WCC news: Global ecumenical students visit heart of Coptic tradition in Cairo

As part of the study visit program of the 2025 edition of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Global Ecumenical Theological Institute (GETI), participants visited the historic Coptic Orthodox Cathedral of St. Mark in Cairo on 22 October. GETI participants visit the Saint Mark Cathedral in Cairo, of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 23 October 2025 Inaugurated in 1968, St. Mark’s Cathedral is the largest in Africa and the Middle East, with a capacity of 5,000 worshippers. It serves as the seat of the Pope of Alexandria and is dedicated to St. Mark the Evangelist, who is credited with founding the Coptic Orthodox Church. Reflecting on the visit, GETI academic facilitator Rev. Dr Chad Rimmer of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America expressed appreciation for the hospitality extended by His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and the Coptic Orthodox Church. “To be welcomed here has impressed me in several ways,” Rimmer said. “The most striking for me, upon entering the cathedral, is the iconography. Normally, icons are windows to the divine, but here they also tell the story of the Coptic Church and its tradition.” Built when the patriarchal see was moved from Alexandria to Cairo in 1968, the cathedral contains a crypt beneath the altar housing the tomb of St. Mark. “It is not only about the past, but the present,” added Rimmer, who serves as rector and dean at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in the United States. “From the relics of St. Mark and St. Athanasius to the stories of faith from biblical times through the modern history of the Coptic Church, this place shows us a living and vibrant faith.” The cathedral complex also includes a burial church for four popes and hosts liturgical services, Bible studies, and youth programs. The in-person session of GETI is being held from 12–29 October 2025 at the Saint Bishoy Monastery in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt, alongside the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order. GETI 2025 photo gallery Learn more about GETI 2025 GETI opens with combination of knowledge, spiritual depth, and divine grace (WCC news release, 13 October 2025) As GETI opens, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II to young people: “you are the heartbeat of Christianity” (WCC news release, 13 October 2025) Churches called to remember, resist, and rebuild: GETI plenary reflects on faith amid persecution (WCC news release, 15 October 2025) Ecumenism as a lived experience: GETI study visits transform faith and understanding (WCC feature, 20 October 2025) See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland