History of the Coptic Church

Saint Mark and the See of Alexandria

The Coptic Orthodox Church has been the church of Egypt since the first century when Saint Mark the Apostle came to preach Christianity in Alexandria around 60 AD. After establishing the church in Alexandria, where the pagans martyred him, and his blood ran down on its ground in the year 68 AD.
Saint Mark was one of the 70 Apostles who had extensive ministry with saints Peter, Paul, and Barnabas in many countries. He wrote his gospel, the gospel of Mark, around 61 AD before the other three gospels of the Bible. His gospel is characterized by being focused and paying attention to the minute details which he eye viewed first hand.
Saint Mark established a divinity school in Alexandria, which later was lead by a group of great fathers of the church; some became Patriarchs of the see of Alexandria. This school taught general sciences such as medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy in addition to Biblical and religious studies. Among the most famous fathers of this school is saint Pantaenus, Clement of Alexandria, Origin, and Didymus the blind who invented a reading method using engraved letters on wooden boards, 11 centuries before Braille's method.
Since the beginning of Christianity, the see of Saint Mark has been one of the four Apostolic sees, i.e, the sees that were established by one of the Apostles, namely Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, and Rome, later the sees of Constantinople and Ephesus were added to them.
this day, Coptic Patriarchs continue in succession serving the see of Saint Mark. Currently, Pope Tawadros II is the 118th Pope, considering Saint Mark being the first.

The position of the Coptic Church in the Orthodox Family

In the council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, Christian churches split into two groups. The first, is a group of churches which did not accept the decrees of this council, they are known as the Oriental Orthodox Churches or the Non-Chalcedonian Churches. This group of churches includes the Coptic, Armenian, and Syrian churches along with other churches that follow them such as the Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Indian Orthodox Churches. The second group, the Chalcedonian Churches, also known as the Eastern Orthodox Churches, include the rest of the churches in the world. Perhaps the political tone of the council sessions was the main reason of this schism although the disagreement about the nature of Christ as an incarnate God was a semantic one rather than fundamental.
The non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Family including the Coptic Church has been in communion with each other since that council and until today, despite the different rites which are naturally shaped by the different cultures of each region. The Chalcedonian Family, however, had several schisms because of some heresies that came from within. In the year 1054, the Second Great Schism created the Orthodox Churches of the East and the Catholic Church of the West. The Catholic Church later had a schism in the 16th century where the Protestant movement was created, and then the Protestants became fragmented into hundreds of denominations. This is the situation of Christians in the world today!

The Coptic Church, past and present

Returning to the Coptic Church, the faith grew in Egypt and reached over to Sudan and Ethiopia in the fourth century. I would like to pause at two important points in the past and two important points in the present. The two points in the past are: The Theologian Fathers and Monasticism, and the two points in the present time are the modern spiritual revival and the spread of Copts in the Diaspora. In fact, we must emphasize that the glory of the past still has its positive influence on the present and the future of the Coptic Church.

First, the Glory of the Past

• The Coptic Church is famous for giving birth to some of the greatest theologians who contributed to the Holy Scriptures commentaries, enriched the Christian heritage, and shaped the Orthodox faith of the universal Church in the world. Among the fathers who stood out in the Ecumenical Councils were St. Athanasius the apostolic, and St. Cyril the Great. St. Athanasius the Apostolic was the 20th Patriarch of Alexandria. He contributed to writing the text of the Christian creed in the Council of Nicea and fought the Arian heresy for more than half a century. He was persecuted and exiled several times as a result of defending the faith, but at the end, he triumphed because of his upright faith. Until today, throughout the world, his writings against the Arians are the first reference for all theologians in proving the divinity of Christ and refuting all deviant views on this important doctrine in our Christian faith. St. Cyril the Great was the 24th Patriarch of the Coptic Church. He led the Council of Ephesus and repudiated the teachings of Nestorius. He has a very large collection of epistles, books and sermons, many of which has not been yet translated from Greek.
• As to the monastic life, the Coptic Church is the mother of monasticism in the world. It began as a movement of love, asceticism and worship in the deserts of Egypt in the middle of the third century in the Red Sea, Western Desert, or Upper Egypt. St. Anthony the great (251-356 AD) was the first monk in the world who established clear method for Christian monasticism. Many disciples adhered to his teachings, his monastery in the Red Sea region is still the oldest monastery in the world, and today it houses nearly one hundred monks. St. Macarius the Great (300-390 AD) led the monastic movement in the Wadi El-Natrun (Nitrian Desert or Nitirian Valley) region in the Western Desert. This region was famous for the hermitic monastic system where monks live in caverns far apart from each other, and only assemble once a week on Sunday to pray the liturgy. St. Pakhomius led the monastic movement in Upper Egypt where he established the communal system (Koinonia) of monasticism. This system allows for a communal monastic life within the confines of a monastery, following a strict schedule of prayer, work, and meals. This system is the most suitable for many of those who seek monasticism. Monasticism flourished in Egypt in the middle of the fourth century, and began to spread outside of Egypt in two ways. The first is when St. Athanasius wrote the biography of St. Anthony after his departure and published it in Europe. The second was through a variety of visitors who came to see for themselves the life of the Coptic monks, their spirituality, worship, and their ascetic life style. As an example of these visitors: St. Jerome, Rufinus, John Cassian, Palladius, St. Basil the Great, and many others came to roam the deserts of Egypt for years, watching with their own eyes and documenting discussions and debates with many of the fathers of the wilderness. They documented their meetings in many books which led to the transfer of the notion of monasticism and its lifestyle to the rest of the world. One of them wrote regarding the spread of monasticism in every part of Egypt: The voices of praise that emanate from the caverns do not cease from echoing in the ears from the moment you set foot on the shores of Alexandria and until you arrive at Aswan (about 600miles)! After the Arab conquests to Egypt, hundreds of monasteries have been demolished and ransacked over the years. In the 10th century, the desert of Wadi El-Natrun only had about 40 monasteries, and after several dark centuries, this number has now been reduced to only four. Today, the number of monasteries inhabited with monks in Egypt is about 24 for monks and eleven convents for nuns. Outside Egypt there are three monasteries for monks in Europe, three in the United States, one in Australia, one in Jerusalem, one in South Africa, and one in Sudan. The total number of Coptic monks and nuns in the world is now over 2500.

Second, the Coptic Orthodox Church in modern times

With the arrival of the French expedition to Egypt in 1798 AD, the country was at its worst, the population of Egypt was about two million, ten percent of which were Coptic Christians, about two hundred thousand only. Now the number of Copts in Egypt and the world is about ten million. The spiritual revival of the Coptic Church in the twentieth century is mainly founded on two pillars, the first is teaching and the second is the liturgical prayers.

• First is Teaching which was lead by Archdeacon Habib Girgis (1876-1951). He was a zealous servant and the director of the School of Divinity, which resumed its activity in 1893 after a long absence. He established Sunday school and wrote several spiritual and doctrinal books. He taught a large group of faithful servants who later became priests and bishops. In fact one of his students is His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, the former Pope who departed on March 2012.
• Second, is the liturgical prayer: The Pope, Cyril VI, the 116th Pope (1959-1971), has led the revival of the liturgical prayers in the contemporary history of the Coptic church. He is well known of being a man of prayer and miracles, he used to pray the liturgy in the early morning of every day, and raising of incense in the evening, consequently, the church flourished during his papacy. Instead of churches being only open on Sundays, they became open every day from the morning to the evening. Over time and as the number of priests increased, this worship revival became the norm and all monasteries and the majority of churches in Egypt now pray the liturgy daily. Now, in many churches in Egypt, it is typical to see more than one liturgy being prayed on Sunday mornings on different altars in the same church; this has strengthened the spirit of prayer for the Copts. The Coptic liturgy is distinguished with many readings of the scriptures, profound and fulfilling praises, and beautiful melodies. Typically, the liturgy takes about two hours and usually has a spiritual sermon. To be prepared for the liturgy, the whole congregation abstain from food and drink from the previous evening even if the liturgy is prayed late in the day, as is the case during lent where the liturgy ends at noon or late afternoon.

N.B. The holy synod in June 2013 has approved Archdeacon Habib Girgis, and Pope Kyrellos (Cyril) VI as saints in the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Immigration and the growth of the Coptic Church

Starting in the sixties of the twentieth century, Copts began to immigrate to the United States, Europe, and Australia. The number of Copts outside Egypt is currently about two million, and we now (April 2014) have nearly 550 churches on all continents of the world. In addition, we have several missionary churches in Africa, Latin America, Canada, and four in the United States. As to the Coptic Orthodox Churches in Egypt, they are about 2,500. The number of bishops of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Church is now about 110, seven of them are in North America, two in Latin America, twelve in Europe, and three in Australia. The number of priests is about 3,700 both in Egypt and abroad.

Finally, we cannot forget that the Coptic Orthodox Church has always been a Cross-bearing Church. It is a Church that has endured suffering; nonetheless, she is continuously growing despite all the tribulations. She offered martyrs for Christ throughout the ages from the Roman era to the Islamic era and until today. The Church believes that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of faith. Despite the suffering and the harsh persecution that she went through over the ages and the onslaughts of eradication, she is still steadfast and strong, being firm in the Biblical commandments and the spirit of worship. She has always been nourished and revived spiritually through fasting and prayer which allows her to navigate through the violent storms, witnessing to her living God through the ages and everywhere.

Fr. Yohanna Naseef