St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

Infobox church
name = St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church
color = yellow

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imagesize = 200px
caption =
landscape =
denomination = Coptic Orthodox Church
diocese = Archdiocese of North America, under the Pope of Alexandria
division = The Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate
parish =
subdivision =
founded_date = February 1975
founder =
architect =
style = Coptic
constructed_date = 1980
dedicated_date =
bishop = HH Pope Shenouda III
priest = Fr. Estephanos A. Hanna
archdeacon =
address = 3602 Marietta Ave. Silver Spring, Pennsylvania 17601-1130
country = United States of America
phone = [phone]----Fax:[phone]
Priest's Resident #:[phone]
Email: [e-mail]----
website = [http://web.archive.org/web/20040926140342/http://www.copticsundayschool.org/ Most Recent Archive of http://www.copticsundayschool.org/]

St Mary Coptic Orthodox Church (Coptic: Coptic|Ϯⲉⲕ'ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⳿ⲛⲣⲉⲙ⳿ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⳿ⲛⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ ⳿ⲛⲧⲉ ⲑⲏⲉⲑⲟⲩⲁⲃ Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ // transliteration: "ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos ente fi.ethowab Maria") is one of the oldest Coptic Orthodox churches that was established in Pennsylvania. [http://nacopts.com/graph_dateIncorporated.php?limit=nolimit Dates of Incorporations of Coptic Orthodox Churches in North America] (Retrieved 08-07-2008)] It is one of over 200 Coptic Orthodox Churches in the US. [" [http://copticchurch.net/news/press_release/20050120_armanious_murder_jersey_city.html Coptic Church Urges Thorough Investigation In Murder of Jersey City Family] ". "Coptic Church Network", January 20, 2005. Accessed August 11, 2008.] [ [http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-bodypg-us.aspx?eccpageID=6&IndexView=toc CNEWA:The Coptic Orthodox Church] (Retrieved 17-07-2008)]

History

St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church is the second Coptic Orthodox church that was established in Pennsylvania, and was incorporated by 1975 with only 3 families at the time. [http://nacopts.com/viewChurch.php?id=111 Church Data] (Retrieved 08-12-2008)] It is located at the village of Silver Spring, Pennsylvania, a small, unincorporated town that has a relatively large proportion of Christian Orthodox Copts.

The oldest parish in Pennsylvania, which was incorporated in 1973, is St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

Expansion

The year 1977 marked the first pastoral visit by HH Pope Shenouda III to the US and Canada, including St. Mark's Church in Jersey City, the first Coptic Orthodox Church in the United States. [ [http://www.copticpope.org/downloads/eng_keraza/engkeraza15-09-2006.pdf Keraza Newspaper Dated 09-15-2006] (Retrieved 08-05-2008)] Ten years later, in January of 1987, the building of St. Mark's Church was newly refitted and consecrated.

After a certain period of time, the small congregation of St. Mary's Church, with much help from the late Fouad Gad Youssef, founded the current building on Marietta Ave in 1980—with only five families at the time. [" [http://www.asylumlaw.org/docs/egypt/EGY_1/SEC%201/Uneasy%20Times.pdf Uneasy times; Local Coptic Christians: 'What has happened scares us'] ". "Lancaster New Era Newspaper", October 5, 2001. Accessed August 12, 2008.] [ [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LC&p_theme=lc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EEE7999ED6857AB&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM News Article (fees for whole article)] (Accessed August 12, 2008)]

The current building of St. Mary's Church of Lancaster, as it is often known, was consecrated by a Coptic Orthodox Bishop in September of 1982.

Today

The Church was visited in 1989 by Pope Shenouda on his second visit (the first one being in 1977) to North America. Interestingly enough, this was the same year where the pope visited every Coptic parish in the US and Canada. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7DB1438F933A25753C1A96F948260 NY Times:Coptic Pope's Visit Cheers Faithful] (Retrieved 08-08-2008)] Ever since the first two visits, Pope Shenouda has visited both Canada and the United States for every year afterwards.

St. Mary's Church, being located in Eastern Pennyslvania that is near the large Coptic population in New Jersey, was also visited by other Bishops of the Coptic Orthodox Church, although St. Mary's Church is already served by Fr. Estephanos A. Hanna.

Over the years, St. Mary Church of Lancaster has grown exponentially in recent years to over 125 families, mostly in the small village of Silver Spring.

References

External links

* [http://web.archive.org/web/20040926140342/http://www.copticsundayschool.org/ The official website of St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church]
* [http://www.copticcchurch.net/ The Coptic Orthodox Church Network]
* [http://www.nacopts.com/ Directory & Statistics on Coptic Orthodox Churches in North America]

ee also

*Coptic Orthodox Church
*Seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria
*Coptic architecture
*Coptic Cairo
*Coptic Orthodox Church in North America
**Coptic Orthodox Church in Canada
**Coptic Orthodox Church in the United States
**List of Coptic Orthodox Churches in the United States
***St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church (Jersey City, New Jersey)
***St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church (Los Angeles)
***St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church (Denver, Colorado)
***St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church (Los Angeles)
***St. Mary & St. Antonios Coptic Orthodox Church (Ridgewood, Queens)
***St. George Coptic Orthodox Church (Brooklyn)
***St. George Coptic Orthodox Church (Philadelphia)
***St. Abraam Coptic Orthodox Church (Woodbury, New York)
***St. George & St. Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church (Jersey City, New Jersey)