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"To paraphrase Henry David Thoreau, I would not write about Egypt so much if I knew any place better. My hope is that Egyptian monasticism will be or become familiar enough that the reader will see in these chapters both his or her own journey and monasticism in general." Tim Vivian, IntroductionTim Vivian adds one:
I take the Rev. Dr. Tim Vivian very seriously, for he is a highly regarded Coptologist, who explores within his profuse work, combining to his amazing 'philoponoic' potential, the fine tools of scholarly distinction and a mystical insight. In his book dedication of, 'Four Funerals and a Wedding,' he adds one, which one, I have no clue. For a contemporary Coptic monk, Al Manahry, a rare fool for Christ, who kept uttering, "I wish to be wedded," the common life of the wedded, is to bear witness to Christ in their lives and in the world. In the ancient Church of Alexandria, crowns symbolized martyrdom. A 'martyr' means a witness, and martyrdom is usually associated with death.
But Fr. Tim added one, a sanctifying work, reading into the cenobitic mind and heart of the Desert fathers, who would be smiling to him from eternity, where he takes the readers, on a mystical tour, this time. Abba Vivian, defines the rules of spiritual engagement, and offer thanks to a distinguished group of experts, of whom stands out two Coptologists, Tito Orlandi and Birger Pearson. He then acknowledges a decem of articles of which "Standing up to Leo," is part of the Life of Longinus. He finishes his book on Ash Wednesday, in a Coptic patristic tradition.
A Journey to the Interior:
Following a brief but informing Coptic glossary of seven pages, his introduction which reflect on our daily encounter with violence acknowledging our illusions of peace, contrasting with spiritual warfare, a main theme of early Christian monastic life. Advocating and promoting the attentive reading of those Abbas and Ammas, he notes, "..., our relief will be short-lived, because for them the spiritual world is more real than the temporal, more holy and more deadly. That fact alone makes these monks worth reading still today: they remind us that evil is very real. ... We have met the enemy and he is US." Grieving with Virginia Tech victims' families, I feel Sun-Kyung agony, "We are humbled by this darkness. We feel hopeless, and lost."
A monastic and Personal Journey:
Through Tim Vivian own personal experience two decades past, we are introduced to the Monastic vocation in the place of its birth in the holy monastic triangle, Nitria, Kellia, and Scetis. As an American archeologists team member, to excavate the monastery of Saint John the little, "living just outside a Coptic monastery and digging in the ruins of an ancient monastic settlement, ..with manual labor, study, and prayer." Later on, Fr. Vivian, connected the spirituality of the early desert fathers with his own students, and a gradual but rich and fruitful career of patristic scholarship in Coptic manuscripts translations and desert fathers biographical and theological studies has taken a steady course.
The Life of Longinus:
"The soldiers stood and shot their arrows at the chorus of monks and not one of them was harmed! And all of them said this hymn in unison: ' My trust is in the Lord; how will you say to our soul, "Flee to the mountains like a sparrow, for look, the wicked bend their bows, they have fitted their arrows to the string, to shoot their arrows secretly at the upright in heart," ... that mighty soldier, Apa Longinus, who fought to the death for the truth, who showed that he dwelled under the shadow of the Almighty, was not afraid to face the arrows flying through the air but made his profession of faith like a conscript, saying, 'His truth will surround you like these weapons, you shall not fear an arrow that flies by day." (the Miracle on the battlefield, pp 270)
Words to live by, in a nutshell:
"What I, in Los Angeles, today, experience in these writings are people reaching out from their desert to redeem mine. If I can listen to what they have to say, maybe I can live in the world in a different way and, to some tiny extent, see the world -like an icon covered with dust and neglect- restored to its original nature, as each person is restored by taking up the work of restoration." Gary Commins, Forward
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