The Number Seven in Coptic Orthodox Rites and Faith

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains the deep spiritual symbolism of the number seven in Coptic Orthodox faith and worship, describing it as the number of spiritual perfection and completeness in the Bible and the Church.

He shows that this number appears throughout the Church’s life and worship:

• First: in the seven holy sacraments—Baptism, Chrismation, Confession, Communion, Marriage, Priesthood, and Unction of the Sick.

• Second: in the seven daily prayers of the Agpeya that accompany the believer throughout the day.

• Third: in liturgical rites, such as the reading of seven Gospels and the lighting of seven candles.

• Fourth: in the seven fasts—Nativity, Jonah, Great Lent, Holy Week, Apostles’, Virgin’s, and the Wednesday and Friday fasts.

• Fifth: in the seven major and seven minor Lordly feasts, each expressing stages of salvation and God’s work in history.

• Sixth: His Holiness connects this with the Old Testament, where seven festivals also existed—such as Passover, Unleavened Bread, Harvest, and Tabernacles.

• Seventh: he mentions the seven petitions in the Lord’s Prayer and the seven ranks of priesthood, showing divine order and completeness in all aspects of church life.

The number seven, as His Holiness teaches, is not just a numeral but a symbol of divine fullness—the perfection of God’s work in the believer and the Church.

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