Christians in Egypt and North Africa under Muslim Rule

Wilken's ch. 33 turns our attention to the Christians in Egypt and North Africa in the early days of Muslim rule. 

After the fall of Syria to the Muslims, including Jerusalem in 638, Egypt also quickly came under Muslim rule. The Egyptian Muslims chose to locate their capital at a fortress called Babylon (wikipedia). They named their new city Fustat (wikipedia).

Pope Benjamin I of Alexandria (c. 590–662; wikipedia). 

In this context, the title "pope" refers to the bishop of Alexandria in the Coptic Orthodox Church (wikipedia). Here Wilken describes the significance of Benjamin, with reference also to the one-time Greek Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria and prefect of the region, named Cyrus of Alexandria (wikipedia), who wanted to bring the Coptic Christians into line with the imperial church. 

Though he [Benjamin] is a major figure in Coptic history, revered with the likes of Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria, he is hardly known in the West. His name does not merit an entry in the major encyclopedias of Christian history. Yet he guided Egyptian Christians through three major upheavals, the Persian occupation of Egypt in 618–629, the repressive years under Cyrus, the Byzantine governor, and the early years of transition to Muslim rule. (Wilken p. 317)

Wilken describes a sermon by Benjamin on the wedding at Cana (John 2:1–11). The sermon has been translated and is available here (pdf). 

Benjamin also had the cathedral of Saint Mark in Alexandria (wikipedia) repaired after damage suffered during the Muslim conquest. "So he moved quickly to rebuild it and claim Saint Mark as the founder of the Coptic Church, and to assert that as patriarch, or bishop of Alexandria, he was in a direct line of succession from the apostle" (Wilken p. 318). 

The relations between Christians and their Muslim rulers was at first fine. "The Muslims had little interest in having Christians convert to Islam; they were needed to run the government, to provide financial support, and to till the fields" (Wilken p. 318). But later the Muslim governor took a direct interest in some Christian affairs, especially the election of the patriarch of Alexandria. 

The Christian writer quoted by Wilken (pp. 318–19) as lamenting the loss of the Coptic language was apparently (according to this article, p. 426) an eleventh-century writer posing as the seventh-century Samuel the Confessor (wikipedia). But this lament was written in Arabic, as was also the History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church in Alexandria (wikipedia). "In the monasteries, however, the monks continued to chant the psalms in Coptic, a practice that continues to this day" (Wilken p. 319). 

Now, to North Africa.

The last few pages of this chapter cover events west of Egypt. Wilken first reviews the history of Latin-speaking Christianity in this area, especially Carthage (Scillitan martyrs, Latin Bible, Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine, Donatists, the Vandals). One of the points Wilken makes is that the expression of Christianity in North Africa differed from that in Egypt in that there was no indigenous Christian culture that took on the native language of the area. In Egypt, there was (and is) the Coptic Church, but in North Africa there was the Latin-speaking church and not much else. 

The Vandals, who were Arian Christians, conquered North Africa in the 430s (wikipedia). Catholic Christian culture waned somewhat, but Wilken mentions a leader, Fulgentius of Ruspe (wikipedia), who was persecuted by the Arian rulers but also wrote some things that survive. "Fulgentius was not a major figure in Christian history, and his writings lack originality, but he is a pointed reminder that the venerable Latin Christian tradition of the North African Church was alive in the dark and perilous years of Vandal rule" (Wilken p. 321). 

Justinian reconquered North Africa for the Romans/Byzantines. At one point, Maximus the Confessor fled to Carthage. 

Then the Muslims came. The decisive engagement was the Battle of Sbeitla (wikipedia) in 647, but it wasn't until 698 that Carthage was taken (wikipedia). And that pretty much spelled the end for Christianity in North Africa (wikipedia). 

After the fall of Carthage many Christians from North Africa fled by sea to Italy, Spain, and islands of the Mediterranean. Their exodus deprived the local communities of the cream of Christian society, its educated and elite members. This may explain the lack of written sources after the conquest. A great silence descends on Christianity in Africa. Whatever the reason for the silence, the lack of Christian writings and the paucity of other evidence on the internal life of the churches has fueled speculation that Christianity in North Africa went into steep decline from the beginning of Muslim rule. (Wilken p. 322)

Wilken immediately pushes back on that narrative, and he is able to cite some hints of a continuing Christian presence, but it is much less impressive than in the days of Cyprian and Augustine. "By the eleventh century the bishop of Carthage could not muster two other bishops to make up the required number of three to ordain a bishop" (Wilken p. 323). His final comment in this chapter: "Unlike the Middle East and Egypt, today there is no indigenous Christian community in North Africa that can trace its history back to the time of Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine, and Fulgentius of Ruspe" (Wilken p. 323).