Lastest Lazarus Book Review

Fr. Marcus St. Antony

Monk-Priest in the Coptic Orthodox Church, M.D. M.S

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Fr. Marcus St Antony joined the Saint Antony Monastery in California in 1996 after finishing his medical degrees in Egypt and the US (USMLE Exam requirements). He was consecrated a monk in 2001 and studied theology before being ordained a priest in 2004 by the thrice blessed H.H. Pope Shenouda III. Fr. Marcus St Antony also has many years of experience in writing editing and publishing “Abba Antony” magazine which is distributed to more than 12000 people. He is the author, editor and publisher of three books and hundreds of articles. Fr. Marcus earned a master degree in psychology in 2017

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Lazarus

The healing and recovery of a pornography addict

ISBN 978-1-54391-400-9

A book review

By Fr. Marcus St. Antony

Pornography addiction is a contemporary problem that became even widespread with the new communication technology such as personal computers and mobile devices. This book is excellent life experience of the author having had this problem in his life and how he overcame it. He focused on the problem of culture and how deficient is education whether at home or in school to combat and immunize or safeguard teenagers against this challenge. There are two cultural examples, that of contemporary Egypt with all the shadow of Arab-Islamic culture and of the United States with the shadow of materialism and the so called sexual revolution.

The preface by Rev. Fr. Luke Istafanous is an excellent recommendation of this book especially when mentioning that he know the author personally. He explained a basic point in this issue which is man as the image and likeness of God, quoting St. Basil the great explaining the meaning of being the image and likeness of God and how it is influenced by this issue.

The author used a clear and simple language to describe details that he went through in his life. The most important focus in this book in my opinion is that he revealed how the church has been a healing and compassionate mother for him presenting Christ as the true physician. Mentioning the church, and particularly the Coptic Orthodox Church, I would like to emphasize the importance of Coptic Schools for many reasons among which the one which is the focus of this book. Some parents solve this problem by sending their children to Catholic Schools but we don’t want to avoid one problem and fall into other problems of different kinds. If parents knew how their children are hurt and wounded spiritually and psychologically because of the lack of good knowledge and spiritual wisdom they would have put much effort, focus and even sacrifice in this respect.

Sometimes a person may have even more challenges than others that even may worsen his addiction to sex and pornography and increase the chance of being captivated in such habits. Among those challenges mentioned in this book are being introvert, body image, feeling lonely and criticism from others.

Many books have been published that have dealt with the problem of sex and pornography addiction from many perspectives mostly from the psychological point of view. This book sheds light on the ecclesiastical and spiritual life which have certainty worked healing.

The author may not be a professional writer but he conveyed his thoughts in a simple and clear way that contains his experience energized by his zeal to rescue youth and warn parents and at the same time give glory to God Who granted him healing and new life. He included quotes from scripture from both Old and New Testament that supported his ideas. This is the fight of the flesh. How can anyone conquer without the power of God? He also supported his arguments and ideas by famous authors such as the thrice blessed the late HH Pope Shenouda III and the thrice blessed the late HG Bishop Youannis.

The author has the story of Lazarus (John 11:1-45) as symbolically describing his previous experience of the corruption and the smell of the spiritual death of sin and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of the church, and being present in the midst of her, to heal the sick and raise the dead miraculously even after long time and when all the human attempts fail.

This book gives real hope for those in such psychological issues and who are captivated in such addictions. And “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5)

May this book be a blessing for the life of many and for the glory of God.