God our Father,
You, who made Egypt the land that welcomed the Holy Family of Your Son made flesh,
You who, together with Saint Anthony and Saint Pachomius, inspired the Desert Fathers to call your people to set nothing above you,
You who gave us Saint Athanasius of Alexandria to extol the state of virginity in the midst of trials, to exalt the eremitic life, and to teach that “God became man so that man might be deified,”
Grant that the Coptic Church may profess faith in Your Son, true man and true God, without mixture or separation, and that its members may live, amid the changes of our time, in true charity both with followers of other Christian denominations and with Muslims, for the unity of the Church and the service of the country.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
