A Short Biography of Saint Teklehaimanot

In the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. One God, Amen.

“Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. Psalms 68:31 KJV

Ethiopia, like our beloved Egypt, has strong ties and many appearances in the bible. Today by the grace of God we seek to look at the blessed Saint Tekelhaimanot otherwise known as Saint Takla Haymanot. His life story begins in the 13th century being born to a pious Chrstian family living in Ethiopia. His father Sagaz Ab whose name means the gift of faith was a priest and his mother Sarah was a woman of well means who loved the poor. According to several sources on this blessed Saint, his family loved the Archangel Michael and would honor him on the 12th of every Coptic Month by celebrating with a Liturgy and holding a feast for the poor.

Opening the Heart to Christ

In the Name of the Father, and The Son, and The Holy Spirit. One God, Amen.

My beloved today we are going to by the grace of God speak on ways we can open our hearts to our Lord Jesus Christ. To do this we are going to focus on verses from the book of Revelations and also the Gospel of Saint Luke.

The Importance of Silence – A Meditation

In a world full of noise and chaos, our father Saint David the Psalmist teaches us the importance of quieting our souls:

“ For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation … For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.” (Psalm 62:1,5-6).

The Bible says that the Voice of God is a gentle whisper. (1 Kings 19:12). To hear His voice that brings forth comfort and peace, we must go within our inner room of the soul (Matthew 6:6) through silence and prayer – free of distraction and worldly cares. “Blessed is the intellect that, undistracted in its prayer, acquires an even greater longing for God.” (St. Evagrios the Solitary, On Prayer, Section 117-120).

It is a bud that blossoms into a beautiful and colorful rose in the sun ,as undistracted prayer is a light of the soul that illumines the intellect – a pure Sacrifice ascending to our Heavenly Father. “Let my prayer be set forth before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”(Psalm 140:2).

St. Hesychios The Priest teaches us – “ If we have not attained prayer that is free from thoughts, we have no weapon to fight with. By this prayer I mean the prayer that is ever active in the inner shrine of the soul, and that, by invoking Christ, scourges and sears our enemy.”

Let us, therefore, take our Lord’s example (John 6:15), to take time to escape the noise of the world and to spend quiet time with our Heavenly Father.