WATANI International
26 June 2011
It was St Mark who brought Christianity into Egypt in the first century, established its Church in Alexandria, and was martyred there. Egyptians thus consider St Mark as one of their own but, at a recent conference in Cairo, Anba Martyrus, bishop of the churches east of the railway said St Mark truly deserved to be known as “the African St Mark”. He was born in Cyrenea in present-day Libya, Anba Martyrus explained, and his ministry was mainly in North Africa.
Across the ages, the Coptic Church fanned out into Africa. According to the Coptic Studies Institute’s Samy Sabry, who chaired the conference, there are today 65 Coptic churches in Africa—40 of them in sub-Saharan Africa, three Coptic monasteries, four schools and four medical centres in different places in Africa. Copts in Africa, he said, number some 500,000.
Egypt the African
“Coptic Heritage in Africa” was the theme title of the annual conference of the Society of the Lovers of Coptic Heritage, this year held jointly with the Coptic Studies Institute (CSI) at Mar-Mina’s, the ancient Church of St Menas in Fumm al-Khalig, Old Cairo. The two day-conference was attended by Anba Mina, bishop of the Old Cairo churches; as well as teachers; intellectuals and media public figures.
The first to speak was Ibrahim Ahmed Nasreddin, professor of political sciences at Cairo University and head of the society of political science professors in Africa. Dr Nasreddin, who said that he was invited as guest speaker at short notice yet insisted he would participate, said he had been to 35 African countries. “Many of Egypt’s divisive crises,” he said, “could be avoided if we change our Constitution to cite our African origin. Egypt is African as far as Geography, History, and ethnic origin; it is Arab only as far as language and culture is concerned; and is Muslim and Christian faithwise.
Good old ties
Lu’ai Saïd, general manager of the Antiquities Authority’s department of documentation of Coptic monuments, spoke of the deep roots of Libyan-Egyptian Orthodoxy and their impact on the Christian world. Dr Saïd focused on the character of the Libyan-born apostle St Mark.
Several talks were given on African-Coptic saints. Professor of Byzantine history at Helwan University Shaza Ismail spoke of St Moussa the Black, who was born in Ethiopia in 330AD and is among the most prominent saints in the Coptic Church, while the Franciscan Brother Wadie focused on the life of St Tekla Himanout the Ethiopian.
The Monk and researcher Fr Angelious al-Naqadi, who is antiquities supervisor at al-Malak (the Archangel) Monastery in Naqada in Qena, Upper Egypt, told the conference that the settlement at Naqada, which pre-dates the historical era, enjoyed trade ties with Ethiopia since early history. In the modern age, he said, many of Naqada’s inhabitants emigrated to Sudan.
Variety
Joseph Ramez, a media consultant and professor of African studies at the Coptic Studies Institute, gave a talk on “Variations on the role played by the Coptic Church in Africa”. Dr Ramez spoke of the Coptic Church’s role in combating occupation, discrimination and slavery, and of how it helped teach Africans handcrafts so people could live in dignity. He also brought up the subject of Egypt’s historical ties with North Africa and Nubia.
The link between Ethiopian art and prevailing religious beliefs was the theme of a study presented by Mona Fouad, professor of archaeology at Cairo University. Her study concluded that the indigenous art of Ethiopia became fused with Christian religious art after the arrival of Christianity in the fourth century, at the hands of the Egyptian Anba Salama (“Father of peace”). Dr Fouad pointed to the Ethiopian icon as a unique and distinguished art form that had begun in the 15th century and continued through to the 20th.
Choir performance
“African plants in Coptic heritage” was the topic of an interesting talk by Margurite Adly, a professor at the Agricultural Research Centre. Dr Adly outlined some of the most important beliefs and folkloric knowledge concerning plants and their various uses in textile, ceramics and woodwork.
Iman Ramzy, a professor of linguistics, summarised the relationship between Amharic and Arabic, which both belong to the Semitic group of languages.
The conference ended with several recommendations, the most significant of which concerned the documentation of social, cultural and political ties between Egypt and other African countries.
On the sidelines of the conference were various activities including a collective exhibition by Egyptian artists Mariam Gayed and Morqus Faris and the Sudanese Mohamed Nasr, as well as a joint performance of African Coptic choirs from Egypt, Sudan and Ehtiopia.