Melchizedek and Aaron, Zachariah and Simeon

 

By Bishop Mettaous

 

 

 [Pray to the Lord on our behalf O Melchizedek

and Aaron, and Zachariah and Simeon that He….]

Melchizedek means the King of righteousness, and

there’s an interesting story about him:

When Jared the son of Mahalaeel, the sixth of Adam’s

generation was close to death, he called Enoch his son

and Methusaleh, Enoch’s son and said to them, “I know

that soon you will leave this place, so whenever you

depart, take the body of Adam our father with you,

together with these three oblations, gold, incense and

frankincense. Command your son to bury Adam in the

middle spot of the whole world, let him consecrate one of

his children to be a hermit for all his life, not to get

married, or kill, or offer blood-sacrifices, but just

sacrifices of water and wine, because from this spot the

salvation of Adam will burst (referring to the prophecy of

crucifying our Lord Jesus on Mount Golgotha). He will

wear tiger’s skin as his clothes, never shaves or trim his

nails, and he’ll be the Priest of God the Most High.

When God ordered Noah to build the Ark to be saved

from the flood, Noah, took Adam’s body and the

oblations with him in the Ark. After landing on Mount

Ararat, Noah asked his son Shem, together with

Melchizedek to take Adam’s body and bury it in the

middle spot of the earth. He asked Melchizedek not to

get married because the Lord had chosen him to serve

Him, not to build a house for himself, or kill, or offer a

blood sacrifice but his offerings should of water and

wine, to wear clothes made of tiger’s skin, not to shave his head or trim his nails, and he’ll be the only High

Priest for God the Most High.

Shem did exactly what his father Noah asked him,

together with Melchizedek, the angel of the Lord

appeared to them and showed them where to bury Adam,

and that was the Golgotha. So Melchizedek was one of

Shem’s grandchildren.

Melchizedek lived as a hermit in the woods around

Jerusalem, when people knew about his piety, they used

to offer him presents and offerings, yet he never accepted

any, so they built an altar on top of Adam’s tomb, then

they built a city called ‘Salem” which means ‘Peace’,

which was later renamed ‘Jerusalem’ which means ‘The

light of Peace’. Melchizedek was the one who blessed

Abraham after returning from the defeat of Chedorlaomer

“Then Melchizedek King of Salem brought out bread

and wine, he was the priest of God Most High and he

blessed him and said ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most

High. Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be

God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into

your hand”. (Gen. 14:18-20)

Melchizedek the priest and king is a symbol of Lord

Jesus the King of kings, the Lord of lords and Chief

Priest.

In Hebrew 7:3 it is mentioned about Melchizedek:

1. “Without father, without mother, without

genealogy” which means that the priesthood of Melchizedek was not inherited from his father or

grandparents, as was the case in the tribe of Levi,

where the priesthood was only restricted to the

generation of Aaron the Priest, Moses’ brother.

This is assured by St. Paul’s word, “without

genealogy” i.e. his priesthood was not inherited

but coming from God.

2. “Having neither beginning of days nor end of

life, but made like the Son of God, remains a

priest continually”. This means that as a priest

he had no beginning of day, as the Levi priest

started their service at the age of 30, ‘nor end of

life’, and they used to end it at the age of 50. But

Melchizedek’s priesthood was not restricted to

this age, but he was made like the Son of Man,

remains priest continually, as the Psalm says

“The Lord has sworn and will not relent, you

are a priest forever according to the order of

Melchizedek” (Ps. 110:4)

Aaron:

He was the brother of Moses and the helper in all the

great miracles that took place in Egypt. God chose him

and his generation to be his priests. He was a priest for

the children of Israel for 40 years in the wilderness. The

church celebrates his commemoration on 1 Baramudah.

Zacharias:

Zacharias is a Hebrew name which means ‘the mention

of God”. He is the father of St. John the Baptist, fromthe generation of Aaron the priest. The Holy Bible

witnesses for him and Elizabeth his wife “And they were

both righteous before God, walking in all the

commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”

(Luke 1: 6)

When the angel announced the birth of St. John the

Baptist to Zacharias while offering incense in the altar,

he did not believe, and he was mute till the birth of St.

John (Luke 1: 57-79)

When King Herod ordered to kill all the children 2 years

and under, Zacharias put John on the altar, where an

angel came and took him to the wilderness, so the

soldiers killed Zacharias after they couldn’t find the baby

John.

The church celebrates his commemoration on 8 Tut.

Simeon:

A Hebrew name which means listener or obedient. He is

Simeon the elder, one of the 70 elders whom the

Egyptian king Patlimous Philadelphus ordered to

translate the Old Testament. When he was translating

Prophet Isaiah’s book where it says “Therefore the Lord

Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall

conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name

Immanuel”. (Is. 7:14), he didn’t want to write ‘the virgin

shall conceive’ lest the king would mock him, so every

time he tried to change it and write ‘the girl’ or ‘the

woman’ something stopped him.

On the spot, he fell into slumber where he heard in a

vision a voice telling him “you would not see death

before you see Immanuel born of a Virgin”, and it was

so.

Simeon lived for 300 years till the birth of Lord Jesus,

“And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose

name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout,

waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy

Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him

by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he

had seen the Lord Christ. So he came by the Spirit into

the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child

Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law,

he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:

‘Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in

peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen

Your salvation which you have prepared before the face

of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,

and the glory of Your people Israel.” (Luke 2:25-32)

He blessed St. Mary and St. Joseph, and prophesised

about Jesus’ service during His Incarnation “(yes, a

sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the

thoughts of many hearts may be revealed”. (Luke 23:5)

The church celebrates his commemoration on 8 Amsheer.

 

 

􀂙 [Pray for the Lord on our behalf, O choirs of

the Prophets and all the righteous and the just,

that He may forgive us our sins] The worshipper repeats his pleading to the Prophets and

righteous saints of the Old Testament, those whom he

mentioned, and the others whom he did not mention, like

Sheth, Noah, Abel the righteous…, also the heroes of

faith “who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked

righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths

of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge

of the sword, out of weakness were made strong,

became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of

the aliens.” (Heb. 11:33-34)

He asks them all to plead to the Lord on our behalf to

forgive us our sins.

􀂙 [Intercede on our behalf, O fore-runner and

Baptiser, John the Baptist that He may forgive us

our sins]

John:

A Hebrew name which means “God have kindness”.

He is the great St. John the Baptist, who deserved to

baptise Lord Jesus in the Jordan River, he is the

conjunction between the Old and the New Testament, the

greatest of women born and the greatest Prophet, as Lord

Jesus Himself had witnessed for him. He is John the

Baptist, the son of Zachariah the Priest the son of

Berechiah, his mother was Elizabeth. He was brought

up in the wilderness of Jordan “And the Child grew and

became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the

grace of God was upon Him”. (Luke 2:40)

He was brave in truth, and rebuked Herod when he

wanted to marry his sister-in-law (while his brother was

still alive), and the result was that he was beheaded

according to Herod’s orders.

His holy body, together with Prophet Elisha’s body are in

St. Makarious’ Monastery in Egypt.

The church celebrates his martyrdom on 2 Tut.

􀂙 [Intercede on our behalf the hundred and forty

four thousand, and the Celebate Evangelist, that

He may forgive us our sins]

The hundred and forty four celibate are mentioned in the

book of Revelation “Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb

standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred

and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name

written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from

heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice

of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists

playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song

before the throne, before the four living creatures, and

the elders; and no one could learn that song except the

hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed

from the earth. These are the ones who were not

defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the

ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These

were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to

God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth as found no

deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of

God.” (Rev. 14:1-5)

These saints are crowned with all these virtues, so

definitely their intercessions on our behalf are accepted

before the Throne of Grace.

The Celebate Evangelist means St. John the Beloved

disciple, because he was a celibate, never got married.

The church celebrates his departure on 4 Tuba, also on 16

Bashans.

Note:

We notice that ‘The Commemoration of the Saints”

started with “Intercede on our behalf” for St. Mary and

the Heavenly hosts, then “Pray for us” for the Prophets,

then back to “Intercede on our behalf” for St. John the

Baptist, the 144,000 celibate and St. John the Celibate

Evangelist. The reason is that St. John the Baptist is

placed in this position according to historical events, he

is considered the conjunction between the Old and New

Testament. We ask for his intercession, exactly like the

intercession of St. Mary and the Heavenly hosts because

Jesus witnessed for him, “As they departed, Jesus began

to say to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What did

you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by

the wind? But what did you go out to see A prophet?

Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is

he of whom it is written; ‘Behold, I send My messenger

before Your face, who will prepare Your way before

You’ Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of

women there has not risen one greater than John the

Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is

greater than he.” (Matt. 11:7-11)

The 144,000 are also the New Testament saints who

lived in purity and chastity, they are following God

everywhere in heaven.

􀂙 [Pray to the Lord on our behalf our masters

and fathers the Apostles, and the rest of the

disciples, that He may forgive us our sins]

􀂙 [The Twelve Apostles of our Saviour Lord

Jesus]

1. Peter: means ‘rock’, martyred on 5 Abib

2. Andrew: means ‘strong man’, martyred on 4

Kiahk

3. James: (the son of Zebedee) means ‘follower’,

martyred on 17 Baramudah

4. John: (the son of Zebedee) means ‘God have

kindness’ departed on 4 Tubah

5. Philip: means ‘the knight’, martyred on 18

Hatour

6. Bartholomew: means ‘the son of the plougher’,

martyred on 1 Tut.

7. Matthew: means ‘the gift of God’, martyred on

12 Babah

8. Thomas: means ‘the son of the twins’,

martyred in 26 Bashans

9. James: son of Alphaeus, means ‘follower’,

martyred on 10 Amsheer.

10. Simeon: (the zealous) means ‘listener’,

martyred on 15 Bashans

11. Thaddaeus: means ‘compassionate”, martyred

2 Abib.

12. Matteus: “the gift of God’, was martyred on 8

Baramhat, who was chosen by the Apostles

replacing Judas the Betrayer.

The rest of the disciples include all those who believed in

Lord Jesus and followed Him, as written “Then Saul,

still breathing threats and murder against the disciples

of the Lord, went to the high priest”. (Acts 9:1) Those

people were called disciples until they had the new name

Christians “And when he had found him, he brought

him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they

assembled with the church and taught a great many

people. And the disciples were first called Christians in

Antioch.” (Acts 11:26)

May the blessings of their prayers be with us all. Amen.

􀂙 [Pray to the Lord on our behalf, O blessed

Archdeacon, Stephen the first martyr that He may

forgive us our sins]

Stephen: A Greek name, which means ‘crown’. He is

the first martyr in Christianity, one of the seven deacons

appointed by the Apostles (Acts 6), also “And Stephen

full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs

among the people”. (Acts 6:8) He was martyred when

the Jews stoned him till death outside Jerusalem “and

they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the

witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young

man names Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was

calling on God and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my

spirit’. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud

 

voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin’. And

when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:58-60)

Watching this scene, was the first seed of grace in Saul’s

spirit, which led him to Christianity.

The church commemorates his martyrdom on 15 Tut, and

the transfer of his holy body on 1 Tubah.

􀂙 [Pray to the Lord on our behalf O Beholder of

God the Evangelist, Mark the Apostle that He may

forgive us our sins]

Mark: A Latin name which means ‘hammer’. He is

John called Mark, the writer of the second Gospel, one of

the 70 disciples and the Preacher of the land of Egypt.

The Lord instituted the Last Supper in the Upper Room

in his house, he is called ‘the Beholder of God’. He was

martyred in Alexandria when the idolaters dragged him

through the streets, till his flesh was torn out his blood

splashed everywhere then they put him in prison where

the angel of the Lord appeared and strengthened him and

promised him the crown of martyrdom. Next morning

they did the same until he yielded his soul in the hands of

Lord Christ.

The church celebrates his martyrdom on 30 Baramudah,

also on 30 Babah it celebrates the discovery of his head

and the consecration of the first church on his name.

A new celebration was the arrival of his body from Rome

to Egypt in the year 1684 for the martyrs, corresponding

1968 A.D.

May the blessings of the prayers of St. Mark, the great

preacher of the land of Egypt be with us all. Amen.

􀀿 􀀿 􀀿

 

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