Easter on April 15, 333 AD
May your minds be enlightened by the light of the Lord.
My brothers....
Thus we move from feasts to feasts, we walk from prayers to prayers, we advance from fasts to fasts, we connect holy days with holy days.
The time has come again that brings us to a new beginning, announcing the blessed Passover in which the Lord offered a sacrifice.
We eat it as the food of life, and we thirst for it, our souls rejoicing in it at all times, as if it were overflowing with its precious blood.
إننا نشتاق إليه على الدوام شوقًا عظيمًا، وقد نطق مخلصنا بهذه الكلمات في حنو محبته موجهًا حديثه إلى العطشى، إذ يريد أن يروي كل عطشان إليه، قائلاً “إن عطش أحد فليأت إلي ليشرب”(1).
ولا يقف الأمر عند هذا الحد إذا جاءه أحد يروي عطشه فحسب، بل عندما يطلب إنسان يعطيه المخلص بفيض زائد مجانًا. لأن نعمة الوليمة لا يحدها زمن معين ولا ينقص عظمة بهائها، بل هي دائمًا قريبة تضيء أذهان المشتاقين إليها برغبة صادقة. لأن في هذه الوليمة فضيلة دائمة يتمتع بها ذوي العقول المستنيرة المتأملين في الكتاب المقدس نهارًا وليلاً، وذلك مثل الرجل الذي وهب نعمة كما جاء في المزامير “طوبى للرجل الذي لم يسلك في مشورة المنافقين وفي طريق الخطاة لم يقف وفي مجلس المستهزئين لم يجلس. لكن في ناموس الرب يلهج نهارًا وليلاً”(2) For such a person is not illuminated by the sun, the moon, or the other group of stars, but shines with the splendor of God who is above all.
Eid blessings
My dear ones... It is the Lord who first prepared this feast for us, and He is the One who has compassion and mercy on us so that we celebrate it year after year, for He sent His Son to the cross for our sake, and for this reason He granted us the holy feast that bears within it every year a testimony to that, as the feast takes place every year at the same time (on the same occasion).
This also brings us from the cross which was offered to the world to that which is set before us, for from it God produces for us the joy of glorious salvation, and brings us to the same assembly, and unites us everywhere in the Spirit, ordaining for us common prayers, and a common grace coming upon us from the feast.
For this is the wonder of His compassionate love, that He gathers in the same place those who are far away, and brings near those who are far away in body so that they may be in one spirit.
Let us remember God's blessings to us
So, don't we know, my beloved, the blessing that comes from the coming of the holiday!?
Shall we not return anything to the One who has been kind to us?
It is truly impossible to repay God for His good deeds towards us, but it is an evil thing to receive gifts without knowing them.
والطبيعة نفسها تشهد بعجزنا، لكن إرادتنا توبخ جحودنا. لهذا فأن بولس الطوباوي عندما كان يتعجب من عظم بركات الله قال “من هو كفء لهذه الأمور”(3) For the world has been set free by the blood of the Savior, and by death He has trampled down death, paving the way to heavenly glories without obstacles or barriers for those who grow.
لهذا عندما أدرك أحد القديسين النعمة مع عجزه عن أن يرد لله مقابلها قال “ماذا أرد للرب من أجل كثرة حسناته لي”(4).
Because instead of death he received life, instead of slavery he received freedom, and instead of the grave he was given the kingdom of heaven.
لأنه منذ وقت قديم “تسلط الموت من آدم إلى موسى”، أما الآن فأن الصوت الإلهي قال “اليوم تكون معي في الفردوس”. وإذ يشعر الإنسان القديس بهذه النعمة يقول “لولا أن الرب كان معي، لهلكت نفسي في الهاوية”(5).
علاوة على هذا، يشعر الإنسان بعجزه عن أن يرد للرب عن إحساناته، لكنه يعرف عطايا الله كاتبًا في النهاية “كأس الخلاص أتناول وباسم الرب أدعو… عزيز في عيني الرب موت أتقيائه”(6).
أما عن الكأس، فقد قال الرب “أتستطيعان أن تشربا الكأس التي سوف أشربها أنا؟!”(7). ولما قبل التلميذان هذا، قال لهما “أما كأسي فتشربانها… وأما الجلوس عن يميني وعن يساري فليس لي أن أعطيه إلا للذين أعد لهم من أبي”(8).
Therefore, beloved, we must be sensitive to the gift, even if we find ourselves unable to return the Lord’s favors. Rather, we must seize the opportunity.
فأن كنا بالطبيعة عاجزين عن أن نرد “للكلمة” أمور تليق به، عن تلك البركات التي أغدق بها علينا فلنشكره إذ نحن محفوظون في التقوى. وكيف يمكننا أن نربط بالتقوى إلا بتعرفنا على الله الذي من أجل حبه للبشر قدم كل هذه البركات؟! (فأننا بهذا نحفظ الشريعة في طاعة لها، سالكين في الوصايا، لأنه بكوننا غير جاحدين بل شاكرين إياه لا نكون مخالفين للناموس ولا مرتكبين لأمور مكروهة، لأنه الله يحب الشاكرين).
وأيضًا عندما نقدم أنفسنا للرب مثل القديسين، عندما نصف أنفسنا بأننا لا نحيا لنفوسنا بل للرب الذي مات من أجلنا، كما فعل بولس الطوباوي عندما قال “مع المسيح صلبت فأحيا لا أنا بل المسيح يحيا في”(9)
Let us give him what he has in us
Now, brethren, our life really consists in our rejecting the things of the flesh and holding fast to the things of our Savior alone. The present season demands of us not only such words but also the imitation of the works of the saints.
Let us follow their example, for if we know Him who died (for us), we shall no longer live for ourselves but for Christ who dwells in us.
When we return to our Lord as much as we can, we return to Him not from our own resources but from those things which we have taken from Him, which are His grace. He asks us for His gifts which He has bestowed upon us. He bore witness to that by saying, “What you give me are my gifts.”(10)For whatever you give me as if it were your own, you have received from me, for it is a gift from God.
Let us offer to God all the virtue and true holiness that is in Him, and let us keep His feast in piety by these things which He has sanctified for us.
Let us work on the holy days…using the same means that lead us on a path towards God.
But let us not be like the pagans, the ignorant Jews, the heretics, or the schismatics…
The pagans thought that the feast was manifested by a lot of eating.
And the Jews, living in the shadows and in the letters, think so.
And the dissidents return in different places with false ideas.
As for us, my brothers, let us rise above the pagans, keeping the feast with spiritual sincerity and bodily purity. Let us rise above the Jews, not celebrating through letters and shadows, but by being radiant and enlightened by the light of truth, looking to the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2). Let us rise above the dissenters, not tearing the garment of Christ, but eating in one house, which is the universal Church, the Passover of the Lord, who according to His holy commandments leads us to virtue, recommending the purity of this feast. For Passover is truly free from evil, for training in virtue and the transition from death to life.
This is what the symbol in the Old Testament teaches. For they toiled greatly to cross from Egypt to Jerusalem, but now we are coming out of death into life.
They passed from Pharaoh to Moses, but we rise from Satan to be with the Savior.
And just as at such a time they bear annual testimony to the symbol of salvation, so we make a memorial of our salvation.
We fast in contemplation of death, so that we may be able to live.
We watch not as mourners, but waiting for the Lord, when he comes from the wedding feast, so that we may live with one another in victory, hastening to proclaim victory over death.
How do we return?
May we, my beloved, govern ourselves - as the Word requires - at all times and govern ourselves perfectly, and thus live without ever forgetting the great works of God, and never being separated from the practice of virtue!
وكما ينذرنا الصوت الرسولي قائلاً “أذكر يسوع المسيح المقام من الأموات”(11)Without referring to a specific time, but rather to have it in our minds at all times.
But because of the laziness of many we postpone from day to day, so let us start from these days!
He allowed the time of remembrance (of Christ's resurrection) for this purpose, that He might show the saints the reward of their calling, and admonish and rebuke the negligent.
Therefore, let us, in all the remaining days, be preserved in good conduct, and let our work be repentance for all that we neglect, for no man is ever infallible, even if his life on earth were but one day, as the righteous man Job testifies.
As we extend to what is ahead(12)Let us pray that we do not partake of the Passover unworthily, lest we be in danger.
For those who keep the feast in purity, the Passover is their heavenly food, but for those who violate the feast by defilement and recklessness, it is reprehensible and dangerous. For it is written that whoever eats or drinks it unworthily will be guilty of the body (death) of the Lord.(13).
So let us not stop at merely performing the rituals of the feast, but prepare to approach the divine lamb and touch the heavenly food.
Let us cleanse our hands and purify our bodies.
Let us keep our whole mind from defilement, not giving ourselves over to pride and lusts, but always occupying ourselves with our Lord and the divine teachings, so that we may be completely pure and be able to be partakers of the Word.(14).
Eid date
We begin the holy feast on the fourteenth of Baramouda (April 9) on the (first) eve of the week, and end on the nineteenth of the same month of Baramouda (April 14), and the first day of the blessed week is the twentieth of the same month of Baramouda (April 15), to which we add the seven weeks of Benedict; and this with prayers, and with the love of relatives.(15), and our love for one another, and to be at peace with all.
We are heirs of the kingdom of heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father belong all glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
All the brothers who are with me greet you.
Kiss each other with a holy kiss.
(1) John 7:37.
(2) Psalm 1:1,2.
(3) 2 Corinthians 2:17
(4) Psalm 116:12.
(5) See Romans 5:14, Luke 23:43, 17:94.
(6) Psalm 116:13, 15.
(7) Matthew 22:20.
(8) Matthew 23:20.
(9) Galatians 2:20.
(10) See Numbers 2:28
(11) 2 Timothy 2:8.
(12) In 13:3.
(13) See 1 Corinthians 11:27.
(14) See 2 Peter 4:1.
(15) The relative here means every human being.