Early history of
Saint Mark, the traditional founder of the
Coptic Orthodox Church and first
Pope of Alexandria According to tradition, the Coptic Church was founded by
Mark the Evangelist, who was one of the
seventy apostles chosen by
Jesus and sent out to preach the gospel. He is mentioned in the
Book of Acts as a companion of
Saint Paul in
Antioch and
Cyprus, and is ascribed to be the author of the
Gospel of Mark. According to the Coptic tradition, Mark was born in
Cyrene, a city in the
Pentapolis of North Africa (now
Libya). This tradition adds that Mark returned to Pentapolis later in life, after being sent by
Paul to
Colossae (
Colossians 4:10;
Philemon 24) and serving with him in Rome (2 Timothy 4:11); from Pentapolis he made his way to
Alexandria. Aspects of the Coptic liturgy (specifically the
Liturgy of Saint Cyril) can be traced back to Mark himself. He became the first
bishop of Alexandria and he is honoured as the founder of
Christianity in Africa. Mark was succeeded by
Anianus as the bishop of Alexandria in the eighth year of
Nero (62/63), probably, but not definitely, due to his coming death. Later Coptic tradition says that he was martyred in 68. The persecutions by Hadrian intensified during their pontificates, but subsided during that of the next two popes,
Markianos and
Celadion, due to the ascension of the relatively tolerant emperor
Marcus Aurelius. Since the middle of the
second century, the Catechetical School has produced many
Church Fathers whose writings are still read and studied today, including
Origen and
Clement of Alexandria, as well as Saints
Pantaenus and
Athenagoras. Some of the most important Church Fathers in the West, such as Saints
Augustine and
Jerome, were influenced by the School of Alexandria too. Another milestone of the second century was the first
Bible translations into Coptic from its original
Koine Greek. Coptic was, along with
Syriac and
Latin, one of the earliest languages the New Testament was translated into.
Pope Demetrius (188-230) established a
liturgical calendar by which fasts and feast days were determined. He was engaged in
the controversy over the canonical calculation of Easter, and was the first to apply
the calculation method for determining the date of Easter. His method was later approved by the
Council of Nicea, which made one of the duties of the
patriarch of Alexandria to determine the dates of the Easter and to announce it to the other Christian churches. This duty fell on this officiate because of the erudition at Alexandria he could draw on. Pope Demetrius died in 230 after a long pontificate, and neither his pontificate nor that of his predecessor
Julian (178-188) saw any violent persecution of Christians, except that the restrictions against them were not lifted, and he had warned the bishops against leaving Alexandria. Despite this, the Pope would secretly leave to
ordain new priests in other cities and villages. By 300, about a quarter of the population in the eastern half of the Roman Empire was Christian. During the second century, the Church also fought against
Gnosticism, which syncretized Christianity with the beliefs that had prevailed before it. Its monks engaged in meditation and philosophy in pursuit of spiritual knowledge (
gnosis), which they believed could be attained solely by human effort without God's help. Gnostic beliefs were not well understood to historians until the discovery of their writings, such as the
Nag Hammadi library, in the 20th century. The gnostics wrote
false gospels and ascribed them to Biblical figures. For example, the
Gospel of Judas portrays Jesus' betrayer
Judas Iscariot as a partner in salvation and redemption. The
Church Fathers, such as
Origen and
Clement of Alexandria, produced anti-Gnostic writings which contributed to the fall of the movement, although it would take several centuries to completely disappear.
The Era of Martyrs of the
Forty-Nine Martyrs of Scetis at the
Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great in
Wadi El Natrun, who were massacred by
Berbers during a raid in 444 The main problem suffered by the church in the second and third centuries was their
persecution by the Roman Empire. From
the expulsion of Jews and Christians from Rome around 50 AD to the
Edict of Milan in 313 AD, the Christians suffered various persecutions, the harshest of which were the
Neronian persecution and the
Diocletianic Persecution. Christian history refers to the persecutions of
Nero,
Domitian,
Trajan,
Marcus Aurelius,
Septimius Severus,
Maximinus,
Decius,
Valerian,
Aurelian and
Diocletian as the "Ten Great Persecutions". Christian teachings conflicted with Roman beliefs regarding the
deification and
worship of Roman emperors, and Christians refused to
serve in the Roman army and
took Sabbath days off to perform religious rites. Roman authorities thus saw Christians as anti-state criminals, and Christianity as a subversive religion that threatened the safety and security of the empire. Therefore, they banned Christian gatherings and organised persecutions against Christians, which reached their height under Diocletian (). The Christians faced this persecution with strength and endurance, with thousands choosing to suffer torture and death over denying their faith in Christ. The Coptic Church began counting the years, the
Era of the Martyrs, from the beginning of Diocletian's reign, and commemorates the
martyrs on
Nayrouz, which is the beginning of the year in the
Coptic calendar. The situation for Christians greatly improved after Emperor
Constantine's
Edict of Milan legalised Christianity in 313 AD, and Emperor
Theodosius's
Edict of Thessalonica made it the
state church of the Empire in 380 AD. From the 3rd century onwards, Egyptian Christianity fostered the
Desert Fathers and thus originated a major and influential tradition of ascetic
monasticism in the Christian Church overall.
The Byzantine Empire , with Arius depicted beneath the feet of emperor
Constantine the Great and the
bishops In 318, only 5 years after the end of the
Diocletianic Persecution, an Alexandrian priest named
Arius claimed that
Jesus Christ was not
coeternal with
God the Father, but was rather created before time. This view, called
Arianism, was opposed by
Pope Alexander and his then-deacon
Athanasius, who would later succeed him as Pope. The
resulting controversy led the Emperor
Constantine to convene an
ecumenical council, the
First Council of Nicaea, which 318 bishops attended according to tradition. After two months of debating and searching the Bible, all but two of them agreed that Arius' view was heretical, and they had Arius
excommunicated. To outline the correct Orthodox belief, they wrote the
Nicene Creed, which affirms that Jesus is "true God", that he is "begotten, not made", and that he is "
of one essence with the Father". The conflict between Arians and the Orthodox Church continued after the Council of Nicea, and was so intense that Athanasius was exiled five times by four different Roman emperors during his 45-year-long pontificate (328-373), spending 17 of those years in exile. In
Coptic literature, Athanasius is the first patriarch of Alexandria to use
Coptic as well as Greek in his writings. Other heresies which arose later were addressed at the
Council of Constantinople in 381 AD, which made additions to the Nicene Creed, including the section about the
Holy Spirit. In the early 5th century, the
Archbishop of Constantinople Nestorius rejected the concept of the
Hypostatic union, instead claiming that there are two distinct
hypostases in the Incarnate Christ, the one Divine and the other human. As such, he refused the title
Theotokos (
God – Bearer), used for
Saint Mary, instead using "
Christotokos". Pope
Cyril of Alexandria strongly opposed him and defended the use of the title
Theotokos. Nestorius was deposed at the
Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. In 446, an aged monk from
Constantinople called
Eutyches began teaching that
Christ only has one nature. In reaction to Nestorianism, he had adopted an extreme view in the opposite direction. Eutyches was condemned and exiled by a synod presided over by
Flavian, Bishop of Constantinople, who also sent a full account to
Leo, Pope of Rome. Eutyches appealed to
Dioscorus, Pope of Alexandria, who, under the impression that Eutyches had repented, held his own synod annulling Flavian's ruling and absolving Eutyches. The Emperor
Theodosius II convened a council, the
Second Council of Ephesus, in which Dioscorus reinstated Eutyches and deposed Flavian, as well as
Eusebius of Dorylaeum,
Theoderet of Cyrrus,
Ibas of Edessa, and
Domnus II of Antioch. Flavian died shortly afterward, and Dioscorus was accused of killing him. Leo, who could not attend the council himself, wrote a letter called
Leo's Tome explaining his views on the doctrinal issues involved, which Dioscorus considered Nestorian. After Emperor Theodosius died, the new emperor and empress
Marcian and
Pulcheria convened another council, the
Council of Chalcedon, in 451. This council deposed Pope Dioscorus and had him exiled to
Gangra. It also read Leo's Tome and declared it orthodox, despite its contradictions with
Pope Cyril's teachings, specifically the third of his Twelve Anathemas. The near-immediate result of the council was a major schism. The bishops who were uneasy with the language of Pope Leo's Tome repudiated the council, saying that the acceptance of two
physes was tantamount to Nestorianism. Dioscorus of Alexandria advocated
miaphysitism and had dominated the Council of Ephesus.
Churches that rejected Chalcedon in favor of Ephesus broke off from
the rest of the Eastern Church in a schism, the most significant among these being the Church of
Alexandria, today known as the
Coptic Orthodox Church. In 518, the new Byzantine Emperor
Justin I (who accepted Chalcedon), demanded that the entire Church in the Roman Empire accept the Council's decisions. Justin ordered the replacement of all non-Chalcedonian bishops, including the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. During the reign of emperor
Justinian I (527–565), whose wife
Theodora was non-Chalcedonian, new attempts were made towards reconciliation. One of the most prominent Oriental Orthodox theologians of that era was
Severus of Antioch. In spite of several, imperially sponsored meetings between heads of Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox communities, no final agreement was reached. The most notable persecution of Copts during this period was by the staunch
monothelitist Cyrus of Alexandria.
Under Muslim rule --the oldest Christian (Orthodox) monastery in Egypt. Egypt as well as some other Asian and African Byzantine territories were conquered by Muslims in the 7th century. Under Muslim rule, the Copts were cut off from the mainstream of Christianity and were compelled to adhere to the
Pact of Umar covenant. They were assigned to
Dhimmi status. Under the rule of the
Bahri Mamluks, many Christians were forcefully converted and persecuted across Egypt. Their position improved dramatically in the early 19th century under the rule of
Muhammad Ali. He abolished the
Jizya (a tax on non-Muslims) and allowed Copts to enroll in the army.
Pope Cyril IV, 1854–61, reformed the church and encouraged broader Coptic participation in Egyptian affairs. Khedive
Isma'il Pasha, in power 1863–79, further promoted the Copts. He appointed them judges to Egyptian courts and awarded them political rights and representation in government. They flourished in business affairs. The first
Anglican presence in Egypt was established in 1819 by missionaries from the
Church Mission Society, who endeavored to distribute copies of the
Gospels in
Arabic. By 1998, the Synod had more than 300 churches, a seminary and a "large system of church related secondary schools." In addition, Nasser's pan-Arab policies undermined the Copts' strong attachment to and sense of identity about their Egyptian pre-Arab, and certainly non-Arab identity which resulted in permits to construct churches to be delayed along with Christian religious courts to be closed. On February 18, 2013, the leaders of the five largest denominations in Egypt — the
Coptic Orthodox Church, the
Greek Orthodox Church, the
Roman Catholic Church, the
Protestant Church and the
Anglican Church — formed the first Council of Churches in Egypt. In attendance were the patriarchs of the Coptic Orthodox Church,
Tawadros II, the Greek Orthodox Church,
Theodore II of Alexandria, and the Coptic Catholic Church,
Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak. == Persecution and discrimination ==