While there are few books that recounts the history of the Coptic church before the council of Chalcedon there are not many that talk about the period after the council and before and after the Arab conquest and the political turmoil of the time and how all this affected the church.

This book consists of a serious of lectures by the late bishop Youanis (1923 - 1987) bishop of Garbia which he delivered at the theological college in Cairo in the early sixties. This book narrates the history of the Coptic Church during a dark but very important period of her history. In this book bishop Youanis not only highlights the important events from 451 until the late 1200s but he also points out important personalities that had a positive impact on the church in their time.