Page:The Greek and Eastern churches.djvu/640

614 the Coptic Church. This enlightened patriarch established schools for girls as well as for boys, rebuilt the cathedral, destroyed pictures as idols, gathered a new council to help him, and established a college at Cairo in charge of Philotheus, an able, learned man. Unfortunately the patriarch would not give the principal a free hand, and, being dissatisfied with his teaching, broke the college up.

In the year 1890 a society of young laymen was constituted for reforming the Coptic Church, and it issued pamphlets in Arabic. Then Cyril got up a rival society called "the Orthodox." A public meeting was called to meet Cyril, which so alarmed the patriarch that he put himself under the protection of the police. His next step was to call a synod, at which he gave the bishops a statement requiring them to sign it and read it in their churches. He would reform the Church; but this must be in his own way. Of course there was great dissatisfaction at such high-handed proceedings, and the Khedive Tewfic intervened. But Cyril would not listen to persuasion. A new council was elected, in which Athanasius of Sanabu, a bishop of the young reform party, was a member. Cyril excommunicated him. Such conduct was unbearable, and the reformers got Cyril banished to Nitria. Meanwhile every effort was made to induce him to withdraw the excommunication of Athanasius, but in vain. At last Athanasius and his supporters simply ignored it. Then came a reaction from the older people; Cyril was recalled, and his return was a triumph, although he had proved himself an obstinate, tyrannical prelate. Still there was progress in spite of these difficulties. The stagnation of the Coptic Church has been largely due to the ignorance of the priests. There is now some progress towards an education of candidates for the ministry, and therefore hope of better times to come. The Copts look to England for sympathy, and rejoice in the English rule of Egypt. They know that if England had not stepped in to suppress the rebellion of Arabi Pasha they would have been massacred wholesale.