Hegumen Abraam Sleman

“Who taught them to fly?” One busy morning, a priest sits down on a bench outside his church. His phone is full of unanswered messages, and a small Bible lies open on his knee. A flock of sparrows lands at his feet, and he wonders aloud who taught them to fly. When he looks up, a young man in white is sitting at the other end of the bench. “Do not be afraid,” he says. So begins The Priest and the Angel , a gentle and reflective story told in the priest’s own voice. Over a remarkable time, this quiet messenger becomes his teacher. He will not accept a bow. He will not say more than is written. Again and again he sends the priest back to the Scriptures and to the sparrows in the courtyard. They eat the seed they did not sow, build a nest beside the altar, and when one falls, the Father sees it. The angel also turns the priest’s eyes toward the people he has been too busy to see: a wife caring for her sick husband whom no one cares for, a young woman who hesitates at the gate, a grieving ...