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The Egyptian Church is traditionally believed to be founded by St Mark around AD 42. Christianity spread throughout Egypt within half a century of Mark's arrival in Alexandria -
The Creed was based largely on the teaching put forth by a man who eventually would become Athanasius of Alexandria, the chief opponent of Arius, and 20th bishop of Alexandria and therefore a Pope according to Coptic Christians. -
Pope Timothy I of Alexandria presided over the second ecumenical council known as the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, to judge Macedonius, who denied the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. This council completed the Nicene Creed with this confirmation of the divinity of the Holy Spirit -
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Another theological dispute occurred over the teachings of Nestorius, the Patriarch of Constantinople who taught that God the Word was not hypostatically joined with human nature, but rather dwelt in the man Jesus. As a consequence of this, he denied the title "Mother of God" (Theotokos) to the Virgin Mary, declaring her instead to be "Mother of Christ" Christotokos. The Council confirmed the teachings of Athanasius and confirmed the title of Mary as "Mother of God". -
Many Egyptian Christians went to the desert during the 3rd century, and remained there to pray and work and dedicate their lives to seclusion and worship of God. This was the beginning of the monastic movement, which was organized by Anthony the Great, Paul of Thebes, the world's first anchorite, Macarius the Great and Pachomius the Cenobite.