2020 Pascha Sermons

2019 English Pascha Sermons

Pope Kyrillos VI was not a man of many words. But a lot of his words can be found in his letters.
Fr Daniel Fanous went on a journey to bring to us a book, The Silent Patriarch, a book on Pope Kyrillos' life and legacy.
Interviewed by Fr Mark, Fr Daniel brings to us a deeper side of Pope Kyrillos we would have never known.

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The Pope Kyrillos Interview (Fr Daniel Fanous)

Part 1 of our series on “From Scandal to Saint” tells the powerful story of St Theodora the Penitent. A respected Christian woman falls into adultery, flees in shame, disguises herself as a monk, and embraces a life of tears, prayer, fasting, and hidden obedience. Accused falsely. Banished unjustly. Silent under ridicule. Through deep repentance, God transforms her into a miracle worker whose holiness outlasts every scandal. This talk challenges a culture of ease and comfort, calls us to vigilance against temptation, and shows how grace can turn our deepest failures into healing for others.

From Scandal to Saint - Part 1: St. Theodora the Penitent

Our Lord's mercy is so abundant that He interrupts His plans to seek us out. He longs for us and to be with us. He stands at the door of our hearts and knocks and whoever opens to Him this door, with that person will He come in and eat with Him.

I Must Stay At Your House

A gripping journey from addiction to holy repentance. Fr. Paul tells the story of St. Mary of Egypt and her encounter with a desert monk, her radical conversion at the Feast of the Cross, seventeen years of fierce warfare in the wilderness, and the grace that made her a vessel of light. This is a call to real repentance, tears before God, and a renewed vow to Christ.

From Scandal to Saint - Part 3: St. Mary of Egypt

St. Pelagia of Antioch begins as a dazzling beauty obsessed with image, wealth, and attention. During a council in Antioch, Bishop Nonos sees her pass by and is moved to tears, not by lust but by conviction. He asks how much more carefully we should adorn the soul if she spends hours adorning the body. Pelagia hears his preaching on judgment and mercy, writes begging for baptism, and comes with holy desperation. Before all the bishops she confesses, clings to Nonos’ feet, and asks to be made a Christian.
After baptism she faces fierce spiritual warfare, makes the sign of the Cross, and stands firm. She gives away her gold, frees her servants, leaves Antioch, disguises herself as the monk Pelagius, and lives in prayer on the Mount of Olives. Years later, Deacon James finds her face emaciated from fasting and holiness. When she departs, the monks discover she was Pelagia the renowned sinner, now honored as a saint.
This talk calls us to drop judgment, see people with Christ’s eyes, repent with urgency, and count the cost of discipleship. No sin is beyond redemption. Beauty redirected to holiness becomes godliness. Hidden sanctity is known to God.
Highlights
• Image vs inner life. Adorn the soul more than the body.
• Nonos’ tears. See potential, not past.
• Real repentance. Desperate, public, accountable, costly.
• Warfare is real. The Cross is our defense.
• Total surrender. Mercy transforms and sends us out new.
Call to action
If this spoke to you, share it with someone who needs hope. Subscribe for the full series and more lives changed by Christ.

From Scandal to Saint - Part 4: St Pelagia The Harlot

What if our friendships are way lower than Jesus’ expectations? In this talk, we walk through Mark 2 and the four friends who tore open a roof to get a paralyzed man to Christ. Real friendship is intentional, vulnerable, and spiritually focused. It notices the “mat” in each other’s lives, carries it with compassion, and does whatever it takes to bring one another to Jesus for healing and holiness. We also unpack Sirach 6 on testing and treasuring a faithful friend.


Christian Friendships

What if sainthood is not for “other people,” but for you today? In this finale, Abouna Elijah answers the big question: how do I become a saint while living in the world with a job, kids, and packed schedules? The goal of the Christian life is not “do fewer bad things.” The goal is Christ in me. Walk through a simple rhythm you can live right now: Recognition → Repentance → Renewal → Radiance. Learn how to find the desert in the city, build a morning prayer rule, practice digital silence, and let holy icons teach cheek to cheek intimacy with Jesus.

From Scandal to Saint - Part 5: The Potential Saint in Me

Fr. Paul opens a deep Bible journey through the life of Moses and shows how God forms a soul over a lifetime. Scripture is not background noise. It is how we hear Christ, grow, and find direction. This talk walks through Exodus 1–3 and invites you to cooperate with grace in every season.

What you will learn
 • Why the Word of God must be daily if you want to know Christ
 • How Moses’ story becomes a pattern for your soul from birth to calling
 • The faith of Moses’ parents and the providence of God over the Nile
 • Why hidden years in Midian are not wasted years but God’s classroom
 • What “take off your sandals” means for real repentance and readiness
 • How God reveals His heart before He gives any assignment
 • The meaning of “I AM WHO I AM” for identity and trust
 • How excuses fade when God says, “I will be with you”

Life Of Moses - Part 1: The God Who Sees, Forms, and Sends Out

Our words hold the key to life and death. When we use our tongues and the words from our mouth to bless and lift others up around us then we can help them grow closer to God. When we do the opposite we have the ability to cast others down to the ground and trample them underfoot. Let us use our tongues and our words to ensure that we build up the Kingdom of God and not tear it down.

The Power of Words

In this seminar Fr Elijah shared some rules and commandments from the Bible and from his experience as a priest for maintaining quality time as a family. He shares some practical strategies for finding and making time for Quality Family interaction. He also discusses what to to if there is a mismatch between parents around prioritising family time. The session concludes with Fr Elijah answering some questions raised around quality family time.

Finding Quality Family Time Amongst the Busyness

As we conclude the blessed month of Kiahk, we arrive at a powerful and often overlooked moment in Luke 1: the birth of St. John the Baptist and the opening of Zacharias’ mouth.
After months of silence, the first words Zacharias proclaims are not complaint, fear, or confusion, but praise:
“The Lord is gracious.”
In this sermon, we reflect on what it truly means to understand salvation, mercy, and the humility of the Incarnation. Christ enters the lowest place, a manger, not out of necessity, but out of love, to heal humanity from the plague of death and to guide our feet into the path of peace.
As we prepare for the Feast of the Nativity, this message challenges us to ask:
Is there room for Christ in my heart?
Is my life filtered through Him?
Am I living as someone who believes I have been delivered?
This is a call to move from fear to service, from self-centered living to self-emptying love, and from spiritual exhaustion to renewed peace.
May this year be different.
May our lives become stars that point others to Christ.

Are You Aware of Your Salvation?

During the holiday season, our minds can go into overdrive, and we start creating narratives about what we think others are thinking. In this talk, Fr. Elijah (Abuna) teaches an Orthodox way of “ruling your inner world” by learning how to observe thoughts without obeying them. Using Psalm 42:5, the Desert Fathers, Christ’s temptation in the wilderness, and practical steps, he shows how intrusive thoughts (logismoi) knock at the door of the mind, and how discernment, Scripture, and concrete actions help us shut the door to what is false and welcome what leads to peace, repentance, unity, and communion with God.

Ruling Your Inner World

A new year invites us to realign our hearts, let go of what distracts us from Christ, and choose to abide in Him. May this year be marked not by more noise, but by deeper closeness to God..Tune 

New Year's Resolution: More God, Less World

              This sermon offers a reflective call to begin the new year with a God‑guided commitment to transformation. Drawing on Isaiah 61 and Christ’s proclamation of “the acceptable year of the Lord,” Fr. Matthias invites listeners on a journey of self-examination, repentance, reconciliation, and renewal, urging them to release past regrets and embrace personal responsibility for meaningful change.
              The sermon unfolds five dimensions of “the acceptable year of the Lord”:  true repentance, reconciliation, freedom from bondage,  fulfillment of God’s purpose, and renewal. True repentance means looking honestly at ourselves, grieving our sins, seeking forgiveness, and choosing a new path with intention. Reconciliation is highlighted as a vital step in living peacefully with others, forgiving as Christ forgave us, and actively restoring broken relationships whenever possible. The concept of freeing the captives addresses the spiritual bondage to sin, addictions, and destructive habits, emphasizing the need to acknowledge these chains and seek liberation through God’s power

The Acceptable Year of the Lord

"The sign of his weakness becomes a sign of his strength". Tune in as Fr Elijah Iskander explores the miracle of the paralytic man, how concepts such as exile and anonymity, a source of weakness, can be turned to strength through Christ and much more!

Strength Through Weakness

Tune in as Atef Fahmy explores Simon's obedience and the miracle of the abundance of fish caught, how we too reap an abundance of blessings through sacrificing our own will and obeying Christ, and much more!

Why Should I Accept God's will?

"If I am not willing to respect others, then I am making division". Tune in as Fr Yacoub Magdy explores the miracle of Christ healing the demon possessed, how Christs instructs us to display unity, its benefits of respect and much more!

The Benefits of Unity

"If we are obedient, the Lord will pour His graces on us". Tune in as Fr Michael Fanous explores the feast of St Mark the Apostle, how we can learn about his obedience to Christ, the Gospel of Christ sending His disciples to go and preach, and much more!

The Fruits of Obedience

What type of land are we? Tune in as Deacon Magdy Kilada explores the parable of the sower, how we must be ready at all times, how the Lord is calling, and much more!

The Good Land

Tune in as Fr Yacoub Magdy explores the parable of the sower, tricks from the devil that we must be aware of, how the Word of God can grow in our heart if we allow it to and much more!

Is My Heart Open to God?

An assortment of Coptic Hymns translated into English and sung by the beautiful voices of the youth from St Marks Church Sydney.

I Sought After You

Let Us Praise

How Could I Forget

This playlist is a collection of Passion Week Hymns sung by St Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church. We pray you have a blessed Pascha week :) 

Ke Eperto

Your Pierced Hands

Ekhristos Anesti

Verses Of The Cymbals

Very Early Sunday Morning

The Baker Woman

Fr Anthony Hanna

Holy Liturgy - Fr Anthony Hanna

St Basil Liturgy - Fr Augustinos Nada

Jonah's Prayer (Olivia Morcos)

Hear My Prayer! The first of many Biblically-inspired albums, Prayers by our favourite Bible characters come to life with the prayerful tunes of our youth...

The King (Hezekiah's Prayer)

Upper Room Media's latest single is here!! Have a listen to 'Of All Nations' by Yvette Samir and Olivia Morcos now!!

Of All Nations- Yvette Samir & Olivia Morcos

'By His Wounds', celebrate with Upper Room Media our 2017 Passion week album

No Eye Has Seen

Kayfa Ansa

Written in the second century by an anonymous author, this letter is addressed to Diognetus; whose name suggests he is a member of a dignified society and as such it is an apologetic piece.

Letter to Diognetus (Narrated by Aidan McLachlan)

The crowning of thorns would’ve been the most painful experience for Our Lord. A ram caught in thorns was offered instead of Abraham's son and so too Christ was offered as a Sacrifice instead of us. We know Christ needed to die for us but why did he go through all this pain? Be sure to tune in to Fr Mark's incredible Good Friday talk.

Good Friday - Crown Of Thorns (Fr. Mark Basily)

"Saints are not far and impossible to us, they are not exceptions, they're examples"

Tune in as Fr Daniel delves into the life of St Anthony, how we can use this as an example in our own lives, and say today I will begin, today I will die a martyr, today I will not let the sun go down on any of my sins, and today I will always breathe Christ.

Life of St Anthony: Everyday I Say to Myself, Today I Will Begin

Passion week ultimately leads to the cross. The cross ultimately leads to the Resurrection, and the Resurrection ultimately leads to Eternal Life with Christ. Listen intently as Mark Ghali discusses the readings of Monday eve of the Holy Pascha highlighting the promise of deliverance that Christ offers us throughout this week.

Monday Eve - A Promise of Deliverance (Mark Ghali)

Father Michael explains how Christ came to purify us, change us and give us joy in the knowledge of Him.

Monday Eve - Joy in Christ (Fr. Michael Fanous)

Tuesday Eve - The Narrow Path (Johnny Sharkawi)

Fr Jonathan gives a thought provoking insight into whether we are are like Demas and run away from carrying our crosses in life, or if we are like Simon the Cyrene who take up our cross with Christ and to do so with joy.

Tuesday Eve - Carrying Your Cross (Fr. Jonathan Ishak)

Why was it necessary for Barrabas to be released instead of Christ? What is the significance of this substitution? Through an analysis of the character of Barrabas, we learn that daily we are faced with this question, to pick between Jesus or Barrabas, between the heavenly or the earthly. Listen intently as Mark Sidhom answers these questions and highlights its significance to our lives today.

Wednesday Eve - Trials of Christ (Mark Sidhom)

Tune into the first ever podcast from Upper Room Media! Listen as Dr Graham Barker and Father Sam Fanous join in a discussion all about the question ’is mental health spiritual or not?’

Is Mental Health Spiritual or Not? (URM Podcast)

Lent softens our hearts and prepares us for communion with God. Today Fr David shares with us a beautiful prayer, the Lenten prayer of St Ephraim the Syrian. Through this prayer, we learn the importance of tackling our weaknesses in order to inch closer and closer to Christ particularly during this week.

Monday Eve - A Lenten Prayer

"Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me." (Hebrew 10:5)

Today, Christ enters Jerusalem as the Passover lamb; the High Priest Himself offering His own body as the sacrifice. This passion week, let us take up the weapon of humility and obedience, just as Christ did so to defeat Satan.

Palm Sunday - Hosanna (HG Bishop Youssef)

Today Christ asked his disciples two questions. "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" and more importantly "Who do you say that I am?"
Tune in as Adel challenges us with these very same questions! Who is Christ to me? Jesus is My Saviour. My God. My Bridegroom. My Friend. Jesus is My Everything!

Monday Eve - Who Am I?

What should we be doing during the 400 Lord Have Mercy's? What type of books should we read this Passion Week? How do we get the most out of Passion Week this year?

Join as Fr Antony looks into the holy Pascha, and how we can understand and benefit from this Passion Week!

Understanding And Benefitting From The Holy Pascha

This week we don't just 'remember' Jesus' work and passion, but we actually walk through it with Him in a mystical way.

Are you ready to redefine death and life?

Redefining Death and Life

Tune in as Fr Antony speak about his own personal memories and experiences with the blessed Bishop Angelos. May the Lord repose his soul in the heavenly kingdom, and may his prayers be with us all.

Father Angelos the Antonian (Fr Antony Paul)

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