Lecturers

REV. FATHER MICHAEL SORIAL is the co-founder of St. Cyril of Alexandria Orthodox Christian Society, a non-profit organization aimed at raising the awareness of Orthodox Christian teachings through Patristic living, research and education. He is a priest at St. Mary and St. Antonios Coptic Orthodox Church in Queens, NY. He is also responsible for the Public Relations Office in the Coptic Orthodox Archdiocese of North America. Fr. Michael is a missionary, author and lecturer on various topics including Orthodox Mission, Youth development, Catechism, Church History, Contemporary living, and Christian Education. He is also a postgraduate student of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

EMMANUEL GERGIS is the co-founder of St. Cyril of Alexandria Orthodox Christian Society, a non-profit organization aimed at raising the awareness of Orthodox Christian teachings through Patristic living, research and education. He is an author, translator and lecturer on contemporary Patristic topics including spiritual anthropology, gender and sexuality, Orthodox dogmatic theology, and systematic/philosophical theology. He pursued his M.A. in Applied Orthodox Theology through the University of Balamand in Lebanon. He is also a postgraduate student of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He served as a tonsured Reader at the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Southern United States (1998-2008). Emmanuel is an active tonsured Reader and Youth servant at the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles and Hawaii since 2008.

MICHAEL WINGERT is a servant at the Western Archdiocese of the United States of the Syriac Orthodox Church, under the auspices of His Eminence Mor Clemis Eugene Kaplan. Wingert was the founding editor of magazine Shroro: The Syriac Orthodox Digest. He holds a BA from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA and an MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. Presently, Michael is working on his doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research interests include languages of the Semitic world (Hebrew, Aramaic, etc.) and its periphery, Hebrew and Aramaic biblical tradition, Syriac poetry and literature, ancient Near Eastern liturgical traditions, Near Eastern history, and history of the Syriac Church. He regularly gives lectures throughout the United States on the Syriac language and culture, as well as Orthodox history and tradition.

SUZIE ABDOU is a lecturer and editor of published Orthodox compilations and translations. Her focus is on women and orthodoxy, theology of gender, religious philosophy, and theological anthropology. She holds a BA in Philosophy and Ancient Greek from Loyola Marymount University and an MA in Political Science/International Relations from the University of California Riverside where she focused on the role of Coptic women in the early Egyptian feminist movement. She is currently completing an MA in Applied Orthodox Theology through the University of Balamand in Lebanon. Suzie is a servant in the Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California & Hawaii.