البشموري Quotes

“Look at the way you and I have ended up. I renounced and abandoned the world in order to be here and devote myself entirely to the service of Christ far away from people. And now you return to me after embracing Islam, clad in nothing but tunic and waist-cloth, and with nothing to your name but a staff to walk on. Tell me, for Heaven’s sake: What is the difference between us? Is not your renunciation of the world the same as mine? And, my dear: Is it not the same rejection of the state of the world and its inhabitants that has impelled both of us to leave everything behind, realizing as we do that there is no hope to be found in this world and that there is nothing left for us but the love of God?”
― Salwa Bakr, The Man from Bashmour

“You know, Budayr, after living all these years and reaching the age I have reached, I am no longer shaken much by what goes on around me. I have gotten so I think less about paths, and more about destinations. Since my escape from the marshlands, I have come to see that there is no good to be found in this earthly existence so long as there is no justice among people, and so long as mercy and compassion do not embrace the weak as well as the strong. I used to wonder, after all the unjust warfare I had witnessed with my own two eyes: Are not all these people its victims, be they Christians or Muslims, and do they not all deserve to be received into Paradise? Do you not think, Budayr, that the divine justice will embrace all those who have found no justice in this world? Those who have been hungry and naked, who have sold their children and families in order to survive? Do you not think, Budayr, that God will envelop them all in His bounty and compassion regardless of whether they are Muslims or Copts?”
― Salwa Bakr, The Man from Bashmour

“I am saddened and distressed, Budayr. However, so long as you have found in your new religion that which places you on the path of truth and justice, you have the right to pursue what you see as right. As for me, beloved, I do not think I could ever abandon my religion, nor do I think I could embrace any other. I lived my entire life buffeted about by apprehensions, misgivings, and conflicting thoughts, my mind a battleground for competing philosophies, until I became an orthodox Christian, and in this faith I will die. May God have mercy on us all, my goodhearted son. May He forgive me and you, since it is He who has foreordained and willed what was and is to be.”
― Salwa Bakr, The Man from Bashmour

“It is not we who choose, Budayr. Rather, the Lord is the One who chooses for us. We are slaves to His will. I am happy that you are seeking to invite others to what you see as true and good. At the same time, I feel grieved that you have abandoned the religion of your family and forefathers, the paradise of the Church, and the path of Christ.”
― Salwa Bakr, The Man from Bashmour