Issue 57 July 2026

Fast

Blessed Fast of St Mary, our Mother

The Fast of St Mary began today (7 to 22 August). It is one of the most special fasts in our Coptic calendar, celebrating our Mother St Mary.

Here are some spiritual practices that we can benefit from during the fasting period. Pick one, two, or all!

1. Icon with a candle. Set up an icon of St Mary with a candle in a central spot at home, somewhere your children see it daily. Each time you pass it, seek her intercession for someone in your family or among your friends, and teach your children to do the same from a young age.
2. Attend an extra midweek Liturgy. For the two weeks of her fast, attend an extra Liturgy each week. We pray Liturgies each week on Wednesdays, 5 to 7am, and Thursdays, 8 to 10am.
3. Say a hymn for her each night. As a family, sing a short hymn for her before prayer. Many are available in the hymns section of Upper Room Media; Hail to Mary and Through the Pleadings are two popular ones. Sing it daily for the next two weeks and your children may learn a new hymn of praise for her.
4. Repentance and Confession. Every fast is an opportunity to repent. We all go off track at times, and repentance is just redirecting our path to God. Booking a time for confession with your confession father is a great first step.
5. Attend the vigil for St Mary. We will hold a vigil on Friday 21 August, the eve of her feast: a night of prayer, praise and reflection on our beloved Mother St Mary. Put it in your calendars now and join us in a spirit of prayer and devotion.
6. Replace one secular activity with a spiritual one. Music: try the hymns section on Upper Room Media. Podcasts: try a Christian podcast. Reading: there are plenty of great books in our bookshop. TV: try The Chosen or House of David.

If you are yet to try her intercessions, this is the fast to begin. May it be a time of spiritual growth for us all.

From the pulpit

St Joseph: loyal and faithful

Fr Anthony · The Feast of St Joseph the Carpenter

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

Today the Church celebrates a very important feast, and it is often a very overlooked one. It is the feast of a saint whose icon you will rarely see when you walk into a Coptic church. Even on his feast day, you probably won't see his icon.

Does anyone know who that is? Joseph. Is Joseph the carpenter a big deal? This is the man whom the Lord Jesus Christ Himself grew up calling father.

This is the man who was entrusted with one of the most important roles in all of human history: to raise the Son of God and to be a support for the Virgin St Mary. And rarely would you see an icon of him in a church. He was someone who would always take on responsibility, but he wouldn't complain, and he would be steadfast.

Hollywood wouldn't make a movie about Joseph, because what is so remarkable about a man who is faithful, who doesn't complain, emotionally stable, caring, hard-working? There's no drama that people would want to watch. And yet he was the one God looked at and said, "You. I choose you to raise My Son. I choose you to take care of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

Another interesting thing: if you walked into a shopping centre at Christmas time and saw the nativity scene, would you even notice if Joseph was missing? You would certainly notice if St Mary wasn't there. You would probably notice the three wise men missing before Joseph.

And does anyone know how many words Joseph says in the Bible? He was the quietest person in the whole Bible. He said exactly zero words in the whole of Scripture. Zero.

A man who could sleep

One time I was in Fr Mark's office, and he has a beautiful little statue of Joseph sleeping. Fr Mark really likes this statue because of the way he interprets it. There was so much trouble around Joseph: he had to flee from one place to another, and he had to take Mary as his wife when she became pregnant, knowing the child was not his.

There was a lot of chaos. But one thing Fr Mark really loves about Joseph is that no matter what was going on in his life, he was always able to sleep. Why? Because he had a great trust in God.

There is never a time in the Bible when Joseph is spoken to by God or an angel except when he is asleep.

• In Matthew 1, an angel tells him to take Mary as his wife. He was asleep.
• In Matthew 2, an angel tells him to flee to Egypt. He was asleep.
• An angel tells him to return to Israel. He was asleep.
• He is warned about a ruler who could turn violent, Archelaus. Again, he was asleep.

A man who obeyed

But the thing that stands out most about Joseph is his obedience. His sleep stands out, but his obedience stands out even more.

Here is a man who says zero words in the whole Bible. Listen to how he responds to God.

The command: "Do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife." And four verses later, in verse 24: "Joseph… did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife." That's a big deal. Of course, Joseph and Mary's relationship was not one of romance; it was one of guardianship. But still, this was considered a major thing at the time.

The second command, in Matthew 1:21: "You shall call His name Jesus." And in verse 25, Joseph obeys: "he called His name Jesus." Maybe we didn't know this, but he is the one who actually named Jesus.

The third command: "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt." One verse later, "he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt."

And again in Matthew 2: "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel." One verse later, "he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel."

This is his legacy. He doesn't complain. He doesn't speak. He just obeys the word of God.

Who can find a faithful man?

There is a really beautiful passage I was reminded of when I thought of Joseph, in Proverbs 20:

Most of us would like to speak well of ourselves. But God doesn't care whether we talk ourselves up. God cares about whether we are actually faithful. Even if no one knows your name, even if no one puts your picture up on your feast day in a church, what matters to the Lord is: are you faithful?

This was Joseph to a T. He hears the word of God and he does the word of God. You can imagine this passage from 2 Chronicles applying to him:

Hearing the word of God

We could talk for a long time about him. But maybe one thing we can take away is this: his legacy is that he was obedient to the word of God.

In order to obey the word of God, the first thing we have to do is actually hear the word of God. So how often are we deliberately making time to hear it? How often do we deliberately sit down and read the Bible? Is it a daily practice?

We may say, "I'm too busy to read the Bible. I don't have time." Or, "I don't like reading. I don't have the attention span." Is it an excuse, or is it true?

Imagine someone came up to you and said, "If you put aside 10 minutes a day to read, I will give you $10,000 for every day that you read." How many of us would find the time? Even if our attention span is short, even if we're busy juggling family life and work, we'd read for 10 minutes. Why? Because we see a reward.

The Holy Scriptures are the greatest reward for our soul, for our family's purity, for our minds, for our emotional stability, to hang on to the promises of God and the hope of eternal life. St James says, "Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21).

So we begin with the first part. We need to hear the word of God every day, even if we're busy.

And you can make it exciting. Spoil yourself. Buy yourself the best Bible, with print big enough that it doesn't strain your eyes. Buy a Bible cover, a lovely highlighter that doesn't seep through the page, and a nice thin pen (0.4 works very well for the margins). Make it beautiful. Make this one of the most wonderful things in your life.

I promise you, if you're reading regularly and your kids are watching you read, you will change their lives just by them seeing you read the Bible. That's why I'd say don't only read from your phone, because you can do anything else on your phone. It's different when your children see you reading a paper Bible.

Now imagine we fast forward to the day of your departure, your heavenly feast day. Honestly, if my own dad left behind a house, I would rather have his Bible with his notes written in it than inherit his house.

You can leave this for your children. Imagine you're reading every day, highlighting and making notes every day, into a good old age. And what your children receive from you after you've gone is your Bible, with your highlights and notes, and they see the way Mum read the Bible, the way Dad dived into the Scriptures. "He was serious about God. My mum was serious about God."

What's the challenge for today? At minimum, let's try to read the Bible every day, for whatever time you set yourself. Let us be devoted to reading the Bible every day.

Glory be to God forever. Amen.

Reflection

A passage on giving

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes that he does not believe anyone can settle exactly how much we ought to give. Instead, he offers a challenging rule of thumb:

If our spending on comforts, luxuries and amusements matches what is common among others on the same income, Lewis suggests we are probably giving away too little. If our giving does not pinch or hamper us at all, it is too small. There ought to be things we would like to do and cannot, because our giving rules them out.

Nayrouz 2026

Photographers and videographers needed

Photographers, videographers and content creators are needed for the Coptic New Year (Nayrouz) Procession. Be part of history, together in faith: we need your help to make this historic event possible.

Parish life

Help write our history

We often hear beautiful stories about how St John's has touched people's lives. For many of us, it has become far more than a church building: it is a second home, a loving community, and a place where we have drawn closer to God. Because our parish is still relatively young, we have a special opportunity to capture these experiences while they are still fresh in our hearts, along with our hopes and prayers for the future.

By sharing your story, you will help us give thanks for God's work at St John's, preserve precious memories for future generations, and document the impact of our parish for future grant and council applications. These testimonies will also help share the story of St John's with the wider Church, including His Holiness Pope Tawadros, and may even inspire the establishment of other parishes around the world.

All responses will be compiled into a beautifully presented keepsake book that will be shared with our parish families, His Grace Bishop Daniel, and His Holiness Pope Tawadros. It will be a treasured record that we can one day show our children and grandchildren.

We invite every family to contribute: a testimony, a special memory, a moment where you saw God's hand at work, your hopes for the future, or even a drawing or short reflection from your children. Responses may be anonymous or include your name.

Please complete the form by 22 August (Feast of St Mary) at the online form.