St. Mark & St. George Church belongs to The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria which is the official name for the Christian church in Egypt & the Middle East. The Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodox family of churches, since the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. The church was established by Saint Mark, an apostle and evangelist, in the middle of the 1st century (approximately AD 42). The head of the church and the See of Alexandria is the Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa.