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

176 MAYof grace that people can enfold such occasions as these into theeconomy of salvation, that they can experience them in the limitationsand the fragilities of our human lives as genuine, divine visitationsof power and love.A Wrenching TransitionMAY 17, SUNDAYAfter the Kodes in St. Bishoi Church today, I was greeted by myfriends from Cairo who had come to the monastery to escort meback to the city. They knew that my months of living in Deir AnbaBishoi must surely come to a close now if I am to make any kind ofvisit to the other monasteries of Egypt. So I had a kind of farewell. Itold the monks that I would probably be coming back here on severalmore occasions as I make my circuit of the other monasteries.I’m sure that is true, so the farewell was made somewhat easier. Andyet this is the end of the longest stay of my research year, and I havegrown so much at home and so much at ease here, so familiar withthis setting, so at one with the monks in their prayer and so appreciativeand admiring of their faith that I feel very sad at departingfrom them. But my research has always been circumscribed by limitationsof time. I have always been aware of this, so I am moving onwith a degree of genuine resignation.Coming back to Cairo was jarring. The city is bustling at thistime of the year. Even with the heat as high and oppressive as it is,it’s still a very busy and noisy city. Now that I have come back inthe middle of the month of Ramadan, it seems even louder andnoisier than ever. The loudspeakers on the minarets are turned upvery high, so the call to prayer at night as well as throughout theday is much louder than before. All night long, the Islamic neighborsin the apartment building in which I’m staying are celebratingtheir seasonal feast just as emphatically as they celebrate the dailyfast. The noise and the sound of partying and family conviviality isas intrusive and invasive as the call to prayer from the minarets. AJew at Christmas, a Copt at Ramadan.So I will not stay long in Cairo. I will take advantage of theearliest possible rides I can procure to visit the other monasteries.Actually, I am committed to doing so in order to complete my researchyear and the rest of my fieldwork.