Copts in Libya
Copts in Libya may refer to people born in or residing in Libya of full or partial Coptic origin. Coptic people are an ethnoreligious group that form the largest Christian group in Libya, the Coptic Orthodox Church in the country having an estimated 60,000 adherents. The Coptic Church is known to have historical roots in Libya long before the Arabs advanced westward from Egypt into Libya. A part of the community is made up of immigrants from Egypt.
Population
The Coptic population is estimated to number 60,000. The Copts are the largest Christian denomination, followed by 40,000 Roman Catholics and a small number of Anglicans. They are present in all three major regions.History
Early history
Historically speaking, Christianity spread to the Pentapolis in North Africa from Egypt; Synesius of Cyrene, bishop of Ptolemais, received his instruction at Alexandria in both the Catechetical School and the Museion, and he had a great deal of reverence and affection for Neoplatonist Hypatia, whose classes he had attended. Synesius was consecrated by Theophilus of Alexandria in 410. Since the Council of Nicaea in 325, Cyrenaica had been recognized as an ecclesiastical province of the See of Alexandria, in accordance with the ruling of the Nicaean Fathers. The Pope of Alexandria to this day includes the Pentapolis in his title as an area within his jurisdiction.The Coptic congregations in several countries were under the ancient Eparchy of the Western Pentapolis, which was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church for centuries until the 13th century.
Modern
In 1971 Pope Shenouda III reinstated it as part of the Eparchy of Metropolitan Bishop Pachomius, Metropolitan of the Holy Metropolis of Beheira,, Mariout , Marsa Matruh,, Patriarchal Exarch of the Ancient Metropolis of Libya: & Titular Metropolitan Archbishop of the Great and Ancient Metropolis of Pentapolis:,,, and.This was one among a chain of many restructuring of several eparchies by Pope Shenouda III, while some of them were incorporated into the jurisdiction of others, especially those who were within an uncovered region or which were part of a Metropolis that became extinct, or by dividing large eparchies into smaller more manageable eparchies. This was also a part of the restructuring of the Church as a whole.