Your account of the beheading of Coptic Christians (The Church in the World, 21 February) makes very sad reading. However, we must remember that the Copts took the side of the Crusaders. It seems to me that this is remembered and accounts for much of the hostility towards Christians in Egypt. We are all aware of how the Orthodox resent the sack of Constantinople. Pope John Paul’s apology was about as good as it gets. In May 2001, he visited Athens and addressed the Holy Synod (Orthodox), asking forgiveness from God for all the times Catholics had “sinned” against the Orthodox. He referred explicitly to the sack of 1204. The Catholics regret it, while it still causes “suffering to the spirit of the Greek people”. It was a case of ‘the mystery of iniquity