عقد قداسة البابا تواضروس الثاني مساء اليوم اجتماع الأربعاء الأسبوعي لقداسته بالكنيسة البطرسية.
وحملت عظة الاجتماع عنوان “المرأة المتقية زينة الكنيسة”.

المرأة المتقية زينة الكنيسة .. .. اجتماع الأربعاء بالكنيسة البطرسية
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نقرأ جزء من سفر الأمثال اصحاح 31

نحتفل اليوم بالتذكار الثالث لشهداء هذه الكنيسة وجيد أن يتحول إلي أحتفال وفرح ورأينا الشباب و الأطفال ينشدوا ويسبحوا تذكاراً لشهداء هذه الكنيسة ومرور ثلاث سنوات هذا من قريب ولكن احتفالنا هذا اليوم نحتفل بتذكار حياة ومانقرأه في كتب التاريخ الكنسي عشناه ورأيناه بأعيننا هؤلاء يشفعون ويصلون من أجلنا وكنيستنا بين السماء والأرض وكنيستنا مجاهدة ولذلك ما أجمل تذكارات الشهداء ويزيد التذكار جمالاً أننا في كيهك شهر التسبيح وهم استشهدوا في القداس ..ذهبوا مستعدين ويزيد فرحتنا أن الكنيسة تخصص مزاراً و اليوم دشنا لوح مقدس ووضعناه لتكون كنيسة صغيرة ..اشكر أباء الكنيسة و الخدام وكل من شاركوا ونحن نفرح مع الأسر أن لنا شفعاء.

في المرتيين السابقتين تحدثنا عن :
1- الأصوام توبة الكنيسة
2-التسبيح بهجة الكنيسة
و اليوم نتحدث عن “المرأة المتقية زينة الكنيسة” عندما نحتفل بتذكارات قديسين فهم ولدوا من أمهات وعندما نحتفل بهم نحتفل أيضاً بأمهاتهم فالمرأة المتقية زينة الكنيسة ونتحدث حول عدة نقط:
1- العذراء مريم فخر جنسنا
كانت في البداية حواء أم البشر وهي أوجدها الله من أعماق كيان آدم وصارت مرتبطة به ولكن عندما دخلت الخطية استحقوا عقاباً وفي التدبير الإلهي من يقوم بعلاج هذا تكون إمرأة وكانت العذراء هي المدخل ومعمل من أجل خلاص البشر وعندما نقرأ الكتاب المقدس نقابل نساء فضليات مثل (مريم أخت موسي ومريم المجدلية ) ونجد في التاريخ الكتابي نساء شريرات نتذكر منهم (إيزابيل الشريرة ) و الكثير منهن فضليات ولأن العذراء لها دور من أجلنا نصلي بأستمرا قطعة(السلام لك…)
2- المرأة لها دور قوي في التاريخ و الأحداث
مثل بعض الأسفار في العهد القديم بأسماء نساء مثل (سفر أستير وسفر راعوث) وأخريات أرسلت لهم رسائل مثل (كيريا) فالمرأة وكل القديسين الذين نحتفل بهم أتوا من أمرأة ربت وكبرت وسلمت الإيمان وصارت المرأة لها تأثير في الحياة المقدسة .
3- في قصة الميلاد : السيد المسيح رفع من شأن المرأة
لأن في العهد القديم لم يكن لها قيمة وكانت ليس لها كرامة في فكر ووجدان العهد القديم في ميلاد السيد المسيح كرم المرأة في صورها الثلاثة (المتزوجون،العذراء،الأرملة)
– المرأة المتزوجة كانت”أليصابات” فكانت أمرأة عاقر وصلت كثيراً مع زوجها زكريا الكاهن حتي جاءها النسل”يوحنا المعمدان”
– المرأة العذراء
هي العذراء مريم التي ولد منها التي نقول علي اسمها الثيؤطوكيات التي تحمل معاني لاهوتية تعيش بها الكنيسة
– المرأة الأرملة
كانت حنة النبية التي كانت لها 84 سنة وذكر اسمها في أحداث الميلاد
وفي التاريخ نجد المرأة زوج أو أم أو أخت أو ابنة أو ناسكة أو شهيدة متألمة
و السيد المسيح تعامل مع أختين مثل مريم ومرثا وأرملة كنعان ومعاملاته مع المرأة كانت لها دروس وتعامل مع المرأة السامرية وصارت قديسة وبشرت أهلها وتعامل مع المجدلية رغم أنها في بداية حياتها كانت بعيدة وبها شياطين لكن أختارها السيد المسيح لتنقل بشري القيامة للتلاميذ . وفي العهد الجديد هناك كثيرات مثل “فيبي” واسماء كثيرة في رسائل بولس الرسول “حكمة المرأة تبني بيتها و الحماقة تهدمه” لهذا طوبي للبيت الذي به أمرأة حكيمة و الحكمة يعطيها الله للإنسان .
وأخيراً في شهر كيهك الكنيسة تخصصه لتطويب العذراء وإذا ركزنا في القراءات نجد أنها تتحدث عن المرأة
– في الأحد الاول نتقابل مع زكريا وأليصابات
– في الأحد الثاني نتقابل مع مريم العذراء و بشارة الملاك لها
– في الأحد الثالث نتقابل مع العذراء مريم واليصابات
– في الاحد الرابع نتقابل مع أليصابات وانعم عليها الله بيوحنا ونتقابل مع العذراء مريم كنوع من التكريم و التطويب
ففي قراءات الأحد الأول :
في العشية نتقابل مع المرأة ساكبة الطيب
وفي باكر نتقابل مع المرأة التي قدمت الفلسين
الخلاصة:
أن المرأة المتقية هي زينة الكنيسة وإذا كان الشهداء هنا شهيد و28 شهيدة نتذكرهم ونفرح بهم ونلتمس صلواتهم لأجلنا ونتذكرهم وفكرنا مشغول بالسماء بأستمرار .لإلهنا المجد الدائم أمين

تعليق قداسة البابا على رسالة نيافة الأنبا سيرابيون الخاصة بقداس ٢٥ ديسمبر

علق قداسة البابا تواضروس الثاني علي الرسالة التي وجهها نيافة الأنبا سيرابيون مطران لوس أنچلوس لكهنة إيبارشيته والخاصة بإقامة قداس يوم ٢٥ ديسمبر بالتزامن مع أعياد الكريسماس في الغرب.
وجاء تعليق قداسة البابا خلال اجتماع الأربعاء الأسبوعي لقداسته والذي عقده مساء اليوم بالكنيسة البطرسية.
وقال قداسته:
إجابة سؤال بخصوص الرسالة التي وجهها نيافة أنبا سيرابيون والخاصة بالاحتفال بعيد الميلاد يومي ٢٥ ديسمبر و٧ يناير .

قرأتم كثيرًا على الميديا ونسمع ناس رقباء على الكنيسة والمجمع وكل شخص يكتب كلام وأوجد كتابات تعدت حدود الأدب.

والرسالة هي أن احتفالنا كالمعتاد يوم ٢٩ كيهك ولكن لأن وردت شكاوى من بعض الأسر في أمريكا فقال نيافة أنبا سيرابيون أن يقام قداس احتفال بالعيد يوم ٢٥ ديسمبر وسط الصوم ويوم ٧ يناير وقال أن نصلي القداس دون كسر الصوم.

واعلموا أن الكنيسة عبر العصور تسدد احتياج، فكان قديمًا القداس يصلى يوم الأحد لأن الناس كانت إجازاتهم يوم الأحد وعندما أصبحت الإجازات متنوعة أصبحت القداسات في كل وقت فهذا احتياج رعوي.

ومثال آخر، صلوات الإكليل كانت تصلى في الصباح أثناء القداس وعندما وجدت الكنيسة أن هذا ليس عمليًا جعلت طقس الإكليل يصلى ليلًا بحسب ظروف الناس.
ونحن في مصر نصلي من أجل النيل ومن هاجروا يصلون من أجل النهر المتواجد عندهم وهنا نحن نصلي من أجل الزروع لأن كنيستنا مبنية على الزراعة ومن في الخارج يصلون من أجل المياه والمطر والينابيع والبحيرات، كل بلد لها احتياجها وهذه ضريبة امتداد الكنيسة للخارج. وأي تدبير رعوي يتم بين الأسقف والكهنة وبالتشاور مع البابا ليرى المناسب للشعب.
والأحبار هم حراس العقيدة والتقليد والطقس وهم منوط بهم إحداث أي تغيير وعدد الآباء في المجمع كبير وتوجد آراء نتناقش فيها. لهذا اعرف أن السبت من أجل الإنسان وليس الإنسان من أجل السبت.
التدابير الطقسية التي تضعها الكنيسة لأجل الإنسان وليس العكس.
مثلًا تمثيلية القيامة لم تكن موجودة في كنيستنا واستعرناها من إحدى الكنائس، فالطقس يتطور مع الزمن.

اعرف أن مطران لوس أنجلوس أصدر رسالة وليس بيان وهذه الرسالة بناء على تساؤلات قدمت من شعب إيبارشيته وهو التزم بتوصية المجمع أن المهجر عندما يواجه احتياج رعوي يتناقش فيه ويرى كيف ينفذه.

البعض ظن أن العيد أصبح يوم ٢٥ ديسمبر وهذا جهل بالرسالة. الرسالة جاءت بناءًا على ظروف لديهم. فهي توجيه اختياري فقط. هذا الاستثناء ليس بديل عن ٢٩ كيهك وهذا ليس عام في كل الكنائس ولكن في الكنائس التي تحتاج وهي ليست إجبارية وليست بها فكر دائم.

الأقباط المهاجرون عاشوا بفكر الكنيسة ولكن الجيلان الثاني والثالث تزوجوا جنسيات مختلفة وإذا وجدت هذه الظروف توجد هذه الاستثناءات.
والرسالة عندما كتبها نيافته لم يكن فيها أي تعديل في أي عيد في الغرب ففي شهري ديسمبر ويناير الظروف الجوية تكون غير مواتية وتوجد ظروف لا نشعر بها.
الشيء الغريب أن من تحدثوا لم يفوضهم أحد وأحدهم قال (لقد هالنا وهال الشعب القبطي كله) من فوضك لكي تتحدث باسم الشعب؟!
أيها الحبيب “انظر الخشبة التي في عينيك” وأن تناسيت أنه توجد خشبة في عينيك، فكيف ترى؟
وليس من الحكمة مناقشة هذه الأمور على الميديا ووسائل التواصل الاجتماعي.
ناقش مع البطريرك والأساقفة افهم الموضوع قبل أن تتكلم ولا تتدخل فيما لا يعنيك، وأحد الكهنة نشر عتاب للأنبا سيرابيون على التواصل الاجتماعي والعتاب يكون وجهًا لوجه كيف تُنصِّب نفسك؟
وكاهن آخر مقطوع من الكنيسة يكتب آيات ويغير معانيها انظر لنفسك فأنت لك نفس واحدة إن خسرتها خسرت كل الأشياء.

أوجه نداء لكل الذين كتبوا انتبهوا لخلاصكم وحياتكم، وإن خرجت من أفواهكم كلمة ليست في محلها فهي تطيح بك بعيد عن السماء ونهايتها التراب الإنجيل يقول “تَغَيَّرُوا عَنْ شَكْلِكُمْ بِتَجْدِيدِ أَذْهَانِكُمْ” (رو ١٢ : ٢).
أيها الأحباء انتبهوا، كل شيء يتم من خلال أن تملأهم غيرة مؤتمنين على الكنيسة.
أردت توضيح هذه الأمور وشرحها باختصار شديد لعلهم يهدأون.
فالكنيسة لها قدسية واحترام ولها طريقة معالجة في الأمور. أردت التوضيح لئلا يعثر أحد.

المرأة المتقية زينة الكنيسة .. .. العظة الأسبوعية لقداسة البابا تواضروس الثاني من الكنيسة البطرسية على الساوند كلاود
https://soundcloud.com/media-center-157147919/bl9lsm81vhqe

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. One God. Amen. May His grace and mercy rest upon us, from now and forevermore. Amen.

By the grace of Christ I will read a portion from the last chapter of the Book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 31:10-31

10 Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.
11 The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships, she brings her food from afar.
15 She also rises while it is yet night, and provides food for her household, and a portion for her maidservants.
16 She considers a field and buys it; from her profits she plants a vineyard.
17 She girds herself with strength, and strengthens her arms.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is good, and her lamp does not go out by night.
19 She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hand holds the spindle.
20 She extends her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet.
22 She makes tapestry for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies sashes for the merchants.
25 Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness.
27 She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.

The Grace of God the Father be with us all. Amen.
On this day we remember and celebrate the third anniversary of the martyrs of this holy church, the Church of St. Peter in Cairo (El-Botroseya), and it very good that this remembrance be turned into a celebration and to joy, as we heard the children and youth of the church choir sing in their praises just a little while ago.
Three years ago is not a very long time, and so we take this entire day to remember life, for the remembrance of martyrs and their lives is the very commemoration of the life of our Coptic Church. And so it is that what we read about in the Church’s history books, we have experienced and witnessed with our own eyes and this is why we are joyous on this day. Those who were martyred in this church and whose blood was scattered everywhere, they are now interceding and praying on our behalf. And as we know and believe, our Church is the victorious Church that abides between heaven and earth, the persevering Church, the united Church, and so it is for this reason that the remembrance of martyrs is a beautiful thing.
And what makes the commemoration of this event even more beautiful is that it during the month of Kiahk – the month we dedicate to our mother the Virgin Mary and to the praises and glorifications of her – and these martyrs were in fact martyred during the Liturgy and prayers, after the great praises on one of the nights of Kiahk, and so they went to heaven prepared.
It increases our joy that the church has dedicated a shrine and a small church in their honor and filled it with icons, with many of their photos, and with some memorabilia from the events of that day. And early this morning we consecrated a holy tablet. I brought it with me and we have placed it within the shrine of the new small church, which is now a church in which we can pray Liturgies, of course with a very small number of people, but it is a very good and beautiful commemoration of this event, and it is also a nice thing for those who will be visiting here in future generations.
I thank the fathers of this church and Mr. Michelle, as well as the beloved Church-servants and the members of the choir and all who participated today. And we of course do not offer condolences to our brothers and sisters who are the families of those who were martyred, but we rejoice right along with them that we now have intercessors in heaven.
The last two weeks I talked to you about two subjects:
1. Fasts are the Repentance of the Church, and
2. Praising is the Joyousness of the Church.
3. Today I want to talk with you about “The Virtuous Woman is the adornment of the Church.”
A good mother raises saints, and so when we celebrate the life of any saint we are celebrating a mother, and so every time we celebrate a saint we are also celebrating the woman who brought him or her forth, as it was said to the Lord Christ, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” (Lk 11:27). And so a virtuous woman is the adornment of the Church and I would like to speak with you on this subject in three brief points.

1-Our lady the Virgin Mary is the pride of our human race
She is the pride of our entire race, both men and women, and so the pride of our human race is a woman – our mother the Virgin Mary. At first it was Eve; she was the mother of all humanity and God created her from the very depths of Adam himself, and she became loyal to Adam and closely connected to him.
But when she and Adam broke the Commandment – and they also broke the heart of the Lord – sin entered the world, and so punishment was deserved. And so according to the Divine economy and plan there had to be someone, also a woman, who could remedy this situation and the breaking of the Commandment, because our mother, Eve, was the entry point and gate by which our Lord Jesus Christ incarnated and came to us for the salvation of humanity, and so in Proverbs 31:29 when it says, “Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all,” this can be said to be pointing to our mother the Virgin Mary. And so our Mother the Virgin Mary became as a gate and this is what we celebrate the entire month of Kiahk – each of the four Sundays during the Feast of Nativity and until Christmas.
And of course as we read along in the Holy Bible we meet many virtuous women. We meet Miriam the sister of Moses, a woman who was known for her praising; we meet Deborah, the judge; we meet Mary Magdalene, the repentant woman, and many other women virtuous women.
But just so that the picture before us is complete, wicked woman were also found and mentioned in the history of the Bible, for example, we remember the women who changed the heart of the wise King Solomon leading him to fall into many sins, despite that he had been chosen. And we also remember the wicked Jezebel who trespassed and took possession of things that did not belong to her. But yes, there is an abundance of virtuous women in the Bible, and as he tells us in verse 29, “Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.”
And so it is because of the very great role that our mother the Virgin Mary served on our behalf, on behalf of humanity as a whole, that we make mention of her in many praises and in the Agpeya prayers, and it is the reason why we have a special prayer-segment in the Agpeya prayers for her, namely, the Hail To Saint Mary. This prayer is composed of four parts, I will read it to you.
HAIL TO SAINT MARY
Hail to you. We ask you, O saint, full of glory, the ever virgin, the Mother of God (Theotokos), the Mother of Christ, lift up our prayers unto your beloved Son, that He may forgive us our sins.
Hail to the Holy Virgin, who bore for us the true Light, Christ our God. Ask the Lord on our behalf, that He may have mercy on our souls, and forgive us our sins.
O Virgin Mary, the holy Mother of God (Theotokos), the trusted advocate of the human race, intercede on our behalf before Christ, Whom you bore, that He may grant us the forgiveness of our sins.
Hail to you, O Virgin, the right and true queen. Hail to the pride of our race (she is the pride of our race), you bore for us Emmanuel. We ask you, remember us, our trusted advocate, before our Lord Jesus Christ, that He may forgive us our sins.
(Taken from http://www.agpeya.org/Prime/prime.html)
And so the first point I want to make about a virtuous woman being the adornment of the Church is that our mother the Virgin Mary is that virtuous woman.
2-The role of women in history and in the Holy Bible
The second point is that across history and throughout the Holy Bible women have always played a great role, in every Book of the Bible, to the point that there are even some Books of the Bible titled after women, like the Book of Ruth and the Book of Ester, and so on. Also, some of the Letters and Epistles in the Bible are addressed to “her,” like the Second Epistle of St. John where he starts the Letter by saying, “To the elect lady and her children” (2 Jn 1:1).
And in Proverbs 31:30 it says, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised,” and so a virtuous woman is a woman who lives in the fear of the Lord and some of the women mentioned in the Holy Bible, like the Samaritan woman, the Canaanite woman, Miriam the sister of Moses, Deborah, Ruth, and Ester, these were all virtuous women.
And we hear that a married woman is the cause of happiness in her home, as it is even said in some foreign folk proverbs, “Happy wife, happy life.” A happy wife brings happiness to her home and makes the home a happy place. And every saint we celebrate, whether male or female, they all came from a woman, and this woman became a mother and nurtured and raised these children and instructed them and passed the faith along to them.
And so women have played a very influential role in the life of holiness, and we hear people often say things like, “I learned this from my mother,” or “I saw my mother doing this and that’s how I learned to do it, and so I am imitating her,” and this applies to all of us, both men and women.
3-The Lord Jesus Christ elevated the social status of women and honored them
The third point is that in the story of the incarnation and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ we find that Christ elevated women and honored them, how so? Because in the Old Testament and in Jewish history, women had not valued, and every morning Jewish men would wake up, open their windows, look to the sky and say, “Blessed are you, Lord, our God, ruler of the universe who has not created me a gentile, a woman, nor a slave” (cf. the Jewish Talmud) If this is what men would say then what would women say when they opened their windows? They must have said, “I thank You Lord God that You created me according to Your will,” and say nothing more.
And so the woman had no honor in the Old Testament and during the time of that way of thinking, she was overlooked, but when the Lord Jesus Christ came He wanted to honor the woman in her three roles: as a married woman, as a virgin woman, and as a widowed woman, and so He gathered all three of these women around Him in the story of His birth.
The married woman was Elizabeth. She had been barren and for many, many years she lifted up many prayers with her husband Zechariah the priest. And as it is written about them, they were a righteous couple and they lived righteously but they did not have any children, but then a child was given to them and this child was John the Baptist, “the greatest among those born of women” (cf. Lk 7:28).
In the story of His birth, Christ also included a woman who was a virgin, this was our mother St. Mary the Virgin; He was born of her. She is the one of whom we pray the daily Theotokos prayers during the month of Kiahk, with all their doctrinal and Divine meanings by which our Church lives.
The widow woman was Anna the prophetess who was 84 years old (cf. Lk 2:37), a woman who was mentioned in the story and events of the birth of the Lord Christ.
And so it was that the Lord Christ honored the woman and elevated her status, from Elizabeth, to our mother the Virgin Mary, to Anna the prophetess, and continuing on throughout the New Testament with many stories where we see His elevating the status of women.
Also, history itself has given us many stories of females who were very heroic, and throughout history we find women who were wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, consecrated ones, martyrs, those who took vows of virginity, and those who suffered, and in all these states of life, the Lord Christ elevated the status of women. He dealt with married women, with virgins, with widows. He dealt with the woman with the issue of blood who touched the hem of His garment and He dealt with the Canaanite woman whom He even praised saying, “Your faith has saved you! Great is your faith!” And according to how the Bible states it, He healed her “demon-possessed” daughter (Mt 15:21-22).
He dealt with two sisters – Mary and Martha – in the beautiful dialogue in the story of the death of their brother Lazarus and how He rose him from the dead, and when He said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (Jn 11:40). And He said to Martha, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed” (Lk 10:41-42).
And so even the very way Christ dealt with women contains lessons for us, lessons we can learn from. Christ dealt with the Samaritan woman, whose personal name is not mentioned in the Bible, but after meeting with Him she became a saint. And Christ even went to her city and stayed there for two days. And after two days when He departed from there, they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world” (Jn 4:42). And they were the first group of people to call Christ by the name, “Savior of the world.”
Christ dealt with Mary Magdalene, despite that at the beginning of her life she was a woman who had been far from the Lord and had been possessed by Satan, but so it was that she became a saint and Christ chose her to be the one to communicate the good news of the resurrection to the disciples, and she was the one to go tell them the news of the resurrection of Christ.
And in John Chapter 20:11-15 we read of her meeting with Christ, how she stood outside the tomb weeping and when the two angels appeared to her and asked her why she was weeping she said, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him … if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” And so it was Mary Magdalene who [was chosen to] spread the news and tell the Apostles of the resurrection of Christ, and this too gives status and honor [to women].
And there are of course many other examples [of virtuous women] in the New Testament, like Phoebe, the deaconess in the Church of Cenchrea (Rom 16:1), in her dealings with St. Paul the Apostle, and she was just one of many women whose names St. Paul the Apostle mentioned throughout his Letters. There was another time when St. Paul said, “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine” (Rom 16:13). What a beautiful thing to say!
Rufus was a servant, and so St. Paul is saying, “Greet the mother of this servant, whom I consider to be my own mother,” and this shows us the importance of relationships and the value of the woman and of mothers in the Holy Bible, in general.
Also, in Proverbs 14:1 it says, “The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands,” and that is why blessed is the home that has a wise woman in it, and wisdom is of course a grace and a blessing that God gives a person.
There is also a very nice saying that says, “A woman is like rain; wherever it is found, it is of benefit.” Wherever the rain falls it gives benefit – it waters the land, it washes a tree, it cools the air, and so on. And so they say that like the rain, wherever a woman is, she is of benefit.
“The woman” in each of the four Kiahk Church Gospel Readings
The last thing I want to talk to you about is that although the Church has dedicated the month of Kiahk to praising the Virgin Mary, yet if you were to pay close attention to the Church’s Gospel Readings during the Saturday Vespers and Sunday morning Liturgies throughout the four Sundays, you would see that they speak of women. And as you know, during the month of Kiahk we read one Gospel Chapter and we divide it into four portions. It is the first Chapter of the Gospel of Luke, which is 80 verses – a very long chapter. We divide it into four portions and read a single portion during each of the four Sunday Liturgies of the month of Kiahk, but what we notice is that in each of those four sections we meet with a woman.
The first Sunday we meet Zechariah and Elizabeth, and how he had become mute as he waited for the fulfillment of God’s promise (Lk 1:20). On the second Sunday we meet with the Virgin Mary and the angel’s message, and how after she received the message she said to him, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).
On the third Sunday we meet with the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth – Elizabeth, a woman advanced in years, and the Virgin Mary, a young girl; Elizabeth – the Old Testament, and the Virgin Mary – the New Testament, meeting with one another. On the fourth Sunday we meet with Elizabeth, God having blessed her and Zechariah the priest with a son, John the Baptist.
And so we meet with women in each of these Readings, and this also is a form of honor and praise for the woman. But not only that, we also meet with women during the prayers of Vespers, Baker, and during the Liturgies. In one of the Bible Readings we meet with the woman who poured the anointing oil on the Lord’s head, the “very costly fragrant oil,” (Mt 26:6), and this symbolizes the giving woman, and the woman who gives something precious, who offers something of high value. They say that the cruse of oil that this woman offered was valued at a year’s wages.
During the Baker Gospel we meet with the woman who offered the two mites, and she symbolizes the woman who gives, but who gives “out of her poverty,” (Lk 21:4), putting in all she had. And we also read in the Bible that there were women who followed the Lord Christ and served Him (Mk 15:41), and this is something that is very well-recognized in the history of the Church and there are many stories of female saints who served in such ways.
And in the Liturgy we meet with Elizabeth, the married woman who lifted her heart to God in prayer. She said, “He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people” (Lk 1:25). She felt as though she lived in shame, and shame is of course a very difficult word, and so when she became pregnant and God gave her a child, her and her husband Zechariah’s prayers were answered.
The conclusion
The conclusion my brethren is that a virtuous woman is the adornment of the Church. And amongst the martyrs of this church, 29 of were young men and 28 were sisters in Christ. And as we remember them and praise them and are proud of them and sense their constant prayers on our behalf, this becomes a good opportunity for our thinking to be renewed and reconnected to heaven and to eternal life. They are our brethren who have preceded us, and as we remember them from here on earth and contemplate them being in heaven, this continually lifts up our own thinking toward heaven.
Glory be to God forever and ever. Amen.