Our Christ in the history of the Coptic Church in the first four centuries

Our Christ, Leader of the Procession across the Centuries

De: Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty, Bishoy Boshra Behnam

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

The child Mark brimmed with excitement as he and his family made their way to Kennedy Airport in New York to board their flight departing for Cairo. It would be the first time he would travel by jet and his first visit to Egypt. Mark sat next to the window; on the other side sat his older brother, Andrew. Mark was deep in thought while the aeroplane ascended through the clouds going toward Egypt. After a while, Andrew asked his younger brother, "O Mark, what are you thinking?" Mark answered him: "Andrew, as we jet our way above the clouds toward Egypt, I remember what Tasony (Sister) Marianne said last Sunday. She spoke to us about Isaiah, the prophet who lived about 730 years before Christ and saw the Child Christ riding on a swift and bright cloud, coming into Egypt (Isaiah 19:1). I asked her, 'Was there a jet plane during the time of the Lord Christ's flight above the clouds and was there an airport in Egypt to receive it?' Marianne answered, "Yes, the jet plane was the Virgin Mary. She was like a cloud because the Spirit of God filled her heart, Who made her holy. She carried Jesus Christ and flew with Him, like a cloud into Egypt!" I said to her, "Oh, what a joy it was for St. Mary! Is it possible for me to become as light as a cloud and carry my Christ and fly with Him to Egypt?" She said, "Yes, our Christ wants all humans to become as light as a cloud so their hearts can rise above and fly and carry Him to every soul as if He is entering Egypt." I asked her, "Do you mean that non-believers symbolize Egypt, who is in need for the Lord Christ to enter?" She answered me, "That is what I mean, for He wants us to become a holy cloud and to carry Him to the poor souls to rejoice in Him." Andrew listened very closely to his younger brother Mark. When he had finished speaking, he asked him, "Mark, what did our Lord Christ do when He entered into Egypt?" "Have you not read, Andrew, what Isaiah the prophet has written? For Egypt's idols have fallen, and many of them were destroyed (Isaiah 19:1); Then, the Egyptians started to abandon the worship of idols and accepted the Christian faith. He established the Church of Egypt by Himself, and an altar to the Lord in the middle of it and a pillar for Him in its land (Isaiah 19:19). "And why did He choose Egypt and did not go to Greece, Italy, India or China?" Tasony Marianne said to us that Egypt at that time was like a person with a corrupt and hardened heart. Also, the ancient people of God suffered bitterly from Pharaoh's slavery and his men until God sent Moses the prophet to rescue them from Egypt with a strong hand and a mighty arm. We are not surprised that the Lord said, "Blessed is Egypt My people" (Isaiah 19:25), for He wants to enter into hard and wicked hearts and make them His Blessed people." Mark asked, "Do you think there were no other people eviler than the Egyptians?" Andrew answered, "By putting his people in slavery, indeed Pharaoh resembled Satan, who wishes to humiliate and prevent us from receiving freedom. However, we should not deny that Egyptians in general and many Pharaohs were eager to know God. Herodotus, the well-known historian, said that the Egyptians are excessively religious and preceded all other human beings. Among the Egyptians, we do not hear about a consecrated priestess for sin for the temple as there was in Greece in the temple of Aphrodite. We do not hear about the burning of children as human sacrifices to the gods, as was the case among the Chaldeans. "O Mark, the heart that yearns to know and meet with God will not be left without help! He enters into it as He had fled to Egypt, to bless Egypt, His people." Then Andrew opened his bag and took out a small book with a beautiful cover titled "Our Christ, the Leader of the Procession." He offered it to his younger brother Mark as he spoke to him. "Because I know that the trip is long, I have brought you this exciting book," Andrew said.