السيرة
Lives of the Saints and Martyrs in the Coptic Orthodox Church
The Saint Hegumen Mikhail El-Beheiry of El-Muharraq
It was reported in El-Keraza newspaper on June 20, 1980: "At the very first session of the Holy Synod attended by His Grace Bishop Shenouda, Bishop of Theological Education (now Pope Shenouda III), which took place in 1963, it was proposed that the following be added to the roll of the Church's saints: Anba Abraam, Bishop of El-Fayoum, and Anba Sarabamoun Abu-Tarha, Bishop of El-Menoufeya. One of the members proposed that Hegumen Mikhail El-Beheiry (a contemporary of Anba Abraam) likewise be added, and the Holy Synod agreed without discussion, for these three were all above debate... and so the matter became official."
He was a disciple of Saint Anba Abraam, Bishop of El-Fayoum. This saint was born in the year 1848 in the town of Ashnin El-Nasara, one of the villages of the Maghagha district in the province of El-Menya, to pious and virtuous Christian parents, filled with the grace of God, lovers of good, and attested by all the people for their devotion and virtue. When he reached his twelfth year his father reposed, and four years after that his mother passed away.
The saint recounts to us: "After my father's repose, my relatives took me to one of the neighboring houses, fearing the effect of weeping upon my health. While I was sitting in my seclusion on the roof of the house, behold, I saw my father ascending into heaven, surrounded by luminous angels. I recognized him and called out: 'O my father, O my father.' Then the angels said to me: 'Pray that your end may be like his end,' and then they vanished from me."
His Monasticism:
One of the monastic fathers, called Hegumen Tawadros of El-Muharraq, was accustomed to visit the village of Ashnin. The young lad Mikhail would meet with him and hear much from him about the lives of the saints and the monastic life as a life exalted in the Lord. So he began to practice these disciplines under the guidance of his father confessor, and tasted the monastic life within his own room.
At the age of twenty he became a monk at the Monastery of the Holy Virgin at El-Muharraq, during the time when Hegumen Boulos El-Delgawi (Saint Anba Abraam) was its abbot. He lived according to the way of his teacher Anba Abraam, adorned with many virtues, the foremost of them humility and love. He took to training himself in bookbinding, and bound the old books of the monastery's library to preserve them. The monastery's visitors also brought their books to him, and he would accept from them whatever wage they offered and distribute it among the poor of the monks and the townsfolk. His bookbinding drew him to read the books, and out of his passion for them he would encourage the monks to grow in reading.
The saint became a disciple of the experienced elder Hegumen Salib El-Alawani, and so received noble knowledge and was enriched with spiritual disciplines for spiritual growth. In the month of Toba in the year 1591 A.M. (1874 A.D.), his teacher asked the abbot of the monastery to ordain him a priest. This was accomplished at the hands of Anba Athanasius, Bishop of Sanabu, Dairut, and Qenam.
His Virtues:
He was a virtuous teacher and a man of miracles, and through his hands many received the grace of healing that medicine had failed to give. Many would come to him from every land to receive his blessing. He was distinguished by his love of quiet and solitude, far from noise; he would sleep but little at night and spent the night giving praise, chanting, and keeping vigil.
God granted him authority over the wild beasts, and likewise over the evil spirits and over sorcerers and charlatans. He passed through many trials from the enemy of good, yet he met these trials with strength and steadfastness and did not weary of his blows; rather, whenever the demons appeared to him he would answer them with the sign of the cross and complete humility. He wrestled with them until he lost his sight, and he warred against them with his many fasts and prayer.
And of his humility: even after he was ordained a hegumen, he would clean the monastery's churches without any pride, and would tend the garden within the monastery, on the side of the abbot's residence. To this day two palm trees remain there, on the western side of the residence, along the path leading to the ancient church of El-Muharraq Monastery, and they are known by the name of the two palms of our father the saint Mikhail El-Beheiry.
The Removal of Hegumen Boulos El-Delgawi from the Abbacy of the Monastery:
In the year 1586 A.M. a fierce storm arose against the abbot of the monastery, Hegumen Boulos El-Delgawi (Anba Abraam), and he was removed from the abbacy and driven out of the monastery. This father left the monastery together with his sons, and they asked Hegumen Mikhail El-Beheiry to accompany them. But Hegumen Boulos El-Delgawi did not consent to their request, and said to them: "Leave him in the monastery, and do not deprive the community of the presence of the men of God, lest it be encompassed by divine wrath. Leave him, for this consoles us for our labor and the toil of our hands, and he will be a blessing in this place."
The saint grieved at being parted from his father and beloved abbot. He endured much harassment, for the monks tried to compel him to leave the monastery. Yet he bore much in quiet and patience, in obedience to the divine commandment.
For example, while he was making bread, some unknown person went to his cell and took all his clothes and belongings. He returned to the cell with his garment full of dough and soaked with water, and found nothing to wear. He complained to the abbot of the monastery, expecting that he would offer him a garment to wear, but instead the abbot rebuked him, alleging that he had insulted the monks and accused them of theft — although he had accused no one. His spiritual father, Hegumen Salib El-Alawani, was obliged to give him a coarse garment which he wore throughout the whole winter, having nothing with which to replace it so that it could be cleaned. Yet this saint did not lose his peace nor his inner joy amid all these troubles; rather, all of these things urged him on to spiritual struggle, that he might support many.
The Loss of His Sight:
When he lost his sight and his hearing grew very weak and his bodily strength failed, he did not cease to go to church daily. One of his sons, whom he relied upon to lead him to church, asked him: "O father, sit in your cell, and let your prayers there suffice, for you can neither hear nor see — so what need is there for you to go to church?" He answered him: "O my son, when I go to church I smell the fragrance of the incense, and this consoles me greatly, so that I see what no eye has seen and hear what no ear has heard."
His Love for the Poor and His Asceticism:
There was nothing worth mentioning in his cell, for his teacher Anba Abraam had trained him at his own hands to give all that was in his hands to the least of Jesus's brethren. In the monastery they called him "the man of mercy and the father of the needy."
From the time he entered the monastery he never ate meat; he would fast until evening, and gave his body no rest in sleep or food or drink. He knew no rest, for he was a lover of labor. He bound his work and his asceticism to a life of prayer, and every day he would pray the whole of the Psalms.
His Companionship with the Wild Beasts:
When he was fifteen years old he went with some young men to work on the building of roads and bridges. He returned with one of his companions to his town by night, and it was well known that hyenas frequented that road. Suddenly two hyenas appeared, and his companion was greatly afraid; but he said to him: "Do not fear, for they are two tame dogs" — for he had never seen a hyena before. The companion was astonished to see the two hyenas drawing near to the saint, and he was caressing them as if they were two tame dogs. As he approached the village, the dogs caught the scent of the two hyenas and began to bark, which disturbed the village; the villagers supposed that thieves had drawn near, so they came out of their houses bearing weapons, and were astonished at this sight, and they glorified God who works in His saints.
The saint was accustomed to say, "Go in peace, O blessed one," whenever one of the monks entered his cell. No one knew the secret of this phrase until one of his spiritual sons insisted on knowing it, saying to him: "By the right of your fatherhood, tell me who this blessed one is. Is there someone who serves you, or does one of the wandering ascetics sit with you?" The saint wept and said: "Woe to me, the wretched one — for this I will show him to you." Then he called out, saying: "Come, O blessed one; you must not be afraid, my son." And behold, a huge serpent, nearly two meters in length, came out from behind the "namliya" (the food cupboard). The saint said to him: "This is my friend; he shares my food, and I find sweet sleep upon the folds of his body when I lay my head upon him." Then he said: "Go, O blessed one," and the serpent vanished from whence it had come.
After the saint's repose, the serpent left the cell and went out grieving for its friend, and it kept writhing in the dust until it died of grief.
At last, after a life full of struggle, he reposed on February 23, 1922, in the second week of the Holy Fast.
From His Sayings:
Do you desire peace of mind? Keep the conditions of love — the love of God and the love of neighbor.
Abide in God, and He will grant you all.
The habit of good works begets the disposition of righteousness and piety.
The Recognition of His Holiness:
His holiness was recognized at the session of the Holy Synod in the year 1963, under the presidency of His Holiness Pope Cyril VI, the 116th Patriarch