A Timeline of Coptic Nashville
1985 to Present Day
1985
Sabry Hamayya lands in Tennessee and prays at the Greek Orthodox Church off Franklin Pike.
1987
There is a record of six Coptic families living in Nashville: Adel Salama, Kamal Habib, Abraham Barsom, Boules Morcos, Yousry Asmy, Mouser, and Sabry Hamayya.
They rent out Vanderbilt’s St. Augustine’s Chapel on campus for liturgies when a priest is able to hold the liturgy for them until they buy a church off Una Antioch Pike, which will be sold to the Ethiopian Orthodox community in 1999/2000 when St. Mina Coptic Orthodox Church (COC) finishes construction.
1992
A monk is ordained as Bishop Youssef in Texas.
1994
George Hanna, a supervisor at Gaylord Opryland, busses in several Coptic families from New Jersey to work at the dying hotel/resort and their work revives it.
1995
Bishop Youssef is enthroned as the bishop of the Southern Diocese, the largest Coptic diocese in the world.
1997
Abouna Boutros Boutros ordained to St. Mina’s congregation which meets in a former Protestant church off Una Antioch Pike in South Nashville (later sold to the Ethiopian Orthodox community).
Abouna Youannes arrives in Florida, USA, and will migrate to Nashville and establish his service there, even though he was ordained in Egypt to a congregation there and there is a Synod rule forbidding priests from leaving their churches in Egypt. The church purchased a cemetery in Mt. Juliet.
L&E Market (owned by Yousief Yousief) is established alongside Gold Star Supermarket (owned by George Hanna at the time) in the same neighborhood, Millwood.
1998
First Coptic baptism in Nashville (May 10).
1999
Henry Morcos, the maternal grandfather of Lydia Yousief, is the first to be buried.
2000
St. Mina Coptic Orthodox Church opens its doors (August).
Pope Shenouda visits the United States; consecrates St. Mina COC and ordains Abouna Mina Iskander.
St. Clement Academy is established as well during this visit.
2003
St. Pishoy congregation separates from St. Mina’s congregation and building, and starts “church-hopping” from a Korean Presbyterian Church in South Nashville to Una Antioch Elementary School to various locations in South Nashville before purchasing land in Antioch.
2005
Bishop Youssef purchased the former Roman Catholic monastery in Corpus Christi, TX and kept it as a Coptic monastery, St. Mary and St. Moses Abbey. He brings five Coptic monks from Wadi Natrun (March).
2006
St. Pishoy congregation purchases the 8 acres of land in Antioch; on the land is a small house that is converted to a small church until Abouna Mina designs the current three-level cathedral.
2007
Abouna Youhanna Ghebranious is ordained to St. Mary.
Abouna Serapion Ghobrial is also ordained to St. George.
2008
“El-Ard”, a plot of land near Gaylord Opryland, is purchased with plans of being a youth center. It is opened and prayed on by Bishop Youssef and Abouna Mikhail Attiya, a monk from Alexandria, Egypt.
2009
Abouna Pavli Ebrahim is ordained a priest on the first day St. Mary COC opens.
2010
Abouna Cherubim Khalil is ordained a priest to Archangel Michael.
The Great Flood happens, and Millwood is flooded alongside Gaylord Opryland Hotel and is in need to be rebuilt (May).
Bishop Youssef purchases a motel and makes it into St. Stephen Retreat Center in Titusville, FL.
The Nag Hammadi Massacre, a mass casualty on Christmas day at Nag Hammadi’s cathedral, sparks protests downtown Nashville.
2011
Abouna Mina Iskander passes away.
The Egyptian Revolution deposed President Hosni Mubarak, dictator for over 30 years.
Tyson Factory opens in Goodlettsville.
The Mt. Juliet cemetery, a second Coptic cemetery, is purchased either this year or the next (2012).
2012
Abouna Pistavaros Sedky is ordained to St. Mark.
Pope Shenouda passes away (March).
Around this time, Fawzi Mikhail starts the TN Arab News; he asks Arab business owners to buy ads in the paper in order for him to run pages from literary individuals in Nashville and in Egypt.
2013
Asurion opens up a new plant in Antioch that employs many Copts, while their white-collar jobs are in the Gulch and downtown.
Bishop Youssef purchases a former boarding school right outside Atlanta, GA and turns into a convent: St. Mary and St. Demiana Convent in Dawsonville, GA.
The election of Muhammad Morsi sparks protests in downtown Nashville, led by Mr. Samir Almotey.
St. Mary COC’s service building burns down through an accidental fire.
2014
The cathedral at St. Pishoy finishes construction and the first prayer is held (April).
Governor Bill Haslam passes the state’s free community college law, allowing Tennessee residents, Copts included, the opportunity to earn a higher education degree.
2015
21 laborers of Southern Coptic heritage are martyred by ISIS in Libya (February). In March, in Nashville, a protest is held and attended by clergy .
Pope Tawadros visits the United States; consecrates St. Pishoy COC; ordains Abouna Theodore Ghaly to St. Pishoy, later to St. Verena, and Abouna Pachom Ibrahim to Pope Kyrillos COC.
BNA adds international direct flight to London.
2016
Abouna Joshua Gerges is ordained and moves from his congregation at St. Pishoy after much resistance from the congregation to go to St. George in Tampa.
Bishop Peter is ordained as bishop of a new diocese: the Diocese of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Kentucky.
2017
Abouna Boutros Boutros is inducted as hegumen.
Abouna Daniel Ibrahim is ordained a priest at St. Mina and community church St. Barbara.
Abouna Angelos Faltas is brought to Nashville from Egypt to serve in St. Mark.
On Palm Sunday, a suicide bombing took place at St. George’s in Tanta, Egypt, killing 43 and injuring 789 people. Two weeks later, a candlelit vigil is organized by Veronica Nashed and Abouna Theodore at St. Pishoy, with poems read, choir performance, and prayers (April).
2018
Abouna Pemwah Honein is ordained a priest in Nashville at St. Pishoy, then later to St. Macarious.
Abouna Karas Sorial is also ordained and assigned to St. Philopater, a community church.
The remains of the 21 martyrs are returned to Egypt, three years after their martyrdom in Libya (May).
St. Verena American Coptic Orthodox Church opens despite much resistance from the congregation for an English-only church/service.
Bishop Basil and Bishop Gregory are ordained to help Bishop Youssef with the Southern Diocese (December).
2019
Mina Mossad and Abouna Daniel Ibrahim create conflict with STEM Prep, a charter school in MNPS, about children studying Islam in history class (March).
Mena Fawzy is at home on a Friday when he is shot and killed by a friend, accidentally with a gun; conversation sparks about church failure to protect kids (May).
Elmahaba Center is founded (June).
Sister Yohanna is consecrated after serving several years in Nashville as a psychologist (though she is not board certified) (August).
2020
Abouna Anastasi Ewida is ordained and assigned to St. Karas in Murfreesboro City.
COVID-19 spreads in Tennessee leading to a shutdown in March 2020; the main infection of South Nashville comes from Tyson Factory refusing to close down and refusing to provide PPE to workers. The church reopens in the summer of 2020, and more are infected through unregulated interactions (March).
Sally Z. comes out with her story of abuse and manipulation from religious hierarchs, launching the Coptic Me Too Movement via instagram until her abuser is defrocked (July).
Elmahaba, is denounced as a heretical organization by Bishop Youssef alluding to unfounded un-Christian teachings (November 15).
St. Mina COC starts renovation to expand the main church building.
2021
Several Coptic men died of overdosing over the summer; funerals are held.
St. Macarious COC buys land off Hobson Pike in Antioch and starts funding for a brand new Coptic church.
St. Philopater COC begins construction in Wilson County.
2022
The monk Abouna Philoxenous Abba Moses is brought to Nashville.
Kevin Botrous is beaten almost to death by a previously-violent white supremacist at Smyrna High School and is in the hospital from late February to early March for two weeks in a coma.
Metro Council gives Global Mall to Vanderbilt as final signal of gentrification of South Nashville and major displacement (May).
TN ArabNews is out of commission after the sudden death of its editor, Fawzi Mikhail.
Vanderbilt Art Department features the first Coptic art show of photographs, scans and sketches from local artists Mohsen Ramsis, Keria Nashed, and Bassam Habib.
Beshoi Beshay, a long-time Nashville resident who graduated from MTSU and Vanderbilt University, is ordained a priest to a congregation in Dallas, TX as Abouna Luke.
St. John the Beloved Coptic Orthodox Church in Smyrna, TN is set to open as a community church.
Bishop Youssef is elevated from the rank of bishop to metropolitan, conferred by Pope Tawadros II.
2024
St. Joseph the Carpenter in Antioch has their first Saturday Liturgy, becoming the third church in a stretch of four miles of Murfreesboro Pike (November 16).
Abouna Mikhail Attiya passes away months after he visits Nashville, where he served the youth in Nashville between 2007 and early 2010s (December 7).
2025
St. Barbara opens its doors for their very own building in Franklin, TN instead of renting churches and schools in the surrounding area (January 5).
Abouna Elisha Soliman is brought to St. Verena to help serve alongside Abouna Theodore.
Abouna Yousab is ordained and assigned to St. Joseph.
Bishop Youannes of Assuit visits Nashville during the feast of Saint Mary, and Abouna Kyrillos is ordained as a third priest at St Mina (August 24).
Four young men die in a car accident that reaches the news (October).
Bishop Antonious of Jerusalem visits St. Philopater COC (December).
2026
Bishop Rafael visits St. Mina and St. Barbara (April).
St. Mina purchases a retreat center, Saint Anthony, in Morrison, Tennessee (March).