Coptic Orthodox Church

The Coptic Orthodox Church (COC) is a very old church established by Saint Mark who came to Alexandria, Egypt in the beginning of the first century. He extended his evangelical work across other parts of North and East Africa; among which is the Ethiopian church, the closest church to The Coptic Orthodox Church. Originally, the word Coptic was used to refer to an “Egyptian." However, in the last few decades, it has evolved to refer to a Christian Egyptian. The Coptic congregation comprises the largest absolute number of Christians in the Middle East. 

• 4 million members in Cairo.
• 5 million members in Upper Egypt.
• 2 million members in Lower Egypt and frontier governates.
• 1.5 million members in Alexandria.
• 2 million members in Europe, Africa, and North and South America. 
• 50% of the congregation lives in rural and para-urban areas.

The Coptic Orthodox Church has 2,500 churches in Egypt and 400 churches abroad. Cairo has 400 churches, and Alexandria has 70 churches. The Coptic Orthodox Church has 130 bishops, 33 of which reside outside of Egypt (16 in Europe, and the rest are in Africa, South America, the USA, and Canada).  4,000 priests, 400 of which are serving abroad. 

Note:  The number of bishops and priests almost doubled during the last three decades which points 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.