The beginning of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Sydney (1960s)

(Video footage of Fr Mina courtesy of Suzy Michael from the ‘Coptic History in Australia’ documentary)

The Coptic Orthodox Church in Sydney officially began upon the arrival of Very Reverend Fr Mina Nematalla, the first Coptic priest to serve in Australia.

He arrived on the morning of Friday, January 24, 1969, alongside his family, and celebrated Sydney’s first Coptic Divine Liturgy at the old Salvation Army Hall in Redfern, after disembarking from the RHMS Patris at Circular Quay.

Prior to his arrival to Sydney, he first arrived in Fremantle, WA on January 16, then in Melbourne on January 21, where he celebrated the first ever Coptic liturgy in Australia.

Born in Alexandria, Egypt on November 25, 1927, Fr Mina was ordained a priest on March 10, 1968, before his family departed Egypt for Australia on December 15 that year. It took them exactly 40 days to make the journey to Sydney.

He was the nephew of the 116th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, St Pope Kyrillos VI.

Mr Amin Salib, President of the Coptic Orthodox Society in Sydney at the time – who arrived in Australia in the 1950s – initially wrote a letter to HH Pope Kyrillos VI on behalf of the community, where he mentioned their wish for a pries to serve them.

The letter is dated July 30, 1967. Some of them had already been in Australia for 15 years.

Fr Mina went on to establish many churches in Sydney and interstate throughout his blessed life as a priest and servant of the church in Australia.

He passed away on July 1, 2000, aged 73, and is buried in a shrine on the grounds of the church of Archangel Michael & St Bishoy in Mount Druitt, where he served from 1980 until his departure.