To the Father of Fathers,
Happy Anniversary my beloved Father. You mean so much to me.
I am a fortunate person to live in the blessings that you have transferred to me from the Heavenly Father. A good father protects his family, teaches his family, cares for his family, and nurtures the offspring. You are a good father.
I have been blessed to look into your eyes and to see the Presence of the Chosen of the Holy Spirit. I have heard your words and I have learned so much. In your presence I can retreat to being a child and take full acceptance of every word as being truthful and loving for my regard. You are a good father.
Your jokes and wittiness are unparalleled as being joyful making and being inspirational in the same regard. You tickle us with happy words and hope in the good things of life, and are able to take the worries to a simplified acceptance of life's troubles. You are a good father.
Your Holiness, you would change places with any of us to spare our lives from any harm. You have protected us from the wolves that attack the body and the soul. You are the true shepherd, having taken commission from the One Shepherd. You are the defender of the meek and the downtrodden. You are a good father.
You are a strong symbol of the Coptic Orthodox Church. You are an ambassador for Egypt. You make us a people that must be reckoned for their history and role in the making of Christianity and in the making of Egypt. All eyes behold the Lion who is the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church. You are a good father.
I hope to see you again as you visit the United States or in any cross in our travels. My life is richer and happier because it has come upon your being. Your soul radiates to all of us as your children. You are the mirror and reflector of the One True Light. You are a good father.
I hope that if ever the day that courage is needed and I may need to offer my life instead of yours, I pray the Lord to give me that courage to protect my father and offer a sacrifice of love to preserve his life instead of mine. You are a good father.
I am blessed by you as you pronounce the Holy Trinity upon me. I breath because you have called the Holy Spirit upon me. You are a good father.
You have the Gift of Gifts in that you see the Holy Trinity in every moment. I cannot give you anything greater than my prayers daily that God will preserve your life for all of our sakes. I bow to your being and the pure soul that you have and offer my love as a simple son to his good father.
I love my Pope because he is a good father.
Happy Anniversary. The Lord Grant you many many years with peace, and that all your enemies and the enemies of the Church be cast under your feet.
Comments
We ask you, O Son of God, to keep the life of our Patriarch, Abba Shenouda, the high priest. Confirm him upon his throne.
I love this! You should print this out and send it to His Holiness :)
We ask you, O Son of God, to keep the life of our Patriarch, Abba Shenouda, the high priest. Confirm him upon his throne.
I wish to add
"... and to put his enemies under his feet speedily".
.... .... .... For many years to come.
Amen!!
TITL: What a thing to say!!
I love the Pope and I wish him MANY MANY years to come.
I'm telling you, you don't really love him by saying that! If you TRULY love HH then you wouldn't be "selfish" lol
The Coptic Orthodox Church says the following at the end of each and every liturgy (at the end of Amen Alleluia)
You inherited the grace of Moses and the priesthood of Melchisadek....and the wisdom of Solomon
May the Lord PRESERVE YOUR LIFE, our honored father, the head of the Bishops, Pope Shenouda.
The Lord of the Heavens AFFIRM him in his throne for MANY Years...
And may he place all his enemies beneath his feet hastily.
...
....
Kirielayson , Kirelalayson...
etc.
So, the Church says this EVERY time a bishop is present, or when the Pope is present. Are you telling me that the Church is selfish?
TITL did not mean it in the same regard as you are perceiving it.
The church is never selfish, nor will they ever pray for anyone to pass away, especially the Baba. However, the Pope has served us more than we can ever imagine. He is old. Another 61 years in enthronement is haram.
Inshallah 10000 years!!
Stop this!!! God give him the health and the life to continue. I fear we'd be in trouble if we had someone else.
God forgive you for your statement TITL, its not nice at all.
Zoxsasi, please don't misunderstand me. I don't want another Pope after HH. I am also afraid of what may happen to our church without him. We have to consider reality. 1000 years of enthronement, even 100 years as ilovesaintmark suggested, is not only impossible for any human being, but also not fair. I'm sure you agree with me when I say we don't want to see him hurt. It hurts us to see him hurt. It hurts him to see us hurt. We are always hurt.
We will most definitely not rejoice when he is gone, but heavens will. Sooner or later we will all be reunited there, by the grace and mercy of God. May the Lord bless Baba Shenouda, preserve his years and keep all enemies under his feet.
Right now, His Holiness can walk, talk, pray, and most importantly, he can serve his Church.
He's only in his 80's.. right? When he reaches 123123123123123 years old, we'll talk about it.
But whilst God has blessed him with the health he has to serve his church, let's leave it at that.
but i know what TITL means, i sort of cringe at that bit in the liturgy, coz i do accept that occasionally (and even more frequently after the age of 90!) people pass on and go to heaven, and i wouldn't literally ask for God to keep anyone alive till they're over 100 years old. but i think God realises we're egyptian and He knows what we mean!
although we know and believe that 'to live is Christ and to die is gain' (philippians 1:21), it's still a bit taboo to talk about death so openly. actually it's a bit taboo in american and european cultures too, but those cultures don't have a habit of wishing everyone has a really long life.
so I wish that our dear pope has really beautiful years, however many they may be, and he lives to see many people bodly proclaiming the Christian faith, whatever the price for this may be.
As for the stars, it's best we don't discuss that anymore before Maged locks up every single thread on tasbeha... but we can still call you "Nigm" :)
Maged, do they have any meaning?
This is a lovely and deeply touching word you wrote for HH Pope Sheouda III.
Allow me to join with all of you on this occasion to congratulate HH and to pray asking God for his well being and for the protection of the COC.
GBU
اذكرنا فى صلاتك
ربنا يديم كهنوتك و رئاستكم للكنيسة الى مجئ المسيح على السحاب
اذكرنا فى صلاتك
Hi,
Are you in Canada?
I am not sure what the stars mean.
Maged, do they have any meaning?
number of posts done......i remember setting it with mikesl..... i didn't expect that i'll have more than 300 posts. but i guess that star systems need to be reestablished to match current user's nubmer of posts.
Please remember that this topic is for the Pope - not stars... please keep on topic...
On Topic:
May God grant baba more years to come, and to help him in these hard times. Amen.