Nebab #62 Pentecost
NEBAB #62
The Orthodox Tewahedo Magazine
PENTECOST
Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Archdiocese of the Caribbean and Latin America
Our Lord Jesus Christ, may His name be revered, promised His disicples that the Holy Spirit would come to comfort them. So why did He say, before the coming of Another Comforter (John 14:16), "let not your hearts be troubled"? He knew the distress that was to come to their hearts, even to the heart of His own ever-faithful mother, that the prophecy might be fulfilled, "a sword shall pierce through your own soul also" (Luke 2:35). But he told them, "let not your hearts be troubled", because He had already given them the comfort of His teaching. He told them that He would lay down His life and take it up again, that He would be lifted up and suffer at the hands of the Jews, and rise on the third day. But their hearts were troubled with worry and fear, and they lost the comfort of His teaching from their hearts.
How often do we worry about our food or shelter? Our Lord has already comforted us with His teaching: "If God so clothes the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:30). But we forget, filling our hearts with worry and doubt, and lose the comfort He has given us.
Our Lord taught His disciples how to avoid troubled hearts. He said "You believe in God, believe also in Me." He reminded them of the great things God had done for their fathers, bringing them through the sea and the desert and the Jordan river, and reproving kings for their sakes.
We all know what God has done for us. We don't need anyone to tell us how God has given us angels who held us up lest we dashed our feet against the stones. We don't need anyone to tell us how God had mercy on us when we had earned disaster for ourselves. If you remember that God has done great things, believe that He will do great things, and let not your heart be troubled.
The Holy Spirit helps us to do good, so how do people outside of Christ do 'good works', like charitable donation or voluntary service?
Good work is not the measure of a person having acquired the Holy Spirit. An unbeliever can do good things, but doing good things is not the goal of Christian life. The goal of a Christian is to- through what we call the 10 levels of righteousness- become one with the Divine Fire.
*We will look at the 10 levels of righteousness in the next issue.
Listen now to the miracles and wonders performed for blessed Gabra Krestos, the son of Theodosius II, Emperor of Constantinople, by Our Lady Mary, the Holy Virgin, the ark of the Holy Spirit, whose name in Hebrew is Miriam.
From the time he went forth from the house of his father and relinquished the royal ascendancy, he left behind his bride and embarked on a journey to a distant land.
He came to the country called Armenia, which was a year-long journey away.
In that country there was a church, built in the name of Our Lady Mary, the Holy Virgin, the ark of the Holy Spirit, whose name in Hebrew is Miriam.
In that church, there was a custom that all the poor, the needy, and the destitute who wanted alms to be given them would live beside the church’s wall.
So blessed Gabra Krestos made his abode there with the poor and needy beside the wall, fasting day and night and tasting nothing except on the Christian Sabbath.
He would keep vigil all night, praying in his abode, and he would not cease standing until dawn.
When the bell was sounded for matins in the morning, he would enter the church with the people, and he would worship. Then he would leave the church and enter his abode and spend the whole day praying there.
He would not omit the canonical hours of the day or the night, and he continued with this rule for fifteen years, without anyone’s knowledge of his watchfulness or his godly service.
Fifteen years later, Our Lady Mary, Holy Twofold Virgin, the Mother of God, the ark of the Holy Spirit, whose name in Hebrew is Miriam, appeared to a certain kind sacristan, who guarded the gates of the church, and she said to him, “Arise early in the morning and go to the wall of the church where the poor live and enter a certain abode [that is located off] on its own.”
Then she told him about his identifying marks and how to recognize his abode, and she said to him, “Take the man of God with you. Bring him here and lead him into the church. Next, let his dwellings be here within the church grounds, and do not let him live with the poor any longer. Moreover, you shall call his name, ‘man of God.’”
When the morning dawned, the sacristan went as Our Lady Mary had instructed him in the knowledge of his abode.
He went in to him and found him standing up, praying.
He said to him, “Behold, my dear man of God, Our Lady Mary has summoned you into her church grounds. Come and make your abode there.”
Then the sacristan compelled him to speak and said to the man of God, “I adjure you by Our Pure Lady Mary, the Mother of God, the Mother of the Light, who is venerated by the mouths of angels and humans. I adjure also by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to tell me who you are and who your father is; what your country is, why you have come here, and what your occupation is.”
When the man of God heard this, he wept and said to the sacristan, “What do you have here, my father? For what do you take this trouble? What distresses you that you should inquire of me, a sinner, and adjure me with this great and solemn oath, which is troublesome to hear? I also adjure you that you tell me who made me known to you.”
The sacristan answered and said to the man of God, “Before today, I knew nothing of you. However, my Lady Mary appeared to me by night, and she told me to take you there. She told me, ‘Take the man of God from his abode and bring him into the church grounds and let his dwellings be within them.’ For this reason, I have come to you and related this to you to bring you inside.”
Now the man of God feared the oath with which he had adjured him, so he spoke to the sacristan and told him everything that had happened from his youth to that day.
When the sacristan heard the speech of the man of God, he wept loudly. Then he fell to the ground and bowed down to him and received his blessing.
After that, the man of God remained a short while in that church in the land of Armenia.
But when he knew that the people of the land had heard the report of him, the man of God considered it, saying, “If I remain in this land, they will bring honor and aggrandizement to me. If the report of me has reached my father, he will come and seize me.”
So he arose and prayed until midnight.
Then he venerated the icon of Mary and said, “Behold, my Lady Mary, you have revealed my secrets to the people of this land, and you know what I fear. It is preferable that I should go now to where people do not know me. Lead me to that which is good.”
When he had said this, he departed by night, and no one in the land saw him leave or knew of his departure.
Now when the sorrows of his mother and father were multiplied by the will of God, he brought the man of God to them, and he lived beside the wall of his father for fifteen years.
For the love of the Lord, he bore patiently with humiliation and jeering from the servants of his father. For there were some who would strike him in the face; others who would hit him on the head; others who would pull out his hair and pluck out his beard; others who would go above his abode and urinate on him; others who would wash plates and pour the dirty water on him; others who would spit on him; and yet others who would throw leftover pieces of meat and bones on him from the Emperor’s table, so that the dogs would gnaw his members.
However, the man of God bore patiently with all this hardship and misery, and he remained beside the wall of his father for fifteen years.
Then, when thirty years were completed since he underwent these trials and endured this suffering, Our Lord Jesus Christ descended from heaven with his mother Mary, whose name in Hebrew is Miriam.
Also with him were the prophets and the apostles, the martyrs and all the assemblies of the virgins and the monks, the assemblies of the watchful angels and all the archangels.
They raised up his soul to the kingdom of heaven in great glory and honor.
Moreover, all this came to pass through the intercession of Our Lady Mary, the Holy Twofold Virgin, the ark of the Holy Spirit, whose name in Hebrew is Miriam.
May her prayers, her supplications and her blessings be with her servant Habta ’Iyyasus to the ages of ages. Amen.
O my Lady Mary, you are she whom the prophets likened to a verdant bush
When you contained the fiery flames of Sinai, which were set ablaze.
You are she who clothed with patience Gabra Krestos that he might bear hardship.
May that which is swifter than a soaring arrow—the power of your help—protect me,
Your servant Habta ’Iyyasus, in the house of your love, which is built and established,
To the ages of ages. Amen.
The Apostles composed for us a confession of faith, which we call the
አመክንዮ
amekniyo
of the apostles
Amekniyo comes from the the verb አመክነየ amekneye (with an unused root form, መክነየ mekneye)
Some Ge’ez verbs technically have forms that are not used in speech, but only to build other forms of the verb. We will study this in a future lesson, by the will of God.
Amekneye can mean to give a reason, but also to make an excuse or pretext, or even to pretend. From amekneye we get ምክንያት mikinyat reason, means, opportunity, or pretext. We also get አመክንዮ amekniyo which refers to a reason or argument, and can be translated into English as 'apology'- not to say sorry for a fault- but from the Greek apologia to say something in one's defense, or as it became commonly used, to speak in defense of the Christian faith.
Feast of Pentecost: Fr Tadros Malaty
Miracle of Mary: https://pemm.princeton.edu/en-us/stories/369
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