A History Of Christianity In Egypt Essay

, Research Paper

The history of Christianity in Egypt dates

back verily to the beginnings of Christianity itself. Many Christians hold

that Christianity was brought to Egypt by the Apostle Saint Mark in the

early part of the first century AD. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, in his

Ecclesiastic History states that Saint Mark first came to Egypt between

the first and third year of the reign of Emperor Claudius, which would

make it sometime between AD 41 and 44, and that he returned to Alexandria

some twenty years later to preach and evangelize. Saint Mark’s first convert

in Alexandria was Anianus, a shoemaker who later was consecrated a bishop

and became Patriarch of Alexandria after Saint Mark’s martyrdom. This succession

of Patriarchs has remained unbroken down to the present day, making the

Egyptian Christian, or Coptic, Church one of the oldest Christian churches

in existence. Evidence for this age comes in the form of the oldest Biblical

papyri discovered in remote regions of Upper Egypt. These papyri are written

in the Coptic script and are older than even the oldest Greek copies of

the Bible ordered by Constantine in AD 312.

The Egyptians before Christianity had always

been a deeply religious people, and many readily embraced the young religion,

having had their old beliefs effectively destroyed by the coming of the

Roman Empire and the final dethroning of the god-king Pharaohs. Many of

the concepts of Christianity were already familiar to the Egyptians from

their ancient religion, such as the death and resurrection of a god, the

idea of the judgement of souls and a paradisiacal afterlife for the faithful.

The ankh too, the Egyptian symbol for eternal life, is very similar to

that of the cross revered by Christians (especially in the form of the

Coptic cross, seen at right), itself also a symbol for eternal life. Furthermore,

the belief that God had chosen Egypt as a safe place for His infant son

to hide him from Herod was a great source of pride to the Egyptian Christians.

It was through Christianity that the Egyptian culture survived the Roman

Dominion.

The Church Suffering and Victorious

Yet these formative years were not without

problems. Throughout this time Christianity in Egypt was locked in an often

deadly struggle against the polytheistic religions of the Greco-Roman culture

as well as the Hellenistic movement that began in Alexandria spread to

other large cities. To counter Hellenistic philosophy that often criticized

the young religion the Christian leaders in Egypt established a catechetical

school in Alexandria, the Didascalia, founded in the late second century

AD. This school became the heart of what can only be called Christian philosophy,

and great teachers and orators such as Clement and Origen were able to

battle the Hellenistic philosophers on their own ground and advocate Christianity

in an orderly and intellectual manner. It was also in this great university

of Christian learning that Christianity first underwent rigorous studies

that created its first theology and dogma, as well as making the new faith

accessible to all. Pantaenus, the founder and first dean of the Didascalia,

helped the Egyptian people bridge the gap between Dynastic Egypt and the

new era by promoting the use of the Greek alphabet instead of the Demotic

(”cursive” hieroglyphics) in translations of the Bible as well as in the

writing of religious theses and letters. Additionally, the school educated

everyone who came to it in Greek, opening the study of religion to just

about everyone, and making as many people as possible literate.

Yet the greatest persecutions on the young

religion came at the hands of the Roman government. Emperor Nero had set

the precedent in AD 64, about the same time as the martyrdom of Saint Peter.

It was unusual, for the actual offense was simply to be a Christian or

to profess the Christian faith, rather than any kind of criminal acts that

might go along with it (such as those later falsely attributed to Medieval

heretics). An arrested Christian could receive a pardon simply by offering

incense on a Roman altar, but many refused to do so, citing scripture passages

urging faith in the one God. Thus the true “crime” of the persecuted Christians

was their refusal to do homage to the Roman gods, including the emperor.

Those who did refuse to bow to the Roman religion were imprisoned, often

tortured, thrown to the wild animals in the coliseum, or suffered execution

by any number of other means. Rather than discouraging the Christians,

these actions encouraged them and reinforced their faith, echoing the words

of Jesus that those who suffered persecution because of his name were truly

blessed. These heroes of the Christians were called “martyrs,” a word that

means “witnesses.” In the first century this persecution w

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