Many difficulties and obstacles hinder the way of the Christian man during his spiritual journey, but the Lord promised that those difficulties and tribulations would turn into glories. Bishop Bishoy of Kafr El-Sheikh and Damietta said in his article Why are you sad, my soul, why are you upsetting me? told us about the eternal joy promised by God. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9: 23). This means that the Lord promised his disciples that their joy will surpass their sorrows all sadness because of their faith and following his commandments.

Teaching in the Church is the basis of our salvation. Through teaching, man realizes the basis of true faith and the relation with God. Thus, Jesus Christ, being the good teacher, put curricula for teaching his disciples. In the article Christ the Teacher , Abba Pachomius, former acting Patriarch, assured us that education in our church is necessary to know the foundations of the true Christian faith. Therefore, our teacher Paul recommends his pupil Timothy to Observe himself and teaching , and the Lord Jesus has put us a Proper education after he started his ministry by preaching on the mountain as his first work among the multitudes.

I worked for a company in the Delta of Egypt where the project manager decided to celebrate the feast by buying a sacrifice and slinging it to eat its meat. I watched how they used all kind of violence to kill the cow. They started to jump and tie it and twisted its neck before they start citing their prayers and slay it. Being shocked, I discussed what has just happened with a Muslim colleague who didn t like such violence. I told him that God wants mercy rather than a sacrifice. Your prayers doesn t make the killing process more humane or even Halal.

The encouragement has always been the reason for success and excellence, just like love is the loftiest humanitarian emotions. Therefore, we find that the family house in Alexandria working hard to cultivate the seeds of love in the youth to the love of their society.

If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all. This is how Jesus Christ told His disciples to do and to refrain from pride. Bishop Takla, in his article The Last of All assured us that humility is one of the important virtues of our lives and our omnipresence. Such humility was said by Abba Moussa the Black to be the best of all virtues just like pride is the worst evil.

The family is the main influencer in the personality as it is responsible for spiritual, mental and emotional education of the young people. HG Bishop Moussa, Bishop of Youth, talked in his article Family and the formation of personality about the impact of the family in its members in several aspects. First: the family, especially the mother, has great impact on her children who learn the meaning of prayers and saints by the parents unlike those who teach the children about cursing, anger and oblivion.

Abba Epiphanius, Bishop of St. Makar monastery, was killed inside his monastery in his way to pray the morning praises. He received a treacherous hit that killed him and broke his skull. The body was taken to Damanhour General Hospital to investigate the cause of the death. Indeed, the man who doesn t deserve to die was killed by those who don t deserve to live. I wonder who could kill such a good old man!

Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. (2Timothy 3:12) The martyrdom of Bishop Epiphanious inside his monastery in the midst of the monks. What s concerning me about the story is that he was going out from his cell and going to the midnight praises. The monks were surprised because he was late and that was not the usual. When they got worried, the went to make sure everything was ok and they found him outside his cell going to the midnight praises but he was martyred before getting there.

The intercession of the angels and their friendship to the human race and their help to mankind is an orthodox doctrine rooted in the Coptic Church. Father John Naseef, the priest of the Church of Our Lady of Chicago, in his article Intercession of the Angels , tells us about some of Origen s quotations about the intercession of the angels.

His care for the poor and the needy were beyond the limit. He suffered too much and kept very few for himself. He is Bishop Abraam of Fayoum, the friend of the poor. HG Bishop Bishoy of Kafr El-Sheikh said in his article The immortal life of Bishop Abram explained the suffering of the saint because of his love of the poor and the needy.

We hear in the Middle East many accusations to women that they are created from a crooked rib and if we want to fix it, it will be broken! In the Holy Bible, it is mentioned that Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. )Genesis 1:31(. She was made perfect human being and was brought to Adam. Other people claim that Christianity also commands men to rule over women. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church. (Ephesians 5: 23) Yet, they ignore the rest of the chapter where St. Paul talks about love Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5: 25) it si a matter of love and sacrifice and not ruling over.

In the Parable of the Sower, the farmer went out to sow and did not care about the hard land or the hard hearts. He did not stop at a land where the plants had no root, but sowed his seeds with all generosity. The hearts with thorns of Lord s beloved ones injured his hand. He abandoned his glory and came to this land. Indeed, he was overcome by his love till he reached the cross.

God created man and made him in the image of Himself. Therefore, death can t be the end of man, but a bridge to reach eternal life. I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. (Hosea13: 14) Father Benjamin of Moharraq monastery said In his article The Faithful Foundations of the Saints apparitions said that God is god of the living and when Jesus Christ talked about Lazarus he said he only slept since good people don t die, but depart for another life.

The commandment of fasting is the first commandment given by the Lord to Adam when he told them not to eat from the forbidden tree. Fasting is a critical commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ for a complete and acceptable worship, and whoever does not fast with an acceptable excuse deserves a punishment. Bishop Mataus, head of the Syrian monastery, said in his article about the fasting of the apostles and the Sacraments explained to us the connection between fasting and communion as not fasting with the church prevents Chitins from taking communion with the church as well.

The new Minister of Tourism in Egypt has reduced the rank of the project of reviving the path of the Holy Family from A to D which means it is not within the priorities of the ministry. Therefore, the project may stop due to her decision. I find the decision detrimental to Egypt s status on the world tourism map. Consequently, Egypt will lose billions of dollars annually from the pilgrimage of all Christians in the world who will come to visit these holy places. Moreover, such project reflects coexistence between Muslims and Christians in Egypt after the Vatican has adopted the path of the Holy Family in Egypt on the map of religious tourism, which means that more than one billion and three hundred million people will recognize it and millions of people will visit the Holy Places for the benefit of the Egyptian economy.

See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear. Jesus came to Egypt in order to establish a strong church and to abolish idolatry.

During the speech of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi at the swearing-in ceremony, I noticed his stress on the need to preserve the Egyptian identity. I stop at this term and this concept, as it is very important to pay attention to the president s speech including the problem of the Egyptian identity and how can we revive it. In my opinion, there is a big difference between the national identity and the intellectual identity. Such difference may not be recognized by those who hold conferences to talk about identity in front of the cameras.

Dear Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, pardon me for disagreeing with you in what you said on June 3rd in a television interview. Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb said that Christians failed to apply the Christian teaching to love their enemies and bless them. In December 2014, you said that generalization is a great mistake and now you do commit to this mistake since some Christians follow this teaching and others don t.

The Lord Jesus has risen from the dead and no one has risen like him. His resurrection was unique and had unprecedented features. Abba Takla, bishop of Dishna, in his article He has risen said that the Lord Jesus is the only one who has risen by his own power without asking anyone to pray for him, while the other resurrections miracles were performed by other person.

All the earthly pleasures of the life are seen and touchable, but pleasures of eternal life are unseen and unheard. The late Pope Shenouda III in his article Resurrection and the enjoyment of the unseen talked about things that we do not see that God promised in eternal life.

Egypt has restored the bodies of martyrs of the homeland and church who have been martyred in Libya in February 2015 by the terrorist organization of ISIS. Those who don t deserve to die were killed by those who don t deserve to live. These martyrs are our role model since they became the heroes of the Christian faith. They impressed the whole world by their courage, strength and steadfastness. They manifested the history of Coptic martyrs that we ay glorify God in his saints and martyrs.