Given to Hospitality
Given to Hospitality
“Given to hospitality” (Romans 12:13).
Hospitality toward strangers is one of the important virtues recommended by Holy Scripture—not only in Christianity, as this verse says (Romans 12:13), and as the Apostle also says to the Hebrews: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels” (Hebrews 13:2).
Rather, it is also a repeated commandment in the Old Testament. The Lord commanded concerning strangers and said to the people: “For you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 23:9). And He said concerning the stranger: “You shall love him as yourself” (Leviticus 19:34). The Lord also commanded this in the laws concerning giving, where the phrase “for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow” is repeated (Deuteronomy 24:19–21; Deuteronomy 14:29; Leviticus 19:10).
In truth, my brethren, we are all strangers and guests before God. God has received us into His house and into His land, and He will also receive us into His Kingdom in the age to come.
On one occasion, the Lord Jesus hosted “five thousand men, besides women and children” (Matthew 14:21), that is, about twelve thousand, and fed them. On another occasion, He hosted four thousand and fed them as well, and did not send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way (Mark 8:3, 9). Truly, it is wondrous generosity. Who is it that hosts thousands of people in this way? But it was a lesson given by the Lord Jesus to His disciples—and to us as well. Some may agree to host one person or a few people, but not crowds and thousands as the Lord did.
Saint Anba Shenouda the Archimandrite also used to host thousands in his monastery in Sohag after they heard his sermons.
This is also what the Church does in agape feasts and in the distribution of the blessed bread. The Church hosts the people, or many of them, to eat together in agape feasts—“agape” being a Coptic word meaning love, and it is also used in Greek. The agape feasts that the Church held were among its customs in the month of Kiahk, when believers would stay up all night in praise from Saturday evening, partake of the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning, and then the Church would host them at an agape table where they would eat together. Some lay leaders would divide among themselves the feasts of the four or five weeks, each taking responsibility for one agape feast, rejoicing in this and making it a habit, as used to happen in many villages and towns.
Likewise, the blessed bread distributed after the Liturgy was a form of hospitality, not as it is sold by the bread-seller now in some churches as though it were a kind of trade. Formerly, all the people came to church fasting, and the Church did not send them away hungry after the Liturgy, but gave them this blessed bread to eat. Some believers would donate the flour for it as an offering to God by hosting the worshippers, and they would also present fine flour from which the Lamb and the prosphora were baked. There was a door in the church for presenting this flour and other items such as oil and incense, and the Church commemorated those who offered these things in the Prayer of the Oblations.
Every church in the early Christian centuries had a building—a guesthouse—next to the church to host strangers. During one of my visits to churches of the diaspora, I advised the fathers in the clergy seminar that such guesthouses should exist to host newcomers until they find housing, rather than being a burden on the priest’s home.
The first miracle performed by the Lord Jesus at Cana of Galilee was an act of hospitality, when He blessed the wedding at Cana and provided what they needed of drink by miraculously turning water into wine. This miracle is distinguished in hospitality by two things: first, that He hosted them in their own house; and second, that He did so in secret and with self-denial, so that the guests thought it was provided by the bridegroom, as the master of the feast said (John 2:9–10).
Among the famous examples of hospitality is what Abraham the father of fathers offered to his three guests. We see his great generosity in entertaining strangers, as he said to his wife Sarah: “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” Then Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, and gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them (Genesis 18:6–8). This was certainly much for three persons—a calf and three measures of flour—but Abraham, in his joy over the guests, offered this large amount so that his shepherds and servants might also eat, as though he had hosted them as well. Perhaps two of those guests are the ones referred to by Saint Paul in Hebrews 13:2.
In ancient times, they used to wash the feet of the guest upon entering the house. This is what Abraham did with his guests (Genesis 18:4). When Simon the Pharisee failed in this duty toward the Lord Jesus, He reproached him, saying: “You did not give Me water for My feet” (Luke 7:44). Saint Paul also said about the widow who serves the Church that one of her qualifications is that she has “lodged strangers, washed the saints’ feet” (1 Timothy 5:10). This was done because the stranger or guest would walk long distances before arriving, due to the weakness of transportation in the past, so warm water was offered to wash his feet so that he might rest and be refreshed. This was also done in monasteries when hosting strangers. Today this custom has ceased because its reasons have ceased, as guests now arrive comfortably by vehicles to the monastery gate.
Hospitality toward strangers was the virtue practiced by Rahab. Though she was a harlot, she honored the two men whom Joshua the son of Nun sent, hid them until the danger passed, and sent them away in peace. Therefore, she was granted safety at the fall of Jericho, her name was mentioned in Scripture, she and all her household were saved, and she even entered the holy lineage and the genealogy (Matthew 1:5).
God, in His hospitality toward us, showed the generosity of His hospitality. He said He would bring us into “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8, 17). When He created Adam, He placed him in a garden containing every kind of fruit, “every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Genesis 2:9). In eternity, He will show His generosity by giving us “what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Saint Anba Moses the Black was famous for hospitality toward strangers. He even broke his fast when guests came to him and cooked food for them. When he was reproached for this, he said that he had fulfilled the commandment of Scripture: “Do not forget to entertain strangers.” Thus the saints would break their fast when receiving guests—not by eating meat or cheese, but by breaking the abstinence of fasting.
Among those famous for the virtue of hospitality is Saint Eulogius the Stonecutter, whose story was told by the great Saint Anba Daniel. He worked all day cutting stones, and with his meager earnings, he would pass in the evening with his lamp through the village market, take in the strangers waiting there, shelter them, feed them, and give them rest of mind. He did this every day. His meeting with Saint Anba Daniel and his disciple took place one evening in the village market, where he hosted them and they learned his story. This was his great virtue. He asked Anba Daniel to pray for him that his income might increase so that he might increase in hosting strangers.
Among the women famous for hospitality is the widow of Zarephath of Sidon, who hosted Elijah the prophet during the time of famine and offered him all that she had: a handful of flour and a little oil with which she intended to make a cake for herself and her son so that they might eat it and then die. The Lord rewarded her generosity with a great blessing: “The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry” throughout the famine (1 Kings 17:16).
Likewise, the Shunammite woman prepared an upper room in her house to host Elisha the prophet whenever he passed by. The Lord granted her a reward for her hospitality: she bore a son, and when the child died, she received another blessing when Elisha raised him from the dead (2 Kings 4:8–37).
Among the notable women in the New Testament were many women who followed the Lord Jesus and served Him from their possessions (Luke 8:3).
Among the most famous for hospitality in the modern era was El-Moallem Ibrahim El-Gohary, who did not leave a needy house of God in his days without honoring it and spending on it from his wealth. His stories in this regard are too many to count, he and his brother El-Moallem Girgis El-Gohary. On one occasion, a stranger came to him eleven times in one day, and he gave him each time without complaining.
Among the most famous saints of the present era in hospitality is Saint Anba Abraam, the former Bishop of Fayoum and Giza. He was remarkable in his generosity, giving all that he had to any stranger who came to him. It even reached the point that the new furniture of the bishopric, which had been presented to him by wealthy members of the diocese, he gave to a poor family that needed it for the marriage of their daughter. He also gave black cloth that had been gifted to him to make a cloak, to a widow who needed it.
Somewhat similar in this generosity is Saint Anba Serapamon Abu Tarha, Bishop of Monufia, who, instead of strangers coming to him to host and honor them, would go himself disguised at night carrying gifts to the needy.
The examples of this virtue are very many, recorded by history.
Now, what can we do today in hospitality toward strangers? One successful endeavor of the Church in Cairo, Alexandria, and all places with universities has been the establishment of homes for expatriate male and female students, to shelter them under the Church’s material and spiritual care.
Likewise, many monasteries establish retreat houses to host strangers in a spiritual atmosphere, providing for all their needs during their stay.
If we do not have guesthouses in a certain city, at least we can host strangers in a hotel and pay for them during their stay. Thus the Good Samaritan did with a stranger he found wounded on the road: he cared for him, bound up his wounds, brought him to an inn, and took care of paying for him there (Luke 10:30–37).
Some churches in the diaspora have established guesthouses for strangers. At the very least, hospitality includes offering advice and guidance to strangers and directing them to those who can care for them among the well-to-do and those who have suitable places to host them.
Other associations can be established with the goal of hospitality so that housing may be provided for strangers. Care can also be given to newly appointed employees in a country belonging to a diocese, through a church committee concerned with caring for newcomers, whether employees or business owners.
If possible, some wealthy individuals may be commissioned to build inexpensive housing to be rented to such strangers at prices they can afford. Some of our churches in Canada have carried out such projects under the Church’s care.
There is another point, which is hospitality toward deceased strangers, by designating a cemetery for strangers in each diocese within the cemeteries allocated for Christians under its supervision. The Patriarchate has implemented this idea in Cairo for strangers who depart from this perishable world and have no place to be buried.
In the current circumstances of terrorism, and in the case of a stranger who is suspected, or whose identity is unknown or unreliable, and it is feared to host him in a church house lest he cause harm, the commandment of hospitality can be fulfilled by placing him in a hotel for the night and paying the cost of his stay. This is safer.
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