In early Christianity, the Holy Cross was very revered. It signified protection, holiness, worship, and blessing to believers everywhere (even before Empress Helen discovered it). In this feast, the churchfocuses on the Holy Cross and how through the Cross, the Lord, descended to Hades to save the righteous. Though the Holy Cross, the Lord opened the […]

The Pentecost, descent of the Holy Spirit, is immediately followed by the Apostle’s fast which lasts from the Monday after Pentecost to July 12th (Abib 5th). The apostles started preaching after the reception of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts does not end with the word “Amen,” unlike most other books in the bible. […]

On the Feast of Ascension, we commemorate the last day of the physical presence of the risen Christ amongst His disciples and His ascension to the heaven. It may seem like a parting, a separation, and that after it, our Lord is not with us in quite the same way any longer. However, Christ ascending […]

The Coptic Orthodox Church brings to mind the present reality of the power of Christ’s resurrection from the dead on the third day. By His death, Christ has trampled death and has bestowed eternal life to those in the tombs. The Lord of Glory raised Himself from the dead on the Sunday of Resurrection. He […]

The last Sunday in Lent is the Sunday of Baptism, during which we read the gospel reading of the man born blind. “I was blind and now I see.” This is our everlasting experience as children of the Heavenly Father. We were blind and He opened our sight so we beheld miracles of His laws […]

The gospel of the fifth Sunday talks about Bethsaida which symbolizes Baptism. We, the crowds of Christians, were beside it sick, lame, blind and paralyzed, suffering every spiritual sickness. The Angel that moves the water symbolizes the Holy Spirit Who comes down on the water of baptism. This is our share in Christ: those who […]

Repentance in Christianity is different from any other repentance. It is the return of the son to his Father and the Father falling on the neck of His son to embrace him and kiss him (Lk. 15:20). This is the gospel reading of the third Sunday of the Great Lent. The Father’s paternity to us […]

The gospel of the Second Sunday deals with the temptation of doubting God’s paternity toward us, “If you are the son of God, why does He leave you hungry? Why does God allow the presence of disease, failure and the death of His beloved?” Practice: It is our duty this week to examine our faith […]

The gospel of the first Sunday of Lent calls for the surrender of life to the Father. “Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat…nor yet for the body, what you shall wear…do not worry about tomorrow.” The reason for not worrying is that, “your heavenly Father knows that you have of all […]

The Great Lent is considered the holiest fast because our Lord Jesus Christ fasted it Himself. Therefore, during the Great Lent we follow the example set by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who fasted on our behalf forty days and forty nights (Mt. 4:2). Also, during the Holy Pascha, which comes after the forty days, we […]

On this day of the year 538 A.D., the holy father St. Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, departed. He was from Asia Minor. His grandfather, whose name was also Severus, saw in a vision someone telling him, “The child who is for your son will strengthen Orthodoxy, and his name will be after your name.” When […]

On Monday, February 14, 2011, the Coptic Orthodox Church begins the Fast of Jonah, a three-day fast that commemorates the fast of Jonah the Prophet while he was in the belly of the great fish. In the Christian tradition, these three days are type (a symbol or parallel) of the three days our Lord Jesus […]

On this day of the year 341 A.D., the great saint Anba Paul, the first hermit, departed. This Saint was from the city of Alexandria, and had a brother whose name was Peter. After the departure of their father, they divided the inheritance between them. When his brother took the greater share, Paul’s feelings were […]

On this day, of the year 355 A.D., St. Anthony the Great, the star of the wilderness, and the father of all monks, departed. This righteous man was born in the year 251 A.D. in the city of Qimn El-Arouse, to rich parents who loved the church and the poor. They raised him up in […]

The feast of the Wedding of Cana of Galilee is celebrated on the 13th day of the month of Tobe, and it is one of the Seven Minor Feasts of our Lord. At this wedding, water was transformed into unsweetened wine. This was the first miracle of our Lord Christ in His great ministry, as […]

The Feast of the Theophany is one of the Seven Major Feasts of our Lord in the Coptic Orthodox Church. It is celebrated on the 11th of the Coptic month of Tobe. The word "epiphany" in the sense of this Feast means "divine appearance" (from the Greek epiphaneia). This Feast is also known as the […]

On Friday, January 14, 2011 (Tuba 6), the Coptic Orthodox Church commemorates the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is one of the seven minor feasts of our Lord in which we remember that the Word of God Who gave us the Law subjected Himself to the same Law in order […]

The Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles wishes you a blessed and joyful Feast of our Lord’s Nativity Quote: “[T]he Word of the Father is the one true Lord, the Lord even of death. For this reason was He both born and manifested as Man, for this He died and rose, in order that, eclipsing […]

The Coptic Church prepares for the celebration of the Feast of Nativity through the Advent Fast, which begins on November 25 and ends with the Feast of Nativity on January 7. Many wonder why the Western churches celebrate birth of Christ on the 25th of December while many of the Eastern churches celebrate it on the […]

The Coptic Orthodox Christian Church commemorates the lives of the saints in Her Tradition through the Divine Liturgy, the praises services, the Difnar, and the Synexarium. The commemoration of the saints is important in the Orthodox Church because the saints reflected Christ’s light in the world. Many Orthodox believers develop a personal relationship with one […]