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A Brief History of Saint Mena's Coptic Orthodox Church
Halifax, Novascotia, Canada
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF SAINT MAURICE
SAINT JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA
BY FATHER ATHANASIUS ISKANDER
Newfoundland is the easternmost part of North America. It is a province with rugged terrain and harsh weather, with a small population that depends almost entirely of fishing. Until recently, it was the poorest province, with unemployment approaching 25%. It is not surprising that few people would want to live there, especially among Copts, who are usually content to concentrate in urban areas rather than tackle the frontiers.
Yet, some did, out of necessity. Because of the undesirability of the province, a chronic shortage of medical practitioners has forced the authorities to relax the rules for foreign medical graduates, and some Coptic doctors took advantage of this.
Starting in the late 1980s, a trickle of Coptic doctors sought positions in Newfoundland. One of the earliest was Dr. Samir Yassa, a urologist, who moved there in 1989 together with his wife and three children. It was in the summer of 1991 that Dr. Yassa phoned me, to tell me that he had identified six Coptic families in Newfoundland, and to ask if I would hold a Liturgy for them. I had known Dr. Yassa from earlier years, when I was serving in Halifax.
At the time Dr. Yassa phoned me, I was still involved in the service in Halifax (one Saturday a month). I was also serving a similar small Coptic community in the city of London in the Province of Ontario, (one Saturday a month) besides my own congregation of Saint Mary’s Church in Kitchener. I decided to go there on a trial basis.
I went one Friday evening, where I met the families at Dr. Yassa’s house in the town of Grand Falls. It was there that I realized the needs of the Copts for service by any priest who could invest the time and the effort. One of the families had to drive for seven hours to attend the Liturgy. They told me that they had not confessed or taken communion for three years. Another family had a two year old baby, who had not had communion since she was baptized (neither had the rest of the family.)
We had a long confession session on that night and the next morning we held the Liturgy in the house of Dr. Yassa.
A few months later, we discovered more Coptic families in Saint John’s, the capital of the province. I started to visit those families on an occasional basis, as well as those in Grand Falls. During that time, we realized that the number of Copts in Newfoundland was greater than anticipated with more doctors working in remote areas of the province. Another thing that we started doing was to encourage Coptic doctors in the more habitable parts of Canada to seek employment in Newfoundland. The fact that other Copts had survived there for years, coupled with the knowledge that a Liturgy was held there once in a while encouraged many to take the plunge!
As the numbers grew, we decided to rent a church instead of using the houses for the service. A small chapel in a Catholic church in St. John’s was available and we started using it. The service became regular, once a month on a Saturday.
By 1996, the number of families had reached 25. I then proposed that they register a church, so that they could begin collecting donations among themselves to cover the travelling expenses and the church rental, and later on to save for the purchase of a permanent church. When I was asked to suggest a name for the new church, I proposed Saint Maurice, an almost forgotten Coptic martyr from the third century, who is well known all over the world—with about a thousand churches and altars dedicated to him— except in his own country. In May 2000, His Grace Bishop Reweis visited St. John’s and celebrated the Eucharist with many of the Copts of Newfoundland. His Grace was totally convinced of the need for a permanent church and a permanent priest for that province. (Picture below)
After several attempts to purchase a church, we finally found a small building, that had bean built two years earlier as a computer training school. The price agreed on was $176,000, with a closing date of January 15, 2001.
Unfortunately, just two weeks before closing, the owner reneged on the deal and forfeited one thousand dollars paid with the offer! Services went on in rented places, while the search for a permanent building continued.
In January 2002, Fr. Daniel Rizg, by that time settled in Halifax, started to serve the two congregations of Newfoundland. His Holiness Pope Shenouda, however, directed that I continue to be in charge of finding a permanent church.
Towards the end of 2004, we found a small church in Saint John’s. After lengthy negotiations, the church was purchased on January 19, 2005 for the incredible price of $82,000!
His Grace Bishop Reweis, was in Canada at that time, celebrating the feast of St. Paul the Anchorite at his church in London, Ontario. When His Grace knew that we had bought a church, he came to celebrate the first Liturgy in the new church on Saturday February 12, 2005, together with myself and Fr. Daniel. (Picture below)
During the next several months, the church underwent major renovations. An iconostasis complete with icons, pews, an altar and lecterns were shipped from Mississauga, where they were manufactured, and were installed by workmen that flew from Ontario. By the end of 2005, the church was completed. His Holiness Pope Shenouda delegated Fr. Mikhail Sedrak to celebrate Christmas 2006 with the congregation in their new church (pictures below).
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Saint Mena & Saint Abraam Church, Toronto