St. George

Coptic Orthodox Church

Bellflower - California

كنيسة الشهيد العظيم مارجرجس- ببلفلاور

His Holiness Pope Shenouda Ill

The Feast of the Nativity is the beginning of all feasts in the New Testament. It was this feast of which the angel cried out saying "l bring you good tidings of greet joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)

Celebrating the Feast of the Nativity is not a celebration of the end of our fast nor is it merely the exchange of greetings and it is not a worldly joy that is expressed by certain aspects or appearances but the true joy is to receive the effectiveness of the Nativity in our practical life. The blessing of a new Christmas comes to us by hearing the words of the Holy Bible, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2)

Yes, we are not of this world to be conformed to it! Here is what the Lord says to us, "You are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world." (John 15:19) Therefore, do not conform to this world, but may you have your own specific appearance that distinguishes you. As it was said by Saint John the Beloved, "In this the children of God are manifest." (1 John 3:10). Therefore, whoever sees you would say, 'Truly they are God's children. They

have His Image as God created them according to His Image and likeness.' (Genesis 1:26, 27)

This year, we celebrate two feasts: the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and also His coming to Egypt. As it was said in the Book of Isaiah the Prophet, "Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud and will come into Egypt." (Isaiah 19:1) He mentions in the same chapter, referring to the establishment of our Church saying, "In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst or the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt." (Isaiah 19:19,20)

Your Church, my beloved children, is the only Church whose estalishment was mentioned by name as a prophecy in the Old Testament. The Lord says at the end of the same chapter, "Blessed is Egypt my people." (Isaiah 19:25) How beautiful is the sound of this phrase, "My People." The only people among all the Gentiles that the Lord called as His people were those of Egypt. Be proud of that and rejoice.

Churches and monasteries have been built in all the places that were visited by the Lord of Glory and the other members of the Holy Family. These buildings are considered amongst the most ancient churches in the whole world and tourists visit them to receive blessings.

Shenouda III,

The birth of Christ is a new beginning for humanity.

The birth of Christ is the beginning of a new relationship between man and God.

The birth of Christ is the beginning of the reconciliation between man and God.

This year as we celebrate the Incarnation of Christ and the beginning of the third millennium, I would like to remind you of what the Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to write, "Be reconciled to God." (2 Cor. 5:20).

The Father reconciled us through His Son, Jesus Christ. We receive the fruit of this reconciliation by our birth through the Holy Spirit. As we distance ourselves from God, the Holy Spirit guides us back to God by means of repentance. "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation." (2 Cor. 5:28-19)

In the beginning, the Father created us by His Word. In the fullness of time, He created us again by His Incarnate Word. Indeed, "all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." (John 1:3) We receive the new creation and the new nature when we are born of water and the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit grants us all new things, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Cor. 5:17)

In order for God to reconcile us to Himself, He had to reveal to us the fact that we are sinners. At first, God sent the prophets and gave the law to reveal to man his sins. The law is holy and the commandment is holy, just, and beneficial. However, the law and the commandments revealed to man his sin, "I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet." (Rom. 7:7) God’s commandments revealed that, "They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one." (Rom. 3:12)

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8) In reconciling man to Himself, God first revealed to man that he is a sinner. Then He paid the debt of sin on behalf of man.

God did not just offer man forgiveness of sins freely, but He paid the price of forgiveness, which is His precious blood, because without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Christ, Who was without sin, became sin for our sake, paid the debt on our behalf, and offered Himself as a sacrifice for expiation. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21) During Holy Pascha Week, we say the following hymn, "This is He, who offered Himself up on the cross as an acceptable sacrifice for the salvation of our race, and His good Father inhaled His sweet aroma on Golgotha in the evening." It was impossible to achieve reconciliation without revealing the truth about man’s sin and paying the ransom to the Divine Justice.

My Beloved Brothers and Sisters,

God reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. Are we living in reconciliation with God?

God started the reconciliation. Are we responding to Him?

We pray to our Good Lord to help us to respond to His invitation to reconcile.

We pray to our Good Lord to help us become His ambassadors, calling others to reconcile with Him.

We pray to our Good Lord to help us have reconciliation with ourselves and with one another.

Bishop Serapion

"And the Gates of Hades Shall not Prevail Against it" (Matt.16:18)

As we face these painful and unfortunately repetitious events, which our brothers and sisters face in our dear homeland, Egypt, we place our trust in our powerful and just God, Who promised His Church that "the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Matt. 16:18) He also said, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn." (Is. 54:17) We are under the protection of a powerful and just God, Who does not allow injustice, for He said, "the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous." (Ps. 125:3)

We pray that God may protect His Church and His children in Egypt and lift from them all injustice and aggression. We ask theLord to grant them a strong faith and joy that they are worth to suffer shame for His Name. (Acts 5:41)

Bishop Serapion

The Incarnation (God became man)

"God Who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these days spoken to us by His Son…" (Hebrews 1: 1-2)

This is the first verse in the Pauline Epistle to the Hebrews, written by St. Paul to the Jews, to encourage them and to explain the Christian faith.

God used various methods to manifest Himself and His Will to man, throughout the different generations. Sometimes God gave His Commandments as He did in appearing to Moses in Sinai. On other occasions, He talked to His people through certain prophets. When God led the Israelites and His kings, He was always delivering a message to them when they were in wars. He gave them victory to declare His Support. He also allowed their defeat when He was angry with them because of their sins.

St. John explains to us the impossibility of salvation without the belief in the Incarnation of God the Word: "By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world." (1 John 4: 2, 3)

"The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23). This is a divine sentence of no repeal, not merely as an angry condemnation of evil, but because this is the natural consequence of the fall of the soul.

The Incarnation is a declaration of God's love. He came and took man's flesh and was incarnate to bring back to man the holy life, which he lost and to give him resurrection from the dead. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16).

After the fall of Adam, Man could not see God. "Man shall not see me, and live." (Exodus 33:20). Before Christ, God spoke to the human race through his prophets, in whom he inspired His words, and to whom He revealed Himself in tangible images for a few moments, such as the voice that came from the burning bush, or in visions and dreams. Thus, man was separated from God.

(1) He must be a human being, for it was man who fell and the redeemer would represent human race in receiving punishment. [Read Hebrews 2:14-18]

(2) He must die, for "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) and God's judgment upon Adam and Eve was death: "You shall die." (Genesis 2:17).

St. Athanasius & Incarnation. By H.G. Bishop Moussa

There, by the Jordan River, in front of John the Baptist, the Greatest among those that were ever born to women, the Lord stood gracefully accepting baptism from John, saying: "Let it be so now, it is proper for us to do this, to fulfill all righteousness. Then John consented." (Matthew 8: 15)

There, by the Jordan river, in the depth of submissiveness, proceeded Jesus to John asking to be baptized. When all the people were baptized, Jesus was baptized. (Luke 3:8)

The Creator stood behind all the creation and waited to be baptized by John. They were baptized with the baptismal of repentance , to produce the fruit in keeping in keeping with repentance.(Luke 3:8)

Jesus was without sin or blemish. He was baptized to complete all righteousness according to the laws.

The people did not know Him, Who He is. Yet they were waiting for Him. They did not know that He was among them already. He came to carry their load. He came to comfort them and restore them to their first nature. He said: "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest, and I will comfort you" (Matthew 11: 28)..

He revealed Himself and the heavens were opened announcing and proclaiming: "This is My Beloved Son of Whom I am pleased" (Matthew 3: 17).

The voice of the Lord from Heaven and the Spirit as a Dove descending and the Son in the water and the angels witnessing and John announcing: "I am not worthy to untie His shoes" )John 1: 27). "And I saw and proclaimed that this is the Son of God" (John 1: 34).

1. On the first day of Christmas my True Love gave to me..." The True Love" represents God and the "me" who receives these presents is the Christian. The "partridge in a pear tree" Is Jesus Christ who died on a tree as a Gift from God.
2. The "two turtle doves" were the Old and New Testaments - another gift from God.
3. The "three French hens" were Faith, Hope and Love - the three Gifts of the Spirit that abide. (I Corinthians 13).
4. The "four calling birds" were the four Gospels which sing the song of salvation through Jesus Christ.
5. The "five golden rings" were the first five books of the Bible also called the "Books of Moses."
6. The "six geese a-laying" were the six days of creation.
7. The "seven swans a swimming" were "seven Gifts of The Holy Spirit." (I Corinthians 12:8-11, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4:10-11)
8. The "eight maids a milking" were the eight beatitudes.
9. The "nine ladies dancing" were nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5: 22-23)
10. The "ten lords a-leaping" were the Ten Commandments.
11. The "eleven pipers piping" were the eleven faithful disciples.
12. The "twelve drummers drumming" were the twelve points of the Apostles' Creed. So the next time you hear "The 12 Days of Christmas" consider how this otherwise non-religious sounding song had its origins in the Christian faith.

When the wife of Potiphar asked Joseph to commit evil with her, he cried out saying, "How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" But what were Joseph's circumstances?

1.A closed room

2.A woman

3.The present God

My dear brother, how many times were you in a closed room and you get wicked thoughts, but you forget God's presence in your life, and thus you fall.

Therefore, the underlying reason of our fall is the lack of feeling of God's presence with us, while the faith of God's presence constantly prompts us from slipping into sin.

God was with Joseph, but in Christianity, God with His Spirit is present in us. Joseph believed that God sees even between the walls, but we believe that our bodies and our souls are temples for God working with them and in them. For if Joseph says, "How then can I do this wickedness before God?" then we say, "How can temples for the Holy Spirit do this wickedness against God?"

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