You’ve probably noticed the golden domes.
In fact, they’re hard to miss, particularly as you drive through Hatfield along Unionville Pike. Some 60 feet high, the five huge gilded hemispheres top a structure that represents the prayers of a local ethnic community.
St. Mary & St. Kyrillos Coptic Orthodox Church, at 2500 Unionville Pike, remains a work in progress. But it’s a symbol of faith for an oppressed minority –
Egyptian Christians and their families who left their homes and settled in the North Penn area in search of religious liberty.
And this weekend and next, the Copts invite the community to celebrate Middle Eastern life and culture at their
12th Annual Egyptian Festival, Saturday and Sunday, Sept.. 7-8 and 14-15, from 11 am to 8 p.m. each day. Admission is free.
Home-cooked Egyptian specialties are served up alongside tables filled with authentic baked goods, gift items and crafts, face painting and kids’ activities. It’s all to raise funds to support the construction project, from conception to completion.
"We started the festival the first year at First Baptist Church in Lansdale,” says Milad Ghebrial, the church’s festival coordinator. After several other locations, he says, "We’ve done it here for four years. It’s always to support the building of the church. And it’s also good for the community – people love to come here.”
"People drive by the building and they wonder what it is, what we’re about,” says community relations coordinator Mimi Mekaiel. Some 220 families worship at St. Mary & St. Kyrillos, nearly all living within a few miles, says Milad.
Visitors to the festival can peek at an interior as striking as the exterior. Chandeliers in the community hall – currently used for Sunday services – are imported from the home country ("We know they have the best crystal over there,” says Milad.) Ultimately they intend to rent the hall out for weddings and other community events.
The chapel, used for midweek services, hosts holy relics in display cases. Vibrant and intricate art, tapestries and woodwork adorn the room – nearly all crafted by congregants, from the walls down to the pews. "A lot of people that come here maybe don’t work the same craft they worked in Egypt – maybe someone was a carpenter, and now works a factory job,” says Mimi. "But they still want to practice it, so they use it for their version of giving service to the church.”
There’s also a Sunday school and day care area. And while the cavernous main church remains an open shell – with a leaking roof that pours rain onto a bare concrete floor – it clearly follows the Coptic construction requirements: It’s shaped like a cross, with the main dome resting squarely at the center.
"For every Coptic church there are three types of designs,” says Mimi. "One is a circle, to signify the never-ending and never-beginning of God. One is shaped as Noah’s Ark, to signify salvation. And the third is a cross, which our church is shaped like.”
Between contractors and contributions, construction has been start-and-stop. Groundbreaking at the site took place in January 2013; the domes were set in place in April 2018. The church "prays” that construction will be completed by August 2020, says
St. Kyrillos’ Rev. Father Anthony Salib.
"I feel like the community has been through it with us every step of the way,” says Mimi. "Even when I tell people that I’m Coptic, they say, ‘Oh, that church on Unionville Pike – I was wondering what’s going on.’ We’re happy to answer any questions that the community has.”
She adds, "Part of the reason we enjoy the festival so much is that people can come in and see what we’re about, the religion and the culture and the community, so it’s not so much a mystery.”
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