St. Timothy and St. Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Church

What are services like?
Saturday Services 7:00- 7:30 PM Vespers Also called the Raising of Incense, Vespers is an introduction and preparation for the Liturgy, consisting of a collection of prayers, praises and Thanksgiving prayers which request the Lord’s blessings upon the sacramental service. 7:30-9:30 PM Confession Confession is a sacrament of the Orthodox Church. The mystery of Confession is verbal repentance before the priest of sins and mistakes committed, and humbly repenting, in order to be granted the absolution and forgiveness. This sacrament is a mystery in that by declaring your sins before the priest, you are in fact declaring them before Christ Himself. It is also the best preparation for partaking of the Holy Eucharist. 7:30-9:30 PM Midnight Praises The Praise consists of various canticles directly from the Bible, known in the Coptic Language as a “Hoos”, as well as other praises that vary by day of the week and by church season. As its name suggests, the Midnight Praises typically happen late at night, preceding a Liturgy in the morning, or following the Raising of Incense on the eve of the Liturgical service. Sunday Services 9:00-11:00 AM* Liturgy of the Eucharist Eucharistic service is called the Divine Liturgy. It is comprised of two main parts: the first is the Liturgy of the word which consists of introductory litanies (or prayers) and scripture readings, culminating in a reading from one of the Gospels and a homily (or sermon); the second is the Liturgy of the Faithful in which the Eucharist is offered, consecrated, and received as Holy Communion. In both parts of the service you receive the Word: in the first through the scripture readings and sermon, and in the second through the Body and Blood of Christ. 11:30-12:30 The Well An ordinary place, where extraordinary things happen. *Matins, like Vespers, is a set of prayers and praises in preparation of the Liturgy. This starts at 8:30AM

What is the community like?
We exist to transform lives in the DC metro area through an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ founded upon the life and teachings of the Orthodox faith. We believe that the Church of the New Testament – which is the Body of Christ – is alive today in the same way that Christ – who is the Head – is alive as well. Therefore our aim is to continue in the footsteps of the New Testament Church and follow the model given in Acts 2. Our vision is to be a church of: 1) Unity/fellowship - “And they continued steadfastly in…fellowship” (v 42) 2) Worship/prayer - “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house” (v 46) 3) Doctrine/spiritual maturity - “they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” (v 42) 4) Sacrifice/giving - “[they] sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need” (v 45) 5) Evangelism/witnessing - “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” (v 47)

What if I'm not a Christian?
We welcome EVERYONE! Our first core value is Limitless Acceptance. This means that we believe that every person who enters our church is the most important person in the world. That person is sent by God and should be loved and accepted as such.