Coptic Appreciation Thread

I can't be the only Copt here no?
asianews.it/news-en/Coptic-martyrs-beheaded-in-Libya,-source-of-faith-and-miracles-46269.html
thefederalist.com/2018/02/28/meet-family-tattoed-christians-jerusalem-700-years/
arabwestreport.info/en/forbidden-pilgrimage-pope-shenouda-iiis-ban-coptic-travel-israel-and-its-religious-political-and
suscopts.org/resources/literature/161/the-agreed-statements-oriental-orthodox-responses/
oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/jubilation-after-ethiopian-orthodox-tewahedo-churchs-27-year-old-schism-is-healed
youtube.com/watch?v=gr4dTNYa99M
youtube.com/watch?v=zVJ-eNyHOpc
youtube.com/watch?v=xMWNg5nlNOA

Maranatha!
ማራናታ!

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Other urls found in this thread:

religionnews.com/2018/09/07/coptic-abbots-murder-points-to-strains-over-ecumenism-in-egypt/
citydesert.wordpress.com/2018/01/29/the-mequteria/
mereb.shop/rs/?prodet=true&pid=58793405&vid=49
suscopts.org/resources/literature/161/the-agreed-statements-oriental-orthodox-responses/
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

If you're not Catholic, it is hard to last on this board.

Why is that, brother? I have great love for Catholic brothers. Even talks of reunifying with them got our Bishop murdered
religionnews.com/2018/09/07/coptic-abbots-murder-points-to-strains-over-ecumenism-in-egypt/

Let me translate prot speak for you

As a Catholic I long for Christendom to be united once more and would be glad to see you on this board. I think Coptic icons are a breath of fresh air on this board.

Because they self regulate in reddit-style echo chamber and via bias censorship moderation

See >>>/christianity/ for the alternative

Thank you brother. I hope to stay a while. Maranatha! Here is an icon of holy St. Augustine just for you. I think you should watch your language about Protestants, no? We cannot return hate for hate if they have shown it.
I do not understand, what is "reddit-style"? Please explain, God bless.

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It's hard sometimes. You're new and innocent. Never let go of that. God bless you for comming here, we could always use a fresh perspective.

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You're still new my brother, welcome in any case. Don't be discouraged by anyone here. Stay safe from the Muslims.

Love, your Maronite brother.

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Also, Coptanon, I always wondered. Do ya'll pray the rosary? Or something similar like a prayer rope + continuous Jesus prayers like they do out East?

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Thank you brothers. God loves you and so do I. Maranatha! (Christ is coming!) That is what we would say during the sign of peace, which I would offer to you both if I could.

We do. We have the Mequteria. Unfortunately there is not much information online in regards to it, but this one by an Eastern Catholic is decent enough in explaining it:
citydesert.wordpress.com/2018/01/29/the-mequteria/
It is mainly used to count Kyrie Eleison 41 times, for the 41 lashes of Christ. But other prayers can be used. You can buy one here, from Ethiopia
mereb.shop/rs/?prodet=true&pid=58793405&vid=49
I have included a picture of my own. God bless you.

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Check the rules.
Do you agree to the Council of Chalcedon? If not, please do not pretend to be a Christian.

Yes brother, I agree with Chalcedon. You do know that we came to a consensus in both the 60s and the 90s with the Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox that we have the exact same Christology, no? The Schism should be over for decades now.
The Church I go to is brand new, only opened on October, before that we all went to the Eastern Orthodox cathedral with permission from our Bishop Youssef and took communion there and had access to all their sacraments thanks to the kindly generosity of their bishop. I have seen true Communion between the Churches. We are not different, you and I. It is only man-made Schism that keeps us apart, but God knows we are united in everything but a piece of paper saying such.

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I take no issue with you if you agree to Chalcedon then. But the vast majority of OO I know (which is only about 15 people, but still), including those at my own parish, reject Chalcedon. One even told me that he would rather be martyred than accept Chalcedon. And I also know a Copt who converted to Eastern Orthodoxy because he specifically rejects Oriental Orthodoxy.

That simply sounds like ignorance on their parts to me. They should study the Councils of the 60s and 90s brother!
suscopts.org/resources/literature/161/the-agreed-statements-oriental-orthodox-responses/
As the priest at the Eastern Orthodox Church I went to before our Church finally opened said, agreeing my own priest, "We share the same faith." I still do go to the Eastern Orthodox Church as well, as Bishop Youssef allows it. Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, this should not be a distinction except in regards to the region you live.

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The agreements in the 20th century were only recommendations. Until actual action is taken by our mutual bishops to enter back into communion, lift the anathemas, etc., we remain two separate communions, and it's up to individual bishops to figure out what to do.
I'm really happy to know that at least one OO and one EO bishop have entered back into communion though. But know that this is still an exception for now.

It is not just these 2 bishops. I have spoken to several priests of the Orthodox Church in America, and the Antiochian Orthodox Church of America and they also allow Copts to take full communion with them as well. Perhaps it is simply an American thing, but the Schism must end through individuals' love and care!

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AFAIK the only official move that has been taken since the 90's is that, now, the Antiochian Orthodox Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church recognize a shared sacrament of marriage, and when a bishop of either Church shows up at the other Church than his own, he is to be given the place of honor that would be for a bishop of that Church (so, for instance, a Syriac Orthodox bishop showing up at an Antiochian Orthodox church would be given the same honors as if he were an Antiochian Orthodox bishop, except for receiving communion).
I also believe that several EO jurisdictions have agreed to let OO commune if their bishop lets them, but since OO bishops won't let it happen for now it doesn't mean much.

It's less that Coptic bishops WON'T, and more that they CAN'T. Explicitly because unlike the smaller Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Coptic Church is 1 big Church, kind of like Rome's. In order to let individual bishops allow that sort of thing, you would have to declare it for the whole Church. Which it seems the OCA and Antiochians do because of their size, but the Copts cannot.
I will tell you what my priest told me. The talks in the 90s were really escalating, and we were in fact set to reunify then and there. Yet some Elders on Mt. Athos vetoed the reunification, and talks have sadly died ever since. I would really like to know why those Elders did such a thing. I cannot find any info on it, but my priest knows those who were there, so I trust his word.

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As an EO, i like Mount Athos, and would love for it to become a pan-apostolic monastic state one day, but seriously, it's also a lair for semi-schismatic monks pushing their isolationist memes, and since we have a lot of respect for monks, rousing various devout, but naive believers in protest against the Church.

Speaking of you, i'd like to thank you guys for giving us the Desert Fathers and St. Anthony the Great(it's also funny seeing EO icons of old Patriarchs of Alexandria dressed in the coptic style)

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Oh come on now, let's be honest. It doesn't take long as an Orthodox here to get called a "schismatic", get accused of practicing "yoga", and have everyone misunderstand/belittle our theology as if it doesn't matter and we're just stubborn "Catholics minus the Filioque". Mods literally remove posts in Orthodox threads defending Orthodox positions from Catholics trying to derail our conversations. You're not wrong that this place is more hostile towards Protestants, but it's not like we don't get our own significant share of flack either.

Thank you brother. Your insight into Mt. Athos is interesting, as I do not know much about it.
Yes, the Desert Fathers are some of my favorite literature. St. Evagrius the Solitary was interpolated so much by Gnostic heretics though, which makes me quite saddened. It was so bad to the point many Westerners and even some other Church Fathers thought he was a Gnostic. It happened that way with St. Dionysius of Alexandria as well, along with St. Didymus the Blind and St. Clement of Alexandria. So many of our Saints were interpolated upon heavily by heretics. St. Pamphilus the Martyr writes about many of these in his "Apology for Origen."

I would like to thank you for giving us St. Gregory Palamas. What a wonderful and great Saint he is, his writings are so profound. His ideas on Essence and Energy really destroy Gnostic heresies!

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You mean those posts that lay all the blame on Jesus' Church for the 4th Crusade and can't even take some responsibility for it themselves? The same posts that call Jesus' Church the devil? Man, why would the mods ever delete those?
Don't forget the mods also delete and ban trad catholics that call for a return to
Sicut Judaeis

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Catholics bring up the 4th crusade around here more than the Orthos do, the same way they always bring up Luther more than Protestants. Everyone agrees that the 4th crusade was a clusterduck, but when the Orthodox complain about "the West" or the schism, they're usually talking about way more than just that one incident. Yet Catholics around here never seem to let it go because they seem to like using it to point the finger at the EO to say "see, you guys did questionable things too!". Kinda like how it was randomly brought up here.

Any way, this is neither the time or place to start yet another interdenom pooflinging contest.

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Yes, please. Let us keep the focus on the Coptic Church. I don't believe we were even involved with the 4th Crusade. We were already far too much under Muslim occupation to have a weight in that conflict.
I think it better to think on better times of the Byzantine Empire anyway, like when Blessed Constantine XI reunited the Catholic and Orthodox Church, if only briefly, to destroy those Muslim animals. I find it sad how often all 3 of our Churches, Coptic, Orthodox, and Catholic, have come so close to reuniting fully and then just falling short of it. Maybe one day, there will be a permanent end. Hopefully before the 2nd Coming, no?

Coptics venerate Palamas? Regarding the unification between EO and OO i believe it was derailed because of internal problems the EO church face the last few decades. But we made a lot of progress either way. Love Coptic Christians and your traditions.

Hey Coptanon, I don't know if you will see this or not, but I just wanted to let you know I miss you. Your positive attitude is something truly admirable and has inspired me to be a better Catholic.
I pray to God that one day the Copts will be reunited once again with Rome and we can Make Christendom Great Again.

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Ethiopian Christanon here, welcome brother! :)

I have been banned for saying 1 Enoch is scripture. I understand a lot of people on here do not view it as scripture, but think about if, what if this was a Protestant run board and all the Catholics get banned for saying Sirach is scripture? Or if Eastern Orthodox started getting banned for saying 3 Maccabees is scripture? There would be a real shit show then. I don't understand why we can't agree to disagree, it's not like we're Gnostics or some shit. We're an African branch of Orthodoxy. Different canons developed in different parts of the Church, the Bible didn't just fall from the sky.

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based

How close would you say Ethiopian Orthodoxy is to Eastern Orthodoxy?

Pretty close. Although we're obviously not Palamites (nor scholastics as Roman Catholics are).

I know OP, I can confirm he also got banned for believing 1 Enoch is Scripture as the Ethiopian Church does. How did you get unbanned, brother?
I am a Roman Catholic myself, and have nothing but love for the Coptic/Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Let us stop slandering our brothers so terribly.

From my understanding, the reasons for the rejection of 1 Enoch were not due to the book itself having heresy or occultism, but due to forgeries. This would not be the only instance of this happening in the Churches, the Acts of John, the Clementine Homilies, the writings of Origen quite possibly (read St. Pamphilus' Apology for Origen) and most labelled pseudepigrapha in general.

I will explain.

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* the Acts of John, writings of Origen possibly and the Clementine Homilies etc. were all interpolated upon by heretics, specifically Gnostics but were possibly not forgeries entirely from their inception.

* I will also state that despite the fact I believe Church Fathers confused 1 Enoch with other heretical works, within the context they were in and what they were dealing with, I fully understand and support the decision of 1 Enoch not being in the Western and Eastern canons. I think that, the condemnation of Origen's writings and the condemnation of Evagrius Ponticus' writings were fully justified and was best in order to prevent heresy from entering the Churches.

This makes you more based than Easterns in my book tbh.