A little contemplation on the liturgy, with a linguistic turn…

The Anaphora in the Coptic rite is that part of the Eucharistic liturgy that begins with the priest praying the words,

“The Lord be with you all”,

to which the congregation respond,

“And with your spirit”.

The word anaphora is Greek and is derived from two roots: ano or ‘upward’ and phero meaning ‘to bear, carry or bring’. Thus we find it used in Matthew 17:1…

“Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves”

So, the Anaphora is that part of the liturgy where we are enjoined to allow ourselves to be carried up to God. Note that in Matthew 17:1, it is Jesus who leads the three disciples up the mountain, in that sense ‘bringing’ them. And yet, they must walk on their own legs to actually follow Him, so in that sense, they ‘bring’ or ‘carry’ themselves. Neither is sufficient to get them up the mountain by itself. Christ will not pick them up physically and carry them if they choose not walk on their own feet, and if they walk alone without Christ they will not know where to go. So also, our lifting up of our hearts to God cannot be accomplished by our own efforts, or by the grace of God alone, but the two must act in concert, in harmony.

As part of this dialogue, the priest enjoins the people to

Lift up your hearts: ano emon tas kardias

Again, the words are Greek rather than Coptic. Looking into the Greek origins reveals layers of textured meaning that are sadly lost when translated:

ano - “upward or on the top: – above, brim, high, up” (according to Strong’s; see John 3:3 anothen ).

So the Greek word has the implication not just of height, but height to the very brim: reaching up as far as possible. So we are to lift our hearts not half heartedly, but generously, fully, all the way to the brim. This in turn is derived from:

anti - “A primary particle; opposite, that is, instead or because of (rarely in addition to): – for, in the room of. Often used in composition to denote contrast, requital, substitution, correspondence, etc.”

The implication here is that our new state must be substituted for the old state. The lifting is no mere change in position, it is a change in the very nature of the thing lifted. There must be a noticeable difference, a contrast, between our hearts before and after they are lifted up.

And of course, ‘kardias’ is the Greek for heart, from which English words like cardiac and cardiology are derived. Diseases of the heart are generally life or death matters. A malfunctioning heart means that one’s life is in peril. Even the ancients understood the link between a beating heart and life. So what we are being asked to lift up to God is not just our superficial emotions, not just words from our lips, but the very deepest things that make us who we are. Nothing is to be held back from God in this encounter. The hearts we lift up contain within them our whole lives, our very existence.

This brief exchange often flits by quickly in the liturgy, and I often wonder how many people really absorb it, really take it to heart. It is the essential introduction to the prayers that follow, so essential that as far as I can tell, it is found in virtually every Christian tradition that has a Eucharistic liturgy. It origins would seem to lie very deep in the long history of the Christian faith, very close to its origins, and for that reason alone it is to be treasured and enjoyed. But more importantly, it embodies and expresses the ‘how’ of ‘how to approach God’.

Three interesting new resources I have come across recently, and thought I might share with you today:

In 1991 a huge project came to fruition with the publication of the eight volume Coptic Encyclopedia. Containing nearly three thousand entries by a variety of authors, both members of the Coptic community and foreign scholars in Coptology, it is perhaps the most comprehensive reference on all things Coptic ever produced. The hard cover eight volume set is not only very expensive, but has also been out of print for some years and hard to get a hold of. So it was with great pleasure that I came across this wonderful project at Claremont Graduate University in California. An excerpt from the announcement of this project: 

The Coptic Encyclopedia, published by Macmillan in 1991, is an eight-volume work. Its 2,800 entries, written by 215 scholars, took 13 years to compile. But as a paper-bound document it was only available to a limited readership and nearly impossible to amend. The digitized version, renamed the Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia, can be constantly updated and is available to anyone with an Internet connection.

Apparently, Phase 1, which began in 2010, is to digitise and make available all 2,800 articles in the original 1991 edition. You can access the articles far completed here.  Last I checked, they were somewhere in the “O” section, working alphabetically from “A”. Phase 2 will be to add multimedia accompaniments to appropriate articles, especially pictures and perhaps audio. Phase 3, and most exciting of all, is to provide continuous updating of existing articles and add new ones to reflect ongoing research and developments in the field of Coptology, and to track the unfolding history of the Coptic Church in the twenty first century. Three cheers for CGU!

How often have you turned up at Church on a feast day or during a fast and wondered why everyone was doing things differently? Many of the special seasons of the Coptic calendar have not only their own unique tunes, but also their own unique rites. And none is without meaning. To understand and be aware of these rites and their meaning is to experience Coptic worship in its full depth and beauty. But where can one find all this information? Till now, I have had to depend on my ponderously slow and rather unreliable command of written Arabic and an old book written by HG Bishop Mattaos for the correct rites throughout the year. But now, all that precious information has been made available online, and … in ENGLISH!

The Choir of the Heritage of the Coptic Orthodox Church website provides articles, audio and a really useful guide to the rites of every occasion in the Coptic Orthodox sacred calendar. Not only is it in English, but for the extremely pedantic, each article on the seasonal rites lists the source, just to give the reader comfort that the description given wasn’t just some variation that old Uncle Abdelmessih thought up last Sunday. 

And finally, have you ever had to prepare for a lesson or a talk and wondered why you were taking so much time putting together a snazzy powerpoint presentation when surely hundreds of others have done exactly the same thing before you? Wouldn’t it be great if you could have access to the fruit of their labours? Well, the Church of St Mary and Archangel Michael in Houston Texas have made a huge library of talks and lessons, including powerpoint presentations, available on their website. Here you’ll find almost any topic you can think of (although they were a little light on the apologetics, I must say). My only criticism is that this excellent resource would be so much more useful if it had a search engine.

Enjoy!

 I’ve been listening to some terrific podcasts by Fr Thomas Hopko, an Eastern Orthodox scholar and parish priest. It is a series on the clergy of the Christian Church through the ages and begins in the Apostolic Age, working its way slowly through the centuries. For anyone who loves ancient Christianity, and who desires to live the Orthodox Christian faith today as closely as possible to its original form in ancient times, this set of talks is a veritable treasure chest! Keep in mind when you listen that Fr Thomas is from the Eastern Orthodox family and thus views the Council of Chalcedon from that perspective. (While the Oriental Orthodox Churches like the Coptic Church reject that Council, most other Christian Churches accept it).

 But his account of the first two centuries is engrossing and makes sense of so many things in our history that we generally hear in isolation and out of context. For example, one can gain a valuable insight into the true spirit of ancient Christian leadership when one learns that the titles for the leaders of the ancient Church were actually taken from the titles of slaves! The Episkopos (over-seer) was the household slave in charge of overseeing the affairs of the household on behalf of his master, and for the welfare and benefit of the master and his family. Episkopos is the title the early Christians adopted for their bishops. The Economos was in charge making sure the ‘economy’ of the house ran smoothly, and thus would look to the day to day details of household provisions and accounts and so on. His role was to preovide the resources that everyone else needed to live their lives happily and safely. Again, the early Christians adopted this name for those among the Elders (’presbyteros’ ) who were entrusted with caring for the day to day affairs of the household of God, and ‘economos’ has evolved into the modern title, ‘hegomen’.

But note that both these positions were those of slaves. Applied to the Christian roles, what this meant is that the bishop and the hegomen were both ’slaves’ of the Master of the household, God, and their role was to care for His children. As slaves, they were not to boss the children around or exert authority over them so much as to serve them and provide faithfully for all their needs. And this is of course in keeping with the command of Christ:

But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45 

It also intriguing to hear about the developments in the years after Chalcedon, a period of history in which we Copts were not involved for the most part – being more occupied with things like survival in a hostile environment of Melkites and later Muslims. Here, this account explains so much of why both the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches are what they are today. Of particular interest I found the account of the dispute over whether clergy were allowed to marry. In the west, radiating from Spain, apparently, was the idea that even parish priest must be celibate. But the East held on to the ancient tradition that these clergy may be married before their ordination, although they may not marry once they have in fact been ordained (so, for example, if a priest’s wife dies, he may not remarry).

On a related topic, his exposition on the history and theology of speaking in tongues, ”The Gift, the Gifts, and Glossolalia” (released10 July 2011 ) is scholarly yet easily digestible and provides some valuable insights into this controversial topic.

For those who still prefer the written word to the spoken, a mind-expanding book you must read is “The Atheist Delusion: The Christian Revolution and its Fashionable Enemies” by David Bentley Hart. This book was the basis for much of the second talk (by Samuel) at the “Why Christianity?” Day yesterday. Hart, in spite of his Western name, is a convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity and a highly respected and widely published scholar. He is particularly interested in Patristics, St Gregory of Nyssa and St Maximus the Confessor being two of his foci.

The book was awarded the Michael Ramsey prize in Theology earlier this year. Hart mercilessly dissects the arguments of the New Atheists like Dawkins, Hitchens and Dennett and exposes the faults in both their reasoning and their factual foundations.

As only a historian can, he paints a vivid picture of the heathen world into which Christianity was born. I had never before realised just how revolutionary Jesus and His followers were. Things we now take for granted, like equality of all humans and the value of every human life, turn out to be, by Hart’s account, innovations due solely to Christianity. Had Christ not come, there is every chance that we might still be living in a horrible multi-level society where the suffering masses exist only to serve the elite few.

Bible verses to which we have grown accustomed through long usage take on new and unexpected meaning in this setting. For example, I have long considered Christ’s claim that whenever we do an act of kindness to the sick, the poor or the imprisoned we are doing it to Him personally as a given (Matthew chapter 25). In fact, such a claim was, believe it or not, one of the main reasons the pagans persecuted the Christians so violently. The assertion that we should identify God (incarnate) with the lowest level of unfortunates in society undermined the very foundations of pagan civilisation.

All these ‘advanced’ societies – Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Chinese – depended upon the idea of a hierarchy, with the great God at the very top, down through levels of lesser gods, various human social levels,and finally down to the poor, the sick, the slaves and the criminals at the very bottom. At the top of the human levels of this hierarchy were the rulers, the rich and the priests. All the levels below them existed to serve them and to meet their needs. Thus for example, when an important Egyptian died, it was not unusual for his servants to be buried alive with him, since their lives only mattered so long as he lived. Once the master was dead, the servants became worthless.

But by coming down from Heaven and becoming one with this lowest level of society, Jesus was turning this whole system on its head. The pagan rulers and priests could not possibly tolerate this! Pagan philosophers like Celsus railed against the Christians: how could they demean themselves so horribly as to help or even speak with the rabble and the riff raff?! Is it any wonder that the earliest Christians were so opposed to paganism? And of course, these facts of history totally demolish the arguments of the New Atheists that Christianity has been a force for evil in the world and that the world would be so much better off without it.

One shudders to think where we might be today had not God shown mercy upon His creation and stooped to lift it out of its darkness and death…

I would enjoy reading your comments on this or any other books you may have enjoyed.

Fr Ant

 We often speak of our spirits, our thoughts or our feelings being in contact with God. But in Eastern Christianity, we also pay attention to our body being in contact with God. What exactly does this mean?

 Church tradition teaches us to pray as a whole person, body, spirit and mind together. Contact with God is more than a purely rational experience. This is also true of most things in life that really matter. For example, the bond between a mother and child is a physical one. There are lots of hugs and cuddles and kisses going on all the time. There are smiles and frowns, coos and gurgles, friendly pats and gentle caresses, and the occasional bitten finger when baby mistakes Mum’s thumb for a teething ring.

 On a deeper level, there are hormones and nervous system mechanisms that are activated by the mother-child relationship. Mothers of newborn babies have a lot of the hormone oxytocin circulating in their bodies. While this hormone contributes to the changes in their bodies that prepare them for breastfeeding, it has also been shown to have the effect of strengthening the emotional bond between the mother and child. God’s own natural love potion!

 When we commune with God, we feel emotions towards God. Emotions are always associated with powerful physical changes. That’s why we also call them, ‘feelings’. We feel the pulse race, the palms sweat, the hair bristle. Bodily emotions too are a way of praising God. St Paul tells us that there are times when we cannot find words to say to God: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26). What he may be describing is that prayer full of emotions that are just too deep for words. Emotions express something deeper inside us than ideas, and this too should be laid open to God and shared with Him.

 We pray with the mind and heart, but we pray with the body also. Certain bodily actions are prescribed in the rites of the Church that help us to get into the right frame of mind to meet and to worship God. For example, standing while we pray keeps us alert (it’s much harder to fall asleep when you’re up on your feet). Bowing to the ground is a reminder to us of our fall into sin, while standing again reminds us that Christ has forgiven our sins and raised us up with Him. We bow also, as if at the feet of Christ; to wash them with our tears of repentance and dry them lovingly with the hair we had misused in vanity before.

 If you find that the Gospel is being read as you enter the Church (naughty, naughty – you’re late!) you are to stay in your place near the door until it is finished, for we do not want unnecessary movement to distract anyone from giving their fullest attention to hearing and absorbing the words of life that are being read. And there are so many more actions, sounds, smells, and sights involved in every single Coptic liturgy, all of which are intended to create a richer experience of worship in which the whole of the person partakes, spirit, mind and body.

 Receiving the Holy Body and Precious Blood in our mouths is not only an act of the will and the spirit, but also of the body. We taste, we feel, we smell, we see, and finally, we consume. The physical sensation of this heavenly food entering our bodies accompanies our mental and spiritual experience of being united with Christ and makes it all the more vivid. Having fasted for at least nine hours, our bodies are hungry and weak. Receiving the Body and Blood, followed by refreshing water naturally revives our bodies, satisfies our hunger and quenches our thirst. All these are once again physical analogies for our spiritual experience of the Eucharist: our unity with Christ revives spirits that have been stumbling under the burden of sin, and satisfies the deep hunger and thirst in our lonely souls for God.

 Once having received this miraculous gift, we ought to feel more than ever that our bodies are the temple of God, a living tabernacle for the Life-Giving Creator. We strive to preserve this feeling for as long as we can after Holy Communion. For example, there is an ancient Church tradition that one should not bow to the ground once s/he has received Communion. How can I make Christ (in me) bow? That is why it is permissible to bow before receiving the Body, but not before receiving the Blood – having received the Body of Christ bowing is no longer appropriate. The same reasoning lies behind other traditions such as keeping Sunday as the Lord’s Day. Better to spend the day in activities that will help me preserve the sense of the presence of Christ in me so far as possible rather than waste the day in entertainments that might distract me from this beautiful truth or perhaps even tumble me back into the arms of sin.

 Indeed, each of the sacraments of the Church also has a very ‘physical’ component to it, a means of involving the whole person, including the body, in its blessing and effects. But it is not only in formal or sacramental settings that the body is involved in the meeting with God. St Paul frequently uses the analogy of an athlete to represent our spiritual struggle more generally:

 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2Timothy 4:7 

 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. 1Corinthians 9:24-27 

 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. 2Timothy 4:7,8 

 He was thinking of athletes who competed in games similar to our modern Olympics, but when I read those verses, I must confess I am sometimes drawn to contemplate some of our more modern sports. Schools know the value of sports in developing not only healthy young bodies, but also healthy young minds, social skills and leadership skills. There are some stunning images of spiritual effort in these sports; courage, perseverance, cooperation, loyalty, unselfishness, self-sacrifice … the list is long. Perhaps one day I shall have a go at a blog about the spiritual messages to be gleaned from cricket, rugby league, soccer and golf…

I had a lot of trouble with the ‘X’.

Below is a an experimental hymn to be sung during Holy Communion. It is an acrostic hymn; that is, each stanza begins with a different letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order. Not a lot of ‘X’ words to choose from, so I cheated a little.

I would like to encourage the English-speaking, musically talented members of our congregation to think about creating some new communion hymns. The ones we have are beautiful, but you can only sing them so many times before you start wishing there were some more. And surely, there is so much more that can be said or sung about the unique mystery of the Eucharist? Here is my idea of the ideal characteristics of a Holy Communion hymn:

1. It should be joyful. This is actually not my idea, but a strong Church tradition. Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ is perhaps the most joyous experience we can have on earth, so the Church teaches us that we must not sing sad hymns while we have it.

2. It should help us experience the mystery of the Eucharist more deeply.

3. It should focus largely on Jesus Himself, so far as possible, although of course it can present Jesus as He is reflected in the lives of His saints, for example.

4. It should touch the heart as well as engage the mind.

5. It should be in keeping with the general style of the Coptic liturgy’s musical tradition. Communion is, after all, the final part of the liturgy, not an ‘add on’ after the liturgy has finished.

6. It should be relatively easy for the whole congregation to join in. A repeated chorus helps those whose memory may not be crash hot.

7. It should have an enjoyable tune. Praying should be an experience of joy!

So, I had a go. I am not very musically gifted, so I ‘borrowed’ a traditional tune that most people seem to really like, “O Kirios Meta So” from the Tamgeed hymns. It has the benefit of repeating certain parts of each line, which would hopefully help to encourage everyone to join in with their voices. It is meant to help children understand a little better what Holy Communion is all about, and adults to focus on the purpose of Holy Communion as they come forward to recieve it.

All comments are welcome. Any suggestions for fine tuning the words are also welcome.

Communion Means…
An acrostic hymn sung to the tune of ‘Agios Istin’

Agios means / sacred and spotless / the name of God / and the holy sacrament / of His Body and Blood.

Blessing means / the gift that He sends down / upon our lives / blessing all that we do / through His Body and Blood.

Calvary means / the place where / He was crucified / willingly surrendering / His Body and Blood.

Divine means / the real and true God / the Ruler of everything / became one of us / in His Body and Blood.

Eternal means / that we shall live / for evermore / Eternal life without end / through His Body and Blood.

Friendship means / He is our closest friend / who knows our every secret / and dwells with us / through His Body and Blood.

Grace means / the gift we do not deserve / Yet out of His love He gives / us His Body and Blood.

Heaven means / the place where we shall / live with Him / basking always in the light / of His Body and Blood.

Image means / when He dwells in our hearts / we become like him / like Adam in God’s image / through His Body and Blood.

Joy means / happiness and rejoicing / no one can take from us / for it is hidden in our hearts / in His Body and Blood.

Knowledge means / we can know the invisible God / when we know His only Son / that is Jesus the Word / through His Body and Blood.

Light means / He shines His pure radiance / on the darkness of our lives / and shows us how we should live / through His Body and Blood.

Mystery means / a miracle far beyond / human understanding / how the bread and wine / become His Body and Blood.

Newness means / the old life with all its sins / we leave behind us / He creates us anew / through His Body and Blood.

Open means / His arms on the Cross / are wide open to receive us / with unbounded love / through His Body and Blood.

Purity means / spotless, and without sin / is our Lord Jesus / and He makes us to be like Him / through His Body and Blood.

Quiet means / we are still and serene / listening for His soft voice / preparing our hearts / for His Body and Blood.

Repentance means / our hearts change completely / leaving sin behind / protected from temptation / by His Body and Blood.

Sacrifice means / He gave up His life / for the life of the whole world / He gave unselfishly / of His Body and Blood.

Table means / the altar, a meeting place / a stairway to heaven / upon which there sits / His Body and Blood.

Unity means / we all eat from one Body / and drink from one cup / joining us all together / in His Body and Blood.

Victory means / the devil and his power / are defeated and crushed / by the power of His love / through His Body and Blood.

Witness means / we profess His death / and His resurrection on the third day / to the whole world / through His Body and Blood.

eXalted means / His glory is above all / that is heaven or on earth / we praise and glorify / His Body and Blood.

Yearning means / our hearts and our souls / are so very hungry / for the Bread of Life / that is His Body and Blood.

Zeal means / we are filled with energy / to go out and serve Him / whenever we partake / of His Body and Blood.

www.thebricktestament.com

There are certain core principles at the heart of Christian life. There is a Latin term that summarises their importance: “sine qua non” or “without this, it is not”. Without living these principles, a person is simply not a Christian.

 The calling of Levi (St Matthew) to be a Disciple of Christ is an example of one of those principles. It illustrates the kind of trusting surrender without which no one can truly be called a Christian. Others, more advanced in religious life, like the rich young man (Mark ch.10) failed in this principle and could not follow Jesus. This brought sadness to His heart.

How much did Levi know about Jesus when he accepted His invitation? Had Jesus ‘proved’ Himself to Levi by healing him or working a miracle for him? Neither the gospels nor Church tradition suggest any such thing. The mystery of Levi’s immediate, unquestioning obedience to what amounts to a stranger is the mystery of the human spirit’s surrender to Christ. It is not based on pure logic and appears even to be irrational. It does not grow out of experience alone, nor does it result from the cajoling of others.

True and complete surrender of one’s life to Christ arises out of the person admiring and loving those things that Christ embodies. We can guess that although circumstances led Levi to the greedy, hard-hearted life of a tax collector, deep in his heart he cherished things like compassion, peace, joy and love. When Levi heard the voice of Christ and saw His face, something clicked. He discovered a natural harmony with Him, a harmony so close that he willingly left all he had just to stay near to this Man.

“Follow me” depends as much on the inviter as it does on the invited. Levi must have felt the uniqueness of Christ in order for him to obey so immediately. Indeed, total obedience is too precious a gift to be thrown away carelessly to anyone who asks it. We are asked to obey many people in our lives – from parents to teachers and bosses and of course, the Church, through its clergy. Yet all these levels of obedience must be subject to one higher level: that of obedience to God and to His commandments. We cannot avoid our personal responsibility for our own actions, and “I was just following orders” is never an acceptable excuse for wrongs committed at the request of others. There is always a need for careful vigilance on our part.

But Jesus is special. It is He and He alone who deserves our complete, unquestioning and instant obedience. He alone can command us with the valid expectation that we will obey right away, whatever the command. The Fraction Prayer for the Great Thursday of Passion Week is eloquent in illustrating this kind of obedience. In it, we walk with Abraham and his young son Isaac to the place of sacrifice, we grieve over the scene of the boy tied submissively upon the altar and are shocked at the old man’s hand raising the knife over his long awaited, much beloved son for the death blow. It is a shocking image of the surrender to God.

And yet, it also illuminates for us the nature of the relationship of obedience to God. He is not a selfish master who will use and abuse our trust. He does not seek His own welfare, but our own – in fact, He cares for us more than we care for ourselves. Like Abraham, that care may sometimes not be apparent to us. I wonder what went through Abraham’s mind as he raised that knife? What did he think of God at that critical moment? But a little while later, I think it is easy to guess what was in his mind. With his son released and whole, a ram provided by God near at hand, and a promise to preserve his posterity from the very mouth of God, there could only be love and gratitude filling his heart. THIS is the God He knew from his younger days! And once again, through crisis and solution, his faith, trust and obedience to God was strengthened.

This kind of obedience is very difficult to achieve. There is a part of us that always wants to maintain control, to mistrust everyone else, to be free to choose, even if that choice is a poor one. But it is only those who overcome this very natural instinct who come to truly know God…

Fr Mina Nematalla and his family as a layman, not long before his ordination, together with his uncle, Pope Kyrollos VI.

Tomorrow, July 1st, marks the the tenth anniversary of the passing of Fr Mina Nematalla, the pioneering Coptic Orthodox priest of Australia. In 1969 he became the first Coptic priest to settle in Australia and established the Coptic Orthodox Church on this continent. Today I would like to share a few personal thoughts to mark this occasion.

Upon my ordination back in 1991 I was assigned by HH Pope Shenouda III to serve at Archangel Michael and St Bishoy Church as an assistant to Fr Mina. At that time, Fr Mina was alone in the parish, and very, very sick. In fact, it was during my ordination and stay in Egypt that Fr Mina finally underwent a complex kidney transplant that saved his life and released him at last from the tyranny of constant renal dialysis.

I arrived at the parish not quite knowing what to expect. My family had had some contact with Fr Mina back in the 70’s but that was very limited. I would go on to serve with Fr Mina until his passing in 2000, and during that time, I got to see him at his best, and at his worst. I came to respect the man as I have few other people on this earth. He had his faults – there is no denying that – we all have. But this is a day for remembering and celebrating the positives. Perhaps his legacy can then live on in our own lives, thereby enriching and encouraging our own journey to the God he loved so much.

The chief characteristic of Fr Mina that dominates his picture in my mind was his absolute straightforwardness. He was the kind of person who never left you guessing what he was thinking. With Fr Mina, what you saw was what you got, without fail. Some people found this confronting, others found it perhaps even discourteous. But I revelled in it. How much simpler and easier life becomes when people are honest with each other! This also meant that it was so easy to trust him. He was a man of his word, the kind of person who kept his word, even to his own disadvantage.

I fondly remember the times when I, as a young inexperienced priest, messed up. He would call me over for a private chat in which he would simply and clearly point out what I had done wrong. Following a genuinely two way discussion, he would give me my admonition, and then tell me that that was the end of the matter. And it was. It never came up again and it never changed his attitude towards me.

This straightforwardness was also an important part of his spiritual life and practices. No doubt, anyone who grew up serving with Fr Mina the Hermit (later to become Pope Kyrollos VI) should have a good grounding in the spiritual life, but what impressed me deeply was just how ‘organic’ his spiritual life was. His prayers were not for show – they were from the heart. There are many who still remember his deeply emotional liturgy, the wide inflections of tone, the profound expression in his voice and upon his face, the tears that sometimes leaked out. All of this came from the heart. To behold Fr Mina at the altar felt like beholding Moses at the Ark of the Covenant – that same sense of man bare before God is evoked. And the same may be said of his love for the praises of the Church, praises he refused to miss even in his illness. The obvious childlike delight he took in praising God served as an inspiration for many, yet it was a genuine delight in God, first and foremost. Even the smallest discussion with him on the topic revealed just how deeply that delight in God ran.

Another fond memory involves children. Fr Mina loved children, whether they were his own offspring or anyone else’s. People sometimes complained that the sanctuary had been turned into a nursery during the liturgy. He would love to have up to a dozen young deacons around him, teaching them how to chant the responses, when to bring the censer, how to behave in the sanctuary. This was a reflection of his generosity – he saw service in the sanctuary as a great honour, and he wanted to bestow that honour upon as many children as he could. We are still enjoying the benefits of this policy today in our parish, for it produced generations of deacons who genuinely love and respect the service of the liturgy, and particularly that sacred service of the sanctuary. We can only pray that we pass this tradition on to coming generations.

I was blessed to serve with a sensible man. In the tug and pull of parish service, with so much respect heaped upon the clergy by the congregation and so much pressure to follow the faith to the letter, it is not uncommon to find clergymen who lose their common sense. But Fr Mina was not one to fall into the this trap too easily. Deep down inside him was a heart of genuine humility, a humility that was not for general display, but guided his every action nonetheless. This humility, this sense of his own weakness and fallibility was, I think, what kept his feet so firmly on the ground. Many times did I see him wisely rejecting more fanatical directions suggested by others in favour of things that made sense, and worked in the real world in which we live.

These things may not seem to be major virtues to some readers, but they made our a parish a pleasure to be a part of. The faith that was both encouraged and practiced was (and is) a real faith, a living faith, rather than a “pie in the sky” faith. People in general felt comfortable to be themselves around Fr Mina, and felt freed to express their love for God through the rites of the Church. Being themselves of course meant that again that one saw both the best and the worst of people; but isn’t that a better way of being Christian?

Fr Mina, you are fondly remembered. Pray for us.

Fr Ant

The Samaritan Woman met Jesus at the well, as we also meet Him at the Church. He asks us to draw water for Him as He asked her, but what is the water we draw?

It begins with the washing of the hands by the priest. The deacon, representing the congregation (for he is their servant) takes the jug of water which he has previously filled and pours it out on the hands of the priest at the beginning of the Offertory. The fact that he has previously filled the jug indicates that he has come to Church prepared to meet Christ and to serve Him.

The deacon’s act of pouring the water assists the priest in his preparation for offering the Body and Blood. Thus, the deacon, like the Samaritan Woman, is the conduit by which many come to meet with Christ. This is symbolic of the role that each Christian should play in the world. The Christian can do little by himself, but by doing small acts of service, he can help open the way for Christ to enter people’s hearts.

There is a small bottle of water placed on the altar, together with the bottle of wine. These two are mixed in the cup by the priest as he prays the Prayer of Thanksgiving. Water is simple while wine is chemically complex. Perhaps this mixing can also remind us that our simple thoughts and ideas and efforts, when mixed with the work of Christ, can become an important part of the process of our salvation, and even that of others.

We see ourselves in the Samaritan Woman:

• Like her, we interact with Jesus through the discussion about drawing water.
• Like her, we get to know Him, and discover just how well He knows us.
• Like her, our lives are changed through this dialogue.
• And like her, we share this amazing Person with our relatives and friends.

These acts occur early in the liturgy. Sadly, the Church is usually relatively empty at that time as people drift in late. What a pity that they miss this important experience! Those who do come early get to have this personal meeting with Christ; a great foundation for fully experiencing the prayers that follow.

"The Holies for the holy"

Following on from the interest shown in learning more about the meaning of the liturgy, I’ve dug out a little passage from my own little personal book of contemplations. It refers to the part at the end of the liturgy where the priest has finished dividing the Body into smaller pieces and lifts the paten high twice before he takes it away from the altar to give Communion to the congregation:

From facing the altar, the priest turns around and raises the paten twice towards the congregation, saying “The Holies for the holy”, and the people respond, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord”.

This is an announcement to all that this is indeed the Holy Body of Christ. We are reminded, as we were during the last part of the prayers, that those who wish to partake of the Holy Body and Blood must themselves be holy. As the priest holds the Holy Body high, our eyes are drawn upward in longing and desire to be made worthy to share in this Heavenly Feast. But we know that we can never make ourselves worthy of such a privilege, so our upward gaze is also a prayer, a request, a supplication:

Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the LORD our God, Until He has mercy on us.

Psalm 123

 But it is also a reminder of the Second Coming, hence the two raisings of the paten. Christ is raised high in the air, since He shall come back “as the lightning flashes from the East to the west”. At His first coming, many refused to say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord”, but we now affirm that we are ready to receive Him by saying those very words. Then we are all gathered to Him as we approach for Holy Communion, as all peoples will be gathered to Him on the last day. We then receive Him so He dwells in us and we in Him. Thus do we taste the Kingdom of Heaven while we are yet on earth.

  But let all those who approach Communion make sure they are prepared, for the unprepared wedding guest was cast out, and there will be those on the last day who will approach Him, only to find themselves thrust to His left hand side.

I will try to share a few more of these contemplations over the coming months, and I would love to hear your own contemplations on your favourite bits of the liturgy.

 Fr Ant

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that the Liturgy is one of my favourite topics. That’s probably because the liturgy is actually one of my favourite things in life. I hope you won’t feel offended, but during most of the liturgy I do my level best to pretend you’re not there. The most profoundly moving experiences I have had during a liturgy all happened when I had forgotten that there was anyone else in the Church apart from me and the crucified Lord of the universe on the altar.

What a feeling!

The heart and soul are laid bare before the all-piercing gaze of the Creator Incarnate. There is no hiding, neither from Him, nor from myself. My carefully constructed facades crumble away and all those comfortable little lies with which I’ve been salving my conscience evaporate into the air, an air reverberating with the awful words of what He did for me. Who could resist being touched to the depths of their soul?

And yet, I do remember a time in my youth when the liturgy was anything BUT engrossing. I recall liturgies (mostly in Arabic) as a teenager where the main focus of my contemplation was the pain in my feet and back, and whether some old ‘ummo would get me in trouble if I sat down just now. One of the first things I memorised about the liturgy was exactly when we got to bow down; eagerly anticipated moments!

It took a long time to get into the Coptic Liturgy. It also took a degree of effort on my part: asking questions and reading books. One book that was a turning point for me in my experience of the liturgy was Christ in the Eucharist by Fr Tadros Yacoub Malaty (you can download this book from www.coepa.org). I consider this book one of the true classics of modern Coptic literature and one that will withstand the test of time. In it, Fr Tadros traces the symbolism and Biblical references of the words and the rites and rubrics of the liturgy. Abounding in ancient quotes from the Fathers of the Church, he explains this divinely inspired rite from a surprisingly personal perspective that serves to help open the flood gates of individual prayer in response to the ancient text and tunes of the liturgy.

I have never looked back since reading that book. My love for the liturgy certainly took on a new dimension when I was ordained a priest, but those earlier quiet, private spiritual epiphanies are forever engraved upon my memory. Which leads me mourn the fact that there still remain people in our congregation for whom the liturgy is a chore or duty, or even merely an act of mere habit.

 I enjoyed reading the comments people posted to my last blog. There is always a variety of views on the liturgy, and how it could be ‘done’ better. No doubt we can do it better, and I agree that participation by the congregation is the key. The fact remains that in the liturgy book, it says: “CONGREGATION:” All too often the deacons hijack a hymn or response all for themselves, instead of simply leading the congregation. The ideal situation is where the voices of the congregation drown out, or rather, unite harmoniously with, those of the deacons’ choir, so that the two are no longer distinguishable. Those are the moments when one feels the roof of the Church is about to be blasted away by this angelic praising, opening a conduit to unite heaven and earth! OK, I’m waxing a bit lyrical here, but such moments do genuinely make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

 Perhaps more lessons are needed to teach EVERYONE the complex Coptic tunes? Nowadays of course, we are blessed to have sites like www.tasbeha.org where one can find audio of virtually any Coptic tune that ever existed. I believe there are Coptic churches in America now, who have choirs of females singing antiphonically with the deacons, complete with their own ‘tunias’. When I put that suggestion to some of the young ladies to at our Church, they thought it was a horrible idea, but I wonder if that will change with the years?

 I’d be interested in reading your thoughts on how we can get people to participate more fully in the liturgy. Not saying I’ll agree with all of them, but if you come up with something that is likely to work, we might just go ahead and try it!

 Fr Ant