St. George Co­­­­­­­­ptic Orthodox Church

Liturgical Services Schedule

"33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" Matthew 6:33
Saturday
9:00 - 11:30 AM

Divine Liturgy

Sunday
8:00 - 11:00 AM

Main Divine Liturgy

Children's Liturgy: 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Wednesday
9:00 - 11:30 AM

Divine Liturgy

Other weekday liturgies change with the feasts of the church. See this week's schedule below on our homepage or Facebook page.

Coming up at St. George

Live from our church calendar, so it updates automatically. Open the full calendar

Your first visit

  • Everyone is welcome. You do not need to be Orthodox to attend. Everyone is invited to receive the blessing and join the holy prayers.
  • What to wear. Dress modestly and respectfully, as before the living God.
  • What to expect. Much of the service is chanted. The congregation stands for much of it and joins in the hymns and responses.
  • Children. Children are welcome in church. The Children’s Liturgy runs on Sundays, 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM.
  • Arriving. Come early if you can. The Liturgy begins with the Raising of Incense, and the readings from Scripture are part of the worship, not a prelude to it.
  • Holy Communion. Communion is received by baptized Orthodox Christians who have prepared: fasting, confessing recently, being at peace with others, and arriving on time. Visitors do not receive Communion, but they are warmly invited to stay for the whole service.
  • Questions. Speak with one of our priests after the Divine Liturgy, or call the church office.

What happens in the Divine Liturgy

The Divine Liturgy is the Church’s main service. The Coptic Church has three liturgies, attributed to St. Basil, St. Gregory and St. Cyril, and St. Basil’s is the one most often prayed. It has four parts.
  1. The Raising of Incense. An offering of incense with prayers, praises and thanksgiving, and a reading from one of the four Gospels. It prepares us for the Liturgy. “In every place incense shall be offered to My name” (Malachi 1:11). “Let my prayer be set before You as incense” (Psalm 141:2).
  2. The Offertory. The bread and wine are chosen and prepared for the Eucharist.
  3. The Liturgy of the Word. Scripture is read from the Epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, the Psalms and the Gospel. Christ is at the center of every reading. “Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27).
  4. The Liturgy of the Faithful. The bread and wine are offered and consecrated, the faithful confess the Creed, and those prepared receive Holy Communion. “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42).

Other services

  • Vespers and Midnight Praises. On Saturday evening we pray Vespers, an introduction to the Liturgy, followed by the Midnight Praises, hymns drawn mostly from the Psalms and other Scripture. “At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You” (Psalm 119:62).
  • The Agpeya. The Agpeya is the Coptic book of the seven daily prayers. Terce and Sext are prayed before each liturgy during the Offering of Incense. “Seven times a day I praise You” (Psalm 119:164).
  • Confession. See the Sacrament of Confession page.
  • Baptisms, weddings and funerals. See the Sacrament of Baptism page, or call the church office.
  • Live streaming. Use the Live Streaming button on our homepage.

Contact us

St. George Coptic Orthodox Church
187 Semple Farm Rd., Hampton, VA 23666
Phone: 757-865-2040 · Email: stgeorgeva@hotmail.com

Liturgical worship in the Coptic Church

The word “liturgy”

The word “liturgy” comes from the Greek leitourgia, meaning “a public service undertaken on behalf of the people.” It is formed from two Greek words:
  1. laos, meaning “people”
  2. ergon, meaning “work”
In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the word refers to “the service of the altar” or “the priestly service” (Hebrews 8:6; 9:21).
The Church has used this term since apostolic times for all the worship that she officially organizes and that is offered by all her members, or on their behalf. Over time, the term came to refer especially to the celebration of the Eucharist, although there are other liturgies as well, such as the liturgies of Baptism and Marriage.

Liturgical worship and liturgical life

Liturgy does not mean only the hours that believers, clergy and laity alike, spend together in the Eucharistic liturgy, in Vespers or Matins, or in the celebration of Baptism or Marriage. In its essence, it is true communion with Christ. This liturgical life is not lived only when believers join in common worship, whatever form it takes; it dwells in their hearts even when they are alone in their rooms. In other words, “liturgy” is a life that the Church lives, through which she acknowledges her nature, realizes her message and attains her own existence, which is life and growth in Jesus Christ.
In fact, we use the word “liturgy” for common worship because the believer takes part in it as a member of the community. This membership is alive and active, and it is part of who the believer is. A believer remains a member of the community even when alone, speaking with God in his or her own room. The holy community lives in the heart of the true believer, and the believer lives in the heart of the community. So when believers pray alone in their rooms, they know that the whole Church is within their hearts, praying in her name and saying “Our Father who art in heaven,” not “My Father.” At the same time, when the community prays, it embraces all its members, present and absent, with love.

Characteristics of the Coptic liturgies

  1. The liturgies belong to the whole Church. They are not monopolized by the clergy; they are the liturgies of all the Church, laity and clergy together. The people take part in the hymns and prayers, so the clergy should pray in the language of the people, clearly and in a pleasant tone, as the people take their turn in responding. Here “the people” means the whole congregation: men, women and children. The Coptic Church does not exclude children during the liturgy, and this is one of the strengths of our Church in Egypt, since even a child feels his or her positive membership and right to take part in the liturgies. The beautiful rites and heavenly hymns help children worship without boredom, in spite of the length of the services.
  2. They reveal that heavenly life is near. The Coptic liturgies not only emphasize the unity of the Church, clergy and laity, young and old, men and women, but also show that heavenly life is near and within our reach. All the Coptic liturgies have an eschatological (heavenly) outlook. In them the Church joins in the hymns of the heavenly beings, and her thoughts are drawn to contemplate the hidden mysteries of heaven. For example, the liturgy of Marriage draws our thoughts to the heavenly marriage of our souls to Christ and to the crowns of the saints.
  3. They are tied to the faith and teaching of the Church. The rites and texts of the liturgies teach even children, in simple ways, the faith of the Church and her understanding of God; our relationship with Him; our relationship with the heavenly hosts and the saints; holiness, the world and our bodies; and our struggle against the devil and his agents. The liturgy is a school for the people: its doors are open to children through its simplicity and to theologians through its depth. The Coptic liturgies explain the dogmas of the Church without any need for theological debate, and at the same time they give believers genuine theological understanding that they experience in worship.
  4. They are linked to ascetic life. Asceticism shapes our liturgies, as we see in the length of the services and in kneeling during worship. The liturgies comfort and delight the ascetic. During the services of Holy Week and Good Friday, for example, believers fast for long periods and abstain from many kinds of food, yet they find a true consolation that they rarely find at other times of the year. The daily Eucharistic liturgies of Lent likewise give believers a spiritual joy of a special character.
  5. They are biblical. Every liturgy proclaims the word of God and the experience of life in the Gospel. The liturgies include readings from the Old and New Testaments, especially the Psalms, the Epistles of St. Paul, the Catholic Epistles and the Gospels. They also present prayers and hymns taken from the Bible and filled with the thought of the Gospel. We can say, therefore, that the liturgies are wholly shaped by the spirit of the Bible.
  6. They touch daily and family life. The liturgies are the “dynamic energy” that moves believers’ lives. There is no separation between common worship and daily life; believers practice common worship as part of their lives as a whole. Two examples show how the liturgical life and daily life of the Copts are connected.
The Eucharist at the Cross. The priest and the people understand the Liturgy of the Eucharist as a meeting at the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and as an entrance to Golgotha, so that all may sit under the shadow of the Cross (Song of Songs 2:3). The priest places his hand on the Lamb (the Holy Bread) and prays for his family, his spiritual children and all the people. He prays for the repentance of those who have strayed, for the resolution of problems in the Church and disputes in families, and for those in trouble, that God may intervene by His divine grace. He also prays for those who are traveling, for the sick and for those who have departed in the Lord.
The Coptic people often ask the priest to remember them and their needs on the altar of the Lord, and they join him in asking God. In this way Copts find comfort in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where they find the precious Blood of Jesus Christ as the propitiation for their sins (1 John 4:10) and a source of inner peace.
The motherhood of the Church. Through the various liturgies, believers recognize the motherhood of the Church and the fatherhood of the priest as an image and shadow of God’s fatherhood. For this reason Copts turn to the Church as their refuge in matters great and small, in sorrow and in joy, because of their trust in her and their love for her. When God grants a family a baby, for example, the Church prays a special service for the washing of the infant on the eighth day after birth. The priest, the deacons, the family and their friends join in giving thanks and praise to God, asking Him to work in the baby so that he or she may grow in the grace of God as a holy member of the Church. When a person succeeds in some work, he or she often asks for a doxology of thanksgiving to be prayed during or after the Eucharistic liturgy. When a person falls ill, he or she asks for the prayer of the Unction of the Sick. When a person dies, the Church prays the funeral service; on the third day she prays at the home of the departed, declaring God’s consolation through the resurrection of Christ on the third day; and at every commemoration the priest mentions the name of the departed in the Eucharistic liturgy (the Diptych).
In this way the Church does not intrude on the lives of her children but, through love, shares in all their affairs, so that they feel her motherhood and her sharing in their feelings.
Adapted from Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty, Introduction to the Coptic Orthodox Church.
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