The Egyptian Council of Churches is an organization representing different churches in Egypt, including the Coptic Orthodox Church, as well as Coptic Catholic, Evangelical, Coptic Pentecostal, Armenian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox churches. The council's formation was announced in January 2013. [1] Its first meeting was held on February 18, 2013, at Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo, and was chaired by Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria. [2] Representatives chose Tawadros II as the council's first president. The presidency is set to rotate every three years between the different church leaders. [2]
The council aims to unite Egypt's Christian churches, while retaining the independence of each, to facilitate Muslim-Christian dialogue, and to discuss various social and political issues from a Christian perspective, such as abortion, the constitution and the personal status law. [1] [2] Marking the first anniversary of its formation in February 2014, the council stated that it has no political goals and that it would back no candidate in the country's 2014 presidential election. [3] When it was announced, the idea received widespread support from Egypt's different Christian communities, [1] and its formation was praised by Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. [4]
The Coptic Orthodox Church, also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt, serving Africa and the Middle East. The head of the church and the See of Alexandria is the Pope of Alexandria on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark, who also carries the title of Father of fathers, Shepherd of shepherds, Ecumenical Judge and the 13th among the Apostles. The See of Alexandria is titular. The Coptic Pope presides from Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia District in Cairo. The church follows the Coptic Rite for its liturgy, prayer and devotional patrimony. Christians in Egypt total about four million people, and Coptic Christians make up Egypt’
Copts are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are Coptic Oriental Orthodox Christians. They are the largest Christian denomination in Egypt and the Middle East, as well as in Sudan and Libya. Copts have historically spoken the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken in late antiquity.
The Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, also known as the Bishop of Alexandria, is the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, with ancient Christian roots in Egypt. The current holder of this position is Pope Tawadros II, who was selected as the 118th pope on November 18, 2012.
The Evangelical Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile) (also called the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Egypt, Egyptian: الكنيسة الإنجيلية المشيخية El-Kenisa El-Engileyya El-Mashyykhia) 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.
The Monastery of Saint Macarius The Great also known as Dayr Aba Maqār is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in Wadi El Natrun, Beheira Governorate, about 92 km (57 mi) north-west of Cairo, and off the highway between Cairo and Alexandria.
Copts, many of whom are adherents of the Coptic Orthodox Church, began migrating to the United States of America in the late 1940s. After 1952, the rate of Coptic immigration from Egypt to the United States increased. The first Coptic church in the United States, St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church, was established in the late 1960s in Jersey City.
The immigration of the Copts to Canada might have started as early as the late 1950s. Due to an increasing amount of discrimination towards Copts in Egypt in the 1970s and low income in Egypt. Canada has been receiving a greater number of these immigrants, and the number of Coptic immigrants into Canada has been growing ever since.
Christianity is the second largest religion in Egypt. The history of Egyptian Christianity dates to the Roman era as Alexandria was an early center of Christianity.
Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils—the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. They reject the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon. Hence, these Churches are also called Old Oriental Churches or Non-Chalcedonian Churches.
Christianity in the 21st century is characterized by the pursuit of church unity and the continued resistance to persecution and secularization.
Serapion is the first hierarch and bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California, and Hawaii. He was born in Assiut, Kingdom of Egypt on November 10, 1951. Following his graduation from the Faculty of Medicine at Assiut in 1975, he practiced medicine in Aswan before becoming a monk.
Pope Tawadros II or Theodore II is the 118th and current pope of Alexandria and patriarch of the See of St. Mark, succeeding the late Pope Shenouda III as leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. He took office on 18 November 2012, two weeks after being selected.
On 12 February 2015, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) released a report in their online magazine Dabiq showing photos of 21 Egyptian Christians construction workers that they had kidnapped in the city of Sirte, Libya, and whom they threatened to kill. The men, who came from different villages in Egypt, 13 of them from Al-Our, Minya Governorate, were kidnapped in Sirte in two separate attacks on 27 December 2014, and in January 2015. A video was subsequently released showing their murder.
On 11 December 2016, a suicide bomber killed 29 people and injured 47 others at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, a chapel next to Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope, in Cairo's Abbasia district. Egypt's President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi identified the bomber as 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohammed Mustafa, who had worn a suicide vest. el-Sisi reported that three men and a woman have been arrested in connection with the attack; two others are being sought. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
On Palm Sunday, 9 April 2017, twin suicide bombings took place at St. George's Church in the northern Egyptian city of Tanta on the Nile delta, and Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, the principal church in Alexandria, seat of the Coptic papacy. At least 45 people were reported killed and 126 injured. Amaq News Agency said the attacks were carried out by a security detachment of ISIS.
The Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ is a Coptic Orthodox cathedral in the as-yet-unnamed New Administrative Capital, Egypt, some 45 km east of Cairo. It was commissioned by the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and inaugurated on 6 January 2019 by President el-Sisi and the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria Tawadros II. It is the largest church in the Middle East, and the largest Oriental Orthodox church in the world by area.
Pope Francis has had main contacts with those of other Christian faiths, with those of other religious beliefs, and with non-believers.
Father Makary Younan born Sabry Younan Abd El-Malek ; 1 March 1934 - 11 January 2022) was a prominent Coptic Orthodox priest. Known for his exorcisms, powerful preaching, prayer and geniality, he was widely venerated among Christians and Muslims alike, attracting a wide population to his Friday meetings, held at the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Azbakeya, Cairo, the Seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope until 1971.