"These problems don’t deserve your tears. Your tears should be saved for your prayers! Everything else is trivial in comparison" – Abouna Mina Aboud
Can someone’s service grow stronger after his death? Well, it depends on how we think about death. If we see death as the end, then the answer is a resounding no. But, if death is not the end but merely the beginning of an endless eternity, then it might start to make sense how someone can have an even bigger impact after his martyrdom.
This I write about Fr. Mina Aboud.
Fr. Mina was born in Aswan with the name Salib, a name that would bear a certain foreshadowing in his life. He had an upbringing typical of us all, but his passionate love for the church and especially the Psalms and Hymns would lead him to focus on them even ahead of his studies. To the point that one time his Mom (Madam Fayka) complained to His Eminence Metropolitan Hedra, Metropolitan of the Dioceses of Aswan, to intervene to prompt Salib to focus on his studies. He responded, “Madam Fayka, are we now complaining about those who are close to and far from God? Leave him to do as he pleases!”
Fr. Mina continued to grow in grace. He started teaching Hymns and Psalms in his local church at St. Mary in Aswan, and when he later enrolled in the University of Ain Shams in Cairo, he joined the Church of St. Mary Al-Amiriya, where he quickly started a service focused on teaching Psalms and Hymnology. After he graduated, he married Sister Mariam Milad in January of the year 2000.
Fr. Mina would later be called to Priesthood on the 3rd of March 2012, where he would joyfully accept. He would be called to serve in ‘Al-Arish’, a city in the North of Sinai that was riddled with terrorist groups and Islamic extremists. He would serve faithfully as a General Priest for a period of 1 year and 4 months, where his service would be characterised by love, patience and faithfulness to all that he came in contact with.
On 6th of July 2013 through a series of premonitions, Fr. Mina he knew his time had come. He said goodbye to his wife and kids and left for his daily tasks with ease and serenity. As he was making his way back from a trip to the mechanic, he was met with Islamist fundamentalists who intercepted his vehicle and attacked him. Shooting him through the car, the terrorists wounded Fr. Mina in his thigh, hindering his ability to escape. One after another, the extremists made their way to Fr. Mina’s car, forced the door open and dragged him on the ground, with the hot pavement tearing away his clerical garments. They seized Fr. Mina’s leather pectoral cross tightening it around his neck as a makeshift noose, using it to viciously drag him further away from the car to the point that Fr. Mina’s neck began to tear and bruise.
Blood from his thigh consecrated the sandy pavement as it smeared against it. Any attempt to stand was met with a ferocious kick; a shoe print would later be found aggressively pressed onto the skin above his heart. They then forced him to stand up on his injured leg, with the firearm thrusted against his temple; they asked him to say the ‘Shahada’ to which he refused shaking his head.
The gun then pressed with greater force, tightening their grip on Fr. Mina’s collar “Say the Shahada, and I will have mercy on you”, to which Fr. Mina with God-given strength, he prayed, “May the Lord have mercy on me and you”.
With such fevered resolution, the terrorist opened fire, shooting Fr. Mina nine times along the length of his body, gaining the most glorious of crowns, the crown of martyrdom.
This is by no means intended as a full account of Fr. Mina’s beautiful life, as no article would do it justice. For that, I implore you to read his book " A Spring in Sinai: The Story of Hieromartyr Abouna Mina Abood" written beautifully by Anthony Marcos. However, what I’d like us to do, is to focus on a few key lessons from Fr. Mina’s life as a model for our own:
Seeking God first
In the early months of 2013, at the first anniversary of his ordination, Fr. Mina accompanied several of congregants on a day trip in a garden in Al-Arish. When Fr. Mina was asked what his wishes and hopes for the new year were, he wished wonderful things for sister Mariam and the kids, and then said:
“As for me, in the eleventh hour of the Agpeya, I love the Litany in which we beseech the Theotokos St. Mary, and say to her, ‘And when my soul departs from my body, attend to me. And defeat the conspiracy of the enemies, and shut the gates of Hades.’ May she attend to me when my hour arrives’”
He sought Christ at every moment, and so Christ saw to grant him his desires.
Accepting God’s Will
Sister Mariam recounts the story when Fr. Mina was initially nominated for Priesthood for St. Mary Al-Amiriya, but His Grace Bishop Macarious mentioned to Salib (Fr. Mina) that he would have to be excluded from this round of ordination, but without providing any reasons. This opened the door for rumours from the congregation, which were quite painful for sister Mariam to hear.
Sister Mariam continues to mention that when Fr. Mina would see her tears regarding the subject of priesthood and the rumours being circulated, he would say "Why are you crying? We did nothing and we never sought out this issue. Why must we cry about it? Whether the ordination went through or not, we should accept it without crying!"
However, no one is above weakness. One day Salib and sister Mariam were watching “Mother Irene - Part 2” movie together. During the movie, the priest explained to Mother Irene that “A priest receives a direct call from God to serve.” Turning to her left, sister Mariam saw Salib weeping.
She then whispered “You always tell me not to cry about the subject of your ordination. Why are you crying now?”
Salib groaned, “I’m just afraid that His Grace [Bishop Macarious] prayed, and God guided him telling him I’m unfit.” She recounts both sitting in silence. He sobbed, “I’m afraid that God rejected me.”
This shows that we are all prone to moments of doubt. Similarly, although Fr. Mina did accept God’s will, the Devil may find a way to attack us and cause us to doubt but we must always remember that God has a plan for us.
Finding Courage & Strength
Sister Mariam mentions the story ahead of Fr. Mina’s martyrdom where he was planning on celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the church of St. George on the following morning (5th of July 2013). The church was situated in downtime Al-Arish, which at the time was a furnace inflamed with tension. The area was void of all security.
Sister Mariam attempted to reason why Fr. Mina to pray at St. Mina’s which was near their home, far away from all the trouble. In boldness, he answered, "Are we going to fear, Mariam? I want to pray at St. George's, and nothing will stop me!"
Sister Mariam recounts in the story that never in the thirteen years of her marriage has she seen Fr. Mina with such boldness and courage. It was remarkable (God-given).
What was even more remarkable was his sermon for the Liturgy that morning. Sister Mariam mentions she still has the sermon notes; it was a mediation on the verse, "Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Lk 12:7). He had inexplicably written: "The Lord counts every drop of our tears, and every drop of our blood, which is shed for the sake of His name, and they shall be compensated a hundred-fold in the heavens."
In the church, we are surrounded by role-models and modern day Saints. Fr. Mina lived like us in many ways, he sometimes got scared, he doubted and he did not always know what God had planned for him, but he did do one thing and that is he kept his eyes always on the Lord and even in moments of doubt, he trusted in Him fully.
As the veneration for Fr. Mina says "We have not lived in your ways, we have not embodied your traits, mention us in prayers, Mina Pi Martyros"
Intercessors are real, intercessors are alive, intercessors work. May the intercession of the beautiful Abouna Mina Aboud be with us, Amen.
Written by
The little lamb
