St. Paul American Coptic Orthodox Church Podcast - Sermon
Sep 13, 2026 · 10 min · 6 segments
Fr. Andrew Iskander - Homily for the 1st Sunday of Thout. Christ is the way, and our spiritual lives progress through three stages: ignorance, good conscience, and wisdom — each calling us to…
Whether we go to church or not, we may be ignorant of God's commandments and the essence of his gospel.
And in St. Paul's epistles, he speaks about how during this time of ignorance, he himself went through, he persecuted the righteous until Jesus had mercy on him and counted him among the faithful and appeared to him.
Now, this stage isn't something to boast about because one may say, okay, but out of ignorance, then as long as I don't learn anything about God, then I'm safe because then I won't be judged according to it, just as St. Paul, he says.
But it assumes that the only problem is that St. Paul didn't believe in Jesus, but it was also a problem that he condemned or he condoned the killing of others.
Not only that, but the stage of ignorance allows for Satan to take advantage of us.
Because the first stage of dealing with ignorance is us recognizing that we are the clay and God is the potter.
In Isaiah, God says, you turn things upside down as if the potter were thought to be like the clay.
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, you did not make me? Can the pot say to the potter, you know nothing? So the stage of ignorance is in which not only is it about my belief, but it is about following the will of God.
And recognizing, coming outside of ignorance, it is to recognize that I am the clay and God is the potter who formed me.
Whether we go to church or not, we may be ignorant of God's commandments and the essence of his gospel.
And in St. Paul's epistles, he speaks about how during this time of ignorance, he himself went through, he persecuted the righteous until Jesus had mercy on him and counted him among the faithful and appeared to him.
Now, this stage isn't something to boast about because one may say, okay, but out of ignorance, then as long as I don't learn anything about God, then I'm safe because then I won't be judged according to it, just as St. Paul, he says.
But it assumes that the only problem is that St. Paul didn't believe in Jesus, but it was also a problem that he condemned or he condoned the killing of others.
Not only that, but the stage of ignorance allows for Satan to take advantage of us.
Because the first stage of dealing with ignorance is us recognizing that we are the clay and God is the potter.
In Isaiah, God says, you turn things upside down as if the potter were thought to be like the clay.
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, you did not make me? Can the pot say to the potter, you know nothing? So the stage of ignorance is in which not only is it about my belief, but it is about following the will of God.
And recognizing, coming outside of ignorance, it is to recognize that I am the clay and God is the potter who formed me.
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