Copts & Coptic Orthodoxy
The word "Copt" comes from the Greek word "Agyptos" meaning Egyptian. Before the reign of the Arabs and Islam, Egypt had a Christian majority as a result of the preaching of Christianity through St. Mark the Apostle at 61 A.D. After the Islamic conquest of Egypt, Christians became a minority in the midst of the Arabs. To differentiate the Arabs from the Native Egyptians, The term "Copt" was used which now refers to the Christian Egyptians.
The Coptic Orthodox Church is part of the Oriental Orthodox group of churches along with the Indian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Armenian, and Syriac churches. Although the Coptic Orthodox Church is mainly Egyptian there are many churches throughout the world in 56 countries. The Coptic Orthodox Church's Pope (Patriarch) is Pope Tawadros (Theodoros) II. The Coptic Orthodox Church is rich in tradition and faith. It is one of the most persecuted churches in history, with foundations based upon the blood of the martyrs that are continuously being killed for staying true to the faith of Jesus Christ. John 15:18-20 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. |
For more information on the history of the Coptic Church: Click Here
The nicene Creed
We believe in one God; God the Father the Pantocrator, Who created heaven and earth, and all things seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages. Light of Light; True God of True God, begotten, not created; of One Essence with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us, men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary, and became Man. And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; suffered, and was buried. And the third day He rose from the dead, according to the Scriptures. He ascended into the heavens; He sits at the right hand of His Father; and He is coming again in His glory to judge the living and the dead; Whose Kingdom shall have no end. Yes, we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father; who, with the Father and the Son, is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets and in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, we confess one baptism for the remission of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the coming age. Amen. |
The Trinity
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"God is one in essence, yet three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in persons. There is eternally in God true unity, combined with genuinely personal differentiation: the term ‘essence’, ‘substance’, ‘being’, or ‘nature’ indicates the unity, and the term person indicates the differentiation.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one in essence, not merely in the sense that all three are examples of the same group or general class (as with human beings), but in the sense that they form a single, unique, specific reality. There are no variety packages of non-essential characteristics. There is in this respect then an important difference between the sense in which the three divine persons are one, and the sense that three human persons may be termed one. Humans, however closely they co-operate, each retain their own will and their own energy. In short, they are three men and not one man. But in the case of the three persons of the Trinity, there is distinction but never separation. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have only ONE will and not three, only ONE energy and not three. None of the three ever acts separately, apart from the other two. They are not three Gods, but one God.
Yet, although the three persons never act apart from each other, there is in God genuine diversity as well as specific unity. We believe that this threefold differentiation in God’s outward action reflects a threefold differentiation in His inner life. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not just “modes” or “moods” of the Divinity, not just masks God assumes for a time in His dealings with creation and then lays aside. They are on the contrary coequal and coeternal persons.
A human father is older than his child, but when speaking of God as ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ we are not to interpret the terms in this literal sense. We affirm of the Son, “There was never a time when he was not.” And the same is said of the Holy Spirit."
http://lacopts.org/orthodoxy/our-faith/the-holy-trinity/an-introduction-to-the-orthodox-conception-of-the-holy-trinity/
The Nature of god the son , son of god the father - jesus christ
"The Lord Jesus Christ is God the Incarnate Word. He possesses the perfect Godhead and the perfect manhood. His fully divine nature is united with His fully human nature yet without mixing, blending or alteration. We say in the Divine Liturgy that His Divinity did not part from Humanity not for a single moment nor even for a twinkle of an eye."
- H.G. Bishop Youssef
- H.G. Bishop Youssef