Christianity has deep roots in Egypt, and pilgrims can explore
many fascinating Christian sites in this ancient land.
From the Great Pyramid to the Valley of the Kings, the major
landmarks of ancient Egypt exude mystery and power. But as
impressive as these sites are, for Christians the land of Egypt contains
landmarks even more significant.
Here pilgrims can walk in the footsteps of Moses on Mt. Sinai, worship
where the Holy Family is believed to have rested on the flight
from
Bethlehem, and watch the stars emerge above the desert where the
Israelites once wandered. In this nation that has shaped so much of
Christian history, Biblical stories come alive.
Egypt is one of the most frequently mentioned places in the Bible,
found in references from Genesis through the Gospels. Abraham
journeyed
to Egypt to escape a famine, and later his great-grandson
Joseph took
the same journey involuntarily when he was sold into
slavery.
St.Catherine’s
Monastery in Sinai
Generations later, the Israelites became slaves in Egypt and were led
out of bondage by Moses, who had been adopted into the Pharaoh’s
family. After crossing the Red Sea, they wandered for forty years in the
Sinai desert before reaching the land promised to them by God. Many
generations later, the Holy Family fled to Egypt to escape Herod’s
murderous plans.
The history of the early church is also intricately linked to Egypt.
Christian missionaries came here in the first century and found a
receptive welcome among a people whose religious system already
included a belief in an afterlife.
The Mediterranean port city of Alexandria became an intellectual
capital of the early church, home to such important leaders as
Clement, Origin, Athanasius, and Didymus.
Equally influential was the reform movement launched in the third
century by men and women who fled to the Egyptian desert to found
monastic communities, a form of spirituality that later spread
throughout the world.
Even after Islam came to Egypt in the seventh century, Christians
continued to be a vital minority within the country. Today about ten
percent of Egypt’s population is Christian, most as members of the
Coptic Orthodox Church (a denomination whose name derives from
the Greek word for Egyptian).