H.G. Bishop Youssef

Here’s a very creative tribute to our Church:

It was very sad to hear about the massacre that took place in Egypt on the Nativity Eve in Nag Hammady.  No excuses nor justifications are acceptable.  It is merely an inhuman act that deserves severe punishment. We cry to the Lord to defend His church and to protect His people from this cruelty that has been going on for a long time now in Egypt.  We also lift our voices to all those in charge in Egypt to take the serious steps to bring those criminals to justice and stop these sad events from occurring again in Egypt.

Also we will dedicate Sunday, January 17, 2010 to be a day for prayers asking the Lord to:

• Bestow His peace on the world in general and Egypt in particular.
  Repose the souls of all the martyrs of terrorism and violence especially those who were martyred on Nativity Eve in Nag Hammady.
• Comfort their families and fill their hearts with the consolation of the Holy Spirit.
• Accept our repentance and forgive us our sins.
• Have mercy on the whole world especially Egypt and to take away His wrath from us.

We ask all our brethren, the Christians from all the churches, to participate with us in the prayers of this day trusting the words of the Lord that if two or three gathered in His name, He will be among them and grant them their request.

The mission of the church today and throughout the centuries of its existence has been to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ to the world. Wise men and women still seek Him, shepherds still adore Him, and Christians around the world celebrate the day upon which He was born unto the virgin St. Mary.

As we light candles on the Feast of the Glorious Nativity let us remember they are symbolizations of the light of our Lord Jesus Christ, the light of those candles which symbolizes newness, goodness, and from the inception of His Holy Birth lead the way to our salvation.

Suppose you read slowly—about the same speed as you speak—200 words a minute.  If you read 15 minutes a day for one year (just 15 minutes, say just before dinner, or just before bed), you will read 5,475 minutes in the year. Multiply that by 200 words a minute and you get 1,095,000 words that you would read in a year.  Now the average book has about 360 words per page.  So you would have read 360 words into 1,095,000, or 3,041 pages in one year. That’s 13 books of average to large size, reading one every 21 days.  All that in 15 minutes a day.  

Or you could read the entire Holy Bible, all 774,746 words, in about 8.5 months.  We all have that much time available.

(partially adapted from J. Piper)

Congratulations to Father Tadros Hirmina and St. Peter, the Seal of the Martyrs Coptic Orthodox Church of West Palm Beach, Florida.  May the Lord Jesus Christ richly bless Father Tadros’s service and ministry.

His Grace will celebrate the Nativity Feast service at St. Abanoub Coptic Orthodox Church in Dallas, Texas. If you want to view the liturgy it will be live streaming at:

http://www.stabanoub-dallas.org/

Happy Feast of the Nativity!

After Fr. Mark Gruber had finished a Roman Liturgy in St. Macarius Monastery (a Coptic Orthodox Monastery in Egypt), that took an hour and half or an hour and forty-five minutes, one of the brothers exclaimed to him how he was just beginning to enter into the spirit of the Mass when it was over! “Such a short Mass,” he said, “that you celebrate in the West.”  

In his book “Journey Back to Eden,” Fr. Gruber reflected on this incident and said:

 What an extraordinary idea! The longest possible Mass I could have said was for him a short Mass. Indeed, how completely different is this mentality from that of the West! There, people are chained to the fetters of the watch around their wrist and are constantly consulting it, even during the most sacred moments of the Mass. By constantly checking this “ball and chain” around their wrist, they are deprived of the freedom to enjoy the blessings of worship, and are confined to the slavery of work and routine and schedules.

On Sunday, January 3, 2010, I will ordain a new priest for St. Peter, the Seal of the Martyrs Coptic Orthodox Church, West Palm Beach, FL. The ordination will be blessed by the presence of H.G. Bishop Serapion of Los Angeles and H.G. Bishop Maximous, the general bishop.  Please join us there for this celebration, and afterward send me your favorite picture.  I will select a few and post them here for those who were not able to be there.

Also, I’m told that you can watch the ordination in real time (assuming you cannot attend) by going to this site:

www.livestream.com/samehakladyous.

If you didn’t have the chance to sign up for the Towards Canaan’s Land - 2010 convention before the December 25th deadline, then now is your chance to do so.  Regular registration has been extended to Sunday, January 3rd for you to register.  For any questions please contact the TCL committee at tcl.committee@gmail.com.

I hope you decide to join H.G. Bishop Angaelos from the United Kingdom, Fr. Gregory Bishay, and me at this convention, as we all look forward to starting 2010 righteously.

The Youth for Christ Award is an annual scholarship assistance and essay contest for High School Youth. We all know that living a faithful Orthodox life in mainstream culture is a tough task–temptations are everywhere and sometimes the values we see in peers, the media, or society at large do not match the values held by our families, the Coptic church, or the Holy Bible. How do we practice Orthodoxy in a tumultuous culture? How do we grow up in this ever-changing world and stay true to God, honoring His gifts and following His path?

We invite young people from the Southern US Coptic Diocese this year to write an original essay on the topic “The Practical Coptic Orthodox Youth Regardless of a Tumultuous Culture“. 

This essay contest is for you; so please let me know what you think about this idea.  I look forward to hearing from you.