The service organization in the Coptic Orthodox Church comprises three essential pillars: education, consecration, and pastoral care. These three are interconnected and inseparable in ecclesiastical work, and completing and beautifying Church service. The teacher, the consecrated individual, and the shepherd must all be at the forefront of Church ministry, but in differing measures. For example, a Sunday School servant is a teacher to a certain degree, consecrating hours of their time to a certain degree, and shepherding those they serve to a certain degree. Likewise, a youth servant, the parish priest, the bishop, and the monk-priest all embody these roles. The success of this organization comes when it functions within a disciplined and effective institutional administrative framework.

In this article, I wish to speak about the first pillar: education, with a particular focus on enhancing ecclesiastical education at all levels—whether in Sunday School classes, youth meetings, sermons during vespers raising of incense, liturgy and revivals, conference lectures, retreats, or servant-preparation classes, extending also to formal education in theological colleges and ecclesiastical institutes, with their diverse theological and social curricula. Added to this are the curricula themselves: what is offered, what is taught, and how it can be continuously improved according to the needs of each group. This is especially vital as we live in an era of unprecedented acceleration in technological, digital, and artificial-intelligence developments, with something new appearing every day and every hour.

The School of Alexandria, founded by St. Mark the Apostle during his preaching in Alexandria before his martyrdom, was the first cornerstone of ecclesiastical education. The scholar St. Clement of Alexandria once said: “The Fathers fashioned education by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, while also benefiting from their philosophical, literary, and scientific studies which were prevalent in their age. They acquired and learned them so that they could communicate with the surrounding world.” Thus education continued through the Fathers of the Church, in their sayings, writings, and commentaries, and above all, in their lives and their examples. Ecclesiastical education was born within the Church itself, through liturgical worship and both communal and personal prayer. It has been transmitted from generation to generation—not only historically but existentially. As the Book of Proverbs says: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint” (Proverbs 29:18, NKJV).

If we map out the theological colleges and institutes spread across our churches in Egypt and abroad, the picture appears as follows:

● The mother college at the Anba Rewis Complex in Cairo, established 150 years ago, and resurrected in 1893 during the papacy of Pope Kyrillos V, with an evening section opened in 1946.

Branches in Egypt:

● Alexandria (1972) and Tyrannus Orthodox Theological Seminary (2015)

● Tanta (1976)

● Monufia (1977)

● Shubra Al-Kheima (2000)

● Damanhour (2002)

● Port Said (2003)

● Mahalla (2005)

In Upper Egypt:

● Al-Muharraq Monastery (1973)

● Minya (1976)

● Al-Balyana (1976)

● Luxor (2004)

Colleges abroad:

● Jersey City, NJ (1989)

● Los Angeles, CA (1989, now ACTS)

● Sydney, Australia (1982)

● Melbourne, Australia (2001, now St. Athanasius College)

● England (1997)

● Teach Academy, London (2020)

● Germany (2006)

To this list we can add other ecclesiastical centers belonging to churches and dioceses, as well as some personal initiatives such as the Center for Patristic Studies, Alexandria School, etc. We also have the Institute of Coptic Studies, the Institute of Pastoral Care and Education, the Institute of Counseling, among others.

This means we face a broad map of ecclesiastical education which must operate with standards of quality, excellence, and effectiveness. This requires great effort from all: professors, specialists, university lecturers in administration and education, and quality controllers—all under the supervision of bishops and priests.

Within the Holy Synod, we have the Committee for Faith and Education as one of the Synodal committees. Its members are all metropolitans and bishops who oversee the soundness of teaching and the Church’s recognition of new colleges and institutes. In 2014, the Synod also issued the bylaws of the Theological Academy, providing a rigorous framework for the work of theological colleges and institutes in a scientific and academic manner. These bylaws were published so that each college or institute could adjust its status and become a member of the Academy.

We also recall that in 1962, St. Pope Kyrillos VI ordained a General Bishop for Education in a historic step in the course of ecclesiastical education. That bishop later became Pope Shenouda III. This ordination was an organizational milestone in Christian education within Sunday School and the Theological College. Five years later, Pope Kyrillos VI ordained Bishop Gregorios as General Bishop for Higher Studies, Scientific Research, and Coptic Culture, thereby enriching the educational process even further.

The Church also held several study conferences on education, one of the most notable being in June 2013, in which representatives of most Coptic theological colleges and institutes participated under the title: Between Reality and Aspiration in Theological Institutes.

At present, we feel a pressing need to regulate ecclesiastical education by applying university and academic quality standards to achieve academic accreditation. Some colleges abroad have already attained such accreditation—for example: ACTS (Los Angeles), Teach Academy (London), and St. Athanasius College (Melbourne, Australia). We have several ideas in this regard, proposals for discussion and scholarly papers, with the aim of enhancing and developing our theological colleges and institutes in the manner we aspire to:

● Establishing a Council of Ecclesiastical Education, composed of 24 members holding doctorates in various fields—half from the clergy (bishops, priests, monks) and half from the laity (professors, both men and women). This council would undertake research to advance ecclesiastical education at all levels in a purely scientific way.

● Forming a Council of the Theological Academy, including representatives from all recognized theological colleges and institutes, to unify efforts, harmonize standards, invigorate teaching methods, and make academic resources more accessible to teaching staff.

● Creating an ecclesiastical body of distinguished professors to review theological dissertations, assist students and clergy in preparing their theses on solid scholarly foundations, and publish and exchange these works with colleges and institutes, thereby enriching the educational process.

● Sending and receiving academic missions and exchanges with educational institutions to prepare contemporary leaders that align with the renewal of study and education in our theological colleges and institutes.

● Promoting sound scholarly publication while making use of the Papal Central Library, the Coptic Manuscripts Center (paper and digital), and the treasures of the Fathers.

● Paying close attention to quality standards, governance, and digitization across all stages of ecclesiastical education at every level.

Truly, the journey is long, but we must hasten with all our strength so that our church may have the esteemed status she deserves among the churches of the world. For, as St. Paul says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13, NKJV).