Vol: 6 Issue: 4 Baramhat 1728 / April 2012

Obituary of Pope Shenouda III (3rd August 1923 – 17th March 2012)

 On the of 17th of March 2012 the Coptic Orthodox Church has lost its father and shepherd, Pope Shenouda III Pope and Patriarch  of Alexandria  and  the  sea  of St  Mark,  after  serving  the  church  as patriarch  for over 40 years. H.H. work in  the  church  is  self  evident  in  the number  of  churches, monasteries  and different  services  in Egypt  and  around the world.   H.H. was  a  great  spiritual  leader who 

loved monasticism.    In order  to spend as much  time as he could in the monastery, H.H. established a Papal residence in St Bishoy’s Monastery  in  the Scetis wilderness.   Despite being  overwhelmingly  busy  in  serving  the  church,  H.H retired to the monastery twice a week.  H.H requested that he be buried in this same monastery and he lies there now in peace.  H.H. is a great example to us all of the importance to stop, no matter how busy you are, and  retire  to a place where you can clear your mind, reflect and better focus.  One  of  the  fruits  of His Holiness' work  is  our monastery that  he  opened  in  1993.  Since  then,  every monk who was consecrated in our monastery has his own personal touch of fatherhood  with  H.H.  as  he  ordained  all  of  us  to  the monastic order. We have therefore dedicated this edition to the  memories  of  our  monastery  and  the  monks  of  the monastery with this great father of the church.

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Farewell Message from Pope Shenouda III

(Taken from the book of the funeral prayer of the Patriarchs)

I am your father and teacher, all of you my children, listen to my commandments, I ask you my beloved children, preserve and look after the faith of the Holy Trinity. I ask you my beloved children, love one another with a true love. I ask you my beloved, do good with all of humanity. I ask you my beloved children, do not let the world deceive you. I ask you my beloved children, do not fall short in the service of the Lord. I ask you my beloved children, to pray unceasingly and tirelessly. I ask you o my beloved children, preserve your tongues from causing any division. I ask of you my beloved children, to preserve the grace of Holy Baptism that was granted to you. I ask of you my beloved children, preserve your bodies pure for the Lord. I ask of you my beloved children, do not ever let your lamp go out but let it give off light

I ask of you my beloved children, preserve the commandments that God gave to you. I ask of you my beloved children, that the fear of God be within you. God is witness, my beloved children, that I did not keep any of God’s words from away you…that I never ever slept my children, and i have no blame with anyone of you…that if you preserve and keep what I have told you, you will crush the head of the serpent and dragon. So hence, if you preserve and keep what I have said to you, you will eat of the goodness of the earth. So hence, if you preserve and keep what I have said to you, the shinning Cherubim will guard you. So hence, if you preserve and keep what I have said to you, you will never lack Heavenly gifts. I ask of you my beloved children, to ask of Christ for my soul, that it may have comfort in front of Him, that he may not count my short falls, unknowingly and unwillingly. To the clergy: I ask for your love and I plead to your reverence, to absolve me. And now, I am far from you and left you, and I cannot see your faces. And now I ask of you all, that you exhaust yourselves in prayers for me, remembering me in the Holy Liturgies, that my Master may accept me to Him, and forgive me. And I ask Christ, the Great Shepherd of Shepherds, that He may elect for you a righteous shepherd according to His Will and Heart, that he may shepherd you and your matters and watch for the salvation of your souls.

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H.H. Pope Shenouda’s Ordinations of H.G. Bishop Daniel and the monks of the monastery

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H.H. Pope Shenouda’s First Visit to the monastery 1993

Rest in Peace

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The Righteous One Has Not Died An eulogy to St Athanasius the Archbishop

By: St Shenouda the Archimandrite Again, who will not mourn the righteous person? How will they mourn? They weep for him like this, saying: “He has gone and abandoned us, our judge, benefactor, and guardian in every matter and every need. The merciful man, compassionate, loving the poor, loving our soul like his own and (desiring) our salvation in Christ like his, has abandoned us, he who did not hide himself from anyone in his speech and in all that he possessed”. For such a person as well was the man of God, the truly righteous man, Athanasius the Archbishop. Where is the good shepherd of the holy flock? Where is the captain of the honorable company? Where is he going, or where will he go and abandon us, he who is unaccustomed to being separated from his flock of sheep for a single hour? How has the whole glorious and holy throne been bereft of his manner of sitting, pleasing to God? The holy clergy is sad because of him; the people are mourning; the church is gloomy. Moreover, I think that I hear some people sighing and I see others weeping. Woe to me because of what I see for myself! If they are telling the truth who are speaking words bitter beyond all bitterness, that Athanasius, Christ's beloved, sleeps, then perhaps this is the mourning that I hear. I have not believed it until now. For the old people will mourn him because he was the staff upon which they were steady, and he has abandoned them. The small children will seek him like their father; the young people, like a brother; the old people, like a son. The orphans will seek him like a guardian. The widows (will seek him) because he was their caregiver; the poor, because he was their benefactor; the weak, because he was their helper; those in distress, because he was their spokesman; the victims of injustice, because he was their judge; those who have been made slaves unjustly, because he was their liberator. The lovers of wisdom will hunger for him because he was their teacher; and those whose faith is sure, because it was he who taught them about God through his words. Who will be able to build up human souls like him? Who from now on will add to the churches the people that they lack? Who will adorn the holy gates like him? Who is as able as he? Who will be able to make his rounds night and day, when he would walk on foot, ablaze in his zeal, and speedily come to help all people in their need? We will not find another one like this upon the earth: one who would cast aside possessions like him, willingly choose poverty for himself, love God, and trample upon the glory of this life. Who could produce for himself freedom like this, that he could fight on behalf of righteousness, go to meet with the authorities, and speak boldly in the face of the vain assaults of the rulers? He used to persuade them with his words; he would shame them by his manner, make them be silent by his lifestyle, cause them to marvel at his boldness, and restrain them by his holiness. Whom have the people loved more? What church has labored (under someone) as

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worthy of love as he? He has abandoned us, my brothers and sisters. A man resembling God has abandoned us: the pride and good of every person, the imprint of the apostles, the zealot of the patriarchs, the truly trustworthy servant of Christ, the one compared to the angels, he who revealed the commonwealth of heaven upon earth, first by the ordinance of the Spirit, now too by the sleep of his body. Wretched is a flock of sheep that has been orphaned of a good, sheeploving shepherd! Some of his sheep will now take forms he does not desire, and some of them will become sick, and others will go astray. Further, some will fall down upon cliffs, and others will become plunder for the beasts. Oh, you who were previously envied have now become more wretched than everyone else. What kinds of gifts you enjoyed! But now what kinds of things you have been deprived of! What kind of ill-will has seized on us all? Who has destroyed our good zeal? Who has cut off the tongue of the city? Who has taken from the church its voice? Who has shut up the wells forever, the spring pouring forth honey? The young men and the virgins, the old people and the small children those who once practiced his spiritual songs now have exchanged his songs for a lament. But let us praise God, my beloved; let us not be angry with him! Rather, let us mourn by weeping for him who lives as if he were dead. For the righteous one has not died; rather, he is sleeping and awaiting the hour of the resurrection. When people who are evil in their lifetime die, it is appropriate to mourn them, for they are going to the judgment. But when good people die, it is appropriate to bless them, for their death is precious, as it is written: “The death of the Lord's holy ones is precious in his sight”. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, until we reach that place, let us rest in his rest, for the memory of the righteous one is famous and good. Moreover, his death comes to him for your sake, and death to be with Christ has been chosen for him. Therefore, let us not be so discouraged over him whom God has honored that we disturb our rest; rather, let us consider even more, my beloved, that day when we will rise. When we celebrate the festival, we will see him in the choir of angels, standing with Christ, serving him spiritually with his apostles. Indeed, up till now he has never ceased serving him and being an ambassador in our behalf. For he will speak with God when he is near to him, not in a mirror and a likeness like when he was on earth, but now face to face. And his honor was not from human beings, but from God. Now everyone marvels at the holy patriarch in his grace, how God raised up a great seed to Abraham from stones. Now David, the one whom the Lord accepted, is adorning the psalms and will write his praises with those of that man (Athanasius). I wanted to speak about him in accordance with his worthiness, but so that we might not tarry in these things and neglect the principle of the things that have been read to us, we will now turn to the Holy Scriptures and speak about them.

(From: David Brakke - Shenute: on cleaving to profitable things)

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H.H. Pope Shenouda’s Visit to the monastery 1995

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H.H. Pope Shenouda’s Visit to the monastery 2002