The Coptic Church of Abu Sargah

The Coptic Orthodox church traced its foundation to the apostle Mark, who is traditionally held to have brought Christianity to Egypt in the first century CE. The Copts, who were Miaphysites (holding that Jesus is fully divine and fully human), split from the broader Christian community in 451. The Coptic Church is associated with a monastic tradition that dates to the 3rd century and Egypt is seen as the birthplace of Christian monasticism. Saint Frumentius of Tyre converted Ethiopia’s first Christian ruler, Ezana, in the 4th century. The Ethiopian Church was part of the Coptic Orthodox church until 1959, when it was granted its own patriarch. The Saints Sergius and Bacchus church (Abu Sargah) in Cairo, dates to the 4th century and is one of the oldest churches in Egypt. It is traditionally believed to have been built on the spot where the Holy Family rested at the end of their journey to Egypt. It is also the site where many of the patriarchs of the Coptic Church were elected.