Welcome from our Priest.

My dear beloved in Christ,

On behalf of all the members of St. Athanasius American Coptic Orthodox Church, I would like to welcome you to our church website. We are an Orthodox parish that is focused on welcoming everyone with open arms and offering true christian love.  Welcome to your new home...

Our Coptic Orthodox church was established by St. Mark in Egypt nearly 2000 years ago. Our church is truly rich and beautiful in many ways from our sacramental services, our patristics (early Christian writers), our saints, and our traditions. We are passionate about  bringing this Orthodox faith to everyone in America. 

We are also enthusiastic about serving our community and the people around us in every possible way. I know that St. Athanasius will be a shining light to everyone for many decades to come and I encourage you to look around our website and benefit from the resources we offer. 

With love in Christ,
Fr. Maurice Ibrahim

Are non-Orthodox vis­i­tors welcome?

Yes, absolutely. We are a com­mu­nity made up of both cradle-born Ortho­dox Chris­tians and those who have con­verted to the faith. We are very com­fort­able with new­com­ers, inquir­ers, and vis­i­tors. Any­one who wishes to dis­cover ancient Cop­tic Ortho­dox Chris­tian­ity is welcome. If you have ques­tions, the parish priest will be happy to answer them. So don’t be afraid to ask ques­tions about what we do and why.

When you enter a church, some­one will greet you and direct you to a place to sit. We have a large projected display that runs a novel app called Coptic Reader (which may be downloaded for free for iOS here or Android here) that updates con­tin­u­ously dur­ing the Liturgy with the prayers. You may fol­low the ser­vice text, or, if you pre­fer, sim­ply close your eyes and enter into the Church’s beau­ti­ful wor­ship of God.

Fol­low­ing the Saturday Divine Liturgy, you are invited to join us for an "agape meal” which is a good time to get to know our parish mem­bers and meet our priest.

Can non-Orthodox receive the Holy Eucharist?

Ortho­dox priests may only serve the Holy Eucharist to bap­tized mem­bers in good stand­ing of the canon­i­cal Ortho­dox Church, who have recently con­fessed, and fasted before par­tak­ing of the Holy Eucharist. This is the ancient tra­di­tion of the Holy Church for the 2,000 years of its his­tory. The Ortho­dox Church under­stands the Holy Eucharist as a mys­tery of the real pres­ence of Christ in the Eucharist, not sim­ply as a memo­r­ial, or merely in a spir­i­tual sense, as many other non-Orthodox Chris­tians do. Rather than try­ing to accom­mo­date to often vary­ing “inter­pre­ta­tions” or revi­sions of this and other doc­trines of the ancient faith, we sim­ply ask that you respect the ancient, apos­tolic tra­di­tion and join us in receiv­ing the Eulo­gia (blessed bread), at the end of the Divine Liturgy.

How long are the services?

On Saturday evenings, the Evening Rais­ing of Incense ser­vice (Ves­pers) is gen­er­ally 30–45 min­utes in length, followed by a Bible Study, and then finally with Midnight Praises that last around 60 minutes. On Sunday morn­ings, a sim­i­lar ser­vice is cel­e­brated before the Divine Liturgy. After­wards, the Divine Liturgy is approx­i­mately 3 hours in length with an Eng­lish homily at approx­i­mately 9:30 a.m. and the Dis­tri­b­u­tion of the Mys­tery of the Eucharist from 10:45–11:00 a.m. We under­stand this may seem like a very long ser­vice, but we know that when you have par­tic­i­pated in an Ortho­dox ser­vice you will feel like you have truly wor­shipped the liv­ing God.

Is there a dress code?

The gen­eral rule for men and women is to dress appro­pri­ately, mod­estly and respect­fully, as before the liv­ing God. We ask that you not wear shorts, mini-skirts, tank tops, low-cut or strap­less dresses (unless cov­ered by a sweater, etc.).

Is childcare provided?

Each par­ent is respon­si­ble to take care of their child. We encour­age chil­dren to be present in Church for the ser­vices. This par­tic­i­pa­tion is part of a child’s spir­i­tual for­ma­tion. How­ever, if your baby or child gets fussy, talk­a­tive, or has a melt-down, please take him or her out of the nave until he or she is ready to return quietly.

Is Sun­day school for chil­dren available?

Yes. We call Sunday Schoo the “Orthodox Youth Academy” and it’s immediately after the Divine Liturgy, we pro­vide Sun­day school in small groups for chil­dren in ages 2 to High School. Click here for more details.