"conquest in the 640s CE. The vast majority of Egyptian Christians are Copts. The word ""Copt"" is indirectly derived from the Greek Αἰγύπτιος Aigýptios meaning simply ""Egyptian"". Over 92% of Egyptian Christians belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria,<ref name=""U.S.Dept of State/Egypt""></ref> an Oriental Orthodox Church. The Coptic Church constitute the largest Christian community in the Middle East and has approximately 18 to 25 million followers in Egypt, in addition to 1 to 2 million abroad, but numbers vary since there has never been a census. 10% is the generally accepted figure, but it may be higher. The actual"
"an unbroken chain of patriarchs. The main body for 16 centuries has been out of communion with both the Roman Catholic Church (in Rome) and the various Eastern orthodox churches. According to ancient tradition, Christianity was introduced within present day Egypt by Saint Mark in Alexandria, shortly after the ascension of Christ and during the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius around 42 AD. The legacy that Saint Mark left in Egypt was a considerable Christian community in Alexandria. From Alexandria, Christianity spread throughout Egypt within half a century of Saint Mark's arrival in Alexandria, as is clear from a"
"and culture. Pharaonism was widely held by Coptic and Muslim scholars in the early 20th century, and it helped bridge the divide between those groups. Some scholars see Pharaonism as shaped by Orientalism. Today, members of the non-Chalcedonian Coptic Orthodox Church constitute the majority of the Egyptian Christian population. Mainly through emigration and partly through European, American, and other missionary work and conversions, the Egyptian Christian community now also includes other Christian denominations such as Protestants (known in Arabic as Evangelicals), Roman Catholics and Eastern Rite Catholics, and other Orthodox congregations. The term ""Coptic"" remains exclusive however to the Egyptian"
"Egypt at that time—especially Alexandria—was a real crossroads where the ancient culture of the Pharaohs, the Greek and Roman cultures, Judaic and Gnostic currents have had a strong influence on the young Christian communities. The Copts today still use in their liturgy the Coptic language, derived from the ancient Egyptian, pray in churches and monasteries founded in the 4th century by the Desert Fathers—Anthony, Pachomius, Paul of Thebes—and gather at festivals and pilgrimages dedicated to the Lord, the Mother of God, the saints and the martyrs. Cannuyer explains the definition of the name ""Copt"" in his book: Christian Cannuyer Christian"
"reign. When Egyptians were persecuted by Diocletian, many retreated to the desert to seek relief, though relief of the spirit and of its worldly desires to attain peace and unity with Christ the Creator, not escaping the persecutions. The practice precipitated the rise of monasticism, for which the Egyptians, namely St. Antony, St. Bakhum, St. Shenouda and St. Amun, are credited as pioneers. By the end of the 4th century, it is estimated that the mass of the Egyptians had either embraced Christianity or were nominally Christian. In 451 A.D., following the Council of Chalcedon, the Church of Alexandria was"
"before the Nasser regime and the nationalisation that took place. Egypt hosts the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. It was founded back in the first century, considered to be the largest Church in the Middle East and North Africa. Egypt is also the home of Al-Azhar University (founded in 969 CE, began teaching in 975 CE), which is today the world's ""most influential voice of establishment Sunni Islam"" and is, by some measures, the second-oldest continuously operating university in world. Egypt recognises only three religions: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Other faiths and minority Muslim sects practised by Egyptians, such as"
"Religion in Egypt Religion in Egypt controls many aspects of social life and is endorsed by law. Egypt is predominantly Muslim with a sizable Christian population, although estimates vary greatly in the absence of official statistics. Since the 2006 census religion has been excluded, so the number of adherents of the different religions is usually rough estimates made by religious and non-governmental agencies. Egypt hosts two major religious institutions. Al-Azhar Mosque, founded in 970 AD by the Fatimids as the first Islamic university in Egypt and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria established in the middle of the 1st century"
"Evangelical Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile) The Evangelical Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile) (also called the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Egypt, Egyptian: الكنيسه الانجيليه ""El-Kenisa l-Engileyya"") is a Protestant church that started as a mission of the United Presbyterian Church of North America among Coptic Egyptians in the late nineteenth century. The Evangelical Church of Egypt became autonomous in 1957 and officially independent in 1958. It has eight presbyteries, 314 congregations, and about 250,000 members. Emile Zaki, is a pastor and also the general secretary of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Egypt, also known as the"
"regions of Alexandria and Cairo, and are members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Latin Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Maronite Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, or the Syriac Orthodox Church. Scattered among the various churches are a number of believers in Christ from a Muslim background. A 2015 study estimates some 14,000 such believers in Egypt. Egyptian Christians believe that the Patriarchate of Alexandria was founded by Mark the Evangelist around AD 33,"
"with. Religion in Egypt Religion in Egypt controls many aspects of social life and is endorsed by law. Egypt is predominantly Muslim with a sizable Christian population, although estimates vary greatly in the absence of official statistics. Since the 2006 census religion has been excluded, so the number of adherents of the different religions is usually rough estimates made by religious and non-governmental agencies. Egypt hosts two major religious institutions. Al-Azhar Mosque, founded in 970 AD by the Fatimids as the first Islamic university in Egypt and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria established in the middle of the 1st"
"Egyptian Christians are adherents of the Coptic Catholic Church, the Coptic Evangelical Church and various Coptic Protestant denominations. Non-native Christian communities are largely found in the urban regions of Alexandria and Cairo, and are members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Latin Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Maronite Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, or the Syriac Orthodox Church. Significant minorities within Egypt's Christian community include the following denominations: Before 1956 and according to the"
"variety of Arabic, known as Egyptian Arabic or ""Masri. ""Additionally, a sizable minority of Egyptians living in Upper Egypt speak Sa'idi Arabic. Egyptians are predominantly adherents of Sunni Islam with a Shia minority and a significant proportion who follow native Sufi orders. A considerable percentage of Egyptians belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, whose liturgical language, Coptic, is the most recent stage of the indigenous Egyptian language and is still used in prayers along with Arabic. Egyptians receive or have received several names: There are an estimated 92.1 million Egyptians. Most are native to Egypt, where Egyptians constitute around 91%"
"give ""Fatwā"" judgements on Islamic issues. The Coptic Christian population in Egypt is the largest Christian community in the Middle East and North Africa standing at between 10% - 15% of Egypt's population according to different statistics. About 95% of Egypt's Christians are members of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. an Oriental Orthodox Church, Traditionally believed to be established in the 1st century A.D. by Saint Mark. The Church is headed by the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, attests to Egypt's strong Christian heritage. It has a followers of approximately 20 million Christians worldwide. Other native"
"of living in Egypt, most of this community's descendants, now with Egyptian nationality, tended to identify more as ""Egyptian"", rather than ""Levantine"", ""Syrian"", or ""Lebanese"", while still maintaining their original Christian sect of identity. However, intermarriage for the Levantines in Egypt eventually became more common after generations, either with native Copts or with other foreign Christians such as Greeks, Armenians, and Maltese. There was much less intermarriage between Levantine Christians and native Muslims, as marriage between Christians and Muslims is still considered taboo in Egypt. Christianity is the dominant religion among Egyptians of Syro-Lebanese descent. The majority is Greek Orthodox(originally"
"of the Hebrew Bible becoming the basis of the Church of the Easts Christian Peshitta. Syriac Christianity is most famous for its poet-theologians, Aphrahat, Ephrem, Narsai and Jacob of Serugh. Eusebius credits Mark the Evangelist as the bringer of Christianity to Egypt, and manuscript evidence shows that the faith was firmly established there by the middle of the 2nd century. Although the Greek-speaking community of Alexandria dominated the Egyptian church, speakers of native Coptic and many bilingual Christians were the majority. From the early 4th century, at the latest, the monastic movement emerged in the Egyptian desert, led by Anthony"
"Egyptians were persecuted by Diocletian, many retreated to the desert to seek relief. The practice precipitated the rise of monasticism, for which the Egyptians, namely St. Antony, St. Bakhum, St. Shenouda and St. Amun, are credited as pioneers. By the end of the 4th century, it is estimated that the mass of the Egyptians had either embraced Christianity or were nominally Christian. The Catachetical School of Alexandria was founded in the 3rd century by Pantaenus, becoming a major school of Christian learning as well as science, mathematics and the humanities. The Psalms and part of the New Testament were translated"
"Persecution of Copts Copts (Coptic: ""ou.Remenkīmi en.Ekhristianos"", literally: ""Egyptian Christian"") are native Egyptian Christians, usually Oriental Orthodox, who currently make up between 10 and 15% of the population of Egypt — the largest religious minority of that country. While Copts have cited instances of persecution throughout their history, Human Rights Watch has noted ""growing religious intolerance"" and sectarian violence against Coptic Christians in recent years, and a failure by the Egyptian government to effectively investigate properly and prosecute those responsible. Hundreds of Egyptian copts have been killed in sectarian clashes from 2011 to 2017, and many homes and businesses destroyed."
"Christian denomination, followed by 40,000 Roman Catholics and a small number of Anglicans. They are present in all three major regions. Historically speaking, Christianity spread to the Pentapolis in North Africa from Egypt; Synesius of Cyrene (370-414), bishop of Ptolemais, received his instruction at Alexandria in both the Catechetical School and the Museion, and he entertained a great deal of reverence and affection for Neoplatonist Hypatia, whose classes he had attended. Synesius was consecrated by Theophilus of Alexandria in 410. Since the Council of Nicaea in 325, Cyrenaica had been recognized as an ecclesiastical province of the See of Alexandria,"
"blood, which has been shed all over Egypt since Copts adopted Christianity and until today. Coptic nationalism Coptic nationalism refers to the nationalism of Copts ( ', '), an ethno-religious group that primarily inhabit the area of modern Egypt, where they are the largest Christian denomination. Questions of Egyptian identity rose to prominence in Egypt in the 1920s and 1930s as Egyptians sought independence from British occupation. The Pharaonist movement, or Pharaonism, looks to Egypt's pre-Islamic past and argued that Egypt was part of a larger Mediterranean civilization. Many Coptic intellectuals hold to ""Pharaonism,"" which states that Coptic culture is"
"persecuted Protestant Christians in Egypt with aid projects. The church currently claims to own the Anglican Diocese of Egypt. Evangelical Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile) The Evangelical Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile) (also called the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Egypt, Egyptian: الكنيسه الانجيليه ""El-Kenisa l-Engileyya"") is a Protestant church that started as a mission of the United Presbyterian Church of North America among Coptic Egyptians in the late nineteenth century. The Evangelical Church of Egypt became autonomous in 1957 and officially independent in 1958. It has eight presbyteries, 314 congregations, and about 250,000 members. Emile Zaki,"
"a range of fields, including philanthropy, philosophy, ethics, literature, business and economics, fine arts and architecture, music, theatre and medicine, as well as science and technology, both historically and in modern times. Eastern Christians (particularly Nestorian Christians) contributed to the Arab Islamic Civilization during the Ummayad and the Abbasid periods by translating works of Greek philosophers to Syriac and afterwards to Arabic. They also excelled in philosophy, science, theology and medicine. Etymology Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ""Christ"" and"
"the Greco-Roman persecution of non-Chalcedonian Assyro-Chaldean Christians, and the second one was during the 16th century to escape the Turkish persecution of Christian minorities during the Ottoman Empire. However, today, there are only very few left. The Semaans of Egypt are Copts and Greek-Egyptian Christians from Alexandria, Aswan, and Cairo. Some can trace their ancestry to 1st century Alexandria, and the establishment of Christianity there by Saint Mark. Today, many Semaans have also immigrated to Western countries. Semaan Semaan (Syriac Aramaic: ܫܡܥܘܢ ; , ""Semʻān"") (also spelled Sem'an, Semán, Simaan, Sim'an, Samaan, Sam'an) is a Christian surname mainly found in"
"disputed but are estimated to compromise roughly 10% of the Egyptian population. They are mainly followers of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, there are however a minority among them who are members of the Coptic Catholic Church, and an even smaller group who belong to the Coptic Evangelical Church. The Coptic language, which directly descends from the Egyptian spoken in ancient Egypt, continues to be used as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The Jewish tribes of Arabia were Arabian tribes professing the Jewish faith that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula before and during the advent"
"monasticism, Egypt has continued the monastic tradition unbroken until the present day. After the Council of Chalcedon, the Alexandrian Patriarchate broke communion with those churches which accepted the council, and became what today is known as the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Like the Byzantines, monasticism has continued to play a crucial role in the life of the church, and bishops are always chosen from among the ranks of monks. After the Islamic invasion in 639, the Egyptian Christians found themselves dispossessed in their own land. However, despite persecutions and intense pressure to convert, Coptic monasticism has survived, and some"
"(for all Egypt and Sudan, whose actual cathedral is in Cairo), a suffragan of the Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia, using the Armenian Rite. The Saint Mark Church in Shatby, founded as part of Collège Saint Marc, is multi-denominational and holds liturgies according to Latin Catholic, Coptic Catholic and Coptic Orthodox rites. In antiquity, Alexandria was a major center of the cosmopolitan religious movement called Gnosticism (today mainly remembered as a Christian heresy). Alexandria's once-flourishing Jewish community declined rapidly following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, after which negative reactions towards Zionism among Egyptians led to Jewish residents in the city, and"
"of Alexandria. Members of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate were once known as Melkites, because they remained in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople after the schism that followed the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The Orthodox Christian community of Egypt is thus unaffiliated with Copts and does mostly adhere to an Arab identity. Some Arab Christians are a more recent end result of Evangelization. Arab Christians include descendants of ancient Arab tribes, who were among the first Christian converts, as well as some recent adherents of Christianity. Sometimes, however, the issue of self-identification arises regarding specific Christian communities across"
"Copts The Copts (, ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group indigenous to Northeast Africa who primarily inhabit the area of modern Egypt, where they are the largest Christian denomination in the country. Copts are also the largest Christian adherent group in Sudan and Libya. Historically, they spoke the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken in late antiquity. Copts in Egypt constitute the largest Christian population in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the largest religious minority in the region, accounting for an estimated 10–15% of the Egyptian population. Copts in"
"now one of the most widely practiced religions in Africa along with Islam and is the largest religion in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most adherents outside Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea are Roman Catholic or Protestant. Several syncretistic and messianic sects have formed throughout much of the continent, including the Nazareth Baptist Church in South Africa and the Aladura churches in Nigeria.There is also fairly widespread populations of Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses. The oldest Christian denominations in Africa are the Coptic church in Egypt and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, all Oriental Orthodox, which rose to"
"Apostolic Tradition The Apostolic Tradition (or ""Egyptian Church Order"") is an early Christian treatise which belongs to ""genre"" of the Church Orders. It has been described as of ""incomparable importance as a source of information about church life and liturgy in the third century"". Re-discovered in the 19th century, it was given the name of ""Egyptian Church Order"". In the first half of 20th century this text was commonly identified with the lost ""Apostolic Tradition"" presumed by Hippolytus of Rome. Due to this attribution, and the apparent early date of the text, this manual played a crucial role in the"
"It forms a separate branch among the family of Afroasiatic languages. Egypt is a predominantly Sunni Muslim country with Islam as its state religion. The percentage of adherents of various religions is a controversial topic in Egypt. An estimated 85 - 90% are identified as Muslim, 10 - 15% as Coptic Christians, and 1% as other Christian denominations, although without a census the numbers cannot be known. Other estimates put the Christian population as high as 15 - 20% Non-denominational Muslims form roughly 12% of the population. Egypt was a Christian country before the 7th century, and after Islam arrived,"
"of Egypt. This must be regarded as the outward expression of the growing nationalist trends in that province against the gradual intensification of Byzantine imperialism, soon to reach its consummation during the reign of Emperor Justinian. A significant effect on the Orthodox Christians in Egypt, was a series of persecutions by the Roman (later, Byzantine) empire forcing followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church to claim allegiance to Leo's Tome, or Chalcedon. This led to the martyrdom, persecution and death of thousands of Egyptian saints and bishops till the Arab Conquest of Egypt. As a result, The Council of Chalcedon is"
"in Egypt. The ""World Book Encyclopedia"" has estimated that in 2002 Christians formed 40% of the continent's population, with Muslims forming 45%. In a relatively short time, Africa has gone from having a majority of followers of indigenous, traditional religions, to being predominantly a continent of Christians and Muslims. Since 2013, traditional African religions are declared as the majority religion only in Togo. Importantly, today within most self-declared Christian communities in Africa, there is significant and sustained syncretism with African Traditional Religious beliefs and practices. Mark the Evangelist became the first bishop of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria in about"
"Cathedral of Our Lady of Egypt The Our Lady of Egypt Cathedral also called Coptic Catholic Cathedral of Cairo Is the name given to a religious building affiliated with the Catholic Church that follows the Coptic or Alexandrian rite and is located at 39 Mustafa Fahmi Street, in the city of Cairo, the capital of the African country of Egypt. The church is distinct from the other Catholic cathedrals of the city that use diverse Catholic rites. Among these are the Roman Catholic and Eastern churches, and the Oriental Orthodox Coptic cathedral. The temple serves as the main church of"