The new 18,000-square-feet campus features facilities that will enhance student experience
and prepare future students to learn, serve and preach in their parishes and Coptic communities.
Newport Beach, January 22, 2023 – St. Athanasius and St. Cyril Coptic Theological
School (ACTS) celebrated the grand opening of its school campus in Newport Beach, in
Southern California. The events comes 34 years after the Trice-Blessed Pope Shenouda III
delivered a message to the faithful of Los Angeles when HH established the school in his
1989 pastoral visit. The opening ceremony commenced with Divine Liturgy and was
followed by ribbon cutting by His Eminence Metropolitan Serapion, His Grace Bishop
Abraham and His Grace Bishop Kyrillos. The event was attended by more than 300 members
of the Coptic Orthodox Church from the Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California and
Hawaii.
Students, faculty, staff, alumni and guests heard remarks from His Grace Bishop
Kyrillos, Dean of the School, commemorating the school’s growth and its impact across the
Diocese and its future plans. “This state-of-the-art facility will serve as an educational hub in
the heart of Orange County and will allow ACTS not only to complete its accreditation
process but also allow the school to better prepare competent Christian leaders for the
future of our Coptic Orthodox church,” His Grace said.
The new 18,000-square-feet campus features facilities that will enhance student experience
and prepare future students to learn, serve and preach in their parishes and Coptic
communities. The new campus will allow ACTS to foster and form new partnerships with
other reputable universities, expand its curriculum, elevate interpersonal engagement
among students and faculty, and host educational exhibits and lecture series.
His Grace Bishop Kyrillos, Dean of the School added, “I want to personally thank and
acknowledge our generous donors, who have been instrumental in the growth of our
beloved institution. These donations from our Coptic family have enabled us to acquire
thousands of books for the library, hire the highest caliber of professors, offer scholarships
for needy students throughout the world, and to deliver the highest quality of theological
education. Our students continued to serve in parishes as stewards, deacons and priests in
various capacities.”
“I am proud of all those who were involved in making this campus ready in record
time. My sincerest congratulations to the board, the dean, His Grace Bishop Kyrillos, the
staff and the whole Diocese.” Said His Eminence Metropolitan Serapion, President of the
School
St. Athanasius and St. Cyril Coptic Orthodox Theological School traces its origins to
the world’s first Catechetical School. ACTS embraces the challenge of serving the Church and the needs of Orthodox Christians in the 21st Century. Time brings change but the Truth of the Gospel is eternally unchanging; adjustments must be made to engage a rapidly changing world, but without sacrificing that which is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
