Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, Abbassia
Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral stands in the Abbassia district of Cairo, on the grounds known as Anba Ruways. It is the seat of the Pope of Alexandria and houses the papal residence and the offices of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate. The Patriarchate's website dates the papal residence there from 1971, the year of the funeral of Pope Cyril VI; Pope Shenouda III was enthroned in the cathedral on 14 November that year.
Key facts
- 25 June 1968, under Pope Cyril VI
- Since 1971
- Part of the relics of Saint Mark, returned from Venice in 1968
The grounds
The Coptic Encyclopedia places the complex on the site of Dayr al-Khandaq, a monastery founded around 970 on land north of Cairo that once held several churches and a cemetery. The Church of Anba Ruways, named for the fourteenth-century saint buried in its crypt with four patriarchs, is the medieval church that survives beside the cathedral. The encyclopedia says the cemetery was later moved to the Red Mountain north of Cairo, and the land that reverted to the Patriarchate now holds the cathedral, the patriarchal residence, the Clerical College and the Institute of Coptic Studies.
Wikipedia records that Cairo's governorate tried to expropriate the land in 1943, that the church kept it on condition that it build on it within fifteen years, and that the complex now holds seven churches, the Church of Anba Ruways among them.
Building and consecration
The cornerstone was laid on 24 July 1965, under Pope Cyril VI, in the presence of President Gamal Abdel Nasser. The cathedral was opened for prayer on 25 June 1968 at a ceremony attended by President Nasser and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. The Coptic Encyclopedia places that ceremony within the church's celebration of the 1,900th anniversary of Saint Mark's martyrdom, for which it says 172 delegates from around the world came to Cairo.
Wikipedia names the engineers Awad Kamel and Salim Kamel Fahmy as the winners of the design competition and describes a cross-shaped building with room for 5,000 worshippers. On 18 November 2018 Pope Tawadros II consecrated the cathedral with 107 metropolitans and bishops.
The relics of Saint Mark
The body of Saint Mark was taken from Alexandria to Venice in 828; the saint's head remained in Egypt. In 1968 the Catholic Church returned part of the relics to Pope Cyril VI, who placed them in a granite casket in the crypt of the new cathedral. The Coptic Encyclopedia describes the crypt as a place of pilgrimage.
What happens there
Pope Tawadros II delivers his weekly sermon at the Wednesday meeting from the papal residence in Cairo. The Liturgy of the Feast of the Resurrection was prayed at the cathedral in 2025 and in 2026; the Patriarchate's account of the 2026 service lists representatives of the President, the government, the two houses of parliament, the armed forces and the courts among those attending, and says Egyptian television broadcast it live.
Pope Tawadros II was enthroned there on 18 November 2012, and the funeral prayers for Pope Shenouda III were held there in March 2012.
On 11 December 2016 a suicide bombing at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, next to the cathedral, killed 29 people.
The Cathedral of the Nativity
The Patriarchate's website lists a further papal residence: the Cathedral of the Nativity in the New Administrative Capital, opened on 6 January 2019 by Pope Tawadros II in the presence of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. The site says the complex holds 8,000 people and includes a papal residence. The Liturgy of the Feast of the Nativity was prayed there in 2026, and President El-Sisi visited the cathedral to offer his congratulations.
Dayr al-Khandaq is founded on the site.
The cathedral is opened for prayer; the relics of Saint Mark are placed in its crypt that year.
Pope Shenouda III is enthroned in the cathedral.
Pope Tawadros II is enthroned in the cathedral.
A bombing at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, next to the cathedral, kills 29 people.
Pope Tawadros II consecrates the cathedral.
The Cathedral of the Nativity opens in the New Administrative Capital.
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