Contemporary Righteous Ones
Contemporary Righteous Ones¹
The stories of holiness were not limited to a specific era, and our Synaxarium needs completion… and in every issue we will meet with you on this page, God willing, to recount a story or stories from the lives of contemporary righteous ones.
The Al-Aawar Family:
Archpriest Mina al-Samoeily, head of the Monastery of Anba Samuel, used to collect revenues for the monastery from the Maghagha region. Among the donors was the Al-Aawar family, a Muslim family. He told us their story and said: Anba Isaac, Bishop of Fayoum, was a righteous man. One day he passed through that town, and the sun set upon him, and he did not find a place to spend the night. So he thought to visit the town’s money-changer, who was a Christian. When he went to his house and called upon him, the money-changer’s wife denied him. A woman in the house opposite heard the bishop’s voice and said to him, “Please come in, Sayidna, to our home,” and that family honored him greatly.
In the morning, before he left the house, he thanked her and said, “Do you have any request you wish to ask?” She said that she was deprived of offspring and wanted a son. He promised her that she would bear a son and name him al-Aawar. Indeed, the Lord gave her a son whom she named “Hassan.” After some time, he lost the sight of one of his eyes, and the Al-Aawar family continues to this day to pay revenues to the monastery.
¹Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – First Year – Issues Two and Three, January and February 1965.
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