The Coptic Orthodox Church
Founded by the Apostle and Evangelist Mark in the first century, the mother church of Egypt.
The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the largest Christian church in Egypt and the historic Christian community of the Nile. Founded by the Apostle and Evangelist Mark in AD 42, it counts roughly 10–15 million faithful today and is one of the six Oriental Orthodox churches.
Not Chalcedonian, not Roman, not Eastern Orthodox
The Coptic Church parted from the wider Christian world after the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451), rejecting Chalcedon's dogmatic formula. Coptic Christology is miaphysite: one incarnate nature of God the Word, fully divine and fully human. Modern ecumenical dialogue has established that Coptic and Eastern Orthodox Christians confess the same faith in Christ using different theological vocabularies.
Fasting
The Coptic Church observes some of the longest fasts in all of Christendom — more than 200 days a year including the Great Fast (Lent), the Apostles' Fast, the Fast of the Virgin, the Advent (Nativity) Fast, and the weekly Wednesday and Friday fasts. Fasts are traditionally vegan.
Great Coptic saints
Among them: St. Athanasius the Great, defender of Nicaea; St. Anthony the Great, father of monasticism; St. Pachomius, founder of cenobitic monasticism; St. Cyril of Alexandria; and, in modern times, Pope Kyrillos VI and the many New Martyrs of Libya.