About Us

About Manna4Life

Manna4Life’s vision is to ensure that underprivileged members of society are given the best opportunity of living a meaningful life free from poverty. Manna4Life Charity was established in 2012 as a not-for-profit organisation by a group of young and motivated volunteers from the Coptic Orthodox Church. Their dream is to work together with local communities to provide support and relief for the underprivileged along with youth and aged persons for humanitarian services and to assist in their development.

Objectives of Manna4Life service:

Providing relief of poverty amongst under privileged communities and the homeless;

Promoting the importance of education, both religious and social, by actively involving the broader community;

Providing support of youth and adolescence;

Providing access to financial support, where possible, for low income families within the local community; and

Ensuring that basic health and hygiene standards are promoted within communities.

Our Values:

CANDOUR - Work fairly, equitably, openly and honestly with local communities and each other to achieve positive change in the lives of the underprivileged;

SUPPORT - Create a positive learning environment for youth so that they can develop the skills and knowledge required to experience a life free from the issues of social conviction and poverty; and

INTEGRITY - Ensure that all of our actions are guided by the utmost integrity and transparency.

History of the Coptic Orthodox Church

The word ‘‘Copt’’ simply means Egyptian. It is derived from the Greek word ‘‘Aigyptos.’’ By removing the first and last two letters in the Greek word we have, ‘‘gypt’’, which has thus become the words ‘‘Egypt’’ and ‘‘Copt.’’ Later on in history the term ‘‘Copt’’ was used to refer to the Orthodox Christians of Egypt, who were referred to by Leeder as ‘‘The modern sons of the pharaohs.’’

The good news of Christianity arrived to Egypt through Saint Mark the apostle around 55 A.D.. Hence the Coptic Orthodox Church is one of the oldest churches in the world, spanning 20 centuries of history. Saint Mark was one of the four evangelists who wrote the oldest of the four Gospels ‘‘The Gospel According to Saint Mark.’’ Saint Mark is regarded as the first of an unbroken chain of 118 Popes. The current Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church is His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, the successor of the Thrice Blessed, His Holiness, the late Pope Shenouda III.

In Egypt, two major heresies in succession gained considerable ground throughout the country; one was Gnosticism and the other was Arianism. The first one was refuted by Clement, Origen, and Athanasius. Arianism, which said that the Son was not of the same essence of the Father, was condemned by 318 bishops at the ecumenical council of Nicea in 325 A.D. It was Saint Athanasius that defended the faith against Arius and produced the Nicean-Constantinoplean Creed that is proclaimed in all churches today. There were other heresies by Nestorius and Eutyches, which were fought at other councils. The Coptic Orthodox Church recognises three Ecumenical Councils, namely Nicea 325 A.D., Constantinople 381 A.D., and Ephesus 431 A.D. The Coptic Orthodox Church has been unjustly labelled as being ‘‘Monophysite,’’ that is, only believing in one single nature of Christ and that being the divine nature. This is not the case, the Coptic Orthodox Church believes in ‘‘one incarnate nature of God the word’’ which is what Saint Cyril taught; a union of natures in Christ; both fully human and fully divine at the same time.