The Twenty-Fifth Day of the Blessed Month of Baramhat
Baramhat 25
Departure of St.Onesiphorous (Friska),
One of the Seventy Apostles
On this day the great St. Friska or Onesiphorus,
one of the seventy apostles departed. This apostle was an Israelite of
the tribe of Benjamin. His parents kept the Law of Moses and were of those
who followed the Savior, listened to His teachings, and witnessed His wonders
and miracles. When Our Lord raised the son of the widow of the city of
Nain, this saint was present. He went without delay to the Lord Christ
at once forsaking the light of the lamp of the Jewish Law, to be enlightened
by the Sun of righteousness. He believed on Him heartily, was baptized,
became one of the seventy apostles, and was present with the disciples
in the upper room of Zion at the time of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
He preached the Gospel in many countries. He was ordained bishop for Khoranias,
where he preached it's people and enlightened them with his teachings and
sermons then baptized them. And having finished his holy strife he departed
in peace. He received the crown of heavenly glory and he was seventy years
old, twenty nine years of it as Jewish and forty one years as Christian.
St. Paul mentioned him in his Second Epistle to Timothy
(2 Tim. 4:19).
May His prayers be with us. Amen.
Departure of Pope Mattheos, the One Hundredth
Pope of Alexandria
On this day also of the
year 1362 A.M. (March 31st. 1646 A.D.) on Lazarus' Saturday Pope Mattheos
III, the one hundredth Patriarch departed. He was known by the name Matthew
El-Toukhy, a son of Christian parents from the city of Toukh El-Nasarah,
El-Monofiah province. They feared God, caring for the strangers and charitable
to the poor and the needy. God granted them a son, they called him Tadros,
and they raised him well. They disciplined him with every spiritual discipline,
and taught him the holy church books. The grace of God filled this blessed
son, so he devoted himself to study and teach Christian education. The
grace of God moved him to the angelic and ascetic life, so he went forth
from his town, left his family and kinfolks and followed the commandments
of the Lord Christ and went to the wilderness of Sheahat. He became a monk
in the monastery of the great St. Macarius, and he fought a great fight
in asceticism and worship. They ordained him a priest so he increased in
asceticism and grew in virtues then they promoted him archpriest and head
for the monastery.
Shortly after, Pope Yoannis
XV, the ninety-ninth Patriarch departed, the fathers the bishops, the priests
and the notables gathered to choose who would fit to be elevated to the
Chair of St. Mark. They continued on praying asking the Lord Christ, to
Him is the glory, to chose for them a good shepherd to guard His flock
from the ravenous wolves. With the Will of the Lord Christ, the Shepherd
of the shepherds, everyone agreed on choosing father Tadros the hegumen
of St.Macarius monastery. They went to the monastery and forcibly seized
him and enthroned him a Patriarch by the name Mattheos on the 4th. of El-Nasi
(The intercalary days) year 1347 A.M. (September 7th. 1631 A.D.) and Anba
Yoanis, the metropolitan of the Syrian monastery, headed the enthronement
service. When this Pope sat on the Apostolic Chair, he cared for Christ's
flock with the best of care, and at the beginning of his days, there was
peace and tranquility for the believers. The churches rested from the tribulations
that they were under. Satan the enemy of the good envied him, he moved
some evil doers against the Pope, so they went to the Governor in Cairo
and told him that whomever sat on the Patriarchal Chair paid much money
to the Governor. The Governor listened to their accusations and called
the Patriarch to collect the dues. The notables went to meet the Governor
who did not ask about the absence of the Patriarch but rather discussed
the dues that the Patriarch pay. He forced them to bring four thousands
Dinars. They left him with sadness and grief because of the heavy fine.
But God, to Him is the glory,
who does not wish anyone to parish had put mercy in the heart of a Jewish
man who paid the required fine to the Governor. The notables promised that
man to pay him back, they divided the fine among them and allocated a small
portion of this heavy fine for the Pope to pay. He went to Upper Egypt
to collect the sum of money required from him, and because of his faith
and his strong belief in God's help, the people with compassionate heart
and willingly gave him what he asked them. Shortly after, he came to Lower
Egypt to visit his flock, he went to the city of Berma, and the people
of the city of Toukh his home town came to him and invited him to come
to visit the city so they be blessed by him, and he fulfilled their request.
During the days of this Patriarch a great famine befell all the land of
Egypt, nothing like it happened before, the people suffered much and many
died. King of Ethiopia sent to the Patriarch asking for a Metropolitan.
Pope Mattheos ordained for them a Metropolitan from the people of the city
of Assiut and sent him to them. Much tribulations and sorrows befell this
Metropolitan while he was there, until they removed him and ordained another
one instead of him. After the Pope had finished his pastoral visit to the
people of Lower Egypt and his acceptance to the invitation of the people
of Toukh to visit their city, he left Berma with them on their way to Toukh
El-Nasarah. When he drew near from the city, the priests and the Christian
mass received him with reverence, veneration, and spiritual hymns to befit
his honor. He entered the church with honor and glory and stayed with them
one year preaching and teaching the people. On the blessed Saturday, the
commemoration of the day in which the Lord raised Lazarus from the dead,
he met the priests and the people after the liturgy, ate with them, and
he bade them farewell saying, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that
his tomb will be in the church of this city and that he will not depart
Toukh. He dismissed the people and went to rest in the house of one of
the deacons. When the deacon returned home, he knocked on the door of the
Pope's room, when he did not get any answer he entered the room and found
the Patriarch laying on his bed, looking toward the east, his hand over
his chest as the Holy Cross and his spirit had departed in the Hands of
the Lord. The priests and the people came in haste and found him departed
and his look did not change, but his face was shining as the sun. They
took his blessed body to the church, and prayed over him as worthy of the
fathers the Patriarchs, and buried him in the church in the city of Toukh
his home town. He stayed on the Apostolic Chair for fourteen years, six
month and 23 days did not eat meat or drink wine in it, and departed in
a good old age.
May His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.