Fr Antonios Kaldas

May 25, 2011

What Drives Atheists Batty.

Do you know what it is like to be a bat?

I have been doing some reading on the tantalising question of what human consciousness is, and it has led me to some very strong arguments for the limitations of scientific explanations.

The natural enemy of the Christian faith today is no longer paganism as it was in the Apostolic age, but naturalism: the idea that nothing exists except that which is physical, made of matter and energy. The naturalist therefore only accepts that which you can examine scientifically and objectively. Anything outside this definition is considered not to exist or be real. Thus of course, the very idea of a supernatural God is unacceptable to the naturalist.

But human consciousness seems to pose an insoluble problem for the naturalist. In 1974 Serbian-American philosopher Thomas Nagel published a paper titled “What is it Like to be a Bat?” In it, he pointed out that no amount of objective, scientific knowledge can tell us what it feels like to be a bat. OK, maybe we can imagine flying like a bat, since we have our own similar experiences of flying in airplanes or floating under parachutes. But whereas we humans mostly experience the outside world through our sense of sight, bats mostly experience the outside world through a sense we do not possess: echolocation. They emit high pitched sound waves that bounce off their surroundings and they have specialised, highly sensitive sensors for picking up the reflected waves and creating a mental picture of the world around them. It’s a kind of natural sonar system. Continue reading “What Drives Atheists Batty.”

May 6, 2011

Gentlemen: Please be Gentlemen.

As a student at university in the 80s I had a traumatic experience. One day, as I was walking out of the library, I noticed a female student, a complete stranger, walking out right behind me. So I did the courteous thing and held the door open for her to go out first. What followed still haunts my nightmares! How dare I do such a thing! She launched into an aggressive tirade about how patronising I was being; did I think that she was incapable of opening a door for herself? Who did I think I was? Welcome to the world of late twentieth century feminism! I did the only the only thing I could: I apologised for my thoughtlessness and walked out the door.

In a world where relationships have changed in so many ways, I find it sad that good old fashioned courtesy has been one of the casualties. It hasn’t been totally eradicated of course, but it has certainly decreased greatly in importance. There are some who argue that this is not such a bad thing. Courtesy can certainly be used a cloak for anger, insults or sarcasm. But that is misuse – it is not the courtesy’s fault, but the user’s.

Others complain that courtesy encourages insincerity. Isn’t it better to just be honest about our feelings rather than hide them under a formal disguise of good manners? Again, one must distinguish between use and misuse. There is nothing inherent in courtesy to make us act insincerely. It should always be practiced from the heart, with feelings of love towards others. And that same love dictates that we must be honest with each other. All courtesy does is ensure that when we are honest, we do so with respect, kindness and consideration.

For me, one of the images that epitomises the sublime nobility of courtesy is the famous 1500m race in 1956 where John Landy went back to help fellow runner Ron Clarke who had tripped over. Incredibly, Landy went on to catch up to the rest of the field and win the race! I wonder how many people today would do what he did? And what does that tell us about how we deal with each other?

Courtesy is Biblical. To love one another is the core command that Christ gave us, and again and again in the Bible we find that agape love expressed through courtesy. In that most famous of passages about love, we learn that among other things, “Love … is kind … does not behave rudely, does not seek its own …” 1 Corinthians 13:4,5.

God is courteous towards even those who evil: Continue reading “Gentlemen: Please be Gentlemen.”

April 25, 2011April 25, 2011

Who Do You Pray To?

When you pray, to whom do you pray?

I am not talking about the theological description of God here, but the personal one. When I write a letter or an email to someone, I hold in my mind an image of the person to whom I am writing. That image may include things like an image of their face, a memory of the way they laugh, an emotional attitude towards them. This personal image is often far more important in guiding what I write than any purely rational facts or knowledge about the person, such as their age or address.

So in the same way, while our dogmatic knowledge about who God is, His nature and characteristics, is important in so many ways, but when it comes to actually talking to Him, it is often thrust into the background. Rather, it is our personal, individual, idiosyncratic image of Him that most determines the quality of our prayer life (I think something similar may also be said of how we read the Bible, but I won’t go into that now).

So when you pray, what is the image of God you hold in your mind? Who is the One you talk to? What emotional ‘colours’ does He appear to you with, and what is His personality like? Continue reading “Who Do You Pray To?”

April 16, 2011

Biography of Crucifixion

Golgotha

At the threshold of Passion Week, I present an excerpt from an archaeological article written in 1985 by Vassilios Tzaferis. He reported on the first ever finding of the remains of a victim of crucifixion, although of course, there is a great deal of written evidence that the practice of crucifixion was by no means uncommon in the ancient world. Here he presents a brief history of Crucifixion. I warn you, some of it is not very pleasant reading.

Many people erroneously assume that crucifixion was a Roman invention. In fact, Assyrians, Phoenicians and Persians all practiced crucifixion during the first millennium B.C. Crucifixion was introduced in the west from these eastern cultures; it was used only rarely on the Greek mainland, but Greeks in Sicily and southern Italy used it more frequently, probably as a result of their closer contact with Phoenicians and Carthaginians.

During the Hellenistic period, crucifixion became more popular among the Hellenized population of the east. After Alexander died in 323 B.C., crucifixion was frequently employed both by the Seleucids (the rulers of the Syrian half of Alexander’s kingdom) and by the Ptolemies (the rulers of the Egyptian half). Among the Jews crucifixion was an anathema. (See Deuteronomy 21:22–23: “If a man is guilty of a capital offense and is put to death, and you impale him on a stake, you must not let his corpse remain on the stake overnight, but must bury him the same day. For an impaled body is an affront to God: you shall not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.”)

The traditional method of execution among Jews was stoning. Nevertheless, crucifixion was occasionally employed by Jewish tyrants during the Hasmonean period. According to Josephus, Alexander Jannaeus crucified 800 Jews on a single day during the revolt against the census of 7 A.D. At the end of the first century B.C., the Romans adopted crucifixion as an official punishment for non-Romans for certain legally limited transgressions. Continue reading “Biography of Crucifixion”

April 9, 2011

Body Contact Spirituality

We often speak of our spirits, our thoughts or our feelings being in contact with God. But in Eastern Christianity, we also pay attention to our body being in contact with God. What exactly does this mean?

Church tradition teaches us to pray as a whole person, body, spirit and mind together. Contact with God is more than a purely rational experience. This is also true of most things in life that really matter. For example, the bond between a mother and child is a physical one. There are lots of hugs and cuddles and kisses going on all the time. There are smiles and frowns, coos and gurgles, friendly pats and gentle caresses, and the occasional bitten finger when baby mistakes Mum’s thumb for a teething ring.

On a deeper level, there are hormones and nervous system mechanisms that are activated by the mother-child relationship. Mothers of newborn babies have a lot of the hormone oxytocin circulating in their bodies. While this hormone contributes to the changes in their bodies that prepare them for breastfeeding, it has also been shown to have the effect of strengthening the emotional bond between the mother and child. God’s own natural love potion!

When we commune with God, we feel emotions towards God. Emotions are always associated with powerful physical changes. Continue reading “Body Contact Spirituality”

April 2, 2011

Sing A New Song (or write one)

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I had a lot of trouble with the ‘X’.

Below is a an experimental hymn to be sung during Holy Communion. It is an acrostic hymn; that is, each stanza begins with a different letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order. Not a lot of ‘X’ words to choose from, so I cheated a little.

I would like to encourage the English-speaking, musically talented members of our congregation to think about creating some new communion hymns. The ones we have are beautiful, but you can only sing them so many times before you start wishing there were some more. And surely, there is so much more that can be said or sung about the unique mystery of the Eucharist? Here is my idea of the ideal characteristics of a Holy Communion hymn:

1. It should be joyful. This is actually not my idea, but a strong Church tradition. Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ is perhaps the most joyous experience we can have on earth, so the Church teaches us that we must not sing sad hymns while we have it.

2. It should help us experience the mystery of the Eucharist more deeply.

3. It should focus largely on Jesus Himself, so far as possible, although of course it can present Jesus as He is reflected in the lives of His saints, for example.

4. It should touch the heart as well as engage the mind.

5. It should be in keeping with the general style of the Coptic liturgy’s musical tradition. Communion is, after all, the final part of the liturgy, not an ‘add on’ after the liturgy has finished.

6. It should be relatively easy for the whole congregation to join in. A repeated chorus helps those whose memory may not be crash hot.

7. It should have an enjoyable tune. Praying should be an experience of joy!

So, I had a go. I am not very musically gifted, so I ‘borrowed’ a traditional tune Continue reading “Sing A New Song (or write one)”

March 17, 2011

Follow Me

There are certain core principles at the heart of Christian life. There is a Latin term that summarises their importance: “sine qua non” or “without this, it is not”. Without living these principles, a person is simply not a Christian.

The calling of Levi (St Matthew) to be a Disciple of Christ is an example of one of those principles. It illustrates the kind of trusting surrender without which no one can truly be called a Christian. Others, more advanced in religious life, like the rich young man (Mark ch.10) failed in this principle and could not follow Jesus. This brought sadness to His heart.

How much did Levi know about Jesus when he accepted His invitation? Had Jesus ‘proved’ Himself to Levi by healing him or working a miracle for him? Neither the gospels nor Church tradition suggest any such thing. The mystery of Levi’s immediate, unquestioning obedience to what amounts to a stranger is the mystery of the human spirit’s surrender to Christ. It is not based on pure logic and appears even to be irrational. It does not grow out of experience alone, nor does it result from the cajoling of others.

True and complete surrender of one’s life to Christ arises out of Continue reading “Follow Me”

March 4, 2011March 4, 2011

Lent Generously

As Lent fasting begins once more and we settle in to that lovely atmosphere that comes with it, I am reminded by the traditional threefold focus of Lent in the Coptic Church: Fasting, Prayer and Charity. In Arabic, this triad is a delightful alliteration – “Soam, Salla, Sadaka”, but all my efforts to come up with an English version have failed. The best I could do was Abstinence, Adoration, Almsgiving, which of course is a terribly inaccurate translation.

This triad actually comes from the Gospel for the preparatory Sunday of Lent (which we read last Sunday)…

Matthew 6:1 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men…

Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites…

Matthew 6:16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites…

The emphasis, as is clear from the snippets above, is to practice these three things sincerely. If you wish your gift to God to be acceptable to Him, then it must come from the heart. How I yearn that we could banish ‘routine’ spiritual practices from our lives!

No doubt the dear reader will find a wealth of appropriate spiritual guidance regarding their prayers and fasting from their confession fathers. Our charitable deeds of course includes donating our tithes on a regular basis, but that does not mean we shouldn’t give over and above that where we see a need.

People sometimes ask for advice on where to pay one’s tithes and charitable donations. Continue reading “Lent Generously”

February 22, 2011

The Burden of Knowledge

Life today in a western society is very different to the life our parents and grandparents knew. As a result, our whole world view is quite different, and as such, I propose, our faith needs to also adapt to the new and ever changing circumstances.

One important area where this applies is the relationship between faith and knowledge. Extremes often help to illustrate a point more conveniently: think of your ancestors of centuries ago, most likely living in rural village somewhere along the majestic Nile. Let us imagine Folla, your great, great, great grandmother. She has grown to be a young woman without the benefit of formal education, for very few Egyptians can afford a formal education, and the vast majority would not want it even if they could afford it. It would be a waste of time and would not in any way help in running the family farm. Thus she is blissfully unaware of any formal laws of nature, of anything but the most basic mathematics, she cannot read or write, so she has no access to books or newspapers, and the only history she knows is the local legends of her village and the stories she hears read out in Church from the Bible and the Synaxarion every Sunday. She does not understand what the priest prays in Church every Sunday, for he prays in Coptic while she only knows Arabic. Sunday School has not yet been introduced to Egypt and the priest has only slightly more education than her, so he does not give sermons or conduct Bible studies; in fact her chief source of religious knowledge is her mother, the kindly woman who would sit her on her lap when she was a young girl and tell her stories that she had heard from her mother before her.

Folla’s faith is a very simple one. It is not based on outright reason so much as on trust. Continue reading “The Burden of Knowledge”

February 12, 2011

Egypt Rejoices, But What Comes Next?

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak

This is an historic moment. A few hours ago, President Hosni Mubarak resigned after thirtyyears of apparently untouchable rule. He took what was perhaps his last opportunity to depart with dignity. No one can deny that he has done much that is good for his people over the decades, regardless of the damage that he also presided over. Our Lord, who is the true judge of hearts, will no doubt deal with him with justice and mercy.

The great thing about this change in Egypt is that it took place largely peacefully and it was not engineered by foreigners, the army, Islamic radicals or any other narrow interest. It came about because the people of Egypt finally found their voice.

The 1952 Egyptian Revolution that ousted the monarchy began with great idealism. Opinion is divided as to how closely its leaders adhered to that idealism, although most would agree that Egypt has degenerated rather than improved over the past sixty years. This time, there are no obvious leaders like Gamal Abd El Nasser to garner the love and trust of the people and turn it into dictatorship. Perhaps this time Egypt will give birth to a system rather than a leader, a far more stable and beneficial state of affairs!

I cannot help feeling a deep thrill of joy today. Continue reading “Egypt Rejoices, But What Comes Next?”