Life, Activity and Contribution of Rev. Zakariyya Butros to the Dialogue with Islam

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present Rev. Zakariyya Butros. Born 1934 in Egypt, he studied and graduated in history and archeology at the Faculty of Arts of Alexandria University in 1957. Afterwards he started teaching in a public school and after a year was offered to join the Coptic clergy. Having accepted the offer, he was ordained a priest in 1958 and a year later became an archpriest (qummus) in the Coptic church hierarchy. In 1969 Butros began giving masses in the church in Masr il-Gadida quarter in Cairo, where he delivered a series of lectures on comparative religious studies for both Christians and Muslims until 1978. In the meantime he started a strong Christian movement “The Global Mission”. Unfortunately, after a short time he was forced to stop performing services in the wake of evangelizing efforts among the Muslims. It was the first time Butros had been imprisoned. Later he was condemned to death, however, the penalty was changed into expulsion due to the efforts of the Coptic Pope. Rev. Butros Zakariyya is now living in the USA, where he regularly appears on Life TV (Al- Hayat) evangelizing Muslims around the world, hosting programs and writing books (in Arabic) discussing various aspects of Islam and Christianity. “Accused” of joining the Pentecostal church by the Coptic Egyptian hierarchy, he holds the view that he can cooperate with all who wish to seek the truth not by an argument of strength but by the strength of arguments. His endeavors seem to fall on deaf ears of the Islamic clergymen, however.