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Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral
Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral
	St. Mark's Cathedral in 2010
Location	Abbassia, Cairo
Country	Egypt
Denomination	Coptic Orthodox Church
History
Status	Cathedral
Founder(s)	Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria
Dedication	Saint Mark
Consecrated	25 June 1968
Architecture
Architect(s)	Awad Kamel; Michel Bakhoum (structural consultant)
Architectural type	Church
Style	Coptic
Administration
Division	Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Pope Tawadros II

Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral (Arabic: كاتدرائية القديس مرقس القبطية الأرثوذكسية) is a Coptic church located in the Abbassia District in Cairo, Egypt. The cathedral is the seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope. It was built during the time when Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria was Pope, and was consecrated on 25 June 1968.^[1]

The church is dedicated to St. Mark the Evangelist, an apostle of Jesus and founder of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Relics of his life are kept inside. It was, until 2019, (after the inauguration of the new Nativity Cathedral) the largest cathedral in Africa^[2] and the Middle East.^[a]

History of the land

The cathedral is located in the place of a village called p-Sovt em-p-Hoi (Coptic: ⲡⲥⲟⲃⲧ ⲙ̀ⲡϩⲟⲓ "the wall of the moat") which had been given to the Coptic Church in 969 by Jawhar.^[3]^[4]^[5] This land was a replacement for the land that was taken from the church to be included in building the Palace of Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah as part of the planning of the new capital of Egypt, Cairo.^[6]

During the twelfth century the area contained ten Coptic churches, but during the rule of Qalawun on 18 February 1280, the churches were destroyed by Muslims who persecuted the Copts. Two churches were subsequently built in the area under the rule of his son.^[6]

In 1943, the governorate of Cairo attempted to expropriate the area for public use. This was opposed by the General Congregation Council led by its secretary at the time, Habib Elmasry. The campaign proved successful as the Coptic Church maintained control of the land under the condition that a non-profit building be built on it in the following fifteen years. This condition spurred the building of the cathedral.^[7]

Office of the Coptic Orthodox Pope

The entrance of the St. Peter & St. Paul's Chapel inside the Cathedral

The cathedral is where Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria has his office; thus, security is normally high here. However, on 11 December 2016, during the Muslim festival of Mawlid, the chapel near the cathedral was the venue of an Islamic terrorist attack that killed at least 25 people, most of them women and children. This attack is a copycat of various other earlier attacks against Coptic churches in Egypt.^[8]

Architecture

The cathedral is considered a unique example of architectural evolution which includes seven churches of which some have a great historic value such as the Church of St. Rewiss. The Cathedral represents the rapid development of Coptic architecture,^[9]^[10] as the famous Coptic civil engineer Michel Bakhoum contributed in its structural design. It has a capacity for 5,000 worshipers.^[11]

Relics of Saint Mark

Before the completion of the cathedral, the Roman Catholic pontiff of the time, Pope Paul VI, returned part of St. Mark's relics, which were stolen from Egypt in the year 828 to Venice, Italy. These relics were taken to the newly constructed Cathedral, where they were placed in a specially-built shrine brightly decorated with Coptic icons, where they have remained until the present time.^{[citation needed]}

Inauguration ceremony

The inauguration of the new Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral took place on 25 June 1968^[12] in a ceremony hosted by Pope Cyril VI and attended by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, among other foreign clergy members from other churches.

Burials

Notes

^ This claim can still be valid as contrary to popular belief of the largest "cathedral" being the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro in Yamoussoukro, the administrative capital of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), which is considered the largest church in the world but not a cathedral. The nearby Cathedral of Saint Augustine is the principal place of worship and seat of the bishop of the Diocese of Yamoussoukro.