A Murderer and A Martyr

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Keraza Magazine issue 41-42, October 20, 2017

We were all deeply touched with the awful incident of the martyrdom of the heguman Fr. Samaan Shehata. We were touched the most with the cruelty of the scene which God allowed to be recorded. Of course, we are sure that Fr. Samaan entered into the joy of his Lord crowned with victory, and that God will ask for the blood of this martyr not only from the hands of his murderer but also from the hands of his mentors who planted in his mind and heart the concepts of violence and hatred. Murderers betray the Lord making Him an enemy of them because they are blood shedders and terrorists who destroy others' lives. There is no place in heavens for murderers. These murderers do not give testimonies about God because the true martyr is the one who dies for the sake of his faith, not the one who kills others because of their faith. Those who shed the blood of a Christian person do this because they exert terrorism against Christians. They are scared of the Christians' cross and their Christ. They thus lose their mind and become like wild beasts and ravenous wolves when they see the sign of the cross because the devil dwelling in them cannot withstand the sign of the cross. They are scared of them because they did not realize yet the power of Christian love.

Added to this, we cannot miss the chance to learn a personal lesson from this incident that can serve the salvation of our souls and our spiritual development. If we contemplate the situation of a murderer, we find in him cruelty, awfulness, insistence, torture, victimization, hatred, and enmity. Our anger is therefore greatly aroused against that man like what happened before with David, and we shout with him saying, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die" (2 Samuel 12:5). Nevertheless, behold the voice of Nathan coming to us declaring to each one, "You are the man!" (2 Samuel 12:7).

The Holy Bible states very clearly that, "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:15). Jesus Christ himself says, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire" (Matthew 5:21-22). Every cruel murder scene must then remind us that we too are murderers!! The weapons we use to kill our brethren are the sword of hatred, the knife of gossip, the cleaver of condemnation, the fiery bullets of anger, the spur of offence, the kiss of deception and lies, the coldness of neglect and ignoring, the poison of strife, the scourge of jealousy and doubt, the arrow of envy, and the guillotine of unforgiveness. Behold how the love of many grew cold in these hard times!! Behold how the hatred abounds among couples with each other, children with their parents, siblings with each other, servants with each other!! Are not the thousands of cases filed in courts a strong proof of that? Are not the thousands of hours spent by priests and servants to solve familial and ministerial conflicts a strong proof of that? Do not the stubbornly shut down hearts prove that?!!

Let us all get up and repent before time passes and comes a day when we will be considered among murderers who are worthy of hell fire!!

As for the soul of the faithful God's servant, Father Samaan Shehata, we supplicate the Lord to repose her in the paradise of heaven with the ranks of martyrs and righteous people, to comfort his family and all his congregation, and to awaken the conscience of all Egyptians and those who are in authority to put an end to these barbaric cruel terroristic accidents.

Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States