Father Anastasi became Hegumen (Abbot) of St Antony Monastery in Newberry Springs, near Barstow in California’s Mojave Desert, in 2006. The Monastery was established in 1973, the first Coptic monastery in North America. It serves many Coptic Orthodox congregations in Southern California. The monastery is a U-shaped building on 800 acres with St. Antony’s Church, a row of small cells each containing a bed and chair for the monks, and a refectory (dining room). In spite of their isolated location, they receive many visitors, not all of the Coptic faith. Father Anastasi presented a video on Coptic history in Egypt, including early leaders and martyrs.
 
 
The monks trace their spiritual roots to St Antony, who retreated into the Egyptian desert about AD 285 for an ascetic life of religious contemplation. Others followed and became known as the Desert Fathers. Monastic life is rigorous physically and mentally. The monks take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and focus on worship and hours of daily prayer. They eat and sometimes pray together, although much of their life is spent alone their tiny cells. All of the monks there use the last name Saint Antony.
 
The word Copt comes from the Greek word Aigyptos, from the ancient Egyptian name “Hi-Ka-Ptah”, referring to the ancient Egyptian capital Memphis as the House of Ptah, the patron god of the rulers. The word Coptic now refers to the ancient Egyptian writing script (still used in liturgy) as well as to Egyptian Christians. The Coptic Church is based on the teachings of St Mark, one of Jesus’ disciples and author of one of the New Testament Gospels, who went to Egypt and began teaching in Alexandria. Although he was martyred there by the Romans on Easter Sunday of 68 AD, his teachings spread throughout Egypt. The Coptic Church produced many Christian manuscripts and important early Christian leaders such as Athenagoras, Clement, Didymus and Origen.
 
St. Cyril I, Pope of Alexandria, was the head of the Ecumenical Council in Ephesus in 430 AD. A dispute arose regarding whether Jesus should be considered of both human and divine nature, or of divine nature only (Monophysitism). The Coptic Orthodox felt they were misunderstood, but they were separated from the Eastern Orthodox Church of Byzantium (now Istanbul) and the Western Roman Catholic Church.
 
The Coptic Church and the Coptic language continued to thrive in Egypt after the Arab conquest of 641 AD. However, this began to change after the European Crusades to the Holy Land at the end of the First Millennium. Muslim animosity against these Christian invasions resulted in the gradual conversion of Egypt to the Muslim religion and Arabic language. Coptic Christians suffered periodic persecution during the succeeding centuries, although they have remained an important part of Egyptian society. They are about 10% of the population there today and generally enjoy good relations with the Muslim majority. They suffer occasional attacks by fanatics blaming them for the role of Christian countries supporting the Jewish state’s policies (which led to the exile of millions of Muslim Palestinians into foreign refugee camps). (Christian minorities in several other Middle Eastern countries suffer similar discrimination.)
 
The Coptic Orthodox Church is currently led by Pope Theodoros II (or Tawadros II) of Alexandria, who was elected in 2012, and has about 15 million members worldwide. Most of them are in Egypt, although there are congregations and dioceses throughout the Middle East, Europe, and North and South America. The St Antony Monastery website is http://www.stantonymonastery.org/.