The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria expanded its territorial and ecclesial boundaries over the last six decades. Waves of Coptic migration from Egypt (and to a lesser extent from Sudan and Libya) to North America, Australia and Europe led to the establishment of numerous Coptic churches and thus contributed to the creation of a transnational Coptic Church. Today, Coptic ritual activities are performed in the Coptic mahgar across all continents and continue to shape the religious lives of many ‘migrant’ Copts. With the largest Coptic Orthodox communities outside of Egypt being those in the English-speaking world, the Coptic communities in Europe are often overlooked. In this paper, a brief overview of the history of Coptic migration waves to Europe is presented, as well as of the establishment of the first Coptic communities on the continent. The focus then shifts to the Coptic Orthodox Church in the Netherlands, with a special attention to how Coptic tradition and textual practices are evolving within this community.

Collection of essays and articles from the conference on “Europe and the Migration of the Christian Communities from the Middle East” held from 27–29 September 2021

Contains fulltext : 285090.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)