Youth and the Church
Youth and the Church
Thus we said in every place we visited, and we still say:
Youth is the future of the Church. And a Church without youth is a Church without a future.
And the Lord Christ cared for the youth: for John, His beloved disciple, was one of the young men among the twelve Apostles. And Mark the young man was one of the seventy whom He chose (Luke 10).
Saint Athanasius the Apostolic, the greatest of the Popes of Alexandria among the successors of St. Mark, sat on the Patriarchal Throne while he was a young man, about thirty years old. And his brilliance appeared even before that in the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, while he was a young man. And his book On the Incarnation of the Word, which is one of the greatest theological books, Athanasius authored and published while he was young…
And the history of the Church presents to us a very sublime group of young saints:
Saint George, Saint Menas the Wonder-Worker, Saint Theodore the Prince… and the like, were young martyrs.
And Saint Theodore, who founded monasteries during the life of his spiritual father Saint Pachomius and led a generation of monks, was a young man.
And Saint John the Short, of whom it was said that Scetis was hanging by his finger, was also a young man.
And Maximus and Domadius, the two monastic princes, were two young Roman men. And the great Baramus Monastery is named after them.
And Anba Misael the Anchorite became an anchorite while he was young. Indeed Anba Paul, the first of the anchorites, began his life of seclusion while he was young.
And likewise Saint Anba Antony, the father of monasticism and monks, began his monastic life while he was young.
And Archdeacon Habib Girgis, the founder of Sunday Schools in our generation, began his service as a teacher in the seminary while he was young.
History then—its ancient and its modern—is filled with countless examples of brilliant young people.
And time would fail us to mention them all…
The Church today greatly cares for youth, and for the first time in its history has established a Bishopric for Youth.
- This is seen in all the activities of the Bishopric of Youth, in terms of scouting, music, Bible study, lectures, seminars, Coptic language study, hymns, drama groups, types of competitions, and everything that includes developing the talents of youth.
- And giving opportunities to show these talents and caring for them.
- Caring for the preparation of servants for Church education and for youth classes in the churches.
- Caring for university families, where there is a group for every faculty of our universities whose youth receive lessons in the nearest church to them.
- Likewise, retreat houses for youth have been established in all our Coptic monasteries, where young people spend a spiritual period under spiritual guidance.
- With the presence of a youth meeting every Thursday evening in every church, and conferences held in churches for serving youth.
- Opening an evening department in the seminary for young men and women to educate them religiously.
- The presence of youth magazines in all churches.
- Opening our hearts to the youth in both Egypt and the diaspora, learning about their problems and cooperating with them to solve them.
- Added to all this is what the Sacrament of Confession and the fathers of confession offer in terms of care.
- And we are still exerting effort to complete our mission toward youth by the grace of God.
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