HISTORY OF THE COPTIC CHURCH INTRODUCTION: The following is a translation of a summary of the sermon of the departed Anba Youanis about the History of the Coptic Church. This is not a literal translation so I would advise any one interested in learning in detail about the history of the Coptic Church to obtain the tapes or to read any of the books specialized in this subject. I would like to apologize for any misspelling, especially in the names of people and places. Ashraf LEGEND: Peaceful Era Relatively Peaceful Era Persecution and Discrimination Era Severe Persecution and Discrimination Era INDEX: *   THE PRECHRISTIAN ERA *   THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ERA *   THE CHRISTIAN ERA *   THE MONASTIC ERA *   HERESIES IN THE EARLY CHURCH *   THE ECUMENICAL COUNCILS *   DIVISIONS IN THE EARLY CHURCH *   THE PRE-ARAB INVASION OF EGYPT *   THE ARAB INVASION OF EGYPT *   THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY *   THE ABBASID DYNASTY *   THE TULUNID DYNASTY *   THE IKHSHIDID DYNASTY *   THE FATIMID DYNASTY *   THE AYOUBID DYNASTY *   THE MAMLUKS DYNASTY *   THE OTTOMAN DYNASTY *   THE FRENCH EXPEDITION *   MOHAMMED ALI *   KHEDIVE ABBAS *   KHEDIVE SAIED *   KHEDIVE ISMAIL *   KHEDIVE TAWFIK - THE EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION *   THE ARRIVAL OF FOREIGN MISSIONARIES TO EGYPT *   PRESIDENT NASSER *   PRESIDENT SADAT *   PRESIDENT MUBARAK *   CONCLUSION       Legend      Go to Top THE PRECHRISTIAN ERA "We will start the series by talking about a period that we call the Coptic era; according to many historians this period should be taught in schools, however what is happening is that the Ptolemaic period is taught, then the Roman period, and then the Arab invasion of Egypt without referring to the history of the Coptic Church, a period that lasted for six centuries. It is appropriate here to stop and ask who are the Copts? There are many opinions about the origination of the word "Copt", however the nearest to the truth is that the word Copt and "Egypt" mean the same thing, and both were based on the Greek word - naming Egypt and its Nile - "Aegyptius", as it was also mentioned several times in "Homerous". The word Aegyptius was a vocal alteration of the old Egyptian city of Manf, which is known as Ha Ka Betah, which meant the house or temple of Betah, who was the God of creation in the first dynasty. The word "Aegyptius" was later simplified to the word "Gypt" or "Copt", and the word "Egypt" in all foreign languages. Studies of Archeologists of the ancient Egyptians regarding their human features such as the size of the skull, the type of hair, and shape of nose and jaw, come to the conclusion that the Copts are of white complexion of Mediterranean nature and they have retained the features of the ancient Egyptians whom we know as Pharaohs, evidenced by this are the mummies present today. According to Mariette - a famous French historian and founder of the Egyptian museum in Cairo - "the continuous invasions and occupation by various races of Egypt have slightly affected the authenticity of the Copts". Hence the Copts are the original inhabitants of Egypt, as they did not immigrate to Egypt from other countries. It can then be said that the Copts of today are the direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians (the Pharaohs). They are a main segment of the Egyptian nation, and there should be no study of the history of Egypt without referring to the history, language, and culture of the Copts. We as Copts and descendants of the ancient Egyptians feel very proud that all historians and archeologists are impressed with the old Egyptian civilization. According to a book by William Oriel - A short account of the Copts - "the Copts are the Christians of Egypt and they are the direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians, the study of the history of Egyptian Copts is of significant importance as they are the remaining minority of ancient Egyptians who survived years of seclusion and persecution". From a religious point of view we should appreciate the nobility and superiority of the ancient Egyptian religions and beliefs as the old Egyptian Gods were of high integrity and honor, unlike the other pagan Gods that were known of their disgraceful behavior and shameful attitudes. There was a time when Egypt was exporting Gods to the atheist world, example to that is the Goddess "Isis" who was worshiped in Rome. This noble religious nature of the Copts laid the foundation for the spread of Christianity in Egypt, which happened, in a short period of time and in a way never seen in any other part of the world. According to the Egyptian historian Aziz Soryal Attia "the spread of Christianity in Egypt in a fast pace and the establishment of its Church on sound principles was much older than what historians initially had thought, this was shown in recent discoveries of papyrus paper, which also indicated that the Copts were very ready for Christianity. I will talk to you in some other time about some of the ancient Egyptian habits that we practice today without knowing, and also about the hundreds of words we use today that is Coptic, as it is our responsibility to spread this knowledge. The old Egyptian person was known for his religious nature as witnesses his deep belief in the Gods; king Echnaton of the eighteenth dynasty led the world in the principle of the existence of one God in his major unifying revolution. Hence, it was not a new idea, which made it easy for the early Christians to spread the idea of the divine and human nature of God unified in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, similar to that was the person of Osories who was to the pharaohs a God and a human. There was also many other similarities in the old Egyptian history to Christianity such as the belief in the trinity of God, the divine birth of Gods from human beings, and the resurrection from the dead and eternal life after death that led to the idea of mummification which aimed at keeping the body in a good condition for the after life, and also the similarity of the Cross to the "Onch" symbol which is a Coptic word that refers to eternal life.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ERA We are proud that our Coptic church is an Apostolic Church, as it was established by St. Mark one of the Seventy Apostles of Jesus Christ and an Evangelist who wrote the oldest testament of the Four Bibles. We consider St. Mark to be the first of our patriarchs, and the first of our martyrs and Saints. St. Mark was raised in a religious Jewish family in the city of Cyreen in Libya and was taught Greek and Latin in addition to Hebrew, however due to the attacks of the Berber on his town, his family left to Jerusalem. The house of St. Mark in Jerusalem was where our Lord Jesus Christ had the last supper and established the sacrament of the Eucharist, where he washed the feet of the Apostles, and where the Apostles met in the Forty days that followed the resurrection and also in the Ten days that followed the ascending of Jesus Christ to heaven. It was in this house that the Pentecost took place; in fact the house of St. Mark is considered to be the First Church in Christianity. St. Mark has also accompanied St. Paul and Barnabas in their missionary travels in minor Asia and Rome, however his main work was in Africa - in Egypt and the five Western cities. Alexandria was the city where St. Mark started his mission and established the first church in Egypt; it was the capital of Egypt, and the second city in importance in the world after Rome. However, from a cultural aspect it was the capital of the world, where the famous "Theological School of Alexandria" was established. Alexandria was an international multicultural city with many religions; the Jews were a main component of the city as they occupied two of its five districts. Alexandria also had a big community of Greeks from the days of Alexander the great. It is most probable that St. Mark came to Alexandria in 60 AD, after he preached in the five Western cities. Although Christianity was already known to few in Egypt, St. Mark was the one who established its Church; similarly St. Paul was the one who established the Church of Rome although some people in Rome were already Christian. St. Mark's first encounter was with a shoe maker named "Anianus" when he went to his store to fix his torn shoe, and when Anianus cut his finger accidentally while fixing the shoe of St. Mark's and shouted in Greek "Oh one God", St. Mark took some mud and healed his finger which astonished Anianus. From that point St. Mark started talking to Anianus about the "one God" that we worship, Anianus then took St. Mark to his house where he and his family became Christians and were baptized. We unfortunately lack a documented history of the work of St. Mark, however according to Yousabious - the famous historian known as "father of the history of the Church" - St. Mark established many churches in Alexandria as those who believed in Christianity were of large numbers. Yousabious had also quoted Filo - a famous Jewish Philosopher who lived in the first half of the first century - who said "at that time many of the people who believed in Christianity have had strong faith, some of them established worshiping places in their houses and some of them sold their properties (and gave it to the poor). Although some would refer to those early Christians as Jews, but that is not correct, we believe that they were the first Christians of Egypt as they had a well established church system including the ranks of Deacon and Bishop. Another witness to the successful work of St. Mark was "Jerome", born in 324 AD, who translated the Old Testament to Greek and was considered to be one of the most knowledgeable people of the holy Bible. Jerome says about St. Mark that he carried his Bible to Egypt during the first half of the first century and preached Christianity in Alexandria first, and established a church of amazing character and great teachings. However, due to his great success, the atheists started to wage a war against St. Mark, so he left Alexandria and started traveling inside Egypt. When St. Paul requested from him to go to Rome, he appointed Anianus to become a bishop around 62 AD, and left to Rome. After the martyrdom of St. Paul, he returned to Alexandria, to find that the Church of Bokalia - currently St. Mark's Cathedral - was established. Around 68 AD, at the time of celebration of a pagan God, the atheists attacked the church, captured St. Mark and threw him in jail. The next day they tied St. Mark by robes and towed him across the streets of Alexandria until he was martyred. When they tried to burn his body, strong rain came down, and put out the fire. A few of the believers carried his body, and buried him in the Church. In addition to his successful mission in Egypt, St. Mark was the founder of the famous Theological School of Alexandria, and the writer of the holy liturgy known today by the liturgy of St. Cyril. The spread of Christianity, on the hands of St. Mark, was the main reason that the atheists and philosophers of that time started to study the Bible to find ways to attack Christianity. However, they quickly found in Christianity what they have been missing, and many of those philosophers became the greatest defenders of Christianity.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE CHRISTIAN ERA Of the famous Patriarchs who came after St. Mark was Pope Demetrius the 12th Patriarch who succeeded Pope Julianos the 11th Patriarch. Pope Julianos had a revelation that whoever comes to him carrying grapes will be the next Patriarch. Demetrius was a poor grape farmer who while working in the farm saw a large branch of grapes, so he took the grapes to the Pope to give it to him. When the Pope, who was dying on his bed, saw Demetrius, he ordered those who were around him to catch him and make him his successor. Demetrius tried to explain that he was an uneducated farmer, and that he was a married man, without any use. The truth to his forty-eight years of marriage is that he was actually living in celibacy with his wife. However, when the people started talking about him, an angel appeared to him and ordered him to reveal his secret to the people; during the holy mass he put the fired coal from the showria in his sleeves without it burning him, and then he told the people that he was living in celibacy with his wife. Since then he started to educate himself by sitting down at the feet of his teacher. One of the important achievements of this illiterate Pope is that he was the one who established the current system of fasting and the dates for feasting in our church. At a latter point of time there was a conflict in all the churches about the date for celebrating Easter, until the canonical assembly of 320AD, when it was agreed that the Coptic Pope will be the one responsible for deciding the date of Easter celebration for all the Christian churches of the world, this decision was attributed to the complex system established by Pope Demetrius. An important aspect of the early Coptic Church was its hymns, according to Filo "the early Christian Church have adopted some of its hymns from the old Egyptian songs" that is why some of today's hymns carry the names of old Egyptian cities such as the "Singary" hymn named after the old village of Singar in the western province, and the "Atriby" hymn named after the city of Atrib, near St. Shenouda monastery in Akmim. A discovered papyrus paper clearly show a Church hymn from the 2nd century AD, which says "all the creatures of God can not be silent, or the stars in the heavens to hide, but with all the waves in the rivers they pray to the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen, Amen." This hymn was written in a musical note. The Coptic Church is considered to be the first in writing hymns in musical notes, and I personally believe that the oldest hymns in the church are the funeral hymns and the hymns said during the holy week of Pascha.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE MONASTIC ERA In the fourth century Emperor Constantine issued a decree that permitted the Christians in the Roman Empire to practice their religion without any persecution. This decree resulted in an end to an era when thousands of faithful Christians volunteered to get martyred; by then the monastic life in Egypt was flourishing, and instead of dying for Christ, the monks sacrificed their life without bloodshed. The whole Christian world was amazed at the large number of Copts who left their homes and villages and headed to the deserts. Of the famous people who visited Egypt was John Casian who spent ten years moving between its monasteries, wrote many books about monasticism in Egypt, and latter on copied the Egyptian monastic life to Europe. After meeting with the monks, John Casian said, " I was watching them pray, standing up in devotion, and when they finish from reading a psalm, they would slowly bow down, without any rush, with their heads on the ground, always very focused on the prayers." He also quoted anther monk saying " If living in the desert would make you enjoy living with Christ and forget everything else, then I can say that I lived this life, with the grace of the Lord I enjoyed praying to the extent that I would forget my bodily needs, and every thing material, my soul was so involved in prayers and spiritual thoughts that by the evening I would not recall whether I ate that day or not. If St. Antony of Egypt was the first monk in Christianity, St. Pachomius was the first person in the world to establish a monastery with monks living within a monastic system. When the monastic life was later copied to Europe, it was copied with the principals laid down by St. Pachomius. There were hundreds of thousands of monks, and hundreds of monasteries spread across Egypt. Until the 8th century there were thirty-five monasteries in the city of El-Fayoum, six hundred monasteries in Alexandria, added to that the numerous communities of monks in the Western desert, Nitria, Shehet, the Farama area near Port Saied, the desert of Sinai, and many other areas. Monasticism presented the Coptic Church with Three important aspects; the first was the spiritual aspect, which taught us by example how to live a Christian spiritual life. The second was the preservation of the faith, where the monks played a very important role in maintaining the creed and the faith of the Orthodox Church. The third was the educational aspect where the monks enriched the Coptic Church with their writings. I believe that the lasting of Christianity in Egypt goes to the forefathers in the monasteries.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top HERESTIES IN THE EARLY CHURCH Initially the early Christian Church faced external problems on the hands of the Jews and the atheists. By the time those were over, internal problems from Christians in the form of Heresies caused serious disturbances to the Christian faith. The question we need to answer here is why bother with heresies? Some people would advocate simplicity by just following Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles. They would ask why complicate things with creed and faith that created all these divisions? I would like to answer these people by saying that whoever says that Christianity should just have a simple faith without a creed is mistaken. The early Church had a specific creed, which it named " the creed of the Apostles" which, although smaller than the current "creed" of the ecumenical council of Nicene, had to be learned and said by all those wishing to become Christian before being baptized. This creed was referred to in the Holy Bible as "Tradition" 1Cor.11:2 and as "Doctrine" Rom.6:17 and as "Apostles Doctrine" Acts.2:42 and as "Pattern of Sound Words" 2Tim.1:13 and as "the Faith which was Once for all delivered to the Saints" Jud.1:3. This one faith was handed to us by the Disciples and is expressed in the faith of the church, and in its practices and traditions Titus 2:1. The early church warned from those who "secretly bring destructive heresies" 2Pet.2:1, in fact St. John says "if anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds" 2Joh.10:11." The person causing the heresy would be given the chance to reject his heresy, if convinced he is forgiven, if not then he is excommunicated. Our Coptic Church has always dealt with heresies in a democratic manner, either through local or ecumenical councils. The first council was a local one, and was held in Jerusalem around 50 AD by the disciples themselves. As for the ecumenical councils our Church recognizes only the decisions taken in the first three councils.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE ECUMENICAL COUNCILS The first Ecumenical Council was held in the city of Nicene - now Nice -Northwest of Turkey - in the year 321. The main reason for the council was to settle a dispute caused by Arius, a priest from the Church of Libya, which was part of the Church of Alexandria, whose heresy stated that Christ is not of the same Essence as God the Father, but He existed and was created by the Father for the redemption of humans. Three hundred and eighteen bishops - representing the whole world Churches - attended the council. The result was the excommunication and the exile of Arius, whose teaching was condemned as a heresy. The main figure and hero of this council is Pope Alexandros the Coptic Pope and his deacon St. Athanasius, who was only in his twenties. The council adopted the creed written by St. Athanasius known as the Nicene Creed, which declares that the Father and the Son have the same Essence and equality. The Church of Alexandria had the leading role in this first council, which included bishops from the entire world. The English historian Stanley wrote in his book "lectures on the Eastern Churches", published in Oxford around 1864 AD, " Pope Alexandros was not just the leading figure in the first council due to being the Pope of Alexandria but also because he was the most knowledgeable and educated; in fact it was only Alexandros who had the title "Pope" in that council". In that council the Coptic Patriarch was given the responsibility of announcing the time of Easter to all the bishops of the world, as the Copts had the most advanced astronomers. The second ecumenical council was held in the city of Constantinople - Istanbul in Turkey - around 381, to discuss a heresy by Macedonius the bishop of Constantinople who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. In this council Macedonius was excommunicated. The council also completed the Nicene Creed " Yes, we believe in the Holy Spirit…" Pope Timothy (Pope 22nd) represented the Coptic Orthodox Church in this council and was one of its leaders. The third ecumenical council was held in the city of Ephesus around 431 to discuss many issues of concern including a heresy by Nestorius who was a bishop in Constantinople and advocated that our Lord Jesus Christ had two natures (Diophysite), and rejected the notion to call the Virgin Mary, the mother of God. St Cyril the Great, the Coptic Pope, was asked by emperor Theodosius to head this council. It was St. Cyril who fought this dangerous heresy, and his ideas in this council were taken as reference in future councils. The Nestorian heresy was condemned in this council, however it did not die, and eventually resulted in a catastrophe to the Christian faith; later on in history, this heresy was adopted by a monk named "Bohaira". The council laid down the beginning of the Nicene- Constantinople creed. " We exalt you, O mother of the true light …"       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top DIVISIONS IN THE EARLY CHURCH By the 5th century there were two main schools in Christianity, the first was the Church of Alexandria, which was known for its spiritual nature, and the second was the Church of Antioch, which was known for its logical nature. Even though the Nestorian heresy was condemned, it was still living in Constantinople. The head of a monastery in Constantinople, named Eutyches, became involved in criticizing the Nestorian heresy, however he went to the other extreme, and started to advocate that the Divinity of Christ took a supernatural humanity not a real one. So as Nestorius advocated that Christ had two independent natures, Eutyches advocated that He had one nature but only a Divine one (Monophysite). A local council was held in Constantinople and excommunicated Eutyches, unfortunately this council as well endorsed the Nestorian heresy. Eutyches did not give up, he complained to the emperor against the decisions of the council. Emperor Theodosius - known as the Orthodox King - invited Pope Dioscorus, the 25th Coptic Pope, to head a second council in Ephesus. The council was held and Eutyches assured the council in writing that he believed in the one nature of Christ recognizing his full Humanity and Divinity. The council then reversed the decision of the local council held in Constantinople and Eutyches was allowed to return to his monastery. In addition, this council excommunicated the Bishops of the local council who believed in the two natures of Christ. Things were becoming complicated; some bishops attacked the decisions of this council, specifically Leo the bishop of Rome, this was mostly done for personal reasons due to the supreme status of the Coptic Church. Leo then embraced those bishops that were excommunicated in the second council of Ephesus, and he began to advocate the two natures heresy. Pope Dioscorus held a local council in Alexandria and excommunicated the bishop of Rome. In 450, emperor Theodosius died, and with his death, the Coptic Church lost a great supporter of the Orthodox faith. The new emperor at the time was in support of the bishop of Rome, who at that time wrote a decree known as the "Tom of Leo" stating the two independent natures of Christ. The emperor invited Pope Dioscorus to his palace to convince him to consent to the "Tom of Leo". Pope Dioscorus declined and reiterated the creed as written by the forefathers, which stated that Christ's Divinity did not part from his Humanity (Miaphysite). Although most of the attendants in the council were convinced by what Dioscorus had said, there was a premeditated intention to limit the authority of Dioscorus and they insisted on holding another council. The emperor called for the council in 451 in Chalcedonia, and the Nistorian bishops started preparing for it by inviting all those who believed in the two natures of Christ. At the council, Pope Dioscorus was accused falsely of using violence in the second council of Ephesus to get the bishop's agreement and accused him of having the same beliefs as Eutyches. Pope Dioscorus defended himself and assured the council that if Eutyches still believes in his heresy he is to be excommunicated. The strong words of Pope Dioscorus made the bishops accusing him to come to their senses and they apologized to him regretting what they said. When his enemies saw that he was winning, they insisted on postponing the meeting, and to meet again in five days. However, they secretly met in three days without Dioscorus, and issued a verdict to impeach him, after which the emperor exiled him to a small island in Asia Minor. After the council of Chalcedonia the Christian Churches were broken up into Eastern and Western Churches. Without any doubt, and until now, Christianity is paying the price for the acts of Leo the bishop of Rome, and the delegate of his Church in that council.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE PRE-ARAB INVASION OF EGYPR After the break up of the Churches in the Chalcedonia council, specifically the period from 451 to 641, the Roman emperors relentlessly tried to force their heresy on the Eastern Churches. The Eastern Churches were composed of the Churches of Egypt, North Africa, Ethiopia, Armenia, and Syria. [At present both Orthodox and Catholics agree on the one nature of Christ (Christology)]. The Coptic Church led the fight against the Roman emperors, and preferred to revive the time of martyrdom than to change the Christian faith. So social turbulences were common in the countries of the Eastern non-Chalcedonian Churches, especially Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Armenia, Persia (Iran), as Orthodox Christians resisted their Roman rulers efforts to force them to adopt their heresy. After the exile of Pope Dioscorus, the emperor issued an order to appoint a new Patriarch for the Church of Alexandria; the Copts rejected this Patriarch who was imposed on them. The Copts revolted against the emperor, where approximately twenty four thousand were martyred; many of them were Church clergy. From that point onwards, there were two Patriarchs in Egypt, one appointed by the Coptic people in Egypt, and the other appointed by the emperors in Constantinople. Killing of the Copts continued on the hands of the Roman emperors. Some of the Roman Emperors tried to come up with a solution to the differences between the Chalcedoniana and non-Chalcedonian Churches by making some changes to the decisions of the Chalcedonian council. However, those changes did not address the important issue of the nature of Christ, which did not satisfy the Church of Alexandria. In 622 the Roman emperor Hercules came up with a new heresy, which was also aggressively rejected by the Church of Alexandria, he then appointed Cyrus (El- Mocaocas) as Patriarch and ruler of Egypt. Cyrus came to Alexandria around 631 and immediately began to humiliate the Copts trying to force them to accept his emperor's heresy. The Copts tried to resist him, but he was known for being a ruthless ruler, and used extreme force to crush any resistance. The situation worsened to the point that the Coptic Patriarch at the time, Pope Benjamin, fled to one of the monasteries in Southern Egypt to escape being killed on the hands of this ruler. But Cyrus managed to arrest his brother - the brother of the Pope - and after severely torturing him he burned him to death, and then threw him to the sea. Many historians record that the Copts have witnessed extreme humiliation on the hands of the Christian Roman emperors in a way never seen since the Martyrdom era on the hands of the atheists Roman Emperors. By then, the Copts had lost any loyalty to the Roman Empire in Constantinople, and hated everything Roman, which paved the way for the Arab invasion of Egypt. [In 1054 a formal division occurred between the Chalcedonian Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The main issue was a phrase that was added to the Nicene-Constantinoplian Creed by the Roman Catholic Church called the Filioque, which states that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the father through the Son. More deterioration in the relation between both Churches occurred in the days of the Crusaders. In 1204 the Latin soldiers invaded and destroyed Constantinople. The Catholics adopted more new ideas, like the Purgatory, which is a temporary punishment for some sins. Also, the idea of Indulgence, which is money paid to the Church for freeing from all or part of the punishment still due for sin after the guilt has been forgiven. As a result of the doctrine of Indulgence, hatred was built toward the authorities of the Roman Catholics. In 1517, Martin Luther (a German Monk) issued his famous ninety-five Theses in Germany attacking the doctrine of Indulgence. That was how the Reformation (Protestantism) Movement started. By 1550, Protestantism had spread throughout almost half of Europe. The Protestants went into further and further divisions to form many denominations that differ slightly or greatly from one another] [In many incidents during his sermon, Anba Youanis mentions that he was only recording a few examples of the many injustices that the Copts saw from the Muslims since the Arab invasion of Egypt and until the 20th century. He kept repeating that he did not mean to encourage any feelings of hatred towards our Muslim brothers, however, it was important for the Copts to know their history and what our ancestors had to go through to preserve the Christian faith for us!]       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE ARAB INVASION OF EGYPT 640-661 The event that baffled all historians is how did Amr Ibn El As managed to invade Egypt with a force of only 4 thousand soldiers? Egypt had a large Roman legion, with many forts; including the famous fort of Babylon, (over which the hanging Church in old Cairo sits, and where the Coptic museum is located). The Arabs kept surrounding the fort of Babylon, with Cyrus inside it, for 7 months. (In his book “The Arab conquest of Egypt”, Alfred Becker, proved that Cyrus, the appointed ruler on Egypt, was not Coptic). Cyrus requested from Amr Ibn El As to negotiate with him. However, Amr responded by giving the Copts only 3 options: 1- Convert to Islam and become our brothers. 2- Pay a tribute (Gezia) and be fully subdued to the Muslims. 3- To be killed. The surrounded Romans rejected these three options, however one of the Arab soldiers, El Zubeir Ibn El Aoam, climbed the fort barriers, at dawn, and started shouting from inside the fort “Alah Akbar”, so the Romans thought that the Arabs broke into the fort, they started to flee the fort, the doors where opened, and the Arabs entered the fort. The Arabs and the Romans agreed on a treaty, which stated that every Copt who does not convert to Islam is to pay two and a half Dinars per year; old people, women, minors, and the disabled are to be exempted. In addition, the Arabs are not to harm the Copts or their Churches in any way. After that the Arabs moved to Alexandria, the capital of Egypt, and kept surrounding it for 14 months, when it finally fell into their hands. The main reason behind the triumph of the Arabs was the continuous humiliation of the Copts by the Romans, which caused the Copts to lose all loyalty to the Romans. So the position of the Copts towards the Arabs was a neutral one, as they supported neither the Romans nor the Arabs. In his book, “ the Farok Omar”, Mohamed Hasanein Heikal said “the Copts did not assist the Romans or the Arabs, they were like spectators watching the two fighting parties with much curiosity”. There is a consensus among both Muslim and Christian historians, that the number of those who had to pay tribute to the Arabs to be six Million. Since the Women, the minors, the old, and the disabled were exempted, it was estimated that the number of Copts at that time was between twenty five to thirty Million!! From that point onwards, Egypt was ruled by governors sent by El Khalifa from El Medina El Minora, and during the time of Ali Ibn Abi Talib from El Kofa, and during the Umayyad period from Damascus, and during the Abbasid period from Baghdad. At that time, there was a document, known as the “Order of Omar”, which was rumored to have been written by the Christian Syrians when the Arabs invaded their lands. Whether Omar Ibn El Khatab consented to this decree or not is of no importance, the important fact is that this decree contained all the principles and policies on how the Muslims treated the Copts during all the following eras. The following is only part of what was mentioned in that decree “ You (the Muslims) came to us, so we ask of you to have mercy on us, we promise you not to build in our city a monastery or a Church and not to rebuild what was destroyed of it. We will not mistreat any Muslim, will not teach our children the Koran, and will not prevent any of our relatives from converting to Islam. We will honor the Muslims, will stand up for them to sit, will not dress like Muslims, and will not carry any weapons. We will not sell Alcohol, will not show the Cross on our Churches, will not ring the Church bells in a loud manner, will not celebrate on Palm Sunday, and will bury our dead away from the dead of the Muslims….” I personally doubt that Christians wrote this document, however it was the above that the Arabs used in ruling the Copts. Amr Ibn El As reconciled with the Copts on the condition that they pay the Gezia. However, the Caliph Omar Ibn El Khatab wrote to Amr requesting from him to humiliate the Dhimmi people with such things as forcing them to dress in cloth that is distinctive from the cloth of the Muslims, and by ordering them to ride - horses/donkeys - sideways (like women, both legs on one side) etc. In regards to the financial situation, the Arabs came from poor countries, living in very meager conditions, in addition to the religious motive, this gave them the incentive to exploit Egypt. Witness to this are the letters, exchanged between Omar and Amr, which showed that the Arabs wanted to collect the same amount of money from Egypt as the Romans did; Amr was quoted saying “any one hiding a treasure from me, I will attack him and kill him”. According to Ibn Abdel Hakam a Muslim historian, and writer of the book (The conquest of Egypt and its events) Amr killed a rich Coptic man in Upper Egypt named “Boutros”, subsequently the Copts rushed to give all their riches to him. Thus, the Copts had quickly gone back to suffering from the substantial amounts of taxes imposed on them. The historian Dr. Saida Ismail Elkashif said in her book (Egypt at the time of the Walys) “The Arabs focused on collecting as much Gezia as possible from the Copts, who in many cases had no choice but to convert to Islam to get rid of it. Consequently, this led to a decrease in income for the Government, who acted to double the Gezia on the Copts who remained Christian. It was said that the Caliph Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz (known to the Muslims as being “Second to Omar Ibn El Khatab” because of his fairness) ordered the Waly of Egypt Haian Ibn Sheriek to collect the Gezia of dead Copts from their families. As well, the Waly of Egypt Abdel Aziz Ibn Marwan 685-705 imposed a Gezia of one Dinar per person on the Coptic monks, he also ordered to count all the monks in the monasteries after which no one was allowed to become a monk” Dr. Saida continued to mention the many financial injustices that the Copts encountered, which forced many of them to convert to Islam. Of the many injustices that the Copts faced was excluding them from working in the government offices, although some of the Muslim Walys were moderate, however that was the exception. According to the Fakih Ibn Elnakash the following dialogue took place between Abu Mosa Elasharei and the Caliph Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz Abu Mosa: “ I hired a Christian man” Caliph Omar: “What have you done! God will punish you” Abu Mosa: “I hired him as a writer putting aside his religion” Caliph Omar: “That is not an excuse, I will not respect those whom God has humiliated, and will not honor those whom God has dishonored, and will not befriend those whom God had cast away”. This Caliph hated to see Dhimmis (Christians and Jews) have the upper hand on Muslims, and acted to abolish that. In a letter sent to his Walys he wrote, “God has honored Islam, and privileged the Muslims and made them the best people God has created, He dishonored all those who opposed the Muslims. So, do not let the affairs of the Muslims be managed by any of the Dhimmis; conquer, humiliate, and degrade them”. Some of the Muslim Scholars are moderate in their views of the Dihimmi people. Of those moderate Scholars, Dr. Mohammed Emara, who is a graduate from El Azhar and writer of the book “Islam and the national unity”, says, “It was widely believed in Islamic theology that the Dhimmi people are of second class to Muslims, hence they did not have the same rights as the Muslims”. He tries to defend the Gezia saying, “The Gezia was not imposed on the Dhimmi people for religious reasons, but only because they were not allowed to fight with the Muslims”. However, Dr. Mohammed admits that the Copts were forced to dress in distinctive cloth from that of the Muslims, and that all Islamic books concur on forbidding the building of new Churches for Christians, and Synagogues for Jews, and that the most that should be allowed is renovating the existing ones without any increase of space.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE UMAYYAD DYNASTY 661-751 After the Arabs were established in Egypt the Copts began to witness many injustices in practicing their religion on the hands of the appointed Arab Governors (Walys). Elaziz Ibn Marwan 685-705, who is know for being one of the most just Muslim rulers that governed Egypt, this “very just man” ordered to destruct all the crosses in Egypt, even the gold and silver ones; he also ordered that decrees are to be written and to be placed on the gates of Churches saying “Mohammed is the great profit of God, Eisa (Jesus) is a profit of God, and God is not begotten and does not beget.” He also banned the Copts from holding Divine Liturgies. When he went to visit Alexandria he arrested Pope John the Samanoudi, the 40th Patriarch, who was an elderly person, because he did not go to greet him. The Waly ordered that the Pope be forced to stand on fired stones, and afterwards he threatened him that unless he pay ten thousand Dinars he will force him to walk the city streets dressed like a Jew and his face covered with ashes. The Copts collected the ten thousand Dinars and gave it to the Waly. One of the reasons that the Arab governors mistreated the Coptic Popes (in addition to the religious motive) was that these governors did not keep their positions for a long time, as the Caliphs feared that they might get established and separate Egypt from them. Accordingly, these Arab governors were eager to collect as much money as possible before they were replaced. Another Waly, named Abdallah Ibn Abdelmalik, ruled Egypt 705-709, was like a beast, he would order that Copts are tortured in his presence while he ate so that their blood was splattered on his table and plates. According to Anba Sawerus Ibn Elmokafa, who was the Bishop of Ashmonin in the 10th century, and writer of the book “Biography of the Coptic Patirarchs”, Pope Alexandrous, the 43rd Patriarch, went to greet this Waly, however, once the Waly knew who he was, he ordered his men to torture the Pope until he agrees to pay three thousand Dinars. The Pope remained in jail for three days before a Coptic Deacon, named Girga, pledged to bond him for two month until they collect the three thousand Dinars. They kept traveling across the Northern provinces asking the Copts for money. This Waly also ordered that dead Copts are not to be buried unless their relatives pay the Gezia owed by them. Abdallah Ibn Abdelmalik was succeeded by a Waly named Gora Ibn Shereik, who took the same actions against Pope Alexandrous, when the Pope was ordered to pay three thousand Dinars for the second time. The Pope tried to explain that he did not have any money, and that he still owes five hundred Dinars to the previous Waly, but the Waly said, “these are useless excuses, you have to pay even if you have to sell your own flesh.” Gora Ibn Sheriek was succeeded by a Waly named Osama Ibn Zaid, who humiliated the Copts to a large extent, he killed and gouged the eyes of many Copts, many of them also died eaten by his hungry dogs, he also ordered all the monks to shave their beards. In sorrow, Anba Sawerus mentions, “because of the extreme poverty the people tended to sell their children.” The next Waly was named Obaid Allah Ibn Higab, this Waly tortured Anba Gamoul, the Bishop of Oseim (near Imbaba), after he failed to pay one thousand Dinars. The Waly’s soldiers removed Anba Gamoul’s cloth, hanged him naked in front of St. George Church in Old Cairo, and they kept flogging him, as the people watched, on a daily basis. He was finally released after the Copts pleaded to the Waly and agreed to pay him three hundred Dinars. As for the history of the life of Pope Khail - the 46th Patriarch- it is a history that was FULL of misery, he was arrested by a Waly named Abdel Malik Ibn Mousa, who ordered him to pay a large sum of money that he did not have. The Waly ordered that heavy peaces of metal were to be placed around his legs and neck, and then he threw him in jail. Pope Kail remained in jail together with Anba Moses and Anba Tadros and three hundred men and women, until the Waly finally agreed to let him go on the condition that he travels to Upper Egypt to collect the money. After the Pope gave the Waly what he collected, the Waly ordered to return him to Jail. He remained locked up in Jail until the King of the Nubia - which was a Christian empire, and its Church was part of the Coptic Church - invaded Egypt, subsequently the Waly ordered to release the Pope.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE ABBASID DYNASTY 751-870 (The previous section gave us a picture of what happened in Egypt, and all the Eastern countries. And the reason for all these catastrophes was the religious divisions, as the Christians failed to understand what our lord had said when he told us “ Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” So, this was their history and the history of how their nations were ruined. May God bless us, have mercy on us; we ask of Him to fulfill His promise to us when He said about His Church “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”) During the period from 725-825, we can count seven big revolutions that the Copts had; unfortunately though, they were only done in protest of their deteriorating conditions and not because of patriotism. [The last Coptic revolution against the Abbasid ended with a horrible massacre. In that period of time the women were forced to wear the attire of the prostitutes, the men had to wear funny clothes and to ride only donkeys. The large houses of the Christians were seized and turned to mosques. The “Poll” tax on the Christians went sky high. Great numbers of the Copts were kicked out of their jobs. Some Churches were destroyed, and others were banned from praying. A big number of low socioeconomic classes turned to Islam. The Islamization rate had a sharp rise due to financial hardship, social restriction, insecurity, legal inferiority, and Moslem hostility. The number of Moslems exceeded the number of Christians at that period.]       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE TULUNID DYNASTY The founder of the Tulunid state was Ahmad Ibn Tulun, who triumphed over the Abbasid’s appointed Waly. For the first time, in its history, Egypt became an independent state governed by a Muslim ruler. In many instances Muslim historians imply that Ahmad was a virtuous person with a love for charity, and that he was known to have learned the Qoran very well. They however agree that that he was very quick in using the sword, in sixteen years, during which he ruled Egypt, he killed - directly and indirectly - eighteen thousand persons. The numerous buildings that he left indicate that he spent a lot, in addition, after his death, the Egyptian treasury had in excess of ten million Dinars, which made many question about the source of this wealth! It was an Islamic habit that new rulers have to establish a grand Mosque [El-Masjid El-Jammie]. Ahmad acted to build his great Mosque - which still exists in Cairo - spending large sums of money. This made some of the Muslims refuse to pray in it, doubting the source of the money, however, Ahmad gave a speech where he swore that he did not use force in collecting the money, it was then rumored that he found a treasure of the Pharaohs. However, Ahmad Ibn Tulun was not telling the truth about the source of money, the English historian Stanley Lem Pool says, “ it is almost certain that Ahmad Ibn Tulun had levied huge amounts of money on the Coptic Patriarchs, especially Pope Shenouda 1st. It is fair to say that the actions of some of the Copts were a reason for some of the problems that Pope Shenouda 1st had. However, whenever there was a rumor about the Pope, Ahmad would quickly make it an excuse to torture the Pope, and impose a monetary penalty on him. History gives us numerous examples of Christians who falsely accuse their fellow Copts in order to gain the sympathy of the Muslim rulers. And unfortunately, until now, these things still happen but in different forms of sin. The first case was a deacon who made a complaint of Pope Shenouda to Ahmad claiming that the Pope had borrowed large sums of money from him and would not return it back, the deacon also presented Ahmad with three Muslim witnesses. However, the witnesses failed to identify Pope Shenouda, and he was let go. The second case was a conspiracy by a monk who claimed that the Pope forcefully collects money from the Copts. This time, and without any investigation, Ahmad arrested Pope Shenouda and many of the bishops, removed their cloth, dressed them in dirty cloth and then ordered his soldiers to humiliate the Pope and bishops in front of the people in the city streets, and then ordered to throw them in jail with metal cuffs placed on their hands and legs. All this was done without even giving the Pope a chance to defend himself; the Pope was later cleared and let go. The third case was a monk who accused the Pope of deliberately converting Muslims to Christians in the Coptic monasteries, subsequently Ahmad tried to bribe one of the monks to say that he converted to Christianity from Islam, when the monk refused, Ahmad had to let go of Pope Shenouda. The fourth case was by an impeached bishop, who accused the Pope of possessing large sums of money, gold, and silver in Churches and monasteries. Again Ahmad took this accusation as an excuse to throw the Pope in Jail, he later agreed to release the Pope if he agreed to collect twenty thousand Dinars from the Copts. While the Pope was visiting a city named Talees - in the Northern province - a monk asked the Pope’s disciples to inform the Pope that his problem will end in forty days and he quickly disappeared from their sight. In forty days, Ahmad died, and the first thing his successor did was to pardon the Pope from paying the amount of money that was imposed on him. One of the famous Copts at the time of Ahmad Ibn Tulun was a Coptic engineer named Saeed Ibn Katib Elfaragani; Saeed designed the Nile barometer and also designed an irrigation system of water reservoirs connected by channels. As Ahmad was inspecting the reservoirs his horse tripped on some dirt left by the construction workers, so he ordered to put Saeed in jail. While in jail, Saeed heard that Ahmad had decided to build his grand Mosque, and that the Mosque will have three hundred columns. Saeed was concerned that, likewise to many other grand Mosques, Ahmad will get the needed columns to build the Mosque from the Coptic Churches (visitors to the Mosque of Amr Ibn El As, in Cairo, would easily recognize that it was built with columns taken from Coptic Churches, as the columns are of totally different styles and lengths). For Saeed, this meant the destruction of many Churches, so he made a model for a grand Mosque design that would only need two columns. Saeed did that by inventing the use of pointed arches, which c enturies latter, appeared in Europe [as the famous Gothic Architecture]. Even the motifs and ornaments in Ahmad’s Mosque are similar to that of the El Suryan Monastery in Egypt. After the Mosque was built, using Saeed’s design, Ahmad asked Saeed to convert to Islam, when Saeed refused, Ahmad ordered to behead him and he was martyred.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE IKHSHIDID DYNASTY It was a period in Egypt’s history that was characterized by extreme poverty; to a great extent it was the Copts who suffered the most. In General, this period also witnessed good relations between the Copts and the Muslims, although whenever the Byzantines win a battle against the Muslims in the East, the Muslims would attack the Copts destroying many Churches and Monasteries. In many occasions the government would quickly calm the crowds and bring peace and order to the streets. Of the famous Copts of that time is Anba Sawerus Ibn Elmokafaa, who wrote twenty-six books on many areas of Christianity, including the famous and important book “The Biography of the Coptic Patriarchs”, he was also the first to write Christian books in Arabic.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE FATIMID DYNASTY 972-1171 The Fatimids ruled Egypt for two hundred years. They treated the Copts in either extreme fairness or extreme cruelty, depending on who ruled Egypt. They established the city of Cairo as capital of Egypt, and built the El Azhar Mosque. Initially, the Fatimids, who were Muslim Shiites, tried to win the Egyptian Muslims, who were Muslim Sunnis, by persecuting the Copts. They prohibited the Copts from celebrating their new years celebration (El Nairoz), any Copt who disobeyed was hanged. One of the most important Fatimid Caliphs is El-Moez Li Din Ilah, who was always very keen in finding reasons to persecute the Copts. El- Moez had a Jewish minister who converted to Islam in order to get the minister’s job; this minister hated the Copts to a great extent, he informed El-Moez that Christians have a verse in the Bible that states that when Christians pray with faith they can move mountains. El-Moez saw that the city of Cairo would benefit if the mountain of El-Mokkatum is moved, and if the Copts fail to move the mountain then he would have an excuse to further persecute them. In a meeting with Pope Abram, El-Moez ordered the Pope to move the mountain or he would “Wipe out Christianity from the face of the earth”. The Pope gathered all the monks and bishops and while he was crying he asked them to pray and fast because a great catastrophe was about to take place. The Virgin Mary appeared to the Pope and asked him to go to Simon the shoemaker whose prayers will move the mountain. In the third day, El- Moez and his soldiers went to the mountain, where the Pope, the Church clergy, many of the Copts, including Simon, were gathered at the foot of the mountain, all of them were praying that the mountain moves and the massacre would be avoided. As Simon and the people prayed, “Lord have mercy” the mountain was lifted and started to move, the incident continued until El-Moez panicked and ordered the Copts to stop praying. Following this incident, El-Moez told the Pope to ask for anything and it shall be done. The Pope asked for the renovation of the hanging Church and the Church of Abu-Sefeen, which the Muslim had destroyed. El-Moez agreed and offered to pay for the renovations, the Pope refused, and insisted on not using government funds for the renovations. When the Muslims noticed the rebuilding of the Church they gathered around the Church, led by a Muslim clerk of a nearby Mosque, and stopped the construction. The Pope complained to El-Moez who immediately rode his horse to the Church accompanied by his soldiers and ordered to continue the construction. When the people saw his determination they moved from the area, however the Muslim clerk resisted, and if not for the intervention of the Pope he would have been killed by El-Moez. The English historian Butler mentions in his book “The ancient Coptic Churches” that after the occurrence of the miracle, El-Moez converted to Christianity and was baptized in a Church in Old Cairo, and that latter on, he resigned from his position and spent the rest of his life in a Coptic monastery. Some of the modern Muslim historians deny the miracle, however, not only that this miracle was recorded by those days historians, including the historian Abu-Elmakarim and the Italian voyager Marco Polo, but also the drastic and sudden change in the manner the Copts were treated by El-Moez proves that the miracle took place. Before he resigns, El-Moez appointed his son El-Aziz Bi Amr Ilah to rule Egypt. El-Aziz Bi Amr Ilah ruled Egypt from 976-996. During his regime the Copts lived in complete peace, and enjoyed total equality with the Muslims, in many cases the government permitted the building of Churches. In spite of objections from the Muslims, the government appointed many Copts and Jews to the government offices. In a rare event a Muslim who was arrested after he converted to Christianity was released by orders from El-Aziz, and was not harmed. In contrast, the Fatimid caliph El-Hakim Bi Amr Ilah persecuted the Copts in unprecedented ways. He had a Coptic minister, named Fahed, who served him for six years, however the Muslims complained about allowing a Copt to the minister’s position. El-Hakim requested from Fahed to convert to Islam, when Fahed refused, El-Hakim cut his head and burned his body, and he was martyred. In another incident, El-Hakim arrested ten Copts including a man named Ghoubrial Ibn Nagah and ordered them to convert to Islam, Ghoubrial asked for one day to think it over. Ghoubrial then went to his family, told them of what has happened, and that he intended to remain Christian and to refuse El-Hakim’s order. He asked them to pray for him and to stead fast to Christianity and the Kingdom of heaven, he then went back to El-Hakim and confirmed his Christianity. El-Hakim ordered his soldiers to flog him with the harshest whiplashes for one thousand times until he converts to Islam. When he was flogged eight hundred times, he asked for some water, the soldiers went back to El-Hakim to ask if it was alright to give G houbrial some water. El-Hakim agreed on the condition that Ghoubrial converts to Islam, the soldiers took some water and told Ghoubrial of El-Hakim’s conditions. Ghoubrial told the soldiers “return his water to him, for Jesus Christ had already given me water”, and he died right away, the soldiers saw the water dripping from his beard. The soldiers went back to El-Hakim and told him that Ghoubrial had died at eight hundred lashes, El-Hakim ordered to continue flogging the dead body until the one thousand lashes are completed. The other nine Copts refused to convert to Islam, however after being brutally tortured, four converted to Islam, and two were martyred. Of the four that converted to Islam, one died the same night, and the other three returned to Christianity after wards. El-Hakim escalated his persecution of the Copts to a great extent, “sorrow and pain fills my heart as I read these incidents to you, I wonder why would anyone go this far to change the religion of others”. El-Hakim ordered the execution of many of the Copts who worked for the government if they will not convert to Islam. In 1004 El-Hakim ordered the Copts to wear distinctive cloth, he also ordered the demolition of all Churches in the city of Cairo, and to confiscate all Church property. In a serious precedent, he issued a decree to demolish the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which caused an international uproar and was one of the main reasons that caused the invasions by the crusaders. In 1009 El-Hakim banned all forms of Church celebrations, prohibited the ringing of Church bells, and ordered the removal of the signs of the cross from the hands of all Copts. In 1011 he dictated that all Copts must wear wooden crosses that weighted five pounds and measured two feet, and the ropes carrying the cross are to be made from rough fiber so that it leaves a mark on the back of the neck, it was said that this practice was the reason the Copts were known to have “blue bones”. Copts were forbidden from using public transportation such as donkeys, boats, e.t.c. A historian named Yahia Ibn Saied Al-Intaki, who died in 1066, records that in 1012 as the situation deteriorated to a great extent, many Copts, including Church clergy, gathered and headed to El-Hakim’s palace, walking bare footed, without head covers, crying and weeping and kissing the ground of the palace, begging him to forgive the Copts and stop the persecution. In 1013 El-Hakim issued a decree to destroy all the Churches of Egypt, according to the Muslim historian El-Makrizi, thirty thousand Churches and Monasteries were destroyed. The situation worsened at the street level, where the public took advantage of the carnage that was taking place due to the government decisions and huge numbers participated in the destruction of the Churches, and in digging out the bodies of dead Copts and burning them. Finally El-Hakim issued a decree giving the Copts two choices, either convert to Islam or to be killed. Many converted to Islam and many left Egypt. "El-Makrizi also records that the Coptic Pope Zakariat - the 64th Patriarch - was arrested by El-Hakim and thrown to a lion's din, but miraculously survived. In addition to the huge number of destroyed Churches, El-Hakim also ordered to convert many Churches into Mosques, including the famous Church of St. Shenouda, where the Muslims prayed from its roof (called the Azan from it). El-Hakim also killed many of the Church clergy, and prevented the Copts from praying in their homes. Even though many converted to Islam, many Copts refused to convert and were martyred. Before his death El-Hakim began to moderate towards the Copts, " I believe that his moderation was during the period in which he claimed to be of divine nature". It is important to learn about the plight of the Coptic language during El-Hakim's regime. The Coptic language is the spoken language of the Hieroglyphic language in its last stage. It is written in twenty Greek alphabets, added to it seven Coptic alphabets. When the Arabs invaded Egypt, most of the educated people spoke the Greek language since it was the language of the civilized world, however the Coptic language was the spoken language by all Egyptians and it was the language spoken in the government offices “El-Dawawin”. During the time of the Caliph Al-Walid Ibn Abdelmalik and his governor the waly Abdelah Ibn Abdelmalik, and specifically in 705, Arabic was declared to be the main language in Egypt instead of Coptic. This waly, who hated and persecuted the Copts to a great extent, acted to eliminate the positions of writers “El-Kotab” from the Copts, by changing the written language in the government offices from Coptic to Arabic, the job that was occupied mainly by Copts due to their higher education. The Copts had no choice but to learn Arabic in order to maintain their jobs. A severe blow to the Coptic language followed when El-Hakim Bi-Amr-Illah ordered all Egyptians to stop using the Coptic language in the homes and streets. He also ordered the punishment of those who spoke Coptic by cutting their tongues, especially the mothers who taught their children the Coptic language in their homes. Many governors after him followed his steps so that the Coptic language was only kept alive in Churches and Monasteries, where the clergymen suffered to a great extent in keeping the Coptic language alive while at the same time performing their services to the public only in Arabic. There were days when the Church had to cover the walls with curtains as the rulers used to send soldiers to listen, so that if the soldiers hear Coptic inside the Church they would attack the worshipers killing all who was inside it without any mercy. Pope Ghoubrial - the 70th Patriarch, 1131-1145 - was the first Pope who ordered to read the Bible in Arabic. The Arabic language became the main language in the 13th century. However the Coptic language was still the main language used in southern Egypt until the 17th century period. During the Ayoubid’s era, a group of Coptic academics and scholars wrote many books and dictionaries documenting the basics of the Coptic language and its grammar that assisted in preserving the language. Of the famous Copts who were involved in documenting the Coptic language is a family known by Awlad El-Asaal. The Fatimid Caliph El-Montasir Bi Amr-Ilah ruled Egypt for sixty years, as he got to be a Caliph at age seven. In 1069 a major starvation hit Egypt, people ate dogs, cats, and even human flesh. Even though Egypt was suffering from severe starvation and plagues, nonetheless the destruction and closure of Churches continued and included Churches in Upper Egypt and Alexandria. During that time the crusaders were successful in recapturing Jerusalem from the Muslims. The Fatimids got concerned that the crusaders were in their way to invading Egypt, so to prevent the city of Fustat, which was mainly occupied by Copts, from falling in the hands of the crusaders, the government poured twenty thousand barrels of oil on the city and set it on fire. The fire kept burning for fifty days, after which many Copts became homeless and ruined.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE AYOUBID DYNASTY The final days of the Fatimids were characterized by chaos, where many of the ministers fought each other as the Caliphs became very weak. The crusaders continued their successes in recapturing many areas of the East. They succeeded in landing on the Syrian shores in 1096 with armies from the Vatican, England, France and Germany, and managed to establish themselves in Jerusalem, Antioch, Lebanon and Iraq. During that time Egypt was still under the Fatimid’s rule, however it was actually ruled by ministers led by Badr El-Jamaly, an Armenian who converted to Islam to become minister, those ministers were concerned that the Copts would assist the crusaders in capturing Egypt, so they acted to crush the Copts and increase taxes on them, a new period of Coptic persecution prevailed. From their side the crusaders also hated the Copts and considered them as heretics (up to the second council of the Vatican in 1962 the mere entry of a Catholic into a Coptic Church was considered a mortal sin). Consequently the Copts suffered from both the Arabs, who were suspicious of the Copts and acted to persecute and increase taxes on them, and the crusaders, who in revenge of the Copts, because they refused to assist them, prohibited the Copts from visiting the holy places in Jerusalem. Salah El-Din El-Ayoubi, who was a Sunni Muslim, managed to take over the reins in Egypt and ended the Fatimid’s dynasty. The Ayoubids ruled Egypt for almost eighty years, 1171-1250, they are well known for their success in defeating the crusaders. After Salah got established in Egypt he acted to prevent the Copts from working in the government offices. However in many instances he failed, because of the need for the skills and honesty of the Copts in running the government’s treasury. So he began to humiliate the Copts by forcing them to wear distinctive cloth, and to prevent them from riding horses, he also increased taxes on them to an extent where many Copts were forced to sell their properties. Many Copts converted to Islam, including a famous Coptic family in the city of Asyout, named by “the family of Zakaria Ibn Manashid” who couldn’t pay the taxes that was imposed on them, but once they converted to Islam and changed their names they were immediately forgiven and were allowed to keep their jobs in the government offices. Salah also tried to demolish the historical Church of St. Mark in Alexandria, and in 1173 he sent his army to destroy and bring down the strong Christian kingdom of the Nubians in southern Egypt, and managed to destroy many of its Churches and Monasteries. This was the first serious Islamic invasion to the Nuba, which was totally Christian and loyal to the Coptic Church. He arrested many monks and Bishops and sold many of them as slaves, including the Bishop of the Nuba. In his way to destroy the Nubian civilization he also demolished many of the strong Coptic centers in Upper Egypt including the famous and flourishing Coptic city of Kist, which was flattened with the ground. Salah’s victories were culminated when he conquered Jerusalem in 1187; with the defeat of the crusaders, the Ayoubid’s began to moderate towards the Copts. Salah employed two Copts named Abu Mansour and Abu Mashkor to design for him the famous castle of Salah El-Din in Cairo. After Salah’s death, the crusaders retried to conquer Egypt, they landed on the shores of the city of Demyat. The Muslims in Cairo were afraid that the Copts would assist the crusaders, so armies were sent to the city of Demyat and killed all the Copts of the city without any mercy. However, the crusaders were stopped at the city of Mansoura, and their leader Louis 7th was taken captive, when given the choice of death or Islam the crusaders chose Islam.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE MAMLUKS DYNASTY 1250-1798 The Mamluks (slaves) were bought from different regions, and were used by the Arabs since the Tulunid’s dynasty. The Ayoubids were active in buying Mamluks who were of Turkish origin. The rule of those Turkish Mamluks of Egypt was a disaster for the Copts; without any doubt it was the most ruthless and brutal that the Copts have witnessed in their history “during world war one, the Turks have literally slaughtered one million Armenians, no honor or principles, just savagery and a lust for shedding blood ”. Although the Mamluks maintained their own culture and language in Egypt, unfortunately, the Egyptian Muslims favored them, and took their side, against the Egyptian Copts. In his book “Egypt in the middle ages” the Muslim historian Doctor Ali Ibrahim Hassan says “The Copts suffered to a great extent during the Mamluk’s dynasty, and in many and different ways the Sultans mistreated the Copts and acted to prevent them from working in the government offices in order to please the public and the fanatics who hated the Copts. However, due to the government’s need of the Copts it would quickly return them to its offices. In 1300 a formal decree was issued to prohibit the Copts and Jews from working in the government unless they convert to Islam. The government’s orders were strictly enforced, and it was announced that whoever disobeys would be killed. Still, many of the Muslim clerks and the public protested against the government’s leniency towards the Copts. The Copts were extremely persecuted by the Mamluks over the 550 years that they ruled Egypt; we can only mention some examples of what took place”. The Coptic historian Al-Mufadal Ibn Abi Al-Fadael records that, in 1265, the Sultan El-Dahir Pepers (the district of El-Dahir in Cairo is named after him) ordered the arrest and execution, by burning, of all Copts and Jews. Subsequently, many Copts were taken to the castle of Salah El-Din, where the soldiers put them into groups and as they embarked on setting the people on fire, a monk, who was a hermit in one of the mountains, approached the Sultan and offered to make a payment of five-hundred thousand Dinars in return of the release of the people. It was rumored that this monk found a treasure in the mountain and was using the money to assist the poor and the needy; the people were set free on the condition that the Sultan receives fifty thousand Dinars per year for ten years. The Muslim historian El-Makrizi also mentioned a similar version of the above story in his writings. In 1280, at the time of Al-Mansour Saif El-Din Kaloon, all Copts were dismissed from working in the government and were replaced by Muslims; in the same year an order was given to demolish the Khandag Monastery (Anba Rueiss Monastery, where the current Cathedral is located). Once the order was made public, the Muslims came out in great numbers and flattened the Monastery with the ground. In 1284 some of the Mamluks revolted against Al-Mansour, who got outraged, and sent his soldiers to the streets, who for three consecutive days, killed all who fell in their hands men, women, and children; the streets were filled with corpuses and covered with blood. The historians record that some Muslim scholars went to Al-Mansour and begged him to have mercy on the people, and to stop the massacres. Al-Mansour felt guilty, and in order to compensate the people for his sins, he ordered to build houses and hospitals for the poor and the sick. In his efforts to compensate and please the people, and as part of his good deeds, he gave orders to persecute the Copts by prohibiting them from riding horses and mules, and allowed them to only ride donkeys, and that none of the Copts are allowed to speak to a Muslim while riding on a donkey, he has to step down first. He also forced the Copts to wear their clothes without washing it, and gave many other orders that aimed at humiliating the Copts. El-Makrizi mentions that a Copt named Ein El-Gazal, who worked as a writer (katib) for one of the Mamluk princes, demanded from a Muslim to pay the money that he owed to the prince. The Muslim person refused to pay and asked for more time, Ein El-Gazal insisted on taking him to the prince, but when the passing by people saw the quarrel they began to beat up the Coptic writer, who screamed for the prince’s aid. The prince immediately sent his servants who released Ein El-Gazal, and tried to arrest those who were beating him, however the people fled running towards the Sultan’s palace. In their way more and more people began to join them until they became a big crowd, and began to shout in loud voices for the Sultan to save them from the might of the Copts. When the Sultan came out to inquire about what was happening, the crowd began to protest against the supremacy of the Copts, and accused the Mamluk princess of preferring to hire Coptic writers to the Muslim ones. The Sultan became fearful of the crowds, so, without investigating, he ordered to bring some of the Coptic writers to be executed in his palace. Two of the Sultan princess begged him to forgive the Copts, but the Sultan agreed to let them live only if they converted to Islam. In a short time the Sultan’s decision became known in all of Cairo, so some of the public took this as an opportunity to assault the Copts all over the city, “El-Makrizi continues”, in fact some of the public attacked the Copts in their homes, and managed to grab and take away some of the girls and women from their houses. They also raided the Hanging Church, and killed some of the Christians who were inside it. All of this was happening while the Sultan was preparing to burn the Coptic writers who refused to convert to Islam, so when one of the princes told the writers that he failed to convince the Sultan to let them go and that they will die, they, unfortunately, agreed to convert to Islam and signed letters to confirm their decisions. The prince took them to the Sultan who instantly ordered to reward and honor them; they were taken to the judges where they reiterated their conversion. At the same time the public was still rampant against the Copts and did not stop until the Sultan sent his soldiers to bring order to the streets by force, “if this is the testimony of a Muslim, what is the truth? In 1301, during the disastrous regime of El-Nasir Ibn Kaloon who was known of annihilating the Copts in masses, a minister from Morocco visited Cairo, in his way to pilgrimage. The minister met with El-Nasir and discussed with him the high-status of the Jews and Christians in Egypt, and asked why are they allowed to ride horses, and work in the government, comparing them to the Jews and Christians of Morocco who are being extremely humiliated. After the meeting El-Nasir ordered to prohibit all Copts from working for the Sultan or the Princes, and that the Copts are to wear blue head covers and the Jews yellow head covers. He also ordered to evaluate all estates that belonged to Coptic Churches and Monasteries, which totaled twenty five thousand acres; he then ordered to seize all these estates to be distributed to the Mamluk Princes. He also ordered to demolish many Churches, including a Church that contained the body of St. John the Samanhoudi, which was demolished by the Waly of Cairo who dug out the body of St. John, burned it in a public square, and threw the ashes in the sea to prevent the Copts from taking it. Another catastrophe, that hit the Copts from Aswan to Demyat, took place in 1320; it had to be a serious conspiracy and a well thought out plot when the Muslims suddenly went out in large masses and started to assault the Copts across Egypt killing many of them and destroying many Churches. We are not sure whether the Sultan was behind these deliberate activities or not, in any case, he aided and supported it, in fact he even intensified it. El-Makrizi records, that El-Nasir decided to build a pond with a fountain named after him, this pond was to end in a spot that was close to a large Coptic Church in old Cairo, named Church of the Zohary, which was one of the holiest Churches of Old Cairo, and was also close to other smaller Churches. The construction workers kept digging for the pond until they finished in a spot near to the Church. Then on Friday “as usual it has to be a Friday!” the workers and some of the people began to shout to the princes to destroy the Church shouting “Alaho Akbar”, and then they began to demolish the Church killing all who was inside it, “it seems that the Copts were praying inside the Church for this reason”, and did not stop until the Church was flattened with the ground. They then moved and demolished the Church of Bu-Mina, which was an old Church for St. Mina in El-Hamra, and stole all what was inside it. They also attacked two adjacent Churches, one of which was known to have a residence for Coptic girls, broke the doors and took about sixty of the girls after they undressed them, and then they burned the two Churches. When the people, who were exiting the Mosques, saw the dust and the smoke coming out of the Churches, they also joined the crowds. The news spread to the Sultan, in addition more news came out that the Church in Haret El-Rome and the Church of Haret-Zueila were destroyed and that the public was surrounding the hanging Church in Old Cairo with Copts inside it. The Sultan then ordered to arrest all those who were responsible for those massacres, and asked his princes to send soldiers to calm the crowds, but when the Waly and his soldiers saw how large was the crowd they got scared and left them alone. Then a Muslim clerk started to shout from inside the Mosque of Qaleet El-Gabal saying “Alaho Akbar, destroy the Churches”, and the same took place in the Mosque of El-Azhar, within a few days four Churches in Alexandria were destroyed, two in Damanhour, and Six in Qous in southern Egypt. The Sultan got worried of what was happening, but the princes calmed him down assuring him that what took place could not have been done by human beings and that it must be from God and by his orders to punish the Christians. A month latter a big fire took place in Old Cairo, and the wind was strong in that day which assisted the fire to spread quickly from house to house. Then a rumor came out that the Copts were behind the fire and that Coptic Monks from a near by Monastery confessed of the crime “I doubt that this was the truth”, consequently the public attacked the Monastery, on Friday, and burned the Monks. Then the crowds, about twenty thousand of them, walked the streets shouting “Nasar Alah Al-Islam, la Deen ila deen Mohamed “ and went to the Sultan who was shaken from the loudness of the people, and was forced to give the order that anyone who finds a Copt can kill him. The Muslims began to kill the Copts to the point that the Copts stopped going out of their homes, and when they did, they borrowed the cloth of the Jews in order to be safe, many converted to Islam and many were killed. “Nothing is new, either convert to Islam or be killed, the same that took place since the Arabs arrived to Egypt”. El-Makrizi continues to count the number of Churches that were destroyed to total fifty-nine Churches, and many Monasteries. At a latter date, El-Nasir agreed to let the Copts rebuild the Church of St. Barbara in Old Cairo, but when the Muslims noticed the construction they quickly destroyed what was built, and established a Zawia (Mosque) in its place, and began to pray from inside it, when the Copts protested, the Sultan ordered to demolish the Zawia. In another incident, a Copt was accused that his grandfather converted to Islam, “once you become a Muslim, your children automatically become Muslims, no freedom, no human rights!” So a judge ordered that the Coptic man is to be put in jail until he admits to being a Muslim “if Islam calls for freedom, where is the freedom of choice?” the Copts complained of the judge to the Waly who criticized the judge on his wrong judgment and ordered to release the man. When the people found out that the Waly ordered the release of the Coptic man, they took to the streets, attacking the Copts and throwing the Waly with stones. Even though some Copts weakened under pressure and converted to Islam, El-Makrizi records many examples of Copts who refused to relinquish their Christianity. In 1390 a group of men and women, who were forced to convert to Islam, came to Cairo and declared in public that they renounce Islam and that they were going back to Christianity and prefer to die in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and immediately they were all beheaded (whoever goes inside the trap of Islam can never come out, no freedom, no human rights). In 1392 four monks were burned to death, after they were accused of defamation to Islam.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE OTTOMAN DYNASTY 1517-1798 In 1517 the Ottoman Sultan Salim 1st, defeated the Mamluk Sultan Toman Bai in the battle of El-Abbassia, and from that point Egypt became part of the Ottoman Caliphate. The Sultan split the power in Egypt between three parties, his deputy, the army, and the Mamluks, and by this he managed to keep Egypt under his rule. The Ottoman dynasty is considered to be one of the worst for the Copts, where the burning of Churches and the assaults on the Copts continued. It was the Ottomans who declared as law “El-Khat El-Hamayouni”, Khat means written and Hamayouni means by the Sultan, which prohibits the building of Churches unless it was approved by the Sultan. (In the 1952 revolution the Egyptian government annulled all laws that were not Egyptian, but for some reason kept only one law, and that was “El-Khat El-Hamayouni”).       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE FRENCH EXPEDITION 1798-1801 The French came to Egypt led by France’s emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and although their occupation of Egypt have lasted for only three years, but it was a very important era in Egypt’s history. From its debut in 1789 the French revolution changed the face of Europe, it started as a bloody revolution, but once established, it began to export its principles to other parts of Europe. The main principles of the revolution were liberty, brotherhood, and equality, however many of the old dictatorship regimes of Europe resisted the French revolution including France’s main enemy Britain. Hence the main reason behind Napoleon occupation of Egypt was to cut off the supply routes between Britain and its colonies in the Far East. However, in order to gain the loyalty of the Egyptians, he falsely declared that his purpose of coming to Egypt was to defend Islam, and that the French will soon embrace Islam, in fact, he even went to a Mosque in Alexandria and prayed with the Muslims, imitating them in all their rituals. After they occupied Alexandria, the French moved to Cairo and managed to defeat the Mamluks. By that time all the houses of the Copts were either looted or destroyed by the Ottomans, and the Copts have either fled to Upper Egypt or to Syria and Lebanon. Napoleon established an assembly of Egyptians, totally composed of Muslims, to assist the French to govern Egypt, which was the first opportunity given to the Egyptians to participate in running their country. However, before Napoleon becomes established in Egypt his fleet was completely destroyed by the English fleet in a sea battle, consequently Napoleon was disconnected from France, and had to depend on Egypt’s resources to preserve his army”. “Napoleon’s defeat led to the Muslims revolting against him, while rioting the people also attacked and burned the Coptic Patriarchate in Harat El-Rome, near El-Azhar, after which, the Coptic Pope moved his residence to Harat El-Nasara in El-Azbakia. But Napoleon managed to crush the revolution by force, and in revenge of the Muslims, whom he thought had betrayed him, he dissolved the assembly that he created and established a new one comprised of both Muslims and Non-Muslims. He also dismissed the chief judge who was an Ottoman and asked the Muslim Clerks to choose an Egyptian judge from between them to be the chief judge, however they rejected his offer preferring to have an Ottoman to head them to an Egyptian one! When Napoleon was defeated at Akaa, he fled secretly to France and appointed Kleber to lead his army in Egypt. Kleber began to negotiate with England on the French withdrawal from Egypt, and agreed to let the Ottoman army to return to Egypt. But before they agree on the conditions of withdrawal, some of the Turkish soldiers managed to get into Cairo, and with them returned some of the Egyptian Muslims who fled Egypt before the French arrival, including Omar Makram who is considered by some as a national hero. Before they even formally take over the reins in Egypt, the Ottomans under the leadership of Mustafa Pasha, who gave an order to kill all the Copts, attacked the people in Cairo and looted all the houses; the Muslim historian El-Jabarti records that the people wished the return of the French. In one incident the Turkish soldiers went to Harat El-Nasara, Bab-Elsharia, El-Moski and killed many of its residents, when the people complained to Mustafa pasha, he totally dismissed them. However, the negotiations between the French and the English failed, and Kleber decided to stay and ordered the Ottomans out of Egypt. A group of Egyptians, led by Omar Makram, revolted against the French and demanded the return of the Turks. (This revolution was not a national one as some would like to make it, since its aim was to get the Ottomans back in Egypt, and even though all historians, Muslims and Non-Muslims, agree that the Ottomans humiliated and ill-treated the Egyptians, but it was acceptable to ignore all injustices in order for Egypt to remain in the hands of an Islamic Caliphate!). Unlike Omar Makram, a prominent Copt named El-Mealem Yacoub Hanna managed to convince the French to establish an Egyptian army, as he was convinced that the only solution to Egypt’s problem was in a strong Egyptian army. (Egypt did not have a national army since the conquest by Alexander the great). Many of the moderate Muslim historians agree that Yacoub was the first to call for a national Egyptian army, including Mohamed Sabri El-Sarbouni, in his book “Egypt in modern history” who said that Yacoub was the first to call for Egypt’s independence.”       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top MOHAMMED ALI 1805-1849 The French left Egypt in 1801, and within four years, Mohammed Ali managed to take over the reins in Egypt. Mohamed Ali is the founder of modern Egypt, and was famous for using Copts to assist him in running the various Government functions such as El-Mealem Girgis El-Gohary who helped in administrating the financial affairs of Egypt and El-Mealem Rizk who was the manager of Customs and taxation departments. He also appointed Boutros Aga as governor for the city of Girga and administrator for the agricultural affairs, and appointed Antoun Abu Tagia as governor for the province of El-Shargia, and many others in critical governments positions. Mohammed Ali was very cooperative in allowing the Copts to build or renovate their Churches; in 1839 he issued a decree to abolish the Gezia, which was enacted since the invasion of Egypt by the Arabs, he also cancelled a previous order that prohibited the Copts from visiting the holy lands, he was also quick to crush any of the fanatic Muslims from causing a social rift. In 1844, a Coptic merchant named Sidhom Bichay was in the port city of Dimyat to buy some wood, in his way to the Church, one of the Muslims confronted him and falsely accused him of insulting Islam and the prophet of the Muslims, he was taken to the judge, who gave him the choice of Islam or death, and the Mayor of Dimyat also concurred with the judgment, however Sidhom chose to die than convert to Islam. He was then severely tortured, his body mutilated in front of the public, and boiling oil was poured on his body, witnesses to the incident record that before he gave the spirit he pointed forward and shouted, “ there is the Virgin Mary, please bring a chair for her to sit, please bring a chair for the lady”. The people took this opportunity to attack the Christians including the foreign representatives of some countries, who complained to Mohammed Ali. When Mohammed Ali investigated the incidents he concluded that Sidhom was falsely accused, so he immediately ordered to dismiss the judge and the mayor of Demyat “which is the right thing to do, unlike nowadays when something happens the guilty are not punished” Although Mohammed Ali improved the status of the Copts, we cannot say that the Copts achieved complete equality with the Muslims. In many incidents he rewarded those who converted to Islam, both financially and with government jobs. He was also quick to punish, in public, those who converted from Islam, he even enticed a French general to convert to Islam, and when he did, he made him the leader of his armies and was named Soliman pasha El-Farancawi “the street of Soliman pasha in Cairo is named after him”. In fairness, he created a more tolerant society, and was a role model followed by his successors. One of the famous Coptic Saints during the time of Mohammed Ali was Anba Sarabamon, the Bishop of the Monufia. Of his many miracles, he was asked to pray for the daughter of Mohammed Ali who was sick and all doctors including French doctors failed to heal her. Anba Sarabamon went to the palace of Mohammed Ali and managed to heal his daughter. He was also once riding his mule when a bandit confronted him and asked for his money, Anba Sarabamon told the bandit that he has no money, but the bandit insisted on searching his pockets, when Anba Sarabamon refused, the bandit raised his stick trying to hit Anba Sarabamon, who said “ you dare raise your arm on a bishop, alright then, keep raising it”, the bandit was unable to put down his arm. Anba Sarabamon continued on his journey, and in his way back he saw the bandit still in his place with his hand raised in the air. The bandit begged him for forgiveness, Anba Sarabamon prayed for him, then he was able to put down his arm, since that day the bandit became one of Anba Sarabamon followers.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top KHEDIVE ABBAS 1849-1854 [In his days, the country regressed to the same discrimination of the past and the government dismissal of Christians from their jobs unless they become Muslims]       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top KHEDIVE SAIED 1854-1863 Said pasha acted to equalize between the Copts and the Muslims and was the first to authorize the Copts to join the army, which was prohibited since the Arab invasion of Egypt. However this was not totally good for the Copts, since many of them were forced to join the army, and once in the army, extreme pressure was exerted on them to convert to Islam (unfortunately, the same happens today where the uneducated Copts are threatened of being presented to martial courts if they do not convert to Islam, I know of many cases where Copts complain to us [the Church] of being pressured to convert).”       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top KHEDIVE ISMAIL 1863-1878 During the time of El-Khedive Ismail the relationship between the government and the Copts improved even further, in one incident the government wanted to construct a road that was blocked by the old Patriarcate in Klot Pek area, when Ismail asked Pope Demetrious 2nd to authorize the demolition of the Church and in return he promised to build, at the government’s expense, a new and bigger Church, Pope Demetrious expressed his dislike of the idea of demolishing the Church, subsequently Ismail ordered the Church to remain and to change the route of the street to go around the Church. Ismail was very fair in dealing with the Coptic Patriarchs and always made sure that nothing bothers them. In one incident he ordered that a Copt who wanted to convert to Islam is to convene with a Coptic priest to discuss his conversion, before he is declared to be a Muslim, in order to give the Church a chance to change his mind. Ismail appointed many Copts as judges and allowed them to be elected to the “House of Shoura”, he also ordered to allow the Copts to build their own schools, and participated in their expenses. [Pope Cyril the 4th is considered to be the Father of Reformation in the Coptic Orthodox Church. He established many schools, initiated the Theologian School in Cairo, revived the Coptic language, and showed a very strong leadership. He was also the founder of the old St. Mark Cathedral in Cairo. He was martyred by poisoning most probably by the Egyptian government]. Pope Cyril 4th was the first to establish a school for girls in Egypt and the Middle East, even before Kasim Amin. In its efforts to acquire the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Pope sent a delegation to meet Pope Cyril 4th to convince him to accept the amalgamation of the two Churches, while the delegates were convening with Pope Cyril, he kept reading the Bible flipping through its pages. So after some time a Catholic delegate proudly told his companion to ask what is the Pope looking for in the Bible, and offered to find it for him instantly, so the Pope told him that he is building a Church and needs some money, so he was looking for the phrase which gives the Church the right for indulgence (which was a Catholic invention that allowed the Church to collect money for freeing from all or part of committed sins). The Catholic delegate got the message and left immediately.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top KHEDIVE TAWFIK 1878 - EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION 1952 [The British occupation of Egypt took place in 1882; it had found its opportunity in the national debt caused by Khedive Ismail Pasha. The British associated themselves with the Moslems being the majority and sided against the Christian minority. Also, the Copts suffered from the Egyptian Moslems as a revenge for the occupation of Egypt by a Christian Country. The Copts focused on establishing their identity by getting higher education, owning land and building factories, so a major part of the professionals, land and factory owners, traders and grocery owners were Copts. Also they had a great participation in the political movement against the British occupation. Many Charismatic and powerful Coptic figures played a big role in establishing the most popular and powerful party in that era (El Wafd party). Also, some of the Coptic clergies shared in that political struggle, like Hegoumen Sergius. The Moslem Brotherhood society was founded which is considered another threat to the Copts.] The revolution of Mohammed Orabi came to topple the government of El-Khedive Tawfig, and for the independence of Egypt. Pope Cyril 5th was active in supporting Orabi’s movement, and together with the Imam Mohammed Abdu and many other prominent Copts and Muslim clerks, they called for the independence of Egypt and raised the slogan “Egypt for all Egyptians’. Mohammed Abdu confirms that all Egyptians, Copts, Muslims and Jews participated in assisting Orabi and supporting his movement. The Copts also participated in donating supplies to the Egyptian army in confronting the British forces.       Legend       Go to Index       Go to Top THE ARRAIVAL OF FOREIGN MISSIONARIES TO EGYPT This period was an active period for the Catholics and the Protestants to spread their creed in Egypt. The Catholic Church tried to extend its influence over the Coptic Church since the major schism of the Christian Churches, but through out history the Copts remained loyal to their Orthodox Church. The French tried to convince Mohammed Ali to force the Coptic Church to join the Catholic Church, and many French missionaries arrived to Egypt, such as the Franciscan, the Jesweit, the Dominican etc. In fact the Catholics went as far as appointing a Patriarch to head the new Catholics Copts. Protestantism came to Egypt in the mid 1800s, through an Americ