Coptics in Canada
Pursuing a lifelong career of spiritual service, Father Angelos Mikhial Saad, born in Alexandria, Egypt, first graduated as a medical doctor from the University of Alexandria, 1973, then began an intensive five-year period studying theology, becoming ordained in 1978 as a Coptic Orthodox Priest. After completing 10 years of spiritual service in Alexandria, he took a pastoral post in Seattle, Washington,1988. When His Highness Pope Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark in Alexandria, Egypt, suggested that Father Angelos go to Canada and direct the building of a Canadian Coptic Centre, Father Angelos went to Mississauga, Ontario, 1989, and immediately initiated a fundraising campaign to build a major spiritual and cultural centre to complement the church of the Virgin Mary and St. Athanasius which earlier had been established in Mississauga, 1974. Today, under the guidance of Father Angelos, this dynamic Coptic Centre is actively preparing to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of working parents, the aged, and the sick by establishing schools, daycare centres, and a sports centre for the community in the heartland of one of Canada’s fastest growing municipalities. Father Angelos also established three new churches in Ontario, the Church of Archangel Michael and St. Takla, Brampton; Church of St. Mina, Hamilton; and the Church of St. George and St.Marcorious, St. Catharines. In this view, Father Angelos, centre, stands with His Highness Pope Shenouda III, left,and Mississauga’s Mayor Hazel McCallion, right, at the time when the Canadian Coptic Centre was celebrating its official opening, 1998. [Photo, courtesy the Canadian Coptic Centre, Mississauga, Ontario]