The crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ is an event that can never be adequately described by mere words. It defies all human understanding and is itself a paradox. The Almighty God, who is justice itself, was made to be criminal. He who clothes the world and its inhabitants was stripped naked. Life died for His …
A blessed and fruitful fast, filled with spiritual and physical nourishment from our Lord, to you all! Holy Week in the Coptic Orthodox Church is filled with beautiful hymns that lead us through the events recorded in the gospels. The hymns of the Holy Paskha are emotionally evocative, expressive, and comforting. They truly create a spiritual environment …
Part 4 – What other factors have contributed to pronunciation issues? Since the entry of the Arabs into Egypt, the use of the Coptic language has progressively declined. With the exception of a few towns and small groups of people, its use is now limited to liturgical practice for the hymns of the Church. The hymns …
Part 3 – Where do we stand now? My goal in the previous two posts was to show that the movement of Irian Effendi Moftah to change the Coptic language is the major contributor in the current conflict. What we are experiencing now is confusion due to not following a specific pronunciation. The truth of the …
Part 2 – What does this have to do with the hymns? Several concepts were altered along with the phonetics of specific letters. This section is going to be quite long-winded and detailed so please bear with me. A. In any living language, there are phrases and words that flow together causing the pronunciation of each sound …
Recent developments in the hymns of the church have caused a great deal of unnecessary confusion and discrepancy. I thought it fitting to shed some light on why these developments have come about, and whether they are indeed accurate or not. (This is my first blog post, so if it’s not perfect, please forgive me. I …