Pope Shenouda III
OBJECTIVE
The objective of the Saints module is to teach eighth graders about the rich tradition of writers in the Coptic Orthodox Church throughout its history. They will learn how the different writers not only passed down wisdom which we must apply in our own lives, but also how their writings contributed to and ultimately shaped the Christian faith as a whole. While Pope Shenouda III is not officially canonized in the Coptic Orthodox church, he is included in this module because he was a well-known church father, teacher, and a chief defender of the faith. This lesson will focus on excerpts of his writings and how they can be applied in the lives of eighth graders.
INTRODUCTION - 10 Minutes
Quickly go over the major events of Pope Shenouda's life
- Born Nazeer Gayed on August 3rd, 1923
- Active servant in High School
- Joined the Coptic Orthodox Seminary after graduating from Cairo University
- In 1954 he joined the Syrian Monastery and was named Fr. Antonious El-Syriani
- For six years he lived as a hermit
- In 1971, he was chosen to be the 117th Pope of Alexandria, following Pope Cyril VI
- He wrote 101 books
- Major Accomplishments as Pope:
- Spread of the Coptic Church around the world
- Growth of the Church in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa and others
- Emphasized Christian Unity by visiting the other Orthodox Churches
- His Holiness passed away on March 17th, 2012
Pope Shenouda wrote several books. Below we will get a glimpse of three of his writings.
Discussion questions are embedded in the next section after each excerpt. Excerpts are also copied in the attached Activities sheet, so they can be printed and distributed to students to read along.
CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 25 Minutes
Excerpt from "The Release of the Spirit"
One night when Pope Shenouda was alone he described, "I fell asleep, or my thoughts strayed and turned into dreams, or God showed me a revelation." He was taken up to heaven and stood in front of a closed gate for "ministers" which he desired to enter. The angel guarding the door denied him entry. See their dialogue below:
He said, 'Those whom you see in the city of the ministers devoted all their lives to God.. They spent every moment of their time in the ministry. Do you not agree with me that the lives of St. Paul and other apostles, the lives of the bishops, priests and deacons and the lives of the saints? As for you my friend, you were not devoted to the ministry but you served the world.. All your spiritual ministry was just one hour every week in the Sunday Schools.. And sometimes your service in other fields made you give God another hour.. For those two hours then you want to be with the apostles, the prophets and the priests in the city of the ministers?'
During all this talk I was bowing my head in shame but I tried to overcome my bashfulness and dared to ask the angel, But I see in the city some of my colleagues the teachers of the Sunday Schools who did the same service like me' -
Here, the angel replied, 'No, they are not like you.. Though they served one hour or more in the Sunday Schools, they spent the whole week getting ready for that hour.. They spent much time preparing the lessons, the illustrative media, and the means which would make the persons ministered to desire to hear the lesson, and above all praying for all this.. They also gave much care to examine the state of each pupil separately and to think of a way to reform him.. Add to this their involvement in visiting those persons, and inventing useful means to fill the time of those pupils during the week.. Besides they had other concealed services which you do not know. They considered the spiritual ministry their main work and other worldly affairs as secondary.. This does not mean that they neglected their responsibilities and worldly duties; No, for they were very faithful and successful in performing them. Such worldly affairs even comprised some service Thus God counted them consecrated'
Discussion 1
- How much time do we honestly devote to God?
- How can we find God in all of the things we do? Should we be thinking about God in everything that we do, or only in Church?
Excerpt from "The Life of Thanksgiving"
In this book, Pope Shenouda outlines 4 levels of thanksgiving:
- Giving thanks for major gifts
- Taking away a major illness (cancer)
- Getting us a job
- Miracles
- Great pleasures, etc.
- Giving thanks for minor gifts
- Removing a cold from us
- Getting us to our destination safely, etc.
- Giving thanks for hidden things
- Thanking God for the things He does for us that we do not even know about.
- Giving thanks for tribulation
"The highest level of thanksgiving is to give thanks over tribulations. We thank God over the tribulations from which He saved us, and this is the least. But, what is greater than this is also thank Him over the prevailing tribulations which we bear and live in. And with faith we believe it is for our good. To endure and bear the tribulations is a virtue. To be content with the tribulation and accept it is a greater virtue. And more important is to give thanks over the tribulation, to thank with joy and not as mere duty."
"Believe me, if we thank over the gifts only, then our love is for the gifts not for God its Giver But, if we give thanks to God over the tribulation we prove that we love God Himself and not His gift... i.e., we do not only love Him for what He gives us wealth, generosity, comforts of life, or what He grants us. Calmness and peace God only is our goal, either He gave us tribulations or good things. We thank Him on every occasion and in every condition we thank Him whatever happens, and do not allow mishaps to lessen our faith in God's protection or lessen our thanks to Him. We do not allow such events to take away our peace from us, or our rejoice in the Lord."
Discussion 2
- Which type of thanksgiving do you feel you most participate in?
- How could you apply this lesson in your life? Do you believe giving thanks in tribulation would be difficult? Why or why not?
Excerpt from "Life of Repentance and Purity"
The following is in Pope Shenouda's own words.
"There is nothing which the devil fights more than repentance, because it wastes all of his previous labor. Therefore it seems to be difficult, for when the person wants to repent, the devil places in front of him every stumbling block and obstruction that prohibits or delays his repentance."
He then lists the following 6 items which work against repentance.
- Despair
- Self-righteousness, in which the person does not feel that he is a sinner.
- The sinner compares himself with weak levels (everyone else is doing it)
- Delaying
- Weak personality (easily swayed by the trends and people of this world)
- Stumbling blocks (our environment keeping us away from repentance)
Throughout the rest of the book, Pope Shenouda goes into great detail about each of these stumbling blocks and how to avoid them.
Discussion 3
- Do you agree with Pope Shenouda's list? Is there anything that you would add?
- Why is repentance so difficult?