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Agpeya

Faith Q&A › Metropolitan Youssef › Prayer, Fasting and Worship › Agpeya

The question

I understand your explanation about the Agpeya, who the author is, and when it was written. It was during the time of St. Pachomius. The Church fathers met together to establish a daily worshipping system for all believers to pass onto the following generations...My Question is if we are Coptic Orthodox and believe that St. Mark the Gospel writer was our first patriarch and the Last Supper was held at his house, why did the fathers not mention any of the Gospel according to St. Mark in the Agpeya prayers. I am perplexed to find out why there is not one Gospel reading from St. Mark in the Agpeya?

The First and Third Hour is the Gospel of John
The Sixth Hour is the Gospel of Matthew
The Ninth Hour is the Gospel of Luke
The Eleventh Hour is the Gospel of Luke
The Twelfth Hour is the Gospel of Luke
The Veil is the Gospel of John
The Midnight First Watch is the Gospel of John
The Midnight Second Watch Is the Gospel of Luke
The Midnight Third Watch is the Gospel of Luke

The answer

The Gospel readings of the Agpeya coincide with specific events of that hour. The Church chose the most fitting readings, not by writer, but by content. St. Luke was not one of the disciples, and neither was he a close eyewitness to most of the events as the other writers of the Holy Gospel, yet his account is used more than any of the others in the Agpeya. Our Church is not choosing one over the other because one evangelized the Egyptians while another was commissioned elsewhere. They are all our fathers and teachers and we are their children and disciples. The prophet David did not write all of the Psalms, but rather most, at least seventy. However, we say in the Agpeya prayers, "From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet," because we are attributing the spirit of these sweet praises to him as the example of this component of worship. Do not be dismayed by this. St. Mark is revered throughout Christendom in every denomination. He is the respected and undisputed founder of the first and original Divine Liturgy, which was later translated verbatim by St. Cyril I, the Pillar of Faith. We are blessed by all our Christian heroes and grateful for each of their contributions. That is why we recite their exemplary lives from the Synaxarion in every Liturgy, whether they were from Egypt, Antioch, Rome, or anywhere. We are all lovingly bound together in the body of Jesus Christ.

Answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab)

Related questions

Questions answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab) of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Question 2536 on the Diocese’s Q&A site. Questions and answers © Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. All rights reserved.