No comments about Coptic Textile Designs: 144 Egyptian Designs from the Early Christian Era (Dover Pictorial Archive Series).

5 comments about The Communion of Love.

1. Fr Matthew the Poor is certainly a hidden treasure. His depth, spiritual insight and understanding in his writings can be benefitted from by anyone. There are very few Coptic Orthodox writers who's works are this readily available.

   He does not write about topics for monks, but topics that will touch the heart of every beliver. I recommend this book to anyone who is searching for the depths of Orthodox spirituality.




2. Matthew the Poor is a professional pharmacist who left a life of worldly success to seek the face of God in silence in the desert. That he was called to this vocation by a strong and authentic yearning is clear from his concise, but riveting theological explanations. There is no waste in this book. Every sentence is packed with insight into scripture and wisdom not easily matched in today's theological bookstores. No fluff, no self-aggrandizement, just humble and pure exposition of his learnings from his personal communion with Love Himself. Among countless spiritual and theological treatises available today, this one stands with the great masters. The final chapter on unity in the Church through ecumenism is alone worth the cost.



3. 
   Communion is a Verb:
   The Title Communion of Love; Koinonia, in both Coptic and Greek means fellowship or communion of the Christians with each other and with The Father through His only begotten Son IC XC: Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit; "God is Love, who abides in love abides in God, and God in him". 1 John 5:16. Accordingly, the abbot of St. Macarius narrates in his tightly packed confession of Orthodox Christianity the tradition of 16 centuries on Alexandrine tradition of salvation and it's history, through the narrow way, always tried for those who received the monastic habit: sometimes missed or achieved, and few times mastered by the ascetic desert dwellers.
   
   20 Thematic essays:
   The book starts from its logical beginning: "How to read the Bible", and takes you in twenty steps: chapters of 10 pages each to the Eschatological Unity of John 17 in its last two chapters. This book whose 20 concise but instructive chapters focus on the Living Christ of history and faith, reveals goal and essence of Christian living. Fr. Matthew uses simple, yet profound imagery of the typical ascetic tradition of Coenobitic communities of Sketes and Kellia in the Egyptian desert. The subjects of the essays contain some typical Orthodox issues: Humility, Asceticism, Repentance, fasting, and Suffering. It reflects on Jesus human experience in Gethsemane, His passion, Resurrection, and Ascension. Last chapters on Pentecost, and Holy Spirit in Ascetic theology vs Dogmatic's.
   
   Forward:
   The late Fr. Nouwen was a friend and admirer of the monastery of Saint Macarius in the West Wadi Natroun (Sketes) and of its spiritual abbot, Father Matta El-Maskeen. Fr. Nouwen once observed that the "Western world must listen to this penetrating message coming to us from the Egyptian Desert." In the same essay he says, "Fr. Matta 's radical God-centeredness stands in contradiction to our pervasive human-centeredness. All that Father Matta says is guided by the question: 'How do I make God the center of my life?' The Rev. Dr. John Watson: Coptic Ch. Rev., vol 21, no 4, (2000), pp 139. An introduction of the Macarian Abbot and Coptic monastic revival is reported by fellow monastic Nun Julian the Alien.
   
   The Author:
   In 1969, at the request of Abba Kyrillos VI, the solitary Patriarch of the See of St. Mark (1959-71), and former Abbot of the ancient monastery of Samuel the Confessor, where Fr. Matta and his disciples left the caves around that ancient monastery moving to the then deserted monastery of St. Macarius (6 monks), to rebuild the present community of the most serious monastic vocation in the Sketes, since its existence with Nitria and Kellia in early Monastic Egypt. In his small libretto; "The Power of the Name", Bishop Kallistos Ware, posted on the front page of his book on Jesus prayer, a saying of a contemporary Coptic Monk is quoted to represent the Coptic tradition of Communion of Love, and unceasing prayer. This monk is Abbot Matthew the poor, it was confirmed.



4. What are Patristics? The study of the Early Church Fathers? The continual tradition or theology of the Church Fathers? If the last definition is right, then Matthew the Poor's "The Communion of Love" will give a clear refreshing read. Most ancient Patristics dealt with defending against that days heresy or refining the dogmas or mystery of the Church. Some did write about how to read the Bible, the meaning behind certain verses, & how to live your Life with spiritual power, but most lacked a vision of modern problems, or how modern thinking (Rationality or Subjectivity) could cloud spiritual reality.

   Matthew the Poor is a modern Coptic monk, part of the Oriental Orthodox Christian Church. He was a rich pharmacist living in Egypt, who just after World War II gave up everything & went to the desert to start a monastery. In 1971 he was one of 3 men to be nominated to become the Coptic Pope (not like the Roman Catholic Pope, but the highest Bishop in Egypt). Before his death he could heal people & feed the animals by his hands (like St. Francis of the Roman Catholic or St. Seraphim of the Russian Orthodox). Therefore in this book Matthew the Poor as a converted modern man writes to modern man revealing issues & topics with such spiritual wisdom that few can do today. Read didaskalex's great review below & the others for a listing of the topics.




5. Matthew the Poor strikes one as a modern Desert Farther, with the same sympathy, clarity, and rectitude of those earlier Christian writers. This book is one to study and digest, using insights to enhance one's own spiritual struggles and understanding. It is as important as his earlier works.

No comments about Four Desert Fathers: Pambo, Evagrius, Macarius Of Egypt, And Macarius Of Alexandria : Coptic Texts Relating To The Lausiac History Of Palladius (St. Vladimir's ... Seminary Press "Popular Patristics" Series).

4 comments about Discoveries: Coptic Egypt: Christians of the Nile (Discoveries (Abrams)).

1. This book covers the history of the christians of Egypt (the Copts). It is written by an expert on this subject. It covers the history up to the current events. it is easy to read. Loaded with photoes of very high quality. The facts are well presented with even handed opinions and fairness. It is valuable book for any one who has interest in history of Christianity,and Middle East history. The reader does not need to have any background knowledge about the topic because the book progress very smoothly through the history with solid explanation of all events. Highly recommended.



2. good start for those who want to know more about copts and christianity in egypt



3. This is a cute little book that is crammed with info and pictures. It is an excellent book to start one on serious study of Christianity in Egypt and the history of Christianity in general.



4. I found this a facinating little book, well written, colourful and quirky in spots. The illustrations are excellent, if a little small and well integrated with the text. I particularly enjoyed the coverage of textiles and manuscripts. Besides covering the history and archeology of the ancient Copts, the coverage of current dogma and liturgy and the problems experienced by the Copts in modern Egypt gives the book an unusually rounded feel.

1 comments about Christian Zen: The Essential Teachings of Jesus Christ.

1. This very small book lists verses of the gospel of Thomas on each page and then gives the authors comments about what he believes they mean. The authors opinion is that in the gospel of Thomas Jesus is teaching nonduality and how to discover the true Self and over come the illusion of separation and individual ego by living truly in the eternal Now.I agree with the authors opinion completely and believe this book is closer to the true esoteric teachings of Jesus than the Bible. This is a perfect book for beginners that are searching for truth or studing Zen.

1 comments about Original Christianity: A New Key To Understanding The Gospel of Thomas And Other Lost Scriptures.

1. My 2005 book Original Christianity predicted a good deal of the content of the recently published Gospel of Judas.
   
   The Gospel of Judas is the best birthday present I've ever received. The text of Judas' long-lost scripture was published one day after I turned 48 years old, and it is almost everything I could have hoped it would be. Widely regarded as the most important archaeological discovery of the last 60 years, this lost scripture from the earliest days of Christianity had lain buried in Egyptian dust for over 1700 years. I had been on pins and needles ever since last summer's press release announced its impending publication, because I knew my 18 years of research into early Christianity would be put to the test by the unveiling of this new document. My research predicted that if any more lost scriptures from the earliest days of Christianity ever surfaced, they would contain text supporting the binary soul doctrine and the co- Messiahship of Judas Thomas. This new gospel does just that.
   
   For almost two decades, I have supported the unpopular position that the original form of Christian theology revolved around the ancient binary soul doctrine (BSD), a once-world-wide belief that human beings possess two spiritual components, both a soul and a spirit, which are in danger of dividing apart at death. In my 2003 book The Lost Secret of Death, I delineate in depth how this ancient belief is reflected in modern psychology's distinction between the conscious and the unconscious, or the left brain and the right brain, and I also demonstrate how the ancient idea of soul-division elegantly accounts for the majority of afterlife phenomena reported today, from deathbed visions, ghosts, and poltergeists to near-death experiences and past-life regression. BSD cultures around the globe believed that the afterdeath division of the soul and spirit was the worst possible fate, but that it was not inevitable and could be avoided if one took appropriate measures.
   
   The newly recovered Gospel of Judas contains this same belief system. In passages 67-68 and 122-123, this recovered gospel specifically declares that human beings possess both soul and spirit, and that these two components of the self divide apart at death. This gospel also agrees with the BSD that the human spirit is immortal and never dies, while the human soul is vulnerable and can die. It also agrees that those whose souls and spirits divide at death are damned, while those whose souls and spirits stay together at death are blessed. All in all, the postmortem theology of the Gospel of Judas reflects remarkable alignment with the binary soul doctrine.
   
   The Gospel of Judas also provides substantiation for my argument that Jesus and Judas were equal partners in a dual or binary Messiahship. In my book Original Christianity : A New Key to Understanding The Gospel of Thomas and Other Lost Scriptures, I pointed out that the ancient Jewish ritual sacrifice of Yom Kippur was a precise reflection of the BSD's vision of the afterdeath fates of the soul and spirit. Two identical goats were brought to the sacrifice, and like the spirit that goes on to reincarnate after death, one goat would be allowed to go free, while the other would be put to death, just like the soul that goes on to heaven or hell after death. I then noted that the Biblical report of Jesus and Barabbas was also strikingly similar to this Yom Kippur ritual. Two men were brought before Pontius Pilate, and just like the identical goats of Yom Kippur, they too seemed to have been virtual twins. Both had the same name, the same title, the same history, and the same status. And just like on Yom Kippur, one of them was randomly allowed to live and the other sacrificed, even though both were saddled with a similar burden of blood guilt. The apparent connection between the BSD, the Yom Kippur ritual, and the story of Jesus and Barabbas also seemed to provide support for the ancient belief in the Syrian and Indian churches that Jesus' brother Judas Thomas was in fact not only His biological twin, but also His co-Messiah, who also performed great miracles and, seemingly, also rose from the dead.
   
   As everyone expected, the Gospel of Judas supports the ancient hypothesis of a secret partnership between Judas and Jesus, but it goes much farther than that, and actually indicates the existence of the sort of co-Messiahship I described in Original Christianity. This newly recovered scripture describes Judas as Jesus' closest intimate friend and ally, the most holy of all the disciples and the only one who truly and fully understood His teachings. In one remarkable passage where Jesus challenges His disciples to prove they are `perfect' enough to stand before Him, only Judas is able to do so, suggesting that Judas is, on some level, on an equal par with Jesus Himself. Indeed, in this newly unearthed text, Judas is transfigured into a radiant cloud just the way Jesus was in Matthew 17:1-5, suggesting for the second time in this lost gospel that Jesus and Judas shared a similar divinity. According to this scripture, Judas turned Jesus over to the authorities at Jesus' own request. In handing him over, the text suggests, Judas not only performed the highest service to his master, and not only facilitated Jesus' redemption of humanity, but essentially sacrificed himself right alongside Jesus in the process, voluntarily becoming the most loathed man in human history. Just as I claimed a year ago in Original Christianity, there were not one but TWO men who sacrificed themselves to save humanity. It is no surprise to historians that Judas' gospel presents this view, because the ancient Christian apologist Irenaeus of Lyon briefly mentioned Judas' scripture around 180 AD. However, it is a surprise to the world that this ancient scripture links this perspective to the binary soul doctrine, just as I did in Original Christianity the year before Judas' gospel was made public. Written around the same time as the Biblical gospels, Judas' gospel demonstrates that a significant portion of the earliest Christian community viewed Judas not as a traitor at all, but as a hero on par with Jesus Himself, just as I claimed in Original Christianity. This gospel also declares that Judas would eventually rise, as Jesus did, to an exalted position of honor and authority in heaven. If in fact this is the same Judas Thomas who went on to found the church in India and write the Gospel of Thomas , that prophecy would indeed seem to have been fulfilled.
   
   For the last 18 years, my books have advanced the hypothesis that Christianity originally revolved around the binary soul doctrine, and that Jesus and Judas Thomas were co-Messiahs who worked in concert, each sacrificing themselves in different ways to save humanity. Today's unveiling of the long-forgotten Gospel of Judas contains powerful evidence that my line of research has been on the right track.
   
   - Peter Novak

5 comments about Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way.

1. Great book by a great spirirtual father, monk and theologian who lived and experienced what he wrote about.
   Probably the best book written on Prayer Life!



2. thank you for your very fast delivery. The book arrived in perfect order.



3. This book is based upon the notes of a contemporary Egyptian Orthodox Christian monk regarding prayer. It defines the different types of prayer, instruction on how to pray and hindrances we find in our spiritual growth. Matthew the Poor brings in his own experiences as well as those from the eastern Orthodox tradition and the west. Each chapter contains instruction from the Desert Fathers.
   
   This is deeply spiritual book and I highly recommend it for those who want to deepen their understanding of prayer.
   
   I do not consider this "lite" reading



4. This book is perfect for anyone wishing to better appreciate the dynamics of prayer and its role in developing a relationship with God. While the author draws much from the writings of Eastern Church Fathers, his explanations about prayer will inspire Christians from almost any background to adopt a lifestyle in which prayer becomes for them as nourishing and refreshing as eating or breathing and not simply a discipline or a ritual done at bed time.



5. An excellent book from Matthew the Poor; a hermit who left civilization to dwell in the desert with only a few books in his hands. Whether or not you are from the Orthodox faith, this book will speak to you. If you pray, you will pray with more connection to God...guaranteed; if you don't pray, you may just start. I recommend reading this book slowly, or you will miss revealed depths. Another excellent book from the same author that I highly recommend is "the communion of love".

5 comments about The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus.

1. If you buy this book seeking futher knowledge of the man Jesus, you will discover the writing to be based on unbelievable script. It is totally unlike any other writings found regarding the person, the man, that lived two thousand years ago. Christ would have been appalled at events attributed to him and this book is unacceptable to any Christian. The gnostics were a sect of people who believed themselves to be enlightened and had a following just as many false teachers throughout the centuries have influenced the easily suggestible person.
   
   This book was attributed to Thomas! This alone would defy belief in the script of this book as being written by the disciple. Although Thomas tended towards skepticism at Christ's ressurection, he stood in awe as he realized it was the man he had followed and believed to be the Son of God. Thomas undoubtedly would have condemned this book. To say a false teacher named Thomas may have written the book is possible, but the person who wrote the script appears to be having sport with the true follower of Christ.
   
   I have just finished watching a rather informed history of the gnostics on the "History Channel", and the saga of their lives and travels were nothing new or wise, just as we find today in so-called scholars who endeavor to establish a scientific path of Christ's life. Men of yesterday were given to forgeries just as we find in our generation, so if you are in quest of the truth of the times and life of Jesus, forget it, you won't find it here.



2. Meyers sandwiches the 114 sayings of Thomas (in English and Coptic), and his commentary on that text, between two essays: his introduction, and a dozen or so pages from the famous humanist, Harold Bloom.
   
   The middle sections may or may not be worth the price of the book. (I haven't looked over the notes yet.) I find Thomas a bit "hammy," both in the sense that (having read a few Taoist and Buddhist works) Gnostic metaphysics strike me as pretentious, and in the sense that in their lack of historical or moral interest, they are "un-kosher," don't sound like a Jewish prophet. This doesn't sound like Jesus to me; it sounds like an Alexandrian philosopher. But it's worth reading Thomas for his importance in modern Jesus debates.
   
   Surrounding the text one finds two slices of "wonder bread" of doubtful nutritional value.
   
   Meyer properly attempts to put Thomas in context, but offers some dubious arguments in the process. He repeats the standard Jesus Seminar line that Q is very like Thomas. The view that Thomas is an early text is often based on the assumption that both are "sayings Gospels." (A rather oxymoronic concept.) More importantly, as I show in Why the Jesus Seminar can't find Jesus, and Grandma Marshall Could, Q is radically different from Thomas. First, even the Jesus Seminar version of Q contains some stories and miracles, which Thomas does not. More fundamentally, while Q contains some of the most profound moral teaching in all literature, Thomas edits almost all of it out. Q is 37-50% moral teaching; Thomas is about 2%, and even that can be pretty anemic. ("Don't lie, and don't do the things you hate.") Odd that a "sayings Gospel" would edit out the Sermon on the Mount! Even odder that Meyer does not notice! Nor do other Jesus Seminar scholars, Elaine Pagels, or Harold Bloom.
   
   In fact, in my analysis of Thomas and the Gospels, I found that Thomas was less like the canonical Gospels than any other ancient writing I surveyed. The convention of calling it a "Gospel" at all is, in my opinion, highly dubious.
   
   Meyer claims that the "absence of allegorical interpretations" in Thomas' version of the parable of the sower "helps confirm that such elements were added later," and therefore Thomas contains material that predates the Gospels. But scholars like Sanders and Jenkins have rebutted this argument. John Meier, N. T. Wright, and Richard Hays also give reason to believe Thomas depends on the canonical Gospels. Meyer is honest enough to admit that some scholars take this view. The problem is (I argue) "early Thomas" scholars get the worst of the debate. In fact, often they simply ignore opposing arguments. (Pagels admitted to me she had not read Meier or Wright's views on Thomas.)
   
   While a good writer, Harold Bloom is in even further over his head. He uncritically accepts the view that Thomas offers an "earlier Jesus." Both Meyer and Bloom repeatedly cite Burton Mack, whose gifts, in my opinion, are more those of a myth-maker than a historian. Bloom also glibly repeats Meyer's error about Thomas being similiar to "Q."
   
   Bloom expresses amazement that the Gospels contain only a few Aramaic sayings of Jesus: "If you believed in the divinity of Jesus, would you not wish to have preserved the actual Aramaic sentences he uttered?" The answer is, first of all, Jesus may have spoken mostly in Greek. But also, Bloom seems to have a less sophisticated and more magical notion of language than the early Christians. In the Christian Scriptures, Jesus is the "Logos," the translation into humanity of the nature of God. By speaking in different languages in Acts, the Holy Spirit in effect blessed all languages, and the act of translation.
   
   Bloom asks, "Is it not an extraordinary scandal that all the crucial texts of Christianity are so suprisingly belated?" He should know better. The earliest extant Buddhist text is from 600 years after the Buddha. The earliest account of the resurrection, by contrast, was written a mere 20 years after the fact, and the first extant text is a mere 90-100 years later. Nor is 40 years (to Mark) so long; I could transcribe 1st hand accounts of the bombing of Nagasaki (where I once lived) tomorrow, from eyewitnesses, 61 years after the fact.



3. I didn't bother reading the introduction and commentary, I went straight for the juice and read the ghospel. As a deist I didn't find it so much different from other ghospels, a bit shorter maybe, but about the same. Maybe less jolly and honky dory, a bit more down with life, good and evil are the same and all that. A bit closer to some eastern phylosophy sort of meaning, but still the same, jesus is the choosen one, he shows the way, but then will leave and leave us to dwell with the BS.
   As footnote, did you know that "ghospel" is a wrong word? The original ghospels were written by greeks and they titled them "Evangels", which means "good news". Speaking of greek, I liked a lot the facing text in greek and coptic. I do suggest this edition of the book to curious ones, at the end of it all is a quick read.



4. This is a Gospel allegedly authored by Judas Thomas the Twin. This Gospel does not provide a narrative analysis as the four Gospels of the New Testament do. The focus is the (page 5) "sayings of Jesus." As such, this work is closer to what is called a (page 7) "a collection of sayings." The introductory essay (an introduction and a rather difficult concluding essay by Harold Bloom sandwich the slim volume of sayings) notes that there are three explanations for the "Gospel of Thomas," one of which is that it is (page 13) "independent of the New Testament synoptic gospels, but it is related to oral or written traditions similar to those behind the synoptic gospels." Marvin Mayer, the book's editor, suggests that the Gospel of Thomas (page 13) "preserves sayings that at times appear to be more original than the New Testament parallels."
   
   Bloom's concluding essay uses this Gospel to raise interesting questions about Biblical understanding. Not being an expert, I say nothing more. Individual readers will need to examine his work for themselves and come to their own judgments.
   
   The Gospel itself is interesting, given that quite a few of the "sayings" are very close to what is in the traditional four Gospels. One example:
   
   55 Jesus said, "Fortunate are the poor, for yours is heaven's kingdom."
   
   110 Jesus said, "Let someone who has found the world and has become wealthy renounce the world."
   
   Other apothegms:
   
   1 And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."
   
   95 Jesus said, "If you have money, do not lend it at interest. Rather give [it] to someone from whom you will not get it back."
   
   And one final saying (discussed at length in the introduction and in Lane's work on the Bible):
   
   114 Simon Peter said to them, "Mary should leave us, for females are not worthy of life."
   
   Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter heaven's kingdom."
   
   What to make of the Gospel of Thomas? I'm not an expert, but I do find this interesting reading. What it portends for an understanding of Scripture I must leave to others. But the questions that come to mind as one reads the essays and, even more, the text itself, makes this an interesting expenditure of mental energy.



5. I have many years felt that Jesus is the true Mccoy in the "Gospel of Thomas! Religion offers a lot of hope! However I feel the greatest hope in the world is to offer the Truth! This comes to us in "The Gospel of Thomas" and in this wonderful translation of Holy Scripture! Sharing the Word, of Jesus! The Gospel of Thomas Association
   P.O. Box 5849
   Abilene, Texas 79608

5 comments about Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas.

1. I found Beyond Belief to be a very interesting piece of subject matter, presented by a very knowledgeable researcher, but it could have been a much better book in the hands of writer who was more of a storyteller and less of an academic. It just didn't quite flow. Here you have a piece of history, only recently revealed, that lies at the heart of the path that western civilization went on, and you find yourself lost in details instead of really absorbing how convoluted and political and full of passion and bickering the birth of Christianity really was.
   
   It's also not quite clear who her audience is, and how to write to them. It certainly isn't for dogmatic Christians or athiests, neither of whom would be interested. Agnostics like myself will mostly come away more skeptical about Christianity, feeling like the Bible as it emerged was contrived and censored. Open-minded Christian believers probably would come away confused, whereas she intends for them to feel reassured that there was originally (and should be now) a broader pathway to God within Christianity that includes mysticism, personal spiritual exploration and broad interpretations.
   
   Despite my frustrations with the book, it still was very informative and left me with a much better understanding of early Christianity, and I'm still glad I read it. It could have been a whole lot better read, however.



2. With patient scholarship Pagels compares two versions of early Christianity - that found in the Gospel of Thomas, with that seen in the Gospel of John. She explores the differences in focus, meaning, and implications for Christians through the ages. Combining the skills of a linguist, a theologian and a fine critic of literature, she brings out the major contrasts in understanding between different groups of early Christians. Her work exposes ancient issues of spiritual discernment, where different speakers claimed to represent Jesus in remarkably different ways. She shows the dilemmas and choices made by early Christians, to help us in making similar choices today:
   
   "Anyone who has seen foolishness, sentimentality, delusion, and murderous rage disguised as God's truth knows that there is no easy answer to the problem that the ancients called the discernment of spirits. Orthodoxy tends to distrust our capacity to make such discriminations and insists on making them for us. ... [But] Most of us sooner or later find that, at critical points in our lives, we must strike out on our own ..." (p. 185-186)
   
   I'm glad to see Pagels also has a book contrasting Gnostic texts with the letters of Paul.



3. I listen to audio books now because they are available, and I don't have to hold a book. I can turn out the lights, and listen to them as I fall asleep, while I am at work, or on a long drive.
   This selection is very intense. Giving you a different point of view than the standard generic Gospel of Christ. A lot of new insights that make a lot of sense.



4. As with all of Ms. Pagels' books, this is an excellent work. This book reviews the significance of one of the books of early Christianity that was excluded from the Bible, because it did not follow the general theme and orthodoxy that was deemed to be acceptable by the council at Nicene. This is a review of the Gospel of St. Thomas. The Gospel of St. Thomas is an early Christian Gnostic work. According to the work, St. Thomas was a favored disciple of Jesus. After Jesus' death, Thomas went on a mission to India and found a deeper spirituality through meditation and introspection. This book deals with the differences between the Gnostic viewpoints put forward in The Gospel of St. Thomas and the accepted books of the Bible, in particular the Gospel of St. John.



5. I loving learning all I can about the time of Jesus. Elaine Pagels is a great author. I highly recommend this CD set.

5 comments about Journey Back to Eden: My Life and Times Among the Desert Fathers.

1. I just finished this book and absolutely loved it. It thrills me to see someone who is not Coptic, slowly develop a deep since of your mindset and feelings. The monks must have truly accepted the author to share so much with him and in turn, the author poetically describes everything to the reader.
   
   For anyone that is curious about us (the Copts) and our religion, this book is a wonderful introduction. It capture a very true sense of who we are, what we believe, and how we worship God. I can't thank the author enough for bringing to light, this hidden treasures of my culture.



2. This memoir of the year that Fr. Gruber spent among the Coptic monasteries of Egypt is fascinating. Fr. Gruber lovingly describes these men and their piety, along with the phenomenal faith of the Coptic lay people. There appears to be a direct line back to the conferences of John Cassian in the lives of these monks, but that perhaps is because Fr. Gruber has crafted the chapters in such a way to invite the comparison. But maybe not. These men live lives of remarkable holiness. I loved the image of people grabbing them by the ankle and holding on till the monk will bless them. I also loved the hike in 130 degree heat, and realization that the cave he has been brought to, and in which he spends the next three days, probably saves his life, in that it is much cooler than the monastery, nothing is swimming in the drinking water, etc. At any rate, I highly recommend this book. I do agree with the review that states this treats more of his exterior life than interior, but why should he discuss his private life with us. Also, there is another book (can't recall the author) called "Coptic Nuns" that makes a nice companion to this book, in terms of knowing more about the culture.



3. I don't know which was more interesting, the author's anthropological observations or his spiritual journey. Both fascinating and enlightening. Originally, Br. Gruber sets out to study the fathers of monasticism with a scholar's eye (albeit a fellow Monk-scholar), but the desert and those who live there transform him eternally.
   
   This book is a fresh drink of water! Here are my favorite passages:
   
   "In all of this," Abuna Elia said, "the desert was a teacher for Abraham. The desert teaches us how helpless we are, how much we depend upon one another for survival. It is with a complete sense of dependence, a complete sense of helplessness that we must approach God, and that we must approach one another in terms of possessiveness and control."
   
   "By complete openness and availability to one another, we are obedient to each other in matters of charity. We are at each other's service.... But at the same time... our relationships must be ordered by a surrender, a letting go, a sacrifice. We own no one; we possess no one."
   
   "Abuna Elia assured me that the sacrifices we make in our lives as Monks, as Christians, will always be enfolded in layer upon layer of the sacrifices that went before us."
   
   "Abuna Elia said, 'When God asks us to make heroic sacrifices, it is not because he is heedless of what we are giving up; he is profoundly aware of it. When we are offering gifts to God, we are not really offering much, unless, at the same time, we are also submitting all those things that are valuable to us. We must submit to God's will everything which is dearest to us, that which is our only one of something, that which we love, that which is even beyond our ordinary capacity to imagine losing. Otherwise, all of our prayers and protestations of fidelity are somewhat strategic and not genuine or sincere." pp42-43
   
   
   Later, during a time of pilgrim visits, the author is left with the small children to care for. He builds a fire and answers their endless questions about heaven, about "what it is like to see Jesus there," about Mary, about who God is. Night falls and the children keep talking until they fall asleep by the fire.
   
   "So there I was, sitting by the dying fire, with all of these sleeping children around me. I looked at them in the starlight and the moonlight and was touched by the fact that they are so filled with faith so innocently seeking God. This is the second time since coming here to Egypt that I have found myself in exactly the same setting, surrounded by young people asking questions and listening to answers, tiring themselves out into exhaustion and sleep. And, just as before, there is once again that stabbing realization that none of these are my children, that I shall never have children such as these to instruct and teach."
   
   "I looked up at the sky on this beauiful, clear desert night. I thought to myself that I had never seen such an array of stars, so numerous and so bright. Then, of course, at this moment, the passage from the Book of Genesis came to mind where God said to Abraham, 'Look up into the night sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so shall your descendants be' (cf. Genesis 15:5). So there I was sitting, looking up at the night sky, knowing how impossible it is in the desert night to count the stars. And even while I was feeling the special poignancy of not having children, I suddenly realized that these children all around me are not only children of Abraham, but they are also mine as well. For I have instructed them in faith, and I have given them tonight a greater realization of their own religion, their own spirituality. I have placed them confidently in the presence of God." pp 84-85



4. The comtemplative monk is a baffling figure to Westerners, even to many Catholics, and moreover, most Westerners probably do not think very much of the Christians in Egypt, which we tend to think of as a wholly Muslim nation.
   
   Fr. Gruber's evocative descriptions of Coptic monasticism and spirituality beautifully illustrate how inner conversion and contemplation are the heart of the Church. In the West we often hear an emphasis on practical action, or social justice, over and above contemplative prayer. Fr. Gruber's writings about the Copts show how contemplative prayer nurtures us and gives life to all our actions. It is a great window into a neglected and persecuted Christian population, and an inspiration for our daily lives and relationship with God.



5. This book about a Roman Catholic monk, Mark Gruber, and his extra-ordinary journey from the green fields of the U.S. to the deserts of Egypt is just breathtaking. As a member of the Coptic Orthodox church, and of Egyptian stock, i simply found Mr Gruber's plain and truthful telling of his experiance just so refreshing. It's funny, this man spoke more wonderfully about the Coptic people then most people at my church think of themselves. He showed them for their weaknesses, and their strengths, just as he saw it. It has helped me to appreciate who I am, my background, and my traditions so much more.
   
   This book is great if you enjoy stories regarding exotic lands and peoples, and an honest telling of their journey.