Otto. F. A. Meinardus, Fellow of the Institute of Copic Studies in Cairo and a member of the German Archaeological Society, is a doctor of philosophy and theology who has been a professor at the American University in Cairo and Athens College in Greece. He lectures widely and has published major works on Coptic Christianity, the most recent being Coptic Saints and Pilgrimages, published by the AUC Press in 2002. Marie-Hélène Rutschowscaya is head curator of the department of Egyptian antiquities at the Louvre and director of the Coptic section; she is also a professor at the École du Louvre. Her main publications deal with Coptic art in its manifold expressions. Massimo Capuani, an engineer and a researcher, is an expert in the history of the Eastern Christian Churches and has a thorough knowledge of the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean worlds; he has also collected rich documentation about their cultural and artistic development. One of his most recent publications is Mount Athos, published in four languages by Jaca Books in 1997. Gawdat Gabra, former director of the Coptic Museum in Cairo and member of the board of the Society of Coptic Archaeology, has a doctorate in Coptology from the University of Münster. He serves as a consultant in a number of projects of the American Research Center in Egypt and is chief editor of the Saint Mark Foundation for Coptic History Studies. He is the author, coauthor, and editor of numerous books and articles on Coptic Studies.