On “Early Egyptian Christianity” by C. Wilfred Griggs ****

This book covers the history of Christianity in Egypt until 451 CE. Griggs lays out the basics in his introduction and again in his conclusion. In between, he provides a useful summary of what probably occurred.

Of course, how exactly Christianity got to Egypt is something of a mystery. We know little of the history until the second century. Griggs posits that before the end of the second century, many versions of Christianity existed. At that point, the bishop of Alexandria positioned himself as superior to other churches and aligned himself with the church in Rome. Most important, he took over the school that had been forged in Alexandria but that wasn't actually run by church authorities. This attempt to assert authority isn't to say other churches in Egypt fell in line; they continued in many ways on their own path. One of those paths was monasticism, which wasn't much in line with the Catholics.

Athanasius in the early fourth century reconciled with the monks and brought them into the regular Catholic church. However, controversies (over Arianism) and fights over leadership continued. Further, Constantinople took on an increasingly important role in the Catholic faith, displacing Alexandria in importance, to the chagrin of Alexandrian bishops. This set up the slow split of Egyptian Christianity into Coptic Christianity and away from the Catholic church, most especially following the Council of Chalcedon.