66- Better Than you and me

The wealthy physician⁽²⁾ would often get angry at his young brother, Mina, because he would show up at his office in cheap clothes, embarrassing him. Although the doctor presented his brother with expensive clothes to wear, Mina would simply give it all away to the poor. He would keep his simple and humble attire to wear.

 Mina received special appreciation and love from Pope Kyrillos *, who ordered his disciple, “Mina may enter my room without permission any time he visits the Cathedral. Also if I’m asleep, you may wake me up.”

The Pope loved Mina so much that he went to eat at his house. On such occasions, the young man would wash the Pope's feet and serve him food. One day after having dinner, on his way out, he told Mina's mother, “God be with you and give you support.”

 The lady then began to wonder, “No one else said anything to me, so why did the Pope? Does he know of something that is happening to us?”

She was hesitant to ask him about it. After three days, the Pope thus ordered the people at the Patriarchate, “Prepare the church for a funeral. I’m going to console Mina's mother.” Upon arriving at the house, the Pope found Mina's mother crying out in pain. When she saw the Pope, she said, “Why didn't you tell me that Mina would die?”

 The Pope answered, “Mina is better than you and me.”

She was then comforted as she realized her son's ranking in God's eyes.

 This simple story shows how this Pope's standards coincided with heavenly ones.

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: أفضل مني ومنك.

O God, give me the heavenly standards,

So that I don't complement or flatter,

But love everybody.

May I love the pious and spiritual so that I meet with them in Your glory.

Support me with their prayers whether they were children or young men.

May I be patient with the powerful, for their own salvation.

My heart widens with love for everyone.

Footnotes and references for this page here at St-Takla.org:

(2) Narrated by Fr. Antonius Younan from his father that knew a great deal about the personal and hidden life of Pope Kyrillos *.

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Short Stories (Stories for the Youth) Books by Father Tadros Yacoub Malaty

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