About Our Church
St. Philopater Mercurius & St. Mina
About Our Church
Five pages: who this church is and where the Church it belongs to comes from, what that Church confesses, the two saints whose names it carries, what happens in the Liturgy, and what is being built next.
The five parts of About
- Who we areA Coptic Orthodox church in Wayland, Massachusetts, and the Church it belongs to.
- Our beliefWhat the Coptic Orthodox Church confesses, and where that confession comes from.
- Our patron saintsSt. Philopater Mercurius and St. Mina, whose names this church carries.
- Welcome newcomersWhat happens in the liturgy, and what to expect if you have not been before.
- Future plansWhat the church is building, and where the work stands.
Picture credits49 pictures, from Wikimedia Commons
None of these is a photograph of this church. They are icons, manuscripts, museum objects and photographs held on Wikimedia Commons, and every one is public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY‑SA. Each name links to the page the file is held on, where the full licence terms are.
Who We Are7
Photographs and prints of the Church in Egypt and of its first churches in America.
Our Belief11
Icons, manuscripts and church interiors illustrating the Creed and the sacraments.
- Monastery wall paintings, Wadi al-Natrun
- The Trinity, Andrei Rublev
- The First Council of Nicaea
- St. Athanasius and St. Cyril of Alexandria
- Christ Pantocrator, Sinai
- The Virgin enthroned, Sinai
- The Resurrection, Elias Moskos
- A Coptic manuscript leaf
- The Hanging Church, Old Cairo
- A Coptic Orthodox baptism
- St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria
Our Patron Saints7
Icons, museum objects and the sites of the two saints this church is named for.
Welcome, Newcomers24
The vestments, instruments and furnishings the six stations of the tour explain.
- The Ark on a Coptic altar
- A bishop in the em’ma
- A censer, alight
- Leaves from a Coptic manuscript
- A Coptic tunic, late antiquity
- Deacons in the white tunic
- Musicians in the tomb of Nakht
- Finger cymbals, and how a pair is held
- Coptic icon of the Archangel Michael
- A Coptic iconostasis
- A Coptic liturgical codex
- A ney
- A ney player
- An oud, from Cairo
- The Pharos of Alexandria, engraved 1572
- Sagat and tar, engraved 1836
- The Shroud of Turin, in negative
- Orion and Sothis in their barks
- Icon of St. Athanasius
- St. Mark, from The Four Evangelists
- St. Mark and his lion, Grandes Heures
- A triangle
- Coptic tunic embroidery, 5th–6th century
- The Veil of Veronica, Zurbarán