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Early Church Observation

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The mass I attended was St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in Los Angeles, California and this church is very special as it has a fascinating history to it. Out of all the Orthodox churches in Los Angeles, this Coptic Orthodox church is the oldest. St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church began in 1968 with small number of families attending the Church’s services. As the Church began to develop and expand its presence to the people of Southern California, the Church became a big hit. Unfortunately, in 1997, the Church was burned down during a fire and the Church was remodeled in 2001. After years of services led by many fathers, Father Raphael Hanna leads the Church now. In the service, Father Hanna walked onto the main stand and started the service. …show more content…

A helper of Father Isaac brought out an essence holder, which seemed very ancient looking, and held it up high for many to see. At first, I thought the essence was to just get everyone in the Church in the moment of the Father worshipping, however, I did not expect the Father to turn towards the essence and start rubbing his hands over the smoke as if he was washing his hands. This struck me odd because cleansing is mainly related to water, yet Father Isaac uses smoke. There is no connection between smoke and water, but Father Isaac continued on using the smoke by “splashing” it onto the altar. Father Isaac would cup his hands and “pour” or “splash” the smoke onto the altar just as if we were to splash water onto something or someone. After the use of smoke, Father Isaac grabbed something else. Although it was hard to see exactly what was happening, since the Father turned his back against us, Father Isaac grabbed a round item, which I am guessing is bread, since he constantly touched this round, bread looking object. However, it did not seem as if the bread was consumed immediately because it was when all fathers came and performed their worship that the bread was officially broken and consumed. After Father Isaac brought out the bread and performed his actions, the Father and all other religious member bowed down in front of the altar, showing their

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