It is an interesting fact that the Nubians were Christians for almost 1000 years in the Middle Ages. The Nubians of today happily admit their Christian past. The Nubian kingdoms (Nobadia in the north with its capital Faras; Makuria with its capital Old Dongola and Alodia with its capital Soba) officially converted to Christianity about AD 540. The Nubian church was predominantly Monophysite in theology, in alignment with Coptic Christianity of Egypt, though there is also evidence of strong Byzantine influence as well. The bishops were consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria, and apparently many were trained there. Parts of the Bible were translated into the Nubian language and written in the Old Nubian script (Coptic script with additional Meroitic letters). Nubians were familiar pilgrims in the Holy Land in early medieval times, and maintained contacts with the Ethiopian church. The latest discoveries and research have established that in fact Christianity was still officially functioning in Nubia late in the fifteenth century A.D. Then, Nubia gave way to the various pressures of the Islamic invaders and converted to Islam collectively.
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