In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the fast before Christmas is for 43 days. The 43 days period is composed of 2 periods: 40 and 3. Originally it was only 40 days, but the extra 3 days were added as a commemoration of the Miracle of moving El-Moqatam Mountain in Egypt, year 979 AC. It happened in the days of El Moez Le Deen Ellah El Fatemy (a Governor of Egypt) that a Jewish minister envied the Christians that he used to have debates and dialogues with a Christian minister, who later became Pope Abraham Ben Zaraa, and the Christians always won the debates. The Governor used to find these debates so amusing. Therefore, Jacob, the Jewish Minister, used the verse: “…for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you (Mat 17:20). And since there was that El-Moqatam Mountain in midst of Cairo, blowing dust every spring over all Cairo, he asked them to move the mountain, or otherwise, the Governor knows that Christianity is a fake faith, and hence no one would be allowed to be Christian. The Governor found that amusing to. Without more details, whole Egypt fasted 3 days, upon which Virgin Mary led Pope Abraham Ben Zaraa to a shoemaker who did move the mountain; St. Simon the Shoemaker. For details of that miracle, reader is referred to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_the_Shoemaker and encouraged to check the references of that Wikipedia article.
That was the story of the 3 days. How about the 40 days? The 40 days resemble the 40 days during which Mosses , the great among prophets, received the 10 commandments, or the word of God written on stone; the tablets of the covenant. “…then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water” (Deu 9:9). Therefore, we also fast for 40 days, to get ready to receive the word of God, but this time, incarnated.
For the number 40, let us do small mathematics, it is 4 times 10. In terms of numbers meanings, 10 always means complete or perfect. That is basically because we have 10 fingers on our hands to count with. And for 4, it is 1 plus 3. As if the human can not reach perfection or finish the race, till his/her union with, and in, The Holy Trinity.
Speaking about perfection might seem to be hard. And reaching perfection is even harder, if not impossible. Thinking of the number 4 and perfection led me to 4 biblical characters, that we know they “finished the race”. They are the best and most holy 4 people the humanity knew so far, and for 2 of them, we know that no one ever will achieve a higher heavenly rank than that they reached. Not surprisingly, there a lot of commonalities between them. Let us take one of these virtues and study it through what we know about their lives.
First character, is of course the always Virgin Mary, mother of God. Indeed she is above all the rest of humanity that she deserved to carry The Second Person of the Holy Trinity; Jesus Christ. Not only did she carry Him, but also she gave Him the body, which was dead on behalf of our all bodies, and raised and glorified as the first begotten so, to raise us with Him. Virgin Mary lived about 33 years with God. Virgin Mary spoke only 3 times in the bible. One time she spoke with the Angle, on the occasion of annunciation. Another with Elizabeth, when she went to serve her. The last time was her intercessional request in the wedding of Cana of Galilee. Mother Mary, you lived 33 years with God, and you told us nothing about them!! How come?!! This is the virtue of silence. For it is true that what is between a man and his wife, no one else know it, similarly, what is between the soul and it’s creator, is a secret of love, no one can know. Virgin Mary, lived with God, and kept the joyful secrets in silence. She lived in the silence of surrendering the life within God’s hand “…Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word…" (Luk 1:38). The silence of submitting the self in full commitment, compliance, and faith to God. Indeed Mother of God, Virgin Mary, told us a lot by her silence.
John the Baptist is of course our second character. He deserved to be witnessed for, by the Lord, when Jesus said: "For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he" (Luk 7:28). Now, what will you tell us, great St. John the Baptist? You are the youngest ever who saw Jesus. You are the first who had faith in Him after Virgin St. Mary. Through your service, Jesus was baptized, and the Appearance of The Holy Trinity took place (Theophany). Again, alike Virgin Mary, he spoke very few times. He did not give strong breaches. He did not use bombastic speeches. He did no miracles, or at least none was recorded. However, every body went out to him. What did he say? "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Mat 3:2). What else? He witnessed for Jesus Christ to be The Messiah. St. John, you witnessed how Jesus started His service, you saw him from the womb of your mother, won’t you tell us about all these marvelous experiences?! He did not answer me. But what he did? He serviced the salvation, by preparing the road, not for Jesus, but rather for people to reach Jesus, to realize Jesus, to accept Jesus. St. John the Baptist enjoyed the virtue of silence; the silence of spiritual service. "... let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth" (1Jo 3:18)
Going further back in time, we meet a man, whom the land was not worthy to have him any more. He was taken alive to heaven in a chariot of fire; Elijah. “Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven (2Ki 2:11). Elijah was a great prophet that people thought that John the Baptist might be Elijah, returned to earth. My father Elijah the prophet, what will you tell us? He wrote no book, unlike all prophets by his age, and even later. On the other hand, he stopped the dew and the rain for three years, and returned it back as a punishment for King Ahab, King of Judah. He, through prayers and intercessions, returned the son of the widow of Zarephath of Sidon to life. In name of God he blessed the flour in the bin and the oil in the jar that belongs to the widow, and the three of them lived on it during the whole famine years. He killed the prophets of Baal, and destroyed their idols, to show that the Lord is the only true God. Elijah did a lot, spook a little. He had the virtue of silence; the silence of deeds. "A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;" (Ecc 3:7)
Similar to Elijah, is Enoch who was taken by God. What do we know about Enoch: “18Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. 19After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 20So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died. 21Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.” (Gen 5: 18-23). But we also know that there is something special about Enoch that “...God took him.” (Gen 5: 18-25). So, what did he do? “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. (Gen 5: 24). He walked with God. It is a 3 words sentence, but it is a life: Walking with God. It might sound easy to walk with God, but He said: "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it (Mat 7:14). Walking with God is so simple that it is so difficult, and it is so difficult that it is so simple. It means that one needs to holy the whole life, every moment. However, it requires only assuring oneself that at this exactly moment, and focus only to this moment, one is walking with God. To make ones life Holy, one need only to make sure that this current moment is Holy. So simple! Alas, we heard of only one man who did walk with God; Enoch. And what was his reward? God took him. Enoch walked with God three hundreds and sixty five years. What did he tell us about them? Nothing! Enoch enjoys the virtue of silence; silence of walking with God “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You” (Psa 73:25) For who walks with God, like hermits, get captured by the beauty and happiness of God’s accompany, and that leaves no time to talk, there is barely time to walk Expressing a lot in few! [Serakh 23:12]
“A parable coming out, of a fool's mouth shall be rejected: for he doth not speak it in due season.” (Serakh 20:22) Silence when needed, and speech when needed is a great virtue. People consider it wisdom, which yet is another great virtue, for which 3 books in The Holy Book were dedicated to talk to us about wisdom. Silence when needed, is along the road towards wisdom; “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver” (Pro 25:11). May God grant us silence virtue and wisdom, through the intercessions of His glory Mother, Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, Elijah the prophet, and Enoch. Glory be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the one God Amen.
Shenoda Guirugis – Pittsburgh Dec 16th, 2006
