With the birth of our Lord Christ, joy is born, and peace is born. The birth of the Lord brought joyful tidings to everybody, as the angel on the day of His birth said to the shepherds:“Behold, I bring you good tidingsof great joy which will be to all people.For there is born to you this day … a Savior,Who is Christ the Lord.” The number (seven) – a symbol of perfection (2)
In some passages of the Holy Scripture the number “seven” is not mentioned expressly, but the number exists in certain events, as for instance :
• The words of the Lord Christ on the cross
They were seven words, though the number is not mentioned. Those were :
1- “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Lk 23:34).
2- “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Lk 23:43).
3- “Woman, behold your son!” “Behold your mother!”.(Jn 19:26,27).
4- “Eloi, Eloi, Lama sabachtani?” (Mk 15:34; Mt 27:46).
5- “I Thirst! “ (Jn 19:28).
6- “It is finished!” (Jn 19:30)
7- “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” (Lk 23:46).
They are seven words, but they are of perfect significance.
(see our book: “The words of Christ on the cross”.
• Another example is : the seven requests in the Lord’s Prayer.
It is the Prayer which the Lord taught us, which embodies all that we ought to say. He combined that in seven requests :
1- Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
2- Your Kingdom come.
3- Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
4- Give us this day our daily bread.
5- Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
6- Do not lead us into temptation.
7- Deliver us from the evil one.
Why seven particularly? Does the number “seven” not imply a symbol of perfection?
• Seven times the angels appeared throughout the period of Christ’s incarnation on the earth :
1- The angels appeared to the shepherds bringing them the good tidings
(LK 2:9-13).
2- An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and commanded him to take the Child and His mother and go to Egypt (Mt 2:13).
3- `The angel of the Lord appeared a second time to Joseph, and commanded him to take the Child and His mother and return to Israel (Mt 2:19,20) .
4- Angels appeared after the temptation on the mount to minister to the Lord (Mt 4:11; Mk 1:13).
5- An angel appeared to the Lord from heaven in Gethsemane (Lk 22:43).
6- They appeared many times during the course of the resurrection (Mt 28:2; Mk 16:5; Lk 24:4; Jn 20:12).
• The miracles mentioned in the Gospel of John:
St. John said that the miracles were numerous and so many that : “if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (Jn 21 : 25).
Nevertheless he chose seven miracles that were not mentioned in any other gospel, in addition to the miracle of the five loaves. The seven are :
1- The miracle of knowing the transcendental which the Lord told Nathanael about, and which him believe (jn. 1:48,49).
2- The miracle of turning water into wine in the wedding at Cana of Galilee, which implied creating a new substance (Jn 2:1-11).
3- The miracle of healing the sick man at Bethesda after 38 years of sickness, by a mere command, “take up you bed and walk.” (Jn 5 : 1-9).
4- The miracle of healing the son of the nobleman at Capernaum by a mere word without seeing him (Jn 4:46-54). This made the man and his whole house hold believe.
5- The miracle of giving sight to the man born blind. This miracle also implied creating new eyes to him (Jn. 9)
6- The miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead after four days (Jn 11).
7- The miracle of fishing multitude of fish after the resurrection (Jn.21).
• The feasts of the Old Testament were seven feasts.
In Addition to the Sabbath (i.e. the seventh day of every week, the Book of Leviticus (23) mentions seven feast; namely :
1- The Passover (23:5).
2- The Feast of Unleavened Bread, for seven days (23:6).
3- The Harvest Feast (23:10).
4- The Feast of the First fruits; the day following the seventh Sabbath (23:15,16)
5- The Feast of the trumpets (23:25).
6- The Day of Atonement, on the tenth day of the seventh month (23:27).
7- The Feast of Tabernacles, for seven days (23:34).
The number of the feasts was seven, and also the details of each feast implied the number seven.
Why seven? Because it is a symbol of perfection, representing perfect happiness. Perfection also appears in that some of those feasts continued for seven days, or took place on the seventh day or in the seventh month, or after completion of seven weeks.
• The feasts of the church, likewise, have the number “seven”. The major feasts are :
1- The Annunciation Day
2- The Nativity Day.
3- The Epiphany Day.
4- The Palm Sunday.
5- The Easter Day.
6- The Ascension Day.
7- The Pentecost.
The Minor feasts are:
1- The Circumcision Day.
2- The Day of entry of Christ into the temple.
3- The Day of entry of Christ the land of Egypt.
4- The Feast of His attending the wedding at Cana of Galilee.
5- The Day of Transfiguration.
6- Maundy Thursday.
7- Thomas Sunday.
It is worth noting that the Church Sacraments are seven.
They are based on texts of the Holy Scripture. These Sacraments are :
1- The Sacrament of Baptism (Jn 3:5; Tit 3:5; Gal 3:27; Mk 16:16;
Mt 28:19).
2- The Sacrament of the Holy Ointment (Chrism) (1 Jn 2:20,27).
3- The Sacrament of Pentience & confession (Acts 19:18; Mt 3:6; Jas 5:16).
4- The Eucharist Sacrament (Mt 26:26 – 28; Mk 14: 22-25; Lk 22:19-20; Jn 6: 51-56; 1 Cor 11:23-29).
5- The Sacrament of Matrimony (Mt 19:4-6; Eph 5: 31,32).
6- The Sacrament of Holy Orders (Priesthood) (Jn 20:22,23; Mt 18:18).
7- The Sacrament of the Unction of the Sick (Jas 5:14;15).
The fasts in the Church are seven fasts:
1- The Fast of Wednesdays and Fridays.
2- The Nativity Fast.
3- The Fast of Jonah the Prophet.
4- The Lent (i.e. the Fast of the holy forty days).
5- The Pascha Week Fast.
6- The Apostles Fast.
7- The Fast of the Holy Virgin.
• The daily prayer, that is, the Hours Prayers (Agpeya) are seven :
1- The Matins Prayer (Ps 63:1).
2- The Third Hour Prayer (Acts 2:15).
3- The Sixth Hour Prayer ( Acts 10:9).
4- The ninth Hour Prayer (Acts 3:1).
5- The Vespers Prayer (Ps 119:55).
6- The Compline Prayer (Ps 119 ).
7- The Midnight Prayer (Ps 119 : 62).
The number of the prayers is probably due to the words of David the Prophet, “seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous judgments.”
(Ps 119:164).
We have already cited verses from the Psalms and from the Acts that indicate that the church used to pray these Seven prayers whether in the Old Testament or in the apostolic era.
The number seven of the prayers is a symbol of the perfection which the Lord required from us, saying that we should always pray and not lose heart (Lk 18:1) and the apostle likewise calls us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17).