SupportMyService

Our mission is to empower people to build the Church by making ministry ideas a reality. Together, we work to glorify Christ and edify His Church.

We believe in the creativity and passion of so many who wish to offer valuable service to God but don’t always necessarily have the means or opportunity to make it a reality. SupportMyService is an initiative that works to support these new ministry endeavors. We seek to support the creation of needed and innovative Orthodox resources that would benefit the faithful of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Most importantly, we seek to empower every member of the body of Christ to have a hand in building up the Church.

01/01/2023

We thank God for closing out this year and bringing us to a new one!

If you're thinking of starting a new project, changing how you approach ministry, or something else, let us encourage you to go for it! Try something different and see what happens.

We look forward to making new ministry ideas a reality with you in the new year! ✨

11/29/2022

This , we want to say THANK YOU for supporting SupportMyService! Without donors and project supporters, all of our efforts would be one-sided.

Supporting ministries that need funding and taking a chance on people's ideas is based on long-term change. The whole point of SupportMyService is to see ministry needs and fill them with the resources we have. You can probably tell that this process takes time! Creating change around what ministry looks like and who we support is slow (but important) change.

If you feel moved to support our work today, the best way to do that is to make a recurring donation. Even a small amount - like $5! - goes a long way to ensure progress over the long haul. Visit supportmyservice.org to give.

And no matter what looks like for you, we hope you feel the blessings of giving during a busy, purchase-filled time. 💸

10/07/2022

Translating the is a huge undertaking and has several components to consider - what sources do you pull from? How do you approach the questions around language and spirituality?

To pull back the curtain a little, this is the first of three posts that will discuss the team's methodology in working on the Psalmody. First up: sources! Read on for details around manuscripts, patristic research, and referencing.

Did you learn anything new? Share this with a friend who'd be interested in the nerdy details 🤓

09/11/2022

Enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at some of the graphic design work being done for the !

Here Jessica Morgan Ayad is recreating a cross found in the book "Illustrations from Coptic Manuscripts." You can see the work she does to replicate parts of the cross and change some of the borders. It's not identical to what's in the book, since some of the details were unclear, and the goal is also to digitize the illustrations.

As you can see, this detailed work takes time! Your financial support of the Psalmody through has made it possible, so thank you! We can't wait to see the final product.

08/28/2022

Another one from our travels to ! This is an 18th century psalmody we found in the Coptic Museum in Cairo.

The left column of each page is Coptic, while the right column is Arabic. But in the right columns, although the hymns are written in Arabic letters, it's still the Coptic language (try reading it!). It's Coptic transliterated into Arabic.

First of all, 🤯 that this even exists.

There are many reasons why Coptic hymns could have been transliterated into Arabic. Once Arabic became the dominant language, it makes sense that some people might not be able to read or write Coptic anymore, but still wanted to sing in it. A transliteration like this would make that possible. We do this today with transliterations from Arabic or Coptic into English.

Eventually, some of our Coptic writings were translated into Arabic fully, and a lot of the English materials we have in our parishes now were translated from the Arabic, not the Coptic. Projects like the are trying to peel back this layer and translate to English directly from the Coptic, rather than the Arabic.

Translations into different languages are a part of history - and a part of Coptic history! But the hope is that the project yields the most musically and theologically accurate translation yet. 📖

Thank you for following along and stay tuned for more updates!

08/22/2022

Some of the SupportMyService team was in Egypt recently, and look at what we found!

The 1st slide shows beautiful wall art at the Al Baramos (Paromeos) monastery in Wadi El Natroun. It features an iota coptic cross design which you can clearly see at the top of the the 2nd slide in an ancient Coptic psalmody manuscript!

Same thing with the 3rd slide - we saw this at the Coptic Museum in Cairo. Look at how closely the colors match the illustration in the manuscript in the 4th slide!

These are the kinds of manuscripts the team is using to work on their book. It was fascinating to see how consistently these colors and themes have been used throughout the centuries and to see these connections before our eyes.

The hope is that the Coptic-English Psalmody will revive some of this art and re-introduce it to generations to come! Please keep this project in your prayers.

Sources:
2nd slide: BnF 68 Rituel de Procession Abba Shenouda

4th slide: BnF 35 R 71561

07/25/2022

As you probably know, SupportMyService is still in its pilot phase. So what have we learned so far?

1️⃣ People are passionate about investing in creative projects and new ministry ideas. People are ready to give!

2️⃣ Bringing a project to completion takes so much more than just raising funds. SupportMyService has an important role to play in being a resource to help guide projects from concept ➡️ completion. If something comes up, we want to help you figure it out!

3️⃣ Everything is a team effort that needs be done in unity, through the work of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of each person.

We're grateful for every lesson learned so far + expect that there will be many more!

07/18/2022

When translating, the team has to put every hymn into context, based on how the Church used it. Here are some of things they learned while working on the Fourth Ode (also known as the Fourth Hoos).

We can see how the Church Fathers engaged with this hymn and how its use in the Church changed over time. For example, based on several Coptic liturgical resources—like the psalmody manuscripts and some sources from a 13th century priest named Ibn Kabar—we know that the Fourth Ode was chanted in multiple services, not just the Midnight Office (tasbeha).

Did you learn anything new?

06/20/2022

SupportMyService turns 1 year old today! 🎉🎉🎉

Here's some of what we've been able to accomplish together in the last year:

✨ 1 project fully funded
✨ Staff team has grown to include 3 more roles (a social media manager, a project manager, and a legal advisor)
✨ $30,304.34 raised across the whole organization
✨ Support to projects + Creators now includes project management

We've had a great year learning and growing, hearing feedback from all of you, and dreaming of what the future could hold when we invest in ministry together. Thank you for being a part of it! Glory to God for all things!

06/18/2022

WHAT GOES INTO A TRANSLATION? 🎶

Here’s a peek behind the curtain of the for the Psali of Moses. Each hymn in the Psalmody will have references like the ones included here to provide further context and reading.

Happy reading!

06/09/2022

Some hot-off-the-press mandalas in progress from the ! These ancient illustrations, which historically adorned our books and added beauty, are being digitally restored by Jessica Morgan Ayad.

1️⃣st: where it all started! A series of circles duplicated and rotated around the same center point.

2️⃣nd: adding further detail

3️⃣rd: adding color 🎨

4️⃣th: a comparison between the start + finish

Swipe to the end to see the original manuscript!

06/07/2022

⚠️ Some SMS + project updates!

The team is hard at work on the book. They're meeting every two weeks to share progress, get feedback on visual concepts, and discuss next steps.

The Psalmody essentially has four parallel workstreams:
1) translation 🎼
2) references/patristic commentary ⛪️
3) iconography 🎨
4) design + formatting 📖

It's so much going on that SMS has had to bring on a project manager! It's been a little quiet around here lately, but working out the kinks in our process was the whole goal of having a pilot phase. We thank God for providing us with the people we need to continue the work and we thank you for your patience with us!

Please keep this project in your prayers and stay tuned for more updates!

Image source: the Coptic Museum

Address

Washington D.C., DC

Website

http://supportmyservice.org/

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