A Journey With
the Church Fathers
Through
Lent, Passion Week &
Pentecost
By
Fr. Mikhail E. Mikhail
INTRODUCTION
Who are the
Fathers of the
Church?
(1)
The church is the
“the sacred body of
Christ”, in which
our Lord Jesus
Christ is the head.
Jesus Christ had
prepared the
disciples and the
apostles, our
fathers, to serve
the church and He
handed them off the
principles of faith,
as St. Paul said: “
The faith that has
been once handed to
the saints.”
They, in turn,
handed it down to
their disciples, the
apostolic fathers,
by whom it was
handed to their
successors, the
fathers of the
church. Thus, they
had erected a huge
and high building of
faith, which the
church had taught
and kept as a
precious tradition
throughout all
generations.
Now, our
responsibility is to
live by that
teaching and to hand
it honestly and
precisely to the
next generations.
(2)
The term “father”
doesn’t necessarily
mean a priestly
order, but it
indicates a
spiritual position.
The
father is that
person who implants
people in the body
of Christ, i.e. the
church; who gives
the
believers a
spiritual birth in
Christ, and unifies
them with Him.
If the father has a
priestly order, he
will then serve the
holy sacraments to
the believers. He
gives them the
spiritual birth with
water and the Spirit
in Baptism and
supports them with
the Holy Chrism
(Myron).
He unifies them with
Christ through the
Eucharist and takes
them back to abide
in Him through
repentance and
Confession. He heals
their illness
through unction, and
he unifies the
couples in Christ
and ties them
together through
marriage.
(3) In his
book “Against
Heresies” (Ch.
41:2), St.
Irenaeus, a father
of the 2nd
century, said:
“When a person
learns from the
teaching of another
one, he is called a
son for him. And
that who taught him
is
called a father.”
(4) The
importance of study
about the fathers of
the church, and
their sayings:
The sayings and
teaching of the
church fathers are
constantly serving
the same purpose
along all
generations, that is
preaching Christ and
the Gospel.
So, it is new for
every age and every
generation, because
it remains all the
time the living and
proclaiming voice of
Christ and His
apostles, and still
can be recognized
and formed in the
language of the
contemporary
generation.
Therefore, the
church along all
ages receives and
handles the
teachings of
fathers. The church
may add to
it the examination
of exercising and
applying the Gospel,
as well as the
testimony of belief
in Christ for
each generation.
Teaching in the
Coptic Orthodox
Church is a
congregate teaching:
The church considers
“The Congregate
Agreement of
Fathers” the basis
of the proper faith, particularly in the
topics dealing with
the interpretation
of the books of the
Holy Bible, in both
the Old Testament
and the New
Testament. This
confirms the fact
that they were
guided and carried
along by the Holy
Spirit.
As the Holy Spirit
had guided our
apostolic fathers
and the prophets in
writing the books of
the Holy Bible, so He also
guided the church
fathers in
explaining and
interpreting them,
as St. Peter said, “For prophecy never came by the
will of man, but
holy men of God
spoke as they were
moved by the Holy
Spirit.” (2
Peter 1:21)
Therefore, we need
the enlightenment of
the Holy Spirit to
understand the
church fathers’
sayings and
writings. As the
Holy Spirit had led
the writers and
interpreters in the
past, so also He
leads us to
understand and
comprehend now.
Requirements that
should be fulfilled
to accept the
teaching of the
fathers:
To
accept any teaching,
it should be:
-
In compliance
with the
teaching of the
Holy Bible, the
main source of
teaching.
-
In agreement
with the
predecessors’
religious
teaching.
-
In harmony with
the congregate
consent of
believers under
the bishop who
leads them in
unifying with Christ
through the
Eucharistic
Sacrament.
Topics of the
church fathers
teaching:
-
Interpretations
of the Holy
Bible
-
Apologetic
writings
-
Sermons and
essays
-
Letters
-
Liturgics
-
Poetics and
praises
-
Dialogues
-
Esscatical
Writings
-
Canon Laws
-
Ecclesiastical
History
Through this series,
we are going to
study what the
church fathers said
about the journeys
of Lent, Passion
Week, and Holy
Pentecost.
-
The journey of
Lent,
which is for
repentance and
coming back to
God.
-
The journey of
Passion Week,
which is for
sharing Christ
in His passions.
-
The journey of
Holy
Pentecost,
which is the
journey of the
resurrection of
the Living
Christ, who is risen
from the dead.
The
Lent consists of the
Preparation Week
plus the holy forty
days, i.e., seven
weeks. It ends with
the
day of the triumphal
entry of Jesus
Christ into
Jerusalem (Palm
Sunday).
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