is spiritual blindness. Many of the blind people in the body The Lord will give them an inner insight that makes them better than those with full sight. The history of the Church tells us about St. Dydmus the Blind, who lived in the time of St. Athanasius the Apostolic. He was blinded when he was four years old. But God gave him an inner insight and enlightened mind and a heart full of faith. He memorized by heart all The books of the Bible, explained and interpreted them with great precision and became the director of the famous Alexandria theological school and defended gloriously the orthodox faith, and he was the first to invent the method of writing by wood engraving to help the blind to read and write and thus he preceded Braille by more than 1500 years. He deserved to be called really the open-eyed blind ..

The Bible also tells us about Ahijah the prophet (1 Kings 14) who could not see in his old age, but God did not deny him enlightenment. The son of Jeroboam, the evil king of Israel, who took over ten tribes from Israel from the hand of Rehoboam son of Solomon who has introduced the worship of idols to Israel, fell sick. Jeroboam sent his wife disguised to the Ahijah the Prophet to ask him about what will become of the boy. The Lord gave the Prophet internal insight to distinguish the woman and say the appropriate response Once she entered the house and he felt her the footsteps of her feet, he said to Why you woman of Jeroboam pretends to be another person and I have been sent to you with bad news.

The Bible also tells us about Jacob in his old age that his eyes were heavy, and he could not see. When Joseph brought his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim, to bless them, he placed Manasseh on the right, because he was the firstborn and Ephraim on the left. But Jacob put his hands in the shape of a cross and placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head and the left on the head of Manasseh. Joseph thought that he made a mistake and his father did not realize who is the eldest because of his old age. But Jacob did this knowingly and said to him, “I know my son I knew, but his younger brother will be truly greater than him and his descendants shall be multitudes of nations”.

(Genesis

48)

Today, we also meet with a blind man who loves the light. When he saw, his eyes were opened and his heart was opened, he became more visionary. He saw The Lord Jesus and knew Him and defended Him. Even this man who is new in the faith accepted be expelled from the synagogue for his knowledge and his testimony to the Lord Jesus. But around him there were sighting blind. They see with their eyes, but their hearts do not see or feel. They fear the light and were afraid to witness for the light like the parents of the blind. And some of those who do not love the light and loves darkness like the Pharisees.

+ His parents said this, because they were afraid of the Jews.

No doubt the parents knew their son. They should have been the first to rejoice that their son who was born blind had a vision. But they feared the Pharisees who had ruled that those who confess that Jesus Who healed him is the Christ to be cast out of the Synagogue. Really how hard for a person to fear witnessing for the light.

And so Mordecai’s answer to Esther the queen (Esther 4) when she feared that she would come in to speak to the king because the king had ordered that no one can enter to him without calling him within thirty days, except the one whom the king holds out the golden sceptre, as Haman has ordered to kill all the Jews, saying, do not think to yourself that you are going to escape in the king’s house more than all the Jews, because if you remain silent in this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place and you and your father’s house will perish (Esther 4) .. and Esther was encouraged, and she fasted with her maids for and all the Jewish people for three days. Later she entered to the king and found grace in his eyes and extended to her the golden scepter.

Peter was afraid of a maiden slave and despite the warnings of the Lord, he denied Christ three times. But he repented and wept bitterly. God gave him the grace to return to his apostolic rank and shepherd the sheep of Christ. The tradition of the Church says that when Peter went to Rome and Nero ordered to arrest him and submit him for martyrdom, he thought to escape. And while in this thought he went outside to runaway of the gates of Rome. There he met the Lord Jesus carrying the Cross and he asked why do you Lord carry the Cross again? And he said to him, I am going to be crucified Instead of you Peter. Peter came back to himself and went to his martyrdom in a courageous way and asked to be crucified upside down as he did not deserve to be crucified like his master. There are many who are afraid to witness the light. Fear is itself a kind of human weakness. But continuing in fear is unjustified. God gives his children speech and wisdom that none of all their adversaries can resist (Like 21: 15). Perhaps we will give an excuse to those who fear pain and death. But what an excuse we give to those who are afraid to testify to the Lord in their behaviour or clothing or lifestyle. They fear that people accuse them of being backward. They fear for their interests and their future. They are afraid of people and the what people say about them. But they are not afraid of God.

What do you say about the one opening his home to foreign friends and trying hard to imitate their style and get dressed like them and perhaps makes his wife and his children and daughters get dressed like them practicing their inappropriate social habits and share inappropriate habits of drinking alcoholic drinks. And his excuse in all this that his interests require him to compliment them. What type of interests of these that make man forget his principles and forget his Christ and lead his family and children to be perished? Why are we afraid to show our good reality and origin as Christians? Why are we afraid to show our purity and our love to chastity and virtue? Why all this fear and hesitation which result that we give up the Christian virtues and abandon our reservation and our adherence to our beautiful traditions. Did you know, my beloved, that these foreigners when they go to our country and see how the Copts adhere to virtue and their honest traditions want to become like them and they show them as a good example to follow. My beloved show the light in you and do not hide and do not extinguish it. And make sure that God will compensate you for anything you lose Many times. God will give you dignity and grace in the eyes of everyone becoming a blessing for everyone around you.

+ You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us? ..

The Lord Jesus said about the blind man and his parents, that he did not sin or his parents but to show the works of God in him. But the Pharisees thought they knew better than all even better than God himself and they reject even the enlightened opinion, which was told to them by blind man whose eyes were opened and said to him in sins you were completely born, and you teach us.

This is how Pharaoh was a cruel hearted man. He loved darkness more than the light despite everything he saw and despite the clear signs that cannot be doubted and despite the opinion of his advisers. Every time he hardens his heart and refuses to release the people. In the end he and all his army perished with him. So was King Saul. He is stubborn. He does not want to see the light. He falls into David’s hand twice, and David pardons him. But he is still in a cruel state. An evil spirit overtakes him, but he does not want to repent, so that the Lord says, I regretted that I made Saul king. The people of Sodom were very wicked, cruel in hearts, despite the presence of Lot among them. Without a doubt, Lot through his good works was a warning to them. Even Lot’s sons in law were cruel in heart. Despite the warning of the angels, they continued to linger. They thought that he is joking and remained in their stubbornness until they perished in the evil city and only Lot and his daughters survived.

The harshness of the children of Israel and their inner intransigence have reached the point where the Lord says about them: “The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know my people do not consider” (Isaiah 1)

The hardness of the heart blinds the internal insight. Intransigence and persistent stubbornness kill the spiritual sensitivity of the human being and make him like an animal does not feel or sense anything.

There are many things that lead to this blindness, such as hatred and anger. When a person hates a person he does not see any virtue or any goodness, but everything in this person becomes dark. And all his advantages turn into defects. All defects become crimes. Cain’s hatred and envied his brother. He can no longer see anything good. He did not hear God’s warnings to him. He rushed in the way of revenge and the killing of his brother.

Saul hated David. He no longer senses anything and forgot himself and forgot his kingdom. He Just to kill David. Beware of my beloved that you hate any person. Do not make for anger a place in your heart. Do not make hatred blind your eyes. Learn to forgive. Learn to love and be kind and longsuffering for the others. And there is also envy and jealousy. Rachel was so envious of her sister that she thought that she is in a war with her sister. And so, too, Leah thought she was wrestling with her sister in order to win Jacob to her side.

Joseph’s brothers were jealous of their brother. And this envy made them think all evil towards him and did not consider that he is their brother or the love of their father for him. And reached the severity of their heart to sell him a slave those merchants traveling to Egypt. It is out of jealous blind copying the others. How many motivated by jealousy within themselves rush to copy the others without thinking and without any account of the consequences and dangers. Absolutely without wisdom and proper thinking.

How many successful projects fail because envy and jealousy have spread among the entrepreneurs? How many homes have been ruined by the terrible conflict between members of this family to gain the interest of a particular group or achieving a purpose?

Beloved, who walks blind behind your anger or hatred or jealousy or behind your desires, open your eyes where you are going that you are heading quickly to the abyss of destruction. Open your eyes and see the light and stop you rushing towards darkness. Open your heart to the true faith in the Lord Jesus and tell him, “Lord, I believe”.

Holy Baptism

Baby Christian son of Daniel & Suzi

Tawadros

Sunday 29th January 2023

St Mary’s Church

+ Fouirtieth Day Commemoration:

Sunday 5th February at St Mary’s Church duing the second Liturgy (7:34 - 9:30am)

Fourtieth Day Commemoration for Late Mrs Fayka Zaki Attalla sister of Adel Attala and mother of Mary wife of Samuel Zakhary. John Faheem and his wife Lori, Nagwa wife of Fahmy Bedros and Nagy Morcos and wife Helena. She is grand mother of Amir, Tamer, Rosemary, Rebecca, John, Mary, Mark,Marina and Mina, Patrick, David, Demiana and Noah. She also a great grand mother of Raphael, Elysa, Liam, Eliyana and Fiona May the Lord repose her soul and comfort all family members.

Developments & Cash Position New St Mary›s Church New Buildings

Work is progressing at the Church new buildings.

First floor of Car Parking is finished. Work is still progressing for the upper floor. It is expected to start work on the ground floor above the car park during February. Most Building works are expected to finish during June 2023.

Final fittings for the building are expected during August - September 2023. Here is a brief about the Cash position of the project:

Total cost of the project is estimated 13 millions Dollars.

Architect and consultants paid so far $1,100,000

Amounts paid to the builders by 31st January $3,800,000

Amounts expected to be charged by the builders $9,000,000

Bank Loan approved: $8,800,000

Cost for furbishing the new church $300,000.

Cash available for the project $1,500,000

Any donations will reduce the amount withdrawn from the loan.

Thanks for all those who contribute and support the project. Committing periodical payments is very helpful for meeting the continuing cost.

Please contact the Church treasurer if you wish to contribute regularly