Golden Verse:

1. “If  indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”  Romans 8:17
2. “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”  Philippians 1:29

1. A story about a martyr (class Saint)
2. A short history about Coptic martyrdom

The Story of the Copts
Introduction to the Coptic Church by Fr. Tadros Malaty

1.  The Coptic Martyrs:
a) The Coptic church is called by historians “the Church of the martyrs”.
b) The number of Egyptian martyrs exceeds those of all other countries combined.
c) During the rule of Maximinus, 840,000 Egyptians were martyred.
d) The Egyptian Church is the only Church that lived with martyrdom continuously.
2.  The first martyr is St. Stephen; read about him in Acts 6 & 7.
3.  The last martyr (relatively) is St. Peter, the seal of martyrs and the 17th. Pope.
4.  Three Periods of Martyrdom:
a) Martyrs of Faith:
1. Ten periods of persecution started by Nero in 64 AD; the last one was during the era of Diocletian (284 AD).
2. Persecution continued during the rule of Maximinus (305 to 311 AD).
3. Persecution ended during the rule of Constantine the great when he issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, proclaiming religious freedom.
b) Martyrs Against Heresies:
• The period of persecution following the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD)
c) The New Martyrs:
• The periods of persecution during Islamic periods:
 1.  Caliph Al-Hakim (996 to 1020 AD)
 2.  Caliph Al-Nasser Ebn Qalawoon (1293 to 1341 AD)
• The Muslim historian Al-Makrizy reported extensively about those periods of persecution.
5.  What do we learn from martyrdom?
a) Martyrs declare their faith and confess their belief in God.
b) They shared the pain and suffering with Christ.
c) They cared more about their eternal life than worldly pleasures.
d) Their fear of God overcame their fear of human sufferings.
e) We should also notice the blessings of martyrdom that helped the growth of the Church.