What are the most important practical principles of catechism?

First: it is appropriate for us to present whatever we are able—together with our evangelist, St. Mark the Apostle—of the Lord of Glory, who is the heavenly Physician ; Savior of souls; healer of the soul, intellect, emotions, senses, and every activity of the body.

I am reminded of someone who made every effort for a long time to attract a friend to the Gospel of Christ. The friend finally agreed to go to church to listen to a famous preacher. That evening, the church’s priest called him to ask about the sermon he had attended. His response was: “I could barely tolerate listening to him for ten minutes and I left because I was internally resenting the world and its hardships. This preacher incessantly attacked me,

23 I hope, if God wills, to present the approach of St. Clement of Alexandria—one of the pillars of the School of Alexandria—in The Life in Christ Jesus .

and I could not bear to hear his voice any longer!” We should instead present our Christ to wounded souls in a way that allows them to be touched by His love.

Second: The Gospel should be manifested through our behavior, worship, and dialogue with others as an “exhilarating message of good news for the soul.” We present it in the manner of the School of Alexandria, through spiritual interpretation of the Holy Bible, as an invitation to encounter God, the One who fills the heart with joy; without setting aside the historical or moral interpretation of scripture; nor excessively employing this approach to scriptural interpretation.

I remember a man who worked with a British atheist for two weeks in Egypt. As the Briton prepared to return to his country, he said to the man, “this is the first time I have met a religious person who speaks to me with love and does not scorn me because I am an atheist. I felt comfortable with many of your words, even though I cannot not agree with everything you said. I have decided in my heart to reconsider my life and my principles. I will never forget your words.” Through this relationship, this British atheist tasted the gospel of Love in his heart.

This approach is also found in the words of St. Isaac the Syrian, who affirms that defending the truth without love transforms truth into violence and hatred. So also, if love does not yearn for everyone to walk in truth, it is rendered impotent.

Third : The Ecumenical Councils gave us practical pattern for dialogue, whether between believers, or with heretics. Two of the greatest leaders who conducted such dialogues were SS. Athanasius the Apostolic and Cyril the Great . St. Athanasius held that where there is unity of thought, we must not allow disagreements over terminology to divide us from each other. And St. Cyril, in defending the one nature of God the Logos incarnate, which Nestorius sought to divide, wrote to him affirming his love for him even though he could not accept his errors. Both saints strove with all their strength to preserve the unity of the universal Church, in a spirit of sincere love and sound faith .²⁴

Fourth : We preach the Gospel of Christ and not any particular culture . When the Church preached the gospel in Ethiopia in the fourth century, it respected and preserved the local Ethiopian culture. Coptic writings were translated into Amharic. The Ethiopians had musical instruments, tunes, and icons that express the richness of their culture. They developed their own liturgies. Those who ministered to the Word in Ethiopia were committed to preserving Ethiopian culture. It was not the role of the Coptic Church to replace Ethiopian culture with Coptic culture. Rather, every believer ought to value the work of the Holy trinity and to express in his own culture.²⁵

24 Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, The Coptic Orthodox Church as a Church of Erudition & Theology (Sporting,

Alexandria: St. George’s Coptic Orthodox Church, 1986).

25 See the final chapter of Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, Tradition and Orthodoxy (Sporting, Alexandria: St. George Coptic Orthodox Church, 1979).

Fifth : in order to effectively witness to his gospel, the Christian needs to exhibit the value of the Gospel in his own daily life , through divine grace. We may cite, for example, the words of the historian Yacoub Nakhla Rufayla: “among those who rose to fame from among the Copts during the Ayyubid dynasty were personalities possessed of education and learning (knowledge). They assumed high positions, earned titles of honor and distinction, and had their names recorded in both the Coptic and Muslim histories. [Here he lists the names of more than twenty personalities, together with their many talents, writings, and positions, whether in society or in the Church]. And there are many more such clergymen and laypeople whose names this limited space will not allow us to mention. All these various works, authored by the scholars and dignitaries of the Coptic community, those who lived before them and those who emerged after them; have survived in their own handwriting …

“The Fatimid Caliphates and Ayyubid Kings deserve to be commended for granting the Copts the freedom to defend their religion. As a result, they produced a substantial and extensive literature in which they proved the correctness of their beliefs and religion with conclusive arguments.”

The historian concludes his exposition thus: “The Copts could have improved their situation further and progressed further in science and knowledge if their elders and scholars, (especially those living in the capital), were not preoccupied most of the time with internal rivalries and quarrels. They cared more for their personal ambitions than they did for the common good.”²⁶

26 Ya’qub Nakhla Rufayla, Tarikh al-Umma al-Qibṭiyya (The History of the Coptic Nation) (1898, Arabic). The original Arabic quote is taken from the second Arabic edition, 2000: pp. 183–189.