Thread by @Samueltadros

A few thoughts on the Global Coptic Day @GlobalCopticDay

1. The initiative was the work of one man: Nader Anise. He deserves the credit for coming up with the idea and moving it forward. But it has deeply resonated with the Coptic community outside of Egypt. Everywhere I see Coptic churches and individuals celebrating

The reason the idea has spread is because it comes at the exact moment where a momentous transformation is happening to us Copts. We are no longer, just victims, just persecuted Christians in need of help.

We are also enormously successful. Not in Egypt, there we remain captives physically and mentally, but outside of Egypt's borders we have flourished as a Church and as individuals.

I love this quote from @CopticOrphans in @marlo_safi article "“Today, Coptic Christians reside in every continent across the globe. They are artists, business leaders, diplomats, inventors, physicians, scholars, and thought leaders etc."

A Copt served as Deputy National Security Adviser to the President. A Copts served as Executive Vice President of Trump Organization. A Copt won the Oscar for Best Actor. A Copt played Aladdin in the new Disney movie.

These are the new faces of the Coptic people. They do not replace the faces of the old lady stripped of her clothes by a mob in Menya, nor those of the victims of the church bombings, but they stand next to them.

We came to the West as immigrants in search of a better economic opportunity and escaping persecution in our ancestral lands, and many still do, but now the second and even third generation of Copts has been born in the West, opportunities have been taken and success achieved.

2. With that success a challenge presents itself: What does it mean to be a Copt? In Egypt our nation was built not on a common language or ethnicity, but on a shared history of pain. But what does it mean to be a Copt in New York or Sydney or Toronto?

The challenge has not been met yet. It is an open one. But in the past few years numerous organizations and initiatives have sprung to answer it. @CopticOrphans was a voice in the wilderness for decades, but today small flowers are blossoming.

Look at the work of @theCCHP in Canada or @HxCopts podcasts, or @copticvoiceus posts. These and many others will grow as Copts attempt to answer that challenge.

But inevitably the Church itself will have to make the transition. I love the name for the celebration "Global Coptic" We are no longer shackled to Egypt. We have become a universal church, a global community.

There are today about half a million Copts in the United States, with another half a million in Canada, Australia and Europe. We have churches in Bolivia and Japan. In Scandinavia and South Africa.

And we are not even just ethnic Egyptians. We have half a million members in Sub-Saharan Africa. We have priests who are ethnic Japanese. We have members who don't speak a word of Arabic or Coptic but are still proud Copts

It is time we all adapt to that reality. The success comes with a responsibility, the challenge with an opportunity: how can we serve our less fortunate brethren back in Egypt.