What connection is there between the Church calendar and the Bridegroom who is the joy of every heart?

The heart of a parent longs to participate in some way in the preparations for the celebration of the marriage of their son or daughter, and the formation of a new, happy, and elated family. When people get married, they prepare for this day and expect their family and friends to share their joy in establishing this new family.

When the Lord of Glory wanted to evoke in his believers a sense of sincere joy, He likened the kingdom of heaven to five wise virgins (Matt. 25:1–13) waiting for the coming of the Bridegroom, the Sun of Righteousness, to take them with Him on the clouds into eternal glory. Our Christ sent His Holy Spirit to the Church to adorn every soul and renew it and adorn it with the spirit of joy in preparation for the eternal wedding. The Coptic Church calendar takes advantage of every possible opportunity to spread this spirit of joy in the lives of the faithful. Here are some examples:

• a. When we commemorate saints and martyrs , we usually read out the passage of the wise virgins who carry lighted lamps and enter with the Sun of Righteousness into eternal heavenly joy. All the hosts of heaven exult in the holy bride. They serenade the children of the Most High like morning stars when the Lord’s created the earth and all its blessings for the sake of humanity (Job 38:7) and prepared for Adam and Eve the Garden of Eden as a royal matrimonial home. How much more will the hosts of heaven rejoice when they see that the people of dust have become their colleagues in the choir of heaven, praising God and glorifying Him?

• b. When we commemorate the martyrs , the Church urges her children through the readings of the divine liturgy not to be afraid of those who kill the body (Matt. 10:28). The martyrdoms of the faithful who have gone before us are an invitation to us all to live in the spirit of strength, hope, and joy.

• c. Whenever a Coptic month contains five Sundays , the gospel of the feeding of the multitudes (John 6:5–14 or Luke 9:12–27) is read on the fifth Sunday (except during Great Lent and the Holy Fifty Days after Resurrection). The fifth Sunday is called the Sunday of Blessing. Just as the Lord of Glory blessed bread and fish and fed the multitude, the Sunday of Blessing reminds us that we shall one day enter into eternal glory in an atmosphere of joy, fulfillment, and beatification.

• d. When we commemorate the departures of patriarchs and bishops , we usually read out the gospel of the Good Shepherd (John 10:1–16, which is read on thirty-eight occasions through the year). At the enthronement of the late Pope Shenouda III , he read out this gospel, but after reading the words, “I am the good shepherd. The good

shepherd gives His life for the sheep,” he inserted the words, “says the Lord of glory, Jesus.” He added this phrase to emphasize that the real speaker of these words is not the human patriarch but the Lord Christ Himself, who is the true joy of hearts, the Shepherd of souls, and the Savior of the world.

It should not surprise us that this passage is read on the commemoration days of the leaders of the Church, for it is a reminder that the true leader of the Church is the Lord of Glory, Jesus. By the same token, every leader — whether bishop, priest, deacon, Church servant, father or mother — must be constantly aware and trust that the care of souls belongs to the Savior who alone is capable of pouring His joy into them and granting them His divine righteousness, if they respond to Him by the work of His Holy Spirit and enter into fellowship with Him.

There is a second gospel passage that is sometimes read out instead in the divine liturgy when we commemorate a patriarch: Matt. 16:13–19, which is read on sixteen occasions through the year. In it, the apostle St. Peter testifies to the Lord Christ: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), to which He responds by declaring that on this faith, given to Peter by the Father in heaven, the Lord builds His Church, and not any human being (Matt. 16:17), and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). The Church, the exultant bride who bears the image of her Bridegroom, the joy of hearts, assures everyone that no one can enjoy inner heavenly joy or spread it into the lives of his brothers, sisters, or children, except by the work of the Holy Spirit who is sent by the Lord to dwell in His Church.

• e. The Church propagates the spirit of joy in us also on the scale of days and weeks. For example, at the dawn of each day, the Morning Prayers occupy us with the resurrection of the Lord of Glory, Jesus, so that we may receive from Him each new day as one in which we live the life of resurrection from death. And at midnight, we remember that the Bridegroom is coming again to take us away to eternal glories.

And on the scale of weeks, every Sunday we remember the resurrection of Christ, knowing that His resurrection is the promise of our own resurrection, which we begin to experience here in this world but will enjoy more abundantly on the day we meet Him who arose from the dead face to face.

• f. If we consider the stories of the saints throughout history, we notice that the universal theme that runs through all of them is joy, through which God spreads His arms always open to embrace everyone who returns to Him. In the parable of the prodigal son who returned to his father, the father raced towards him and hugged him and held a feast for him to share the joy with his whole household, even the workers and servants (Luke 15:22–33). And when the woman found the silver coin she had lost, she invited her neighbors to come and share in her joy at finding that which she had lost (Luke 15: 8–10).

In summary, then, the purpose of the Church calendar is for the Church to fulfil her mission to become an icon of her heavenly Bridegroom. As such, it behooves us on every occasion — whether daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly — to never desist from prayer, through which the Holy Trinity works in us and in every soul; not only that we may rejoice, but that the hearts of others also may be filled with joy.

The names of the Archangels invite us to become an icon of our Savior who gives to the heart. The Archangel Michael (which means ‘who is like God?’) invites us to imitate God, to be illuminated, and to reflect heavenly light and joy upon those around us. The Archangel Gabriel (‘God is mighty’) invites us to imitate the Almighty, that we may never taste impossibility so long as we are in communion with Him. The Archangel Raphael (‘God’s tender mercies’), the elater of hearts, invites us to delight in the tender mercies of God and disseminate the spirit of joy in every heart. And the Archangel Suriel (‘trumpet of God’) invites us to carry the divine trumpet and invite our brothers and sisters to celebrate the heavenly Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus in a perpetual feast of joyous souls.

Book 5

The Believer and the

Heavenly Hosts

1. The Creation of the Spiritual World

2. Our Companionship with the Heavenly Hosts

3. The Order of the Heavenly Hosts

4. The Devil Has No Power Over Us