On the trail of Egypt’s Christians
By Marine Henriot – Egypt
It’s not an ordinary holiday.
In this country at the crossroads of two continents, a group of ten young people from France, aged 25 to 33, is immersing itself in the daily lives and aspirations of Eastern Christians.
Through encounters with various religious communities that support local and disadvantaged immigrant populations, they hope to gain a deeper understanding of their struggles and hopes.
This spiritual and emotional journey takes them first to the Comboni Missionaries of Cairo, who welcome Eritrean refugees of all ages, in the heart of the Coptic quarter of the Egyptian capital.
They voyage further along the Nile delta to meet the Copts of Luxor, after a stop with the Little Brothers of Jesus, who have been established in the village of Hagaza since the 1970s.
This initiative, launched by L’?uvre d’Orient—a charity that has been supporting Eastern Christians since 1856—is the first of its kind. It is led by Nicolas Meslin Sainte Beuve, who has headed the association’s youth projects for the past two years.
The goal is to give these young people a tangible experience of the realities faced by Eastern Christians so they can later share their testimonies.
“We want to help the French understand that the major crises unfolding in the Near and Middle East should not leave us indifferent, especially since they have direct consequences in France, notably with the refugee issue,” he explains. “While we may intellectually acknowledge that this region is the cradle of Christianity, it’s something that can easily be forgotten in everyday life.”
In Egypt, a country of 109 million people, roughly 90% of the population is Muslim, while 10% are Copts, the majority of whom are Orthodox. Direct descendants of the Ancient Egyptians and the founders of Christian monasticism, the Copts are the largest Christian community in the Middle East.
An adventure in humanity
Some of those taking part in the journey, like 33-year-old Maxime, have already volunteered with Eastern Christians.
Having spent a year as a caregiver in a religious community in Lebanon, he describes travelling to Egypt as a “childhood dream.” This journey with L’?uvre d’Orient allows him not only to explore places largely unknown to the public, but also to better understand how to “best support our brothers on the other side of the Mediterranean.”
Xavie, a 25-year-old from Alsace, also has experience volunteering in the East—she spent three months in the Holy Land working with refugees, an experience that opened her eyes to the significance of Eastern Christians. Now working in the aerospace industry in Germany, she continues to seek out opportunities to learn more about these communities.
Her enthusiasm is contagious. She has convinced her friend Agathe to join this Egyptian adventure. For Agathe, an agricultural banker from northern France, this is her first encounter with Eastern communities. “I’m ready for a transformation,” she says with a smile.
Discovering Muslim-Christian coexistence
As the young people begin their journey, the charm and the humanity of the communities they visit becomes apparent.
Returning from the village of Hagaza, a symbol of the cohabitation of Muslims and Coptic Catholics, where the latter run a school for children of all religions, Albane is struck by the maturity of the children she meets: they work in the fields and manage the chaotic traffic.
“You can sense a wisdom in their attitude and in their eyes, but at the same time, they run after the bus and greet us like children.”
The emotion is also palpable in Adèle's eyes, after a moment of prayer shared with the Coptic Catholics of Al-Maris, in front of a ruined village church destroyed a few months earlier - whether or not this was an accident is still under investigation.
“We just came to tell them that we are for them”, Adèle says with emotion. A minority among minorities, Catholic Copts represent around 1% of Copts in Egypt.
The spirituality of the desert
This trip off the beaten track also took the young people to Wadi el Natrun, the heart of the spirituality of the Desert Fathers, and today a major Coptic pilgrimage site, accessed by a gigantic freeway.
It was in this wadi, originally lost in the Scété desert, that the 2nd century St Antony the Great, at the age of 19, chose to strip himself of all his riches to confront the emptiness of the desert, thus laying the foundations of monasticism.
Next to what were once the cells of the monks, who have now left the site, are Coptic churches, which you have to take off your shoes to enter. There are carpeted floors and worshippers pray on their knees
“The Coptic rite has many differences with ours, but at the same time a lot in common,” comments Gabrielle, 25, fascinated. “It opens our mind, as French people who might be tempted to think that Christianity was born in Paris”.
In the Monastery of the Syrians, whose frescoes have been covered and repainted over the centuries, Adéle feels small in the face of the Church's centuries-old history.
The travellers are equally fascinated by Anaphora, the ecumenical spiritual retreat center set up in the desert in 1999, which was enriched by the addition of an underground church during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This church is proof of the liveliness and renewal of the Coptic community. The floor covered with colorful carpets and the walls painted with biblical scenes together draw visitors into a spiral of shimmering colors. Children run barefoot past the altar - the Coptic Church is alive and well.
Each young person on this journey has different aspirations – but together we are all living a deeply human adventure, one that will undoubtedly help us to understand the trials faced by Christian minorities in the Middle East in a much deeper way.
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