The evangelist and apostle to Egypt
St. Mark is the author of the Gospel according to Mark and a companion in the apostolic age. Coptic tradition remembers his preaching in Alexandria as the beginning of the Church’s apostolic life in Egypt.
She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son.
His importance is historical and pastoral. The Coptic Church does not trace herself to a later movement or national project. She traces her apostolic foundation to the preaching of the Gospel through St. Mark.
The see of Alexandria
The Pope of Alexandria is called the successor of St. Mark because he inherits the episcopal responsibility of the Alexandrian see that St. Mark founded. This does not mean every patriarch has St. Mark’s personal apostolic authority. It means the Church continues in the apostolic faith and pastoral office rooted in his ministry.
The phrase See of St. Mark is a statement about continuity: one Church, one apostolic confession, one line of shepherding from the early Church to today.
Why St. Mark still shapes Coptic identity
St. Mark connects Coptic identity to the Gospel. He reminds the Church that Egypt’s Christian inheritance begins with Christ preached, believed, baptized, worshiped, and confessed. That is why Coptic history, liturgy, martyrdom, monastic life, and the papacy all return to the apostolic foundation of Alexandria.