I think most of us (and I'm including myself) know very little about the ancient churches in Iraq (Chaldeans), Syria (Syriacs, Assyrians) and Egypt (Copts). I'm a Catholic, interested in the Eastern Churches, but that just means that my tiny trove of knowledge may be just a tiny bit bigger than the average Evangelical Christian FReeper's --- maybe.
I am grateful to Reformation Fan for posting this.
I knew almost nothing about the Copts until I read Fr. Mark Gruber's book Journey Back to Eden (Link) about the year he spent in the desert monasteries, some of them 1700 years old. They embody--- they LIVE ---a Christian religious culture so ancient and important ---
Now I my own response is a sense of pathetic futility. I want them to survive. I want people to know about them. But what can one do? Who's going to rescue them? Obama? (ha.) The U.N.? (Ha, ha.) The only one that's actually stepping in to support the Al-Sisi govt. is Putin, God help us. NOt that Al-Sisi is exactly an angel. Better than Morsi -- as far as we know, for now.
I pray. Not as much as I should.
I had some freeper tell me that the only people who count as "Christians" are those who can "tell you the exact moment they got saved and accepted Jesus as their savior"
Since the vast majority of Copts (probably over 95% of them) were baptized as babies as never went around telling people when they were "saved" and "started a personal relationship with Jesus Christ", I guess they're "not Christians", according to some of our evangelical protestant friends. Just applying their logic.