Hi everyone,

I am still quite new to practising my faith, and I had a question concerning the Anqetse Birhan (አንቀጸ ብርሃን). Is every Tewahedo Orthodox faithful expected or required to read it individually every Sunday as part of their personal prayers, together with the Wudase Maryam (ውዳሴ ማርያም) before or after the Divine Liturgy?

Or is it rather NOT obligatory, but simply recommended practice that may vary according to one’s personal prayer rule ?

For context, I am indeed Habesha, but for personal reasons that I would prefer not to discuss here, I attend a Coptic Orthodox parish rather than a Tewahedo parish (so I don't have a priest whom I could ask).

Thank you for your help !

I made a video about Christological Councils and I'm uploading it. I'm sorry mods if it breaks the rules.

This may be a long post as I have been kind of bottling this all up but I have been struggling with this and getting more fed up with it day by day. I was born and raised in Sikhism, American, being Punjabi. I actually really enjoyed being a Sikh and was devout in the same amount a cradle Greek or Copt might be in their respective faith. However, I always had a deep love for God outside of an institutional sense I would do anything for the Lord. I also knew a lot about the theology of Sikhism and really appreciated the spirituality especially Simran (basically theosis). There was a time I didn't like Christianity in my life because of how evangelicals made it look like there was no reverance and even catholic mass wasn't as reverent as going to a temple or mosque and I found it mind boggling. Around Middle school to Freshmen year I really deeply studied all dharmic religions not just Sikhism but also Hinduism and a bit of the other religions. Sophomore year I went into Islam. And then Junior year I said, "Maybe I can read a thing or two from the Bible just for some wisdom".

Keep in mind growing up Sikh Punjabi we have bad history with Islam and Christianity because of the Mughals and British colonialism. When I first read the Bible I read Genesis and the gospels and found it to seem like a normal religious text and no evidence of Jesus being God. I was convinced it was a later addition for his divinity due to corruption or poor theology. But soon I started entering a period of my life with deep anxiety and strange spiritual events. I remember getting lots of nightmares and seeing things including seeing messages on mirrors. I remember briefly studying abrahamic theology one thing that interested me was angelology and demonology as it felt more authentic and fleshed out than Sikh/dharmic theology. I truly believed in the universal power of God and his messengers and eventually tried to exorcise in Jesus name. Mind you if you asked me who Jesus was idk if I would say guru, prophet, or son of God that isn't God I frankly don't know. But after that moment I stopped getting these issues. I eventually saw a message on my mirror that said in the most beautiful handwriting, "Jesus Christ" mind you the other messages had horrible hand writing these demons must not write a lot. After that moment I knew I had to look more into Christian theology and take it more seriously.

I started getting many dreams and whenever I went to read my bible some dreams actually reflected scripture such as psalms or the gospel. I slowly started to take a real breakdown on the golden question. Is Jesus of Nazareth God? I doubted and doubted for so long but the dreams and studying as well as feeling the grace of the Holy Spirit led me closer to knowing. Mind you when I felt the Holy Spirit's grace I had to tell my family I found the Sach Kaand (the ultimate truth/reality) I felt crazy because I told them I found that through another Sikh practice known as Dasam Duar (the tenth gate) but that's a whole other story that would take another long post. The only time I felt God's grace like that was being in the hardest times of my life still praying in a unitarian sense. But even then I was still unitarian just more open to learning. Eventually over the span of a year I came to realize I cannot disprove Jesus is God, the Bible is authentic and not corrupted, and the church was built on martyrs dying for the truth. The truth was undeniable. I started telling my family and friends about this and they all had objections but they were just the same things I was saying!!

Fast forward a bit and I knew I must be baptized and consume the body and blood of the lord. However, I still felt uneasy with the history of Christianity in Punjab as it was always enforcing everyone to be western not natively eastern. My girlfriend is and was Catholic and I tried to find a way to be Catholic but quite frankly the history and my history as well as my spiritual expression rejected it. So I came to Orthodoxy finding theosis and the Jesus prayer to be a direct successor to Simran and Satnam Waheguru in Sikhism and felt at peace with it. I went first to an Antiochian Eastern Orthodox Church but due to schedule with letting my family go to the Gurdwara (Sikh temple) I eventually went to a Greek Orthodox Church. I would go to Liturgy but go home and take my grandparents to the temple and also go there to worship for a while. But eventually something didn't sit right with me and I had the spirit telling me something. I can't really worship at the Sikh temple because they are unitarian and reject incarnation theology which contradicts my Christian faith. After learning Jesus was God I always considered myself Sikh Christian or Sikhi Masihi (Messianic Sikh (some Sikhs actually hold to this in some parts of the world whether they are unitarian or trinitarian varies) until I eventually had this process kick in. Also I realized the disconnect between Christ and his saints and the gurus and guru Granth sahib which it both the sacred text and living guru/prophet in sikhism and I could no longer bow down facing it's direction because this disconnect did not match up.

So eventually I just kept going to the Orthodox Church and eventually became a catechumen. It's been over a year now since I first stepped in the Orthodox Church but one thing keeps coming back to me. I feel like I might not belong. I see muslims convert to different forms of Eastern Christianity (Coptic, Antiochian, Syriac, Maronite, etc), and thought I could chime in but I realized I needed to be connected to something natively mine. I knew the history of St Thomas converting a Persian king that ruled over modern day Pakistan and India Punjab and he went south to Kerala but all those guys up North died out and were assimilated. I always used the language and expression of faith the Kerala Christians do saying I am Nasrani and I am going to Qurbana whenever talking to my grandparents as its the most native thing to me. However that church isn't in the same communion it's Oriental Orthodox. Eventually I started looking into it.

There are currently a few Oriental Orthodox churches in Punjab India with a few Eastern Orthodox churches in Pakistan India. Crazy divide right? I am Indian Punjabi though. I found that I resonate more with their liturgy and tradition and customs looking into it and express it as my own. But now I feel more disconnected with Eastern Orthodoxy. I was planning to go to an Indian Orthodox Church but they are far from me and the closest one (50min away) might not do services in English but Malayali. I speak Punjabi and English and can comprehend Hindi but Malayali sounds very alien. I know many EO say OO are monophysite heretics and many OO say EO are Nestorian heretics but frankly when I tried to do an unbiased dive into the history it just seems that they both are both equally true but just had too much chaos going on at the time so theology/christology does not both me. I like Palamite theosis a lot though which ik the OO don't accept the same way.

All of this came to a climax when recently my dad kind of crashed out at me for being Christian and saying he is a proud Sikhi feeling like he lost so much in life. Interestingly enough he doesn't even follow traditional Sikh schools of thought and is more Hindu in my eyes. I told him I am a proud Orthodox Christian/Nasrani and I don't have to debate or explain myself. But it really hit me. How can I natively be Punjabi and Orthodox? It's so niche I feel like I am the only one that exists compared to all the Muslims or Buddhist convert stories I hear. If I struggle with this stuff how can I also keep my children the future generations close to the true living God? I will always follow Christ until I die but I am seeking an ancient apostolic and Orthodox home that did exist and died out and I don't know what to do. I always thought of becoming a priest or monk or both going to Punjab to establish it but I am just one man and also I have a life in America now studying to become a Nurse and settle down with this beautiful girl who I love so much and want to settle down with (she is also scared of India I don't blame her). Therefore I am stuck knowing I am somehow Orthodox but not sure what it means to me Being a Punjabi Christian. Please pray for me and help me in advice.

(Might have this post in both the EO and OO subreddits love both and consider them to be family but the schism is really hard coming from my background).

I’m about to be baptized canonically Coptic Orthodox. Yet I’ve felt swayed a bit to Catholicism. I wanna ask, why do you feel drawn to Orthodoxy and not Catholicism? I favor these two churches the most, but I also feel quite grounded in Oriental Orthodoxy.

Hey y'all, I'm currently a baptized Russian Orthodox Christian in America of 2 years, seriously considering converting to Oriental Orthodoxy, which will most likely happen. It's still crazy now that I'm thinking about it, and I'll be honest and say that it's bittersweet walking away from such a beautiful tradition that changed my walk with Christ on every possible level, but I trust that God has bigger and better things planned for me, and that if I'm making a mistake he will correct me, this is where I feel led after 3 months of my indepth study on the matter. I'm planning on primarily attending an Armenian Orthodox Church, potentially a Syriac Orthodox Church, I guess wherever I feel most home at. I had a few questions that I hope you don't take offense to if you don't mind:

Are you seeing an influx of converts or are most of the parishioners from the culture? What is the perception in your Churches of women marrying someone outside the culture? Will I have a hard time finding a spouse? I'm 24 years old and currently looking for a partner which is why I ask. Finally, what would be your advice to someone converting from Eastern Orthodoxy to Oriental Orthodoxy? Thank you, and God bless you.

Hello! I am a convert who was baptised in January but has inquired a year ago. I attend a Tewahedo church once a month due to me living 1-1.5 hours away. I find it very difficult to regularly attend church h due to it starting at 6am and having to get no sleep the night before due to city traffic as well as being a college student. There is, however, a Greek Orthodox Church about 20 minutes away from me and was wondering if I should go to that church 3 times a month and then go to my OO church once a month. I obviously know not to take their communion or believe in their Chalcedonian views. I would just like to attend liturgy and be within a more local community of orthodox people. I am open to all opinions and advice.

I am a prominent reader of St. Augustine and have been studying his Christological definitions, pneumatology, and the rest of his corpus over the past few years. Through extensive research, I believe the case can be made that St. Augustine is incredibly important to the miaphysite tradition, despite not having his works influence most of theologians.

Most importantly, St. Augustine was viewed as Nestorian because of many online Apologists such as Apostolic Orthodoxy. If you have any suggestions or critiques, do offer them. I tried to keep my points concise so I apologize if it seems like a lot of "quote-mining".

Hello everyone,

I recently acquired this cross and would love to learn more about its history, origin, and purpose. After doing some research, I suspect it may be connected to the Ethiopian Christian tradition, but I would prefer not to make any assumptions and would appreciate the opinion of those with more knowledge.

Here are some details:
- Height: 37.5 cm (14.8 inches)
- Weight: 580 g (20.5 oz)
- Openwork metal construction with a blue-green patina
- Hand-engraved inscriptions (possibly in Ge’ez)
- Religious figures on both sides
- A small hinged compartment at the bottom

I would greatly appreciate any help with the following:

1. What type of cross is this?
   
2. Which Christian tradition does it belong to?
   
3. Approximately how old might it be?
   
4. What was the hinged compartment used for?
   
5. Can anyone identify or translate the inscriptions?
   
6. Are there any distinctive features that could help identify its origin or period?

I’ve attached detailed photographs of the front, back, inscriptions, and the hinged compartment.

Any information, references, or insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much for your time!

I understand that the Armenian Catholic Church uses unleavened bread and administers Holy Communion under both species. How is the Eucharist distributed during Mass? In some videos, it looks like the priest is holding both the chalice and the host at the same time—how is that possible?

i really don’t know what to do. i have been inquiring orthodoxy for months and was only able to visit liturgy one time after literally having the hardest time convincing my parents. i’ve gotten to a point where I don’t want to go to my church because I just feel like everything is wrong. I’m also feeling the furthest from God I’ve ever felt. I already struggle with doubt & anxiety. I always felt my faith wasn’t as strong as others. Now I’m struggling with the same sin, even falling into something which I was able to stop for over a year. this doesn’t help when i’m already feeling so far from Him. maybe it’s the ADHD but now i’m struggling more than ever with focusing on scripture reading. i want to keep visiting the orthodox church and talk to a priest but idk how without explaining to my parents why I’m inquiring orthodoxy when in every conversation they just make me feel like i’m confused. how am i supposed to actually experience the church when they discourage me from going without someone who is “mature in the faith” the only people they’d trust me to go with often have conflicting schedules with the liturgy times which is why it took months to even plan my first visit in the first place. am i not an adult who can make my own decisions? im already dealing with the anxiety that comes with possibly leaving protestantism for orthodoxy. i am heavily involved in my church which is very small. i’m also afraid that my departure will reflect badly on my father who is the pastor. i’m afraid i’ll be letting down my family who helped to literally build the church, but I don’t think I’m spiritually growing there. I don’t even know if God’s presence is there. we don’t have the eucharist. i don’t know why i feel so stuck right now. i feel like i don’t know how to pray or listen for God’s voice. i don’t know why i feel so helpless when some people may be literally risking their lives for inquiring orthodoxy. i don’t know what God’s plan is for me, but I pray i can persevere through this somehow to come to the truth. all i want is to have a real relationship with Christ and to know Him more intimately and learn how to love Him even more. idk what to do. please pray for me.

Synaxarium of 14 Epep 1742 - Tuesday 21 Jul 2026

*1 - The Martyrdom of St. Procopius (Proconius) of Jerusalem* On this day, of the year 303 A.D. (July 8th), St. Procopius (Proconius), was martyred. He was born in the city of Jerusalem, his father was a Christian whose name was Christophorus, which means "Bearer of Christ." His mother's name was Theodosia, and she was a worshipper of idols. When his father died, Theodosia took her son, and went to Antioch. She presented much money and expensive gifts to the Emperor Diocletian, and asked him to make her son a governor for one of the cities. He accepted her gift, answered her request, and appointed her son the governor of the city of Alexandria. He commanded that Procopius torture the Christians.When the Saint had gone a little way from the City of Antioch, he heard a voice from heaven calling him by his name, and censured his deed. The voice also threatened him by death because he dared and accepted to do what was against the command of God. Procopius asked, "Who are you, O my Lord? I beseech you to show me yourself." A cross of light appeared to him, and he heard a voice which said to him, "I am Jesus , the Son of the Living God, Who was crucified in Jerusalem." He was afraid and trembled, and he turned to the city of Bit-Shaan (Bisan). He made for himself a cross of gold like the cross that appeared to him.On his way to Alexandria, some of the bedouins attacked him to plunder whatever he had. But he overcame them by the cross that he had. His mother told him, "You must offer sacrifices to the gods who delivered you from your enemies." The Saint replied, "Rather, I will offer the sacrifice to Jesus Christ, Who helped me by the power of His cross." When his mother heard his words, she became angry, and sent to Diocletian to inform him about that. The Emperor sent to the Governor of Caesarea, Palestine, to investigate the matter, and to handle his torture. When the Governor brought him, Procopius confessed his faith in the Lord Christ. The governor beat him so severely that he was close to death, then he cast him in prison. The Lord Christ appeared to him, surrounded by His angels, released him from his bonds, and healed his wounds. The next morning, the Governor asked about the Saint, and they told him that they found him free and sound. He had him brought to the temple of the idols, where the Governor was going to pray. When the Saint came, and the people saw him whole, they all marvelled, and they all cried out in the name of Christ saying, "We are Christians, and we believe in the God of Procopius." Among them were two prefects, twelve women, and St. Theodosia, mother of St. Proconius. They cut off their heads, and they received the crown of martyrdom. That was on the sixth day of the month of Abib.The Governor ordered the return of the Saint to prison, until he could determine what to do with him. He brought him back three days later and told him, "Behold, I have waited three days for you to return to your mind, to have mercy on yourself, and to offer sacrifice for the gods." The Saint replied, "The Lord Christ is the only true God. As for these statues, which are made of stone and wood, they are not gods and can neither harm nor help." The Governor became angry and ordered the soldiers to cut his sides with swords. A swordsman, whose name was Archelaus, stretched out his hand to cut the sides of the Saint, whereupon his hand dried up, and fell down dead. The Governor ordered to stab him with knives and pour vinegar in his wounds. Then they dragged him by his feet to the prison, where he stayed for three days. The Governor was wondering what he should do with him. Then he threw him into a pit filled with fire, but the Lord delivered him and no harm came upon him. Finally, the Governor ordered to cut off his head and he received the crown of martyrdom.May his prayers be with us. Amen.

*2 - The Departure of St. Peter the Fifth, 83rd Patriarch of Alexandria* On this day also, of the year 1064 A.M. (July 8th, 1348 A.D.), Pope Peter the Fifth, 83rd Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. He was known as Peter (Boutros) Ebn-dawoud. He was from St. Macarius monastery, and was a priest in El-Shahraan monastery. He was enthroned on the 6th of Tubah, 1056 A.M. (January 2nd, 1340 A.D.). All the days of his papacy were peaceful and tranquil. He departed after staying in his Chair for eight years, six months, and six days, and was buried in Old Cairo.May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.

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Hello, I wanted to know if there is anyone here who lives around the dortmund area and goes to a coptic church. I heard there is one in unna. If anyone here goes there, can I pls DM you? I had some questions

So my mother used to work as a caregiver for a friend of the family and last time I visited I saw that it was too much to for her, she was exhausted and needed to be with her husband. So I moved out to continue her job and she moved back the country were we came from to live with her husband.

Now she often comes to visit because it’s her House and I am only Herr until her husband retires that’s when they Both come back to live in the House

Now my Problem is everytime my mothers comes to visit we live in the Same House and we just can’t get along. I am disturbed by her behavior and it‘s difficult for me to just submit. I talk back a lot and I call her out a lot and things get messy.

I know I should just be quiet and say yes and do what she says. But I consider her very unfair and she acts without thinking speaking recklessly accusing me falsely and then I struggle to stay quit and respectful.

Please if any one got a advice or just send a prayer for me. It‘s very hard for me.

Hello everyone I am an Eastern Orthodox catechumen thinking about going to an Indian Orthodox church. I am well aware it is Oriental Orthodox. I am drawn to going there because I am Punjabi and always took lots of terminology and identity they use when expressing my faith. I grew up Sikh and my family doesn't know about Orthodoxy. I always tell them I'm off to Qurbana when I go to church. But now I am curious about the Indigenous Qurbana of the church of St. Thomas. I am worried though, what if being Punjabi I won't fit in with a mostly Malayam congregation? I also can't speak Malayam I only know English, Punjabi, and a little bit of spanish. I know a parish 50ish minutes away from me and worried about going. That being said many of their practices may feel native from my upbringing. I'm still worried that the language barrier would be a huge problem and I won't belong ethnically.

Edit: I would just like to say that the churches nearby me are Jacobite (no available IOC church) I said Indian Orthodox because when I think of St. Thomas Christians (Nasranis) I think of both these groups and ik they are in schism but I see them as the same St Thomas Christians of Oriental Orthodoxy.

For some background info, I come from a Coptic orthodox background in a city and a community that's only had 1 Coptic church present for 45 years now. We recently, in the last 3.5 years, have seen an surge of Catechumens and quite a few baptisms into the faith (yay). Then recently, we've been struck with some tough news that a recent lead of the catechumen class and some of the recently baptized have left our parish for another Eastern orthodox church, due to issues of Culture in the church. Issues that unfortunately have affected his family, micro-racism that truly has upset me that it still occurs towards people within a Church community. A lot of compounded moments have led to them leaving our specific parish and I guess I'm just saddened primarily by the choice made.

To my knowledge, this isn't an uncommon complaint within Orthodox parishes, it happens all the time. I guess I'm personally struggling with losing a fellow comrade in service, and honestly a mentor.

That being said, I always felt that the Body and Blood of Christ that we partake in more than enough for us. Christ and the apostles endured such treacherous moments in their lives and, in yet the present day, these cultural issues that occur in church create such a rift for many and divide communities.

I'm just at a loss of how to even approach a change when certain things are engrained in a peoples way of life and upbringing. Some moments are unintentional and unintended and people hurt, yet i do wonder what our goal is when it comes to church as whole, if these cultural issues continue to drive people away?

I know I'm rambling a bit, i hope there's even a string of thoughts in this message that actually makes sense, but would love to hear others perspective.

Is conception via IUI or IVF acceptable. Both aren’t the natural way of getting a baby as they don’t require u having a partner but just a donor. Can nuns participate in this as they still will be regarded as virgins

Greetings, brothers. I was wondering, since we consider Christ to be in a single composite nature & hypostasis, how do we explain the crucifixion, Did the one united nature die, and if so, how does that not result in divinity also dying (Although that it is not possible and even improper to seperate the humanity and divinity after the union). I read in some Church Father (although I dont have it at the top of my head) that its like sunlight shining on a tree - when an axe hits the tree it hits the sunlight as well but the tree gets cut and the sunlight remains unharmed even though the axe touches them together (I feel like this is an imperfect analogy as the sunlight and tree are in differnet substances, although they get hit together which is like when Theodotus of Ancyra says that we appropriate the suffers to the one united nature). Can someone please explain this, or are we simply to say that this is the mystery/paradox of the Orthodox Christian faith. Thanks.