The Orthodox Christian Church has believed, taught, preserved, defended, and died for the faith of Jesus Christ and the Apostles since the day of Pentecost over 2,000 years ago. The Coptic Orthodox Church was established in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by St. Mark the Evangelist in the city of Alexandria, Egypt, around 43 A.D. The Church adheres to the Nicene Creed. St. Athanasius (296-373 A.D.), the twentieth pope of the Coptic Church, effectively defended the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ’s divinity at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. His affirmation of the doctrine earned him the titles Father of Orthodoxy and St. Athanasius the Apostolic.

The term “Coptic” is derived from the Greek “Aigyptos,” meaning “Egyptian.” When the Arabs arrived in Egypt in the seventh century, they called the Egyptians “qibt.” Thus, the Arabic word “qibt” came to mean both “Egyptians” and “Christians.”

The term “Orthodoxy” here refers to the preservation of the original faith by the Copts who, throughout the ages, defended the Old Creed against the numerous attacks aimed against it. Fewer changes have taken place in the Coptic Church than in any other church, whether in the ritual or doctrinal aspects. Additionally, the succession of the Coptic patriarchs, bishops, priests, and deacons has been continuous since St. Mark brought Christianity to Egypt.

Saint Philopater & Saint Demiana Coptic Orthodox Church has been established to share the Orthodox faith within the local Seattle community by celebrating liturgical services and hosting meetings and events for prayers, spiritual growth, fellowship, evangelism, and community service. Check out the Ministries page for more information about services at SPSD.

We believe in one God, God the Father the Pantocrator, who created heaven and earth, and all things seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not created, of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made; Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became Man. And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried. And on the third day He rose from the dead, according to the scriptures, ascended to the heavens; He sits at the right hand of his Father, and He is coming again in His glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.

Yes, we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Life-Giver, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.

And in one holy, catholic and apostolic church. We confess one baptism for the remission of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the coming age. Amen.

Yes, absolutely. We are a com­mu­nity made up of both cradle-born Ortho­dox Chris­tians and those who have con­verted to the faith. We are very com­fort­able with new­com­ers, inquir­ers, and vis­i­tors. Any­one who wishes to dis­cover ancient Cop­tic Ortho­dox Chris­tian­ity is welcome. If you have ques­tions, Fr. Danial will be happy to answer them. So don’t be afraid to ask ques­tions about what we do and why.

If you let us know before you visit, we can have someone greet you and direct you to a place to sit. We project the hymns/responses during the liturgy on TV screens to make it easy to follow along.

Note that communion is reserved for baptized, practicing oriental Orthodox believers.

Fol­low­ing the Saturday Divine Liturgy, you are invited to join us for a “cof­fee hour” which is a good time to get to know our parish mem­bers and meet our priest.

We have a new members (catechism) program for people interested in the faith. For more information, please fill out the form above

On Friday evenings, the Evening Rais­ing of Incense ser­vice (Ves­pers) is gen­er­ally 30–45 min­utes in length. On Saturday morn­ings, a sim­i­lar ser­vice is cel­e­brated before the Divine Liturgy. After­wards, the Divine Liturgy is approx­i­mately 2 hours in length with an Eng­lish homily at 9:45am and the distribution of the Mys­tery of the Eucharist at 11am. We under­stand this may seem like a very long ser­vice, but we know that when you have par­tic­i­pated in an Ortho­dox ser­vice you will feel like you have truly wor­shipped the liv­ing God.

The full liturgical schedule can be found on the calendar page.

The gen­eral rule for men and women is to dress appro­pri­ately, mod­estly and respect­fully, as before the liv­ing God. We ask that you not wear shorts, mini-skirts, tank tops, low-cut or strap­less dresses (unless cov­ered by a sweater, etc).

On Saturdays, we pro­vide Sun­day school in small groups for chil­dren in grades K through 8. Sun­day school begins at 12pm, after the children have had a bite to eat following the Divine Liturgy, lasts for approximately 30 minutes.

Ortho­dox priests may only serve the Holy Eucharist to bap­tized mem­bers in good stand­ing of the canon­i­cal Ortho­dox Church, who have recently con­fessed, and fasted before par­tak­ing of the Holy Eucharist. This is the ancient tra­di­tion of the Holy Church for the 2,000 years of its his­tory. The Ortho­dox Church under­stands the Holy Eucharist as a mys­tery of the real pres­ence of Christ in the Eucharist, not sim­ply as a memo­r­ial, or merely in a spir­i­tual sense, as many other non-Orthodox Chris­tians do. If you are new to the Orthodox church, we ask that you respect the ancient, apos­tolic tra­di­tion and join us in receiv­ing the Eulo­gia (blessed bread), at the end of the Divine Liturgy.

Between 65–75% of the tra­di­tional Cop­tic Liturgy involves con­gre­ga­tional singing. Cop­tic Chris­tians do not use musi­cal instru­ments with the excep­tion of the cym­bals and tri­an­gle, which are used sim­ply to keep musi­cal time. A choir of dea­cons leads the con­gre­ga­tion in har­mo­nious chant, primarily in Eng­lish with the occasional Coptic hymn. Our hymns are solemn, prayer­ful and intended to lead the faith­ful to wor­ship the liv­ing God.

New vis­i­tors will find there are many new things to expe­ri­ence in a Cop­tic Ortho­dox Church ser­vice. Feel free to go at your own pace, ask any ques­tions you want, and know you are most wel­come to “come and see.”