ORTHODOXY AND PRACTICAL LIFE 1

Bishop Moussa

 ?  In order to know how we can live as an orthodox person in today's society, we must understand two important things:

 Orthodox life
 Orthodox Calendar

 Orthodox Life is based on three important pillars: * Repentance * Nutrition * Service.

 Orthodox Calendar consists of: * Orthodox Day, * Orthodox Week, * Orthodox Month * Orthodox Year.

 ORTHODOX LIFE

 ?  In order to lead an orthodox life, we need to have repentance, nutrition and service. No one can consider him/herself orthodox if they do not repent, if they are not nourished spiritually, and if they do not serve and help others.

 ?  Repentance - the meaning of repentance is to turn away from your sins in order to live a holy life with the Lord. In our Orthodox Church, repentance is based on four important things:

 - I must REGRET committing the sin
- I must INSIST on staying away from sin
- I must BELIEVE in the Blood of our Lord to cleanse me
- I must CONFESS my sins in the presence of a priest

 ?  We must confess to the priest because he is the servant of the sacrament of confession and the Holy Spirit works through the priest in order to give the Absolution of sins, and a Solution to our problems. This is orthodox repentance. We must have a confession father, we must be regular in confession and we must be obedient to the guidance of our confession father. If we do not practice these things, then our repentance is not orthodox.

 ?  Nutrition - Confession is good because it helps us on our path to salvation, but confession alone is not sufficient if we do not nourish ourselves spiritually.

 ?  After confessing our sins, we must nourish ourselves through prayer, reading the Bible, receiving Holy Communion, attending youth meetings and church services, and reading spiritual books. If we do not nourish ourselves in this way after confession and at all times, we will return to our sin once again.

  ?  Service - The orthodox person must be a caring person, sharing his/her spiritual gifts with others, and when you are older, you must all be members of the Servant Preparation class so that you can be future Sunday School servants in the church.
 ?  We must always serve others because we are all members in the body of Christ and we all belong to the family of orthodoxy.
 ?  Some ways in which we can serve is to encourage others to come to church, clean the church, be deacons if you are boys, visit the sick and the elderly and the lonely.
 

 ORTHODOX CALENDAR

An orthodox person must have an orthodox day, an orthodox week, an orthodox month and an orthodox year.
Some of the things an orthodox person can do daily are: pray, read the bible, read from the Sinixarium of saints, read the sayings and Scriptures of the day from the Coptic Calendar, and read from the Agbia. The word 'Agbia' means hour, and in the Agbia, there are seven prayers:

 ?  Morning Prayer at 6am, commemorating the Lord's resurrection;
 ?  3rd Hour Prayer at 9am, commemorating the Holy Spirit's descent on the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.
   ?  6th Hour Prayer at 12pm, in remembrance of our Lord's crucifixion;
 ?  9th Hour Prayer at 3pm, remembering when our Lord died;
Sunset Prayer at 5pm, in remembrance of our Lord being taken off the cross;
Prayer Before Sleep (Compline) at 6pm, remembering when our Lord was laid in the tomb.
Midnight Prayers at 12am.

An orthodox person must pray as much as they can.

 ?   Some of the things an orthodox person can do weekly are: Attend the Holy Mass and receive the Holy Communion, and fast every Wednesday and Friday.

 ?  Some of the things an orthodox person can do monthly are: Confess, remember the commemoration days of St. Mary on the 21st and 29th day of every month, and the Archangel Michael on the 12th day of every month.

 ?  Some of the things an Orthodox person can do yearly are: Take part in the holy fasts of our church - Advent (Christmas Fast), Jonah's Fast, Lent, the Apostles' Fast and St. Mary's Fast. We must also rejoice with the church on feast days - Christmas, Epiphany, Palm Sunday, Easter, Apostles Feast, St. Mary's Feast, and El Nayrooz.

If we follow the orthodox calendar and live and take part in the events of the orthodox calendar, then we will live orthodox lives, and will always abide in the spirit of orthodoxy.
 
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