Synaxarium After Migration: Hagiography and Youth Formation in American Coptic Orthodoxy

In American Coptic Orthodox parishes, the Synaxarium is often treated as inherited devotional reading, yet it is increasingly becoming a frontline site where the church’s future is negotiated with younger generations. This paper argues that the Synaxarium functions as a technology of ecclesial formation: it scripts models of holiness, suffering, gender, vocation, and communal belonging, and thereby shapes how youth imagine what “Coptic” Christianity can be in the United States. I examine how second- and third-generation Copts receive, contest, or re-narrate Synaxarium figures amid American moral sensibilities, digital media habits, and inter-Christian proximity. Particular attention is given to pedagogical settings (Sunday school, youth meetings, retreats, and online clips) where hagiography is condensed, moralized, or contextualized. I show how these interpretive moves implicitly revise ecclesiology—redefining authority, identity, and continuity—by determining which saints remain credible, and why.