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Does the Coptic church accept new comers not organically orthodox?

duraidw
in Coptic Orthodox Church
Hi,

My father was orthodox and my mother was catholic and i am originally from Iraq and living in the UK and my wife she is Russian protestant. I used to go to catholic church different churches in iraq which is quite different catholic than the roman catholic. However i was just going to the church like routine i was still living like anyone else. Can not remember if i heard something powerful that changed my heart in the churches that i went to.   However when i was looking to get married i wanted to find a girl she is really christian and love God. I was living like the world but named as Christian.  In the UK while i was keep going to catholic church my wife never felt the church is live where she used to go to her church in russia and see people really change. I never understood that till few months back. I was listing for weeks to protestant preachers about hell and the book of revelation and the final judgement. So spend weeks listing to them how we should repent to Jesus. Till one night i kneeled and i was crying to Jesus for hours and since that time all my life changed and all my time reading the bible , praying and thinking about God all the time. I start going to different churches 

Pentecostal, baptist, Methodist, catholic, fiec churches i have worshipped God in every church i went but wanted to find people on fire for the Lord i need more of the Lord. Then i start listing to Pope Shenouda and Matta El Meskeen did not know i will find anything in Arabic and their teaching is to what i feel about the Lord and some of their prayers is what i am praying to the Lord before i have even listened to them. So my heart is going towards orthodox and the coptic teaching but i am not sure if they will accept me there? 

I have went to many different churches i have felt the Lord in my heart in all those churches after i believed few months back. I go to bible study with protestant people their believes about alot the subjects is very similar to the coptic  apart from the traditions of the churches and i am still finding more and more when i pray and i read he bibile and learn from the Pope Shenouda and Matta El Meskeen . I need a church where i can feel the fear of God and people who will i learn from them more about the Lord and if Lord wants me to serve not sure really yet i am just not worth of all this love from the Lord. 

Please reply from your heart and not from your mind when read a little bit of my story. 

Thank you so much
 

Comments

  • minasolimanminasoliman
    Pope Shenouda and Abouna Matta, two names when put together to lead you into the Orthodox Church makes the heavens rejoice more than you can imagine :)

    Brother! You are more than welcome in the Church. If you are able to, find the website of the nearest church and contact the priest there so that he can be ready to see you. But for the most part, you are definitely most welcome.

    God bless you!
  • mabsootamabsoota
    are u in uk?
    feel free to send me a message with your approximate location and i can tell u about churches.
    i used to be protestant 8 years ago (since early childhood) and i can assure u that u r welcome to visit any of our churches, and will see many beautiful things.

    please speak to your wife about your interest too from an early stage, so she understands your spiritual journey. please look also at things in english on the internet so you can travel with her on your journey.

    i have plenty of experience of eastern european protestants, so i can tell you they are usually very scared to hear of someone they love going to an orthodox church.
    this is because many people in the orthodox church in places like russia and romania see a lot of corruption and bad things happening there.
    also many people in these countries say 'i am orthodox' but they actually don't believe in God! it is just a national religion for them and it means they get married in the church and then don't go again until they die.

    so maybe your wife will be concerned about your spiritual journey. but share some nice teachings and prayers with her, so she can see that we are 'still Christian'.
    (when i joined the orthodox church, my british protestant parents asked me if i was 'still a Christian'!! 
    then when i told them about fasting, they asked me if i was joining islam!)

    so don't be upset if some people around you freak out. just listen to them calmly, pray, study the Bible and ask God to guide you to a deeper relationship with him

  • duraidw
    Thank you so much for your help brothers. I have found a church and i went there on Saturday morning for two hours for the Mass i sat at the end of the church did not feel that welcome but i guess is my fault because i have not spoken to the priest in the first hand just went inside and start praying. The people inside they feel very close community together even if there were arabic and i am arabic still i have felt i am not one of them. I need to pray more. Mabsoota you are very right my wife lived the Russian church corruption is not very easy for her to accept this change but my heart taking me away from the protestant churches i am not judging them because my heart dont want to judge anyone anymore just my believes drawing closer to the Orthodox believes. Not sure how Abouna feels about me. But when i left the church i felt the Lord inside me so strong i feel the fear of God in this church and this is what is missing from the churches that i used to go to. 

    and the other issue i have given my word to the protestant church that i am going to at the moment to help for a month and i dont like to break my word and promise. But please pray for me brothers that the people there draw closer to me when i go there again but it will be while till next time. Still not sure how my wife will feel there is very different mass from what she used to go in her church and even from the catholic church. 

    May the Lord bless you brothers
  • StudyandlearnStudyandlearn
    If you are not welcomed by everyone, just continue to pour out our God given love on them and pray for mutual understanding and for eyes to see and hearts to value eachother. Be patient and help anyone unwelcoming to become welcoming for the sake of the body of Christ and if you still arent fully and truly welcomed tell them this openly so they may know what might not even have entered their mind. I already know that you are welcomed by thousands upon thousands, i hope you will encounter some of these loving brothers and sisters soon
  • Daniel_Kyrillos
    `<rictoc Anecty ouoh Afsenaf
    Egyptians have a nasty habit of rejecting newcomers, myself first and foremost... just hang around, it gets better! :)
  • duraidw
    edited June 2017
    Thank you so much brothers and sisters. I feel so welcomed here. Thank you and may the Lord of heaven and earth bless you all.
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