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

158 APRILin their own home parish. Otherwise, when they are close to thoseages, they are brought to the monasteries which are considered tobe especially auspicious locations for the Sacrament of Baptism.The children are anointed with holy oil in thirty-six differentlocations on their bodies: the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the ears,the armpits, the inner side of the elbows, the underside of theknees, and so on; thirty-six locations which correspond in theCoptic folk way of reckoning the thirty-six openings or portals ofthe body. By the sacramental baptism they are receiving, theseportals must be anointed, that is, opened to the grace of God andclosed to everything that is evil. The baptized must then alwaysguard the opening of their heart and mind, as well as the openingsof their body.The Church, likewise, must guard its openings, its portals: theplaces where good comes in or goes out; the places where evilcomes in or goes out. These sites must be given over to the Providenceof God and the protection of his good Spirit. The anointingof the individual child is a moment of blessing in the Church’s publiclife. It is a sign that she keeps herself always guarded against theincursions of the outside world in all the places where she is vulnerable.So I reflect that my presence here, and especially my commentaryfrom here, places me at one portal of Coptic communallife. I must be “anointed” with sensitivity for my hosts.Useful ContactsAPRIL 6, MONDAYIt seems that a very large part of the Coptic clergy is here.Many monks and almost all of the bishops and abbots of theChurch are also present. Today, during the stirring of the Myron, Ihad the chance to meet most of the visiting abbots. Each one ofthem, in his turn, personally invited me to come to his House tocontinue my studies there. If I were to stay as long as each of themhas invited me, I would be in Egypt another year or two! Nevertheless,it is good for me to make contact with them now, so thatwhen I do visit them, they will already be familiar with me and mywork. This will make it easier for me to enter more fully into myresearch when I go to their monasteries, God willing, in the future.