NEBAB #54: The Great Fast - Metsagu'i

 NEBAB #54

The Orthodox Tewahedo Magazine

THE GREAT FAST (LENT)

WEEK 4: METSAGU'I - THE PARALYTIC MAN

The Spiritual Education Unit

Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Archdiocese of the Caribbean and Latin America

In this issue:

    1. Week 4 of the Great Lent: The Infirm Man

    2. Commentary on the Gospel: "Rise, Take Up Your Bed and Walk" 

    3. Faith and works

    4. “Ask Abba/Kes”

    5. Miracle of the Virgin Mary

    6. Children’s corner

    7.ይበል ግዕዝ 

    8. Orthodox Q&A

 

Week 4 of the Great Lent: The Infirm Man

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God, Amen

The fourth week of the Great Lent in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is entitled "Metsagu" or "The Infirm Man" or the "Paralytic". It is a Ge'ez word named after the song of Saint Yared for the day from his hymnbook known as "Tsome Diggua" or "Hynmn of Fast". 

Previously, during the 3rd week of the Great Lent, we learnt about inner purification and setting ourselves apart as the temple of the Holy Spirit. God's temple in which he wishes to dwell, to make a church and to become one with us. Just as the church itself is not only merely a building but a consecrated space, set aside for worship, so too, we are not ordinary buildings but set aside for the dwelling of God and worship of God.

1 Peter 2:9

"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light"

And again, St Paul reminds us

1 Corinthians 6:19

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; You were bought at a price, therefore, glorify God with your body"

If we, my dear brothers and sisters, are the temple of God's spirit, then how can we defile that which belongs to God?

This week,  through the hymns of Saint Yared throughout the great lenten fast the Church has chosen to focus on infirmity. There is physical infirmity and spiritual infirmity, therefore, this teaching on the infirmed paralytic man, applies to all of us, for it is written in 1 John 1:8 "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us"

 This teaching of cleansing and purification from the previous week's teachings "Mekurab" is not a one off teaching, or a singular occurrence that we see, but a continuous journey and a process. We take the time weekly to complete our various chores of cleaning and washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, dusting the cupboards and ensuring that we have fresh clothing to put on for work and for school and we do this religiously every week, or else our homes will no longer be habitable. In the same way we have to take the time to examine our own inner sanctuary daily, even moment by moment, where God Himself wishes to dwell and to purify it from defilement, to examine where we may have made a mess from the previous week or the previous day and to make amends. This is what this week's teaching is showing us

Though we were baptized into the household of God and became His Children, and were given new white and clean robes, our salvation depends on God's participation and ours also. Thus, salvation in the Orthodox concept is a process

My Dear Brothers and Sisters, if we sin and do not repent, we are no longer Children of God. Can something that has become defiled still bear the image of God? We are no longer fit to be called Children of God when we sin, "I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants' Luke 15:19

 Sin is a sickness and also some sicknesses are caused by sin. The Disciples asked our Lord in John 9...
"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?"

This was a Jewish belief in what is stated in the law that God visits the iniquities' of the fathers upon the children or that illness is a direct result of sin. However, it must be noted that God also allows trials and illnesses for His righteous and saintly children to manifest virtues such as gratitude and endurance, and He allows other illnesses for sinners for the purpose of their repentance and return

In the case of the paralytic man, we know that the latter is the case. The paralytic man, or "Metsagu" in our Ethiopian tradition was sick because of sin. We know this because Jesus said to him...

"See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you" John 5:14

This was also why this thought occurred to the Disciples also in John 9, from Our Lord's encounter with Metsagu.

"See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you" John 5:14

Sin is alien to the human condition. When God created mankind and creation he said that everything was good. God did not intend for sickness, death, war, hatred and all of the consequences of sin to be part of our experience. In fact when God said that everything was good, God testifies after the creation of man that what He made was very good, distinguishing it from the rest of the world's creatures because the purpose of creation is man, so that the whole world is at his service, thus ending the sixth day. Because sin is alien to man, it is sickness that leads to death. Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Man, because of disobedience fell into sin and it made God very sad. God said he was "sorry that He had made man on earth, and He was grieved in His heart". Genesis 6:6

God promised Adam that he would save him in 5500 years as Our Fathers teach us. In the Wudassie Maryam for Monday, it reads that Adam was also "sad at heart and sorrowful", God wished to set Adam free because of His love for Man, "For God so loved the world" John 3:16 God was moved, in the greatness of His compassion and Mercy and He walked upon the earth looking for Man, just as He walked about the garden looking for Adam (Genesis 3:8) and is walking about our hearts looking for us. 

God wants to restore us again to His Divine Image and to the state we were in formerly

As Jesus encounters Metsagu, the infirmed man in John 5:6, He asks him "Do you want to be made well?"

 Christ is the one who saw him and initiated the conversation with him, for God is the one who visits and seeks every soul in trouble or distress, and He forgets no one. Jesus is asking each and every single one of us, everyday of our lives,  "Do you want to be made well?" This is a very simple question. The simple and rational mind, will respond with a rational yes but like Metsagu we love to make excuses in the paralysis of sin, we are dead and unable to awake from slumber, we complain about our circumstances, our weakness, our jobs and our relationships, we even blame others for the state that we are in saying like Metsagu did "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

But this is not the question that Our Lord asks us, he asks, "Do you want to be made well?"

Do we truly want to be made well? Do we truly wish to be restored to our former state and to have the Holy Spirit indwelling in our lives forever? Do we truly desire the life of holiness and repentance and  communion with God and yearn for it actively with all of our hearts, soul, desires and mind? Do we accept the Holy teachings of the Church, her rules and orders, do we observe our daily prayer rules and canons and fasts? Do we seek regular confession with our confession fathers? Do we have a confession father? Do we truly wish to be made well? and drink from her healing springs that she offers to us? or are we only saying yes with our lips and our attendances but no with our hearts and our intentions?  

Do we want to be made well?

All of these questions the Church asks us, daily, momentarily...

Although Christ is the initiator and desires salvation for everyone, the grace of salvation also requires the human will for self salvation.

The Church provides every opportunity for us to say "yes to God" and "No to Satan" but do we truly desire this life of repentance?

"Every day that you do not sit for one hour with yourself and think about the day's sins and your shortcomings...do not count that day as part of your life." 

Saint Isaac the Syrian

When we have cleaned out our holy temples we must fill it with good things. When we fast we must pray and give alms and reconcile with our neighbors, we must read spiritual books and occupy our minds, our soul and our hearts in doing good

This is why Our Lord said...

"When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ' I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation." Matthew 12:43-45

Watch therefore, and pray, lest a worst thing happen to us and see that you do not sin

May the prayers and intercessions of Our Holy Fathers, the Apostles with the intercessions of the Theotokos through the tender mercies of God, help us to offer sacrifices and produce fruit that are worthy of repentance

And Glory be to God forever Amen

Rise, Take Up Your Bed And Walk

John 5:1-25

We also remember all of the lepers, deaf, blind and sick people healed by  Jesus Christ, especially the infirmed man who had been sick for 38 years and healed at the pool of Bethesda.

The Lord offered him healing in a way that did not occur to Metsagu'i. For the Lord works in mysterious ways. The Lord offered him healing, not by throwing him into the pool when the water was stirred, but by a word from His divine mouth. He commanded with authority, and the sick man was healed. 

The Lord was accustomed to leaving signs after the miracle so that His people would remember His acts of love. When He fed the multitudes, He ordered the gathering of the fragments. When He turned water into wine, He asked the servants to present it to the guests. When He healed the lepers, He commanded them to go to the priests to testify of their healing. Here, He asks the sick man to carry the bed he lay on during his illness.

He asked him to carry the bed to ensure that his healing was complete, and that he did not gain physical strength gradually but by the word and command of God immediately.

It is the cry of the Savior on the cross as He looks at the whole church through the ages from Adam to the last, so that it may rise, move, and enter into the bosom of the Father, its heavenly home.

He asks it to carry its bed, which is the fellowship of crucifixion with Him, not as a burden on its back, but as a throne that carries it, and glory that pours upon it. 

The prophet Isaiah saw this creative scene as the joyful story of redemption and sang, "Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you" Isaiah 60:1

Believing humanity is no longer cast down under the power of destructive sin, but has enjoyed the power of the Spirit to carry with its crucified Bridegroom His cross as a secret of strength for salvation, and to enjoy the splendor of the Savior upon it.

This wonderful images of carrying one's bed is the work of baptism that raises the believer from his incurable disease to testify to the new life that has become his in Chris Jesus, the risen from the dead!

Faith and Works: Now Is Our Salvation Nearer Than When We First Believed

"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awaken out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed." Romans 13:11 

This week try to sit with your self for one hour and practice self examination. Like Saint Isaac the Syrian says, "Every day that you do not sit for one hour with yourself and think about the day's sins and your shortcomings...do not count that day as part of your life." 

 In confessing, we examine and purify our soul, thus, we improve our spiritual life.  Careful self examination as well as the spiritual remedies offered by the priest, guide the confessor step by step in his spiritual life.

Those who hide their sins do not know themselves and are lying to God. 1 John 1:8-10. Those people do not benefit from the prayer of Absolution and furthermore, they add another sin which is taking communion without repentance. We have to be sure that the Absolution Prayer without confession and true repentance will not grant us forgiveness of sins.  When God sees our true repentance, He grants us forgiveness. 

Confession is not only a psychological treatment, it is an important church sacrament and psychological treatment is one of its advantages.  Forgiveness of sins accompanies this sacrament.  This gift cannot be offered by any psychological clinic in the world, even if its doctors are experts and believers.

Here are a few guiding questions to help you in your self examination:

Prayer

1. Do you neglect your prayers or are you regular in your prayers? 

Do you neglect them sometimes or completely?  Why?  

Have you thought of a solution for it?  What was the result?

2.  When do you pray?  When you wake up in the morning?  Before sleeping? 

Before and after eating?  Before leaving home?  Before you start any work? 

In any trouble you face?  Do you pray while you are on the road?  While you are with people?

3. Do you have long private prayers where you have a private conversation with God? 

Are you regular in these prayers?  Are these prayers growing or diminishing?

4. Do you pray with the psalms?  Do you pray all the prayers of the  canonical hours or

some of them?  Which ones do you pray?  If you do not pray with the psalms, why?

5. Do you memorize the psalms and litanies from the prayer hours? 

Is this memorization growing or diminishing?

6. Do you pray with a fervent heart?  Do you pray with tears at times? 

Do you feel the presence of God while praying? 

Are your prayers lukewarm or sometimes hot and sometimes lukewarm?  Why?

7. Does your mind wander during praying? 

During which kind of prayers does your mind wander? 

In which kind of topics does your mind wander? 

Does this continue for any length of time?  What have you done to remedy this problem?

8. What is the posture of your body during prayer?  Do you stand and lift up your hands to God? 

Do you kneel?  Do you bow?  Do you have any other posture? 

Do you stand respectfully in front of God? 

Do you bend your feet or lean your body against a wall? 

Do you move your hands or do your eyes look at other things?

9. Are there any special topics that occupy your mind during praying? 

Do you pray for your sins and your spiritual life?  Do you pray for others? 

Do you pray for those who bother you?  Do you have material requests?

10. Do you give God your best time while you are fully active?

Do you pray while you are physically and mentally exhausted?

Fasting

1. Do you fast all the fasting days of the church or just some of them? 

Which fasting days do you practice regularly? 

Do you fast Wednesdays and Fridays of every week? 

Are there any obstacles, which hinder your fasting?  What are they?

2. Do you abstain from food during fasting?  For how long?

3.Do you desire special kinds of food?  Do you fulfill that desire?

Do you ask that special kinds of food be prepared for you?

4. Do you spend much on food, in general and on its luxuries, specifically?

5. Do you eat between meals?

Giving Alms

1. Are you faithful in giving your tithes to God?

2. Do you only give your tithes or do you give generosity? 

3. What is your feeling when you give? 

              Is it a feeling of pride or a feeling of love toward Jesus’ brothers?

4.Do you get annoyed sometimes by those who ask you for alms? Or do you give cheerfully?

Communion and Confession

1. Are you regular in receiving communion?  When was the last time you received communion?

2. Are you regular in confession?  When was the last time you confessed?

3.If you are negligent, what is the reason?

4. 4. Do you feel that there is something you want to hide from your priest?

5. Do you prepare and examine yourself thoroughly before confession?

6. Are there repeated sins in your confessions?  What have you done to overcome them?

Reading

1. Do you read the Bible regularly?  Do you read in sequence?

2. Do you meditate in your readings?  Do you write these meditations or just think about them?

3. Do you study the Bible?  Do you read any commentaries?

4. Do you read other religious books? 

What kind do you read (spiritual, lives of saints, dogma, etc.)?  Do you read regularly?

5. Do you read inappropriate books or magazines? 

Do you sometimes read topics that make you stumble?

6. What is the average time you devote to spiritual readings every day or every week?

7. Do you try to apply what you read to your life or do you train yourself with spiritual exercises?

Sigdet (Prostrations)

Do you do sigdet, that is, bowing before God while asking for forgiveness? 

How many do you do?  Are they accompanied by short prayers?

Going to Church

1. Do you go to church and attend the Divine Liturgy regularly? 

If there are obstacles in your way, what are they?

2. Do you attend the Divine Liturgy while fasting?

3.Do you come early to the Divine Liturgy?  Do you attend all of the prayers?

4. Do you attend other meetings besides the Divine Liturgy, like the vesper service,

sermons, youth meetings, Sunday school, etc.?  Do you attend them regularly?

5. Do you serve in the church?  Are you faithful in your service? 

Are there any problems that bother you?

Spiritual Exercises

1. Do you have spiritual exercises?  What are they?  Are you successful in applying them? 

If not, what are the reasons for your failure?

2. Are there any virtues, which you would like to attain?

Relationship With People

1. Do you have good relations with people, old, young, family members, colleagues, or others? 

If not, why?

2. Have you been angry with someone?  For what reason?

3. Was your anger suppressed or apparent?  Did you raise your voice?

            Did you say any words that hurt others?  Did you insult them or fight with them?

4. Did your anger go away fast or did it remain for a long time?  For how long? 

Did you have bad thoughts because of your anger? 

Did your anger leave any bad feelings toward any person? 

Did this anger change to hatred for a period? 

Did this anger remain in your heart as enmity with someone?

5. If you were angry with someone, have you reconciled with him? 

Did you initiate this reconciliation or did others interfere? 

How long did this enmity last?  Is everything alright now?

6. Is there anyone who offends or makes you angry? 

What is your reaction toward him outwardly?  Inwardly?

7. To what extent do you have virtues such as perseverance, longsuffering, forgiving, and

loving your enemies?

8. Do you sometimes hurt others even by joking, through ignorance, or by being forgetful? 

What have you done to overcome this matter?  Have you apologized to those whom you hurt?

9. Do you hurt others with the excuse of defending the truth?  How did you hurt them?

10. What are the obstacles toward the virtue of meekness in your behavior?

11.  Do you abuse the rights of anyone?  Do you perform all your duties toward

everyone faithfully, whether in the family, at work, in church or in your social relations?

12. Do you keep bad company?  With whom? 

What sins do you commit because of this bad company? 

Do you have friends who drive you away from the church and from God’s love?

13. Are your financial relations with people good?  Were you unjust with anyone? 

Did you cheat anyone?

14. Do you perform your financial obligations toward God; the virtue of giving alms? 

What is your reaction toward tithes the first fruits and participating in the needs of the church?

15. Are you humble in treating other people or do you treat anyone with pride?

16. Do you behave violently toward others or treat them unkindly?

On the other hand, are you calm, merciful and moderate?  Are you passive?

What kinds of sin do you commit due to your passive nature?

17. Do you love to have people praise you?  Do you seek that? How? 

What is your feeling if someone rebukes you, ignores you, rejects you, or

does not treat you appropriately?

18. Do you try sometimes to pretend before people to be the opposite of what you are?

19. Is your behavior an obstacle to others?

20. Do you serve others and tire yourself for others’ comfort?

Some Kinds of Sins

Sins of the Tongue:

1. What are the sins that you commit with your tongue?  Do you lie, judge others,

“blaspheme, swear, insult, humiliate someone, bad humor, silly discussions,

or any inappropriate talk, etc.”?

2. With whom have you sinned?  And to whom?  How many times (if possible)

and for what reason?  Did this matter become a habit?

3. Have you thought of overcoming those sins?  How?  What was the result?

4. Are you very talkative?  Do you talk about subjects that you do not understand? 

Do you feel that you waste your time in useless talking instead of talking

about something more useful?

5. Do you sing worldly songs?  Do you sometimes use words that are inappropriate

for God’s children to use?

6. Is your voice loud or harsh?  Do you think before you talk? 

Do you interrupt during discussions?  Do you make mistakes while discussing something?

7. Do you interfere in other people’s business? 

Do you give your opinion even if you are not asked? 

Do you like to be always critical of others, rebuke and advise others, even those

who are older than you, those who are strangers or even who do not accept your advice?

8. Have you trained yourself to be silent?  What are the results?

Sins of Thought:

1. What kinds of sins do you fall into by your thoughts? 

Is it adultery, lust, thoughts of wrath, hatred, revenge, judging others,

thinking evil, pride, envy, blasphemy, doubt or daydreaming?

2. Does this thought stay with you for a long period?  For how long?

3. Does such thought come to you from outside and you do not like it but try

to cast it away or do you welcome the thought, enjoy it, and try to build on it other thoughts?

4. Does the thought change into lust and tempt you to actually sin? 

Every time you sin by thought, do you also sin by deed?

5. Is your mind occupied with cares of this world, its many problems and worries?

Sins by Senses:

What are the sins that you fall into by your senses; by sight, hearing or touch? 

Do you fall in adultery by your senses?  Do you desire what others have? 

Do you spy on others?  Do you listen to dirty jokes and words?

Sins of the Heart:

1. Are there any desires and feelings of your heart that do not please God? 

Is there in your heart any envy, jealousy, hatred, desire to be rich, desire for high positions,

love of authority, pride, love of the world vain glory, love of the flesh, or love of revenge?

2. Is there in your heart any wrath, complaint, provoking, despair, or sadness?

3. Do these feelings and desires appear in your daily life, in your thoughts and your dreams?

Sins of Deed:

1. What are the actual sins you have committed?  What commandments

have you broken: adultery, stealing, killing, fighting, and drinking, rebellion, negligence, bad habits, etc.?

2. How many times have you repeated sin?  With whom have you sinned and to whom?

3. What are the bad consequences of your sin?  Have you treated them or are they still existing?

4. Are there constant causes that lead you to sin?  What are they? 

Are there occasional causes or have they become a habit? 

What have you done to avoid these causes?

5. Have you tried to repent and forsake these sins?  Have you succeeded or failed in repenting?

Ask Abba/Kes

Why is the reality of the three hypostases (persons of the Holy Trinity) seemingly hard to grasp?

The difficulty is not in the "issue" of the Hypostases, but rather in the "designation" of the Hypostases. We call the Divine Being "The Father," meaning "Origin or Source," Naturally, it is not a physically reproductive fatherhood, but an equivocally spiritual one. To some extent, it may resemble our saying that Egypt is our mother.

Likewise, we call the Divine Wisdom "Son," meaning "Mind." This, of course is a spiritual sonship, not reproductive.

Alternatively, it is like saying:

The mind of so-and-so solved the problem = so-and so solved the problem

Therefore, the mind of so-and so = so and so himself

And, the Mind of God = God himself

We also refer to the Divine Life as "The Holy Spirit" which is to say "Life," because the Spirit is the Breath of Life. When the spirit departs from man, he is brought to an end.

Thus, these appellations are linguistic expressions intended to convey to us an essential reality, being that: "God is one: Existing by His being, Rational by His Word, and Living by HIs Spirit."

BIBLE QUIZ!

There are a number of direct healing miracles found in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Can you identify where 5 of these miracles can be found and what were the persons healed from?

A Miracle of the Holy Virgin Mary

A miracle performed by Our Lady Holy Mary, Two Fold Virgin, Mother of Divinity, may her prayer and blessing be with her servant Yamana Kerestos forever and ever. Amen. As the sand of the sea can not be counted so also the number of great miracles of Our Lady Holy Mary, Two Fold Virgin, Mother of Divinity, is impossible to count for the mind of a mortal man. It can not be reached by counting nor by careful calculation. A mortal’s tongue can not tell it to completion. Now, I will tell you what Our Lady Holy Mary, Two Fold Virgin, Mother of Divinity has done, as I heard it with my own ears and seen it with my own eyes. I am telling just a little bit of her miracles [by the grace of][1] the Spirit of her son, who created the world in his wisdom, makes me understand. He is worthy of worship now and always forever and ever. Amen.

It is reported that there was a servant girl living in her masters’ house. One evening the Enemy came and knocked at the door. The girl went and caught the door with her right hand. [Immediately,] her fingers became paralysed and she fell on the ground. She fainted and became like a corpse. Her friends lifted her up and wept for her. They spent the whole night weeping. When it was morning, they took her to the church of Our Lady Holy Mary, Two Fold Virgin, Mother of Mercy and told the priest in the church what had happened and what the Enemy did to the servant girl. The priest, hearing this, picked up the Book of the Miracles of Our Lady Holy Mary, Two Fold Virgin, Mother of Divinity, and read the book over the servant girl and sprinkled holy water on her. [Immediately,] the girl’s fingers became normal. Then, the Enemy again brought another evil upon the servant girl. The Enemy mixed grass, thread upon which was the shell of a seed, trash, and goat hide and put it inside her throat. The servant girl suffered greatly. The people wept before Our Lady Holy Mary, Two Fold Virgin, Mother of the Creator. For a second time the priest sprinkled upon her holy water saying, “In the name of the Father , the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, the girl vomited everything that was in her throat in front of all the people. When the people saw this, they marvelled and praised God and glorified Our Lady Holy Mary, Two Fold Virgin, Mother of Divinity, Performer of Miracles and Wonders. May her prayer and blessing be a shield for Yamana Kerestos forever and ever. Amen.

O Holy Virgin Mary, pray for us!

LIJOCH! The Children's Corner

ይበል:ግዕዝ (yibel Ge’ez)

Let's reclaim our forefathers’ language

መፃጕዕ 

metsagu'i

Metsagu'i can mean -. It is also spelled with an uncommon Ge'ez letter, ጕ.

Each letter has 7 vowel families, that correspond to the vowels

eh, oo, ee, ah, ey, uh, oh

For the letter g (ገ) it looks like

ገ ጉ ጊ ጋ ጌ ግ ጎ

Sometimes Ge'ez letters have a more complex vowel. These are called palatal vowels, because they are formed by making a special shape with your tongue and the roof of your mouth, called the palate.

ጕ (gwi) is a rare letter in Ge'ez, as are ጐ (gwo) and especially ጒ (gwu). መፃጕዕ is one of the only words where a layman regularly encounters any palatal form of ገ, and it can be tricky for English speakers to pronounce.

መፃጕዕ is often misspelled መጻጕዕ, because nowadays we pronounce ጸ and ፀ the same, however, መፃጕዕ is the correct spelling, coming from the word ፀግዐ s'eg'a - to make up a bed. It gives us መፃጕዕ, one who's place is a bed i.e. a bedridden person, and so by implication, a paralysed person. 

ORTHODOX Q&A

What were the consequences that resulted from the Fall?

There were three consequences that resulted from the fall:

1. The Disintegration of the Unity of Man: The rising up of lusts, passions and whims against man. He being the rational one of all creation, deifies money, power, fame, prestige, sex, knowledge etc. Adam prior to the fall was guarded from passion, ignorance and death

2. The Disintegration of Man's unity with Others: God alone unites humanity. So by distancing man from God, sin was able to keep man from his neighbor (Gen3:12). This is why we read that after the Fall,  Cain killed his brother Abel, which was followed by an explosion of grudges among men. Prior to the fall man was kept from envy, rejection, struggles and animosity

3. The Disintegration of Man's Unity with Nature: A lack of harmony between man and nature formed (Genesis 3:17, 18) and man became a victim to the laws of nature, which were a source of suffering, disasters, trials and tribulations. Animals became vicious towards him, and viruses began to destroy him. Prior to the Fall, however, he was protected from pain, suffering, so on.

Send us your questions at: seu.eotccarla@gmail.com

Short message on behalf the Spiritual Education Unit:

His Grace Abune Thaddaeus, Head Administrator Archimandrite Abba Gebreyesus, and all clergy and faithful- thank you for the opportunity to share this labour of love with you. Thanks also to the team of the Spiritual Education Unit for their hard work.

-Liqe Teghuan Tekle Mariam Greene

References

Miracle of Mary: https://pemm.princeton.edu/en-us/stories/503

Metsagu [መጻጉዕ] - The Paralytic

Life of Repentance and Purity - Pope Shenouda

Coptic Orthodox Church My Faith: Pope Tawadros the Second

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