We thank Fr. Arseny Aziz for sharing how two women in the parish in which he was raised influenced him. You may notice that neither of them is named. There is a recurring theme in the Coptic tradition of avoiding recognition. One example is Samira Doherty (1941-2015), who is acknowledged as a holy woman in the Coptic-American communities in California: she only shared her experiences with the saints with her priest. The wider world only learned of them from him after she passed. Here are Fr. Arseny’s influencers:
“Two women played a large part in shaping my character and showing me, in very practical ways, how a woman in the church can deeply influence its life and service.
“The first was a woman I knew throughout my childhood in our Coptic Orthodox parish in Montreal. She was the one who taught us the hymns of the church. Typically, in the Coptic tradition, the chanting during the liturgy is led by men, with senior chanters passing the hymns on to younger boys. But in our parish, we learned them from a woman whose brother was our lead chanter. As a young girl in Egypt during the 1950s and early 1960s, she used to tag along with him. Over time, she absorbed everything he learned and came to know the entire tradition by heart. Eventually, she was called to take on this service herself, and she passed it on to us.
“Her example gave me an early insight: a woman could teach and lead even in a role traditionally reserved for men. Her disciplined character impressed me as much as her knowledge. She had four sons—one of them my age—and a husband, so she ran a household of five men with remarkable strength and order. When she taught us hymns, she struck a careful balance: preserving the beauty and spirit of the hymn while steering us away from the vainglory that can sometimes accompany church chanting. At the same time, she held firmly to the liturgical tradition she had received. From the time we were about six until well into our teenage years, she patiently and faithfully taught us.
“The second woman who influenced me was also the mother of a close friend. She led the Pre-Servants Program at our church. Our Sunday school system mirrored the educational system in Montreal, taking us from kindergarten through college, followed by two years of university-level Sunday school. After that, we entered a three-year Pre-Servants program before we could begin teaching ourselves. She taught both the Pre-Servants class and a Bible study.
“Her roots were in Alexandria, Egypt, where she had served at St. George Sporting Church under a priest who is now canonized, Saint Father Bishoy Kamel. She carried the spirit of that church with her, and what struck me most was her prayerful presence. Whether giving a lecture or leading a Bible study, you could sense that she was praying internally even as she spoke.
“Because her son and I were close, I often went to their house to study and I noticed that she was the same person at home as she was in church. Her mother, my friend’s grandmother, lived with them, and I felt the same spirit of prayer and hospitality in her as well. She would cook for us and make sure we were fed whenever we studied there. Even during our college years, when her son would come home late at night, he would find her awake, praying for him.”
Axia! Axia!
Fr. Arseny Aziz is the priest of St. Archangel Michael American Coptic Orthodox Church in Phoenix, AZ.