St. Shenouda and Pope Kyrillos VI on Self-Examination

Self-Examination:

"Brethren, if we want to escape God's punishment and find mercy in his eyes, let us sit every evening alone by ourselves and search our souls for what we presented to our guardian angel to offer before the Lord. Again, as the night goes by and a new day dawns and light prevails , let us search ourselves to know what we presented to our companion angel to offer to the Lord. Let it be beyond doubt that everyone of us - male or female- young or old, who was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit has been assigned to a designated angel until the day of his death to report to him everyday what his assigned individual has done by day or by night. Not that God is unaware of what we have done. Heavens forbid. He is more knowledgeable about it. As it is written. the eyes of the Lord are watching all the time everywhere on those who commit evil and on those who do good. Rather the angels are servants installed by the Creator of the universe for those who will will inherit the salvation."

+St. Shenouda the Archimandrite (Homily found in the First Hour of Monday morning during Holy Week (Pascha).

"My beloved son, in solitude take account of your actions and be saddened for the sins that conquered you. In your solitude, collect your thoughts. Take into account those actions that pleased or displeased the Lord. If your actions were pleasing to the Lord, then rejoice and add to these actions on a daily basis. If you sinned, for every man is liable to do so, ask the Lord from your heart to forgive you, and be diligent not to repeat these offenses."

+Pope Kyrillos VI, Christian Behaviour p. 52.

Pope Kyrillos on Reading and Praying

His Holiness, the Pope, continues to advise his spiritual son (a monk), to make of him a beacon for the entire world. "When you come back from work, take off your clothes, wash your face and rest a little. If you want to have some recreation, you can go outside far from noise, and ponder the works of the Creator and the beauty of nature. Thank and praise the Lord. Do not reflect too much on the affairs of life. Do not worry about anything. Cast your burdens upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you. Do not stay too late outside; it is better not to be out after eight o'clock. Do not be outside your room after ten o'clock if possible, so that you can find time to read a little and to pray. This is not difficult advice so do not ignore it and say, 'I do not have time for such things.'

"If you have trained yourself in these things, you will reap the fruits or rewards thereof. Once you have tried it, you will find it so easy. It is natural that in the beginning, the enemy of righteousness will try to make the matter difficult for you, but day after day, you will find that it is very easy and you will want to increase this practice. Brother, as you care for your body, you should also care for your soul. It is your duty to do so."

+Pope Kyrillos VI, Christian Behaviour p. 11.

Pope Kyrillos VI on Spiritual Reading

Pope Kyrillos VI lives in this manner. He read the Holy Bible daily until the day of his death. He also would read the saints' books especially the sayings of St. Isaac. Nothing prevented him from his readings, whether other work, fatigue or sickness. His speech was always from the Holy Scriptures and the sayings of St. Isaac whenever he spoke to his disciples, the monks, or visitors. He said, "I was tonsured a monk, and from that day on, I began learning the laws of monasticism from the fathers. I studied the saints' books, especially the book of the great saint, St. Isaac. I felt the blessings of God increasing on a daily basis."

He wrote to one of his spiritual sons, a monk, "Persist in and honour reading, if possible more than prayer. Reading is the spring of intelligent prayer. For, as I had previously told you, reading for a good purpose will show you how to walk on the virtuous path. Whoever reads the books to understand the path of virtue, this path will be opened before him."

+Christian Behaviour, p. 40

Fr. Benyamin's Departure - Life of Fr. Benyamin the Hermit

When his doctor told him that he will return shortly to his cave and will pray for him there, he [Fr. Benyamin] told him that he would not see it again and that it’s all finished!!

 On Thursday 15/12/1987 he started to complain of all-night long severe headaches, the Father who was with him went to inform his doctor of this and Fr. Benyamin went into a coma after terrible pain, continuous internal bleeding and from his condition.

The doctors immediately called for him to be taken by the ambulance to Salam Hospital (El-Mohandeseen) and when he arrived there, they took him to the operating room where they performed a quick surgery on him to remove the clot that formed in his brain. His condition worsened that day and the doctors were forced to carry out another surgical procedure which was hopeless. On this Thursday, a number of the Fathers the monks placed him on the hospital stretcher after the doctors injected him with a needle to stop the internal bleeding in his stomach.

However, when he entered the operating room he gave up his pure spirit in the presence of the Fathers who were deeply affected by this. This happened on Thursday, at three in the afternoon, Kiahk 8, December 17^th, 1987, the same day of the departure of St. Samuel the Confessor, his monastery which Fr. Benyamin was tonsured in. One of the nurses happened to give him a picture of the saint without any knowledge of the relationship Fr. Benyamin had with this saint.

His Burial:

His body was taken back to the monastery arriving there at eight in the afternoon on the same day. The Fathers were waiting for his arrival and it was a rainy day, the heavens rained on his burial and a rainbow appeared a sign of the covenant!!
The Fathers dressed the body in priestly vestments as is the custom to do so, and he was placed in the church before the sanctuary. He was laid in the open casket so that the Fathers may take his blessings, it was a solemn scene. The Fathers stayed the whole night reciting the book of psalms until it was time for the service of the Midnight Psalmody. They began the Holy Psalmody service, followed by the Divine Liturgy and then performed the funeral rite.

The Fathers carried the casket in procession in the sanctuary around the altar, then around the church’s nave three time while chanting the appropriate church hymns. They took him to the cemetery (Tafoos) and placed him inside while the Fathers were chanting “Golgotha”, the rite of the service of Christ’s burial.

It is worth mentioning that on that day, the Gospel reading for Matins was on the parable of the talents, and the Gospel reading for the Liturgy began with the verse, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32-36)
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Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit!

Icon of Christ, the Eternal High priest

Like the apple of Thine eye preserve me, O Lord God; defend and beneath Thy wings shelter me from temptations.

Be the guardian of the eye, that it might not look about in the manner of a thief; be the guardian of the ear, that it might not perceive falsehood.

Be the guardian of the lips, that slander, judgement, criticism and idle words might not come forth from them.

Be the guardian of the heart, that it might not be inclined to evil and might not work iniquity.

Grant us O Lord, knowledge, both of what we should do and of how to set about it.

Grant us, O our Lord, that we may be sweeter to Thee than fragrances and perfumes.

Grant us, O our Lord, that we may love Thee and hate the world. Gran us, O Lord, to acquire Only Three rather than all transient possessions.

Grant us, O our Lord, to bring Thee three choice gifts. Grant us, O our Lord, to burn three aromatic censers before Thee.

Grant us, O our Lord, to light for Thee three brightly burning lamps: the spirit, the soul and the body, these three gifts from the One Trinity.

Let us dedicate the spirit to the Father, the soul to the Son and the body to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit which will raise it again from dust.

O Father, consecrate our spirit to Thyself! O so, consecrate our soul to Thyself! O Holy Spirit, consecrate to Thyself our body which is afflicted by sores.

Grant us, O our Lord, to rejoice in Thee, and mayest thou rejoice in us in the last day. To Thee is praise, from the spirit, soul and body. And unto us be Thy mercies.


+From the Spiritual Psalter of St. Ephraim the Syrian (5).
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Bidding Farewell - Life of Fr. Benyamin the Hermit

When his health began to improve he insisted on returning to his cave, and the doctors who treated him permitted him to leave the hospital to return to the monastery but not back to his cave. Nevertheless, when he arrived at the monastery he insisted on returning to his cave and he did.

The last time for him to return to the hospital was due to him collapsing and hitting his head on the ground, leaving him unconscious for days. When he began to regain his consciousness little by little he tried to get up and walk to the cave’s door to find someone to help him. God willed that some of the Fathers were making their way to see him; they found him standing in front of his cave as if he was lost and they found out what happened from him. He was standing trying to grab the attention of another hermit far from him, many kilometers away!!!

In the hospital to which he was transferred to immediately, he quickly received the results of the x-rays which showed that he had internal bleeding in his brain, between the membranes. This is what caused his ongoing suffering and severe headaches, the time was too late for any surgical intervention and his gums were injured. He was continuously bleeding until he went into a coma.

In spite of all of this Fr. Benyamin still carried out his spiritual rule, especially the Agpeya prayers and his Bible readings, committed to this even in the remaining days of his life. Even in carrying out what he can from the readings with the help of the Fathers the monks. He also confessed and partook of the Holy Mysteries more than once in that period.

The psalm that he loved and constantly recited was, “Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.” (Psalm 122). The last book that he was reading was “The Way to the Kingdom”, the doctor who treated him kept and held on to the book after him.

He distributed most of his own personal books as gifts to all those who were around him, as if he felt that he no longer needed them.

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The Disciplined Monk - Life of Fr. Benyamin the Hermit

His Illness:

When some of the Fathers visited Fr. Benyamin in his cave they noticed a number of injuries on his face and he tried to hide these injuries when they were with him. When they asked him of these severe injuries he replied that it was from the common cold that he just recently caught. However, they were not convinced and kept asking him more questions until they found out from him that he was suffering from severe anemia that needed him to be taken to the hospital immediately. They carried him to the monastery and exerted great efforts to try to convince him to agree to be taken to the hospital.


The decision was made for him to be taken to the hospital and later he returned to the monastery where he awaited the opportunity for his slight improvement so that he can ask them to let him return to his cave. In turn, some of the Fathers did not permit his moving back to his cave and this bothered him greatly.

For that reason he did not open the door of his cell for any of the Fathers the visitors, except for the one who brought him his food.

The first time he arrived at the hospital was on Sunday 30/08/1987 for a blood test, at that time he was in bad condition. They found that the percentage of hemoglobin in his blood to be 18% which typically is impossible to live with.

He got a blood transfusion at Heliopolis Hospital many times. He underwent many medical examinations and started to improve greatly but did not succumb to any kind of pressure. In regard to his food, they pressed him to eat meat but he would decline right away. When the doctors insisted that he eat, especially meat to regain his strength since food is natural medicine that can’t be replaced, he agree to eat but only some potatoes and olives and this meant that he would double the quantity of food he ate regularly prior to his sickness.  Fr. Elisha El-Baramosy confirmed this as he was the one who accompanied him in his last week.