The Church, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit has arranged the Nativity Fast to precede Christmas day. The fast is 43 days, starting on November 25^th or Hatour 16^th.

Before Moses received the commandments from the Lord on Mount Sinai, he fasted 40 days and 40 nights. The Commandments are the words of God, sent to His people so they can live a heavenly life. We, also, fast 40 days before Christmas to receive Jesus, the Word of God. The people in the Old Testament could not fulfill the Commandments by their human power because they lacked the grace of God. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit, the grace of God to be able to unite with the Word of God and live the heavenly life, blesses us.

On the first Sunday of the month of Koiahk (the Coptic month in which we celebrate Christmas), we commemorate the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to Zachariah. On the second Sunday, the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus Christ to St. Mary is remembered. During the third week, we commemorate the visit of St. Mary to Elizabeth and in the fourth and last week, we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist. Finally Christmas is celebrated on Koiahk 29 (28 & 29 in the leap year).

During the month of Koiahk, the Church stays up praising the Lord in prayer and thanksgiving for the birth of the Savior of the world. The praise of Koiahk is also known as "Seven & Four". It is the praise of the Church every night throughout the year in addition to some special hymns related to the Incarnation (God becoming Man) of Jesus Christ. The praises consist of four Canticles (praises) and seven Theotokias (hymns related to the Mother of God), with their Psalis and hymns.

The first Canticle (or hoce / ode) is the praise of Moses the prophet after crossing the Red Sea: "I will sing unto the Lord for He hath triumphed gloriously" (Exodus 15). The Red Sea is the symbol of Baptism that separated Pharaoh and his troops from the people of God. The Church sings the praise of salvation of its children from the world.

The second Canticle is the psalm 135; ‘Thank the Lord because He is Good and His mercy is forever". It is the praise of thanksgiving that the Church praises to its Lord for having saved us.

The third Canticle is the praise of the three Saints in the furnace of fire. This praise reminds us that God protects His people even in the midst of the fire (the world). The praise of the three saints in the furnace is normally found in the book of Daniel, in the Second Canonical Scriptures.

The fourth Canticle is composed of psalms 148, 149, 150. They are all concerned with the Church joining the heavenly creatures in their praises.

The seven Theotokias (one for each day of the week) are special hymns that are concerned with praising St. Mary for being chosen the Mother of God (the Theotokos).

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.

One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily.

But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with swollen and shriveled wings.

It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were the creator’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

So, sometime struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as faithful and strong as what we could have been.

Remember that struggle is part of our life. It is how each one copes that makes the difference.

And we could never fly.

St. John Chrysostom

The Fourth Century of the Christian era presented great challenges and opportunities for the Christian Church. The Emperor Constantine, in first legalizing Christianity and then establishing it as the state religion marked a new stage in the progress of the Church from a small Jewish sect to the predominant faith of the Roman Empire. The Church was forced by its confrontation with pagan society to deal with serious issues both theological and pastoral. The encounter with Greeks trained in philosophical thought required the Church to express its teaching in philosophical terms. Theological matters dominated the agenda of the ecumenical councils and the treatises of the great fathers…St. Athanasius of Alexandria, St. Basil of Caesarea, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Gregory of Nyssa. The practical problems arising for Christian life in a pagan society were the primary concern of St. John Chrysostom. Among the recurrent themes of his preaching were the proper use of wealth, the correct attitude to popular entertainments and the requirements of family life.

St. John was raised at Antioch by his widowed mother, Anthusa. After an education in the pagan classics, he turned to the study of the Bible, and then to monastic life. After six years as a monk living in the hills, he was forced by ill-health to return to the city. He served as reader, deacon, and priest during twenty years at Antioch. In 398 he was taken to Constantinople and consecrated bishop. His episcopate in the imperial capital was troubled by controversies and intrigues, which led to his exile in 404 and death in 407.

St. John’s earliest writings emphasized the value of celibate life. He wrote to advise his friend Theodore (later bishop of Mopsuestia) not to abandon the monastic life. Other works of St. John combat the attackers of monasticism and defend the preference for virginity. His early life as the son of a widow and as a young monk perhaps failed to give him the opportunity of fully appreciating the potential for grace in married life. Later, his experience as a pastor at Antioch and at Constantinople corrected this imbalance in his understanding, and later he became the great apologist for Christian marriage. Among his most faithful friends and helpers was the widow and deaconess Olympias, who may have taught him through her example and her conversation (which was continued in their letters) what the quality of a Christian woman could be.

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Justina Attallah 12/13/1991