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Copts

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Copts
Aqbaṭ أقباط
ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙ'ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ 'ⲛ'Ⲭⲣⲏⲥⲧⲓ'ⲁⲛⲟⲥ
ni.Remenkīmi en Ekhristianos
File:CopticFlag007.jpg
The Coptic flag [1][2][3]
Total population
8,000,000 to 15,000,000 [4][5] (estimates vary)
Regions with significant populations
 Egypt7,000,000 - 13,100,000[6][7]
 United States300,000 - 700,000[8][9][10]
 Australia15,000 (1996)[11]
 Germany3,000[12]
  Switzerland1,000 (2004)[13]
Religions
Coptic Orthodox Christianity, Coptic Catholicism, Protestantism
Scriptures
Bible
Languages
Maṣri, Coptic, Arabic, English, French, German

A Copt (Coptic: ⲟⲩⲣⲉⲙ'ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ 'ⲛ'Ⲭⲣⲏⲥⲧⲓ'ⲁⲛⲟⲥ ou.Remenkīmi en.Ekhristianos, literally: Egyptian Christian) is a native Egyptian Christian. Today, more than 95% of the Copts belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church. The remaining (around 500,000) are divided between the Coptic Catholic and the Coptic Protestant churches. The Copts are by far the largest Christian community in North Africa and the Middle East. The word "Coptic" was originally used in Classical Arabic to refer to Egyptians in general (see etymology section), but it has undergone semantic shift over the centuries to mean more specifically Egyptian Christian after the bulk of the Egyptian population converted to Islam.[14] In modern usage, it is frequently applied to members of the Coptic Church irrespective of ethnic origin. Thus Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians (and Nubians before their conversion to Islam) were traditionally referred to as Copts, though this has been falling out of use since their Tewahedo Churches were granted their own patriarchs.

The number of Copts in Egypt has been subject to some controversy. Coptic sources put forward figures ranging from 14% to 20% (between 10 and 15 million), but the Egyptian government insists that Copts represent about 6% (4 million) of the Egyptian population. Part of the controversy could be attributed to the increasing number of Copts born outside Egypt and who do not carry Egyptian passports. The number of Copts within Egypt may be very slowly declining due to higher emigration rates caused by harassment and discrimination at the hands of Islamist militants and the Egyptian government. Egyptian Copts have occasionally been on the receiving end of violent acts from Islamic extremist groups. Copts have leveled the accusation that the Egyptian government has sometimes been complicit or uncaring in the face of such incidents.[15] The 2006 World Factbook estimates that 7.6 million or 10% of Egyptians are Christian (9% Coptic and 1% other denominations).[16]

Etymology

The English word Copt is from New Latin Coptus, which is derived from Arabic qubṭi قبطي (pl: qubṭ قبط and aqbāṭ أقباط), an Arabisation of the Coptic word kubti (Bohairic) and/or kuptaion (Sahidic). This word is in turn derived from the Greek word Αἰγύπτιος, aiguptios: "Egyptian", from Αἴγυπτος, aiguptos: "Egypt".

p
t		 HHwtt
pr		 kA
Z1		 t
niwt
Hut-ka-Ptah
in hieroglyphs

The Greek term for "Egypt" has a long history. It goes back to the Mycenaean language (an early form of Greek) where the word a3-ku-pi-ti-jo (lit. "Egyptian"; used here as a man's name) was written in Linear B. This Mycenaean form is likely from Egyptian ḥwt-k3-ptḥ ("Hut-ka-Ptah"), literally "Estate (or 'House') of Ptah" (cf. Akkadian āluḫi-ku-up-ta-aḫ), the name of the temple complex of the god Ptah at Memphis. As the chief temple precinct of the capital of Egypt, the name was applied to the entire city of Memphis and ultimately to the country as a whole.

A similar situation is observed in the name Memphis [Greek Μέμφις], which comes from the Egyptian name of the pyramid complex of king Pepi II, mn nfr ppy (lit. "Established in Perfection or 'Beauty' is Pepy") at Saqqara but which was applied to the nearby capital city. Interestingly, this usage survived in Sahidic as Gupton and Kupton, meaning "Memphis". In modern Egyptian Arabic, Cairo is usually called Masr (Egyptian Arabic: مَصر), which is also the name of Egypt.

There is another theory which states that the Arabic word qibṭ "Copt" was an Arabisation of the Greek name of the town of Κόπτος Coptos (modern قفط Qifṭ; Coptic Kebt and Keft), but is generally no longer accepted.

File:MY007218.jpg
An Ethiopian monk sitting near the Coptic Monastery in Jerusalem (above the Church of the Holy Sepulchre)

References to Copts in the Coptic language are both Greek and Coptic in origin. The words kuptaion (Sahidic) and kubti (Bohairic) are attested, but are used in the surviving texts to refer to the language, rather than the people; these both derive from Greek Αἴγύπτιος aiguptios "Egyptian". The Coptic term for the word "Egyptian" is rem en kēme (Sahidic) ⲣⲙⲛⲕⲏⲙⲉ, lem en kēmi (Fayyumic), rem en khēmi (Bohairic) ⲣⲉⲙ'ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ , etc., literally "people of Egypt"; cf. Egyptian rmṯ n kmt, Demotic rmt n kmỉ.

The etymological meaning of the word therefore pertains to all people of Egyptian origins, not only those who profess Coptic Orthodoxy. Medieval writers before the Mamluk period often used the words Copts (Arabic: قبط) and Egyptians (Arabic: مصريون) interchangeably to describe all the people of Egypt whether Christian or Muslim. After the bulk of the Egyptian population converted to Islam, the word Copt came to be associated with Egyptians who retained their Christianity. In the 20th century, some Egyptian nationalists and intellectuals began using the term Copts in the historical sense. For example, Markos Pasha Semeika, founder of the Coptic Museum, addressed a group of Egyptian students in these words: "All of you are Copts. Some of you are Muslim Copts, others are Christian Copts, but all of you are descended from the Ancient Egyptians".[17]

History

Main article: Coptic Christianity
Coptic icon of St. Mark

The Copts are one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East. Although integrated in the larger Egyptian nation, the Copts have survived as a distinct religious community forming today between 10 and 15 percent of the native population. They pride themselves on the apostolicity of the Egyptian Church whose founder was the first in an unbroken chain of patriarchs. According to ancient tradition, Christianity was introduced to the Egyptians by Saint Mark in Alexandria shortly after the ascension of Christ. The legacy that Saint Mark left in Egypt was a considerable Christian community in Alexandria. From Alexandria, Christianization of the rest of Egypt progressed slowly. However, by the beginning of the 3rd century A.D., Christians constituted the majority of Egypt’s population, and the Church of Alexandria was recognized as one of Christendom's four Apostolic Sees, second in honor only to the Church of Rome[18]. The Church of Alexandria is therefore the oldest church in Africa.

The Copts contributed immensely to the formation of the worldwide Christian mind. To name a few examples, the Catechetical School of Alexandria was the oldest catechetical school in the world (founded around 190 A.D.), and monasticism was created and organized by Copts. In the first three Ecumenical Councils, namely the First Council of Nicaea, the Council of Constantinople, and the Council of Ephesus, the Egyptians played the most prominent role in defending Orthodoxy. The Patriarchs of Alexandria were given such important tasks like the determination of the yearly date of Easter.

In 451 A.D., following the Council of Chalcedon, the Church of Alexandria was divided into two branches. Those who accepted the terms of the Council became known as Chalcedonians or Melkites. Those who did not abide by the Council's terms were labeled non-Chalcedonians or Monophysites (and later Jacobites after Jacob Baradaeus). The non-Chalcedonians, however, rejected the term Monophysites as erroneous and insisted on being called Miaphysites. The majority of the Egyptians belonged to the Miaphysite branch, which led to their persecution by the Byzantine invaders in Egypt.

In 641 A.D., Egypt was invaded by the Arabs who faced off with the Byzantine army, but found little to no resistance from the native Egyptian population. Local resistance by the Egyptians however began to materialize shortly thereafter and would last until at least the ninth century.[19][20]. Examples include the Revolt of the Beshmorites, a large-scale national resistance staged in the mid-eighth century in the Nile Delta. It was crushed by Marwan II, the Umayyad caliph. The last armed resistance of the Egyptians against the Arabs was towards the mid ninth century, which was brutally crushed by Al-Ma'mun, the Abbasid caliph. The Arabs imposed a special tax, known as Jizya, on the Christians who acquired the status of dhimmis, and all native Egyptian were prohibited from joining the army. Egyptian converts to Islam in turn were relegated to the status of mawali. Heavy taxation was one of the reasons behind Egyptian organized resistance against the new occupying power, as well as the decline of the number of Christians in Egypt.

More than seven million Egyptians follow the Christian faith as members of the Coptic Church.

The Arabs in the 7th century seldom used the term Egyptian, and used instead the term Copt to describe the people of Egypt. Thus, Egyptians became known as Copts, and the non-Chalcedonian Egyptian Church became known as the Coptic Church. The Chalcedonian Church remained known as the Melkite Church. In their own native language, Egyptians referred to themselves as rem-en-kimi, which translates into those of Egypt. Religious life remained largely undisturbed following the Arab occupation, as evidence by the rich output of Coptic arts in monastic centers in Old Cairo (Fustat) and throughout Egypt. Conditions, however, worsened shortly after that, and in the eighth and ninth centuries, during the period of the great national resistance against the Arabs, Muslim rulers banned the use of human forms in art (taking advantage of an iconoclastic conflict in Byzantium) and consequently destroyed many Coptic paintings and frescoes in churches.[21]

The Fatimid period of Islamic rule in Egypt was tolerant with the exception of the violent persecutions of caliph Al-Hakim. The Fatimid rulers employed Copts in the government and participated in Coptic and local Egyptian feasts. Major renovation and reconstruction of churches and monasteries were also undertaken. Coptic arts flourished, reaching new heights in Middle and Upper Egypt.[22] Persecution of Egyptian Christians, however, reached a peak in the early Mamluk period following the Crusader wars. Many forced conversions of Christians took place. Monastries were occasionally raided and destroyed by marauding Bedouin, but were rebuilt and reopened.

The position of the Copts did not begin to improve until the rule of Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century, who abolished the Jizya and allowed Egyptians (Copts as well as Muslims) to enroll in the army. Conditions continued to improve throughout the nineteenth century under the leadership of the great reformer Pope Cyril IV, and in the first half of the twentieth century (known as the Golden Age by the Copts) during Egypt's liberal period. Copts participated in the Egyptian national movement for independence and occupied many influential positions. Two significant cultural achievement include the founding of the Coptic Museum in 1910 and the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies in 1954. Some prominent Coptic thinkers from this period are Salama Moussa, Louis Awad and Secretary General of the Wafd Party from 1927 to 1942 Makram Ebeid. Following the 1952 coup d'état by the Free Officers, the conditions of the Copts have been slowly deteriorating and their human rights are often consistently violated.

Today, members of the non-Chalcedonian Coptic Orthodox Church constitute the majority of the Egyptian Christian population. Mainly through emigration and partly through European, American, and other missionary work and conversions, the Egyptian Christian community now also includes other Christian denominations such as Protestants (known in Arabic as Evangelicals), Roman and Eastern Rite Catholics, and other Orthodox congregations. The term Coptic remains exclusive however to the Egyptian natives, as opposed to the Christians of non-Egyptian origins. Some Protestant churches for instance are called "Coptic Evangelical Church", thus helping differentiate their native Egyptian congregations from churches attended by non-Egyptian immigrant communities such as Europeans or Americans.

Human rights

The religious freedom of Egypt's Coptic community is hampered to varying degrees by extremist Islamist groups and by discriminatory and restrictive government policies. Copts have faced increasing marginalization after the 1952 coup d'état led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. Until recently, Christians were required to obtain presidential approval for even minor repairs in churches. Although the law was eased in 2005 by handing down the authority of approval to the governors, Copts continue to face many obstacles in building new or repairing existing churches. These obstacles are not found in building mosques.[23][24]

Boutros Boutros-Ghali is a Copt who served as Egypt's acting foreign minister twice under President Anwar Sadat (1977 and 1978 - 1979)[25]. Although Boutros Boutros-Ghali later became the United Nations Secretary-General, his appointment as an only acting foreign minister depicted Egypt's systematic elimination of Copts from all governmental influencial positions. Today, only two Copts are on Egypt's governmental cabinet: Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali and Environment Minister Magued George. There is also currently one Coptic governor out of 25, that of the Upper Egyptian governorate of Qena, and the first Coptic governor in a few decades. In addition, Naguib Sawiris, an extremely successful businessman and one of the world's wealthiest 100 people is a Copt. In 2002, under the Mubarak government, Coptic Christmas (January 7) was recognized as an official holiday.[26] Nevertheless, the Coptic community has occasionally been the target of hate crimes and physical assaults. The most significant was the 2000-2001 El Kosheh attacks , in which 21 Copts and 1 Muslim were killed. A 2006 attack on three churches in Alexandria left one dead and 17 injured.[27] In addition, many Copts continue to complain of being minimally represented in law enforcement, state security and public office, and of being discriminated against in the workforce on the basis of their religion.[28][29]

Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution, and Egyptians who convert to Islam face no complications. However, Egyptians converting from Islam to Christianity or any other religion face great troubles with the government. Public officials, being conservative themselves, intensify the complexity of the legal procedures required to recognize the religion change as required by law. Security agencies claim that such conversions from Islam to Christianity may stir social unrest, and therefore take steps to prevent it from happening sometimes by detaining the subjects.[30] [31]

Language

Main article: Coptic language
File:Bibliacopt.jpg
Coptic language hymn book - otherwise known as the 'Tasbeha' or 'Holy Psalmody'

The Coptic language is the last stage of the Egyptian language.

"Coptic should more correctly be used to refer to the script rather than the language itself. Even though this script was introduced as far back as the 1st century BC, it is usually applied to the writing of the Egyptian language from the first century AD to the present day."[32]

Today, Coptic is the liturgical language of the Egyptian Church and is also taught in Egypt and worldwide in many prestigious institutions.

Dialects of Coptic language:

Calendar

Main article: Coptic calendar
File:DB001324.jpg
4th century Coptic cross

The Coptic calendar, also called the Alexandrian calendar, is used by the Coptic Orthodox Church and also by Ethiopia as its official calendar (with different names). This calendar is based on the ancient Egyptian calendar. To avoid the calendar creep of the latter, a reform of the ancient Egyptian calendar was introduced at the time of Ptolemy III (Decree of Canopus, in 238 BC) which consisted of the intercalation of a sixth epagomenal day every fourth year. However, this reform was opposed by the Egyptian priests, and the idea was not adopted until 25 BC, when the Roman Emperor Augustus formally reformed the calendar of Egypt, keeping it forever synchronized with the newly introduced Julian calendar. To distinguish it from the Ancient Egyptian calendar, which remained in use by some astronomers until medieval times, this reformed calendar is known as the Coptic calendar. Its years and months coincide with those of the Ethiopian calendar but have different numbers and names.

Coptic year

Coptic Orthodox Cross with traditional Coptic script reading: 'Jesus Christ, the Son of God'

The Coptic year is the extension of the ancient Egyptian civil year, retaining its subdivision into the three seasons, four months each. The three seasons are commemorated by special prayers in the Coptic Liturgy. This calendar is still in use all over Egypt by farmers to keep track of the various agricultural seasons. The Coptic calendar has 13 months, 12 of 30 days each and an intercalary month at the end of the year of 5 or 6 days, depending whether the year is a leap year or not. The year starts on 29 August in the Julian Calendar or on the 30th in the year before (Julian) Leap Years. The Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Julian Calendar so that the extra month always has six days in the year before a Julian Leap Year.

The Feast of Neyrouz marks the first day of the Coptic year. Its celebration falls on the 1st day of the month of Thout, the first month of the Coptic year, which for AD 1901 to 2098 usually coincides with 11 September, except before a Gregorian leap year when it's September 12. Coptic years are counted from AD 284, the year Diocletian became Roman Emperor, whose reign was marked by tortures and mass executions of Christians, especially in Egypt. Hence, the Coptic year is identified by the abbreviation A.M. (for Anno Martyrum or "Year of the Martyrs"). The A.M. abbreviation is also used for the unrelated Jewish year (Anno Mundi).

Every fourth Coptic year is a leap year without exception, as in the Julian calendar, so the above mentioned new year dates apply only between AD 1900 and 2099 inclusive in the Gregorian Calendar. In the Julian Calendar, the new year is always 29 August, except before a Julian leap year when it's August 30. Easter is reckoned by the Julian Calendar in the Old Calendarist way.

To obtain the Coptic year number, subtract from the Julian year number either 283 (before the Julian new year) or 284 (after it).

See also: Computus

Prominent Copts

Main article: Prominent Copts

Many Copts are internationally renowned. Some of the most well known Copts include Boutros Boutros-Ghali the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations, Sir Magdi Yacoub the world's most eminent heart surgeon, and Hani Azer, a world leading civil engineer.

Related words

  • From the Greek word Αίγυπτος "Aiguptos" or "Aigyptos", the name for Egypt in many European languages was derived.
  • The word qabāṭī قباطي, a kind of textile import from Egypt and which was used to cover the Kaaba since before Islam, is derived from Arabic قبط qubṭ.
  • The English word gypsy is derived from the Middle English egypcien meaning "Egyptian". Likewise, the Spanish word gitano, also meaning gypsy, derives from a common Latin source. This is due to the mistaken belief that Gypsies were of Egyptian origin. Gypsy and the (probably) related term, gyp ("to swindle or cheat") are generally viewed as being pejorative; see the article Roma (people).
  • In modern Egyptian Arabic, the word koftes (pl. kafatsa), is a pejorative word used colloquially to refer to Christians. It is perhaps an Egyptianised form of the Latin Coptus, under phonetic and linguistic factors different from those which existed when qubṭ was derived from Greek aiguptios. This, however, seems unlikely.
  • Medieval sources mention one of the sons of Mitzrayim, who in turn descended from the Biblical Noah, as a possible source for the word 'Copt'.

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ The flag was adopted in 2007 by a certain number of Coptic activists from both Egypt and the Diaspora. -Middle East Christian
  2. ^ Coptic Church does not recognize the flag. - Arabs, Muslims, Copts, what defines us? - By Jumana Shehata Daily Star Egypt.
  3. ^ http://freecopts.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=38
  4. ^ CIA World Factbook. Egyptian people section.
  5. ^ http://www.copts.com/english/HistoryOfCopts.aspx
  6. ^ CIA World Factbook. Egyptian people section
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ [2]
  9. ^ [3]
  10. ^ [4]
  11. ^ [5]
  12. ^ [6]
  13. ^ [7]
  14. ^ "The people of Egypt before the Arab conquest in the 7th century identified themselves and their language in Greek as Aigyptios (Arabic qibt, Westernized as Copt); when Egyptian Muslims later ceased to call themselves Aigyptioi, the term became the distinctive name of the Christian minority." Coptic Orthodox Church. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2007
  15. ^ Imad Boles, Egypt - Persecution: Disappearing Christians of the Middle East, Middle East Quarterly (Winter 2001).
  16. ^ CIA World Factbook. Egyptian people section.
  17. ^ qtd. in M. Hussein. el Ittigahat el Wataneyya fil Adab el Muʻaṣir [National Trends in Modern Literature]. Vol. 2. Cairo, 1954
  18. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentarchy
  19. ^ Mawaiz wa al-'i'tibar bi dhikr al-khitat wa al-'athar (2 vols., Bulaq, 1854), by Al-Maqrizi
  20. ^ Chronicles, by John of Nikiû
  21. ^ Kamil, p. 41
  22. ^ Kamil, op cit.
  23. ^ WorldWide Religious News. Church Building Regulations Eased. December 13, 2005.
  24. ^ Compass Direct News. Church Building Regulations Eased. December 13, 2005.
  25. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Minister_of_Egypt
  26. ^ ArabicNews.com. Copts welcome Presidential announcement on Eastern Christmas Holiday. December 20, 2002.
  27. ^ BBC. Egypt church attacks spark anger, 15 April 2006.
  28. ^ Freedom House. Egypt's Endangered Christians.
  29. ^ Human Rights Watch. Egypt: Overview of human rights issues in Egypt. 2005
  30. ^ Egypt: Egypt Arrests 22 Muslim converts to Christianity. 03 November, 2003
  31. ^ http://www.ahram.org.eg/acpss/eng/ahram/2004/7/5/ARAB43.HTM EGYPT: NATIONAL UNITY AND THE COPTIC ISSUE. 2004
  32. ^ Hany N. Takla, History of Coptic Language, http://www.stshenouda.com/coptlang/copthist.htm#Definition

External links

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