Letter to Wahib Attalla (1970)

Source: Collected Works of Bishop Gregorius. Vol. 1. (ed.) Monier Ateya Shehata (2005), 139–40.

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A short letter from Fr Antonios al-Suryani (later Pope Shenouda III) to Wahib Atalla (later Bishop Gregorius). A touching example of spiritual letter-writing, offering valuable insights into Fr Antonios’ nascent ascetical and spiritual theology.

On one of the forty days the Lord Christ spent with His disciples

My dear teacher, Reader Wahib Attalla,

May the same Spirit of God who has worked with and within you all this time continue to dwell in your pure heart forever, producing within you those good works which God has prepared for you since the beginning.

Mr. Wahib, I thank you very much for the many labors you are undertaking for the sake of the monastery, and your sincere loving service.[1]Presumably Dayr al-Suryan. Atalla had been helping Fr Antonios to supply the monastery’s library with theological and patristic works. May the Lord preserve your love and remember those labors whenever you lift up your hands to Him in supplication.I congratulate you on the occasion of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who went to prepare a place for us. But what place has God prepared for us, my beloved teacher? Is it the Kingdom of Heaven? Is it the new heaven and new earth? Is it the Heavenly Jerusalem where God will dwell with human beings? Should I dare to say that our desire is not for some place in which to dwell with God, but rather to dwell in God Himself, inside His loving heart forever? If this is our place, it has been prepared for us from eternity, for we live in the heart of God before the foundation of the world, because He loved us before we existed, and it was through this love that we came into being. If, in fact, we are in the heart of God, is the Kingdom not our perceptions of the grace in which we find ourselves?
 

— 139 —

This perception is hindered by sin, and cannot be perfected in this cumbersome body. This perception is also hindered by our perpetual preoccupation with material concerns, in our feelings, thoughts and language, and our lack of leisure to enjoy God who has given Himself to us. Christ has prepared the place for us: He took away the sin which formerly prevented us from perceiving our existence in God. So what is left to hinder us from tasting the Kingdom, from enjoying its pledge while we are still on earth? Is it that we lack the time for it? Or that we do not care enough for it? Or is it that our thoughts and preoccupations are focused on the world? Woe to me, wretch that I am! Pray for me, Mr. Wahib, that God might grant me to be totally emptied of everything worldly, and that God might grant me to have my thoughts totally dedicated to Him. Pray for me, that God might see fit to purify my subconscious mind and my conscious mind from all the images and information they have stored up through these past years, and to purify my heart also from all desires except the single, sacred desire to enjoy His company forever. Pray for me, for although Nazir is dead, yet he has left heavy debits and burdens for me.[2]Referring to his life as Nazir Gayid before joining the monastery. In the Coptic rite for receiving a new monk, the candidate undergoes a symbolic burial, indicating the death of their worldly identity.

Make a permanent corner for me in your prayers, for I need the tears of many saints

In conclusion, my deepest love to you. May God help you in every good deed.

Antonios
al-Suryan Monastery
Desert of Scetis

— 140 —

Notes:

Notes:
↑1 Presumably Dayr al-Suryan. Atalla had been helping Fr Antonios to supply the monastery’s library with theological and patristic works.
↑2 Referring to his life as Nazir Gayid before joining the monastery. In the Coptic rite for receiving a new monk, the candidate undergoes a symbolic burial, indicating the death of their worldly identity.

How to cite this text (Chicago/Turabian):

al-Suryani, Antonios. Antonios al-Suryani to Wahib Atalla, April 28, 1955. In Biography of Bishop Gregorius. Volume 1: Bishop Gregorius and the Clerical College Before His Ordination as Bishop, edited by Monier Ateya Shehata, 139–140. Cairo: Society of Anba Gregorius Bishop of Scientific Investigation, 2005. Translated by Lucy Aminin Archive of Contemporary Coptic Orthodox Theology. Sydney, NSW: St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College. https://accot.stcyrils.edu.au/ps3-apr55/.

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