Welcome to SJC - We’re Happy to Have You!

A Letter from our Priest.

We welcome you with great joy and love to St. John Chrysostom American Coptic Orthodox Church.

Our mission, is to educate the mind, deepen the heart, and train the hands, through fellowship, discipleship, worship, service, and witness. Together we work to elevate ourselves, our families, and our communities to be like Christ.

Our parish seeks to eliminate any dominance of any one culture in order to create an open environment for Americans of different ethnic and cultural heritages, mixed marriages within the Coptic community, and later generations of Coptic adults who wish to live their Orthodox faith in America without cultural barriers.

On behalf of the parishioners of SJC, we invite you to come and experience the love and warmth of our Church and parish.

Please feel free to explore our grounds - we're excited to have you! Should you have any questions or would like to schedule a private visitation, please contact us via this form or emailing info@stjohnoc.org.

With love in Christ,

Fr. Daniel Habib

What is the Coptic Orthodox Church?

  • It is one of the most ancient Churches in the world, having been founded by Saint Mark the Apostle, the writer of the second gospel, in the first Century. The word ‘Coptic’ comes from the ancient Egyptian word ‘hekaptah’ meaning ‘Egypt’, and thus ‘Coptic’ merely means ‘Egyptian.’ As a conservative Church, the Coptic Church has carefully preserved the Orthodox Christian Faith in its earliest and purest form, handing it down from generation to generation, unaltered and true to the Apostolic doctrines and patterns of worship.

  • She believes in the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (being one God); and that our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, the true Son of God, became incarnate, was born of the Virgin Saint Mary, died for us on the Cross that He may grant us Salvation, rose on the third day that He may grant us everlasting life with Him, and ascended to heaven after forty days, sending the Holy Spirit to His disciples as He promised them, on the day of Pentecost.

  • One of the pillars of her faith is the teachings of the early Church Fathers as well as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as a statement of Her Faith.

  • Her main point of reference is the Holy Scripture, as depicted in literal translations such as King James (KJV), New King James (NJKV), and the Revised Standard Version (RSV). Although the Coptic Orthodox Church accepts any New Testament translation that is faithful to the Greek Textus Receptus translation, She prefers only the Septuagint (LXX) translation of the Old Testament and not the Masoretic text found in most Bibles today.

  • She has seven primary Mysteries: Baptism, Chrismation, Confession, the Eucharist (Communion), Marriage, Priesthood, and the Anointing of the Sick.

  • She does not change basic matters of Faith, Dogma or Tradition to suit current trends (this does not mean however that matters such as language and day-to day practices are not changed to suit conditions of ministry and the needs of the congregation). Holding on to such matters of Faith and practice has not been an easy task, as the Coptic Church has always lived persecution of one form or another since its establishment in the first century.

  • She was founded by Saint Mark the Apostle and Evangelist who preached to the Egyptians around 60-70 A.D.

Come and See.

  • 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 books of our Divine Liturgy in Eng­lish, Cop­tic, and Ara­bic to every­one. In addi­tion, we have a large Pow­er­point pre­sen­ta­tion 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 Sun­day Divine Liturgy, you are invited to join us for a “cof­fee hour” which is a good time to get to know our parish mem­bers and meet our priest.

  • The gen­eral rule for men and women is to dress appro­pri­ately, mod­estly and respect­fully, as before the liv­ing God.

  • 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.

  • The tra­di­tional pos­ture for prayer and wor­ship in the Ortho­dox Church is to stand, as before the King of the uni­verse! In many churches in Egypt, there are typ­i­cally no pews in the churches. Chairs or benches on the side walls are usu­ally reserved for the elderly and infirm. In Amer­ica, we build our churches with pews or chairs, so you may sit. How­ever, it is appro­pri­ate to stand dur­ing the Gospel read­ing, the Anaphora through the Insti­tu­tion Nar­ra­tive, the dis­tri­b­u­tion of the Holy Mys­tery, when the priest gives a bless­ing, and at the Dismissal.

  • 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.

  • Between 65–75% of the tra­di­tional Cop­tic Liturgy involves con­gre­ga­tional singing. Cop­tic Chris­tians do not use musi­cal instru­ments with the excep­tion of the cym­bals and tri­an­gle, which are used sim­ply to keep musi­cal time. A choir of dea­cons leads the con­gre­ga­tion in har­mo­nious chant, usu­ally in Cop­tic and Eng­lish. Our hymns are solemn, prayer­ful and intended to lead the faith­ful to wor­ship the liv­ing God.

  • On Sat­ur­day evenings, the Evening Rais­ing of Incense ser­vice (Ves­pers) is gen­er­ally 30–45 min­utes in length, includ­ing a short homily in Eng­lish. 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. 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.

  • Yes, beginning September 9, Sunday School will be held on Saturdays from 6-7 pm, followed by Vespers and Midnight Praises. We pro­vide Sun­day school in small groups for chil­dren in grades K through 8, as well as meetings for youth in high school.

Recommended Reading.

  1. Clendenin, Daniel B. (1994), Eastern Orthodox Christianity. A Western Perspective.

  2. Ware, Timothy (1963), The Orthodox Church.

  3. Schaeffer, Frank (1994), Dancing Alone: The Quest for Orthodox Faith in the Age of False Religions.

  4. Chrysostom, St. John (1984), On the Priesthood.

  5. Carlton, Clark (1997), The Faith: An Orthodox Catechism.

  6. Vlachos, Metropolitan Hierotheos, Entering the Orthodox Church.

  7. Schmemann, Fr. Alexander (1998), For the Life of the World.

  8. Colliander, Tito (1985), The Way of the Ascetics.

  9. Carlton, Clark (1997, 1999), The Way and The Truth.

  10. Ware, Bishop Kallistos (1998), The Orthodox Way.