There is a man in Egypt whose name is unknown to the ruling class, and who is yet the most talked of and the most deeply venerated man in all the valley of the Nile. Although he is a Christian bishop he is just as much a saint of heaven to the Moslem as to …
If, then, it is by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ that death is trampled underfoot, it is clear that it is Christ Himself and none other Who is the Archvictor over death and has robbed it of its power. Death used to be strong and terrible, but now, since the …
Most Christians intuitively understand a connection between repentance and resurrection. Many appreciate how repentance and forgiveness can lead to new life. What is harder to discern, however, is the equation between repentance and resurrection that repentance is resurrection unleashed. Repentance not only prepares us for, but is itself the beginning of the "Passover" into life …
According to Besa (wissa), Shenoute's relationship with God began early in life and was the reason he joined the White Monastery. Besa portrays the seven-year-old Shenoute as a boy with mystical powers that led his parents to place him in the care of his uncle Pcol. It is noteworthy that Besa, as narrator, did not …
In 407, a tribe of barbarian raiders known as Mazices came sweeping off the Libyan desert and devastated one of the first great centers of Christian monasticism, the settlement of Scetis. Scetis was located in a remote desert valley west of the Nile and had been founded around 330 by one of the pioneers of …
During my stay near the lakes, I visited two of the Egypt Coptic convents, that are called the Syrian, and that of St. George; where I could observe no traces of any European traveller, but Baron Thunis, whom the Empress of Russia, had sent, some years before, to negotiate a defection on the part of …
Tradition has bestowed on Antony and Pachomius the status of founders of early Egyptian monasticism. They serve as the movement's primary icons; Antony represents the anchoritic model of the ascetic life, Pachomius its coenobitic form. Antony's earlier date has fashioned him as the individual representative of monastic origins. His discovery of the "ascetic" desert, marks …
Truly, when I consider our fathers of old, I feel like one who has never known God. Is it not a marvel that our fathers the Patriarchs Abraham, our father Isaac, our father Jacob married wives, raised children, took wives for their sons, gave their daughters to husbands, made marriage feasts for them, made great …
As was pointed out at the beginning of this chapter, the suffering required for spiritual martyrdom may arise from exterior agents, or from natural evils, or from the evil spirits. It may also arise from the practice of one of the evangelical counsels, such as the practice of virginity. The high respect entertained for the …
My task begins favorably, that since today is the birthday of a virgin, I have to speak of virgins, and the treatise has its beginning from this discourse. It is the birthday of a martyr, let us offer the victim. It is the birthday of St. Agnes, let men admire, let children take courage, let …
