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

A TIME OF CELEBRATION 105Abuna Tadros said, they are embedded in the heart of the Church.So the Church always envisions them, fashions them in her imaginationas proximate, living, and vital, as contributing somehow tothe present experience of the faithful.The monastery has always had a way of embedding itselfdeeply in the imagination of the Church. There always should besowha, from this point of view, who embody what that imaginationsuggests. But even if they are relatively few and far away, nevertheless,the romance about them and for them is great. If there can besuch a great fascination with the sowha when they are far away, howmuch more powerful would it be if there were occasional examplesof such monks available for the people of God to touch, to hear,and to see?The Baptism of the DesertJANUARY 30, FRIDAYI have not seen nor heard from Abuna Elia for quite a few days.I’ve heard only indirectly that he has either been ill, or is simplytoo cold to venture out of his cell. But this morning he sent for me,and after the Kodes I went to see him again in the courtyard of thegarden next to his cell in the monastery. He was wearing a coat anda scarf, and looked a little worse for wear since the last time I sawhim. He complained to me that this coldness is difficult to endure.I agreed with him that it is more difficult than the summer heat,and so we commiserated together a few moments. Then he hadsome things to discuss about which he had been praying and readingin the Scriptures.The Copts, like Catholics, celebrate the Baptism of Jesusaround the season of Christmas. They also read from the Gospelsthe various accounts of Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan by John.Abuna Elia explained to me that the baptism of Jesus was, in fact,two-fold. He said that Jesus was baptized, not only in the water ofthe Jordan, but also in the desert of Palestine. I asked him what hemeant. He explained that the Gospels record that at the beginningof his public life, Jesus went down to the Jordan where John theBaptist was preaching and that he asked John to baptize him. Johndemurred, but Jesus prevailed, and John poured the water. WhenJesus was coming up out of the water, the Gospels record that he