The Precious Pearl in the History of the Coptic Church: Complete Edition

From the coming of Christ to the early twentieth century, Anba Isidhoros traces the life of the Church century by century through its teachers, councils, patriarchs, conflicts and encounters with rulers. The result is a sweeping history written from within the Coptic Orthodox tradition.

Beginning with the apostles and the formation of Christian communities, he follows the Fathers of Alexandria and the desert, the controversies that shaped doctrine, and the Church's relationship with the Roman and Byzantine states. He records the succession of Coptic popes alongside the patriarchs of Antioch and the bishops of Rome, placing their decisions amid wider civil and political events.

His account continues through the Arab, Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman eras and into modern Egypt. Letters, quotations, biographies and lists preserve the voices and concerns of earlier generations. His judgments are candid and unmistakably his own, revealing how an early twentieth-century Coptic bishop understood the Church's past.

This Complete Edition presents the English translation with editorial notes on names, dates, unclear readings and later additions in the Arabic reprint. It retains the author's sequence and perspective while giving readers a clear path through a vast and often turbulent history.

Anba Isidhoros, Bishop of the Monastery of al-Baramous.