Jacob Wirtschafter

Because Coptic Christians follow the Julian calendar, they celebrate Christmas Eve on Jan. 6, and feasts are held on Christmas Day, Jan. 7. Some now argue this ancient community should change the dates to Dec. 24-25 as a sign of global Christian unity. 

The Islamic State in Egypt claimed responsibility for an ambush on  buses carrying Coptic Christians Nov. 2.

The Coptic Orthodox community in Egypt is reeling from the recent murder of the abbot of St. Macarius Monastery, apparently by traditionalists of his own faith, in the fourth-century center of meditation and scholarship 60 miles northwest of Cairo.

As a little boy in Sunday school, Bassem Al-Janoubie was fascinated by the illustrated stories about the martyrs of Egypt’s Coptic Church.