Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash
This afternoon, the GSFA Assembly toured two monasteries, St. Beshoy Monastery and St. Makar Monastery. Attendees were greeted by the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch and were given a warm welcome by the Orthodox monks and believers there who were happy to display their historical treasures to these visitors.
The wilderness of Egypt is hot, expansive, and extremely dry. To look at the land in the heat of midday is to be blinded with the sun that makes everything seem white and starker still. Without the oases of gardens, vineyards, and farms cultivated by Egyptians and fed by the waters of the Nile, the northern parts of Egypt would be as dry as the southern. But hope arises in the midst of this harsh desert reality every time a green tree, a flourishing vine, or a pool emerges. It flourishes also when a monastic building rises up out of the ground or is hewn from a rock—where spiritual life has been cultivated and grown for centuries in the lives of men and women dedicated to prayer, to the service of the poor, to hospitality, to hard work, and to the reading and contemplation of Scripture.
These monasteries, named after saints and martyrs gone before them, are reminders that it was in the wilderness of Egypt where many Christians staked their whole lives on the truth of the Gospel. If it wasn’t through direct martyrdom, it was through leaving the world behind and struggling against the flesh and the devil by seeking union with God and peace within themselves. In fact, on this very day, the Coptic Orthodox Church honors an Egyptian martyr named St. Abaskhiroun the Soldier whose story of faith and courage can also inspire us in the modern era.
St. Abaskhiroun was born in the 3rd century in the city of Qalin, Egypt under the reign of Emperor Diocletian. Though a Christian, he became a soldier of his local Roman governor and developed a good reputation among pagans and Christians alike. When the Emperor Diocletian began his persecutions through a series of edicts rescinding Christian legal rights and demanding compliance with traditional pagan practices (including mandatory sacrifices to the gods for every citizen), this soldier stood up among the others gathered together, denounced the Emperor, and cursed the idols. His compatriots immediately seized him and threw him in prison along with five other soldiers who stood with him and agreed to shed their blood for the Name of Christ. When the six came before the governor, he tortured them, crucified some, and beheaded the others.
As for St. Abaskhiroun, he was given the most extreme tortures, but through it the Lord comforted, strengthened, and healed him so that even some of his wounds were miraculously healed. The governor even brought in a sorcerer to give the saint a deadly poison so that he would die by pagan magic. But the saint took the poison, made the sign of the cross over it, and drank it without any harm. The sorcerer couldn’t believe what he saw and ended up believing in the God of the Christians, for which he, too, paid the ultimate price with his head. The governor became more enraged with the saint and continued his torture, but the soldier would not die and would not renounce Christ. Finally, he was beheaded and received his martyrdom.
It is possible, in the midst of the wilderness, to have explosive life fed by underground waters. It is also possible, in the midst of spiritual dryness, to have explosive life fed by the Holy Spirit and a strong confession of faith. Like St. Abakshiroun in Egypt, the GSFA has the chance to stand up among its fellow Anglicans around the world and denounce the leaders who are pushing them towards false teaching, bribing them with money, and seducing them with words. They can curse the false gods of sexuality and ego. They can proclaim the Name of Christ without compromise. Like the monastics of the desert, they can depart from Babylon to find union with Christ based on the firm foundation of scripture, prayer, and contemplation of the truth even if it means wandering the wilderness. It may cost them everything, but as St. Paul writes in the book of Hebrews, “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood as you struggle against sin” (Hebrews 12:4).
Whatever it may cost—the loss of reputation, money, prestige, honor, even blood—standing up against the sin and death invading the Church is worth that and more. Leaving it all behind and coming out of Babylon is the field worth selling in order to attain the pearl of great price. May the leaders of the GSFA flee from compromise and embrace a radical call to repentance and salvation, no matter the cost, for the sake of the Name of Jesus Christ.
