Coptic Christian Americans

The Coptic Orthodox Church traces its founding to St. Mark, the apostle and evangelist who brought Christianity to Egypt in the 1st century after the birth of Jesus. The cultural heritage of the ancient church survives today in the liturgical services and the language. The Copts are part of the family of Eastern Orthodox churches that includes the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches. The first significant group of Coptic Christians in the United States included students who came for graduate study or professional training and persons who fled Egypt after the revolution of 1952. By 1962, there were enough Copts in America for Pope Kyrillos to place them under the pastoral care of the bishop. Less than a decade later, four Coptic churches were established in North America. Over the next 40 years, the Coptic Orthodox Church became the second-largest Orthodox Church in America. In 2011, after President Hosni Mubarak's resignation and the installation of a conservative Islamic government, thousands more Copts immigrated to the United States from Egypt.

The Egyptian revolution of 1952 brought nationalization and agricultural reform that resulted in wealthy Copts losing much of their property and physical assaults on Copts becoming common. As a result, tens of thousands fled Egypt in the 1950s, the greatest number immigrating to North America, Great Britain, and Australia. In 1962, Pope Kyrillos VI ordained Makary al-Syriani, who had attended graduate school in the United States, as Bishop Samuel for Social and Ecumenical Services, including the pastoral care of the Copts in Europe, America, and Australia. Bishop Samuel paid frequent visits to the United States and Canada, administering sacraments in host churches of other denominations or in the homes of Coptic families.

After Egypt's 1967 defeat in the Arab-Israeli war, the number of Copts immigrating increased again. Approximately 15,000 Egyptians immigrated to the United States from 1967 to 1977. By 1970, four Coptic Orthodox churches had been established in North America, including St. Mark in Jersey City, New Jersey, the first Coptic church in the United States. The years following showed a steady flow of Copts entering the country, many of them through Lebanon, under the auspices of the World Council of Churches, the Catholic Missionary Services, and other organizations. By 1989, there were 41 Coptic churches in the United States, and the number of Copts was estimated between 160,000 and 180,000.

The Coptic population had grown sufficiently by 1995 for the single Archdiocese of the United States to be divided into six dioceses, with the heaviest concentration of the 200 worshipping communities in New York, New Jersey, and California. As Copts moved into new areas, they borrowed or bought unused churches from other denominations, frequently at a nominal cost and sometimes without payment. In places with a population too small to have their own church, a Coptic priest from a nearby church held mass at regular intervals. As the congregations grew and became more affluent, they adapted these churches or built new ones to reflect their own architectural and religious traditions. The 2010 U.S. Census Bureau statistics placed the number of Coptic churches at 100 with 300,000 members.

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