Coptic History

The Christian church in Egypt was founded by St Mark. His teaching and the teaching of others converted many native Egyptians to Christianity. At the time, native Egyptians were known as Copts. Their main language, Coptic, was the final stage of ancient Egyptian and had an alphabet made up mainly of Greek letters with some Egyptian demotic. It became, and remains, the language of the Christian church in Egypt, which is called the Coptic Church.
In A.D. 330, Emperor Constantine turned away from Rome and set up his capital at Byzantium, which he rebuilt and renamed Constantinople. After years of Christian persecution by the Romans, Constantine recognized the Christian Church and established freedom of worship throughout the Roman Empire.