Father Gabriel Abdelsayed

(CE: 1620b-1624b)

MIGRATION, COPTIC. The Copts as a community were

sedentary by nature and upbringing. They loved the land of their

birth and were averse to migration to other countries throughout

their long history. The idea of moving from their ancestral home to a

new milieu in search of better opportunities dawned upon them only

recently, after the middle of the twentieth century, when they began

under various economic and social influences to seek other

opportunities abroad.

In the following sections, information is provided about specific

communities in Africa, North America, Australia, and Europe. Even

more interesting is the establishment of Coptic churches in the Arab

world. A church was founded by Pope CYRIL VI (1959-1971) in

Kuwait. In 1972 Pope SHENOUDA III consecrated a church in

Beirut, Lebanon. Other churches followed during the 1970s in

Amman (Jordan); Baghdad, Basrah, Mosul (Iraq); Dubai, Abu

Dhabi (United Arab Emirates); Masqat (Oman), and al-Manamah

(Bahrein). There is a church at Benghazi and another at Tripoli that

was presented to the Coptic community by Colonel Qaddafi in 1972.

When the Copts migrated to new countries, they immediately

sought a place of worship. Their financial resources as newcomers

in a new land being modest, they found a solution by borrowing or

buying old churches from other Christian denominations (frequently

without payment or for a nominal price). Later, with an increase in

members and more affluence, they were able to build their own

churches or to adapt the acquired ones to suit their architectural and

religious traditions.

Priests and monks from Egypt are assigned to serve abroad.

With the exclusion of the Holy Land, where Copts struck roots

centuries ago (see JERUSALEM, COPTIC SEE OF), the Coptic

church is expanding outside Egyptian borders. Churches, small

monasteries, seminaries, and religious and cultural centers are being

established in many parts of the world. However, it is difficult to

give absolute numbers of Copts abroad, owing to the lack of

accurate registration.

POPE SHENOUDA III

Canada

The establishment of the Coptic church in North America began

in Canada under the pontificate of Pope Cyril VI (1959-1971). The

first priest, Father Murqus, with the help of thirty-six Coptic

families already living in Toronto, established a congregation there.

The ground-breaking ceremony of the first Coptic Orthodox

Church to be built in North America took place during the visit of

Pope Shenouda III to Toronto. The Toronto congregation

participating in the event consisted of 700 Coptic families. Canada

at the time had 1,300 Coptic families.

Churches in Canada include five in Ontario (Toronto,

Mississauga, Kitchner, and Ottawa), one in Alberta (Edmonton),

three in Quebec (Montreal), and one in British Columbia

(Vancouver).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, Lawrence G. The American Immigration Collection:

Cultural Conflicts and Social Adjustments. New York, 1969.

el-Masri, Iris H. The Story of the Copts. Cairo, 1956.

FAYEK M. ISHAK

United States of America

The Copts' attraction to the United States was fostered by the

American schools established in almost all important cities in Egypt

and the missionary movement that had been active in the country for

a long time. Migration to America, strictly speaking, was not

confined to the Copts. It included Muslims as well. According to the

1970 American Census (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1970, Table

192), the Egyptian immigrants totaled 31,358, of whom

approximately 25,000 were Copts. The census of successive years

showed a steady flow of refugees immigrating through Lebanon

under the auspices of the World Council of Churches, the Catholic

Missionary Services, and other organizations. More immigrants

came to join already naturalized American citizens from Egypt. In

1973, thousands of Copts became citizens of the United States and

were consequently instrumental in bringing over more members of

their families. The increase in the Coptic population is reflected in

the number of Coptic churches in the United States. These rose from

two churches in 1970 to forty-one churches in 1989. The number of

Copts in 1989 was estimated to be around 160,000-180,000.

The first priest appointed to the United States (September 1970)

was Father Gabriel Abdelsayed for the first church in the United

States, in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Coptic churches in the United States include nine in California

(one in San Francisco and eight in Los Angeles; there is also a small

monastery in Barstow), one in Colorado (Englewood), four in

Florida (Plant City, Orlando, Pompano Beach, and Daytona Beach),

one in Georgia (Atlanta), two in Illinois (Chicago), one in

Massachusetts (Nattick), one in Michigan (Detroit), one in

Minnesota (St. Paul), one in Missouri (St. Louis), four in New

Jersey (two in Jersey City and one each in East Brunswick and East

Rutherford), six in New York (Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island,

Long Island, Pearl River, and Rochester), one in North Carolina

(Raleigh), three in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Lancaster, and

Pittsburgh), one in Rhode Island (Providence), three in Texas (San

Antonio, Dallas, and Bel Air), one in Virginia (Falls Church), and

one in Washington state (Seattle). Some groups are not yet large

enough to justify a church. In this case they gather in one place and

a Coptic priest from the nearest area holds a mass for them at regular

intervals. Examples are Baltimore (Maryland), and Hamden

(Connecticut).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, Lawrence, G. The American Immigration Collection:

Cultural Conflicts and Social Adjustments. New York, 1969.

Constant, H. J., Jr., Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.

New York, 1989.

GABRIEL ABDELSAYED

Africa

Modern Christianity in Africa owes its inception to the European

and American missionaries who came in the train of the white

colonialists. With the disappearance of colonial regimes and the rise

of independent nation-states, the missionaries began to disappear.

The leadership of the churches was assumed by Africans who were

educated and trained abroad. However, many Africans separated

themselves from the missionary churches and/or formed their own

indigenous churches known as African Independent Churches (more

than six thousand churches all over Africa). Their leaders led their

native constitutents into a tribal and cultural form of worship that

mixed native elements with Christian teachings.

Since Christianity in Africa originated through Saint Mark, the

Cyrene-born apostle who organized the Coptic church in Egypt in

the first century, the Coptic church could fill the vacuum created by

the exit of the foreign missionaries. With the background of a longstanding

history of an established ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX

CHURCH the Copts were encouraged to enter the African field,

with their labors initially concentrated in Kenya.

So it was that the Coptic church was established in the 1970s

with the consecration in Cairo of a bishop of African affairs, to

reside in Nairobi. On 13 June 1976, Father Antonios al-Baramusi, a

monk of DAYR AL-BARAMUS and formerly a practicing

physician as well as a deacon and layman, was elevated and given

the name Bishop Antonius Marcus. At first, his flock consisted of

seventy-five Copts of Egyptian origin and 2,000 Ethiopians. Aided

by two Coptic monks, Bishop Antonius was able to gain 4,100

converts of Kenyan origin and to serve many newcomers from

Ethiopia.

With the steady expansion of Coptic Christianity in East Africa,

numerous churches were founded in various areas of that vast

country. At present, the Coptic churches number twelve, including a

Cathedral of Saint Mark and a Church of Saint Antony in Nairobi.

The remaining churches are evenly distributed in the western

Nyanza provinces around Lake Victoria and the Ukambani area.

Furthermore, the Copts have a church in Harari (Zimbabwe) and one

in Lusaka (Zambia).

The services are conducted in the local vernacular and the Coptic

liturgies have been translated into five native dialects. In addition to

priests from Egypt, native Kenyans are now being ordained as

priests.

Two modest beginnings of monastic institutions have been

established in the diocese of Africa: the Monastery of Saint Antony

in Nairobi and Saint Menas' Monastery in Ebusakami in the Western

province.

Each church has its Sunday school. Each of the monasteries

includes a cultural center as well as a modest theological college and

a modest vocational center for the training of women.

BISHOP ANTONIUS MARCUS

Australia

Coptic migration to Australia was precipitated by circumstances

associated with the economic policies of the Nasser regime. It was

natural for the Copts to envisage migrating to Europe and America,

but with the difficulties that arose in accepting immigrants to the

Western European countries as well as to the United States and

Canada, Copts began to look to the still-open door in Australia.

Emigration of Copts to Australia had started in a small way as early

as 1964, and gradually reached its peak in 1969. They concentrated

along the populous eastern coast where they numbered

approximately 35,000. In 1969, the Copts established their first

church in the city of Sydney, which they dedicated to Saint Mark.

Other churches followed. In 1989, Australia counted fourteen

churches: six in Sydney, four in Melbourne, and one each in

Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, and Canberra. The concentration of Copts

in the large city of Melbourne led to the establishment of a Coptic

monastery in that area.

GABRIEL ABDELSAYED

France

For centuries the Christian faith in France had kept close ties

with the Holy Land, Egypt, and the desert fathers. Beginning in the

fourth century, the maritime connections between Alexandria and

Marseilles helped the infiltration of Alexandrian Christian thought

in Gaul.

It was at the beginning of the fifth century that John CASSIAN,

imbued with Egyptian monastic ideals, arrived in Marseilles. Two of

his books, the Institutes and the Conferences, in which he wrote

about the life, customs, and wisdom of the desert fathers, were the

result of his stay among them. A testimony of his influence still

exists in Saint Victor in Marseilles and the monastery of Lérins on

the island of Saint Honorat (opposite Cannes); Pachomian

monasticism inspired the rule of these establishments as well as the

rules of many others across Europe. This influence continued for

centuries.

On Pentecost 1974 (2 June), assisted by seventeen bishops and

archbishops of the Holy Synod, Pope Shenouda III canonically

established the Eparchy of France by ordaining two European

monks who had shared the life of their desert brothers in DAYR

ANBA BISHOI. The monk Marcos from Amsterdam was made

bishop of Marseilles, Toulon, and all of France. The monk

Athanasios, a French national, received the title of chorepiscopus of

the city of Paris.

Five spiritual centers have been established since. The Coptic

Orthodox Hermitage of Saint Mark, with a chapel dedicated to Our

Lady of Zaytun, is the seat of the bishop in Le Revest-les-Eaux near

Toulon. In Plessis l'Eveque, near Meaux, the Priory of Saint Mark is

the seat of the chorepiscopus; its chapel is dedicated to the Mother

of God and Saint Mark. In Paris, the Coptic parish of Saint Mary

and Saint Mark holds services in the crypt of the Church of Saint

Sulpice. In Marseilles the parish of Saint George and Saint Mark

was founded in 1983; mass is held in the Church of Saint Nicholas.

A small private chapel is also in use in Tamaris-sur-Mer near

Toulon; it is dedicated to Saint Antony and Saint Michael. The

largest Coptic congregation is in Paris with over 700 members.

Marseilles and Toulon follow with around 400 members each. With

the exception of the chapel at Le Revest-les-Eaux, the Copts in

France celebrate mass in host churches.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chadwich, O. John Cassian, a Study in Primitive Monasticism.

Cambridge, 1950.

Cristini, L. Jean Cassien ou la spiritualité du desert, 2 vols. Paris,

1946.

PIERRE DE BOGDANOFF

Germany

The Coptic church in Germany was inaugurated in March 1975

by Pope Shenouda III, in response to an appeal from the growing

Coptic community in the Federal Republic. Father Salib Suryal was

delegated as its first minister in Frankfurt, where the Copts secured a

historic Evangelical church nearby, known as the Bethlehem

Church, built in 1799. They named it the Coptic Orthodox Church of

Saint Mark. Another church followed at Stuttgart and was dedicated

to Saint George. At present, Germany has a total of seven Coptic

churches. Besides the above there are churches at Düsseldorf

(dedicated to the Virgin Mary), Munich (a gift from the Roman

Catholic church, which was dedicated to Saint Menas), Hannover (a

gift from the Evangelical Protestants, dedicated to Saint Athanasius

the Apostolic), Berlin (dedicated to Saint Antony and Saint

Shenute), and Hamburg (dedicated to Saint Peter, Seal of the

Martyrs).

The Copts in Germany in the late 1980s consisted of

approximately 500 families.

A Coptic center at Kresselbach near Frankfurt became the

nucleus of a monastic institution.

SALIB SURYAL

Great Britain

The modern history of Egypt has fostered closer cultural

relations with Britain than with any other Western country. From the

early decades of the twentieth century, Egyptian students were sent

to pursue higher studies in British universities. A good proportion of

those students were Copts who subsequently were able to secure

positions in the medical profession and various academic institutions

throughout Britain. This proved a great incentive for many to seek

permanent residence in Britain. This small community of expatriates

grew considerably during the 1970s as a result of the easing of

emigration restrictions previously imposed by the Egyptian

authorities.

The first recorded Coptic liturgy to be celebrated in Britain took

place in London on Friday, 10 August 1954. The celebrant on that

occasion was Father Makari al-Suryani (later to be ordained Bishop

SAMUEL). The liturgy was held at a Greek Orthodox church in

London.

Efforts toward more organized religious activities were

intensified in the 1960s. But it was not until 1971 that the first

Coptic priest in England, Father Antuniyus al-Suryani (later Bishop

Bakhumius of Beheira) celebrated the Divine Liturgy at Saint

Andrew's Church, Holborn, London, by special arrangement with its

archdeacon.

A Coptic church in London was realized in 1976 when the

church council purchased a church in Kensington. In January 1978,

after it had been redesigned into a proper Coptic church, the church

was formally consecrated and dedicated to Saint Mark. Another

church in Croydon, south of London, was acquired in the late 1980s.

With the increase in the number of Coptic residents in England,

other churches were later established in Manchester and Solihull,

(Birmingham). In addition the clergy take turns visiting smaller

communities in other areas such as Cardiff, Glasgow (Scotland), and

Dublin (Irish Republic).

FUAD MEGALLY

Switzerland

The number of Copts in Switzerland in 1989 was about 700.

They live mainly in Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Basel, Lucerne, and

Lugano.

In 1981 Pope Shenouda III ordained a monk, Serapion Anba

Bischoy, from the Anba Bishoi Monastery, as the first priest of the

Coptic church in Switzerland. When he later was consecrated bishop

and moved to Cairo, others were appointed to replace him. With the

exception of Geneva, where the Copts rent a government-owned

church, the other congregations use mainly Catholic churches.

BISHOP SERAPION

Other Countries

It is difficult to follow Coptic immigrants to other countries of

Europe, since there is no official register to indicate their continuous

movements. However, Coptic communities are known to exist in

Austria, where congregations meet regularly in Vienna, Linz,

Klagenfurt, and Graz. The Copts in Amsterdam purchased a church

that they dedicated to Saint Mark. A Coptic church was established

in Milan in 1986, while small congregations are found in Athens and

Madrid. One Coptic church exists in Stockholm and another in

Copenhagen.

GABRIEL ABDELSAYED