- While Abba Anastasius attended to those who
sought Egypt’s bounty he remained vigilant towards his
own people. He wrote twelve books on doctrinal
subjects. For twelve years he guided his church: each
year he distributed, among his people, one of his books.
Then, he was called by his Lord to join the Saints living in
the Mansions of Light.^2 - While kingdoms swayed, and thrones tottered, the
Orient could still boast of a great number of saints whose
main concern was sanctity. Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor
were covered with monasteries whose inmates
endeavoured to imitate the old Church Fathers, the
reputation of whose virtues reverberated across the
world.^3 These saints devoted their lives to spiritual and
mystical problems. Subsequently serenity and order
prevailed within the monasteries, in contrast to the fierce
conflicts raging in the world. And though these saints
could neither stem the tide nor make it swerve, they stood
firm, nobly holding the Torch aloft, keeping It aflame in
spite of tempests and torrents.
B. 368. In Egypt, the grip of foreign rule was well
nigh throttling. It tightened as the Persian army advanced
triumphantly, and the yoke grew heavier day by day.
Despite this yoke, clergy and laymen of the Coptic Church
assembled to deliberate on the election of a new Patriarch.
They could never forego their right of election. Sufficient
unto them the submission to the foreign temporal rulers,
but in the realm of the Spirit, they guarded their
independence jealously. They therefore elected
Andronicus to be their thirty-seventh Pope.