New Coptic year 1773 AM (2020 AD)
Wishing everyone a blessed Feast of Nayrouz, which is the beginning of the Coptic year 1737 AM. In the year 284 A.D., the Church experienced the most severe persecution under the rule of Emperor Diocletian. The Church honored the love of the martyrs and the blood they shed for the sake of Christ by marking this period as the start of the Coptic calendar.
A positive view of martyrdom
Since the beginning of time, Satan has deceived humanity through three main avenues:(1) Reason and logic, (2) the lusts of the world and body, and (3) the vanity of the world.
- Reason and logic: these are the greatest gifts of God to mankind and distinguish us from the rest of creation. Humanity may use this gift to meditate on the wonders of God through His creation and glorify Him. Unfortunately, we sometimes fall prey to thoughts that burrow their way into our souls and heart and blind us from our original purpose of union with God. If we do not interrupt these waves of thoughts and reconnect with God, we experience a stark emptiness and joy becomes a very temporary experience in our lives. Then if we are not careful we lose the concept of God entirely and our beliefs take on a form of atheism.
- Lusts of the flesh: Satan deceives man into desiring the lusts of the flesh instead of making a sacred family. This causes him to invent all the evils that humiliate man and even make him despise himself. Satan uses the media to reveal all the sins and impurities that separate man from God, and then after falling to feel the pain of guilt, dissatisfaction and inferiority.
- Vanity of the world: Satan deceives man into yearning for the glory of the world through completing his projects, business, wealth, and worrying about the future. He spends all his energy working day and night at the expense of his life and relationship with God and his family. He loses true peace and joy and cannot sleep well except with tranquillizers and so on.
Finally, when the enemy of righteousness failed to deceive God's children with all his deceitful and false tricks, he waged a war of martyrdom on them with various torments and pain. He tried to persuade them out of their love for their Redeemer (But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rm 5:8) But they offered a pure love and their blood to their Redeemer and many miracles were performed through the Holy Spirit so that many people believed in Christ. Christianity has spread more and more throughout the whole world. Many of the persecutors turned to the faith in Christ and were martyred in His Name. For instance, Arianus himself became an ambassador for Christ and was martyred. The story is told in the Synaxarium: “When Diocletian heard the report of Arianus, he brought him, and asked him why he had forsaken the worship of his idols. Arianus began to tell him about the signs and wonders which God was working by the hands of the holy martyrs, and how, in spite of the tortures which he had inflicted upon them, and the cutting of their bodies, they rose up again whole. The Emperor became furious with him because of what he said and ordered him to be tortured severely, and cast into a pit and to cover it until he dies. The Lord Christ sent His angel, who brought him out from the pit, and took him by the bed of the Emperor. The Emperor woke up from his sleep, and when he saw and recognized that he was Arianus, he was amazed and terrified. Diocletian again ordered him to be placed into a hair sack, and to cast him into the sea, so they did. Arianus the martyr delivered up his soul while he was in the hair sack.”
So my beloved, we not only need to be proud that we are the children of God and the martyrs, but also to follow their behavior and imitate their lives and love for Christ - "Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." Hebrews 13:7.
At the beginning of the new Coptic Year, the Lord allows us to be witnesses for Him by obeying His commandments to the last breath. We should not be deceived by the ideas and doctrines of the world, our personal thoughts and inclinations, but rather trust in the power of prayer and the word of God. (Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away Matthew 24:35)
The word of God is able to change the whole world regardless of how the enemy of God deceives the world with atheism or other temptations. As the poem of Pope Shenouda says about Joseph the righteous, "I will obey God even if I alone will obey Him.”
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