In the Holy Gospel reading of the 1st Sunday in the Holy Great Fast (Matthew 6:19-33), His Grace reads for us the following:
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven..."

His Grace also shares with us the words of St. John Chrysostom and St. Gregory of Nyssa to remind us as we begin the journey of the Holy Great Fast to be wise and give alms as we lay up treasures in heaven.

St. John Chrysostom:
"Buy as much as you can. Do you have one coin? Buy the sky. Not because the sky is cheap, but because the Lord is a lover of mankind. You do not even have one coin? Give a glass of refreshing water. 'The one who offers one glass of refreshing water to one of the least of these for my sake will not lose his reward.' Heaven is a business and an enterprise, and we are negligent. 
Give bread and seize paradise. 
Give small things and grasp great ones. 
Give mortal things and take firm hold of immortal ones. 
Give corruptible things and capture incorruptible ones."

St. Gregory of Nyssa:
"the poor are our gateway to the Kingdom." He says, "These poor are the ones who store away the good things that we look upon. They are the gatekeepers of the Kingdom. They open the gates before the merciful and shut them in the face of the cruel ones who do not do good. They are the strongest accusers and the best defenders. They do not accuse and defend with words, but the Lord sees what is done to them. Every action cries out in a loud voice before God, the searcher of hearts."


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ABBA Give me a WORD

ABBA Give Me A WORD: Treasure in Heaven by HG Bishop Gregory

Often what we do is motivated by fear, often we are fearful of the pain of tomorrow or seeking pleasure of tomorrow. Today we learn that the key to not being fearfully anxious, is to live today and experience God today!

Live Today (Fr Daniel Fanous)

Feast of the Cross by HG Bishop Gregory
His Grace explains to us that the cross is a weapon.

St. Meena Coptic Orthodox Church
Fort Worth, TX
Pastoral Visit
March 19, 2021

Feast of the Cross

Feast of the Cross by HG Bishop Gregory

Apikhristos Pennoti (Aspasmos Adam Resurrection Feast)-Muharraq Monks|اسبسمس آدام القيامة

"Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23)

This album was produced by St. Gregory American Coptic Orthodox Church in Orange County, CA with original instrumental accompaniment. May God bless all who labored in this service.

To support this service, donations to St. Gregory's can be sent to P.O. Box 986 Lakewood, CA 90714.

12. Lent Doxology

Verses of Cymbals prayed during Vespers at St Shenouda's Coptic Orthodox Monastery Rochester, New York on the eve of the Feast of St. Shenouda the Archimandrite, July 13, 2019.

Verses of Cymbals (St. Shenouda the Archimandrite)

His Grace speaks with us about the importance of Scripture and the words of God in our life and shares words from the book written by St. Athanasius on the Life of St. Anthony.

Whenever he received a imperial letter, he would gather together the monks who happened to be with him, and say to them, “You marvel, perhaps, that the kings and the princes should write epistles to us, but what need is there for wonder, seeing that it is only one man writing letters to another? But what you should wonder at is how God wrote the Law for the children of men, and how He has spoken to us through His only Son.” (Life of Antony by St Athanasius)

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ABBA Give Me a WORD: Letter from the King by HG Bishop Gregory

His Grace shares with us 5 points to help us to rely on God:
1) To know Him
2) To practice being in His presence for He is present in us
3) To sandwich our thoughts or solutions with prayers
4) Realize that the door of our weaknesses or trials the devil is trying to use to make us despair but use it as a door to enter into a relationship with Him filled with trust
5) Use expressions of trust and recall His promises in your prayers

Vespers Homily: It Is I, Do Not Be Afraid by HG Bishop Gregory

His Grace shares with us a prayer by St. Ephrem the Syrian, titled:
'How many times have I promised, yet every time I failed to keep my word. But disregard this according to Thy grace'.

"Grant forgiveness, O Lord; send also strength. Convert me, that I might live in sanctity, according to Thy holy will. Sanctify my heart that has become a den and dwelling-place of demons.

I am unworthy to ask forgiveness for myself, O Lord, for many times have I promised to repent and proved myself a liar by not fulfilling my promise. Thou hast picked me up many times already, but every time I freely chose to fall again.

Therefore I condemn myself and admit that I deserve all manner of punishment and torture. How many times hast Thou enlightened my darkened mind; yet every time I return again to base thoughts! My whole body trembles when I contemplate this; yet every time sinful sensuality reconquers me.

How shall I recount all the gifts of Thy grace, O Lord, that I the pitiful one have received? Yet I have reduced them all to nothing by my apathy—and I continue in this manner. Thou hast bestowed upon me thousands of gifts, yet miserable me, I offer in return things repulsive to Thee.

Yet Thou, O Lord, inasmuch as Thou containest a sea of long-suffering and an abyss of kindness, do not allow me to be felled as a fruitless fig tree; and do not let me be burned without having ripened on the field of life. Snatch me not away unprepared; seize not me who have not yet lit my lamp; take not away me who have no wedding garment; but, because Thou art good and a lover of mankind, have mercy on me. Give me time to repent, and place not my soul stripped naked before Thy terrible and unwavering throne as a pitiful spectacle of infamy.

If a righteous man can barely be saved, then where will I end up, I who am lawless and sinful? If the path that leads to life is strait and narrow, then how can I be vouchsafed such good things, I who live a life of luxury, indulging in my own pleasures and dissipation? But Thou, O Lord, my Savior, Son of the true God, as Thou knowest and desirest, by Thy grace alone, freely turn me away from the sin that abides in me and save me from ruin."

Ephrem the Syrian, A Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God, trans. Isaac E. Lambertsen and Antonina Janda (Liberty, TN: The St. John of Kronstadt Press, 2004), 191–192.

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ABBA Give Me A WORD: How Many Times Have I Promised by HG Bishop Gregory

Coptic Basilian Fraction - Fr. Kyrillos Said

Ⲁⲥϣⲱⲡⲓ (First Verse of the ⲡⲁⲣⲁⲗⲉⲝ of ⲡⲓⲡⲛⲉⲩⲙⲁ)

The official SoundCloud and podcast for the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States under the auspices of His Grace Bishop Youssef.

Feast of the Cross by HG Bishop Gregory

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