My First Experience in a Coptic Church June 2, 2006
Posted by yuling in Journey, Tyndale.trackback
Today, on my last day of 'Spiritual Formation in Christian Ed' class, we went to St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church. I pass by that church all the time, yet I never was curious about the building itself. The Coptic Orthodox Church is basically the church coming out of Egypt. It is of similar tradition to Greek Orthodox.
When I entered the church with my classmates, I was surprised that there were so many people there – apparently, they have midweek services (as well as weekend services). I got to meet His Reverence Father Antonius Baki of the Diocese of Zagazig, Egypt. Apparently, he is visiting Canada right now and he is just below the Egyptian pope in the papal hierarchy. He gave each person a cross made out of leather. Also, we each received a little card taped with a little packet of incense (it smells like the body shop). I couldn't hear His Reverence very well, but the gist of these two gifts were that they be used as educational tools about the faith.
My class went into the sanctuary, and we were given a brief talk about Coptic history/tradition by Father Pishoy Salama (who's a recent tyndale grad). The sanctuary is completely different from a typical baptist church. From the moment I walked into the sanctuary, I could smell the incense (which is symbolic as a means of a prayers floated up to God). There were all these ICONS (basically images) of Jesus, the apostles, and other saints. Salama explained that the icons are used to teach us about the history of Christianity. There was a place that was most holy (the altar), and you would have to take off your shoes to enter and meet God.
From an educational point of view, the Coptics have a wonderful way of teaching that I haven't fully understood/practiced yet. They understand that you need to teach history, and they do so through icons. They want to engage ALL the senses so they employ incense for smells. They have icons and other artifacts to see. They use the communion to touch. All coptic churches force you to walk up a few steps to enter because the symbolic meaning of leaving the earth to worship God. It's amazing that only recently, mainstream Christianity is now beginning to engage more than just the mind and the heart, but the senses as well.
From what I understand, St. Mark's is the main Coptic church in Toronto and has the only coptic museum in North America. I will definitely have to visit again sometime. I also want to check out a service (they have one in english)… but it's THREE HOURS LONG and starts at 6:45am!
It was a wonderful visit and I am so intrigued about certain aspects of the Coptic church now – will need to do some researching. For instance, the coptic church has historically attributed the founder of the church to be Mark (who journeyed with Barnabas and Paul in Acts). Supposedly he was the first pope and founded the first church in Alexandria.
The coptic church brings a whole new dimension to the rich Christian tradition that I never saw before.
Like I said before, my friend from high school has been attending a Coptic church for a while now. If you’re interested, we can go check it out together with her – there’s a huge Coptic church here in ’ssauga. What’re your thoughts on the saints?
I’m totally up for it…. altho I hear the service is 3 hours long and starts EARLY in the morning.
Maybe I can stay up all night for it.
I am Coptic and I would just like to inform you a bit. You guys should really check out the church. The one at sauga is AMAZING, i go there about 10 times a year, but my church is St. Marks. The english liturgy at the church at sauga (St.Mary and St. Athanasius) starts around 8 or 9ish, so don’t let waking up too early keep you from experiencing the great faith and sense of community found in these churches. You will really love the church when you go to it, and hopefully this may lead you to learn more and visit more often.
Hi my beloved brothers and sisters
I am Coptic orthodox person I feel that I am very lucky to born in Coptic family. I feel very proud of you to have that felling about our mother church. St Mark church is not only telling us about our history in words, icons and photos. It makes us leave the true life with God when we have the holy communion we not only touch God but also we become one together God in us and we In God. Coptic church also have special hemps (songs) and prayers very blessed. Our Marteirs gave their life easy to save the Coptic faith. So having their photo is to remind us with their carriage and how much they loved God, so we can teach all our new generation how to follow them in the strong faith.