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Welcome to St. Antonious Coptic Orthodox Church

St. Antonious Coptic Orthodox Church is the only Coptic church in Oregon. It was established in 1992 and is currently located in the heart of Portland at the corner of 65th Avenue and Holgate St. Due the growth of service and congregation, we are in need of a larger building and require further funding in order to move to a new location. We really appreciate your support. May the Lord bless your offerings and reward you with His heavenly rewards.

Coptic Orthodox Church
Introduction to the Coptic Church
The Coptic Orthodox Church was established in the name of Jesus Christ by St. Mark the Evangelist in the city of Alexandria around 43-61 A.D. It is one of the oldest four Churches in the world: Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome.  The Church adheres to the Nicene Creed, also known as the 'Orthodox Creed', and the 'Athanasian Creed'.
It was St. Athanasius, the 20th Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, who participated in the formulation of the Creed. The term "orthodox" refers to the preservation of the "Original Faith" by the Copts who, throughout the ages, defended the original faith against numerous heresies and handed it down from generation to generation without any change.
In the land of the Pharaohs, the ancient Egyptians believed in life after death. They also believed in judgment after death, which paved the way for Christianity to spread rapidly in Egypt upon hearing Saint Mark's preaching. The Egyptians easily related to Saint Mark's teaching about the Holy Trinity, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and His Second Coming to judge the living and the dead.
In a relatively short time Egypt became a Christian land, which was called "Aigyptos" in Greek. Many Egyptians converted to Islam, however, when Egypt came under the Arabic rule in the 7th Century AD and mingled in marriage with the Arabs. Being unable to pronounce the word "Aigyptos", the Arabs corrupted it and pronounced it as "Gypt" or "Kipt". The Egyptians who remained Christians preserved their Egyptian bloodline and therefore, were called Copt.
In the early church, Alexandria was considered the seat of the highest learning and scholarship center in the world. The famous 'Theological School of Alexandria' with its leading theologians, philosophers, scholars, and teachers was established in the 1st century. By the 4th century, Alexandria became the seat of Christian learning of the entire world, proudly hosting the 'Library of Alexandria', the largest in the world at that time.
Egypt is the only land in the world to be blessed and honored by a long visit of the 'Holy Family' (about 3 years). "When he [Joseph] arose, he took the young child [Jesus] and His mother [Mary] by night, and departed into Egypt. And remained there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying 'Out of Egypt have I called my Son'" (Matt 2: 14-15). There are many prophecies about the spread of Christianity in Egypt: "Blessed be my people Egypt" (Isaiah 19:24); "On that day, there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt" (Isaiah 19:19); and "Behold, the Lord rides upon a swift cloud and shall come to Egypt" (Isaiah 19:1).
The Coptic Church is deeply spiritual and conservative. It kept the doctrine and the rituals as handed down by St. Mark and the successive Popes until today. No changes have taken place in the Church of Egypt compared to any other Church in the world.
The succession of Coptic patriarchs, bishops, priests, and deacons has been continuous. His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, the 118th successor of St. Mark is the present Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of the Sea of St. Mark.

St. Antonious Coptic Orthodox Church
4422 SE 65th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97206
About our Church
St Mary COC   St. Antonious Coptic Orthodox Church was established in 1992 when H.H. Pope Shenouda III asked Fr. Takla Azmy to take care of the Coptic families in Oregon, in addition to attending to his duty as the priest of St Mary Coptic Orthodox Church in Seattle, WA.

Fr. Takla used to come to Portland (OR) one or two Saturdays each month to serve about 10 families and pray the Holy Liturgy. During those times, we used to rent St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, in Portland.
In 1994, the church was registered in the state of Oregon as: "St. Antonious and St. George Coptic Orthodox Church".    Home Meeting
Prayer and Bible Study meetings were also held at the members' residences throughout the week. Most of the times, they were directed by volunteering Deacons from the Seattle Churches.
Church in Sandy In 1999, we led a fund raising activity to collect $43K and buy our first own church in Sandy (OR -about 20 miles away from Portland). At that time, we registered the church under "St. Antonious Coptic Orthodox Church". About 25 families could be counted attending the Holy Services.

In 2003, God blessed us with the current church building on 65th Street, in the heart of Portland (OR), when the Board responding to the congregation's request moved to a bigger church. This enabled more people to come to the church.
Fr. Angelos Fr. Angelos Sarkis (of St. George Coptic Orthodox Church, Seattle) responded to the congregation’s needs on regular basis. He served as a temporary priest in the recent years.
On August 6, 2006, Fr. Mekhail Hanna was appointed by H.H. Pope Shenouda III as the first permanent priest for the church. Currently, the Church counts over 100 Coptic families in Oregon besides the youth.