ABOUT US
The Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodox family of churches, which has been a distinct church body since the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, when it took a different position over Christological theology from that of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The precise differences in theology that caused the split with the Coptic Christians are still disputed, highly technical, and mainly concerned with the nature of Christ. The foundational root of the Coptic Orthodox Church is based in Egypt, but it has a worldwide following.
According to tradition, the church was established by Saint Mark, an apostle and evangelist, in the middle of the 1st century (approximately 42 AD).[2]The head of the church and the See of Alexandria is the Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy See of Saint Mark. The See of Alexandria is titular and nowadays the Coptic Pope seat is Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia District in Cairo.
As of 2016 about 10% of Egyptians belonged to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria