Oklahoma's Coptic Christians worship at Bixby
By BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer
Published: 2/9/2009
A short article in the Tulsa World, describing the background and the modern situation of the Coptic, or Egyptian, Church in the US and in Egypt. I have not seen very much information on these churches, perhaps because of their small numbers. This is another group of Christians who follow the ancient, cross-cultural, Christian tradition of women using a headcovering. Following are the introductory paragraphs:
BIXBY — A bluish haze and the aroma of incense impact the senses of visitors who walk into a service at Oklahoma's only Coptic church, which meets here in a small building on the south end of town.
The Copts are descendants of ancient Egyptians, the race of people who lived along the Nile River, built the pyramids, and, according to the Bible, enslaved the children of Israel and provided a safe haven for Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus.
Egyptian Christians come from as far away as Oklahoma City and Arkansas for the services at Sts. Peter and Paul Coptic Orthodox Church, 17015 S. Memorial Drive.
The service is traditional Orthodox, largely unchanged for 2,000 years, with a liturgy that is overwhelmingly prayer and Scripture, all chanted.
Religious paintings called icons line the interior walls of the church building. Most of the women sit on the right, wearing white head coverings. Men sit on the left.
4 comments:
Interesting. Looking at the lacey headcoverings, and the priestly rigalier (is that how it is spelt) they would be quite at home in our local (high) catholic church.
I understand that the current pope has reinstated headcoverings for ladies for services (along with saying mass in Latin).
My understanding is not so much that he's reinstated headcoverings for Mass, but that he's allowed for more parishes to perform the Latin Mass, which is considered the Traditional Mass, and at which it is customary to cover. As opposed to the Novus Ordo Mass, which is the modernized form, performed in English, at which most women do not cover.
In the Coptic churches I've been to a large number of the headcoverings only come out for the consecration. It's like collection time except everyone is rustling in their bags for scarves, not money. I also noticed they tend to simply drape the scarves over the head (not on for long so no need to be secure) and that doilies, sometimes highly decorated, are also popular.
I've been to a Coptic service in New York City. Most of the women and girls wore white lace headcoverings during the service, and every single one wore one when coming to the altar for communion and for a blessing. I wore one too, but I had my own scarf with me. It was the Epiphany service when the priest gives a special blessing, and I noticed that when it was my turn, the priest made a sign of the cross on my head over the headcovering and not on my bare forehead.
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