Journey Back to Eden.pdf - St Mark Coptic Orthodox Church Chicago

102 JANUARYless because they’re always a counterpoint to these forces and to theinstitutions of the world. In some ways, monasteries can even tragicallyreplicate certain aspects of these forces, even as a counterpointcan musically replicate the musical line to which it is contrasted.Nevertheless, the monastery attempts to be an iconographic contrast,and the desert makes it, in a certain sense, into a more brilliantreverse image. It gives it a higher profile, a louder microphoneto address itself—not to the affairs of the public, but to the humanheart and to the secret ear of the Church, wherever there are faithfulChristians.The young priest believes that there is a strong connection betweenthe world and the desert, between the Church in the villageand the monastery in the desert. He said there is a vital dialoguegoing on between them: a dialogue of signs, a dialogue of faith. Hedoesn’t think that the desert (or the monastery in the desert, atleast) can be cordoned off or separated from the dynamic life of theChurch. It is a vital part—maybe even the heart—of the life of theChurch. It captures the imagination of many who are on the edgeof the Church, or outside it, and provides for them a genuine challengeto come to faith, to come into the presence of God.Coptic EtymologyJANUARY 29, THURSDAYIt was an overcast day and kind of windy, so I spent much ofmy afternoon in the library, looking through various books that areon reserve there, as well as speaking to the librarian, Abuna Tadros.As he was in an amiable mood and seemed more forthcoming thanusual, I took advantage of the opportunity to ask him more aboutthe monastery and about the Coptic Church.I asked him about the etymology of the word deir by whichthey name a monastery. He told me that the word deir denotespeople who are circling around a center, centered around a particularpoint. Abuna Tadros said, “A monastery is a place where monksare centered around their kommos, their spiritual father.” In theWestern Church, we would call him the “abbot” of the monastery.For the Copts, the spiritual father provides a center—notaround himself—but around God. The role of the kommos is tocenter the monastery around the Cross of our Lord Jesus in which