What is membership of the Church?

The answer

According to Tertullian, being a member of the Church is manifested by good deeds. As for St. Clement of Alexandria, it is the spiritual knowledge or the reasonable perception of the truth, through the unceasing contemplation of God.¹¹⁶⁰

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty

Notes

¹¹⁶⁰ Eric G. Jay, The Church: Its changing image through twenty centuries, Volume 1 (London: SPCK, 1977): p. 60.

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, Catechism of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Volume 1, Books 1–3. First English Edition, 2023. Published by St. George Coptic Orthodox Church, Sporting, Alexandria, and Queen St. Mary & Prince Tadros Coptic Orthodox Church, South Brunswick, NJ. Copyright © 2023. Translation and Editing: Youth of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, Arabian Gulf, and Egypt.