No matter what Christian persuasion you are, you belong to Christ. Those who remain staunch in their Christianity often pay dearly for it. Due to pressures from the Muslim world, many Coptic Christians converted under pressure to Islam which is the dominant religion in their part of the world. That is they lean on liturgical rituals rather than a personal relationship with Christ by which salvation is possible. Some believe that they are more closely associated with the Eastern Orthodox Church because they emphasize meritorious works as part of their salvation. The exact numbers of Coptic Christians is hard to determine because many worship in secrecy for fear of persecution and regular threats of death in the more radical regions of the world where the Islamic faith is the dominant religion. Today they are estimated to range in numbers from between 10 to 60 million members worldwide but most are not far from the Middle East or Asia Minor. Relatively few Coptic Christians remain where they began, that is in Alexandria. This was the primary reason why the Pyramids were built…to supply provisions for the Pharaohs so that they could pass from this life into the next as well as protect their valuable treasures. They were more eager and willing to believe this because this was not that different than what they believed happened after death that they passed from death to the Underworld and then to the next life. The Coptic Christian tradition says that when John Mark took a missionary expedition to Egypt he was well received because many of the Egyptians had already believed in eternal life but in a different setting. The Coptic’s were one of the earliest Christian groups to see Christ as being both God and Man or what is called “one hypostasis in two natures.” Only later would the Eastern Orthodox, the Catholic and the Protestant churches come to this conclusion.
They have seen more persecution in a year’s time than most Christians will see in their lifetime. They have seen their churches regularly burned down and they have seen many of their members die by the hands of radical Muslims who see Christians as infidels that are opposed to the Islamic faith. The Coptic’s have lived with this persecution for about 2,000 years now. Jesus said that if they persecuted Him they will also persecute His followers (John 15:20). The Coptic or Egyptian Christians essentially believe what any other Christians do but since they are in a region that is predominantly Muslim they see more of the persecution that Jesus warned was to come. They believe in the bodily ascension of Christ and that He was the sinless Messiah and will come again to gather together the Body of Believers worldwide and take them into the Kingdom of Heaven. They believe in the resurrection and the miracles of Christ. The fact that they rely so much on the gospel of Mark reveals that they believe in the divinity of Christ. This is the same John Mark that traveled throughout the Asiatic region with Paul and Barnabas so it is not beyond belief that John Mark may have went to Alexandria and planted a church there.
Although John Mark wrote this gospel, the vast majority of biblical scholars firmly believe it is actually Peter’s gospel with Mark being the author of it. John Mark, the author of the gospel of Mark and believed to be one of the earliest of the four gospels, is thought to be the founder of the Coptic Christian Church. The Coptic’s are believed to have originated in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. The fact that they are Christians and living in a predominantly Muslim part of the world is reason enough for them to be persecuted more than most Christians in the West. Coptic Christians are Christians as far as their beliefs are held. Others define Coptic as “Egyptian” so a Coptic Christian could be called an Egyptian Christian or a Christian in the Middle East or Afro-Asiatic region. A Coptic Christian is called “Coptic” because this is the Afro-Asiatic language of the Copts, which survives only as a liturgical language of the Coptic Church. Who or what is a Coptic Christian? Maybe you’ve heard of them and if so, you probably heard about them being persecuted.