Thirty theologians from the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches met in the Halls of the Holy Cross Church of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch in Damascus, Syria from February 2-5, 1998. The Opening session was blessed and honored by the presence of H.B. Patriarch Ignatius IV, Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and H.H. Patriarch Mar Ignatius Zakka I, Patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and all the East. The – …

His Holiness Pope Shenouda arrived on February 9th at Sao Paulo, coming from Johannesburg, South Africa. His Holiness will consecrate St. Mark Church in Sao Paulo on Sunday February 12th and leave to Santa Cruz, Bolivia on Sunday February 12th. On Monday, February 13th, His Holiness will consecrate our new Coptic Church in Santa Cruz Bolivia. On Tuesday February 14th, His Holiness will travel to New Jersey and on Friday February 17, HH will travel – …

On Sunday, February 12th, His Holiness consecrated our new Coptic Church in Santa Cruz Bolivia, after the name of St. Mark the Evangelist. The bishops who participated in the blessed consecration were His Eminence Metropolitan Bishoy, His Grace Bishop Antonious Markos, His Grace Bishop Serapion, His Grace Bishop Youssef, His Grace Bishop Youahnes, His Grace Bishop Boulos, HIs Grace Bishop Suriel, and His Grace Bishop Kyrilos Ava Mina. On Monday, February 13th, His Holiness consecrated – …

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III received a formal invitation to attend the third conference of Inter Faith Dialogue which is to be convened in Doha the capital of Qatar on June 29-30, 2005. This invitation came after the signing of the first agreement entrenching dialogue between Islam and Christianity in the Arab world on July 16, 2005, which crowned one year of marathon talks. The seven-point agreement calls for organizing organizing an annual meeting to – …

From August 21 through August 24, 2005 His Holiness Pope Shenouda III visited the Diocese of Los Angeles. On Sunday August 21, His Holiness visited St. Maurice Coptic Orthodox Church in Pomona, and prayed the Thanksgiving Prayer. Afterwards, His Holiness congratulated the church and spoke briefly about the life of mission, with the examples of St. Maurice, St. Mark, and other saints. Also attending with him were H.G. Bishop Serapion, H.G. Bishop Thomas, and H.G. – …

October 25, 2006–His Holiness Pope Shenouda III had a successful spinal surgery at the Cleveland Clinic on Sunday, October 22, 2006. The surgery and immediate recovery have been excellent. His Holiness the Pope is currently receiving routine physical therapy, which is the natural follow-up to such surgery. Pope Shenouda is overseeing the daily affairs of the Coptic Orthodox Church from his hospital suite in Cleveland. On Monday, October 23, 2006, His Holiness the Pope called – …

The word Copt is derived from the Greek word Aigyptos, which was, in turn, derived from "Hikaptah", one of the names for Memphis, the first capital of Ancient Egypt. Following the Arab conquest of Egypt in 640 A.D., the land of Egypt has been called "dar al-Gibt" (home of the Egyptians) and since Christianity was the official religion of Egypt at the time, the word "Gibt" came to refer to the practitioners of Christianity as – …

Introduction Occasionally, the Copts have been described as a schismatic eastern Christian minority, a lonely community in the land of their forebears. They have been forgotten since they chose living in oblivion after the tragedy of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) which was followed by a new wave of persecution inflicted upon them by fellow Christians and Byzantine rulers. Though they were not unknown to mediaeval and early modern travellers from Europe, Western Christendom appears to have – …