Articles - From the Vicar

Rejoice and give praise, O Egypt,
together with her children and all her districts,
for unto you has come the Lover of Humankind,
he who is before all ages………

The lines above come from the worship of the ancient Coptic Christian Church in Egypt. They are part of a longer hymn of praise that commemorates and celebrates the flight of the holy family into Egypt after the visit of the wise men to the infant Jesus, events both described in chapter 2 of Matthew’s Gospel.

Coptic Christians constitute some 10% of the population of Egypt and are a living witness to the continuous presence of Christianity in north Africa for over nineteen hundred years: the traditional founder of Christianity in Egypt is St. Mark and the leaders of the Coptic Church – its Popes - are considered to be successors to St. Mark in the same way that Roman Catholic Popes are successors to St. Peter.

Matthew’s juxtaposition of the stories of the magi’s visit and the flight into Egypt illustrate two contrasting themes that are at the heart of Epiphany-tide: glory and vulnerability. The child of Bethlehem who is revealed and worshipped as King spends time as a defenceless refugee from the terror of state sponsored oppression. For Christians in many parts of the world, not least the Coptic community in Egypt, it is the vulnerability of Jesus Christ that speaks most eloquently in the face of hostility and persecution. Our brothers and sisters who live out their faith in such circumstances are a humbling reminder to those of us more fortunately placed that the glorious resurrection life to which we are called requires obedience to a God whose vulnerability led him to the Cross.

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay