The first feast in the Coptic Calendar is the feast of Nayrouz, and martyrs and confessors are commemorated within the Coptic Orthodox Church on that day. This calendar started as the tyrant Diocletian reigned and started persecution of Christians killing thousands of Coptic martyrs.
Nayrouz is a Persian word means the new day. Rituals of the Coptic church celebrate this day and remind its people to live for the Lord in each year and throughout our lives. It has a philosophy to make our Lord, God and Savior Jesus the axis of time. This is the goal and the meaning of it. Therefore, Coptic history and calendar depend on God s saving covenant and the work of His grace.
Copts were the first to write history and make calendars as they excelled in studying the astronomical sciences that characterized the pharaohs. This calendar was used by Pope Demetrius II of Alexandria to make the Coptic Calendar and to remind us that God is always with us bringing his salvation to his people.
The feast in the church comes in the calendar not as a reminder of an event or a repetition of it, but as a testimony to a perpetual act and eternal life of salvation. it also honors the martyrs throughout time remembering their sacrifices and taking them as role model.
This proves members of the church are one body. It is a harmony and unity between members of Christ s one body. We live his life through the various feasts of His birth, His circumcision, His entry into the temple, His baptism, His fast, His experience on the mountain, his conversion, his entry into Jerusalem, his pain, cross and resurrection.
The three dimensions of time are united in our calendar as we seek the blessing of Jesus Christ and the grace of his Holy Spirit. It is a great power for our weakness.
