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TheEgo

byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

1.

2.

SevenstepstocrucifyingtheegoandallowingtheTruthtosetyoufree.

Neverrelyonyourownwisdomormightoronhumanstrengthinanyofyourworks.Otherwise,yourmind
willbecomedimandyourinsightblurred,thusblockingthewayforgracetoenteryouandshowyouthewayofGod.Youwill
thusbeledastrayfromtruthandfallintotheenemystrap.Attheend,youwillbeenslavedtoyourownegoandtothedesiresof
otherpeople,Woetothosewhoarewiseintheirowneyes,andshrewdintheirownsight!(Is.5.21).
Bewareofthinkinghighlyofyourself.Neverfeelthatwithoutyoutheworldwouldstop.Foryourselfwould
seemgreatandgrandinyourowneyes.KnowinsteadthatGodcanuseanothertodotheworkbetterthanyou.Hecanmakethe
weakmightyandthemightyweak,thewisefoolishandthefoolishwise.EverythinggoodandusefulinyouisfromGodandnot
fromyou.IfyoudonothanditovertoGodandwithconvictionattributeittohim,hewilltearitawayfromyou.Ifyouboastof
yourintelligenceorvirtue,Godwillleavethemtoyouasmerelyhumangifts.Theywillthenturnintocorruption,loss,and
damage.

3.

YouregomighthatesubmittingtoGod.Itmightescapesurrenderingtohim.Inthemeantime,youwouldbe
makingmuchofyourownpowerattributingyourintelligence,virtue,andsuccesstoyourself.Inthiscase,Godwilldeliveryou
tocontinualdiscipline;disciplineafterdiscipline,tribulationaftertribulation,untilyousuccumbandsurrenderinbrokenness.But
ifyourejectdisciplineandcannotstandtribulation,Godwillforsakeyouforever.

4.

Takeheedthenandopenyourears:Eithercountyourselfasnothinginwordanddeedandmakeupyour
mindtosurrenderyourselftoGodwillallyourmightandyouwillthengladlybereleasedfromyouregobythegraceofGod;or,
youwillbedeliveredtodisciplineuntilyouaresetfreefromyouregoinspiteofyourself.Soifyouwishtooptfortheeasierway,
takethatofvoluntarysubmission.Countyourselffromnowonasnothing,andfollowthepathofgracewherevertheSpiritmay
wishtoleadyou.

5.

KnowforcertainthatsubmissiontoGodandtotalsurrendertohiswillanddivineplanareafreegiftofgrace.
Itthusdemands,besidesprayerandsupplication,atrustingfaithtoreceivethisgift.Thisshouldbecoupledwithalonging
springingfromonesheartthatGodmaynotdeliverustodisciplineforourfolly,norabandonustoourownwisdom.Forthis
reason,weshouldhaveanextremelyresolutewilltorenounceourownselfatalltimesandinallworks.Thisshouldnotbedone
ostentatiouslybeforepeoplebutwithinourconscience.Blessedisthemanwhocandiscoverhisownweaknessandignoranceand
confessthembeforeGodtothelastdayofhislife.

6.

Ifyoufallunderdiscipline,knowforsurethatthisisagreatprofit,forGodchastisesthesoulthathas
forgottenitsweaknessandhasbeenpuffedupbyitstalentsandsuccess.Thisiscarriedonuntilitrealizesitsweakness,especially
whenGoddoesnotprovideintribulationawaytoescape.Hebesiegesthesoulfromallsidesandembittersitwithinwardand
outwardhumiliation,whetherbysinorbyscandal,untilitabhorsitself,cursesitsownintelligence,anddisownsitscounsel.
Finally,itsurrendersitselftoGod,feelingcrushedandlowly.Atsuchatime,itbecomeseasyformantohatehimself.Heeven
wishestobehatedbyeverybody.Thisisthewayoftruehumility.Itleadstototalsurrendertodivineplan.Itendsupwithfreeing
onessoulfromthetyrannyoftheego,withitsdeception,itsstubbornness,anditsvanity.

7.

Ifyouwishtofreeyoursoulbytheshortestandsimplestway,sitdowneverydayunderthedisciplineof
grace.Examineyourthoughts,movements,intentions,purposes,words,anddeedsinthelightofGodsword.Itisthenthatyou
shalldiscoverthecorruptionoftheego,itsimposture,slyness,deception,vanity,andlackofchastity.Ifyoupersistindoingthis
regularlyincontrition,youwillmanagetoseveryourselffromyourfalseanddevilishego.Youwillthenbeabletooverpowerit
bitbybituntilyoucandenyitaltogether,hateit,andbreakjailfromitstyranny.Youwillatlastdiscoverthecatastropheinto
whichyouregohasledyouforobeyingit,findingpeaceinitsshelter,boastingofit,andseekingitsrespect.

ThemomentyourealizeatthebottomofyourheartthatyouarenothingandthatGodiseverything,thenthetruthshallhaveset
youfree.

Sheheet,i.e.,theWeighingofHearts
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

A beautiful letter to monks and contemplation on the name and place of the Desert of
Sheheet, where the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of Saint Macarius resides, by the

Spiritual Father of the monastery, Father Matta El Maskeen (also known in as Father
Matthew the Poor.)

GOD OFFERED US THE GRACE of calling and accepting us in the sacred wilderness, i.e.,
the wilderness of Sheheet, the wilderness of "the weighing scale of hearts." With its
name the Holy Spirit draws our hearts to this designation's implication concerning our
life together in this holy wilderness, and offering our lives to God the Weigher of hearts
and souls.
The origin of this designation, mentioned in the book Coptic Monasticism, is found in
the Biography of Saint Macarius. The meaning stemmed from the time when Saint
Macarius first arrived in this wilderness, slept on top of the cherubim hill, and the
blessed cherubim appeared to him. When the saint started to fall asleep on this hill, he
felt the cherubim's hand palpate his heart, as if wanting to weigh it. Saint Macarius
said to him, "What is it?" The cherubim answered, "I am measuring and weighing your
heart aisi `mpekhyt." Saint Macarius then said to him, "What does this mean?" The
cherubim replied, "As I have acted within your heart, thus will be named this mountain,
but Christ will demand fruit."
Now, my loved ones, I mentioned this narrative as an instruction to the main subject,
that is, in this wilderness, our hearts, consciences, and deeds will be weighed by God's
spiritual weighing scale. This article is an important part of the previous one in which I
mentioned, "Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes,
sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers--none of these will inherit
the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9, 10 NRSV.)
But all these different kinds of sins are not weighed with God's sensitive scales, but all
the thoughts and hearts' intentions that the devil stirs up in the mind, stirring up later
the heart, our yielding to these thoughts, and the heart's reaction to them, that
immediately makes them counted as sins duly fulfilled, as Christ's depiction states:
"[E]veryone who looks at a woman with lust has alread committed adultery with her in
his heart" (Matt. 5:28.) The sin of adultery was counted here as if it had been
consummated, while it was only in the realm of the mind and heart.
Thus sins begin with the senses and thoughts, consequently stirring the heart, to
become counted as sins.
Here I will begin to explain the meaning of "the weighing scale of hearts," which is our
work in this sacred wilderness. The devil instigates the wicked thoughts specific to
every type of sin mentioned by St. Paul, who said that those who committed the m
would not witness the kingdom of God.
Now, according to the weighing scale of hearts, mere thoughts, if alive in the mind,
with the mind at ease with them for barely a second, the heart responding, stirred in
reaction to them, immediately become counted as if they had been fulfilled in the
heart without the action of the flesh. This is the danger of the ascetic life, the proof of
piety, and the sincerity of a sacred living with the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
For it is impossible for a monk to be counted a true ascetic or considered a pious
monk, or a truthful believer in a life of communion nwith God the Father and His Son
Jesus Christ, led by the Holy Spirit, while leading a life receptive to, and engaged in evil
thoughts, whether those of impurity, anger, envy, hatred or slander, carnal appetites,
money, food or anything else of the heart's desires, be it only for a moment, then
finding an approving response [1] in his members, immediately moved by impure

thoughts, the heart stirred in response, although for a moment, to the thought. The
impulse of an undisciplined thought, and of the heart affected by the thought reacting
to it, is counted an actual response, and a sin that has been completed, entering into
the sphere judgment and eternal denial of the pure, ascetic and pious worshippers'
share, who are living the life communion through the Spirit rejoicing in the grace of
God, with the Kingdom open to them, an opportunity and eternal share in a feast
beyond words [2].
What should be done?
Here comes the practical portion of this discussion. It is based on two parts.
The First Part
"I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others,
I myself should become disqualified" (1 Cor. 9:27 NRSV.)
And the same:
"Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things" (1 Cor. 9:25) [3]
At this point, we have reached the essence of a hermit's work, the beginning of the
work of monks who have entered the monastery to attain a life of piety and acquire
the taste of life with the Lord through the Holy Spirit.
To begin with, control the flesh with all its appetites that start in the mind and
imagination, instigated by the enemy to novices for them to fall in the devil's hands. If
the monk responds to these thoughts and gives in to the imaigination, with the mind
starting to take pleasure in it and responding, then sin will live in the flesh. I say that
responding to the mind, even for a second, makes the heart respond to the evil power,
becoming impossible to erase the effect of the evil thought, and hence the reaction of
the heart and members. For Christ says that the sin was thus fulfilled in the heart.
Then, what is to be done?
Work in this holy wilderness is our only occupation, as follows:
1.

Repudiate evil thoughts completely, forcefully, willfully, and stubbornly


for them not to extend to the heart, members, and the rest of the flesh.
2.
Beware; beware of evil thoughts and imaginations that infiltrate the
heart to find delight, or acceptance and consent, no matter what. At this point, I
include that the hungry body and empty, compressed stomach are the greatest help in
controlling the mind, body, and imagination. Hunger in Sheheet is an official work and
honor.
3.

The monk busy with reading, the drone of books and Psalms, is the
owner of a mind armed against evil imaginations. Reading sacred books continuously
is an effective factor in disciplining the flesh, mind, and evil appetites (Acts 20:32.)
From that, we reach the concluson of the greatest importance: to refuse the devil's
counsel, playing with the mind and acquiring the heart. This is the only work required
of us for God to fulfill His work.
The Second Part
If the monk as human being seeks asceticism, worship and piety, and fulfills his

officially required work, which is to refuse the devil's counsel from the first impulse in
the mind, no matter how perservering and repetitious, with a total refusal in mind,
heart, and body, then the result will be that the Spirit of God will enter at once,
and with His power, put a stop to the expansion of the idea, thus cutting it
off, stopping its movement instantly; for man need not be tried beyond his
endurance. Thus the heart becomes joyful and the spirit enveloped in a feeling of
victory and joy [4].
Insomuch as the devil repeats his work and the monk repeats his refusal, the Spirit
continues is work in all confidence and certainty.
1. An Example of the Sin of Lying
It is the devil's easiest sin into which he makes great people fall. If a spiritual man
starts his life with God in truth, honesty, and strictness, especially in relation to all the
kinds of lies, he feels a spiritual force surrounding him, protecting, helping, and
hleading him. If it happens and he distractedly commits a lie unintentionally and
unheedingly, he will immediately feel that the power surrounding and protecting him
has left him, and that he has become ashamed of himiself like a man naked. If he can
at once correct his mistake and ask God's forgiveness and the person to whom he lied,
acknowledging his lie, then the protective power will return as it had been and
increase.
2. An Example of the Sin of Fornication
The ancient fathers say that the stirring of the sex members is the first to be
influenced by the action of the mind's devil, to the extent that they said that the devil
is "the holder of the members." Here I draw the ascetic monk's attention to his eyes
and feelings that must concentrate on any of the members stirring so as to realize that
the devil has entered the body and is on the point of spoiling it. With all awareness and
care must he forbid their stirring, not even for a second, even if he must awake,
terrified and disturbed, to control his members. Herein lies an involuntary relation
between the mind, heart, and members, but is stopped by invoking the name of Jesus
even up to one hundred times, until the members calm down and the devil departs. It
is a temptation all youth undergo, but under discipline and restraint, the vigilant Spirit
will swiftly answer, for sure, to the sons who cry out day and night.
3. An Example of Anger and Hostility
They are two inseparable sins. Man's anger makes the devil lead him to hostility.
Antagonism is darkness and death according to Saint John in his First Epistle. He who is
angry with his brother for invalid matters, according to Our Lord, "shall be liable to
judgment" (Matt. 5:22.) The word "anger" here means the "violation of Christian love."
The devil lies in waiting, so that when man's heart is stirred by anger, he on the spot
stirs the heart to hatred. Antagonism in Christianity equals falling into the devil's arms.
Therefore, if the enemy begins to stir the mind to anger, remember that the devil is
waiting to embrace you to become his own by leading you to hatred.
It is for that reason that Christ said, "Love your enemies" to sever the devil's line of
return."
I leave you now in the love of Christ and the care of the Holy Spirit to be children of His
grace, the sons of Sheheet, the weighing scale of hearts.

Father Matta El Maskeen


The Commemoration of the Return of Saint Macarius' Body to the Wilderness of
Sheheet
August 25, 2001
Footnotes
1.

Abba Amoun who is from Raythee (Al-Tur mountain) asked about impure
thoughts. Abba Poemen answered, saying, "The enemy drives them into us, but we
must not accept them" Coptic Monasticism, p. 260. Saint Paul the Apostle explains it
thus: "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under
grace" (Rom. 6:14.)
2.
Therefore our thoughts and hearts must be occupied with the words of
the Scripture: "And now I commend you to God and to the words of his grace, which is
able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are
sanctified" (Acts 20:32.) The Scripture's word is the Scripture's weapon that fights the
enemy.
3.

It is therefore the type of life that renders a main a saint or perfect, for
there exists only one kind of sanctity, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit along with
man's effort. Coptic Monasticism, p. 141.

4.

I have spent 14 years in Sheheet (Abba Amoun speaking) begging God,


day and night, to give me victory over the spirit of anger. Sayings of the Fathers, p.
276; Coptic Monasticism, p. 263.

OurFatherWhoArtinHeavenPart2
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

When you pray, say: 'Our Father In Heaven'. (Luke 11: 2-4)

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven


On earth as it is in heaven
Gods heavenly Kingdom is spiritual, and His kingdom on earth is physical, helped and
supported by the Holy Spirit and all the spirits of the holy angels created to minister to
those who are inheriting salvation: Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to
minister for those who will inherit salvation? (Heb 1:14)
The relation between the heavenly and the earthly is one-sided. We are visible to the
heavenly and spiritual ministering angels, but we do not see these heavenly creations,
and we know very little about them. We do know about the Cherubim and the
Seraphim, the heads of angels, the angels, and the vast innumerable array of heavenly
soldiers who some of the saints caught a glimpse of and were bewildered by their
great number. These heavenly soldiers appeared to the servant of the prophet Elisha
when he was afraid of the Syrian (i.e., Aramean) army (2 Kings 6:17).
We have also heard that the angel Gabriel is standing before God. He is the one who
foretold the Lords birth to the Virgin Mary: Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel

was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man
whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgins name was Mary (Luke
1:26, 27). The archangel Michael, head of the angels, in charge of the Israelites (Dan
12:1) fought the enemy that stood against his people. It is also mentioned that he was
the leader of Israel (Dan 10:21; 11:1). The Bible mentions the help Daniel received
from one of the angels (Dan 10:13), in which it is also mentioned that the archangel
Michael is one of the first archangels. Also that he witnessed, with Daniels angel, the
fight against the prince of the kingdom of Persia (the devil): But I will tell you what is
inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these
except Michael, your prince (Dan 10:21).
The archangel Michael also had to contend with the devil over Moses body, because
the devil intended to reveal to Israel the place of Moses body in order for them to
renounce God and worship Moses. When he found no accusation against him he said to
him: The Lord rebuke you (Jude 9).
The relationship between the angels and us is strong, but they are classified in
accordance to the gifts God gives them. A lot of angels have appeared without us
knowing their names. In the book of Revelation it is said that the archangel Michael
fought Satan in heaven and caused him to fall from his place in heaven down to earth
(Rev 12:7-9). It is also known that when God created the nations and divided them, he
made Michael the head over Israel. So it seems that every nation following God is
protected and helped by a special angel. Church tradition says that every city is
protected by two angels. In Egypt we have heard that there exists the Church of the
Northern Angel (i.e., the angel guarding the region north of Cairo), and the Church of
the Southern Angel (i.e., the angel guarding the region south of Cairo). But generally,
news of the angels is scarce, and there are very few who have seen them. The
Kingdom of heaven is filled with angels of various kinds and with their praises.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
This phrase expresses the desire for Gods will to be fulfilled because it is the
realization of His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, in spirituality, holiness and
continuous praise, with the angels ministering to those designated to inherit the
prepared salvation. So God takes on the headship of His Kingdom in the same way in
heaven and on earth. The obstacles in the Church and the laxness of its people are the
reasons for the delay of Christs appearance on earth at his second coming:
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth?
(Luke 18:8)
Christ prophesied the loss of faith at the end of the days in which we live, which is just
what our eyes see and our ears hear. The whole world follows the devil, and there are
few who ask for Gods kingdom to come and for his will to be done on earth as in
heaven. The angels stand by grieving over the state of mankind, who was created in
the image of God.
Give us day by day our daily bread
Christ put his finger on the malady that will prevail in the world, hindering the coming
of Gods kingdom. It is running after money and hoarding treasures when there is
really only one need; the Lord who sustains us and gives us life. Christ warns us that
our daily bread is sufficient, meaning that we should not run after more, to have
excess or to waste. The meaning of sufficiency is the medicine that the whole world
needs. Hoarding money, food, gold, diamonds or riches of any kind is an infringement
on Gods planning.

Although Give us day by day applies to bread, food and human needs, it aims to also
draw our attention to the need for prayer and worship in spirit. The world has become
very rich with money and consequently greatly deficient in the Spirit. Our daily bread
stands for: Take heed of your spirits pressing needs and its richness. Serious striving in
the Spirit urges God to fulfill all our needs and requirements for money and bread.
Give us day by day aims further because it involves fasting, being hungry and not
filled with delicacies whilst the poor hunger for a morsel of bread before our very eyes.
Its target is also sensible behavior with our surplus, for the hungry thousands await the
twelve baskets of leftovers. If the world would take note of the precious commandment: Give us day by day, millions of baskets of bread and dollars would be available
for the poor who wander around in hunger. As well as those people who literally die of
hunger and thirst in Africa there are also those who are dead whilst still alive due to
the dire poverty and need for a morsel of bread and a glass of water. America and
Europe consume the majority of the worlds resources wastefully and destructively. In
Give us day by day lies the need of the whole world today, the needs of every home
and every person. If not, one day the world will perish from wastefulness and wealth.
And forgive us our sins
Christ then moves to address the outcome of deviating from and violating the
commandment of sufficiency, running after more, striving for money and riches. The
love of money is the root of all evil, said the Apostle Paul: For which some have
strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows (1 Tim 6:10). It implies that the transgressions, offences and sins resulting
from the love of money are numerous. They include stealing, falsifying, embezzlement,
cheating, excessive pricing, monetary speculation, stockpiling items to increase their
price as well as thousands of sins resulting from greed, covetousness, meanness and
producing products from defective materials and all that results from this. All of these
are the results of the love of money and the desire to become rich quickly. These are
sins that are difficult to forgive. There are sins which we ask to be forgiven, they are:
forgetting to fulfill ones duties towards God in prayer and fasting, laxness and laziness
in prayer, negligence with the rules of prayer and church attendance, using deceit in
dealing with others, the distinction between those who are equal in rights, lacking of
performing duties towards others, especially the poor, weak, and sick, breaking the
laws of the Holy Church regarding prayer and duties towards others.
These are the sins for which the priest asks for forgiveness when he prays for the dead
during the prayers for the deceased. He asks for them to be forgiven in accordance
with the prayer forgive us our sins. Gods mercy is forbidden to those who
intentionally hurt people and who treat others unjustly. God hates injustice and will not
forgive it unless those who commit it go back on their injustice like Zacchaeus the tax
collector did (Luke 19:1-10). On the other hand God is forbearing and his mercy
immense for the weak, meek, merciful, benevolent to the poor and needy, and every
one who gives a morsel to the hungry and a glass of water to the thirsty according to
Christs commandment.
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us
The words: Forgive, and you will be forgiven express clemency from God for the
forgiveness of sins through the forgiveness of others. The forgiveness of others sins
and infringements towards us is counted for us, because God offers instead mercy and
forgiveness for the extra measure.
Forgiving others sins towards us is the easiest way to have our sins forgiven. In

commanding this God was extremely clement and kind. A person who exacts
retribution and judges those who commit a violation against him, will himself be
required to pay for his own violations against God. In this commandment God teaches
man the lesson that to be merciful to others will lead to finding mercy with God. In
being clement with the violations of others towards him, he will find clemency with
God in his own violations of Gods rights and of those of others. Those who follow this
commandment live in peace and the enemy finds no place among them, their lives are
calm and peaceful. This is a commandment for the individual, the group, and for
leaders. Blessed are those who follow Gods commandments. They will walk in the way
of eternal life surrounded by peace on every side. As for the quarrelsome, those who
ask for retribution from the guilty while they themselves commit violations and are
unjust and unwilling to cede to others any of their own rights, their end is severe
judgment and they will be made to pay for every transgression.
And do not lead us into temptation
The enemy has the power to harm us, our children and all our belongings. There is no
way to escape the circle of the enemys power except by continual request and fervent
entreaty in every prayer for God to allow us not to enter the enemys power to harm
us.
The Lord taught us to pray this so that we might be protected from all the devils
infringements that have no justification. The one who neglects prayer, requests for
mercy, and to not be led into the enemys power, facilitates the devils work against
himself and actually gives him power over himself. God alone is able to curb the evil
power that confronts us. There is no way out except through continuing to pray
morning and evening for Gods mercy and deliverance from the enemys power. The
enemy has no power over the person he finds standing in prayer to God constantly
morning and evening. He trembles at the sight of one who holds on to Gods holy
name, and who admonishes the devil in the name of the Lord.
God does not listen to the prayer of the haughty, the unjust and those who are proud
of themselves and of their own power. He leaves them as prey for the enemy and
when they cry out to God they will not be heard. Pride is an open door for the devil,
through which he may enter your house without deterrent to destroy it.
The same goes for the one who is unjust and who practices the enemys work. If a
person allows himself to be unjust and merciless to his brothers or to the weak, then
he befriends the devil by copying him and gives the enemy the opportunity to mistreat
him. He will cry out to God and not be heard!
It is the same for the one who sneers at chastity and holiness, the required attributes
of Gods children. God insisted that we should be holy and pure so that Gods holiness,
mercy and love can descend upon us. The one who shamelessly follows his passions
and commits fornication without fear of God, will cry out when the power of the devil
oppresses him, but to no avail. No succor comes because he has forfeited his share of
Gods mercy along with his chastity. Everything outside the bounds of chastity and
modesty is fornication. Either a person is chaste or a fornicator, there is no in-between
because the demon of fornication lies in wait for a man with arrows aimed at him, and
has done ever since his childhood. Chastity and modesty are attributes that begin in
childhood, that strengthen and prevail in youth and gain a crown in adulthood. It is the
same for men and women, for fornication can ravish them both. If this sin is deliberate
and continuous it will not be forgiven, but God is merciful with the weak, the oppressed
and those who have been victims of the enemy in their childhood and youth. They may
return to chastity through Gods power and mercy. Nothing is impossible for God, even

until the grave. Blessed is the person who does not hold against others their sins,
lapses and infringements, because he is close to Gods mercy.
But deliver us from the evil one (the enemy)
We identify with the Apostle Paul when he writes: He who delivered us from so great a
death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that he will still deliver us (2 Cor 1:10).
Temptation and sin surround us everywhere, while asleep and awake, at home and in
the street, whilst traveling and at work. There is no avoiding temptation except God
saves us from it. We cannot be saved by our intelligence, by medicines, by doctors,
brothers, fathers or friends; it is God alone who can save us. There is no salvation
except through God, because our enemy is a stubborn autocrat. He is an intelligent
force that traps even the most intelligent people, making the strongest and most
recalcitrant men fall into his net. The temptation that surrounds us is mightier than us
and more violent than any other force. The devil caused our father and mother, Adam
and Eve, to fall while they were in paradise in Gods very presence. God knows it and
forewarns us by giving the commandment so that we may avoid the devils net. Christ
puts in our mouths the prayer of deliverance from the enemy, the only weapon
stronger than the devils power and schemes. He who arms himself by crying out
sincerely in prayer to God to save him from evil, will definitely be saved.
It is strange that the devil, whose power and intelligence are so terrible that by
comparison man is a mere straw blown by the wind, should be overcome by so simple
a thing as a cry to God for deliverance.
Sure, we are surrounded by temptation at all times wherever we are, no matter how
intelligent we are or how good our understanding. But God has also surrounded us with
ministering angels in the same way that he surrounded Elisha the prophet in front of
the Syrian (i.e., Aramean) armies (2 Kings 6:16, 17). Those who are with us are more
numerous than those who are against us. Those who are with us are organized by the
Lord of hosts. He who arms himself with the prayer of Our Father In Heaven every
moment, and with the call for deliverance from the enemy in his mouth, is as safe as a
suckling babe in its mothers arms. Gods path is difficult and there are many
stumbling blocks, struggles, persecutions and injustices from heads and subordinates,
from fathers and brothers; but God is above us, holding our hands, showing us the
way, safely leading us to our haven.
If the Holy One has opened up for us a new way to heaven through the blood of his
Son, then is he not also able to take our hands and lead us along the path of worship
and prayer to the final haven, which is heaven?
Through Jesus Christ our Lord
It is Christ who gave us the Lords prayer, leaving us in the embrace of the Church
that is his body, filled with every grace and blessing. So we add to the prayer he gave
us the words: through Jesus Christ our Lord. He who pierced the entrails of death and
trampled it with His feet will ceaselessly save us even on the very brink of death. It is
Christ, the vanquisher of death and Lord of life, who conquered the hordes of darkness
dispossessing them on the cross and putting them under His feet, who has dictated to
us this prayer and it is he who taught us to cry out to Him: deliver us from the evil
one. There is no power in heaven or on earth that has power over Christ. Christ rose
to the highest heaven and his enemies bow beneath His feet, and he fills with grace,
power and salvation all who call out to Him and pray in the way that he commanded us
to pray.
Temptation and sin surround us, and the evil enemy is lying in wait for us with every

step. But Christ saved us and also will continue to save us, because he endured every
aspect of mans weakness and experienced first-hand the violence of the enemy. For
that reason he gave up his body to the cross and exposed himself to death to be a
ransom before God, redeeming us from every temptation, and so that every sin may
be forgiven. Man, who is weak, became stronger than the devil, by holding onto Christ
and calling out to him for salvation.
How beautiful is frail humanity, and how strong in Christs embrace.
For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever. Amen
This is the last doxology of the Lords prayer and it is the weapon of every believer in
Christ. It expresses praise to God the possessor of all power and authority. It is praise
to God that he has the power and glory forever. He is the powerful and glorious focus,
the one to whom we pray. From Gods power we acquire power, and from his glory we
receive authority over the enemy. In the protective shelter of the Most High we sleep,
and wake praising his glory that has carried us through the darkness of the night. Over
and above the conquered enemys power stands the power of the Most High, eternally
triumphant and exalted. He overshadows the meanness of the conceited and obstinate
enemy whom God has deposed from his rank as an angel to become a despised
creature dwelling in darkness and never seeing light. God took away from him all he
previously had given him, so he fell from all creation. Compared to this infamy God
rises in his glory forever and his authority will last forever and ever. Amen.
30 November, 2003 A.D. = 20 Hathor, 1720 Anno Martyri

OurRelationshipWithChrist
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

We explore the immemorial relationships, meaning our relationship with Christ today
that is founded on the basis of our relationship with Him since the very beginning.

He who was able to reveal this relationship with Christ is St. Paul who says:
For surely you have already heard of the commission of Gods grace that was given
me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote
above in a few words, a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding
of the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:2-4).
What is the mystery of Paul the Apostles knowledge of Christ? In other words, what is
the mystery of Christ?
This is the title of this sermon: Our relationship with Christ. The Apostle Paul began
this relationship from time immemorial. There is no doubt that Christs mystery is our
relationship as believers in Him since the very beginning. How? It is the mystery of the
Father in His love for humankind, as St. Paul says in his epistle to the Ephesians:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph 1:3).
Here I will pause for a moment, to draw your attention, O monk (or any other person),

you who want Christ to have a relationship with you. It is in essence that God the
Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven, according to His own free
will, because of His Divine love for mankind.
What does blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places mean?
It means that God the Father, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, gave us His heavenly
blessing, for us to be a new heavenly creation, accepted and loved before Him, on the
same level of the heavenly creatures, even more, because St. Paul says: with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, which means higher than the angels and
archangels and all heavenly creatures. How? It is because He blessed us through His
only Beloved Son who has all the Fathers love. For he says: Who has blessed us in
Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. If we are blessed in Christ
His only Beloved Son, then our blessing is of the same level as His Sons blessing, and
consequently of the same level as the Fathers love for His Son.
Paul the Apostle adds:
Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and blameless before him in love (Eph 1:4).
What does it mean?
This verse means that the Father blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places, and accordingly chose us in Christ since the beginning to reach,
in the future or at the end of our new creation, the stature of the fullness of Christ,
which means the stature of His only Son, as Paul the Apostle says somewhere else in
the same epistle: To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body
of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph
4:12, 13).
What is the consequent result?
The result is that our new creation will reach the stature of the fullness of Christ,
meaning that we will have priority and pre-eminence when we stand in the Fathers
presence. Thus we will stand before God the Father, on the same level as the saints
who are without blemish or blame, in the Divine love that fills the Fathers heart
towards us, being equal as special sons to the Father as Paul the Apostle continues
saying:
He destined us to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his
will (Eph 1:5).
The adoption by God the Father that mankind now possesses was previously set and
defined from time immemorial, certainly not because mankind deserved it, but due to
God the Fathers will and pleasure. This means that it is due to an inner pleasure within
Gods heart that makes us sons in His Son. What a joy for mankind, and a pleasure at
the Fathers pleasure, for making us His sons in His Son Jesus Christ! Our partnership
nowadays with Jesus Christ emanates from our partnership in the Father choosing us
as His sons, which means that a partnership with the Father and with His Son Jesus
Christ was determined and fixed from eternity. St. Paul the Apostle boasts of it and
says that our partnership now with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ was
fulfilled with the Sons manifestation, and the manifestation of eternal life in Him, in
the shape of a man who was killed, dead, and resurrected.

St. Paul considered the choosing of God the Father in Christ since the beginning, with
all the heavenly blessings offered to us, a free grace flowing from the heart of God
towards us. All this grace exists on the basis that we remain and continue to praise His
glorious grace, which he bestowed on us in the Beloved:
To the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved
(Eph 1:6).
This is our only work now, and forever more, to continue to praise Gods glorious
grace, which He lavished on us in His Beloved Son Jesus Christ since the beginning.

Notice dear brethren what a grace has come to happen and was
confirmed to us from time immemorial:
That God should bless us with every spiritual blessing in Christ

And choose us in Him before the creation of the world

To become saints without blame before Him through love

Already chosen through Jesus Christ for adoption

For Himself and according to the pleasure of His will

To praise His glorious grace which He bestowed on us in the Beloved

This is the heavens witness and the testimony of the Spirit speaking
through Saint Paul.

Behold and see, sons of God, and know today, that you are appointed
since time immemorial to become saints without blame in the fullness of Gods love,
that is Christs, who is in you and you in Him.

Have you accepted this grace today?

Have you pledged in your hearts and consciences to truly be sons of


God in accordance to the pleasure of His will?

This grace is offered to you today and every day. Accept it, and live it,
as you should in accordance to the ethics, principles, and behavior of the saints, as
sons of God and the eternal life you were called to.
Peter the Apostle today participates with us and testifies to you before God and Christ:
Conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. You know that you
were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable
things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb
without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but was
made manifest at the end of the times for your sake (1 Pet 1:17-20).
What does this mean?
It is an authentication from the same Spirit that spoke through Paul the Apostle.
Because the Apostle Peter spoke and added that your redemption was fulfilled from
time immemorial through the blood of Christ. So you are the sons of the living God,
redeemed by the blood of Christ, meaning reconciled through Christ having gained all
reasons and conditions for holiness. Therefore be holy as your Father is holy, He who
invited you to share His holiness through Christ.

Paul the Apostle testifies to you and so does the Apostle Peter. Today I encourage you
with Paul the Apostles testimony, that you are the sons of the living God sanctified
before Him without blame in the love of Christ. Your only work is to praise His glorious
grace, which the Father bestowed on you in His Beloved Son.
But I warn you, according to Peter the Apostles testimony, that you were redeemed
with the blood of Christ, to put an end to your old behavior which you have taken from
the world, and live in the fear of God without blame or sin. For you are counted as
saints before the angels and the world.
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires (Gal 5:24).
The monastic life you accepted is the same as the crucifixion of the flesh with its
passions and desires. Listen to the Apostle Paul warning the Corinthians and revealing
to them who will enter the Kingdom of God and who will be forbidden and outlawed
from entering the Kingdom of God! I repeat it bearing witness to you before God and to
clear my conscience as this monasterys father responsible for you all to enter into the
Kingdom of God:
Do not be deceived (or let anyone deceive you): neither the immoral, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9, 10).
If we are caught with one of these deadly sins after having been cleansed (meaning
baptized), nay sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and with the Spirit
of our Lord, it means that we disdain the Spirit of grace we received through baptism,
and we defile the holy flesh in which we commune at the altar.
Now is the time for repentance, but after it where can we find repentance except in
monasticism? If not, the future will be like Esaus: For he found no chance to repent,
though he sought it with tears (Heb 12:17). You have not yet resisted to the point of
shedding your blood as Paul the Apostle says to the Hebrews: In your struggle against
sin (Heb 12:4).
Here, in this monastery, is the place for repentance, and the time for the struggle
against sin.
This day, now, I will lead you through the Spirit of God to the way to struggle against
sin:
First and foremost I assure you in the name of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit,
that there does not exist in the world he who has struggled, or is struggling against sin
in his full vigor or health, because there exists no power in the world that has
conquered sin, except Jesus Christ who shed His blood as its price, and purchased us
from the hell of sin, the power of the devil, and the temptation of the world and flesh
with His blood on the cross.
The only way, the way to struggle against sin is: resort to Christ with all the power,
determination, patience, and forbearance. How?
1. Enter Your Room
Enter your room, shut the door, and pray in secret to your Father who is unseen and
He will reward you openly. Cry to Christ day and night. Here I bring you Christs
promise to answer your cries night and day:

And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will
he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them (Lk
18:7, 8).
2.Forwhatdowecryout?

We cry out to Christ to take care of the creation He purchased with His

blood.

We cry out, casting before Him mind, conscience, and all the
imaginations of the mind and soul for Him to accept them.

We cry out to Him to kill carnal appetites, thoughts, and impurities of


this old flesh, which He destroyed at the cross, so that we might live in the new being
according to God, in righteousness and the sanctity of truth.

We cry out to provide us with His grace, and power that are able to give
the soul and spirit Christs strength, to defeat the devils forces that fight our thoughts
following his desire to capture us once more under the power of sin.

We cry out to give us purity of mind, heart, and conscience, so as to


wash and purify them through His blood from all deadly thoughts and deeds.

We cry out to give us the power to pray, and stand in vigil and fasting
before Him, for Him to disperse all the enemys assaults, and lead us to the way of
righteousness and piety before Him for the rest of our days, to worship Him in piety
and fear, and praise His glorious grace, which His Father bestowed on us through His
choice and adoption of us, for He is our life, righteousness, light, purification, and
armor.
I call you today to this struggle against sin. It is identical to the practice of the living
communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Do not go astray, for without Christ no man is able to conquer the evil enemy that has
a power from God over mind, heart, and flesh. You will not find Christ outside your
closed room, nightly vigils, and commended fasting.
Concerning fasting, you must realize that as soon as the monk dons the cross he is
named a member of those who are clad with the cross, whose only work is to carry the
cross well, in total patience and forbearance, praising Him constantly day and night.
Away from fasting you will not find the strength to bear the cross.
As for the monk who is getting on in years, it is good for him to fast till sunset,
identified as true asceticism, and there are those who fast till twilight, each in
accordance to his ability.
It is known that the early monks did not admit breaking fasts in any respect, for their
lives were all fasting. When lent, the holy forty days of fasting, arrived they left the
congregation completely and went to worship in the wilderness for that period,
following terrific fasts, devoid of bell ringing, meeting, or attendance of mass.
The wilderness of St. Macarius (in its early days) had no churches at all. Every few
months the fathers went in groups to Nitria (near Damanhour) to attend Church and
partake of the flesh and blood, then return to Sheheet. Saint Macarius went to St.
Antony to ask his advice (at the end of St Antony days), whether to build a church in
the wilderness of Sheheet. It was due to the hardship of traveling to Nitria, and so was

advised to build a church wherein to take Holy Communion. Holy Communion was only
on Sundays, as the fathers arrived on Saturday, fasting till evening, partook of the
flesh and blood, and spent Sunday night awake listening to the young monks
questions and the elders answers. In the morning each monk went to his cave. This
was the beginning of monastic life and all the changes that have happened are in
reconciliation to laity.
I do not mention this history to call for change or amendment, but to make you
understand the origin of worship: how it was fundamentally based on prayer and Holy
Communion only on Sunday. It is to draw your attention to the value of prayer in a
monks cell. Please consider the cell the center for worship, prayer, and praise to
Christ in unrestraint, joy, glorification, tears, and fasting.
I will now return, once more, to the basis of our relationship with God the Father and
with Jesus Christ since the very beginning, for us to be convinced, believe, and live in
communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ intrepidly and confidently, in
worship with open heart and clear conscience. Even if we struggle in prayer we know,
for sure, that the Father loves us, and that Christ answers all our invocations and
requests because He, by the power at work within us, is able to do far more
abundantly than all that we ask or think (Eph 3:20). Amen.
(Sunday August 19, 2001)

JesusChrist:SonofMan,SonofGod,andLord
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

Excerpt from "The Son of Man: The Title Christ Loved", by Father Matta El Maskeen

Christ'slinkingtheSonofmanwiththeforgivenessofsins(Mk2:510)andwiththecomingjudgment("Hehasgivenhim

authoritytoexecutejudgment,becauseHeistheSonofman"Jn5:27)greatlyenhancestheimportanceoftheSonofman,since
judgmentisattributedtoHimasifHeisgreaterthanit.ItisgiventoHimbecauseHeistheSonofman,or,aswesay,becauseHe
istheSonofGod,orbecauseHeisGod.HereitisChrist'sdirectintentiontomakethegloryandpowerHehadbeforeHis
incarnationjustaseffectiveinHisincarnatestate.ItisasifHeissayingrepeatedlythattheSonofmanistheSonofGodwhohas
becomeanewAdamwithallthepowersoftheSonofGod.
ChristalsopaintsapictureoftheSonofmanfulloflightunequaledbyanycreature,whenHespeaksofHiscomingastheSonof
manwhowouldlightuptheheavensfromonehorizontotheotherasbythepresenceofGodHimself:"Forasthelightningcomes
fromtheeastandshinesasfarasthewest,sowillbethecomingoftheSonofman...andtheywillseetheSonofmancomingon
thecloudsofheavenwithpowerandgreatglory"(Mt24:27,30).
HereChristiseagertoawakenourheartstothefactthatthebodythatHetookfromourhumanitywillnotbeseparatedfromHim
whenHeisrisenforeverattheheightofhisgloryandpower.TheSonofmanisChristmanifestingHisdivinityinHishumanity.
HisgloryandauthorityandpowerarenotseparatefromHishumanity.RatherHishumanitymakesitpossibleforustolookupon
HimandseeHimperfectlyandknowHimanddrawclosetoandevenparticipateinHisdivinity.

AsceticismandPurity
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

A few pointers on how to wisely practice asceticism to crucify the will and allow the
soul to flourish in God.

1.

We should not see austerity, or asceticism, as an end in itself. Neither


should we delight in practicing it to the exclusion of everything else. By doing so we
are only allowing it to distract us from progressing toward God and completing our
union with him in mature love.
2.
Ascetic disciplines are nothing more than the means to mortify the old
Adam and crucify our will, our passions, and the desires that work in us for iniquity.
Ascesis is only a way of showing our love and tender feelings toward God.
3.

Perseverance in practicing the kinds of austerities after being renewed


and filled with grace serves only to counter the tendency to hanker after what the
world offers. It helps to restrain the will from inclining toward sin.

4.

If we make progress in such a discipline, this should not become a


matter of pride. If it does, we will open ourselves up to the spirit of self-righteousness.
This will immediately arrest our spiritual growth.

5.

The most austere asceticism can never erase even a single sin. It cannot
atone for the slightest transgression we may have committed. Such is the case if that
austerity is devoid of love toward God or of the intercession of free grace. For this is
only attainable by the blood of Christ.

6.

Our asceticism should not be so severe as to be cruel to our own body. It


should not prevent us from performing the daily tasks of life actively.

7.

Our attention should be inwardly focused upon the will, which drives us
to lust and sin. This perverse will of ours craves for what belongs to it. All its aims
terminate at one point: the ego. The ego is our enemy. We have to struggle against it
with our fasts and vigils until it dies completely. It is only then that we will possess the
new will, which carries our the will of God alone. (See the article on "The Ego".)

8.

Asceticism should not assume the form of a bodily suppression or


repression For once the practice of ascesis disappears, the result is an acute reaction.
Man returns to his former state or even to a more depraved one. Asceticism should be
soberly and wisely practiced, not out of grief or pain but in joy and happiness. The
limits of the ascetic life should be set by the guidance of a prudent spiritual father.
Those who practice it should not underreach or overreach the limits of their abilities.
Otherwise, the practice may cease altogether, in which case the ascetic life will lose its
desired fruit. Ascetic discipline should begin below the level of ones ability. It should
then ascend and grow until it turns into a natural personal quality that forms a major
part of ones way of life.

9.

If ascetic discipline is devoid of love and joy in the Lord, it turns into a
source of depression, sullenness, and perturbation. It may also be a cause of pride and
self-righteousness.

10.
Many are those who have struggled and freed themselves from the
world by the most severe austerities. However, since they did not submit themselves
to the hand of God and the work of grace in lowliness and humility, they have gone
astray. If we are freed from the world, we must also be freed from ourselves, so that
God can take us and shape us freely.

GethsemaneandtheCross:TheTombandtheNewMan
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

Not from fear of death did terror enter Your heart. Your heartbeat was reviving the
heavens, raising the earth, establishing the principle of life for every living thing.

Glory to Him who stood a stone's throw from His chosen disciples;
Glory to Him who stood dejected till death with a deep inward sadness, yet living still;
Glory to Him who, though a beloved Son, knelt on the ground before the Father to
whom all prayers are lifted;
Glory to him who was struck to the ground with his face marred yet who owns the
heavenly face before which all heavenly hosts are awed;
Glory to Him who, in agony of soul and bitter suffering, sweated great drops of blood
from His forehead, because of the weariness and grief that had ravaged his flesh
during his hour of trial.
He lives, and is the giver of life.
Not from fear of death did terror enter Your heart. Your heartbeat was reviving the
heavens, raising the earth, establishing the principle of life for every living thing. Nor
did terror enter Your heart out of fear of the pain and suffering to come, for You are the
Comforter of those who suffer, the one who wipes away every tear, and strengthens
the heart of the distressed. You bear the pain of every soul that takes refuge in Your
bosom.
No alarm arose in You at the approach of an enemy who had the power of death in his
hands, for it was You who terrorized him and overcame his power. With Your cross you
bound and threw him into the eternal fire that devours all enemies of truth, all liars,
and the father of lies. You are the One and Only present Eternal Truth who judges and
brings to final annihilation the evil that has degraded and humiliated mankind.
I discovered Your mystery. The source of Your grief was revealed to me, by which You
attained the degree of death without dying. I realized the extent of your spiritual
suffering and torture. Indeed, I realized the mystery of Your face that was marred by
the earth's dust and by the endless flowing of tears and the gushing sweat, like blood.
I learned from You the reason for the fear that took complete hold of You and entered
deep into Your heart.
I also learned the mystery of the fear of the pain that gripped Your soul, not Your flesh,
and the mystery of the suffering that tormented Your spirit, and the torture You
suffered from being cut off from Your Father's loe. You suffered alone, for it was the
Father's will to bruise You with grief (Is. 53:10.) Why should You therefore not grieve
the grief of those dying without a saviour?
I got to know the measure of the pain you experienced; the tears, the broken heart,
and the fear of what was about to happen. You were forsaken by the Father. It was His
will to abandon You, a beloved Son of the Father.
Indeed, I got to know, I was convinced, and the mystery was revealed to me:
Your Father made You bear the full weight of all the sins of mankind, though You were
innocent of them all. From the very beginning, in the eternal council chamber of the

Father, You accepted the responsibility of bearing them. Because of this, You submitted
to the incarnation, and bore it according to Your will and Your Father's will.
Yet when I saw the significance of the Father's inevitable hostility to that sin, I was
horrified. For how could the Father be so unyielding when You were one with Him,
present in His fatherly bosom, and came from Him? If the sin of blasphemy is the
mother of sins, how could You bear it in Your flesh an dhow could You stand with it
before Your Father? How could You be as one who denies Him? What terror and what
fear must have overtaken You? Was it possible? Did the Father allow this?
Yes! When He allowed mankind's sins to be placed on You in order to redeem them, He
did allow it! What rending of Your soul! How could You stand before Him in your holy
purity, bearing the sin of fornication as if you were an adulterer, indeed the chief of all
the world's adulterers?
Now, I know Your heartbreak and the reason Your face was covered in dust so as not to
be seen by the Father, and the mystery of those tears and sweat flowing like blood!
The load must have been unbearable as the Father's hand was laid on You. Why didn't
You throw Yourself to the ground and let courage escape You, deceived by the
familiarity linking You to Your Father, though it remained in You?
Do You bear man's lies and assume his sins, his deceptions, his denial of turth, and his
rejection of what is right whilst being at the same the embodiment of Righteousness
and Truth? How could You stand before the Father as a liar and as the representative of
all liars? Did You bear every crime that the devil inspired in man? Do You take on the
nature of a murderer in order to bear the murders he committed, then do You stand
before the Father as if You were the murderer when You are Yourself actually their
Father and Giver of Life? How can this be?
You stood, dear Master, as a burglar or thief before Your Father, assuming the identity
of the ungodly. It was because of this that You were able to release the thief crucified
with You--the first sinner to gain acquittal. I know now the reason for which the Apostle
Paul said, "And to one who does not work, but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his
faith is reckoned as righteousness" (Romans 4:5.) Why? Because, he believed in the
Cross and the works of Him who was crucified.
I know now why You stayed kneeling, crying out with tears to the Almighty to save You
and take away the cup, although He did not. Your meek and gentle soul was broken by
the terror of mankind's sins! But it was for this very hour that You came. For the sake
of Man's sins, You became flesh, drank the defiled cup, bore his burden of defilement
and were judged as a sinner!
Now I know the reason for the loud cry, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken
me?" (Matt 27:46.)
Had it not been for the rejection that wounded Your heart, that You bore alone as a
sinner and as the father all sinners, under the Father's sentence, You would not have
been able to die and descend in to the grace for man's sins and remain buried for
three days, fulfilling the punishment for the sin of mankind. Mankind would not have
been absolved from sin and released from its sentence and its curse, which is death.
This is the power of the cross and the power of Him who was cruficied.
You were the Almighty, the Master and the Omnipotent One. In You the attributes of
God are fully revealed. You are the One who has known throughout the Old Testament
as "the Almighty." This is God's omnipotence that was revealed to its fullest extent on
the cross.

This, then, is the new man's value!


Master, you rose on the third day and exposed Annas, Caiphas, and the devil,
discarding the sin You bore in Your flesh at the cross. You cleansed man from his
uncleanness, burying it with the old, sin-laden body that You took from him. Sin pierced
Your hands and feet and side on the cross, in the nails and the spear, causing Your
Divine Blood to flow out like a river. A man's body is therefore baptized and sanctified
with blood, and acquires the eternal life that is in Him. It descends into the tomb,
where death has been trampled under Your feet, and is resurrected pure and sanctified
in Your resurrection. Thereafter, death has no power over it; it is a new creation
through the Spirit, and shares the glory that is Yours, the glory which You laid down
through the incarnation, the cross and the tomb, but which returned as You returned to
the Father. In this You bore new man in Your body ot offer it, sinless, to Your Father. You
reconciled God and manthrough Your bloodo that was shed and created an eternal
redemption with Your Father and gave man eternal life in You.
Thus, in the resurrected body of Christ, man is recreated and raised to sit on the
Father's right hand in the highest heavens, just as Christ sat in the glory of eternal life.
Midnight, May 8, 1999

TheFirstEpistletotheThessalonians
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

Paul the Apostle wrote First Thessalonians in the spring of 50 A.D., after his arrival at
Corinth, and sent the second epistle five weeks later. It contains the first rules for
spreading the Gospel in a tradition delivered by the Lord... Because when ye received
the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it
is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe" (1
Thess. 2:13.)

The Oldest Epistle of Paul the Apostle Reveals the Importance of its Tradition
and Meaning
We chose this passage of the epistle, because it contains the most important of its
contents.
The words "ye received" (paralabotez) means the receiving of a message or teaching
delivered from hand to hand, to be also delivered to others . Herein lies the
meaning of the passing on of tradition, by hand or by mouth, written or explained.
Saint Paul declares here that this delivery of tradition is the word of God and
effectually works in you euergeitai on its own, as soon as it is heard and accepted.
In showing the importance of "the word of God," Saint Paul describes it as "words of
news from God," meaning words of the Gospel that have their source in God and were
delivered to us (His apostles.) They remain related and linked to God their Source:
"words of news from God." The word "news" denotes the act of hearing.
We know that "words" of news are a means for the conveyance of faith and its

acceptance, the official spreading of the Gospel. Words of news from God mean the
words of truth to be eagerly received and esteemed, and to be accepted by the heart.
In Saint Paul's description, the Word of God works on its own accord, powerfully and
effectively, in those who listen to it and accept it. This self-contained ability transports
it from the level of hearing with the ears to the level of action and spiritual effect in the
heart: "For our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, and in the Holy
Spirit, and with full conviction" (1 Thess. 1:5.) It is this foundational quality of the Word
of God that generates action and life, thus differentiating it from the word of man.
Saint Paul declares that the Word of God carries a dynamic power euergeitai. Like the
cross, it is alive and creative: "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18.)
Thus, imitation and tradition become a way of life! "And you became imitators of us
and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the
Holy Spirit; so that you became an exampl to all the believers... For not only has the
word of the Lord sounded from you... but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere"
(1 Thess. 1:6-8.)
As a result, fervent and effective faith, with the "Word," inevitably rises from a painful
present to a joyful hope: "to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the
dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come" (1 Thess. 1:10.) Thus, Saint Paul
transports his listeners to uplifting faith and a vision of hope: "For what is our hope or
joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are
our glory and joy" (1 Thess. 2:19-20.)
Also, on the passing of tradition, he writes, "For you know what commandments we
gave you by the Lord Jesus" (1 Thess. 4:2.)
Notice the meaning of the word "commandments." In the original Greek, it is
paraggeliaz. In ancient times it had the connotation of wartime military authority. In
apostolic tradition it h as an evangelical awe as it carries the fingerprint of Christ, its
giver. Paul the Apostle explains, "what commandments we gave to you by the Lord
Jesus" (1 Thess. 4:2.) It has the seal of the king and is considered in the Church's
tradition as a tradition coming directly from Christ! By this, the Apostle Paul means
that he is not handing over commandments which he received from the apostles;
rather, they came from the Lord Jesus, and they are all obligatory, a duty to those who
are wise.
Saint Paul stresses that his message he delivers to us is comprised of commandments
from the Lord Himself. It is therefore considered the holiest and oldest provision of the
Christian faith!

Moving from the Tradition of the Word to Its Actions and Behavior:
"For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will
of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication" (1 Thess.
4:2,3.)
This is a summary of the commandment's content, delivered by the Lord Jesus, in a
very concise and powerful phrase. It transfers the Word from utterances to action, and
from thoughts to the soul.

If the commandment remains limited only to knowledge and instruction, then it has
lost its vital, living power. Its nature lies in iaction. It must act in order to become
effective, the "active word." The commandment cannot live in the mind if it does not
first exist in the willpower. In other words, for it to accomplish its work, it has to be in
accord with the will of God. Regardless of what our names and characteristics may be,
they do not ensure that the will of God is upheld.
What embodies the will of God are the actions of our willpower. God's will is that we
should be holy as He is holy, and if we are not, then we cannot be counted as His or as
His children. Holiness is not a human characteristic if it is not active and achieving.
.The action of holiness is to abstain from every deed and word, thought, or feeling that
invalidates purity and stains it. The actions of fornication, its thoughts and
characteristics, put an end to holiness and war against it. The commandments, being
conformed to God's holiness, represent His will for us. God's comprehensive will is for
us to be holy as He is holy. Thus, the commandments in their foundations, impose a
refusal of all the acts of fornication and evil that invalidate any relation with God.
For a person of faith who strives to become a man of God and to live with H im, the
most dangerous sin is fornication in all its unclean forms. Saint Paul subsequently
summarized it in one comprehensivie phrase: "For this is the will of God, even your
sanctification" (1 Thess. 4:3.)
Presenting this very old message to the Christian reader, we draw your attention to the
simplicity of the tradition, its origin and power. Its activity is based on the Word of God,
handed over to the apostles to be delivered in its force and effectiveness.
Whatever the explanation may be, the condition of Christians has sunk to an alarming
degree of evil degeneration, which has prevailed in families, society, and the
individual. The names for fornication are plainly presented in newspapers and
magazines. Immoral scenes are depicted in homes through television for children and
youth to see. While still young, they are learning the art of fornication right in their
homes, in the presence of their father and mother. In opposition to this new
destructive flood, we offer this message: Let it be ceased by whomever wants to be
saved and live.
May we call you to return to the simplicity of the tradition handed over from Christ, the
apostles and the saints to be saved and gain eternal life?

TheMysteryofGod'sLoveinRelationtoRenewedMankind
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

Our love for God was impossible because of sin and the judgment of death. Removing
the barricade, Christ, the Son, opened the way for us to God the Father's love. Through
the cross He broke down the barriers, which were sin and the curse of death, that
separated us from God the Father...

The breadth of God's love for and in mankind.


"The Father loves the Son" (Jn. 3:35,) because He is of His own nature.
"As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you" (Jn. 15:9,) because He took on our

nature.
"As hast loved them even as Thou loved me" (Jn. 17:23.) A love springing from the
Father's nature to us, as was given to Him.
"For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me" (Jn. 16:27,) because of
our fellowship in the nature of the Son.
"That the love with which Thou hast loved Me may be in them" (Jn. 17:26.) Thus, we
have fellowship through the Father and through the Son.
His love emanates from His own nature, and not due to anything within us. Therefore,
He loved us without any prerequisite or merit on our part.
Our love for Christ through the Holy Spirit uncovers the depth of our love to God the
Father and opens up the flow of the Father's love to us: "For the Father Himself loveth
you, because ye have loved Me and believed that I came out from God" (Jn. 16:27.)
Our love for God was impossible because of sin and the judgment of death. Removing
the barricade, Christ, the Son, opened the way for us to God the Father's love. Through
the cross He broke down the barriers, which were sin and the curse of death, that
separated us from God the Father. He revealed God the Father's love, which He held
bound within Himself, waiting for redemption, t he forgiveness of sins and the removal
of the barriers: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son" (Jn. 3:16.) The
Father's love was then poured out upon us.
The Father's love, which had been confined and forbidden to us, overflowed upon us
freely in Christ through the cross. Previously impossible due to our unworthiness,
through the opening Christ made for us through the cross, our easily ascended to God
the Father.
"And this is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus
Christ and love one another" (1 Jn. 3:23.)
Faith in Christ is completed by love for one another; if we do not love one another, our
faith is incomplete. Such is the Christian faith!
Faith in Christ means love for one another: "By this all men will know that you are My
disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn. 13:35.) Of ourselves, there is no source
of love for one another. With the exception of the natural, animal love of the flesh, this
is difficult, and in fact, impossible. The type of love with which we are commanded to
love one another by the Father and the Son comes from the bounty of the Father and
Son's love, because it emanates from His Being and not from our human, animal
nature. Our human nature is as the Apostle Paul says: "For I know that nothing good
dwells in me, that is, in my flesh" (Rom. 7:18.) For that reason, He commanded us
often and with persistence to love one another, because He is the owner and giver of
this love.
From the bounty of the Father and the Son's love, we love one another and those close
to us. It is therefore impossible to have the capability or facility to love one another if
the Father and Son's love in us is not acquired through fervent worship. We love one
another at God's expense, not at our own personal expense. Our love for one another
is the realistic and honest proof of our love for God.
If such is the case, then, for those who love God, loving one another becomes
extremely easy. No barrier can block it, not even death. The reason is that our love is

drawn from the credit God entrusted to us, and is not related to our nature or our lives.
There are people whom we see and know very well whose love for one another has
become a joy to them, a delight, a spontaneity; to the point of appearing reckless with
their money, offspring, and life. The secret is that they are "squandering" from a fund
that is no theirs but from an inexhaustible Divine fund. From God's pocket, they help
themselves, then distribute and squander to those who deserve it and those who do
not equally. Whosoever asks, give to them; do not reject the one who asks, for
whatever is asked for shall be granted. Such is their attitude.
As they know that this is a very important commandment of God, they do not rest by
day or by night in sacrificing and serving others to delight God's heart. Whenever they
distribute generously, the bounty of God is renewed in their hearts.
We have faith and believe that God loved us in Christ, whose Father gave Him over to
slaughter for our sakes. When we accept it, His love becomes effective in our hearts.
With this faith and sincere belief, our feelings, hearts, and minds open up to realize the
great extent of His love for us, and we are daily reassured of its existence. If we accept
it with sufficient honor and give it our constant care, it will become effective and
overflow from the depth of our hearts without effort. On its own, it will overflow upon
everyone, unhindered by our weighing or measuring it. It is a gift of God that will exist
forever, because, as Habakkuk the prophet said, it is His commandment from His own
mouth, and He is watchful to fulfill and renew His work throughout the years (Hab 3:2.)
We said that God the Father's love for His only Son comes from His nature, and Christ's
love for is also a love of His divine nature. Whoever therefore loves this love and
sincerely feels it in spirit will feel the flame of divine love simmer in his heart, because
he loives in the force of a divine nature burning within him.
For that reason, following the Resurrection, God the Father sent the flaming Holy Spirit.
Coming in a clear and visible manner, He was sent through the Son to live in renewed
mankind. He inflames our hearts and spirit with the love of God the Father and Christ
so that we can live in the fellowship of the Father and Jesus Christ. "I send the promise
of My Father upon you" (Lk. 24:49.) As Saint John cried for in his epistle, crying out to
all the faithful that this fellowship is for them. In order that our joy may be complete,
they too are associates with the apostles in God.
God loves mankind. He loves every one truly, made clear through the crucifixion of our
Lord. If He loves the One, the He loves each and every one. Therefore His love for one
goes inevitably to the rest. This is a right, an obligation, and it must be so, so that
everyone can gather together through love.
Our love for God cannot equal His love unless it extends to everyone. "This is My
commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12.) With it, God
thus becomes the all in all. For in Christ's words, "I in them and Thou in Me, that they
may become perfectly one" (Jn. 17:23,) lie the extraordinary mystery of the nature of
the divine love, the element of agreement, assembly, and unification. On this basis,
Christ says at the end of this chapter, "I made known to them Thy name, and I will
make it known, that the love with which Thou has loved Me may be in them, and I in
them" (Jn. 17:26.)
Take heed, dear reader, Christ is in us when He pours out His love in us. Therefore
when the Apostle Paul says with divine awareness, "...that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith" (Eph. 3:17,) he knows He will come and with Him love, the secret

key that opens the path to the Father. What more could the Apostle Paul want after the
Father and Son have entered our hearts? Does it not mean that love has overflowed
our hearts?
God, to ensure that His love dwells in our hearts in all its strength, immensity, and
variety, sent the Holy Spirit, bearing the complete nature of God's love: "... and to
know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God" (Eph. 3:19.)
Does not that mean the fullness of God's love?
Written on the eve of June 6, 1999

TheBibleasaPersonalMessagetoYou
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

WHEN YOU READ THE BIBLE as a personal message to you from God, the words find
their way to the depths of your conscience and spiritual emotion. You read with a
spiritual awareness, your heart being open, receptive and ready for obedience and joy.
Like living and distinct fingerprints of God's will and pleasure, they move, form and
impress their divine, effective impace. In response, the deadened conscience revives...

It is easy to find scientific, historical and literary books which seek truth. They explore
the reality found within and without man, and they seek it in all its formsl. They shed
light on knowledge of all kinds, both regarding man and truth in general. They are
written on the mind's level. They address his physical well-being, increase his
awareness and enrich his intellectual and cultural heritage.
But the Bible is not so, and should not be approached in this way. The Bible is a direct,
personal message from God to man aiming at his slavation and lifting his spirit to
prepare him for the better life, eternal life.
In such a message, God unveils his identity to man in a very personal and private way.
He makes known his surpassing powers to strengthen man in his weakness, his
transcendent love to fill man's heart, his holiness to cover man's nakedness, and his
enormous ability to forgive, pardon, wash and purge so we may enter a new life as
sons of God. It is upon this hope that man's conscience rests These divine, efficacious
traits are what bring man to life. As God unveils them to man, he calls and prepares
him for entering with him into a sincere and pure fellowship of life. Man thus never
returns to his lostness in which he used his own mind and abilities as he groped for
salvation.
The fellowship to which God calls us is not an illusion, nor does it come through words
of human persuasion. It is founded by Christ's own blood. It is a fellowship which rests
on God's perfect generosity and total acceptance. God gives His own spirit, blood, and
self through his favors and gifts. Rising above himself, man receives them and in turn
perceives matters which surpass his abilities. This is the nature of the Almighty's gifts.
Most amazing about this fellowship is that God's generosity is not limited to what man
will receive. God offers his gifts in the Spirit without limit or measure, according to the
extreme largess of His nature. Hence the whole burden rests on the ability of man to

believe, then receive, then comprehend.


So, dear Reader, the nature of the Bible is revealed and renewed before you. When
you approach the Holy bible it is not as a book of knowledge or science. Rather, it is a
personal message from God to you, an inheritance containing rights sealed with God's
covenants. Never again will you merely be a reader, but a received and an inheritor.
The Bible will no longer be a book of reading for knowledge, but a bonded inheritance
and a key to the treasure of divine favor and gifts. On every gift the name and seal of
God are stamped. Attached is a personal photo of Jesus Christ, a living pictured framed
within your heart. If you believe him, you will receive and reign. He will give you life as
He transforms you more and more into od's image, moving, thrusting you forward, and
encouragin you to fathom more of the depths of this fellowship in righteousness,
holiness and truth.
All those who have entered this sphere, the realm of the divine message in the Holy
bible, have come to know God and accepted from him a perpetual invitation into his
presence. The treasure of God's gift have been opened to them. To the degree that
they strive after it, to that degree they receive. They have therefore absorbed all the
purposes. Slowly, but surely, God has come to live withint heir inner being without
them being full aware of it. Their condition is altered, their appearance changed, that
their minds renewed and they are strengthened in their weakness. The result is that
they launch out preaching what they have seen, heard, and tasted in experience after
experience. So the gospel transforms within them from a message into a treasury,
then into a testimony, then into a proclamation of the good news of God's surpassing
love.
The testimonies of those who have tasted the Lord and experienced him through the
Bible have accumulated throughout the ages. The bottom line is that their testimony
became part and parcel of the message of the Bible itself. In this our profit is certain,
and we are drawn to enter the same sphere, confident of the end before we even
begin.
The Fingerprints of the World on Your Heart
When you read the Bible as a personal message to you from God, the words find their
way to the depths of your conscience and spiritual emotion. You read with a spiritual
awareness, your heart being open, receptive and ready for obedience and joy. Like
living and distinct fingerprints of God's will and pleasure, they move, form and impress
their divine, effective impace. In response, the deadened conscience revives. Tears
flow as the word comforts the will and conscience. It reshapes the soul, closer and
more like God's will and pleasure. It pushes man forward in thankfulness as he makes
steps toward God in the light of the word. Christ hold man's hand, leading him through
the hardships of life and the darkness of this age, until he reaches the heart of God the
Father.
A Conflict of Two Methods
Again we are warned that a sterile and objective approach to the word only leads to
examination, questioning, and finally skepticism. A contrite spirit, on the other hand,
that approaches the word as a personal and living message, purifies, sanctifies and
fosters the heart in all piety and faith.
These two methods are before you, dear Reader, and you are free to choose:
If you choose the first method, you will be snared by the sciences of examination,
analysis and criticism, and finally the darkness of skepticism.

But if you choose the second, as the verdict in your case for sanctity lies in the
balance, you will be vindicated as you are defended by the experiences of the fathers,
prophets, apostles, and saints. Your new life of experiential faith will be built upon the
testimony of the Spirit in the depth of your conscience. Out of your own faith and
experience, you can then answer all the doubts and approach the study that merely
criticizes and analyzes.
It is a great danger to begin with the first method. With pure knowledge the soul
quickly becomes discouraged, for it provides neither profit nor support. The Bible
becomes a burden to the mind and may in fact be an enemy to the conscience. It finds
no comfort in it and may come to feart it, despite is, and avoid it. In this condition,
when the mind approaches the Bible, it feels alienated from the truth and senses that
God is very distant.
At the beginning of his life, if man gives himself to the second method, his soul will
leap as he approaches the Bible. Hungering for it day after day, he eats from it only to
return to it with more hunger. When it quenches his thirst, with its living water, he
thirsts for God all the more. At the same time, his hunger and thirst for the world is
deadened. The more the heart of man's soul yearns for its eternal destiny, the more
the light of God's face is reflected on it as a gleaming seal. While he himself feels
nothing, others see its brightness. For the soul sees nothing of itself except its
weakness carried by the love of God. It is then that the open-minded soul can face the
world's erudition, skepticism, and violence of the mind. With enlightenment and love,
he patiently receives the open-hearted love of God and, as seen in his Holy Bible, his
condescension to man.
In this way, the problem of the scientific method disappears, and there is no more
anguish in the mind and conscience. When approaching the Bible, man begins with the
spirit, not the letter, with experience before study, with vision before moving out, with
love before confrontation.

AMessagetoSinnersOnly
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

SINNERS WERE AND STILL ARE Christ's special and extremely important mission. This
mission brought Him down from Heaven, out of His Father's embrace. For sinful
mankind, Christ descended from the heavens and came into the world...
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It was a joyful day when Christ, on His way to Jericho, met Zacchaeus. The chief tax
collector had climbed up into a sycamore tree in an effort to see Jesus closely. What
Christ did then was astonishing. When He saw him, the Lord said, "Zacchaeus, make
haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today" (Luke 19:5.)
Levi, like Zacchaeus, was a sinner. He was a tax collector, a position of fraud, theft,
and of mixing with Gentiles. Christ entered his house, and Levi made Him a great
feast. Naturally, many tax collectors and other sinners were invited. Jesus sat, ate and
drank with these sinners. His friendship to them infuriated the Scribes and Pharisees.
They confronted His disciples about their Teacher eating and drinking with tax

collectors and sinners. Then came the reply, which this story compels us to seek: "And
Jesus answered them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who
are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke
5:31,32.)
Christ came for the sake of sinners. He descended from heaven, incarnate in human
form, suffered, was nailed on the cross and died for the sake of sinners alone. The pain
He suffered and the scorn he endured were extremely severe, all for the sake of
sinners. St. Peter's insight into this fact is considered the fundamental core on which
Christian theology was established:
He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness (1 Peter 2:24.)
In summary, this is how it happened. Jesus was judged in the court of the Jews,
charged with many sins. He did not answer, but remained silent. He was then judged
by a Roman court, also accused of many heavy sins. When Pontius Pilate asked Him to
answer these charges, He did not answer or defend Himself, which dismayed the
Roman Judge. But Christ the secret to Himself, the secret that He accepted upon
Himself all the sins for which He was blamed. The judgment for all these sins was
crucifixion on a cross. He accepted crucifixion, bearing our sins in His torn body on the
cross. Hence, the judgment of the cross was justified and Christ accepted it.

TheEffectoftheLiturgyofPrayerandPraiseontheBeingofMan
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

It is not difficult to perceive that prayer and praise are in themselves a work of the
Holy Spirit in us... When your soul has once been aroused by hymns or set prayers in
church, prayer will always be able to admit to the presence of God without any
difficulty, like a child who has once learned to speak.

David is considered a fine example of one who prayed much and praised and sang to
God in joy and humility night and day. It is also clear from his life and from God's own
witness concerning him that there is a strong relationship between prayer and praise
on the one hand, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and his dwelling in the heart of
man on the other.
It is not difficult to perceive that prayer and praise are in themselves a work of the
Holy Spirit in us, and that to practise them is to some extent fellowship with the Holy
Spirit. So regular participation in the service of the liturgy of prayer and praise in the
church is a door through which we may enter into a life that is spiritual, without
difficulty and without pride. It can change us little by little from our worldly form into a
new form loved by God and mean.
We notice that when we praise God from our hearts, it awakens the sense of
immortality that lies dormant deep inside us and increases our love for eternal life.
Afterwards, one grows accustomed to the atmosphere of praise and it becomes to us
like the air of heaven, our better homeland. We breathe the fragrance of God simply by
hearing the church choir sing, for the melody of the hymns is a language of the spirit
and from it the soul draws a sense of heavenly things.
When your soul has once been aroused by hymns or set prayers in church, prayer will

always be able to admit to the presence of God without any difficulty, like a child who
has once learned to speak.
So, it is that the liturgy of communal prayer and praise in church is able to stir the soul
of man into a recognition of his heavenly homeland, to increase his awareness of
eternity and his sense of divine things, and to change and renew his thinking.
The choir that sings praise in church is used by the Holy Spirit to draw the hears of the
repentant towards heaven and to make the voice of God heard above the voice of this
transitory world.
Thus, hymns of praise and supplication prepare us inwardly and without our
consciousness to take part in the communal fellowship with God in the mystery of the
Eucharist. This is especially true, because participation in the communal singing of
praise in church breaks down the barriers between the individual and the community,
just as the individual voice is lost among the voices of the congregation. Praising God
creates harmony between the believers and prepares them to be one voice for one
heart and one spirit, for a hymn separates man from the world just as it separates him
from his own selfishness.

SoiftheSonMakesYouFree,YouWillbeFreeIndeed
byFatherMattaElMaskeen(MatthewthePoor)

Man is born into the world a slave, contrary to the popular saying that people are
brought into this world by their mothers free. The freedom of which they speak is a
bestial, earthly freedom. Natural freedom is that man does what he wants according to
the natural instincts with which he was created...

Freedom:
It is the most precious mystic element mankind can obtain from God.
Man is born into the world a slave, contrary to the popular saying that people are
brought into this world by their mothers free. The freedom of which they speak is a
bestial, earthly freedom. Natural freedom is that man does what he wants according to
the natural instincts with which he was created. He acquires them through clearly
defined and strongly controlling law of inheritance. Whatever man within his family did
a thousand years ago at birth, during the stage of crawling, childhood and youth, he
does the same today. The only difference is that some customs vary between one
nation and another, and some traditions differ from one family to the other. For
example, every nation is governed by certain influences of hehritage that acquired
through the effect of development by means of education, sophistication, culture and
imposed religious requisites.
In addition to the tradition influences obtained from their forefathers, every family has
also the influences gained through the effects of society. Added to them are the rules
and laws imposed by governments on their peoples with the aim of shaping the nation
into a mold suited to its military, religious, or cultural ambitions. The members of every
family are also directed by the father and mother's power, unique temperament,
education and culture. The result is that the family member grows up influenced by
the father and mother's temperaments and their degree of education and culture.

All of these influences produce a citizen and family member who emerges committed
to the mold of the nation and the family. A follower of general and special principles,
he has been educated by general popular customs an special family traditions. This
takes place in a wide or limited range, depending upon the individual's degree of
adherence to these general, family, scholastic and religious traditions and teachings,
common and unique.
The actual freedom of the individual remains limited within the narrowest of confines,
in an ironclad collar. It opens and narrows, yet it continues to be an ironclad collar that
has its characteristics in every nation and every family and from which the individual
cannot depart. If he does, he is ostracized by society and the family. These are the
limits of natural in which and for which man is brought forth from his mother's womb.
For these reason, the saying is deceitful that claims people are born free from their
mother's wombs, for a slave is born of his mother's womb a slave, a prince is born of
his mother's womb a prince, a heathen is born from his m other's womb a heathen, a
Jew is born from his mother's womb a Jew. The same applies for the Muslim, Christian,
and atheist.
In the midst of this vast devotion to nationalities and their traditions, and to families
and their traditions, the Son of God was born from a Holy Virgin. Without a father, he
was born of the Holy Spirit and God was His Father!
Heaven thus invaded the earth, and God introduced to humanity a completely new
Divine element, unrelated in any way to nationalities and uncommitted to any family
ties.
Before the Son's entry into the world, mankind, every man, was a slave to the world, to
his nation, to family heritage and traditions. The world was ruled by Adam's sin by
which he had been corrupted. The nation was governed by the world that corrupted it,
the family was ruled by the homeland that corrupted it and all were ruled by the effect
of sin that the Devil had dictated to humankind, Adam. He forced it onto man, every
man, by his consent, corrupting humankind and establishing it in him.
It spread and settled in among all men who accepted it without resistance, rather,
consenting to it and enjoying it and accordingly desiring it, loving it, then worshipping
it. To remove this imposed trangression and currpution, God sent His Son to the world
with its nations and families, freeing it from the subjugation to sin's corruption and
slavery in all its general and specific forms.
Christ proclaimed, "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36.)
The Jews contested him, trusting in the metaphorical fantasy that they were
Abraham's children and were never slaves to anyone: "They answered him, 'We are
decendants of Abraham and have never been in bondage to anyone. How is it that you
say, 'You will be made free?'" (John 8:33.) Here, Christ reveals to the world His mission
from God, His Father. Through Christ we know that God loved the world: "For God so
loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not
perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16.) From the beginning, He is the creator and
organizer. There, in eternity, before the existence of the heavens and the earth He
planned His creation. He loved the creation of His hands and planned its happy ending,
so that man woudl have the fortune of partaking in the life of heaven. Having lived on
earth to complete his perfection through being cleansed from sin and being sactified,
he emerged from the world of dust to be received, with those who are spiritual, in
heaven as a heavenly spiritual citizen.
The Son's entire mission to the world was solely for the world's slavation from the
bondage of sin. Sin enslaved the world with all its nations, families, and individuals.

Everyone was corrupt, having gone astray and in need of God's glory. Sin in all its
kinds and forms pervaded, settling within all humanity, subjugating man's soul and
spirit to worship the fantasies and falsehoods of sin under forms, names, morals,
principles, religions, and beliefs. It served itself, in the flesh, as if it were a god to be
worshipped, to the extent that it falsified the truth. In the midst of this terrifying and
well-contrived lie that pervaded the world came the Son. Bearing God the Father's
message, He established the basis of the only truth with His words, "God is spirit, and
those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth... For such the Father seeks to
worship him... The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth."
Thus came the first heavenly proclamation for destroying the worship of the flesh and
everything physical (animal) that was impregnated with all the passions and works of
sin. These, Satan had controlled from the time of Adam and his descendants. In this
way, and with one word, Christ removed the worship of animal offerings, of
purifications, and the law's interpretations for cleaning with water the body and its
members from defilement and impurities. Christ thus annulled from Moses' Law the
interpretations for purification from defilements, in detail and in their totality.
"And He called the peopel to Him and said to them, 'Hear and understand; not what
goes into the muth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a
man'"(Mt. 15:10, 11.)
"There is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things
which come out of a man are what defile him... Then are you also without
understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot
defile him, since it enters, not his heart, but stomach, and so passes on?"... And he
said, "What comes out of man is what defiles a man. From from within, out of the heart
of man comes evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness,
deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from
within, and they defile a man" (Mk. 7:10-23.)
This means that the Son's mission with which He came from the Father does not
concern defilement and cleansing. Rather, it calls for holiness and purification from sin:
"For God has not called us for uncleanness, but in holiness" (1 Thess. 4:7.)
Uncleanness does not enter man, but, if his heart is evil, comes out of his heart, not
from his flesh. Uncleanness does not originally emanate from the flesh, but from the
heart and follows its course through thoughts that later become actions. Fornication is
originally a thought that emanated from an evil heart that was lured by the devil. The
weight of the sin of fornication rests on evil thinking, i.e., on the soul. It is upon the
soul that the blame and punishment falls, not on the flesh, because it is the soul which
deals with the devil. This destructive brain power does not deal with the flesh, but with
the thoughts of the heart.
What Christ said about fornication He also said about licentiousness, killing, theft,
greed, malice, deception, fornication, evil eye, blasphemy, conceit, and ignorance. All
of these come from thoughts of the evil heart, not from the flesh. The devil only deals
with the mind, thoughts and hearts, for as we have said, the devil is not a power of the
flesh, but a destructive brain power of the soul, who starts by destroying in mind his
mind, thoughts, and soul.
Worship is being attentive to relationship with God. We understand therefore that
worship must rise to the level of the heart, mind, and soul, and not fall to the level of
the flesh. Purifications in Christianity concern the heart, mind, and soul. It is from the
heart, mind, and soul that emanate the passions and thoughts of defilement that
enslave and humiliate the flesh under the bondage of the devil and sin.

This means that it is useless, even impossible, to begin worship and holiness
from the flesh and through the purification of the flesh.
Christ therefore said clearly and frankly, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him
must worship in spirit and truth." Spirit here refers to the spiritual soul, because if the
soul is partial to the flesh and its passions, it becomes an animal soul, and the soul
that is partial to the spirit is a spiritual soul. The meaning of worship in the spirit is
consequently that of worshipping without physical tendencies and reactions, being
ruled by the soul that adheres to the spirit and the spiritual. Therein lies worship in
itruth, void of all the deception of the world, and the truth is God.
If we go back to the words of the Son, "If the Son makes you free, you will be free
indeed," the meaning becomes clear that the Son's coming to the world was in order
to end any worship related to the flesh. For the flesh was enslaved to sin and sin is the
work of the devil. So in no way should the flesh be given the opportunity to worship
God. That is why the Son restricted the worship of God absolutely to "in spirit and in
truth," excluding the flesh, and unrelated to the futile world.
How did the Son set us free?
Absolute freedom belongs only to God, for God is unique and the only being absolutely
free from any outside influence. No even inward impulse impinges upon God's
freedom. God's freedom for planning and action emanates from a completely free will,
founded on a complete and absolute love. The Father loves the Son absolutely,
meaning complete love made the Father and Son an Absolute One.. Through the
Father's love for the Son, God loved the world in the Son and sent Him to the world to
transfer His love--God's love--to mankind. Though a man may love God, we cannot say
that he loves Him totally or absolutely. This is impossible, because absoluteness is an
attribute belonging to God alone. It was therefore said, "You shall love the Lord God
with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your
strength" (Mk. 12:30.) This means that man should love God with all his being,
meaning, with all the faculties that control man's nature. In this way, his nature will be
free from every outer and inner influence, including the devil who was able to affect
man's mind, for he is a mental power. Through the mind, the devil infiltrated into man
all his passions, making man his slave in his thoughts or in his passions: "You are of
your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer
from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the
father of lies" (Jn. 8:44.)
So when a man in Adam submitted to the devil's idea, the devil's passions immediately
entered man's heart and made him a slave, through the devil's thoughts and actions of
the passions that took control of man's heart.
The Son came to transfer man's mind from the devil to God: "But we have the mind of
Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16.) This happened by opening man's mind through the spirit and the
word to know the truth, the truth being God:
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; ... He will glorify
me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you (proclaim it to you)" (Jn. 16:13,
14.)
"Sanctify them in the truth; the word is truth" (Jn. 17:17.)
"Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures" (Lk. 24:45.)

Through the Word, God's word, and through the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, Christ
transported man's mind from the devil to God. Thus, man's mind was freed from the
devil's bondage and consequently and inevitably man's heart was freed from the
devil's passions ot the love of God. "For the Father himself loves you, because you
have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father" (Jn. 16:27.) Christ
confirmed God's love for us by asking Him, "I made known to them thy name, and I will
make it known that the love with which though has loved me may be in them, and I in
them" (Jn. 17:26.)
The Son thus succeeded in completely transferring to us the Father's love with which
he loved His Son. If the Father's love for His Son controls our hearts, then God
possesses us. Thus, the devil is subjugated beneath our feet and we gain the freedom
of being His children.

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