Easter on March 26, 338 AD.

Distress does not prevent me from writing to you

My brothers...even though I travel all this distance for your sake, I do not forget that custom that we received from our fathers, so I do not remain silent without informing you of the date of the Holy Eid...

For even though I have been hindered by those who poured out the sorrows that you heard about, and despite the trials that have befallen me, and the distance that separates me from you, and while the enemies of truth follow our steps and set up nets for us until they find a message from us, with which they increase their wounds by accusing us; In all of this, the Lord comforts us and strengthens us in our hardships. Therefore, no matter how much we are in the midst of conspiracies they are plotting around us, we are not afraid to inform you and inform you of our feast of resurrection, the Savior, even if we are at the ends of the earth.

Likewise, when I wrote to the priests of Alexandria, I asked them to send you these letters under their supervision, despite my knowledge of the dangers surrounding them from the enemies. However, I have commanded them to have the apostolic courage to speak, saying: Let no hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, temptations, or sword separate us from Christ.(1).

As I keep the feast, I long for you to keep it too, my beloved ones.

Since I feel that it is my duty to announce this holiday to you, that is why I did not delay in doing this work so as not to be rebuked by the apostolic commandment that says, “Give everyone their rights.”(2).

I will cross with you even though we are physically apart

As I did all my work towards God, I was eager to celebrate the feast with you, without taking into consideration the distance between us. Because even though space separates us, the Lord is the Giver of the feast that is our feast itself(3)Who is the giver of the Holy Spirit(4)It brings us together in thought and opinion and in the bond of peace(5), because we are all busy with the same things, and offer the same prayers for each other. Therefore, the distance of place cannot separate us, as the Lord brings us together and unites us with each other.

For if he had promised, saying, that if two or three were gathered together in his name, he would be in the midst of them(6)It is clear that since the Lord is in the midst of those who are gathered together in every place (despite the distance of the place from each other), He unites them and accepts the prayers of all of them, as if they were approaching together, and He listens to all as if they were crying out with one mouth, saying, “ Amen"!

I bear such sorrows and trials as I have mentioned to you, my brothers...

In distress God is glorified

In order not to bother you at all, I just want to remind you briefly, because man does not forget the pain he feels in experience... so that man will not be ungrateful and turn away from the divine meeting. Because there is no time in which a person glorifies God like the time in which hardships number, and there is no time in which a person offers thanks like the time in which he finds rest after fatigue and distress.

When Hezekiah destroyed the Assyrians, he praised the Lord with thanksgiving, saying, “The Lord has saved me.” We will play with our strings all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord.”(7).

And the three blessed heroic boys who were tested in Babylon. Ananias, Mishael, and Azariah, when they were safe and the fire became like dew to them, they thanked God, praising and glorifying Him.

I also wrote to you, my brothers, with these matters in mind, because to this day God continues to do things that are impossible in the eyes of humans. What humans cannot do is possible for God... which is to bring us to you, and not deliver us as prey into the mouths of those who want to devour us...

God is the satisfaction of all

The good God multiplies His tender love for us, not only when He granted salvation to the world through His wisdom, but also when the enemies (the Arians) persecute us and seize us, as Blessed Paul said when he was describing the riches of Christ’s incomprehensible love, saying, “God is rich in mercy for the sake of His love.” He loved us so much. We are dead in sins sometimes with Christ.”(8) Because the power of man and all creatures is weak and poor, while the power that is above man, uncreated, rich and incomprehensible, has no beginning, but is eternal.

God does not use one method of treatment. Rather, because He is rich, He uses many methods for our salvation through His Word, which is not limited, restricted, or obstructed in the methods of treatment that He sanctifies for us. Rather, He is rich and able to shape Himself according to the needs and ability of every soul.

It is the word of God, His power, and His wisdom, as Solomon testified about wisdom, saying: “And it is one, and omnipotent of all things, and abiding in itself, and renewing all things, and being transmitted to holy souls from generation to generation, and making friends and prophets of God” (Wisdom 7:27).

For those who have not yet reached the path of perfection, (the Word) is to them (1 Corinthians 3:2) like a flock offering them milk. This is what Paul served when he said: “You were given milk to drink, not food.”

As for those who have advanced beyond the stage of complete childhood, but are still weak as they seek perfection, for these too (the Word) is as food as much as they can bear. Paul also served it, when he said, “But the weak eat vegetables” (Romans 14:2).

As for the person who begins to walk on the path of perfection, he no longer eats from the previous things, but rather becomes the “word” for bread, and the body for food, as it is written: “But strong food is for those of maturity, who through exercise have their senses trained” (Hebrews 5:14). .

Rather, when you sow the word, it does not produce equal fruit among all people, but rather produces abundant and varied fruit, yielding one hundred and sixty and thirty (Matthew 13:8), as the Savior, the sower of grace and the giver of the Spirit, taught us.

This is not something that is doubtful, nor does it need someone to support it. Rather, we can look to the field in which He (the Lord) sows, as we find that the word is clear and fruitful in the Church. Not only do virgins alone adorn the field, nor do monks alone, but also those who are married in honorable marriages. With the chastity of everyone...

The Lord has prepared many mansions with His Father (John 14:2), but although the place of dwelling is found in various degrees according to the progress of each one, we will all be within the strongholds, kept within the same fence where the enemy (Satan) and all his company are expelled. out.

Because outside of light there is darkness, and away from blessing there is curse. Likewise, Satan is far from the saints, and sin is far from virtue. That is why the Bible rebukes Satan, saying, “Go, Satan” (Matthew 4:10). While he calls us, saying: “Enter through the narrow gate” (Matthew 7:13), and again he says: “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.”

And so also the Spirit cries out before in the Psalms, saying, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving (in Psalms)(9).

Because through virtue, man enters God as Moses did in the dense cloud where God was.

But through vice, a person leaves the presence of the Lord, as happened with Cain when he killed his brother(10)When he left the presence of the Lord as much as his soul was worried about.

And the psalmist enters, saying, “So I come to the altar of God, to the delight of my joy (of my youth).”(11).

The Bible bears testimony against Satan that he left the presence of God and struck Job with sores (Job 2:7). Because this is the character of those who leave the presence of God, striking men and harming them. Likewise, the characteristics of those who deviate from the faith (Arians) persecute and harm the faith.

On the contrary, we find the saints approaching them (men of God) and looking at them as friends, as David did, speaking in a frank manner, saying, “My eyes are on the faithful of the earth, that I may make them sit with me” (Psalm 101:6).

Paul urges us to accept those who are weak in faith(12) Because virtue is charitable (i.e. a person loves good for others)... and sin makes a person love evil for others. This is what Saul did - as a sinner - when he persecuted David. However, when David found an opportunity to kill Saul, he did not kill him.

Esau also persecuted Jacob, but Jacob defeated his evil through meekness.

 The eleven sold Joseph, but Joseph, in his kindness and compassion, had compassion on them.

The ruin of the Jews and their loss of every divine blessing

What is the need to prolong this conversation?! When our Lord and Savior persecuted him, the Pharisees wept because of their ruin!

They harassed him, but he did not threaten them, not even when they made him sad or killed him! But sadness for those who committed this!

This Savior suffered for man, but they despised “life, light, and grace” and expelled him!

They could have received all of this through the Savior who suffered for us. But because of their injustice and blindness, he cried!

Because if they had understood what was written in the Psalms, they would not have been so bold against the Savior, as the Spirit says, “Why did the nations rage and the peoples think about vanity?!”(13).

If they contemplate the prophecy of Moses(14) When they crucified Him who is their life!

If they had examined with understanding what was written, those prophecies that came against them would not have been fulfilled in them, and their city would not have now become desolate, and grace would be taken away from them, and they would become without the law (because they disobeyed it and rejected the Giver of the law) and would become strangers and childless.

Thus, the Psalms had previously declared that the sons of strangers had done wrong to Him(15)And the Prophet Isaiah said, “I have nurtured children and brought them up. As for them, they disobeyed me.”(16). Thus, they were no longer the people of God or the holy nation, but rather the rulers of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah became better than them. Like the Prophet saying, “Sodom, your sister, did not do anything like you.”(17). Because the people of Sodom underestimated the angels, but the angels underestimated the Lord God, the King of all, and they dared to kill the Lord of the angels, not knowing that the Christ whom they slaughtered was alive.

But those Jews who conspired for the death of the Lord rejoiced little in these matters and lost eternity.

They were ignorant of this. The eternal reward does not lie in temporal gifts, but rather in the hope of eternal things. Because through tribulations, labors, and sorrows, the saints enter the kingdom of heaven, and when they reach the kingdom, grief, distress, and sighing flee from them, and they remain in comfort.

Thus, when Job was tempted there, he became the famous friend of the Lord!

As for the one who loves pleasures and enjoys them for a while, he then passes into a life full of sorrows, like Esau, who had temporary food, but after that he went into debt because of it...

Let us endure the pain

Ah, dear and beloved ones! If we are to gain consolation from sorrows, relief from labors, health from labors, and immortality after death, then we should not be sad about the human diseases that befall humanity, nor should we worry about the trials that befall us.

We must not be afraid if those who fight Christ (the Arians) conspire against the righteous. Rather, we please God more because of these matters, as we prepare more and train for a life of virtue. Because how can we gain patience unless there are troubles and sorrows?

How can chivalry appear except by our tolerance of ridicule and injustice?

How can one test the possibility unless there is an attack from enemies (Arians and others)?

How can our long-suffering be justified if there are no snitches from those who are against Christ (the Arians)?!

Finally, how can a person realize virtue unless the evils of the wicked are revealed first?!

Thus, our Lord preceded us in this when He wanted to show people how to endure...

When he was beaten, he endured with patience; when he was reviled, he did not curse; and when he suffered, he did not threaten, but presented his back to those who struck him, and his cheeks to those who struck him, and did not turn his face away from spitting (1 Pet. 2:23; Isaiah 50:6).

Finally, His will was to be led to death so that we would see in Him the image of all virtues and immortality, so we would follow in His footsteps, trampling with truth on serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy (sin).

Paul's example

Thus, when Paul also followed the example of his Lord, he commanded us, saying, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”(18).

In this way, Paul overcame Satan’s divisions, writing, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(19). Because the enemy approaches us at the time of sorrows, trials, and labors, striving to destroy us, but the man who is in Christ struggles with these opposing things, and meets anger with long-suffering, mockery with meekness, and vice with virtue. Then he obtains victory and declares, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.”(20)“But in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”(21).

This is God's grace, and these are God's ways of reforming human beings, for He suffered to free those who suffer in Him.

He came down to know us, before he was born, so that we could love him who is not (an ordinary human being). He came down to where (death) was to grant us immortality. He became weak for us so that we might gain strength...

Finally, he became a human being so that we who die as human beings may rise again, and death no longer has power over us, as the apostolic words declare, “Death no longer has power over us.”(22).

The Arians are ungrateful!

Since the Arians and Manichaeans do not accept this(23)They are anti-Christ and heretics, cursing with their tongues the One who is “helper,” blaspheming the One who liberates them, and thinking various thoughts against the Savior. Because when He descended for the good of man, they denied His divinity, looking at His coming from the Virgin, while doubting His being the Son of God. When He came incarnated, they rejected His eternity. When they see Him suffering for us, they deny the essence of His eternity, allowing themselves acts of ungratefulness, despising the Savior, cursing Him instead of knowing His grace.

We address these words to them (i.e. the Arians) rightly, saying: “Oh, you ungrateful anti-Christ! You are completely evil and a sacrificer to your Lord, completely blind, and Jewish in your thinking! Have you understood the Holy Bible and listened to the saints, when it says, “Shine your face, and we will be saved?”(24)“Your light and your truth guide me.”(25).

Don't you know that the Lord did not come down for His own sake, but for our sake, and because of this, you are amazed at the tenderness of His love?!

If you had contemplated the Father and the Son, you would not have blasphemed the Son as if he had a different nature?!

If you understood His special work of tender love toward us, you would not make the Son a stranger to the Father, nor would you regard Him as a stranger, the One who reconciled us to the Father...

The Lord was always mocking Satan and he still does this to this day (saying to the Arians): “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”(26).

This is the Lord revealed in the Father, and also the Father is revealed in the Son, who is truly the Son of the Father, as he was incarnated for us in the last days, to present himself to the Father in our place, and to save us through his offering and sacrifice!...

This is the one who in ancient times was slaughtered as a lamb, as the lamb symbolized him, but after that he came and was sacrificed for us “for Christ also our Passover was sacrificed for us.”(27).

This is the one who saved us from the nets of the fishermen of the Antichrists (the tricks and machinations of the Arians)...and saved us, his church...

Let us glorify the Lord and thank Him

What is it if we, my brothers, do this deed, except to glorify God and thank the King of all?!

First, let us chant the words of the Psalms, saying, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us a prey to their teeth.”(28).

Let us preserve the feast in this way that our Savior indicated to us - the holy day of Resurrection - so that we may sanctify the feast that is in the heavens with the angels!..

In ancient times, people used to chant a blessing when they came out of sadness...

In the days of Esther, they kept a feast for the Lord(29) As they were saved from the destructive post that called for death, they considered this a holiday, offering thanks to the Lord and glorifying Him...

I wish we could fulfill our vows to the Lord, confess our sins, keep the feast for the Lord in our conversations, our behavior, and our way of life, praising our Lord, who disciplined us for a little while, but did not abandon us or destroy us... nor turn away silently from us.

Now that we have come out of the deception of the famous anti-Christs (the Arians)... and have crossed, as in the wilderness, to His holy church, enduring trials and sorrows in the wilderness, we are sending to you and waiting from you messages as usual.

For this... I offer my thanks to God myself, and I recommend that you also thank Him with me...

Since it is an apostolic custom (to send you a message), therefore, the antichrists and those with schisms wanted to corrupt this custom and stop it. But God did not allow this, but rather renewed and preserved what He had commanded us through the Messenger, so that we would observe the feast with each other, keeping a holy day according to the tradition and commandment of the fathers...

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(1) Romans 8:35.

(2) Romans 7:13.

(3)1 Corinthians 7:5.

(4) Luke 13:11.

(5) Ephesians 3:4.

(6) Matthew 20:18

(7) Isaiah 38:2.

(8) Ephesians 4:2,5.

(9) Psalm 100:4.

(10) Genesis 16:4.

(11) Psalm 43:4.

(12) Romans 1:14.

(13) Psalm 1:2.

(14) Deuteronomy 66:28.

(15) See Psalm 45:18.

(16) Isaiah 2:1.

(17) See Mark 4:6, Ezekiel 16:48.

(18) 1 Corinthians 1:11.

(19) Romans 8:38,39.

(20) Philippians 13:4.

(21) Romans 8:37.

(22) See Romans 9:6,14.

(23) Ario-Maniacs and in the Syriac text Arius, Manetes.

(24) Psalm 80:7.

(25) Psalm 43:3.

(26) John 11:14.

(27) 1 Corinthians 7:5.

(28) Psalm 124:6.

(29) Isa 9:3, 21:9.