{"id":69777,"date":"2019-08-14T12:03:30","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T10:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/site\/?p=69777"},"modified":"2019-10-20T13:59:20","modified_gmt":"2019-10-20T11:59:20","slug":"%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ad%d9%84%d9%88%d8%a9-309-%d9%81%d8%ae%d9%92%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b4%d8%b1-1482019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ad%d9%84%d9%88%d8%a9-309-%d9%81%d8%ae%d9%92%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b4%d8%b1-1482019\/","title":{"rendered":"Beautiful Egypt 309 \u2013 \u201cPride of mankind\u201d \u2013 14\/8\/2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">I would like to congratulate our Muslim brothers in Egypt, the Middle East and the rest of the world with Eid Al-Adha, praying to God to bless Egypt, keep it safe, peaceful and blessed.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">In a previous article we followed talking about Virgin Mary and the virtue of gentleness that filled all her life aspects.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Today we continue talking about her as a source of pride of mankind. As it was written:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u201cYou are superior to the heavenly and to the cherubim, to the seraphim, (Angels\u2019 ranks) and greater than the hosts of spiritual angels. More glorified than fathers and sons, superior in dignity more than the honored disciples; You are the pride of our race, in You celibacy has pride; because of You purity and chastity were honored, You are superior above all creations that can and can\u2019t be seen, for the greatness and dignity of God, to Whom we kneel before, who has chosen You.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">How couldn\u2019t she be the pride of mankind?!<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">She is the one who Solomon wrote about in the Book of Proverbs:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u201cMany daughters have done well, But you excel them all.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Moreover about her Isaiah predicted that she would give birth to a son:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u201cTherefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Furthermore; Ezekiel described her as the shut gate:<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u00a0\u201cAnd the Lord said to me, &#8220;This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0he meant the continuity of the celibacy of Virgin Mary after she gave birth to Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">In addition to that Quran did praise her in Surah\u00a0Ali-Imran:<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u00a0\u201cAnd [mention] when the angels said, &#8220;O Mary, indeed Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the worlds.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Also in Surah Al-Tahrim:<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u00a0\u201cAnd [the example of] Mary, the daughter of &#8216;Imran, who guarded her chastity, so We blew into [her garment] through Our angel, and she believed in the words of her Lord and His scriptures and was of the devoutly obedient.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Virgin Mary was nicknamed by many titles as:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u201cThe queen rose on your right, O\u00a0king.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Also David wrote in his Psalms:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u201cAt Your right hand stands the queen.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Our Mother St. Virgin Mary<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Motherhood to all mankind is an idea that sprang from the words of Jesus himself while he was on the cross to his disciple John the beloved when he assigned him the responsibility to care for his mother:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">&#8220;Behold your mother!&#8221;<\/span>\u00a0then he looked to Virgin Mary and said:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">&#8220;Woman, behold your son!&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">From that moment\u00a0Virgin Mary became the mother to us all.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">The Ladder of Jacob<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">While Jacob our father escaped from his brother Esau, he saw a ladder linked between heaven and earth and that ladder was a symbol of Virgin Mary, by giving birth to Jesus, she brought the inhabitants of earth to heaven.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">The Good Dove<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Recalling the dove that carried a branch of olive to our father Noah, as a symbol for peace and good news of salvation from the flood; we also remember Virgin Mary being a good dove in her simplicity and purity, in addition to that all she carried the good news of peace besides salvation to us when she gave birth to Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">The Swift Cloud<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">She resembled the quick cloud for two main reasons.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">On one hand; for her great dignity, on the other hand for the prophecy that spoke about her coming to Egypt in the Holy Book of Isaiah:<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u00a0\u201cThe burden against Egypt. Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, And will come into Egypt; The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">The Virtues of Virgin Mary:<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Life of Modesty<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">The life of Virgin Mary was considered a unique prototype that would not be repeated to the life of modesty that Jesus wanted to teach us, so that we could feel her true modesty and amazing submission when she replied the angel who came to announce that she would give birth to Jesus Christ:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u201cBehold the maidservant of the Lord!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0in addition to her praise after she went to Elizabeth her relative:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u201cMy soul magnifies the Lord,\u00a0And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.\u00a0For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0Her modesty was practical- not just words- and that was so clear when she went to Elizabeth as soon as she knew that Elizabeth conceived a son in her old age. Thus she kept serving her for the rest of the period of her pregnancy until she gave birth.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">In her modesty Virgin Mary was silent, less talkative, kept all things within her heart, pondered them and meditated.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">\u00a0It was mentioned:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u201cBut Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0Moreover; she served everybody in complete silence, or in a few words.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">\u00a0For instance when she asked her son to perform a miracle, at the wedding of Cana of Galilee \u2026 Stories about Beautiful Egypt never end!<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">General Bishop<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I would like to congratulate our Muslim brothers in Egypt, the Middle East and the rest of the world with Eid Al-Adha, praying to God to bless Egypt, keep it safe, peaceful and blessed. In a previous article we followed talking about Virgin Mary and the virtue of gentleness that filled all her life aspects. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":19638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69777"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69777"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70975,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69777\/revisions\/70975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}