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During the first four or five centuries of our era, Egypt produced some of the most illustrious names in Christian annals. Men such as Origen, Athanasius, Cyril the Great, St. Anthony, St. Pachomius, Shenute the Great, and 34 many more have left their mark on the history of Christian civilization both within and outside Egypt. Whereas the Catechetical School of Alexandria was the only center of Christian scholarship in the second and third centuries, the Oecumenical Movement was inaugurated in the fourth and fifth to formalize decisions on burning questions of Christology.

Irrespective of later views on monastic life, the fact remains that monastic orders have been instrumental in the preservation of culture and civilization through the darkest ages of European history. Furthermore, the Coptic monks of those early centuries were responsible for an active missionary movement and the evangelisation of many parts of the old World. In the south, the kingdoms of Nubia and Abyssinia were converted to Christianity by these missionaries, and in the north, missions from Thebes and from Mareotis followed in the steps of the Roman legions to Switzerland, Gaul, and even Britain long before the advent of St.

It is beyond the theme of this paper to detail the story of the Church under Muhammadan dynasties. The main point here is that the Copts were gradually forgotten by Western Christendom and lived in oblivion until the dawn of their rediscovery by the French Expedition of 1798-1802. At that time the Copts began to establish a measure of communication with Western Christendom. With the birth of democracy and the enfranchisement of all Egyptians, the Copts emerged from their closed communities and opened to interaction with the West.