First, the Inside of the Cup (1970)

  • Author: Thamarat Ibrahim

Source: Sunday School Magazine vol. 6, no. 7 (September 1952).

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This article is particularly informative on the role that female servants played in the Sunday School movement. Please contact us if you have any information about the author, Thamarat Ibrahim, who served in the Sunday School of Masr al-Gadida.

First, the Inside of the Cup

I offer these words especially to you, my sister in the Sunday School service; from my experience in the field of work and service.

Several years ago, before my work in Sunday School began and while I was still a student, I was quite impressed at the sight of any female servant or student in Sunday School who was modestly dressed, with long-sleeves and downcast eyes. I compared this image with that of the worldly woman, who exchanges the natural colour of her face for dyes and powders, and makes sure that her outfits always match the latest fashions. I found the difference between the women of Sunday School and the women of the world to be vast. Observing outward appearances was enough to make me thank God greatly, and feel pride at this great army of Sunday School students. I was young then, and persuaded by mere appearances. But before long, I became a Sunday School teacher, and unfortunately the reality persuaded me that appearances do not always capture the truth of the soul. From this, I deduced a graver truth, and one more universal, which is that Christianity cannot be based merely on the works required of us, or the image we are supposed to project. Rather, Christianity is a spirit that fills the soul, a total renewal of a one’s way of seeing things, and control of our inclinations and desires; as the Lord of Glory said, the inside of the cup should be cleansed first, that the outside might be clean also.

It is good, sister, that you show yourself to be modest in your appearance and apparel, which is what distinguishes you from the indiscretions of worldly people, but [only] on the condition that this modesty manifests a heart full of love for God and humanity; a love that compels you to holiness, chastity and prudence. For unfortunately, I came to know many women whose lack of care for beauty and clothing was excessive, to the point of neglect, and sometimes even filthiness. Their appearance was extreme, a semblance of asceticism and lowliness, to the point of perpetual dejection and despondency, but all the while their hearts were far from God.

Personal grooming[1]tajammul, i.e. “beautification”, “adornment”. is not what I would speak to you about, but this is what I first noticed at the beginning of my service, and it was followed by many other experiences.

There are many women who concern themselves with one virtue to a point of excess, while neglecting the rest of the virtues

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and this proves that they do not know the meaning of the very virtue of which they boast such zeal. For the different virtues are an indivisible unity; or put differently, they are different rays issuing from an illumined soul. What else, then, is the attainment of one virtue without the rest, except a kind of deception? For a spring cannot send forth both sweet and bitter water, as the Holy Bible says (James 3:11).

Christianity [does not mean] excessively fearing some vice to the extent that you fall into others. Your exaggerated fear of a vice does not diminish its hideousness. For example, it is no virtue to fear defilement, being anxious that it might lead you to perversion, while at the same time you defile your soul with hatred, malice and anger. Nor is virtue found in false humility or the use of meek and humble words, while at the same time you judge all other women; feeling in your heart of hearts that you are better than those others, who, unlike you, do not put up false appearances.My sister, this is my advice to you who seek virtue and are struggling to reach Christian perfection. This is the shortest path to your goal: love God and humankind, vow never to hurt anyone, or to conduct yourself towards others in a way other than what you would want for yourself. I want you to feel the love that makes us all sense that we members of one another, such that if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Love, as some philosophers have said, is the awareness of the unity of all things; in this awareness, we are released from all suffering, for the source of a man’s anxiety and wickedness is the sense that he suffers and grieves alone. A man then feels in his very depths that all existence[2]ẓiwāhir al-wujūd, lit. “the phenomena of existence”. smiles upon him, and so he, along with it, lives in enduring bliss. [He feels too] that the happiness of one is the happiness of the other, that all things co-exist in a common sympathy. From this sense of altruism and unity goodness springs forth, and by it, virtue is established. But evil is the sense of egotism, and affirms a principle of individualism.

If, my sister, you have been filled with love for human beings, a love not less than your love for yourself, then be assured that you will master all the virtues; for “‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’” (Rom 13:9)

 

Thamarat Ibrahim
Teacher
In the Sunday School of Masr al-Gadida

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Notes:

Notes:
↑1 tajammul, i.e. “beautification”, “adornment”.
↑2 ẓiwāhir al-wujūd, lit. “the phenomena of existence”.

How to cite this text (Chicago/Turabian):

Ibrahim, Thamarat. “First, the Inside of the Cup” [Dākhil al-ka’s āwillān], Sunday School Magazine 6, no. 7 (September 1952): 26–7. Translated by Mervat Hanna. in Archive of Contemporary Coptic Orthodox Theology. Sydney, NSW: St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College. https://accot.stcyrils.edu.au/thi-cup/.

(For more information, see Citation Guidelines)