I feel that God our Father is calling me to the priesthood in the Byzantine rite. Well my doctor is a Coptic Orthodox and my mother happen to tell her that I was thinking a about becoming a priest. My doctor has two twins and she wants me to marry one of them and she has always loved me and a patient. I don't even know the girls. But for me to marry one of them I have to convert to the Coptic Orthodox Church. The thing is that she will pay my way through college and the seminary. My parents can not afford for me to go to college at all. So it seems like I will have a free ride through college. I think that the Coptic is really interesting and the Liturgy is very beautiful. But I do not know what I should do. I do not think that God would want me to leave the Catholic Church. Please give me some adivce.

[ 12-14-2001: Message edited by: phil ]

Some general advice:

Don't get engaged to a girl you don't know.

Don't change churches just because of marriage.

If you think you might have vocations to both the priesthood and marriage, you might consider looking at Byzantine Catholic churches that now are ordaining married men in North America, like the Ukrainians and the Melkites. If you want to go this route, it will take time, getting involved in one of their churches for a few years, I'd imagine, to convince all involved, including the Ukrainian or Melkite bishop, that you are sincere and aren't just "using' them to get something you want.

God bless you.

http://oldworldrus.com

Yeah, from one young Phil to another, Serge is right...getting engaged to a girl you don't know at all is definitely not the way to go, even if college is fully paid for.

He's right too about the married priesthood...check out the Churches that do that in this country by being involved with a parish community for a couple of years before you do anything else with it. Vocations come from God and from the Church, so involvement with the local Church is one way for the Church to help you in your discernment. My prayers for you as you discern the married priesthood, and your prayers for me as I discern to, please...from one Phil to another, of course.

[ 12-14-2001: Message edited by: Mor Ephrem ]

And no matter what you do in life, always pray. After that, pray some more. then, you may feel free to pray some more. These are very big decisions, and the Lord knows what is best for you, and He will make things work out if that is His Will. It will not be easy, but it will be done.

God bless.

Dear Friends,

We can always count on Mor Ephrem to "Phil" us in on things . . .

I think that you should only marry someone you love. There is nothing wrong with parents getting involved with these things, to a limit, however.

Would you consider becoming a Coptic Orthodox Priest? Are you a Coptic Catholic now? If you joined the Coptic Orthodox, how would that affect your situation at home and within the community in which you now live? These are all questions you must ask yourself before going ahead with anything.

For your prayer, you might wish to use the Coptic Office or Agpeya!

Alex

Phil,

As you know, I was engaged to an Indian girl over the summer. I just broke it off. I didn't know her well enough. It caused a lot of problems.

You need to just relax a little and wait. Why don't you tell your doctor that if she is serious, why not invite you over to the house so you can meet this young lady? But don't come over and be like, "Hi I'm Phil, the one chosen for you..." you'll freak her out!

Just see how things are and if you like her, try to just call her up or go to their house or something.

As for being Coptic, if you prefer the Coptic Church, and have a connection to the community, then go. But if you are just "into" the wild chants, 6 hour services, etc, this will quickly die down.

Just be patient. You are only 17.

In Christ,

anastasios
(dustin)

Another possibility could be getting a part time job that does not conflict with you school schedule. This would give you extra $$ to go on a weekend retreat at an Eastern Seminary for guys interested in the priesthood.

You could also look into going to a community college part time for your first year or two in college; community colleges can be less expensive.

Dustin is correct. There is no rush.

Have a Blessed Christmas!

Steve

Dear Friends,

Dustin and Stefan-Ivan are right.

I took it easy with her who became my wife (although I now call her "She who must be obeyed").

My mother's side of the family was also into palm-reading to detect character.

And she is certainly a character, something we really had in common.

Actually, Stefan-Ivan, the twelve psalms that form part of all Coptic services (except for the Midnight Office that triples this) are often assigned to individual readers or monks, as Fr. Taft discovered on his travels.

That still makes a for a long service, though.

Alex

Alex,

I can believe it... When I was Phil's age (now I'm dating myself) I bought the 1981 edition of the Agpeya when it was still hot off the press and tried to pray at least one hour a day.

The Agpeya was a real blessing for me then. (I have never had the privilege to attend of attending an acutal Coptic liturgy yet.)

It was the first really comprehensive Eastern Book of Hours that I'd ever seen.

Stefan

[ 12-17-2001: Message edited by: Stefan-Ivan ]

Dear Stefan,

You are dating you say? Then you must be young! And you are so wise!

The Coptic Agpeya does not change its prayers as you know.

The 12 Psalms come from an Angelic revelation that decreed that 12 is the number to be used in the services and so the Coptic tradition applied this to its Horologion, which is much easier to follow than the Byzantine or others, if one has the time.

The Greek Fathers also tried to incorporate this devotion to 12 Psalms and devised a breakdown of the Psalter into 12 "Kathismata" of 12 Psalms each, with three added to the first and three at the end.

They then said each group at the beginning of every hour, night and day, a tradition that the Ethiopian monks still follow, whereas the laity will pray seven times a day.

Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding, the Anglican layman, also had his community pray the Psalms this way and they got through it twice in each 24 hour period with most of them memorizing the Psalms.

Alex

I can relate to you! I am strangely attracted to the Coptic Church as well. I am attracted to the Oriental Churches in general, and am trying to learn more about them. I have been blessed to attend an Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas liturgy, it was long, but soo beautiful! I am Eastern Orthodox, so I am extremely close in faith to the Coptic Church, and I hope full unity will come! Your Catholic Church has a Coptic rite, also. God bless.

Dear Mikhail,

Don't forget us Syrians!