Page 85 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

The Nile Corridor Churches

Since the Coptic Church rejected this position, the theological
battle between the Chalcedonian and Monophysite views began.
Hildebrandt comments:

The Egyptian bishops had another reason for establishing the
Coptic Church: they wanted an independent church which was
not controlled by the Bishop of Constantinople; they wanted to
manage their own church affairs. (17)

From a historical perspective, it might help to mention that while
the Egyptian church was separating from the larger Christian church,
a division was beginning between the Catholic Church in Europe and
the church that was centered in Constantinople or the Eastern Church.
Although the official separation did not come until later, these divisions
served to weaken the church and its mission and caused many to become
nominal Christians.

For a time the church in Egypt was divided between Monophysites,
who were the majority, and a small group centered in Alexandria whose
members were loyal to the Chalcedonian Patriarch of Alexandria. The
Chalcedonians had support from the Byzantine rulers. There might have
been a reconciliation between the two groups had not a monk by the
name of Jacobus been consecrated bishop about A.D. 541.

Jacobus was a dynamic, influential leader who strengthened the
Monosphysite position and ordained bishops and clergy. From that
time until the present, Monophysitism has been held as doctrine in the
Egyptian Coptic and the Ethiopian Coptic churches, as has the division
among Egyptian Christians. Isichei notes:

The divisions of Egyptian Christians paved the way for Arab
conquest, which Coptic historians interpreted as just punishment
for the transgression of Chalcedon. (30)

The Nubian Church

Recent explorations have confirmed that before there was Nubia,
there was Meroë, and before Meroë, Cush of Old Testament times. Nubia
stretched from about Aswan in modern Egypt southward to modern

::: 75 :::