Global Coptic Day 2022 in Sydney

To mark Global Coptic Day and the Feast of the Entry of the Holy Family into Egypt, the church of St Anthony and St Paul in Guilford, Sydney, organised a spiritual and fun day on Sunday 5 June.

Numerous first, second and third generation Copts enthusiastically attended the festivities; many of them dressed in pharaonic attire. People from sister churches were also invited to attend, and enjoy the day’s activities.

The day’s activities started right after Holy Mass, and boasted of host of spiritual, social and fun activities. The attendants enjoyed delicious Egyptian food, especially the typical cuisine offered by the mobile pharaonic restaurant. They spent the day enjoying the activities, catching up and taking pictures, notably in front of the model Giza Pyramids that adorned the church court.

Global Coptic Day is celebrated on 1 June; it was first celebrated in 2019. It is intended as a day to celebrate the Coptic Orthodox Church’s rich heritage, including its indelible history of martyrdom and persecution, as well as its theological education and monasticism. It aspires to create global awareness of the Coptic Orthodox Church among Copts and non-Copts all around the world. The day is an annual celebration of the contributions made by the Coptic Orthodox Church over many centuries.

The idea of a global Coptic day was the brainchild of the Egyptian American Copt Nader Anise, a lawyer and marketer based in Florida. On 20 October 2018, Mr Anise presented his idea to Bishop Youssef, Bishop of the Southern United States. Bishop Youssef enthusiastically approved the idea; so much so that Mr Anise travelled to Egypt one month later, and placed the idea before the Holy Synod and Pope Tawadros himself at the desert monastery of Anba Bishoy in Wadi al-Natroun. The idea was met with resounding approval, and Global Coptic Day was born.

This year, Copts in Canada marked the day by wearing red, while the Coptic Museum of Canada (formerly St Mark’s Coptic Museum) celebrated Coptic Cultural Heritage by launching its new website http://copticmuseum.ca on 1 June 2022, also the exhibition “Expressions of Spirituality: Neo-Coptic Icons (1967-2022)”.