By Dr. Ashraf Ramelah
Some say that a polytheist converts easily to the god of Christianity, The Most-High God, because of familiarity with the realm beyond the carnal. To be saved from the evil matrix of this world, an atheist will find Jesus, the true and living God. However, the spiritual process begun by conversion is captured by the institutional church, which imposes its own politics of legalism, distractions and often corruption. This can become a soul-sucking enterprise for both the new and seasoned follower of Christ.
When my Orthodox priest refused me communion a few years ago because of my marriage to a Catholic, he was following an order put in place by his authorities to do so. However, not realizing that his hierarchy of elders had already reversed that rule, he was, in fact, out of order. It is now perfectly acceptable. That’s good because it is not biblical to obstruct communion for such a reason. “Equally yoked” in God’s word has nothing to do with denominations but faith in Jesus alone.
As much as I respect my priest, his most recent behavior has thrown me into a dismal state. A while back, his imagination led him to believe that I was beating my wife. He never approached me with this issue but instead couched his baseless concern in a casual visit to my home where my wife and I gladly received him. When I left the room, he pursued this nonsense and questioned her. She was dumbstruck, and once he left my home, she told me of his absurd accusation. 
A few months ago in mid-week, I messaged my priest requesting a meeting to clear the air with him, make a confession and receive communion. I fully expected to hear a priest’s usual recommendation when such a request is made, specifically, “see you after the mass.” This would have meant that he cared enough to urge me to attend Sunday mass, but oddly, he simply scheduled our meeting for noon. To my mind, this showed his neglect to emphasize the importance of attending mass and a lack of concern. Many Copts would also see it this way. In our meeting, I confronted him with two issues: the first, his visit to my home, and the second, his apparent neglect to allow me communion. He had no comment on both counts.
Born into a Coptic Christian family in Egypt, I attended an Orthodox church near my home at a very young age. At around 10 years old, I received an invitation from my uncle who visited our home one Sunday. He was a priest in Upper Egypt, and he offered to consecrate me as a church deacon, which I happily accepted. Since that time and throughout my youth, I attended and served at Sunday mass.
My journey with the Coptic church was interrupted when I left Egypt for Rome and the university. At that time, there was no Coptic church in Italy so instead I attended a nearby Catholic church. When I moved to the US, the closest Coptic church was a one-hour drive, and I began to attend and serve as a deacon. After a few years, I experienced a job change and had to be far from home all week. So, on the weekends I chose to stay home with my family and to leave them on Sunday afternoons to return to work in NYC.
The Coptic Orthodox Church is “home” to me and was founded on the gospel brought to Egypt by the apostle Mark. I recently contacted an acquaintance of mine who is an Orthodox bishop. I wanted to inform him of these disturbing matters without asking for his intervention. I asked him directly about abuse of power in the church.
Is it not the duty of a priest when serving and guiding the Christian community to offer an explanation to a believer as to why he is not being served the sacrament of communion? Usually, either penance is offered in response to confession or communion is offered, but never just silence. Where are the teachings of Christ? It is time for the church to return to its biblical origins, pasturing the flock in love and spreading the gospel.