Page 81 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

The Nile Corridor Churches

The Egyptian Church

The Egyptian church lay within the Nile Corridor. We have already
focused briefly on its beginning and development and noted that
Christianity came to Alexandria, which became a strong center with a
Catechetical School. By the third century the rural Coptic Church had
developed, especially along the fertile Nile River. As the church grew,
the masses seem to have turned away from ancient religions to serve
the true God with passion—even in times of severe persecution.

These early Christians in Egypt suffered immensely under Diocletian
in A.D. 303 and under Maximin between A.D. 311 and early 312. Isichei
summarizes the writing of Eusebius to shed light on the degree of
suffering under which these early Christians lived:

Eusebius describes the atrocious sufferings of the martyrs of
the Thebais in upper Egypt, torn to pieces by sharp shards,
or dismembered, or burned alive, executions so numerous
that the executioners were exhausted and the axes worn out.
(Isichei, 27)

It seems that a martyrdom complex pervaded the church. Eusebius
also wrote: “As soon as sentence was pronounced against the first, one
after another rushed to the judgment seat and confessed themselves
Christians” (Ecclesiastical History, 8.9.5). When Licinius and Constantine
issued the Edict of Milan in A.D. 313, persecution officially came to an
end. In many history books Constantine is referred to as “The Great”
because of the impact he had on the world of his day. Indeed he presided
over church councils and sought to resolve disputes between patriarchs,
but he refused to be baptized until he was dying because he feared
retribution from the gods Zeus and Ares.

Unfortunately, persecution and its aftereffects sharply divided this
church as it did elsewhere in North Africa. The critical question was
the matter of what to do with backsliders. This caused the church to
become apologetic rather than evangelistic. Persecution also succeeded
in causing the church to become inward-focused in nature rather than
outwardly missional. Two movements emerged within the Egyptian
church: monasticism and Monophysitism.

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