(+) Archimandrite Daniel Gouvalis (1940-2009)
“MAY GOD BLESS YOU LIKE
EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH”
(Gen. 48:20)
We find ourselves in the seventeenth century B.C. In Egypt, we will witness an episode mentioned in the final days of the God-bearing patriarch Jacob. Without a doubt, the events surrounding the end of this much-suffering Patriarch are among the most moving pages of Holy Scripture. One sees here the abundant blessings that God poured out upon the patriarchal family, the great joys following sorrows, and the God-inspired actions of the aged Jacob that inspire awe. In every word of his, in every gesture, we discern an extraordinary divine illumination and impulse from the Spirit of God. We sense that before us stands not merely a prophet, but someone more than a prophet.