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The Coptic Church celebrates the departure of St Moses the Strong on 1st of July- 24 Paone. St Moses is a well known example of repentance, humility, love for the brethren and the importance of spiritual struggle. His body along with that of his spiritual father St Isidore the Priest is in the ancient church of the Monastery of St Mary- Baramous.
Three Fathers used to go and visit blessed Anthony every year and two of them used to discuss their thoughts and the salvation of their souls with him, but the third always remained silent and did not ask him anything. After a long time, Abba Anthony said to him, “You often come here to see me, but you never ask me anything," and the other replied, “It is enough for me to see you, Father.”
Prayer is like shafts of light cast on the dark depths of our inner life, showing us what passions or attachments are lodged in us. When this happens we must urgently pronounce the Holy Name, so that a feeling of repentance increases in the soul. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.
Once we have found the center of our life in our own heart and have accepted our aloneness not as a fate but as a vocation, we are able to offer freedom to others. Once we have given up our desire to be fully fulfilled, we can offer emptiness to others. Once we have become poor, we can be a good host.
The Church’s imitation of Christ’s works is a necessary course of life for us, in which we may discover our salvation, strength, security and victory. It was not for Himself that Christ was baptised, nor was not for Himself that He was crucified, and, consequently, not for Himself that He fasted forty days.
He found man reduced to the level of the beasts: therefore is He placed like fodder in a manger, that we, having left off our bestial life, might mount up to that degree of intelligence which befits man’s nature; and whereas we were brutish in soul, by now approaching the manger, even His own table, we find no longer fodder, but the bread from heaven, which is the Body of Life.
You are He, O Lord, with whom we have laid our life. O Lord, who fills all, guard us in every place where we shall go. And the compunction that has become ours through prayer, and the contentment of heart of upright living, guard them for us, unstolen and without regret.
Hold Him in your arms like Mary his mother. Enter with the Magi and offer your gifts. Proclaim His birth with the shepherds. Proclaim His praise with the angels. Carry Him in your arms like Simeon the Elder. Take Him with Joseph down to Egypt.
The Holy Mystery of Repentance is in truth another baptism. It is the power of God to forgive and cleanse us from all sin and to grant us the knowledge and strength to live the life into which we have been baptized, the life of Christ.
There is indeed a healer: He who on the cross asked for mercy on those who were crucifying him, who pardoned murderers as he hung on the cross. Christ came on behalf of sinners, to heal the broken-hearted and to bind up their wounds.
“And so in like manner, the Father calls them sons in whomsoever He sees His own Son.” - St Athanasius, Against the Arians
The mother repents, the daughter repents. The father repents, the whole family repents. The priest lives a good life, the entire church lives a life of repentance. That is how it goes. The king of Nineveh repented, then the whole city repented—and God had mercy on Nineveh, a city that has become an example to the world for all generations.
Many churches around the world have limited gatherings at their parishes to the core liturgical services, meaning that Sunday School, Youth Meetings, Bible Studies, sporting events and other activities are cancelled. Understandably there is a sense of worry that children, teenagers and youth will miss out on all these services for at least the coming weeks. However, this is also a great opportunity to take stock of what we see as the core or central activities of the church.