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Apr 10, 2017 · After decades of exodus, there are now roughly over 1 million Copts around the world and over 100 churches, including throughout Australia, which has the third largest Coptic community in the world outside of Egypt.
- Steven Viney
- Overview
- Origin of the Copts
- Arabization of the Copts
- Copts in modern times
Copt, a member of Egypt’s indigenous Christian ethno-religious community. The terms Copt and Coptic are variously used to denote either the members of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the largest Christian body in Egypt, or as generic terms for Egyptian Christians; this article focuses primarily on the former definition. Copts constitute up to 10 percen...
The Copts are descendants of pre-Islamic Egyptians, who spoke a late form of the Egyptian language known as Coptic. Such a descendant was identified in Greek as a Aigyptios (Arabic qibṭ, Westernized as Copt). When Egyptian Muslims later ceased to call themselves by the demonym, the term became the distinctive name of the Christian minority. After Copts began converting to Roman Catholicism (see also Coptic Catholic Church) and Protestant sects, Copts of the Oriental Orthodox communion began to call themselves Coptic Orthodox to distinguish themselves from other Christians of Coptic background.
Christianity is said to have been brought to Alexandria by St. Mark in the first half of the first century and spread quickly throughout Egypt. Alexandria quickly became an important centre for Christianity, and its see was ranked on par with Rome and Antioch at the Council of Nicaea (325 ce). The patriarchate of Alexandria—the first bishopric in Christianity to use the title pope—became increasingly influential. Among its most influential occupants was St. Cyril of Alexandria, who spearheaded the Council of Ephesus (431) and the condemnation of Nestorius and his followers.
After the Arab conquest of Egypt in the 7th century, the Copts ceased using Greek, and the language barrier between them and the Greek-speaking Romans added to the doctrinal controversy. Various attempts at compromise by the Byzantine emperors came to naught. Later, the Arab caliphs, although they tended to favour those who adopted Islam, did not interfere much in the church’s internal affairs.
Copts, meanwhile, played key administrative and commercial roles under Arab rule. Adopting Arabic language and culture therefore became important means of upward mobility. Assimilation and inclusion of the Copts became especially pronounced during Fatimid rule. In the 12th century the Coptic church officially adopted Arabic for liturgical use alongside the Coptic language, reflecting the fact that many churchgoers no longer understood Coptic.
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The Copts have remained an influential group in Egypt into the modern era. Under the British protectorate, two Copts held the post of prime minister. Copts continued to hold large land estates and own wealthy businesses. The community lost prestige, however, after the 1952 revolution, as various reforms under the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser disproportionately affected upper- and middle-class Copts and sparked a wave of emigration.
The Nasser era also saw a strengthening of the influence of the Coptic pope. The Coptic Orthodox Church had developed a democratic system of government in the late 19th century. The patriarch and the 12 diocesan bishops, with the assistance of community councils, in which the laity was well represented, regulated the finances of the churches and schools and the administration of the rules relating to marriage, inheritance, and other matters of personal status. These councils were suspended in 1968, however, and ecclesiastical power was centralized in the hands of the patriarch. The councils were restored in 1973 but had only limited independence from the church hierarchy.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The persecution of Copts and discrimination against Coptic Orthodox Christians are historic and widespread issues in Egypt. Their treatment is indicative of the poor status of Christians in the Middle East more widely, despite the fact that the religion is native to the Middle East, and that Christianity in Egypt dates back to the Roman era. [1] Copts ( Coptic ...
Adherents of the Coptic Orthodox Church make up Egypt's largest and most significant minority population, and the largest population of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). [1] [2] [3] They make up the largest percentage of approximately 20 million Christians in Egypt. [8] [9] [10] [11]
Egypt - Ancient, Coptic, Bedouin: The population of the Nile valley and delta, which are home to the overwhelming majority of Egyptians, forms a fairly homogeneous group whose dominant physical characteristics are the result of the admixture of the indigenous African population with those of Arab ancestry. Within urban areas (the northern delta ...
Apr 9, 2017 · Amr Nabil/AP. The largest Christian community in the Middle East, Coptic Christians make up the majority of Egypt’s roughly 9 million Christians. About 1 million more Coptic Christians are...
Jun 20, 2016 · The status of Coptic Christians in Egypt has for the most part remained unchanged since Anwar Sadat came to power in 1970. Today, there is little Christian representation in government, and ...
