Coptic Christians of Egypt - Research Paper Example

Coptic Christians of Egypt: The history and the distinguished characteristics The name “Coptic’ very much refers to the Egyptian context, as the word Coptic has been taken from the Arabic word Gibt or Gypt which literally means Egyptian (Henderson, 2005). As a generic meaning in the contemporary context, the usage ‘Coptic’ directly refers to Egyptian Christians. This community has made substantial impact in the Egyptian culture and has contributed as a major community in the Egyptian population. They have constituted 13-15% of the Egyptian population. As per the statistics of 1992, there were almost nine million people who prayed and were part of the fellowship of Coptic churches in Egypt (Henderson, 2005). The importance of this quantum of people in terms of count and in terms of cultural influence is corroborated when taken into account the fact that the then population of Egypt was only 57 million (Henderson, 2005). Adding to this count, there were almost 1.2 million immigrant populations of Coptic Christians in United States, Canada, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Holland, Brazil, and many other countries in Africa and Asia. However they are not a majority community even within Egypt (Henderson, 2005). While referring to the traditional history of the Coptic Christians, it can almost be referred as the history of Christianity in Egypt. The origin of Coptic Christians is Egypt is believed to have begun with the visit of the Holy Family to Egypt (Henderson, 2005). The history of the belief is thus considered to be of a proud tradition by the Coptic Christians. Thus the beginning of Christianity in the country is believed to date back to the ages of Jesus. Jesus, Mary and Joseph who constitute the holy family visited Egypt and lived there for a while. This holy visit has been clearly cited in the bible as well. "When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod the Great, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt I called My Son" (Matthew 2:12-23). It is this blessing which the country had, that later evolved to be foundation of the tradition, history and belief of the Coptic Christians. The fact that many of the traditions and beliefs of the community are associated with the places and locations that the holy family visited confirms this. A number of annual pilgrimages are arranged to these locations commemorating the visit of the holy family. Subsequently, these commemorations are the strong reflections of the glorious traditions of Coptic Christians. Interestingly, history has seen these places gradually evolving as tourist destinations as well. This very fact is solid evidence which substantiates the fact that the history and traditions of Coptic Christians have largely influenced the culture and the social buildup of Egypt as such. O'Mahony (164-178) has studied the role of Coptic Orthodox Church in influencing the renewal of monasticism in Egypt. It has been opined that as per the Coptic traditions, the members of the episcopate chosen from the ranks of the monks caused a spiritual renewal of the monasticism which later became the face of the church (O'Mahony,164-178). Vivian (314) has also pointed out the relationship between Egyptian Monasticism and the two thousand year old history of Coptic Christianity. As far as the recorded history on the Coptic christens goes, it was Saint Mark the Evangelist who founded the Coptic Church during the first century AD (Henderson, 2005). He has been considered as a hero of the times as he preached Christianity in Egypt with no fear of death. He turned to be martyr for the sake of Christianity while Nero was ruling Rome. He was killed in the year 68 AD at the city of Alexandria (Henderson, 2005). However, his preaching along with the example he set lived across aged to mentor Coptic Christians in their ways of life and beliefs. His body was initially buried the chapel at “Beucalis (Henderson, 2005). However, even the holy remains of St. Mark kept influencing Coptic Christianity, as it went through many historic incidents. In AD 828, the remains of the saint were stolen to be placed in Venice cathedral. It remained there till the biggest church of Africa named the St. Mark's Coptic Cathedral was built in Cairo. The then Pope, Paul VI ensured to return the holy remains of Saint Mark before the competition of St. Mark's Coptic Cathedral (Henderson, 2005). The reinstating process of St. Mark’s holy remains was done which saw historic ceremonies. The remains were placed with much glory in the grave beneath the main altar. This confirms the importance of St. Mark for the Coptic Christians. This was marked as one another important incident in the history of Coptic Christians. This is still considered to be a remarkable element in the beliefs and traditions of Coptic Christians. It is this place even now where the pope addresses the believers. The development of Christianity in Egypt has seen many times of hardships all through its history. The early Roman Pagans were dead against the spread of Christianity. They did the worst of all strategies to oppress Christianity. The Roman rulers till the reign of Constantine caused severe prosecution for the intact belief of the followers of St. Mark in Christ (Henderson, 2005). The belief cost a lot of them their lives. The historic aspect behind this suppression asserted by the Roman rulers was that the citizens were supposed to worship their emperors and only them. Those who went against this had to go through immense hardships. Despite these times of horrific oppressions, it is interesting to note that Coptic Christians and their beliefs lived across ages. However, the era of Constantine’s rule in Rome proved to be crucial in the institutionalization of Coptic Christianity. The king legalized the faith and the traditions got approved to turn as a religious realm (Henderson, 2005). Along with legalizing Christianity, Constantine himself turned to be a believer and a promoter of the religion. With this approval of the belief as a socially and legally acceptable one gradually led to the prosperity of Coptic Christianity. There are however, few more incidents which limited the growth of Coptic Christianity. The Arabic invasion in AD639 is one important among them (GQM, 2009). This was sociologically a relief for the Coptic Christians as in general the Roman rule was not in favor of their beliefs. The tribulation of the new political force gave the sort of freedom for all class of people in Egypt. On the other side, this freedom caused the Egyptian community in general to get assimilated into the Arabian culture (GQM, 2009). The language also was highly influenced by this invasion. Resultantly, the sociological advantage that the people of Egypt gained through the Arabic invasion prompted them to accept Islamic beliefs. Tax benefits and regulations on jobs for no Islamic believers also prompted this (GQM, 2009). Many of the Coptic Christians too were a part of the trend. The influence of the Arabic manuscripts in the Coptic traditions as confirmed by Takla (639-646) acts as a clear evidence of this. Thus the growth of the faith found an enormous limitation as many of its believers were lost in this process. Later in the 1960s and the 1970s remarkable reforms were brought into the Coptic Church by the Sunday School Movement which continues to have its influence even today (Henderson, 155-166). Theologically Coptic Christians are very much similar to both the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox Christians. The theological definition of Christianity is the process of following Christ. Every Christian does this in varied ways. Thus theologically every Christian denomination is similar. The difference that exists among them is in the methodology that they use in following and perceiving Christ. This makes Coptic Christians distinguished from Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox Christians. There are quite evident constitutional differences among these denominations as well. It was the decisions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council titled Council of Chalcedon that was held in the 451 AD which divided the Catholic Church as a Universal Christian church and the Coptic Christians opted out of the congregation due to the difference on the decision The basic decision of disagreement in the Council of Chalcedon was on the nature of Jesus Christ (Henderson, 2005). The commonly agreed decision of the Council was that Jesus in a single person had both human and divine nature. In simpler language the congregation had the general opinion that the Son of God and the Son of Mary was the same person. This hypostatic union was no agreed by the Coptic Christians and their associates (Henderson, 2005). They were of the opinion that though the words of the son was different from that of the father, the doctrine was the same but only differed in precision and approach. Though this difference in opinion was tried to be solved in the congregations which followed, the difference persisted. The Eastern Orthodox Church, which is an association of thirteen member churches have their beliefs much common to the Roman Catholics. Thus Coptic Christians developed a constitution much different from the Roma Catholics and that of the Eastern Orthodox Christians. Works Cited GQM, “What is Coptic Christianity and what do Coptic Christians believe?”, Got Questions Ministry, (2009), 12 June 2009, < http://www.gotquestions.org/Coptic- Christianity.html> Henderson, Randall “The Egyptian Coptic Christians: the conflict between identity and equality” Islam & Christian-Muslim Relations, 16.2 (2005), Vol. 16 ,155-166, Iskander Lara & Dunn Jimmy “An Overview of the Coptic Christians of Egypt”, Tour Egypt, (2005), 12 June 2009,http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/copticchristians.htm Matthew (2:12-23), The Bible, The Jewish Publication Society’s translation, New York: 1985 O'Mahony, Anthony.” Tradition at the heart of renewal: the coptic orthodox church and monasticism in modern Egypt”. International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 7.3 (2007) Vol. 7 164-178 Takla, Hany N, “Copto (Bohairic)-Arabic manuscripts: their role in the tradition of the Coptic Church”, Coptic studies on the threshold of a new millennium 1, p 639- 646. Vivian, Tim “Monasticism in Egypt/Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity/Among the Copts (Book Review)”, Anglican Theological Review, 83.2 (2001), p314, Read More