VATICAN CITY, JUL 25, 2000 (VIS) - On the occasion of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, there will be a celebration of the Eucharist in the Coptic rite in St. Mary Major Basilica on the evening of August 14, vigil of the feast of the Assumption. His Beatitude Stephanos II Ghattas, patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, will preside at the liturgy, according to a communique released today by the press office about the Jubilee celebrations in Rome of the Coptic Church.
Copts are the Christians of Egypt, whose name was given them by their Arab conquerors in the seventh century. Tradition has it that Christianity first came to Egypt, via Alexandria, through the catechizing efforts of the evangelist Mark. Alexandria soon became the center of Christian learning. Persecutions of Christians did not reach Egypt until 202 under Emperor Septimus Severus, and they reached their apex under Diocletian in 303, so much so that his reign was called "the era of martyrs."
Over the years Egypt became the cradle of monastic life and monasticism spread from here throughout the East and West.
The bishop of Alexandria was, for quite some time, the only metropolitan of Egypt; this primacy was conferred on him by the Council of Nicea in 325, when he was given the title "Patriarch of Alexandria."
The Council of Chalcedon, convened by the emperor of Constantinople and approved by the Pope, was held in 451. It condemned monophysitism, which repudiated Christ as having two perfect natures, divine and human. The Council deposed Bishop Dioscorus of Alexandria for his monophysite errors. Many Egyptians, to politically oppose the Byzantine dominion, refused the Christological teaching of the Council. And thus, with the monophysite schism, two parallel hierarchies were born in Egypt.
The Arab conquest of 641 put an end to political-religious controversies by imposing a "status quo" on everyone and allowing the anti-Chalcedon patriarch, by now termed "Coptic," to freely exercise his jurisdiction.
The Coptic Church underwent vicissitudes for several centuries, but in 1273 Patriarch Cyril III showed some signs of wishing reunification with Rome. In 1442, during the Council of Florence, a decree of union was signed, but did not have the desired effects.
In the 17th century, Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries began their activities in Egypt.
In 1729 Coptic Bishop Athanasius of Jerusalem, though residing in Cairo, declared himself a Catholic. Benedict XIV named him apostolic vicariate, entrusting to his care the estimated 2,300 Coptic Catholics in Egypt. Athanasius eventually returned to the Coptic Orthodox Church; however, from that moment the line of Catholic Coptic apostolic vicariates has remained unbroken.
Pope Leo XII, on August 15, 1824, erected a Coptic Catholic Patriarchate. In 1895, at the request of Apostolic Vicar Cyril Makarios, Leo XIII reestablished the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria, naming Makarios as its apostolic administrator. Catholics Copts then numbered 5,000: today there are 200,000.
The offices of the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate are in Cairo, though the highest concentration of Coptic Catholics has always been in Upper Egypt, and only in recent years have they been found in other parts of the country. There are six dioceses and over 100 parishes. The majority of seminarians study in St. Leo's Patriarchal Seminary in Maadi, near Cairo, though there are also minor seminaries in Maadi, Tahta and Alexandria. There is a small diaspora of Coptic Catholics in France, Canada, the United States and Australia.
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