The readings of this day revolve around God’s economy and His saving will for mankind, which was revealed by the cross, showing how God loved the world until He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life, and how the temple of the New Testament established His Holy Church, whose members came from every tribe, tongue, people and nation (Rev 5: 9).
Therefore, today’s readings speak of:
* The economy of God in His creation of Man, and the glory that He gave to him.
• The authority that man had over the whole creation, and how man lost his dignity, glory and authority by his fall (the prophecies of the first and ninth hour)
* God returned to give His people the glory of His word on the mountain with the Prophet Moses, but the people were distracted and deviated to the worship of the calf (the prophecy of the sixth hour).
* The readings declare the cause of the fall that they defiled His law and rejected His saving will (the prophecy of the third hour)
* Despite the saving power of God for all mankind (eleventh hour prophecy).
• And how God created His holy abode not only for His people, but also for all nations (the Gospel of the first and third hour)
• To be the cause of joy, praise and glory (Psalm of the third and sixth hour).
* In order for them to meet the love of the Father (the Gospel of the sixth hour).
• This is the goal of His authority, which they did not understand (the Gospel of the sixth hour).
* And His economy since the beginning with the fathers (the Gospel of the eleventh hour).
* The first hour of Monday
Prophecies:
The first prophecy (Genesis 1: 1 – 31/2: 1-3)
The readings at this hour begin with the story of creation and the first beginnings, God’s economy in the creation of Man and the greatness of the glory that He gave to him, the authority that became his over the whole creation, and how God first created everything well and then crowned all this with Man as the image of God.
[God gave man from the shadow of the word to be sane in order to live the life of the Saints in Paradise and gave him a commandment to keep the grace given to him] (St. Athanasius the Apostle)[3].
How beautiful the saying of the the book is that after everything is done that God saw it very well:
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”
Origen says [the first verse “In the beginning God created …” does not belong to time, but Christ,glory be to Him, who is the beginning of everything except our Lord and savior of all people (1 Timothy 4:10) Jesus Christ, “the firstborn of all creation” (Col 1: 15)?
In this beginning, that is, in His word, “God created the heavens and the earth” “as the evangelist John says at the beginning of his gospel“ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1: 1 – 3).
The book does not speak of a temporal beginning, but of this beginning, which is the Savior, through whom the heavens and the Earth were made. [4]
Many of the early fathers say that the image on which man was created is the example of the body taken by the word, according to the expression of St. Clement of Alexandria,” Here the image of God is the image of image.”
Therefore, we are not very surprised by the coming of the story of the creation of the world and man in today’s readings, because the word (logos) is the One who created the world, and it is He who renewed its nature by His death and resurrection, that is, He recreated it and became a new creation in Christ (Col 5: 17).
In a sermon attributed to Saint Pachomius, the father of communion, he calls the days of Pascha such as the six days of the creation of the world, which were completed by the creation of the first man, and humanity entered rest on the seventh day (crossing from hell to paradise):
[Let us strive, my dears, during these days of Pascha, which have been given to us every year in order to redeem our souls so that we may spend them in the work of God . For in six days, from the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, God was working in His creation until He completed it. And on the seventh day He rested from all His work] [6]
The second prophecy(Isiaah 5 :1-9)
The prophecy here explains the perfection of God’s economy of His church in the Old Testament – the beloved new planting – and the perfection of His care for His people, and how He created everything well for them, and waited for truth, justice and mercy, but found only injustice and sin:
” Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill.
He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes.
“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.”
The third prophecy (Joshua ben Sirach 1: 1 – 24)
The wisdom of Joshua ben Sirach comes to speak of the Son of God, the eternal wisdom Word, who overflowed mankind with His wisdom and those who fear and love Him realized that:
“One is a great, majestic sage sitting on his throne, the Lord is the one who acquired it, saw it, counted it and bestowed it on all her works, it is on every person according to his gift and he has given it to his lovers … the crown of wisdom, the fear of the lord, it creates a flower and the grace of healing, he has seen it, counted it, added Understanding and knowledge and raised the glory of the one who adheres to it”.
Psalm (71: 18 or 72 in the Agpeya)
“Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things!
And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.”
As our father Tadros Yaakob Malti says about this psalm, in which the proclamation of the kingdom of God and his dwelling among his people becomes clear:
(This psalm is considered the conclusion of the second section of the Psalms Book corresponding to the book of Exodus (PS 42 – 72) which speaks of salvation as a collective church life. This concluding Psalm corresponds to what is stated at the end of the book of Exodus (25 – 40) where he announces the erection of the tabernacle and the public appearance of the glory of God in it as the palace of the Heavenly King, who wants to dwell among His people.
It is also the psalm of God the king who redeems and saves His people:
He serves the poor people, saves the wretched, crushes the oppressor … and all kings worship Him. All nations worship Him because he saves the poor in distress, and the desolate, since he has no one to pity the poor and wretched, and saves the souls of the poor from injustice and kidnapping, redeems themselves, and honors their blood in his eyes” (verses4, 11-14)][7].
That is, this verse is the conclusion of the psalm of God’s salvation for His people, and the conclusion of the collection of Psalms of God’s salvation in the church, which is the purpose of His economy of His church and holy house, which is the subject of the Gospel of the hour.
The link between the psalm and the Gospel is Blessed be the Lord God of Israel … (father Luke Sedarus)[8]
Some fathers say that the fig that the Lord cursed this morning refers to Israel, who did not produce fruit.
The psalm refers to the Lord Jesus (the God of Israel), who performed this miracle in Israel by cutting off some branches (Ro 11) for lack of faith, and immediately died.
The Wonderworker alone …
The psalm prophesies early in the early day about the miracle-maker alone and blesses Him and this miracle that Jesus did in the fruitless fig makes us reflect: Jesus is hungry for the fruit in the fig, He came to her asking for fruit, every morning He approaches every soul hungry for the fruit of the spirit .. “Make fruits worthy of repentance”. He says that every branch in me that does not bear fruit takes it off, and everything that bears fruit purifies it so that it will bear more fruit.
This morning He approached those in the temple and found no fruit, so He took them out.
This cursed fig is how many hungry souls were attracted to it, but there was no satiety in it, and the Lord revealed to His children (disciples) her deception, so no one will eat fruit from it forever. So that none of the Lord’s children will be deceived by her yet.
Blessed is the name of His holy glory …
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, whose holiness cannot bear that the temple should become a den of thieves, for He sanctifies His temple and purifies it with His hand.
The gospel (Mark 11: 12-24)
The readings of this hour speak of a natural fig tree, and a spiritual fig tree, both of which, unfortunately, ended in cursing.
So the reading begins with the natural fig tree, which usually bears fruit before or with its leaves!!, But unfortunately here she showed many leaves without any fruit.
And also the spiritual tree, His holy house, in which there were many leaves of adoption, glory, covenants, enactment, worship and appointments (Romans 9:4) but without the fruit of the knowledge of God and His fear, and even became a house of trade, fraud and injustice akin to a cave of thieves.
“Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.
And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.
So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.
Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves. “
The third hour of Monday
The readings of this hour come to declare the cause of cursing and judgment:
Underestimation of the word of God, His sanctities and worship,
And not accepting His saving will,
It also proclaims His authority in discipline and purification.
Prophecies
The first prophecy (Isiaah 5: 20 – etc)
This prophecy warns against injustice and against underestimating the word of God and His commandment:
” Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man!
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people; “
The second prophecy (Jermiah 9: 12-19)
And the prophecy emphasizes here the same meaning:
“Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?….. “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it,”
The Lord calls them to repent and they will survive death and destruction:
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider and call for the mourning women, That they may come; And send for skillful wailing women, That they may come.
Let them make haste And take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may run with tears, And our eyelids gush with water.”
It is strange that this chapter in which the Lord reproaches Israel for rejecting the dwelling of God and His divine presence, so their dwelling in the ways of the world became in the ways of the world “Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit” (Jermiah 9: 6).
Psalm (Psalm 121: 1, 2 )
“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet have been standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem!”
As one of the Holy Fathers says: a large part of the people before the captivity used to disdain worship and sacrifices until the captivity happened, and they were deprived of the temple for many years, and when they returned from captivity, how much joy they had and how much they longed for the temple:
(A large crowd of Hebrews before their captivity despised the temple, so they offered sacrifices to idols on the mountains and hills. But after suffering sorrows and adversities, their longing for the temple of God increased. And when they preached to them to be freed from slavery and set out for Jerusalem, they rejoiced greatly, and they began to tell one another, saying, “to the House of the Lord we are going“. This is the profit from sorrows.[Father Anthimus of Jerusalem] [9]
The link between the psalm and the Gospel is “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord. (father Luke Sedarus)[10]
However, we see that the eye of prophecy goes beyond these temporal incidents. And it gives us a real entrance to the entry of Christ at this hour into the temple with the disciples.
If there is joy in returning from captivity and entering the Temple, how much joy will the whole creation have in returning to God, seen in the temple and with Christ.
Our feet have been standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem
And how overwhelming is the joy of building not a physical structure, but much more spiritual structures for God’s dwelling.
And if in the days of the captivity Nehemiah purified Jerusalem from the old cults, the Lord Jesus purified the temple from all the voices of the world, The Voice of silver and the love of money, The Voice of the pride of the chief priests, and The Voice of Commerce (the sellers of pigeons).
On the way up to the temple to worship … the Lord cursed hypocrisy (figs) because it poses the greatest danger to those who walk in a life of prayer and worship.
The gospel (Mark 11: 12-24)
The Gospel of this hour comes from the same gospel of the first hour (Mark 11: 12 -24)
But at the first hour it continued the conversation with what happened in the morning, when the disciples looked at the fig tree, and Peter remembered the Lord’s saying about the fig tree, and the Lord revealed to them the greatness of faith that carries mountains.
The sixth hour of Monday
The readings of this hour explain the cleansing of the stone temple and the human temple.
Prophecies
The first prophecy (Ex 32: 7-15)
The corruption of the human temple, which is the people of God, appears when Moses the Prophet was late to descend and they made for themselves a calf of gold and it was the cause of divine anger against them:
“And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, “
The readings also show the intercession of Moses the prophet for all the people as a symbol of the intercession of the blood of the son of God in the New Testament for His church before God the Father:
“Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand.”
And St. Augustine likes to resemble the Prophet Moses here with the tenderness of a mother and her willingness to sacrifice herself for the sake of the survival of her children.[11]
St. Ephrem the Syriac also sees that the Lord’s word to Moses “let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them” as if he were saying to him: do not leave me to protect my anger, a word that reveals the depth of Moses ‘ prophetic favour with God.157
The second prophecy (the wisdom of Solomon 1: 1-9)
It draws the path of purification of our human temples that is to say our hearts in:
Love of Justice.
A life of goodness.
Simplicity of the heart in prayer.
Resist the evil thought.
Stay away from fraud and injustice.
Take care and beware of blasphemy.
“Love justice, judges of the Earth, remind the Lord of righteousness … because the spirit of wisdom is a lover of mankind, he does not acquit the blasphemer with his lips, because the witness of his kidneys is God, he is the true examiner of his heart and the hearer of his tongue, because the spirit of the Lord has filled the inhabited and the rest of all and he knows their voices”.
Psalm (Psalm 121: 4)
Here we see how the glory of the human and Stone Temple is in everyone’s prayer and ascension to the temple with one breath and in the spirit of praise and confession to the Lord.
Because the word tribes here in another translation is Tribes.
” Where the tribes go up, The tribes of the Lord, To the Testimony of Israel, To give thanks to the name of the Lord.”
The link between the psalm and the Gospel is Where the tribes go up (Luke Sedarus)[12]
The Lord went up to the temple and was accompanied by the tribes of the Lord, I mean the pure apostles, to feast to the Lord Jesus a real feast … and testify to Him that it is the true Passover that was sacrificed for us.
The ascension of the apostles to the temple is a testimony to Israel because they are the witnesses of Christ ..They are also witnesses of His wonders,signs,passions,death and resurrection. They also bear witness to the ingratitude of the chief priests and scribes, and they also sit on twelve chairs and condemn the twelve tribes of Israel .
The path of witnessing to the Lord and recognizing His name includes:
The dependence of the ascending Lord to Jerusalem .
Purification of the heart (temple) from all world matters and confusions.
Holy zeal in worship.
The gospel (John 2: 13-17)
It concludes with the Gospel in which the son of God changes over his Father’s house, which has turned into a trade:
“and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”
And the wondrous repetition of the ascension between the first prophecy, the psalm and the gospel:
Moses the prophet in his ascent on the mountain and his dialogue with God.
And the ascent of tribes or tribes to the House of God.
And the Lord Jesus ascended to Jerusalem.
And this is the journey of this hour, the constant ascent upward, for every soul, for the Holy Church united by one thought and spirit to praise and glorify the Lord with pure, simple hearts as stated in the second prophecy.
The ninth hour on Monday
Having cleansed His stone and human temple in the readings of the previous hours, here the Lord declares His divine authority for salvation, which is the authority that He gave to the first man Adam who did not keep it(the first prophecy).
And He gave it to the priests for the consolation of the people and the forgiveness of their sins (the second prophecy).
And He gave it to the king to realize the economy of God (the third prophecy)
And to parents for the discipline and salvation of their children (the third prophecy).
The act of His authority extends eternally to His chosen ones (Psalm).
This is what the leaders of the people resisted a lot and did not understand the purpose of His authority (the gospel)
Prophecies
The first prophecy (Exodus 2 : 15 – 3: 1 – etc.)
The readings begin with the authority that God gave at the beginning of creation to the first man to farm paradise and preserve it, and He also gave him to call all animals by their names, and it was as he said:
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it…..
Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field.”
When the temptation happened and the man believed the advice of the serpent about the false and illusory authority and became naked, God did not leave him without a promise of victory, despite his disobedience, and the One who would crush the serpent’s head would come from his descendants:
“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
We also see why this prophecy came here and its relation to the economy of salvation, as St. Augustine explained in his explanation of the verse,” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become –according to the Coptic translation-one body.”
[He left the Father by renouncing His glories and taking the form of a slave (Phil 2: 7), although He remains one with him in essence without separation, just as He left His mother, the Jewish people, from whom He took the body through the Jewish Saint Mary, so that He and His bride became one body]. (Saint Augustine) [13]
Perhaps this is what the verse means, that is, the incarnation in the fullness of time, because the custom in the countries of the East is for a woman to leave the House of her father and mother, and not a man.
The second prophecy (Isiaah 40: 1-5)
“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God.
“Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned;”
And Archdacon Abanob Abdo commenting on this verse: [“comfort the heart of Jerusalem”, the literal translation is “speak to the heart of Jerusalem”, this expression was repeated 8 times in the Old Testament (Genesis 34: 3; and 50: 21; and D: 3; cf 2: 13; and to 19: 7; and 2 20: 22; is 2: 14) .It was addressed to a lover or a sweetheart. The church here is the beloved bride of Christ to whom He speaks in the language of love that only the heart can understand. The language in which He spoke most openly and deeply during the cross to acquire mankind as a bride for Him (Rev 7: 19 and 21:2,9). Unfortunately, the word “priests” in the Peruvian translation was omitted from the verse “comfort, comfort my people, priests” according to the Coptic translation, reducing the importance of the priesthood and its mission] [14]
The third prophecy (Proverbs 1: 1 -9)
Here the authority that the king takes from God is the authority of wisdom, economy and leadership according to God’s thought:
” The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding,
To receive the instruction of wisdom, Justice, judgment, and equity;”
And also the authority of parents to teach politeness and wisdom:
“My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother;
For they will be a graceful ornament on your head, And chains about your neck.” (Proverbs 1)
Psalm 121:4
The psalm speaks of the authority of God in the salvation of all peoples and nations and in the gift of eternal life to His chosen ones:
“Blessed is the man You choose, And cause to approach You, That he may dwell in Your courts. You will answer us, O God of our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of the far-off seas;”
[Quotations from this psalm come on more than one liturgical occasion, in the Liturgy of the feast of the renewal of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, on the feast of the cross and the Palm Sunday Gospel and Psalm] (Father Yacob Malti)[15].
The link between the psalm and the Gospel is “You will answer us, O God of our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of the far-off seas;” (Father Luke Sedarus)[16]
This prayer is repeated by all those who ascend to the temple from the countries of the world, they seek the face of God the Savior and the Lord Jesus, who ascended to the temple, is the only Savior, and He is the hope of the lands of the Earth, but the chief priests closed their eyes and deafened their ears.
When they saw Him expel the pigeons sellers and sanctify the temple, they said to Him: by what authority do you do this and who gave you this authority, Jesus asked them about the baptism of John and the door of repentance and return to God.
When they asked Him about His authority to expel people from the temple and accept others (disciples), the Lord spoke directly about baptism to assure them that it was the only door for true entry into the temple. And when the chief priests refused to answer and said, cunningly, we do not know, Jesus also said to them, ‘ I am not telling you by what authority I am doing this, since it has illuminated the way before them, but they loved darkness more than light.
Blessed is the man You choose, And cause to approach You, The Good Shepherd has stood up to distinguish between sheep and goats, and He is the door through which we enter, if anyone enters through, he enters and goes out and finds a pasture, and He chose us before the foundation of the world .. He chose the ignorant (disciples) so that the wise (chief priests and scribes) get ashamed and God chose the poor of the world so that the rich get ashamed.
That he may dwell in Your courts forever
The Lord accepted us to Him as He accepted the prodigal son and the sinful woman, ” the one who comes to Him,He will not cast out”.
And at such an hour He accepted the thief, while He was on the cross, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke23: 43).
The gospel (Matthew 21: 23-27)
The gospel concludes with the absence of the vision of leaders and chiefs in understanding the purpose of the authority of the son of God and their being confined to their temporal and earthly authority lest they lose their authority over the people:
“Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”
The eleventh hour of Monday
The readings of this watch speak of:
The gifts of God and the gifts of his divine economy for mankind in salvation (the first prophecy)
And wisdom (the second prophecy)
And enlightenment (the third prophecy)
And the word of everlasting life (the gospel).
Prophecies
The first prophecy (Isiaah 50: 1-3)
This prophecy speaks of the gift of salvation freely given to all mankind, but it is received by those who believe it, believe in it and live it with constant repentance:
“For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, And for your transgressions your mother has been put away. Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? “
The second prophecy (Joshua ben Sirach 1 : 25) – etc
The gift of wisdom is shown here to those who live in the fear of God and in His commandment:
“The parables of education are contained in the treasures of wisdom “. If you crave wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord will give them to you”.
Psalm (Ps 12: 4)
“Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him”; Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.”
St. Cyril the great says here that death is the death of the soul when it chooses the false and corrupted because of its inattention and lack of vigilance and awareness:
[In order to get closer to the true Light, I mean Christ, we praise Him in the Psalms, saying: “enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death”. It is a true death, the death of the soul, not the body, when we fall from the integrity of the true teachings and choose falsehood instead of the truth. Therefore, it is necessary that our waists must be girded and our lamps must be burning, as we are told here] (St. Cyril The Great) [17]
The link between the psalm and the Gospel is “You will answer us, O God of our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, (Father Luke Sedarus)[18]
The Lord spoke at this hour about how Abraham’s eyes lit up in ancient times, and he saw with the eyes of Prophecy the sacrifice of the cross and the glory of the resurrection when he offered Isaac a sacrifice, and the Fraternal Jews – with pride of heart-could not endure the humility of the Lord and His words and took stones to stone Him, so So Jesus disappeared and came out of the temple
O Christ, my God, you are the light .. And your commandments are light .. enlighten my eyes lest I sleep in death .. Abraham’s eyes were also illuminated, and he saw your day and rejoiced at the sacrifice of your cross, and do not allow my mind to be darkened .. So that the enemy does not overcome me.
The world is raising stones to stone me because I am testifying to You as I was testifying to the Father, but my enemy will not be strong against me as long as I am with You even if they hang me on the cross with You .
The gospel (John 8: 51) – etc
The gospel concludes with the gift of the word of life, which saves from eternal death:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.”