It is the Epistle of Saint Paul the Apostle to the people of Ephesus. This saint wrote 14 epistles containing 100 chapters, and they are among the books of the New Testament. The Epistle to the Ephesians is among these epistles, and he wrote it while he was in prison in Rome. Contrary to his usual practice, he did not address a problem, explain a doctrine, or answer a question as he did in most of the other epistles. Rather, he wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians out of love for Christ and love for the people of Ephesus, where he stayed during his ministry for about three years. No other city during his ministry received such a long stay from him. The word Ephesus means beloved or desired. From here, the Epistle to the Ephesians became the beloved epistle.

It is a devotional epistle rather than a controversial one. It is free of personal sentiments, as he did not say in it, “Greet so-and-so,” as in the Epistle to the Romans, for example. The epistle also describes the Church as heaven, Christ is our redeemer as a father, and that the work of Satan is to deprive us of heaven. Some of the fathers see the epistle as symbolic of a great palace with six halls, explained by the six chapters of the epistle. All are under the title “The Church is the Body of Christ,” and each one of us is a member of this body. What is unusual is that he ends the epistle twice with the word “Amen”: once at the end of the third chapter, and the other time at the end of the sixth chapter. The first part was instructional, and the second part was practical.

It is truly a beloved epistle, as we take from it a portion that we pray daily in the Matins Agpeya Prayer: chapter four (v. 1–5), “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord…” We also consider it the jewel of his fourteen epistles, since he established its church during his second missionary trip in 54 AD (Acts 18), stayed there for three years during his third trip (Acts 19), gave a wonderful farewell address to the presbyters of the Church (Acts 20), and wrote his epistle from prison in Rome, in 63 AD, a few years before his martyrdom.

Ephesus was one of the five most important cities in the Roman Empire: Rome, Corinth, Alexandria, Antioch, and Ephesus. Ephesus was also famous for five architectural landmarks: the Temple of Artemis, the goddess of the moon; the treasury and diverse commerce; a museum of statues of magnificent beauty and craftsmanship; a refuge for criminals fleeing to its temple; and a theater for athletic activities such as bullfighting.

The importance of this city goes back to the fact that it was the stage for many historical events. It was the birthplace of Pythagoras, the famous mathematician. In it also, Saint John the Apostle wrote his theological Gospel, then the Book of Revelation, and then departed there. The Third Ecumenical Council was also held there in 431 AD.

If you wish, my dear reader, to experience this beloved epistle, I advise you to begin by reading it once in one sitting, and underline some words that attract your attention and meditate on them more. Then begin studying each part separately with careful attention, focus, and prayer. I ask you to notice that the word “saints” is repeated 14 times in the epistle, and by it he means all believers, young and old, virgins and married. God always gives the spirit of hope, and therefore we struggle spiritually, and He works in us so that we become sanctified in Christ Jesus. Saint Augustine says concerning this: “He is the way, the beginning, the end, and the middle. No one carries me but You. You take me in Your arms and bring me into Yourself.”

We can study this epistle through six basic ideas:

1- Know the blessings of Christ, for the goal is to enter into a personal relationship of knowledge with Christ, the Beloved in our hearts, as Job the Righteous once expressed and said: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You” (Job 42:5).

2- Remember the experience of precious salvation on the Cross, and how He united everyone in Him, and how in Him we became one unity for all who accepted this great redemption through the glorious Cross.

3- Do not grow tired of knowledge, for the spiritual life is a constant and continuous work without exhaustion or boredom. Remember that Saint Paul the Apostle wrote this epistle while he was in prison, bound with chains, yet he was in great joy, as he recorded his spiritual experience in the Epistle to the Philippians, which he also wrote in prison.

4- Walk worthily, and he sets steps for this spiritual walk. Then, in the second half of chapter four, he continues with “do not walk,” in order to warn us against laziness, imitating other nations, and the possibility of grieving the Holy Spirit through wrong conduct.

5- Walk in the light carefully, not as fools but as wise. From this chapter we read an important passage that is always said in the prayers of the holy Mystery of Matrimony, by which the building of a new home begins.

6- Stand firm and put on the whole armor of God in the experience of church life by which we live in communal worship and private worship through the enjoyable spiritual struggle within the Church, her doctrine, and her rite.

I leave you, my dear reader, with these life-giving words in the beloved epistle, so that you may live a practical experience in your life and service, and learn how to strive toward the joyful eternity. Let your spiritual exercise during the Fast of the Apostles this year be to read this epistle with focus and meditation, and to experience it.

This page is also available in: العربية