Part I. The story: 4. Persecutions

Persecutions

During the first few centuries, Christians were persecuted wherever they lived. But in Egypt, persecutions raged on and off incessantly. After the martyrdom of St. Mark in 68 A.D., the Church which he founded enjoyed unbroken peace until A.D. 202. God, in His infinite Mercy, granted Her these years thereby enabling Her to withstand the ever-recurring onslaughts of persecutions, and to face with daring the various heresies. From 202 — 642, namely during the Roman-Byzantine period, twenty one persecutions overtook the Copts. The seventh among these persecutions inflamed by emperor Diocletian, burned for ten consecutive years. So much so, that Mgr. Guérin (a French Cardinal) says in his “Dictionnaire de Dictionnaires” under the word “martyre” that the number of those martyred is estimated at eight hundred thousand, the last of whom was Abba Petros I, who is therefore entitled “the Seal of the Martyrs”. Preceding him were six bishops whose dignity was no deterrent to the persecutor.

In these twenty one persecutions, men, women and children alike, were tortured and killed most ruthlessly. And it should be noted that the Copts never painted a picture of torture, nor raised a statue depicting them. The only reminder is the calendar by which they made the year 284 A.D. (the first of Diocletian’s reign) the beginning of their era. Thus the year of Grace 1975 is the year 1691 A.M. (Anno Martyro). They were content to leave persecutor and persecuted alike in the Hand of God.

The Roman-Byzantine persecutions could be counted because they were declared by imperial edicts, and were also given the semblance of legality as the Copts were dragged before the magistrates where they were cross-questioned, sentenced to tortures then death. But from A.D. 642 to the coming of Mohammad Ali Pasha in 1805, the persecutions recurred incessantly though they cannot be numbered. For during the Middle Ages no edict ever proclaimed a persecution, and on very rare occasions was the persecuted tried. The whim of a ruler, the calumniation of a jealous courtier, the stray word of a fanatic and the lust for money — all these singly or together were good enough reasons to ignite the fire of persecution. Thus the Church of St. Mark lived continuously on the “Line of Confrontation”. The wonder of it is that inspite of all trials and tribulations, of buffetings and scourgings, She not only lives, but is at present enjoying an exhilirating Renaissance: not only within the boundaries of her native-land, but across the continents also. She can be truly described as “the living Mother of the Martyrs”.