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

66 DECEMBERThe great apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Zeitoun and morerecently in Shubra and in other places in Coptic areas are certainlypart of this almost eschatological hope. The return of the relics ofSt. Mark to the cathedral by the last Patriarch, and even the specialcircumstances under which Pope Kyrillos ascended to the throneof St. Mark, followed later by Pope Shenouda, give rise to theirhope. The revitalization of their monasteries, their parishes, theirstudies, their language: all of these things presage for them thepossibility of a new era. If these things can happen, then their quiethope is that other, even greater, things can also happen.The Copts are by no means foolish; they are aware that allaround them in Egypt and in all of the Arab world beyond there isa tremendous rise in the intensity and the powerful advocacy ofIslam. They know that, while there are certain promising signs intheir midst, there are also contradictory signs. They are, therefore,in a certain kind of vise; they are squeezed between rising hopesand rising fears. They are squeezed between a great Gospel missionarydesire on the one hand, and great dread on the other. Infact, Islamicism threatens their very existence.The risings of hope and fear together are the recipe of the religiousattitude of expectation called “apocalyptic.” The Copts believethat God has a plan, but this plan will come about only byalmost pyrotechnical, otherworldly displays, by cosmologicalwrenching. They do not know how much suffering it will entail, butthey do not imagine, as apocalyptic people in the West often do,that this will happen in a triumphal way. They imagine that Godwill bring about great things through trials and travails, through thePaschal Mystery of his people participating more and more deeplyin the drama of the Cross. So the question they must naturally askthemselves is: “How much suffering will it entail?” And the answerthey must always give is: “Not more than we are able to endure.”They will not be tested beyond their strength. The trouble is thattheir ancestors often had to evidence great strength, sometimeseven unto martyrdom.In the end, the Copts believe that the Apostolic See of Alexandriawill be reestablished as a see of preeminence, and that everyonewill recognize and honor it. Though much maligned nowadaysfor their backwardness and ineffectiveness, the Copts believe thatthe See of Alexandria will one day be universally esteemed. They