A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 7 Number 46 - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian Laity
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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By Jeannine F. Hunter Staff Writer
There
is a link between education and salvation,
knowledge and faith, Bishop Youssef of the Coptic
Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States
said here yesterday. "We
thank God for the school you have given for the
children to raise them in the true faith,"
said the bishop, who was the honored guest at a
fundraiser last night at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel to
benefit Nashville's St. Clement Coptic Orthodox
Christian Academy. "All
of his life, the Lord Jesus Christ was teaching
the people the mysteries of heaven through
parables, through miracles, through teachings of
the Old Testament," said the bishop, whose
diocese spans from Tennessee to New Mexico and
consists of 27 priests serving 20 churches and 26
Coptic communities. "He instructed, before
his ascension in heaven, all of his disciples to
go and preach and teach and make disciples in the
whole world." Operating
in the basement of St. Mina Coptic Orthodox
Church, St. Clement is the nation's first Coptic
Orthodox school, according to church leaders. It
serves students from pre-kindergarten through
eighth grade. Students come from Egypt, Ethiopia,
Nigeria, Ghana and Iraq, among other nations. It
is named after a theologian who served as dean of
the church school of Alexandria, Egypt, and died
in A.D. 215. "All
the disciples paid very, very close attention to
the issue of education and learning," the
bishop said. "Wherever they went, they
established schools and continued to learn and
train others. St. Mark went into Egypt and
established the first school based on the
teachings of Christ in Alexandria, which became so
important, the school's dean became the patriarch
of the church in Alexandria." The
Coptic Church's beginnings are rooted in the
teachings of St. Mark, a disciple of Christ, who
took Christianity to Egypt in the first century
A.D., according to church tradition. It has been a
distinct church body since the Council of
Chalcedon in 451, an ecumenical council in which
there was a schism among Roman Catholic and
Orthodox churches over the divine and/or human
nature of Jesus Christ. Coptics
believe that Jesus Christ's humanity and divinity
are united in one nature. In
2000, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, Coptic
Orthodox pope of the city of Alexandria and
patriarch of the See of St. Mark the Evangelist,
visited Nashville to consecrate St. Mina. This was
the leader's first visit to Tennessee, home to
some of the fastest-growing Coptic communities.
Shortly afterward, the pope, who formerly led the
church's educational programs, expressed interest
in the development of a Coptic private school to
serve the greater community of Nashville. The
local Coptic community consists of about 2,500
people, said St. Mina priest Father Boutros
Boutros. There
are large Coptic Orthodox communities in Houston,
New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles, which has 27
churches, he said. Five
years after Pope Shenouda's visit, St. Clement
Coptic Orthodox Christian Academy is a school with
65 students, growing from 25. Enrollment has grown
primarily through word-of-mouth because the
5-year-old school has not initiated either a
marketing or publicity campaign, said Principal
Fausta Curatolo. "A
school not only teaches the children but also the
entire community," Curatolo said Friday
morning, minutes before she, teachers and students
assembled to attend the day's worship service.
"(Pope Shenouda's) vision was so clear. He
did not want people to come into a strange land
and forget who they are, their traditions, their
language. While retaining the bond, we are also
helping families learn about their new home. For
example, we will teach English and provide
awareness for the families." Local
families helped establish Nashville's St. Mina
Coptic Orthodox Church 18 years ago as the state's
first Coptic Orthodox church. Since then, other
congregations developed, including St. Pishoy in
Antioch, headed by Father Mina Iskander. Students
may study four languages: Arabic, English, Spanish
and Coptic, now spoken primarily by the faithful
during liturgy and taught by Father Boutros
Boutros, who also teaches a Coptic hymn class. During
the liturgy on Wednesday and Friday mornings, some
of the boys in the school chant, light incense and
perform other tasks to assist the priest during
the worship service. Long-term goals for the school, which holds membership through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, include expansion to accommodate high school students and designation as a NASA Explorer School, a partnership of innovative science and mathematics instruction for students in grades 4 through 9 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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