How To Benefit Spiritually From Pascha Week

By - H.H. Pope Shenouda III

How do we enjoy the most spiritual week of the year?

1. Our behavior inside and outside church:

It is very noticeable that many people during Passion Week act very differently inside church than they do outside church. Inside church… black curtains, sad hymns, solemn readings, and complete concentration on the suffering of Christ. However, outside of church, we often laugh, joke around, socialize, think and talk about many worldly issues. We lose all the spiritual depth that we gained inside church. Let us concentrate our thoughts, conversations, and meditations around the events of this Holy Week and the passion of our Savior.

2. Retreat:

During our regular fasting days, we put the words of the Bible before us, "Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly". (Joel 1: 14) How much more then should we apply this commandment during Holy Week? This week should be characterized by solitude and retreat with God by staying away from idle discussions, various means of entertainment and pleasures. Reserve your time for God and to spiritual activities worthy of this week.

3. Follow the steps of Christ:

Meditate on the events of the week one by one, from Palm Sunday when Christ refused His worldly kingdom and the Jews gave up their hopes in Him, until they crucified and buried Him. On Palm Sunday, ask yourself: Is Christ King and Lord over everything in my life? Do I, like Christ, turn down worldly glory for spiritual and eternal glory? And during the "general funeral" afterwards, consider yourself attending your own funeral (because during this week the church will not hold funeral services). Also, when the church denounces Judas' betrayal with a kiss on the eve of Wednesday's Pascha, ask yourself in prayer, "How often, O Lord, have I betrayed You?" "How many times have I told You words of love in prayers, while my actions show the opposite and my heart is far away from You?"

4. Share in the fellowship of His suffering:

St. Paul said "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death". (Philippians 3:10)  Can we give ourselves an exercise this week to share in the fellowship of His suffering and be conformed to His death? Can we follow Him in His suffering and ascend with Him to the cross? Can we say with St. Paul "With Christ I have been crucified; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). Therefore, in order for Christ to live in us, we have to carry our cross and follow Him. If you have a cross in your life, don't complain about it, but rather rejoice in it and bear it for Christ’s sake. "For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him but to suffer for His sake". (Phil. 1:29)

5. Asceticism:

Whoever puts the suffering of Christ before Him will not take any pleasure in eating, drinking or pampering the body. But in order to succeed in pursuing asceticism, we must satisfy our souls with spiritual food so that it may thrive and overcome physical hunger.

6. Spiritual readings:

Spiritual readings are also food for the soul. The church has organized for us a treasure of appropriate readings for every day of Holy Week. This consists of Gospel readings, Old Testament prophecies that correspond to the events of each day, spiritual explanations and sermons of the church fathers and on Holy Saturday (Apocalypse night) the church reads the entire book of Revelation.

7. Hymns:

The hymns of Passion Week are moving and full of spiritual depth. Also, Hymns, like reading, preserve thoughts from wandering and guides them in a spiritual direction.

8. Prayer:

Since the prayers of the Agpeya are not used during Holy Week, we are to substitute personal prayers in their place. This is in addition to the intensive prayers of the church asking the Lord, who bore the sins of the world and died for us, to forgive and have mercy upon us according to His great mercy.

15 - LEARNING FROM GOD - By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

15 -  LEARNING FROM GOD         

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.

15 -  LEARNING FROM GOD    

There are some people who did not obtain any education. There are some who were taught by people and those are more ignorant.. But the true educated people are those who are taught directly by God.

When God created man, He gave him plenty of knowledge.. and whenever He needed more knowledge he was taught by God Himself.. If man has continued along this path, he would have become a scholar and would have deserved to eat of the tree of life and live for ever.. But the man accepted to take knowledge from another source than God and so he began to be ignorant.. His first lesson was from the serpent, and it resulted in eating of the tree of the knowledge and thus he became ignorant. Man seeks knowledge away from God and he only gains ignorance upon ignorance..

Man is God's temple and God's Spirit dwells in him.. the Spirit whom the Lord Jesus Christ said of, "He will guide you into all truth" (John. 16:13) and St. Paul said about Him, "For the Spirit searches all things. Yes, the deep things of God."  (1 Cor. 2:10) 

However, due to the great misery and ignorance of the man, he seeks knowledge not within himself, from the Spirit of God dwelling in him, but seeks it outside, with people, and in the books which he thinks can give him life ... ! 

Thus, there are many scholars and wise men in these generations while the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God.. St. Augustine walked along this path for a long time, seeking God outside himself, but when he found God, he sang to Him this everlasting song which says * *,

‘Too late did I love You,
O Fairness so ancient and yet so new!
Too late did I love You!
For behold, You were within,
and I without, and there did I seek You..
I unlovely, rushed heedlessly
among the things of beauty You made..
You were with me,
but I
was not with you..'
 

 When Augustine found God within him, he became a saint...

You also, my beloved brother, will lose the way if you try to seek God outside yourself .. But sit alone, consider and meditate, go deep into yourself and seek God.. You will find Him there, in your innermost depths. You will see Him face to face and feel Him as a pouring and overflowing fountain of love.. Only then you will be greatly astonished and cry out in silent joy 'I have seen God'

This was the means which our father saints resorted to. They went out of the world leaving behind its crowd, tumult and noise. They left everything and sought God within themselves and they were able to see Him through continuous

Praise and meditation.. On the other hand, the ideologists, philosophers researchers and scientists sought God in the books and with people and could only suffer ignorance, mystery and weariness.

While I mention this I feel pain for them.. and also for some fathers who left the world to the desert but began to seek God in the books or in projects and ministry. In fact God was within their hearts wishing them to leave all these occupations and sit with Him. He wanted to reveal to them secrets which no one else knew and show them what no other eyes have ever seen.,

This applies not only to the monks but to all people.. Do you know, dear brother, what is the proper way for spiritual education? Certainly it is not to teach a person something new, for he possesses everything and the Spirit abiding in him knows much more than what you want to teach him.. But a proper way is to free a person from any wrong knowledge he actually has, ie. from any knowledge he obtained from the world or from people.

A child is born with a great beautiful idea about God within his heart, mind and imagination.. Then society begins to teach this poor child and provide him with ideas about God which differ from what he knows, and present to him certain pictures of God and the saints that limit his open imagination.. Thus the idea of the child about God and holiness is replaced by customary idioms concerning good and evil as known by people. The child takes of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which Adam and Eve ate from and he becomes ignorant like them.. Here comes the role of the true spiritual guide who must not provide the child with more knowledge but must drive out any false knowledge he had obtained from customs and from the wrong concepts of people regarding religion.. When his spirit is released from all this, he would know God the true knowledge because God is not far from him but dwells in him.

* * The confessions of St. Augustine, Book X. Ch. Y-XVII-38.

 The Release of The Spirit
 By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

About Abba Moses The Black

When Abba Moses the Black Was Struggling 

With The Temptation of Fornication

Unable to stay any longer in the cell, he went and told Abba Isidore. Abba Isidore exhorted him to return to his cell. But he refused, saying, "Abba, I cannot."

Then Abba Isidore took Moses out onto the terrace and said to him, "Look towards the west." He looked and saw hordes of demons flying about and making a noise before launching an attack. Then Abba Isidore said to him, "Look towards the east." He turned and saw an innumerable multitude of holy angels shining with glory.

Abba Isidore said, "See, these are sent by the Lord to the saints to bring them help, while those in the west fight against them. Those who are with us are more in number than they are."

Then Abba Moses gave thanks to God, plucked up his courage, and returned to his cell.

Used With Permission

A few years ago on a late Spring day a soft wind was blowing through the trees in the park. I went there that day not expecting anything more than just a few moments of solitude. Oh, there were a few people there doing various things and the usual scurrying of the resident squirrels; but overall, it was fairly quiet. I was a little surprised with myself. I didn't usually go to the park alone, but I felt no apprehension going and being there alone that day. I had spent all morning at work and for some reason, I'm not certain of, I decided to take the afternoon off to go to the park.

As I sat there at the picnic table, I watched two squirrels playing on a nearby tree. I wondered what it would be like to live such a seemingly, carefree life as they. Those two squirrels appeared to belong together, a bond was there, they belonged with each other. Oh how I wished I had that sense of belonging in my life. As a child, and into adulthood, I didn't feel like I was where I was suppose to be. The parent-child bond was there for me; but, I had always felt like there was something missing in my life. I took a deep breath, slowly exhaling, and watched the two squirrels run off to play elsewhere.

I was so immersed in my thoughts and feelings that I did not hear my visitor approach my table.

"Excuse me Miss, could I sit here with you?" asked the elderly man, his voice barely above a whisper. Oddly, I wasn't surprised that he approached me and had no problem with granting his request. I smiled and motioned for him to be seated.

He sat across from me, his hands clasped in front of him, resting on the table, he had such a calm expression on his face. I saw a familiarity in that old man's eyes but I couldn't place him, and was certain I had never seen or met him before. It seems like we sat there for the longest time, each looking at the other with a slight smile and an aura of peace about us. Across from me sat a stranger, but not a stranger, or so it seemed.

He broke the silence by saying to me, "We all belong even when we don't feel like we do. We all have a place to go."

I was taken back by his words and said, "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are trying to say."

"Even as a child, you've felt that way." He replied and explained to me.

I was stunned and could not speak, but still felt no apprehension due to his words or his presence. He extended his hand, so warm and soft, and gently laid it upon my clasped hands. He squeezed my hands with that hand and said, "He wants you to come home."

And with that, he slowly rose to his feet and left. I sat there for hours, stunned. I thought about what he had said the rest of the day, and for days thereafter, but eventually I filed his words away. I never truly listened to the words of that stranger; at least, not until the day of my father's funeral four years later.

Daddy was raised Catholic, as were my siblings, and I was baptized Catholic as a newborn. It seemed only natural to have a priest at his funeral. As I sat before daddy's coffin I saw the priest; but, did not hear his voice or words spoken. Although the priest and the stranger in the park were not the same man, I heard that whisper of a voice of the stranger and remembered his calm expression and the gentleness in his eyes. Those words spoken to me four years prior I heard once again.

This time I 'listened' to the words, to the message that stranger delivered to me that day in the park.

"He wants you to come home." 
 
About a month or so after daddy's funeral, I inquired and signed for a program at the parish where I was baptized as a newborn. I had made it to the place where I belonged, in God's loving embrace.

I realized there's a difference between 'hearing' and 'listening'...finally... I 'listened' to the message from the stranger...and now... I'm home.