The Roman emperor Constantine converted

The Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christian-
ity and declared it the official religion of the Roman Empire
in a.d. 312, bringing an end to the persecution of Christians.
Constantine moved the capital of his empire from Rome to
Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople (known today
as Istanbul, Turkey). His form of Christianity, known as Byz-
antine and later as Orthodox Christianity, was Egypt’s official
faith. It was often uncompromising, and it is a sad legacy of
that church that it set about defacing and destroying many of
the “heathen” monuments of ancient Egypt. There were also
differences in religious doctrine between the Byzantine Church
and the form of Christianity practiced by most Egyptians.
In a.d. 451, there was an official split between the Byzantine
Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church, which originated
in Egypt. To this day, most Egyptian Christians are Copts, or
Coptic Christians. The Greek Orthodox Church—the succes-
sor to Byzantine Orthodoxy—also has followers, including the
monks of Sinai’s Monastery of St. Katherine.