My Beloved the Benevolent                                                    

     Grace and peace; wishing you all goodness and blessing, experiencing the joys of the Holy Resurrection in the Blessed Fifty days in which we celebrate daily the glorious resurrection of Christ from the dead.

We were all affected by the martyrdom of our beloved father the Hegumen Fr. Arsanius Wadeed, who was assassinated at the hands of criminal and abhorrent religious intolerance on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Alexandria.  We all pray that God reposes his pure soul in the Paradise of Joy and comfort his virtuous wife and all his family and loved ones everywhere.

According to eyewitnesses of this incident of martyrdom, we see two expressive scenes, “While the martyred Hegumen Arsanius Wadeed was preparing to board the bus with a group of church youth, he was approached by someone who was in need asking for help; while the martyred reached out to help the needy person, the killer’s hand stretched out from behind him and stabbed him to death.”

We see the image of the hand of love extending to help the needy, while the image of the hand of hatred extends to murder.

The scene of love versus the scene of hatred; the scene of light versus the scene of darkness.

The image of the new human nature versus the image of fallen human nature.

The image of the mind enlightened by the light of Christ versus the image of the dark mind.

The Holy Resurrection of Christ moved humanity from darkness to light; thus, Christ rose at dawn on Sunday, the time when darkness begins to be overtaken by light.  We recall the words of the Holy Spirit written by the beloved St. John, “and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” 1Jn. 2:8-11

The eye symbolizes the mind, just as the eye helps a person walk in the light; so, the mind leads the person in the path of light.  But if the eye becomes weakened, a person loses the ability to walk in the light.  There are two types of eye diseases: a physical disease can affect the eye and the person would be unable to see, just like the born blind who was healed by Christ; and the other type that affects the ability of the eye to see clearly. The Lord Christ referred to this disease as the disease of spiritual blindness by saying after the healing of the born blind, “And Jesus said, ‘For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.’ Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, ‘Are we blind also?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘we see.’ Therefore, your sin remains.” Jn. 9:39-41   

The mind also has its own set of diseases that are not due to any organic issue, but due to thoughts. When it is dominated by thoughts of hatred, intolerance, and aggression against others, it becomes mentally disturbed, not because of an organic disease but because of intellectual illness. When the first man fell and separated from God, his nature became corrupted, he became mentally unstable, and his descendants became the inheritors of the corrupt nature and became mentally ill. So, they grew in the life of evil and devised many evil things. Christ the Word, the Logos, came to free the human mind and bring it back once more to a healthy enlightened mind linked to the true light that shines on every human being.

A person who is mentally unbalanced because of an organic disease may have an excuse, but a mentally disturbed person stemming from hatred and intolerance is fully responsible for his actions because he chose to walk in the darkness.

My Beloved.

Indeed, this criminal incident has affected us, and we must condemn such criminal acts; but we should not be surprised, “Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.” 1 Jn. 3:13 We must hold on to love for all, “that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.” 1 Jn. 3:11-12. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.” 1 Jn. 3:14

We pray to our living God to bring our brothers from death to life so that we can live together in true enlightened love.

May God bless your offerings to support Santa Verena Charity programs.

Metropolitan Serapion