St. Demiana Coptic Orthodox Church
The Official Website of St. Demiana Coptic Orthodox Church in San Diego, California
When the time comes, and especially the time put aside for God and His temple, a feast day or the hour of Divine Services, hurry to tear yourself away from business and worldly cares and voluntarily and zealously offer yourself to God in His church. When you enter the church bring to mind the promise of […]
“And the Lord shall be known to Egypt and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yes, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it” (Isaiah 19:21). O how changeable is the heart of man! But, of all of his changes, one is more shameful than […]
A BISHOP was sailing from Archangel to the Solovétsk Monastery; and on the same vessel were a number of pilgrims on their way to visit the shrines at that place. The voyage was a smooth one. The wind favourable, and the weather fair. The pilgrims lay on deck, eating, or sat in groups talking to one another. […]
I will tell you of another characteristic of a proper spouse, which is extremely difficult to find in our day. But we did encounter one such person. He was in every way a perfect character, a Christian, and completely social. He married late, around thirty years old, not because he was averse to marriage, but because he thought […]
You have a job to do, soul, and a great one, if you like: examine yourself, what it is you are and how you act, where you come from, and where you’re going to end, and whether to live is this very life you’re living, or something else besides. You have a job to do, soul; by these […]
“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6: 19–20). For what, brethren, did our bodies become the temple of the Holy Spirit? Because, we are purchased […]
On Saturday, May 5, an uprising of Muslims against Coptic Christians in western Cairo left 12 Christians dead and the Church of St. Mary gutted by fire. When we heard of this most recent violence against Christians in Egypt, we were all understandably saddened and angered. In the midst of this tribulation, God grants us […]
The Divine Liturgy is the greatest expression of our worship as Orthodox Christians. When we worship God in the Divine Liturgy, the heavenly and the earthly are united through our participation in the Divine Grace of the Mystery. The Liturgy is not simply something symbolic or a grand play for spectators to observe, but rather, it […]
I recently came across a recording of Psalm 135 according to the Byzantine rite. This psalm is also chanted in Coptic Orthodox worship as the Second Canticle of the Midnight Praise. It is interesting to listen to both and see the similarities in the spirit of worship between the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Psalm […]
Students of the Patristic Orthodox Bible Study on Tuesday night are undoubtedly familiar with the differences between the Septuagint (abbreviated “LXX”), the official text of the Old Testament used by the Orthodox Church, and the Masoretic (sometimes called “Hebrew”) text, which is found in virtually all modern Bibles. Essentially, the Septuagint is a much older and […]