Issue 62 September 2026

Feast

A New Year, A New Friend in Heaven

As the Coptic Church begins its new year, we step into Nayrouz, the Feast of the Martyrs, the crowning of the year. Our calendar marks this from the start of Diocletian's reign in 284 AD, whose persecution claimed so many martyrs that the years since have been called the Era of the Martyrs. Our new year and the feast of the martyrs are one and the same, and we begin it by letting their witness set the tone for the year ahead.

The saints are not distant figures from history. Scripture calls their death a sleeping rather than an ending, as our Lord described Lazarus and St Paul described the departed. They remain living members of the one Church of Christ, our older brothers and sisters who have become the triumphant Church in heaven, while we remain the struggling Church on earth. Though separated by sight, we are joined by communion, one Body before the same Lord.

Seeking the prayers of the saints is not new. It is one of the oldest practices of the faith, recognised for centuries across the apostolic churches. This flows from Scripture rather than departing from it. In Revelation, John sees the prayers of the saints rising before God's throne, carried up like incense from the hands of an angel, an image repeated twice, once with the twenty-four elders holding bowls of incense described as the prayers of the saints, and again as an angel offers that incense with the prayers of the saints from the altar before God. This tells us the saints are aware of our prayers and present them before the Lord. Our Lord Himself said there is greater joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine already righteous, showing heaven is attentive to what happens here.

When God grants miracles through a saint's intercession, He is not simply answering a request, He is showing us His approval of the practice, and His own desire that we draw close to His saints. He gives us the saints not only as intercessors but as models and witnesses, examples of lives fully surrendered to Him, so that in loving them we might learn to live as they lived.

Just as we ask a living brother or sister to pray for us, we ask the saints, who are more alive in Christ than we are, to do the same. Asking their prayers is not worship, and never replaces Christ our one Mediator. It is simply asking a family member, now closer to God, to intercede alongside us.

Is it biblical?

Occasionally, we are faced with questions as to why we incorporate the intercession of saints in our prayers. The answer is that it is biblical.

• In Revelation 5:8 we read that the elders in heaven have vessels filled with "the prayers of saints," which speaks to the ear that God lends to these intercessors.
• Revelation 8:3–4 says the prayers of the saints are presented to God.
• James 5:16 instructs us to "pray for one another", and he does not limit this to prayer on earth.

Prayer to the saints is a request for intercession, not worship.

When we are seeking to make an appointment with a doctor, we will often call the receptionist who acts as the conduit to the physician. We would never barge into a doctor's office without observing that protocol. We also wouldn't ignore the protocol and miss out on the opportunity to see the doctor when we have pressing need to.

Saints are a connection to the Great Physician. They are booking our appointments, putting our cases before the doctor, and the Lord lends an ear to their calls. It is not that God cannot work without them; it is that He has asked us to observe this practice to honour those who honoured Him on earth.

Making friends with the saints

So how do we develop a friendship with the saints? A few suggestions:

• Get to know their story by reading their life and sayings.
• Seek their intercession, placing an icon in your prayer corner and asking them to make their nearness felt.
• Celebrate their feast day as you would a loved one's birthday: through the Liturgy, a family retelling of their story, a cake or baked offering in their honour, a hymn, or flowers before their icon.

This Sunday, every family will receive a Saint's Family Pack, allocating a Coptic saint at random to walk with for the year, complete with a journal for answered prayers and activities for the children. Gather your family this week, and pray together that our Lord picks the saint that you most need this year.

Saints of St John's

Welcome the saints into your home

This week at St John's, we are beginning a new initiative to help our families grow closer to the saints and discover the beautiful stories of those who have gone before us in faith.

This Sunday, families will receive a Saint pack to take home, featuring a saint connected with St John's. The aim is simple: to help us become more familiar with the saints, learn their stories and, most importantly, begin to include them more intentionally in our prayers.

Our saints are not simply figures from the past. They are our family in Christ, examples of faith, courage, sacrifice and love for God, and our intercessors.

Their lives remind us that holiness is possible for all of us, and their prayers can encourage us as we journey in our own faith.

We especially want to encourage our children to get to know the saints. Read their stories together, talk about what made them special, look at their lives and ask for their prayers.

Perhaps your children will even discover a saint who becomes a particular friend and inspiration to them.

Each week, we will feature a different saint from St John's in this newsletter and invite families to bring that saint into their homes and prayers.

Our hope is that, over time, our children will grow up knowing the saints by name, knowing their stories and turning to them in prayer.

Let's make the saints part of our family life and help our children discover the beautiful family they have in heaven, and the richness that can be gained by including them in our prayers.

From the pulpit

Jesus Loves Me

Fr Anthony · Father's Day

It is a great joy to pray together on Father's Day.

If you are here as a father, you are doing your job properly, because every dad should lead by example by making coming to church on Sunday non-negotiable. We love our children deeply, and so Father's Day is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on fatherly love.

There is something beautiful in the architecture of our church. The icon behind the altar is known as the Embrace of the Father. In Arabic, it is also referred to as the bosom of the Father. It is deliberately positioned in the shape of an embrace.

In some churches, where there is enough space, the chairs of the congregation are arranged in a curve, almost as though we are being gathered into the embrace of the Father.

This reminds me of something that happened this week. I went to the doctor with my wife and our baby daughter, who needed some injections. My wife had been dreading the appointment because she knew our baby would have to endure some pain.

After seeing the doctor, we were sent to the nurse, who asked, "Who is going to hold the baby while we give her the injections?" My wife immediately said, "He is!"

She could not bear to watch our daughter being hurt, but I held her while they gave her injections in both legs. She cried, of course.

Later, I thought about how impossible it would have been to explain to my daughter why I was holding her while people were hurting her. From her perspective, she could have wondered, "Why would Dad hold me so that people could hurt me?"

Mothers and fathers can express their love in different ways. A mother may not want to see her child experience pain. A father may recognise that sometimes a child needs to endure something difficult because it is ultimately for their good.

There is a saying attributed to C.S. Lewis:

It can be difficult for us to understand the love of God. Just as a baby cannot comprehend how an action that causes pain can actually be an expression of love, there are things in our own lives that we cannot understand. The gap between us and God is infinitely greater than the gap between a child and a parent.

There will be moments when we ask, "How can this possibly be loving?"

That is where trust in God comes in.

It is impossible to truly trust God if we already know everything He is going to do. Trust exists precisely when we do not understand why something is happening. If we always knew what was going to happen, there would be no room for trust.

Sometimes we will not understand what is happening in our lives, and yet we can still trust in the love of God.

"God, You love me more than I love this child"

There is a simple practice I would encourage everyone to try. If you are a parent, think about the person you love most in the world. Think about your child and how deeply you love them.

God loves you more than that.

As much as you love your child, God loves you even more.

I know of a father who was once praying while holding his baby. During his prayer, he looked at his child and said, "God, You love me more than I love this child."

The next word that came out of his mouth was simply, "Wow."

Try this the next time you are looking lovingly at your child, perhaps even while they are sleeping. Look at them and say, "God, You love me more than I love this child."

And perhaps the next word that comes out of your mouth will be, "Wow."

You love your child so much, and yet God loves you even more. This is a theological truth that Scripture tells us repeatedly.

In Isaiah 49:15, God says:

God's love is greater than the love of a father. It is greater than the love of a mother.

This is a recurring theme throughout the New Testament. Jesus repeatedly asks us to consider how much more God loves and cares for us.

• In Matthew 7:11, Jesus says: "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?"
• In Luke 11:13, He says: "How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
• In Luke 12:24, Jesus tells us to consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, yet God feeds them. Then He asks: "Of how much more value are you than the birds?"
• And again, in Luke 12:28: "If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?"

You love your family. You love your children. God loves you much more.

Saint Paul understood this profoundly. Despite everything he endured as a missionary, including shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonment, hunger, thirst, danger and suffering, he understood one of the greatest theological truths we can ever know:

In Galatians 2:20, Saint Paul writes:

This truth is not just for children. It is for everyone. Jesus loves you.

If we truly understand this, the rest of the Christian life begins to fall into place.

There would be no need for endless sermons simply telling us to love God, to do the right thing or to behave properly. If a person truly understands that Jesus loves them, everything else begins to flow from that love.

Saint Augustine famously expressed this idea when he said: "Love God and do what you will."

Why would he say this? Because if someone truly loves God, they will not want to do anything that offends Him or causes Him pain.

And how do we know that understanding God's love leads us to love Him in return? We know it from the patron saint of our church, Saint John.

In 1 John 4:19, we read:

That is the message of Saint John. If this truth truly sinks into our hearts, that Jesus loves us, then we will love Him in return.

So I encourage you to practise this throughout your days, your weeks and your years.

Whenever you look at your child with that overwhelming love that parents know so well, say: "God, You love me more than I love this child."

Say it when your child does something beautiful or funny. Say it when you are watching them sleep. Say it in those moments when you are simply overwhelmed by how much you love them.

Say it again and again until the truth begins to sink into your heart.

God loves you more than you can comprehend.

And we will finish with Saint Paul's words from Galatians 2:20:

Glory be to God forever. Amen.