By H.H. Pope Shenouda III
To Accept The Sacraments Of Christianity
To accept the laying of hands that Barnabas and Saul obtained from the disciples, so that they could go on to service (Acts 13:2,3), and also the laying of Saint Paul's hands on Timothy (2 Tim. 1:6). We believe that this is a sacrament.
We accept the power the Lord gave in His saying "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained " (John 20:23) "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matt. 18:18).
This honour is unseen but we see it through faith. It is not for everyone and no one can take it by himself, but he who is called by God just like Aaron was (Heb. 5:4).
Seeing the unseen is the real spiritual sight: maybe it is what the Lord meant in His saying to his disciples "But blessed are your eyes for they see " (Matt. 13:16). What do they see? It sees Jesus Christ and His miracles. It sees the unseen just like the revelation, which Saint John saw. Further, how Saint Paul saw
the third heaven and many other signs (2 Cor.12: 2,7).
The Lord rebuked those who did not have this spiritual sense by saying "And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes " (Matt. 13: 15) the disciple also wrote the same thing about them (Acts 28:27). The expression they closed their eyes could mean that they did not train themselves to see the spiritualities or that they refused to see the spiritualities because of their interest in material things.
Gehazi did not see what his teacher Elisha saw (2 Kin 6:17).
The companions of Saul did not see anything during the Godly vision he saw, the Bible said that they "Stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one." (Acts 9:7).
