"Trash City" is a city dump in the middle of Cairo, Egypt which is where the largest gathering of Coptic Christians live. It is a city within a city where people live to dig through trash to sort and gather the different types of recyclable materials. In a Muslim country where Islam rules, and Christianity is frowned upon, this area becomes the place where Muslims dare not go. Our guide said that it is one of the few places where you can buy and eat pork, because it is considered unclean. (Personally speaking, I think everything in "Trash City" is unclean, but we did not stay long enough to find out).
Coptic Christians are the oldest group of Christians around. "Coptic" simply means "Egyptian". They can trace their roots back to the days when Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled Bethlehem to Egypt to flee persecution by Herod. They have lived and stayed in Egypt. Their practices are similar to "Catholic" practices, having many relics and reciting an ancient from of the "Mass" in Arabic. They have a priestly order, but are totally independent of the Roman Catholic Pope and priesthood. In their view they have a closer relationship
to Christ because they followed him since he was a baby, not as an adult when John the Baptist revealed him to mankind. They do not do a good job of relating to the outside world of Christianity. They know nothing of Martin Luther's reformation, are not interested in hearing what Evangelicals have to say about anything. Still, I could not help to be appreciative of their knowledge of the biblical narrative or Jesus and reverence for His Son. Anything having to do with Jesus was a site for sore eyes for me.Deep in the bowels of "Trash City", the Coptic Christians built a twenty thousand seat auditorium for their followers to gather and hear their mass. the artwork carved into the walls was breathtaking and quite a testimony to what Christianity stands for in the Middle East. The message of the Gospel paints the story of a redemptive religion, where God himself comes down to live with and serve the poorest of the poor. Surely, Christ wouldn't associate himself which such unclean people who live in a "Trash City", but surely He does! Islam (and Judaism for that matter) by contrast teaches a religion which must separate itself from everything that is unclean and unfortunately, that means most of the human population. Jesus spoke often about declaring that which was unclean to be clean. I think that it is quite a challenge for us as Christians to not reject the people whom are unclean.
It was beautiful to see the story of Christ carved in stone. However, the beauty of this place was hidden from the majority of the Muslim world who would never venture into such a place. "Christ", if you look for Him, is certainly revealed in this place. One of my favorite images carved in the stone was the resurrection scene with the Angel sitting on the stone and declaring to the women that "He is not here, He is arisen."
A drive through the streets of "Trash City"
Unfortunately, the Coptic Christians I spoke with did not fully understand what Christianity was about. They had fashioned a system of works to tie itself to a failed system because it tied itself to the goodness of man, rather than the grace of God. "Saved" and "Salvation" were not words which the Coptic Christians used nor understood. It was a joy to freely share the message with them, although I could tell that they were very ignorant of the what the Bible teaches, although they knew the stories of Jesus quite well. We were well received by them as friends, however, they really did not accept us as pastors or spiritual leaders. I was not really quite sure what they thought of the band of Hispanic Pastors from the United States who came to visit them. But the visit was quite a blessing for me to experience.
We owe a debt of gratitude to ancient Egypt for the preservation of the scriptures. The oldest known manuscripts of the New Testament were preserved in the desserts of Egypt. The dry climate and the abundance of Papyri (from which we get our word 'paper') allowed the early Christians to copy and preserve the Bible for centuries to come. Many of these ancient Christian monasteries are still present outside of Alexandria, named after the great Roman Emperor "Alexander". I could not help but feel like we were in a scene from "Planet of the Apes", where modern people come back to find that their world had changed and new people were in charge. Sadly, a country once over run with Christians has now been reduced to the descendants of the Christian people, now living in the worst of conditions because they had lost track of their original calling, "to go unto all the world (Matthew 28:19)".
