The Cross in Christianity

By Fr. Bishoy Kamel
 
The Cross has weak appearance to the uninformed, but to the Christian, it is a weapon to overcome our worldly desires, and threats. With it we defeat Satan. “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1Cor 1:18). Our teacher St Paul tells us: “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1Cor 1:25)

Let us look at different ways in which the Cross has revealed its power and wisdom:

1. If the Christian faith had spread by the power of weapons or human wisdom it would have been a weak man-made faith. But because it spread with the greatest weapon that is hated by the Jews and Greeks; the weapon that has the appearance of foolishness and weakness, that is the cross.
   
Therefore our faith became Godly and divine, through the power of our Lord and not of humans, as St Paul said: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” (1Cor 2:1-4)
 

2. The Cross was the strength of the Apostles while they preached:
 

When Jesus sent the disciples to preach He said to them: “Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack (food), nor sandals.” (Luke 10:3-4). This is how Christianity spread. Christ asked them not to worry about food, or money or weapons for defence, because the power of the Cross accompanied them and that is more powerful than any worldly weapon.
   
With the Cross they exorcised demons. With the Cross, they turned those who persecuted Christianity, to servants of God and preachers. With the Cross, they loved their enemies, prayed for them and blessed them.
   
Compare that with the amount of money and resources now spent in the Western world to spread different religions, printing books, radio broadcasts, university courses to learn the art of preaching. This reflection helps us realize the divine power that accompanied the disciples during their missionary trips.
 

3. The Cross is a condition to follow Christ:
 

The Lord said: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me”. (Luke 9:23). Whoever desires to be Christian, he must endure pain and sacrifice much for the sake of Christ. But he who does not, will receive many earthly delights and rewards.
   
Therefore Christians are Cross-bearers. They chose the narrow way (the only way) to enter the Kingdom of heaven to receive Heavenly rewards. If the Cross was not powerful, then how can people leave their worldly pleasures, desires and ranks and follow Christ?
 

4. The Disciples of Christ were Jews:
 

Most of the Disciples of Christ, as well as St Paul the Apostle, were Jews like Christ. It is well known that Jews reject the Cross. So what attracted the disciples to the Cross? If the Cross was not powerful, then how did the disciples believe in it? How did they preach about it to the Jews and Greeks? “But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.” (1Cor 1:23)
 

The apostles preached about the Holy Cross, so they became weak and ignorant in the eyes of people. They had no weapons, they were Jews, they faced so many threats and persecutions. They carried the cross in their lives. They were all martyred, except for St John. Their pure blood became the seed of faith for the rest of the world, through the power of the Lord of the Cross.
 

5. The Church is always in a state of joy:
 

Although the Christian is always carrying his cross, he is always in a state of internal joy that is indescribable. St Paul used to sing and praise God in jail after he was beaten.
 

We cannot forget the story about the governor who asked the Christians to carry Crosses that weighed 5 tones (it was so heavy to the point of bruising, therefore Christians were labeled ‘blue bones’). At night, this governor pried into a Christian house through a hole in the door. He found this specific Christian doing chores whilst carrying the 5 tone Cross on his back. The governor asked him as to why he does that inside his house, where that was not required. The Christian simply answered: “the power and joy that this Cross gives me fills my life, so I do not want it to stop, that is why I continuously carry it.”
 

6. St. John Chrysostom said:
 

The Cross is a powerful weapon

The Cross is a weapon for preaching

The Cross is the basis for following Christ

The church without a Cross, is like a bride without a groom

If you are asked by anyone whether you believe in the Church of the Cross and you say yes. If he then mocks you, you should cry for him, because he still does not know that Christ was crucified for his sake.

Finally …

My brethren, I offer you advice for this era and all times:

The power of our Christianity is closely and deeply tied to our faith and our relationship with the Holy Cross, and its apparition in our lives is a powerful force against the devil, materialism and worldly desires. The Cross is a power that transforms envy to love, revenge to forgiveness and flaunting to simplicity. The Cross then fills you with joy, so we pray with St Paul: “ But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)

Therefore, the Cross must be clearly seen in the Church, so our church also becomes bearing the Cross of our Lord; the Cross of service and missionary; the Cross of partaking of our Lord’s passions and glory; the Cross of loving EVERYONE and abhorring the world, a cross from which the aroma of love, blessing and peace spreads to the ends of the earth.

May the blessings of the Holy Cross be with us all.  Amen.

  

Looking For God - St. Augustine

Looking For God


Lord,
my God,
my one hope,
hear me,
that I be not unwilling, through weariness,
to seek you,
but that I may always ardently seek your face.

Give me the strength to seek,
since you have made me in order to find you,
and you have given me the hope to finding you more and more. 

My strength and my weakness are known to you:
Preserve the one
and heal the other.

My knowledge and my ignorance are known to you:
where you have opened to me,
receive me as I enter;
where you have closed to me,
open to me as I knock.

May I remember you,
understand you,
love you.

Increase these things in me
Until you have wholly renewed me.


~ St. Augustine ~

8 - YOUR SELF AND THE PRAISE OF PEOPLE - By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

8 - YOUR SELF AND THE PRAISE OF PEOPLE   
By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

The following is a collection of articles entitled, "The Release of the Spirit" written by HH Pope Shenouda III for the Sunday School Magazine from the year 1951 before starting his monastic life. 

These articles were published in the form of a book in the year 1957 including some of his poems which were published in the magazine as well..

It was his first published book and it gained the approval of many and was reprinted many times.

8 - YOUR SELF AND THE PRAISE OF PEOPLE 

I have previously talked to you about self-denial but there is still much to be said in this concern so that we may attain together the release of spirit..

Dear brother, do you want to get closer to God? Do you want to say along with the blessed St. Paul, "having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." (Phil. 1:23). Then be released First of your self, that self which you worship instead of God and which you try always to glorify and exalt before others., 

Does the world glorify you, my beloved brother? And do you accept this? How wretched you are!.. Do you not know that glory is due to God alone because He is the Creator and the author of all creation? He alone is self-existent, eternal, powerful and present everywhere... Do you not know that when you glorify yourself or when you let others glorify you, you rob one of God's attributes and ascribe it to yourself!! It is the same temptation in which your father Adam fell, for Adam was not satisfied with what God bestowed on him but aspired to exalt, himself and become like God!

Who are you, brother, that you may be glorified? Does the dust have any glory or the ashes have any honour? Or does nothingness have any respect and veneration?! Are you not a sinner like me! However, God protects you and conceals your defects from the sight of people... Does this give you, though a sinner and a weak person, the right to have any glory or dignity? Why then do you glorify yourself though you are aware of your nature and of all your sins, defects and weak points?...

Is it because people have not yet found out your lowliness or known all about your past? They have not yet discovered your weak points and your faults?.. Why do you deceive them though you know all this? Why do you deceive yourself for nothing? Do you thus mis use God's protection and concealment of your sins?..

Do you want God to reveal your thoughts, your feelings and your suppressed desires before people..!!

Besides, why do you seek a vain glory which will not accompany you after death nor avail you on the day of judgment before the Righteous Judge who judges not according to the opinion of people.. He needs not to do so because everything which is hidden is revealed to him and is apparent...

Is the praise of people still dear to you? Then know that it is false.. for sometimes they praise you out of courtesy or flattery or to encourage you or to show tactfulness.. Even if people are true and faithful, they will judge according to the outside. None can read your thoughts, know your intentions or examine your heart...

No doubt, my beloved brother, I bothered you with many thoughts; now I shall tell you a story.  Let it be the story of Nebuchadnezzar.. (Dan 4:29-33) Do you know how he ascribe himself vain glory? Do you know what was his end? I wish that you would take a lesson from this story...

Have I annoyed you? Please forgive my weakness and my harsh talk.. But is it your habit to get annoyed whenever anyone talks to you frankly without flattering you or addressing you in a respectful way as the others do? . Why?.. Dear brother, you rather have to like this style because it reveals to you the truth about you. And you are in great need to know it for this is necessary for your salvation..

Now, let us discuss the matter together... Why do you want to appear great before others?  Is this due to inferiority complex?  Do you feel that you are inferior, and in order to make up for this, you seek the praise of people by every means?  If they praise you, you become pleased, and if they attack you, you defend yourself hard in order to appear blameless before them.. Even if they take a middle way neither praising nor attacking, you do not feel glad either but you try to beg their praise by telling them about your virtues so that they may admire and praise you...

Is not this true?   If so, let us discuss the matter together further more... 

It is good for you, my brother, to feel that you are not perfect but a sinner and a weak person the meanest of all people.. But, the remedy for all this is not to add a new weakness which is the love of the praise of people but to improve yourself and make yourself perfect. 

Why are you concerned about the people's opinion concerning you or about gaining their praise? Would you not enter God's Kingdom unless people recommend you? know then that many of those who are praised by others will be cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone as the Holy Bible says, "Woe to you when all men shall speak well of you." (Luke 6:26) 

The praise of people, my friend, is temporal and passing for they have no firmness.. Once, they cried out for the Lord Jesus Christ as king and soon they changed and cried out "crucify Him, crucify Him".  The praise of people is also false because they do not know the whole truth..

Here is a question which I am interested to know your answer of: How do you feel when people praise you while you know your shameful hidden doings?  Do you forget while they are praising you those sins which if they knew about, they would dismiss you out? Or do you pretend to have forgotten? Do you consider such sins trouble's which must not appear at the time of your ecstasy created by the praise of the others? Then you are only concerned about the outside of the cup..  You only want to be like the whited sepulchres which appear beautiful outward but are stinking within! Your only concern is the earthly life not the life to come.

Be frank, my beloved brother, in revealing your real feelings to yourself. First confess before yourself, then pour yourself before your confessor weeping bitterly and moaning.

Now, see how you ought to feel when people praise you: 

1. Think first that perhaps you are a hypocrite and your outside differs from your real inside. Say to yourself frankly, 'I am a sinner and a filthy person.. When I sit before my confessor, I feel disgraced; when I count my sins I feel humiliated, low and base and I feel my meanness; and when I stand for prayer I feel undeserving to lift my eyes unto heavens... Why then do people praise me! Perhaps I am a hypocrite or a double-faced person who appears before people in a personality which is different from the real one! Or am I an actor?  Perhaps I am so...'

2. Feel that when people praise you, you receive your due on earth and lose the reward of heaven.  Thus you lose your crown for a trifling.  When people praise you, you ought to feel sorry for the crown which you are about to lose..  This holy sorrow will purify yourself and make your spirit more free..

3. When people praise you, feel that this may be embezzlement.  You rob God's glory and ascribe it to yourself..  while the Lord Jesus Christ says, ".. that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matt. 5:16)  So, if glory is ascribed to you instead of being ascribed to the heavenly Father, you are considered as if robbing Him whether you are aware or not... Therefore, when you pray saying, “For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory.." blame your self which you want to be glorified and to rival God's power, for the psalm says,

"Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,

But to Your name give glory"  (Ps. 115:1)

4. When people praise you, deny yourself and draw their attention to God.  Without hypocrisy or pretended humility tell them that you are a sinner and a weak person and that it is God who deserves praise for such matters..  Address the same words to yourself as well and be convinced so that you may not be puffed with pride again. 

5. When you find that a certain story or talk or some news would lead to your praise, try to change the course of the talk or at least do not be pleased but ascribe all honour to God contentedly.

6. When people praise you, remember the two beautiful verses which say, "I do not receive honor from men." , "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself ' (John. 5:41, 17:5)  Learn them by heart and repeat them always within you. 

7. When people praise you, remember your sins and let your conscience blame you in order that there may be a balance between your inside and the praise of people. 

Lastly, if this is what you ought to do when people praise you, then it is a matter of course that you will not seek or beg such praise. We shall return to the same point once again in another article if the Lord wills that we live.. Pray for me...

 The Release of The Spirit

 By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

Justice