Instead of cursing the darkness… light a candle
Instead of cursing the darkness… light a candle¹
Perhaps some may ask: What is the policy of this magazine?
We shall proceed in a way that glorifies His name, as described to us in the Book of Genesis (1:2–4): “And darkness was upon the face of the deep.” So what did God do? “His Spirit hovered over the face of the waters.” And God did not say, “Let there not be darkness,” but rather He said, “Let there be light.” “And there was light, and God saw the light, that it was good.”
Thus we—by the grace of the Lord and the working of His Holy Spirit—shall place this maxim before us: “Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.” We will light candles in every place, in every occasion, and in every problem. We will continually repeat the Lord’s phrase: “Let there be light.”
It is a wise policy, declared to us by the Lord in the “Parable of the Tares” (Matthew 13). His servants said to Him, “Do you want us to go and gather them up?” He said, “No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.” The tares, then, will remain until the day of harvest. It is not our work to uproot them—thus the Lord told us—but our work is to grow as wheat. So that when the great Harvester comes, He may find our stalks filled with grain, from which He gathers thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold, and His granaries be filled with wheat.
If you, our dear brother, have grown weary of uprooting the tares—and they still trouble you in the land—and if you have lost your spiritual life in trying to remove the tares, yet you did not remove them, nor gained your own soul, but rather found your own wheat uprooted with them… If you are like this, then come, beloved, join us, and let us sow the wheat together.
Come, let us cast the seeds everywhere, that perhaps some may fall on good ground and bear fruit. Let us plant and water, and let us allow God to make our seedlings grow, raising them according to His grace, and let the face of the earth rejoice as He waters its furrows and multiplies its fruits… We believe in positive, constructive work, and we desire to dedicate all our efforts to it.
We also believe that “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Therefore our means is to take hold of God, bring Him into the work, and let Him take the helm of the ship, guiding it as He wills to wherever He wills. As for us, may we be good and obedient instruments in His blessed hands, that He may work in us and through us according to the abundance of the wisdom of His will.
We also say: Our positive work does not in any way prevent us from defending the truth and making it known… Therefore we will speak the truth and bear witness to it with strength. But we will also speak it with courtesy, with humility, and with wisdom. For if we do not act thus, the truth will not be pleased with us. And in speaking the truth we will not flatter anyone, nor show favoritism to anyone. Flattery and favoritism have destroyed many, and they are not attributes of the saints.
And when we work—and work for the Lord alone—we will place before us the lives of our holy fathers, their fragrant biographies, and their sacred sayings. We do not believe in innovation in the faith, but we will walk in the established foundations laid for us by the early fathers under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Whatever contradicts their teachings we shall reject, and call the people to reject it, keeping before us the saying of the Apostle Paul: “Even if we or an angel preach to you any gospel other than what we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8).
We place our hands in yours, dear reader. Write to us whatever comes to your mind, contact us, and let us all understand one another for the sake of the Lord and His Church… Pray for us often, that the Lord may share with us in every word we write, and let us begin a good beginning, by His grace.
¹An article by His Grace Bishop Shenouda, Bishop of Education – Al-Keraza Magazine, First Year – First Issue – January 1965
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