Tasbeha.org Community

welcome pulpito!
 
there are other orthodox churches in spain, so if you don't find a coptic church, then you might benefit from visiting the other churches (like greek orthodox or russian orthodox, for example).

to answer some of your questions:
 in our church, we have a synod of bishops who make decisions with the pope. he does not change anything in the church structure without first consulting the synod of bishops.

our structure is simpler. bishops over big areas with increased administrative jobs can be made 'metopolitan' (like 'archbishop' in some other orthodox churches), but bishops and metropolitans do not move from one place to another.
i like the simpler structure as it (usually) helps the bishops to be more humble.
i like our bishops a lot! it is easy to go and say 'hello' to them, you just wait after a meeting and if there are not too many people, you can talk to them and kiss their hand.
i did not meet lots of bishops, but the ones i met were kind and peaceful.

but there are lots of good people in the catholic church too.
try to find people who pray a lot and who can teach you to get closer to God through prayer and fasting and Bible study and doing good things and through the Holy Communion (Eucharist).
good spiritual leaders are very strong and very humble and very loving; willing to work very hard and able to ask for advice and to listen to those around them.
i think your pope francis is a good leader (but i didn't meet him, so i don't really know).
our pope tawadros enjoyed meeting him very much.

i have met a few very spiritual catholic priests where i am (uk), so i think (hope) there are others in spain.
i have been to a catholic church in the south of spain once, but i don't speak spanish (except, hello, how are you and those basic things) and they didn't speak much english, but the people were lovely and the priest was very careful to place the small children at the front of the church so they could see everything.

i think if the coptic people near you do not answer their email, you should go to the church anyway one time. sometimes coptic people are shy beause they got used to being afraid of their neighbours in egypt.
so if they are shy, then say hello to them after the service.
when they see that you love God, they should be less shy and talk to you.
may God bless you, and thanks for visiting this website!
 
mabsoota (it means 'happy' in arabic, because i am happy in the coptic church!)

we have the same fasts, but if someone is a new convert, or still in school, or has medical conditions (like some bowel problems where too much beans will give you pain or even a bad infection) then they fast differently.
like a teenager who is growing fast might give up meat but still eat dairy.

most people fast from all animal products during great lent (ours is 55 days) and ninevah's fast (3 days - originated in syria), and fast from animal products except fish during saint mary's fast, the nativity fast (Christmas) and the apostle's fast.
we also fast from all animal products wednesdays and fridays (except the 50 days after Pascha where we don't do any fasting except the 9 hours before Holy Communion).

we fast 9 hours before Holy Communion instead of 6, although usually as it is in the morning, it doesn't make any difference if it is 9 or 6 hours as we fast from midnight anyway.
i suppose the only difference is that if Holy Communion happens really early, like at 7.30am after a 6am liturgy, then we would fast from 10.30pm the night before.
even then, if you are getting up at 5am or earlier to get to church, you should probably (for health reasons!) sleep by 10.30pm, so the extra fasting is no big deal.

may God bless u as u celebrate with us the Holy 50 days until pentecost
 

most people take communion every sunday, or every time they attend liturgy (quite a lot of people make in on average every 2 weeks, due to traveling long distances, work, difficultly finding a good alarm clock  etc.)
because we go up to the front for Holy Communion (and only rarely people go up for a blessing and not for Holy Communion), you can see that there are very few people left standing in church during that time who do not go up.
we just have to keep the fasts our priest says to (ill people and very young or very old don't fast very much) so during this time of not fasting, we just have to abstain from food and water (and marital relations) for 9 hours before Holy Communion and to have been to confession recently (usually this means in the last month).
of course, we should also prepare by repenting of our sins the day before and during the liturgy and by praying and having a relationship with God.

and this is the relevant bit!
 
thanks for the link, servant 33

Do Not Hold On To Me
Question:
Why did the Lord appear to Mary Magdalene after the
resurrection?
Why did He say to her ""Do not cling to Me," (John. 20:17)
While He allowed Saint Thomas to touch Him? (John
20:27).
He, also, allowed the rest of the apostles to touch him.
(Luke 24:39)
Did He prevent her from touching Him because she is a
woman?
Did He allow them to touch Him because they are men?


Answer:
The Lord Jesus Christ allowed Mary Magdalene to touch Him
before anyone of the apostles, as it was mentioned in their first
meeting after the resurrection in (Matt. 24)
Mary Magdalene, with the other Mary went to look at the
tomb. The tomb was empty. The big stone was rolled away
from the entrance.
The angel told them the good news of the resurrection of the
Lord. On leaving the tomb, the Lord met them and said to
them "Peace be with you. "(John 20:19).
147
Here, Saint Matthew, the Evangelist says, "So they came and
held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. ". (Matt 28:9)
So, Mary Magdalene has touched Christ after the
resurrection.
The Lord did not prevent her from touching Him because she is
a woman but, on the contrary, He charged her with going to His
disciples and telling them about the good news of the
resurrection and her meeting with Him in the Galilee.
It was a great honour that the Lord charged a woman with
carrying good news to the apostles.
But it happened afterwards that Mary Magdalene yielded
to the doubts spread by the chief priests about the
resurrection.
They filled the world with rumours announcing that the body
was stolen from the tomb while the guards were sleeping.
It was possible for these rumours to leave no effect on Mary
were it not for her to see that the apostles themselves did not
believe in the resurrection.
As for the doubts of the disciples, they were very clear as they
did not believe the story of the resurrection.
Mary has gone to them and told them the good news of Christ's
resurrection. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she
had seen Him, they did not believe it. (Mark 16:9-11)
When Mary Magdalene saw that Jesus' apostles did not
believe her and trusted neither the other women nor the
two from Emmaus, she began to doubt.


148
She was still a young lady and perhaps what she had seen at the
tomb was a dream or imagination. Had she faith stronger than
that of the apostles? It is something absurd.
She thought in herself; perhaps some men might have stolen the
body and carried it from its place!
They might not be the apostles but other men, perhaps the
gardener, for example, might have taken it for any reason!
Of course, all these were doubts against faith because she
herself saw the empty tomb. She also saw Christ, touched
Him and heard His voice.
Moreover, she heard the good news from the angel, then
from the two angels.
As Peter had denied Christ three times during the judgment, so
did Mary Magdalene. She denied the resurrection of the Lord
three times. These denials are written in one chapter. (John
20:12,13,15)
1.
The first denial took place when she went to the Saints
Peter and John and said to them "They have taken the Lord out
of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put Him!"
(John 20:2)
These words mean that God has not yet risen from the dead as
they have taken His body and put it another place.
2.
The second denial took place when she was weeping
outside the tomb and the two angels asked her "Woman, why
are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken
away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."
(John 20:13)
149
3.
The third denial took place when The Lord Jesus
Christ appeared to her. Because of her weeping, she did not see
Him well and thought Him to be the gardener. Perhaps He
concealed Himself from her ... She said to Him "Sir, if You have
carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will
take Him. " (John 20.-15)
When He showed Himself to her and she knew Him, she cried
out "Rabboni!" (which means: Teacher)
The Lord prevented her from touching Him to rebuke her
for denying His resurrection three times.
Also, it was not permissible for her to touch Him with her
precarious faith as if He were a common person carried by
someone to any place.
She said to Peter and John "They have taken away the Lord out
of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
(John 20:2).
She said to the two angels " they have taken away my Lord, and
I do not know where they have laid Him " (John 20:13).
She said to the Lord thinking He was the gardener "Sir, if You
have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, "
(John 20:15).
All her words were repetition to the soldiers' pretence and
showed her precarious faith.
The Lord said to her "Do not cling to Me ..." which means
'Don't approach Me with your shaken faith and with you
doubts after you have seen Me, clasped My feet and heard
My voice.'
150
'Don't approach Me after I have charged you with a
message to My disciples.'
'Don't approach Me after you have seen the tomb and
heard the angels' testimony.'
'Don't hold on to Me with your denial, for I have not yet
returned to the Father.'


As for the phrase " I have not yet ascended to My Father. "
(John 20:17) Saint Severus, from Antioch as well as Saint
Augustine did not take it literally but symbolically because she
had held on Him before.
The two saints added that the Lord wished to say to her "Don't
hold on to Me with your precarious faith because I have not
reached in your mind the standard of My Father's divinity.
"You think My body is still dead and the people can carry it
wherever they wish!!"
However, He consoled her and at the same time He charged her
with a message to the apostles.
151

i think he says 'do not cling to me' or 'do not hold me'.
other people will write more, i hope, i can't remember the full explanation.

dear friends,
can anyone tell me the song which is sung during the 'burial' of the icon on great friday?
i didn't find it in the books, and the churches tend to put pictures on the screen at this time, so i don't know what the words are.
could u pls put a link to the words? (ideally coptic but english would be good too)

thanks everyone and...

CHRIST IS RISEN!

    

he is fine, he is very busy.
(see british orthodox website)
i will try to remember yr message when i see him soon.
he goes occasionally on orthodoxChristianity.net, although i haven't 'seen' him there recently.

Jesus died for people like you.
and like me.

did you hear the sermon 'come back to God' from pope shenouda?
maybe someone hear can send a link or you can search for it.
even if you heard it before, listen to it again.

do you know the story of anba moses? even after he killed lots of people, God forgave him when he repented.

there are no easy answers.
you come out of this one confession at a time, just as you went into it one sin at a time.
make every repentance and good deed a stepping stone to the next one.

get books to read, so you don't miss electronic stuff so much.
did you try the 'orthodox study Bible'?
don't think of it as something for theologians or sunday school teachers; the guidance notes are good for ordinary people too.
start with something easier like the book of Matthew, or read the articles in it on chrismation, baptism etc.
get booklets like by pope shenouda or the life of the saints.
if they are boring, read them out loud to yourself until you get to the end.
i recently read the 'Christian life' (or some similar title) by pope kyrillos; it's only about 20 pages long, and good reading in the evening before sleep.

make your goal survival and make your tools your books.
do housework so you don't get numb from sitting reading too much. vacuuming uses lots of calories and is a good workout.
may God give u strength as you turn back to him one step at a time.