St Abraam the Bishop
On the 2nd day of the Coptic month of Baouna we celebrate the life of St Abraam the Bishop.
In the year 1829, in a village of Egypt called "Calad", was born the child Paul Gabriel. His parents were righteous and loved God.
He was sent to a church school where his teacher taught him reading, writing, arithmetic, the Holy Scriptures, psalms, ecclesiastic hymns and psalmody. He was very intelligent and anxious to learn everything.
When he was eight years old, his mother became very ill, and a few weeks later died, leaving behind a lonely child... As he loved prayers and psalms, he found in it that God can bless his emotions and fill all his heart.
When he was fifteen years old, he got famous among his mates; the priests recommended him to the Bishop of the Diocese, who ordained him as a deacon during his visit to the village's Church.
As he loved the life of contemplation with God, so he joined El-Meharraki Monastery in Assuit Egypt. He was very decent, active, and loved all the monks. They recommended him and he was ordained as a monk when he was nineteen years old. His new name was Father Paul El-Meharraki.
The Bishop heard about him, and asked the young monk to come to the "Bishop's house" and remain with him. Father Paul worked day and night and changed the "Bishop's house" to a shelter for the poor.
His deep eagerness for contemplating with God turned him to ask the bishop to return back to the monastery, having spent four years helping the bishop. The Bishop ordained him as a priest and allowed him to return to the monastery.
At that time there was a problem regarding Father Abdel-Malek, who was in charge of the monastery, but Father Paul did not interfere with these problems .
So the monks chose him to be in charge of the monastery. He opened the doors of the monastery for poor people. Many young men heard about Father Paul and came to him for guidance. After a short time they all became monks.
As usual the devil was furious when he saw the monastery opened for the poor. And seeing many young people changed by their love for Jesus and continuous prayers. So the devil made some of the monks think that Fr. Paul was wasting the money of the monastery and they rebelled against him.
In 1870, Fr. Paul was asked to leave the monastery after being in charge for only five years.
Father Paul went with four of his students to Cairo to meet with Anba Marcos the Bishop, who at that time was acting Pope. They asked him to go to the Monastery of Anba Bishoy at the "Natroun-Valley" in the western desert of Egypt, where they remained for a short period of time. Afterwards they went to the next door monastery of El-Baramous in 1871. At that time the president of this monastery was Father John, who later became Pope Kyrillos. He was so glad to receive them and he offered them a place to stay.
Fr. Paul devoted all his time to praying and studying but his deep love for the poor people did not end. He loved the hostile Arabs who were living in the area of the monastery and he shared with them everything he had, even his clothes.
In 1881 the Ethiopian Emperor, John Kassa asked Pope Kyrillos, to ordain a metropolitan and three Bishops for the Ethiopian Empire, so he chose the four fathers who were accompanying Fr. Paul,
At the same time Anba Isaac the metropolitan of the province of Fayoum and Gieza departed, then the four fathers asked the Pope to ordain their father as a bishop for that diocese. The Pope and the people of the Fayoum became happy and joyful on that day, for the ordination of their new bishop "ANBA ABRAAM", in 1881.
During his time, the Diocese of the Fayoum became a great vine, in whose shadow the poor and rich sat with great delight.
When the Ruler of Egypt, Tawfik, visited El-Fayoum they made a great lunch-party. Anba Abraam was sitting near the ruler and did not eat except salad. When Tawfiq asked him why, he...