Our Priests

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Fr. Cyril Antonious, a diocesan general priest, was assigned to serve the congregation of St. Mina & Pope Kyrillos VI and was formally appointed as pastor on February 23, 2020. Previous to his appointment to serve the congregation, he had served in various areas of ministry throughout the diocese and as personal assistant to His Grace Bishop David, a position he still holds in a limited capacity.

Fr. Cyril was ordained to the diaconate on June 6, 2014 in the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of New York & New England and started serving under His Grace Bishop David as personal assistant. His responsibilities varied from pastoral to administrative and included tasks such as acting in the capacity of personal secretary to the bishop, overseeing day to day office functions, and accompanying His Grace on multiple travels as well as formal and pastoral functions. Fr. Cyril was later elevated to the rank of Archdeacon to the Bishop on March 8, 2015 and continued his role in the assistance of the bishop.

After serving at St. Mary’s Christian Center in Staten Island, NY for a couple of years, he was ordained to the rank of priest on September 16, 2017 and served as general diocesan priest.

After a short stint serving at St. Maurice & St. Verena Coptic Orthodox Church (SMSV), a prominent church in Toronto, Canada, Fr. Cyril was assigned to serve the congregation of the Cathedral and continues to pastor as its priest under the guidance and auspices of His Grace Bishop David, the diocesan bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of New York & New England. Implementing what he learned and experienced at SMSV, Fr. Cyril wishes to adopt a similar model establishing SMPK6 as a multicultural parish ministering to the diverse members of the body of Christ from every nation, tongue, tribe, and language. The cathedral is committed and steadfast in becoming a positive influence in in the local community, offering glory to God through the ministry of our brothers and neighbors. SMPK6 has already established close ties with local leadership and partnered with major charity institutions such as United Way, as well as local charities such as ALMS, Inc.

Email address: frcyril@nynecopts.org

Fr. Stephen Meawad was ordained a priest June 14, 2025 by the hands of HG Bishop David for the parish of St. Mina & Pope Kyrillos VI Cathedral in Suffern, NY.  He has served in several capacities over the last couple of decades in various Coptic Orthodox parishes.

He received his BA in Religious Studies from NYU, his MTS from Holy Cross School of Theology, and his Ph.D. in Theology from Duquesne University. His dissertation was entitled “Spiritual Struggle and Gregory of Nyssa’s Theory of Perpetual Ascent: An Orthodox Christian Virtue Ethic.” 

He is an associate professor of Theology at Caldwell University in New Jersey. His book, Beyond Virtue Ethics: A Contemporary Ethic of Ancient Spiritual Struggle (Georgetown University Press, 2023), offers a critique of modern moral philosophy and suggests a way forward by looking backward at ancient Christian spiritual practices, many of which are embodied in contemporary Orthodox Christianity. His publications appear in numerous books and journals, including Studies in Christian Ethics, Modern Theology, and Bloomsbury/T&T Clark. His continued research focuses on spirituality, ethics, and theology, with the hopes of recovering the lost art of transformative Christian praxis for the modern world.

Email address: frstephenmeawad@gmail.com