Merry Christmas

THE COPTIC CHURCH, along with many other Orthodox Churches celebrates the birth of Christ on January 7th. I could write about the humility of our Lord being born in a manger, His sinless nature of a virgin-birth, or maybe the wisdom and faith of the wise men for following a star to offer gifts to a child. There is much to be learned, but it's already known.

The fact is, the earliest church didn't even celebrate the birth of Christ. St. Clement of Alexandria mentions that the Egyptians of his time celebrated the Lord's birth on May 20. At some point by the 3rd or 4th century, the Western Churches began celebrating Christ's birth in the winter. Around that time it was agreed by the Church (capital "C") to celebrate the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ on December 25 (or the 29th of Kiahk of the Coptic calendar). As a second grader asked me on Sunday, where the heck (not her words) did January 7th come from?

At that time, and up until about the sixteenth century, the calendar in use was the Julian calendar, named after Julius Caesar who implemented it about 50 years before Christ was born. This calendar considered the year to be 365.25 days and, like the Coptic Calendar, had a leap year every four years. As was soon found out by Pope Gregory XII (who had an interest in astrology and wondered why the vernal equinox was now at March 11, when it used to fall on March 21), the calendar year was actually 365.2422 days. This equates to a difference of a full day every 128.2 years.

Pope Gregory XIII decreed that the Julian calendar should be shortened by 3 days every 400 years. He did this by making every year divisible by 100 not a leap year unless it is divisible by 400 (so since the decree, 1700, 1800, and 1900 have not been leap years, although 1600 and 2000 have). Most strikingly, in 1582AD, he advanced the calendar by ten days and made October 5th into October 15th. The new calendar came to be known as the Gregorian calendar and is now widely used throughout the world.

So the 13 day gap between Western Christmas and Orthodox Christmas is explained (in case you missed it, the ten days Pope Gregory advanced the calendar and the three missed leap years in 1700, 1800, and 1900), but the question is, why don't we (the Copts) align ourselves to the Gregorian calendar? Simple! Because we have always followed the Coptic calendar and we simply continued to do so. Imagine celebrating Christmas in the middle of Kiahk? Yikes!

So there you have it, the reason us Copts get to take advantage of after-Christmas sales, and procrastination. Merry Christmas all, for today, the Word is born.

Honor

OUR MOTHER APPEARED to our brethren in Egypt just a few short days ago. Link. In the same week, an article was published about the harassment of women in Egypt. Link. Where does one find the audacity to commit such horrid crimes? Our Mother pleads with us; there is only so much she can ward off the anger of our Father. Is it entitlement? Insecurity? Lack of faith? An assertion of power?

Or maybe I am the exception. Treating a woman with respect; a gift bestowed upon us. Nothing is weaker than using force with a woman. A strong man knows patience, long-suffering, composure. Yeah, perverse men find sexual gratification in dominance, but the underlying cause of this is that exact perversion. It's not a perversion in the sense of mental handicap, but an emptiness. Let us all not lose sight of what is important and fill that void, lest we fall into similar hardships.

Fr Daniil Sysoyev - Martyred

This story is copied from here: Click me

From the New York Times, November 19th -

MOSCOW — The Rev. Daniil Sysoyev, a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church who was known for promoting missionary work among Muslims, was shot and killed in his parish church late Thursday night ...

From Archpriest Peter Perekrestov of Holy Virgin Cathedral, San Francisco:

On Thursday, November 19, 2009 35 year old Fr Daniel Sisoev, a very active and straightforward missionary priest in Moscow, was gunned down by a masked gunman inside the St. Thomas Church. Below is a statement his wife issued.



Fr. Peter is the priest at Holy Virgin Cathedral, where St. John Maximovitch relics' rest.

The Good Fight

ON THIS DAY, we commemorate the martyrdom of St. Philopater Mercurius. Raised by converted Christian parents, he was given the name "Philopater" which means "Lover of the Father." When he reached adulthood, he joined the Roman army and quickly became known as a good swordsman and tactician in battle.

The Roman army, led by Emperor Decius, was attacked by the Berbers. The Berbers were great in number and the Emperor was fearful. Mercurius assured him not to worry saying that God would bring them to victory. When he left the Emperor, an angel appeared to him in the figure of a human dressed in white. The angel gave him a sword saying, "When you overcome your enemies, remember the Lord your God." (That is why he is called, 'of the two swords,' Abu-Saifain; one is the military sword and the other is the sword of the Divine power.) When the battle was over and they conquered the Berbers, Mercurius was given the title 'Supreme Commander of all the Roman Armies' (in 250 A.D., at the age of 25). Mercurius was martyred that same year for refusing to worship idols saying "I do not worship anyone except my Lord and my God Jesus Christ." Mercurius became worthy of the crown of martyrs after being beheaded on December 4th 250AD.

St. Mercurius has performed many miracles in the lives of Christians. His life shows us the power of faith in life's dealings, even the military. We pray for his intercessions in our own lives.

All that saw me mocked me: they spoke with their lips, they shook the head, saying, He hoped in the Lord: let him deliver him, let him save him, because he takes pleasure in him.

Do Not Despair

LIFE IS A DRAG. Anyone who tells you otherwise, is lying to you. It isn't meant to be easy, an easy life would be boring; the goal is to not become discouraged for despair is simply a lack of hope. As His Holiness tells us: "The strong spirit does not worry, or get troubled, or fear, or break down, or hesitate. But the weak one imagines scary things and is troubled by them." The strong spirit is one who understands God's hand in our lives. The strong spirit is one who knows God.

An example of a strong spirit is the widow in Zarepath in which Elijah visited. With only a small amount of food, Elijah asked her to make him food first, and give whatever is left to her family. She did just that and her small portion of flour became endless. The symbolism in our lives is obvious. Give first to God, and He will Bless your efforts. A strong spirit will rejoice in tribulation, because in overcoming it, God is glorified. For we are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair...

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of God

I'VE ALWAYS LAUGHED at the idea of people not knowing what they want. I have known of this since a fairly young age. Sure, people want to be happy, but what is it that will make them happy? Henry Thoreau likened happiness to a butterfly saying "the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder." What Thoreau did not know is that he was almost two thousand years behind on this concept. Thoreau simply summed up our Lord's emphasis on whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

C.S. Lewis commenting on happiness said that "God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." God knows we are unable to be happy without Him, which is precisely why He emphasized seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

It's simple really, and it is actually about patience. Gone for now, is a lot like gone for good. It is our own stubborn and impatient ways that make us unhappy. Are we willing to accept delayed gratification? I mean that in both the micro and the macro sense. Would we rather accept a little happy now, or the better plan God has for us for when He deems us ready? Are we unwilling to sacrifice this temporal life for the sake of eternal paradise? The choice is obvious, but unfortunately it is a tough one.