Baptism on the Sunday of the Catechumens
Baptism on the Sunday of the Catechumens
12- Baptism on the Sunday of the Catechumens
Q: What is your opinion on baptism on the Sunday of the Catechumens, while Christ was baptized on the Feast of Theophany? …
A: Baptism should take place after a certain period from the birth of the child: for a boy after 40 days, and for a girl after 80 days. It is not right to delay a child’s baptism beyond this period, lest we be judged because of it if the child dies without baptism. On the contrary, if the child is in danger of death, he may exceptionally be baptized before the appointed time. By delaying baptism until special occasions or feasts, we deprive the child during that delay from enjoying the church sacraments that he could have received if he had been baptized.
As for the Sunday of the Catechumens, it had another function in the history of the Church. It was when catechumens—those who came to the faith as adults—were baptized. The Church held lessons for them during the Great Lent to establish them in the faith. Those who were deemed worthy of becoming members of the Church would proceed to baptism on the Sunday of the Catechumens and rejoice with the believers on the Feast of the Resurrection.
13- Marriage with Evil Spirits
Q: What is your opinion of those who are said to fraternize with lower spirits, marry them, and beget children? …
A: The process of marriage and procreation is a physical one that does not correspond to spirits. Evil spirits do not have bodies; therefore, among them there is no male or female, neither anatomically nor in terms of bodily functions. Demons are fallen angels, and by their nature they neither marry nor are given in marriage. Thus, what is said regarding this matter—marriage with demons—is pure myth.
14- Monasticism for the Married
Q: When I was young, I intended to become a monk, but then I married. Now I regret it and want to return to the monastery. What do you advise?
A: Scripture says: “…the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent…” (1 Cor 7:4–5).
So, my brother, you no longer own your body to take it to the monastery. A married man who becomes a monk must have his wife’s consent—and it must be sincere, without coercion—lest she be driven into sin and her blood be required of the man; meaning that she also must be able to live without a husband. Besides the sexual matters, there are also financial and living responsibilities.
Therefore, you should not regret. Live in your reality and try to be perfect in the state you are in. Remember that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were married, and they were men of prayer, contemplation, and a complete life. Likewise, many prophets such as Moses, Samuel, and Isaiah. And Church history tells us that God sent St. Macarius the Great to two married women in Alexandria, saying of them that they had reached his same spiritual level.
15- The Death of Christ: Is It Weakness?
Q: How can Christ be God and die? How does God die? Is this not weakness?
A: The divine nature by itself does not die. But Christ is not divine nature alone; He took humanity like ours, taking a body united with a human soul. When He died on the cross, He died in the body—meaning His human soul separated from His body—without His divinity being affected in any way by this death, for the divine nature does not die. His divinity did not separate from His humanity; His soul separated from His body, yet His divinity never separated from either His soul or His body, as the Syriac Fraction says.
Even in this bodily death, Christ was powerful. When He gave up His spirit, Scripture says He cried out with a loud voice (Matt 27:50). This loud voice shows His strength, for physically He was in extreme weakness and exhaustion after five trials, walking a long distance, beatings, scourging, insults, carrying the cross, and being nailed to the wood. His cry with a loud voice after all this indicates His strength, not His weakness.
Christ approached this death by His own choice; He offered Himself. How great is His saying that reveals His power in this death: “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:17–18).
Christ’s death was an element of power—the power of love. It was proof of sacrifice and offering. As He said: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Among the greatest signs of Christ’s power in His death is that when He gave up His spirit, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth quaked, the rocks split, the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints arose—so that the centurion who guarded Him feared because of these miracles, he and his soldiers, and said: “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matt 27:54).
Another sign of His power in death is that while dead in the body, His soul descended into Hades and released the souls that were resting in hope, awaiting Christ’s salvation. He opened the gate of Paradise and returned Adam and his children to Paradise.
And among the signs of His power in death is that by death He trampled death, and death has now become merely a golden bridge through which people pass to a higher and better life.
The risen Christ is proof of the power that conquered death.
16- Should I Fulfill the Oath or Not?
Q: I was angry and insisted on a certain opinion and demanded its execution. I swore in the name of the Lord that if it was not carried out, I would leave the house immediately. What should I do if that matter is not carried out? Should I fulfill my oath?
A: It is absolutely improper, my brother, to determine your destiny in a moment of anger. In anger, a person’s thinking is not balanced; he acts under the pressure of nerves and emotions and may decide dangerous matters for himself, so he should not bind himself to them. Therefore, make your decisions when you are calm. Before making any decisive decision in your life, ask for God’s guidance in prayer, consult your father of confession, and present the matter to your spiritual friends.
It is a mistake to become angry and enraged. Another mistake is to make decisions in your anger. A third mistake is to swear in the name of the Lord. A fourth mistake is to leave the house in a state of agitation. A fifth mistake is to force people to carry out something under the pressure of your threat to leave the house. A sixth mistake is that you did not think of the next step—what will become of you when you leave the house… And since you have begun seeking counsel:
Your retracting a wrong decision is a virtue. Not carrying out a wrong oath is a good act because it prevents the soul from progressing further in error. King Herod swore to give that dancer whatever she wanted, and she asked for the head of John the Baptist. Was it manly of Herod to fulfill his oath and behead John? Certainly not; it would have been better to retract his oath because it was wrong.
Ask the Lord to forgive you for this oath. Do not fulfill it, and think calmly. Let the Lord be your guide in what you should do.
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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine, Second Year, Issues 8–9, October and November 1966
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