{"id":89134,"date":"2025-04-23T11:01:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/?p=89134"},"modified":"2025-06-25T16:23:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T13:23:39","slug":"%d9%85%d8%b5%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ad%d9%84%d9%88%d8%a9-604-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%8a%d8%a7%d9%85%d8%a9-%d9%85%d9%81%d8%aa%d8%b1%d9%82-%d8%b7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%82%d9%8a%d9%86-23-4-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/%d9%85%d8%b5%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ad%d9%84%d9%88%d8%a9-604-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%8a%d8%a7%d9%85%d8%a9-%d9%85%d9%81%d8%aa%d8%b1%d9%82-%d8%b7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%82%d9%8a%d9%86-23-4-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Beautiful Egypt 604 \u2013 \u00abResurrection is a Crossroad of Two Paths\u00bb \u2013 23\/4\/2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

I would like to extend my congratulations on the Feast of Resurrection which Christians around the world celebrated last Sunday, hoping that God’s blessings and peace will prevail over our beloved homeland, Egypt, and bring goodness and prosperity to its people, and grant the world stability and security.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

When we speak of the Resurrection, we recall the immense power of God when He resurrects mankind on the Last Day by the word of His will. The soul returns to the body in an inseparable union; all the dead, old and young, will rise in an instant to stand before the Divine Presence, preceded by the account of their deeds during their lives. In ancient times, the Prophet Ezekiel had a vision of God’s awe-inspiring power in raising bones and granting them life.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

“The\u00a0hand of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0came upon me and brought me out\u00a0in the Spirit of the\u00a0Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0full of bones.\u00a0<\/sup>Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold,\u00a0there were<\/em>\u00a0very many in the open valley; and indeed\u00a0they were<\/em>\u00a0very dry.\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup>And He said to me, \u201cSon of man, can these bones live?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

So I answered, \u201cO Lord\u00a0God,\u00a0You know.\u201d Again He said to me, \u201cProphesy to these bones, and say to them, \u2018O dry bones, hear the word of the\u00a0Lord!\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup>Thus says the Lord\u00a0God\u00a0to these bones: \u201cSurely I will\u00a0cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup>I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live.\u00a0Then you shall know that I\u00a0am<\/em>\u00a0the\u00a0Lord.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.\u00a08\u00a0<\/sup>Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but\u00a0there was<\/em>\u00a0no breath in them. Also He said to me, \u201cProphesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the\u00a0breath, \u2018Thus says the Lord\u00a0God:\u00a0\u201cCome from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me,\u00a0andbreath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.”<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The Lord Jesus Christ spoke about the resurrection of mankind on the Last Day when they will hear the voice of God: “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth\u2014those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”<\/span> Thehour of judgment is an hour in which the greatness and power of God will be manifested, which the limited human mind cannot comprehend; He is the infinite God, capable of all things. Similarly, the holy evangelist and disciple John the Apostle describes his vision of the Resurrection: \u00a0<\/sup>“And I saw the dead,\u00a0small and great, standing beforeGod,\u00a0and books were opened. And another\u00a0book was opened, which the Book<\/em>\u00a0of Life. And the dead were judged\u00a0according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.\u00a0The sea gave up the dead who were in it,\u00a0and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.\u00a0And they were judged, each one according to his works”.<\/span> All will rise by the power and word of God; no soul will perish. God’s power to raise the dead is at the very core of His authority over life, for He is its Giver. The Resurrection is the beginning of the eternal life that God prepared for mankind when He created them to enjoy true freedom that transcends temporalities and materialistic matters in a blessed and glorious eternity. \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

In the Resurrection, we remember the justice of God, which is manifested when He recompenses every person according to their deeds, and that He\u2014blessed be His name\u2014is of perfect and absolute justice. The Scripture says: “A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.”<\/span> Justice and righteousness are the foundation of His rule, for He is “the Lord, the righteous Judge,”<\/span> whose “clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.”<\/span> Yes, O Lord: “You are righteous, O Lord, the One who is and who was and who is to be, because You have judged these things.”<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Therefore, it behooves us not to consider death an end, but rather a bridge to cross from a perishing world to an abiding life. There is no escape from the Resurrection and standing before the justice of God! Indeed, when we remember the Resurrection, we must keep in mind that our earthly life determines the nature of our eternal life. Whoever chose a life of virtue, of love, giving, and transcendence over the material, has crossed over to an indescribable life of glory, joy, and endless splendor. But whoever inclined towards evil, hatred, arrogance, and indulgence in material things, their inclination was their passport to the abyss and unending torment! Hence, with every arrival of the feast of Resurrection, the opportunity is renewed for us to remember the crossroads of these two paths, the responsibility of choice, and the consequences of the question: which of these two paths do you wish your destiny to be?!<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Many happy returns\u2026Stories are endless in Beautiful Egypt\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

General Bishop<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

President of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I would like to extend my congratulations on the Feast of Resurrection which Christians around the world celebrated last Sunday, hoping that God’s blessings and peace will prevail over our beloved homeland, Egypt, and bring goodness and prosperity to its people, and grant the world stability and security. When we speak of the Resurrection, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":89797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89134"}],"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=89134"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89799,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89134\/revisions\/89799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}