Who We Are?
The Coptic Orthodox Church{ COC } is a very old church, it was established by Saint Mark who came to Alexandria, Egypt in the first half of the first century.
He also extended his evangelical work to other parts in North and East Africa; among which is the Ethiopian church witch is the closest church to COC.
The Word Coptic is being used to refer to an “Egyptian”. However, in the last few decades, it is being used to refer to a Christian Egyptian.
The Coptic Congregation makes the biggest absolute number of Christians in the Middle East.
Statistics on COC
- The church has 130 bishops, 33 are outside Egypt (16 in Europe and the rest are in Africa, South America, USA and Canada)
- 4,000 priests, 400 are serving abroad
- COC has 2,500 churches in Egypt in addition to 400 outside the country
- Cairo, has 400 churches, Alexandria has 70 churches
- The church has 130 bishops, 33 are outside Egypt (16 in Europe and the rest are in Africa, South America, USA and Canada
- 4,000 priests, 400 are serving abroad
- COC has 2,500 churches in Egypt in addition to 400 located in 60 other countries.
- Cairo, has 400 churches, Alexandria has 70 churches
Note: These are statistics that are showing the size of Coptic Church services inside and outside Egypt. The number of bishops and priests was almost doubled during the last three decades which points out to the magnitude of the service extension. The number of churches outside Egypt is currently 400 whereas, it was close to 10 in the early seventies.
Coptic Orthodox Church Congregation at EGYPT
- 4 million COC members in Cairo,
- 5 million members in Upper Egypt
- 2 million Lower Egypt and frontier governorates
- 1.5 million in Alexandria
- 2 millions in Europe, Africa, North and South America.
- 50% of the congregation live rural and para urban areas.
Note: These statistics are showing the breakdown of the number of Coptic Orthodox Church members in the major cities and regions in the country. Moreover, the numbers outside Egypt.