Copts
ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ | |
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Copts (
Originally referring to all Egyptians,
Following the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 639–646 AD, the treatment of the Coptic Christians who refused to convert ranged from relative tolerance to open persecution.[33][34][35][36] Historically, the Copts suffered from "waves of persecution giving way to relative tolerance in cycles that varied according to the local ruler and other political and economic circumstances".[32] Persecution is significantly involved in the Copts' ethnic identity due to historic and current conflicts.[37] Most Copts adhere to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, an Oriental Orthodox Church.[38][39][40] The smaller Coptic Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church, in communion with the Holy See of Rome; others belong to the Evangelical Church of Egypt. The Copts played a central role in the Arab Renaissance as well as the modernization of Egypt and the Arab world as a whole;[32] they also contributed to the "social and political life and key debates such as pan-Arabism, good governance, educational reform, and democracy",[32] and they have historically flourished in business affairs.[41]
While Coptic Christians speak the same dialects and are culturally similar to other Egyptians, they strongly oppose Arab identity and associate it with Islam and Islamism.[42][43] In Egypt, Copts have a relatively higher educational attainment, a relatively higher wealth index, and a stronger representation in white-collar job types, but limited representation in military and security agencies. The majority of demographic, socio-economic, and health indicators are similar among Christians and Muslims.[44]
Etymology
The English language adopted the word Copt in the 17th century from
The Greek term for Egypt, Aígyptos (
The term Aigýptios in Greek came to designate the native Egyptian population in
The Coptic name for
The Arabic word qibṭ "Copt" has also been connected[
In the 20th century, some Egyptian nationalists and intellectuals in the context of Pharaonism began using the term qubṭ in the historical sense.[48]
History
The Copts are one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East. Although integrated in the larger Egyptian nation state, the Copts have survived as a distinct religious community forming around 5 to 20 percent of the population,[49][39][50][51] though estimates vary. They pride themselves on the apostolicity of the Egyptian Church whose founder was the first in an unbroken chain of patriarchs. The main body has been out of communion with the Roman Catholic Church (in Rome) since the 5th century AD.[52]
Foundation of the Christian Church in Egypt
According to ancient tradition,
Contributions to Christianity
The Copts in Egypt contributed immensely to
Another major contribution made by the Copts in Egypt to
Coptic Greeks
The
By the time of Roman emperor Caracalla in the 2nd century AD, ethnic Egyptians could be distinguished from Egyptian Greeks only by their speech.[55]
Egyptian Greek is the variety of Greek spoken in Egypt from antiquity until the
The following is an example of Egyptian Greek language, used in the
ⲇⲟⲝⲁ ⲡⲁⲧⲣⲓ ⲕⲉ ⲩⲓⲱ: ⲕⲉ ⲁ̀ⲅⲓⲱ ⲡⲛⲉⲩⲙⲁⲧⲓ: ⲕⲉ ⲛⲩⲛ ⲕⲉ ⲁ̀ⲓ̀ ⲕⲉ ⲓⲥ ⲧⲟⲩⲥ ⲉⲱⲛⲁⲥ ⲧⲱⲛ ⲉ̀ⲱ̀ⲛⲱⲛ ⲁ̀ⲙⲏⲛ
Δόξα Πατρὶ κὲ Υἱῷ κὲ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, κὲ νῦν κὲ ἀῒ κὲ ἰς τοὺς ἐῶνας τῶν ἐώνων. Ἀμήν.
Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
According to Walker, early Ptolemaic Greek colonists married local women and adopted Egyptian religious beliefs, and by Roman times, their descendants were viewed as Egyptians by the Roman rulers, despite their own self-perception of being Greek.[58] The dental morphology[59] of the Roman-period Faiyum mummies was also compared with that of earlier Egyptian populations, and was found to be "much more closely akin" to that of ancient Egyptians than to Greeks or other European populations.[60] Victor J. Katz notes that "research in papyri dating from the early centuries of the common era demonstrates that a significant amount of intermarriage took place between the Greek and Egyptian communities".[61]
Modern day Copts use predominantly Arabic and Coptic, the latter being the direct descendent of the Ancient Egyptian language. For instance, the
Ϧⲉⲛ ⲫ̀ⲣⲁⲛ ⲙ̀ⲫ̀ⲓⲱⲧ: ⲛⲉⲙ ⲡ̀ϣⲏⲣⲓ: ⲛⲉⲙ Ⲡⲓⲡⲛⲉⲩⲙⲁ ⲉⲑⲟⲩⲁⲃ: ⲟⲩⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲛ̀ⲟⲩⲱⲧ: Ⲁⲙⲏⲛ
Ϫⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲓⲱⲧ ⲉⲧϧⲉⲛ ⲛⲓⲫⲏⲟⲩⲓ: ⲙⲁⲣⲉϥⲧⲟⲩⲃⲟ ⲛ̀ϫⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲣⲁⲛ: ⲙⲁⲣⲉⲥⲓ ⲛ̀ϫⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲙⲉⲧⲟⲩⲣⲟ: ⲡⲉⲧⲉϩⲛⲁⲕ ⲙⲁⲣⲉϥϣⲱⲡⲓ
Ⲙ̀ⲫⲣⲏϯ ϧⲉⲛ ⲧ̀ⲫⲉ ⲛⲉⲙ ϩⲓϫⲉⲛ ⲡⲓⲕⲁϩⲓ
ⲡⲉⲛⲱⲓⲕ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ ⲣⲁⲥϯ ⲙⲏⲓϥ ⲛⲁⲛ ⲙ̀ⲫⲟⲟⲩ
Ⲟⲩⲟϩ ⲭⲁ ⲛⲏⲉⲧⲉⲣⲟⲛ ⲛⲁⲛ ⲉ̀ⲃⲟⲗ: ⲙ̀ⲫ̀ⲣⲏϯ ϩⲱⲛ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉⲛⲭⲱ ⲉ̀ⲃⲟⲗ ⲛ̀ⲛⲏⲉⲧⲉ ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛ̀ⲧⲁⲛ ⲉⲣⲱⲟⲩ
Ⲟⲩⲟϩ ⲙ̀ⲡⲉⲣⲉⲛⲧⲉⲛ ⲉϧⲟⲩⲛ ⲉ̀ⲡⲓⲣⲁⲥⲙⲟⲥ: ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲛⲁϩⲙⲉⲛ ⲉⲃⲟⲗϩⲁ ⲡⲓⲡⲉⲧϩⲱⲟⲩ
Ϧⲉⲛ Ⲡⲭ̅ⲥ̅ Ⲓⲏ̅ⲥ̅ Ⲡⲉⲛⲟ̅ⲥ̅
Ϫⲉ ⲑⲱⲕ ⲧⲉ ϯⲙⲉⲧⲟⲩⲣⲟ ⲛⲉⲙ ϯϫⲟⲙ ⲛⲉⲙ ⲡⲓⲱⲟⲩ ϣⲁ ⲉⲛⲉϩ. Ⲁⲙⲏⲛ.
In the Name of the Father: and the Son: and the Holy Spirit: One God: Amen
Our Father Who art in heaven: hallowed be Thy name: Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses: as we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation: but deliver us from evil one
In Christ Jesus our Lord
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Ecumenical councils
The major contributions that the
Council of Chalcedon
In 451 AD, following the
Arab conquest of Egypt
In 641 AD,
Copts in modern Egypt
During the Ottoman period, Copts were classified alongside other Oriental Orthodox and Nestorian peoples under the Armenian millet.[77]
Under Muslim rule, Christians paid special taxes, had lower access to political power, and were exempt from military service. Their position improved dramatically under the rule of
Some Copts participated in the Egyptian national movement for independence and occupied many influential positions. Two significant cultural achievements 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 Makram Ebeid.
In 1952,
Socioeconomic
In Egypt, Copts have relatively higher
According to the scholar Andrea Rugh Copts tend to belong to the educated
A number of Coptic
Pharaonism
Many Coptic intellectuals hold to Pharaonism, which states that Coptic culture is largely derived from pre-Christian, Pharaonic Egyptian culture. It gives the Copts a claim to a deep heritage in Egyptian history and culture. Pharaonism was widely held by Coptic and Muslim scholars in the early 20th century, and it helped bridge the divide between those groups. Some scholars see Pharaonism as shaped by Orientalism.[94][95]
Church affairs
Today, members of the
The previous head of the Coptic Orthodox Church,
Copts in modern Ethiopia
In Ethiopia they were part of the Coptic orthodox church of the Orthodox Tewahedo Church was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959 when it was granted its own patriarch by the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa Cyril VI.
Copts in modern Sudan
Modern immigration of Copts to Sudan peaked in the early 19th century, and they generally received a tolerant welcome there. However, this was interrupted by a decade of persecution under
But there used to be a kingdom called Makuria that had copts who came there but the kingdom was wiped out by invasion by the Mamluks around the 12th to 13th century
Gaafar Nimeiry's introduction of Islamic Sharia law in 1983 began a new phase of oppressive treatment of Copts, among other non-Muslims.[5] After the overthrow of Nimeiry, Coptic leaders supported a secular candidate in the 1986 elections. However, when the National Islamic Front overthrew the elected government of Sadiq al-Mahdi with the help of the military, discrimination against Copts returned in earnest. Hundreds of Copts were dismissed from the civil service and judiciary.[5]
In February 1991, a Coptic pilot working for Sudan Airways was executed for illegal possession of foreign currency.[98] Before his execution, he had been offered amnesty and money if he converted to Islam, but he refused. Thousands attended his funeral, and the execution was taken as a warning by many Copts, who began to flee the country.[98]
Restrictions on the Copts' rights to Sudanese nationality followed, and it became difficult for them to obtain Sudanese nationality by birth or by naturalization, resulting in problems when attempting to travel abroad. The confiscation of Christian schools and the imposition of an Arab-Islamic emphasis in language and history teaching were accompanied by harassment of Christian children and the introduction of
Today, the
Copts in modern Libya
The largest Christian group in Libya is the
Demographics
Living in countries with Muslim majorities (Egypt, Sudan, Libya), the size of the population of Copts is a continuously disputed matter, frequently for reasons of religious jealousy and animosity.
The Coptic population in Egypt is difficult to estimate because researchers are forbidden by Egyptian authorities to ask a survey participant's religion,[99] although official estimates state that Coptic Christians represent 10 to 15 percent[38][39][50][100][101][102][103][104][105][106] while other independent and Christian sources estimate much higher numbers, up to 25 percent of the population.[38][39][50][100][101][107] Despite challenges, Copts are well integrated in Egyptian society. The highest concentrations of Copts are in Upper Egypt, especially around Asyut and Qena.[108]
The Coptic population in Sudan is at about half a million or 1 percent of Sudanese population.[5]
The Coptic population in Libya is about over 60,000 or 1 percent of Libyan population.[109][failed verification]
Diaspora
Outside of the Coptic primary area of residence within parts of present-day Egypt (Copts in Egypt), Sudan (Copts in Sudan), and Libya (Copts in Libya), the largest Coptic diaspora population is located within the United States, Canada, and Australia. The numbers of the Censuses in the United States, Canada, and Australia are not fully correct since many Copts listed themselves in the 2011 Census mistakenly as either Egyptians, Sudanese, Libyans, Americans, Canadians or Australians and by this way reducing the Coptic population in the 2011 Census in the United States, Canada, and Australia respectively.
Nevertheless, the
(estimates of Coptic organizations ranging as high as 100,000).Smaller communities are found in Kuwait,[113] the United Kingdom,[114] France (45,000),[14] South Africa.[20][21]
Minor communities below 10,000 people are reported from Jordan (8,000 Copts),[115] Lebanon (3,000 – 4,000 Copts),[22] Germany (3,000 Copts),[citation needed] Austria (2,000 Copts),[23] Switzerland (1,000 Copts),[116] and elsewhere.
It is noted that Copts also live in Denmark, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, and Sweden.
Persecution and discrimination in Egypt
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Religious freedom in Egypt is hampered to varying degrees by discriminatory and restrictive government policies. Coptic Christians, being the largest religious minority in Egypt, are also negatively affected. 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 and restrictions in building new churches. These restrictions do not apply for building mosques. Copts face ethnic and racial discrimination as they are called Adma Zarqa or blue bone and كوفت From Coptic ⲅⲩⲡⲧⲓⲟⲥ (guptios, “Copt”). Hence a doublet of قبطي (ʔibṭi) and in fact the more native form, but apparently adopted by the Arabs in a mocking manner and is still used today by racists in Egypt.[117][118]
The Coptic community has been targeted by hate crimes by Islamic extremists. The most significant was the 2000–01 El Kosheh attacks, in which Muslims and Christians were involved in bloody inter-religious clashes following a dispute between a Muslim and a Christian. "Twenty Christians and one Muslim were killed after violence broke out in the town of el-Kosheh, 440 kilometres (270 mi) south of Cairo".[119] In February 2001 a new Coptic church and 35 houses belonging to Christians were burned.[120]
In 2006, one person attacked three churches in
Members of U.S. Congress have expressed concern about "human trafficking" of Coptic women and girls who are victims of abductions, forced conversion to Islam, sexual exploitation and forced marriage to Muslim men.[125]
While freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution, according to Human Rights Watch, "Egyptians are able to convert to Islam generally without difficulty, but Muslims who convert to Christianity face difficulties in getting new identity papers and some have been arrested for allegedly forging such documents."[132] The Coptic community, however, takes pains to prevent conversions from Christianity to Islam due to the ease with which Christians can often become Muslim.[133] Public officials, being conservative themselves, intensify the complexity of the legal procedures required to recognize the religion change as required by law. Security agencies will sometimes claim that such conversions from Islam to Christianity (or occasionally vice versa) may stir social unrest, and thereby justify themselves in wrongfully detaining the subjects, insisting that they are simply taking steps to prevent likely social troubles from happening.[134] In 2007, a Cairo administrative court denied 45 citizens the right to obtain identity papers documenting their reversion to Christianity after converting to Islam.[135] However, in February 2008 the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the decision, allowing 12 citizens who had reverted to Christianity to re-list their religion on identity cards,[136][137] but they will specify that they had adopted Islam for a brief period of time.[138]
In August 2013, following the 3 July 2013 coup and clashes between the military and Morsi supporters, there were widespread attacks on Coptic churches and institutions in Egypt by Sunni Muslims.[139] [140] According to at least one Egyptian scholar (Samuel Tadros), the attacks are the worst violence against the Coptic Church since the 14th century.[141]
USA Today reported that "forty churches have been looted and torched, while 23 others have been attacked and heavily damaged". More than 45 churches across Egypt were attacked.[142] The Facebook page of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party was "rife with false accusations meant to foment hatred against Copts". The Party's page claimed that the Coptic Church had declared "war against Islam and Muslims" and that "The Pope of the Church is involved in the removal of the first elected Islamist president. The Pope of the Church alleges Islamic Sharia is backwards, stubborn, and reactionary."[relevant?] On August 15, nine Egyptian human rights groups under the umbrella group "Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights", released a statement saying,
"In December … Brotherhood leaders began fomenting anti-Christian sectarian incitement. The anti-Coptic incitement and threats continued unabated up to the demonstrations of June 30 and, with the removal of President Morsi … morphed into sectarian violence, which was sanctioned by … the continued anti-Coptic rhetoric heard from the group's leaders on the stage … throughout the sit-in."[143]
Coptic women and girls are abducted,
In April 2010, a bipartisan group of 17 members of the U.S. Congress expressed concern to the State Department's Trafficking in Persons Office about Coptic women who faced "physical and sexual violence, captivity ... exploitation in forced domestic servitude or commercial sexual exploitation, and financial benefit to the individuals who secure the forced conversion of the victim."[125]
According to the Egyptian NGO Association of Victims of Abduction and Forced Disappearance, between 2011 and March 2014, around 550 Coptic girls have been kidnapped, and forced to convert to Islam. According to the same survey around 40% of the girls were raped prior to their conversion to Islam and married their captors.[146]
Language
The
Today Coptic is extinct but it is still the
Dialects of the Coptic language:
- Sahidic: Theban or Upper Egyptian.
- Bohairic: The dialect of the Nile Deltaand of the medieval and modern Coptic Church.
- Akhmimic
- Lycopolitan(also known as Subakhmimic)
- Fayyumic
- Oxyrhynchite
Calendar
The
Coptic year
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
The Feast of
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).[151]
Genetics
Copts are the descendants of pre-Islamic Egyptians, when Egyptian Muslims later ceased to call themselves by the demonym, the term became the distinctive name of the Christian minority. [152][153][154] Most ethnic Copts are Coptic Oriental Orthodox Christians.[155] According to Y-DNA analysis by Hassan et al. (2008), around 45% of Copts in Sudan carry the
Maternally, Hassan (2009) found that Copts in Sudan exclusively carry various descendants of the
A 2015 study by Dobon et al. identified an ancestral autosomal component of Western Eurasian origin that is common to many modern Afroasiatic-speaking populations in Northeast Africa. Known as the Coptic component, it peaks among Egyptian Copts who settled in Sudan over the past two centuries. In their analysis, Sudan's Copts formed a separated group in the PCA, a close outlier to other Egyptians, Afro-Asiatic-speaking Northeast Africans and Middle East populations. The scientists suggest that this points to a common origin for the general population of Egypt, or Middle Eastern and North African populations. Copts in general shared the same main ancestral component with North African/Middle Eastern populations. They also associate the Coptic component with Ancient Egyptian ancestry, without the later Arabian influence that is present among other Egyptians.[159]
Hollfelder et al. (2017) analysed various populations in Sudan and observed that Egyptians and Copts showed low levels of genetic differentiation and lower levels of genetic diversity compared to the northeast African groups. Copts and Egyptians displayed similar levels of European or Middle Eastern ancestry (Copts were estimated to be of 69.54% ± 2.57 European ancestry, and the Egyptians of 70.65% ± 2.47 European ancestry). The authors concluded that the Copts and the Egyptians have a common history linked to smaller population sizes, and that Sudanese Copts have remained relatively isolated since their arrival to Sudan with only low levels of admixture with local northeastern Sudanese groups.[160]
An allele frequency comparative study conducted in 2020 between the two main Egyptian ethnic groups, Muslims and Christians, supported the conclusion that Egyptian Muslims and Egyptian Christians genetically originate from the same ancestors.[161]
Prominent Copts
Some famous Copts include:
- Hani Azer, prominent civil engineer
- Halim El-Dabh, Egyptian-American musician and academic
- Secretary-General of the United Nations.
- Egyptian-Americanactor of Coptic origins.
- Egyptian-Canadianactor.
- Dina Powell, American Politician.
- Fayez Sarofim, heir to the Sarofim family fortune.
- Orascom.
- Samih Sawiris, Egyptian-born Montenegrin businessman, investor and billionaire.
- Magdi Yacoub, Egyptian-British cardiothoracic surgeon.
- Hossam Boutros Messiha, Egyptian-French politician.
See also
- Aegyptus, in Greek mythology
- Coptic art
- Coptic Catholic Church
- Coptic diaspora
- Coptic identity
- Coptic language
- Coptic literature
- Copto-Arabic literature
- Coptic Museum
- Coptic Orthodox Church
- List of Coptic saints
- Coptology
- Christianity in Egypt
- Christianity in Sudan
- Christianity in Libya
- List of prominent Copts worldwide
Footnotes
- ^ a b c "Coptic Orthodox Christmas to be low-key – Tight security: On alert after bombing in Egypt". Montreal Gazette. 4 January 2011. Archived from the original on 23 February 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
- ^ "Copts". 19 June 2015.
- ^ "Egyptian Coptic protesters freed". BBC. 22 December 2004.
- Pope Shenouda III and Bishop Morkos, bishop of Shubra, declared that the number of Copts in Egypt is more than 12 million. In the same year, father Morkos Aziz the prominent priest in Cairo declared that the number of Copts (inside Egypt) exceeds 16 million. "?". United Copts of Great Britain. 29 October 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2010. and "?". العربية.نت. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010. Retrieved 27 August 2010. Furthermore, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Khairi Abaza; Mark Nakhla (25 October 2005). "The Copts and Their Political Implications in Egypt". Retrieved 27 August 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica (1985), and Macropædia (15th ed., Chicago) estimate the percentage of Christians in Egypt to be up to 20 percent of the Egyptian population.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples – Sudan : Copts, 2008, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749ca6c.html [accessed 21 December 2010]
- ^ a b Kjeilen, Tore. "Coptic Church". LookLex Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
- ^ a b 2009 American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau "All Egyptians including Copts 197,160"
- ^ According to published accounts and several Coptic/US sources (including the US-Coptic Association), the Coptic Orthodox Church has between 700,000 and one million members in the United States (c. 2005–2007). "Why CCU?". Coptic Credit Union. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
- ^ a b "Coptics flock to welcome 'Baba' at Pittsburgh airport". Pittsburgh Tribune (2007). Archived from the original on March 19, 2009. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
- ^ a b "State's first Coptic Orthodox church is a vessel of faith". JS Online (2005). Archived from the original on August 21, 2011. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
- ^ a b "Coptic Diaspora". US-Copts Association (2007). Archived from the original on 2007-02-20. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
- ^ a b Limited, Elaph Publishing. "إجراءات أمنية إستثنائية تسبق إحتفالات "اقباط العالم" بعيد الميلاد". @Elaph. Archived from the original on January 7, 2011.
- ^ a b In the year 2003, there was an estimated 70,000 Copts in New South Wales alone: "Coptic Orthodox Church (NSW) Property Trust Act 1990". New South Wales Consolidated Acts.
- ^ a b In the year 2017, there was an estimated 45,000 Copts in France: "Qui sont les coptes en France ?". La Croix. 16 March 2017.
- ^ "La Chiesa copta". March 10, 2014.
- ^ Copts number at least 20,000 in Britain "Middle Killeavy Parish Web Site". Archived from the original on 2009-01-21. Retrieved 2008-08-16. plus another 5,000 – 10,000 Copts who are directly under the British Orthodox Church (1999 figures)
- ^ Teller, Matthew (12 July 2015). "Free to pray – but don't try to convert anyone". BBC. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
Ten-thousand or more live in the UAE, and young, bearded priest Father Markos, 12 years in Dubai, told me his flock are "more than happy – they enjoy their life, they are free."
- ^ "'De Koptische kerk telt in Nederland ongeveer tienduizend leden, die grotendeels afkomstig zijn uit Egypte.'". 12 July 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
- ^ "King commends Coptic Church's role in promoting coexistence". Jordanembassyus.org. June 3, 2005. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
- ^ a b "Come Across And Help Us Book 2". Archived from the original on October 8, 2008.
- ^ a b "CopticMission". Archived from the original on January 31, 2011.
- ^ a b "Lebanon: Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor – 2012 Report on International Religious Freedom". U.S. Department of State. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
- ^ a b Austria 2004 Archived 2007-06-14 at the Wayback Machine Religious Freedom news
- ^ "Orthodox Copts open church in Switzerland". Swissinfo.org. July 17, 2004. Archived from the original on January 21, 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
- ^ "The ethnic origin of Christians in Israel". parshan.co.il (in Hebrew).
- ^ Minahan 2002, p. 467
- ^ "Who are Egypt's Coptic Christians?". CNN. 10 April 2017.
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 spread across Africa, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, according to the World Council of Churches.
- ^ Coptic Orthodox Church Listings for Libya, p. 136 Archived July 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Egypt's Sisi meets world Evangelical churches delegation in Cairo – Politics – Egypt". Ahram Online. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ Hackett, Conrad (2011-02-16). "How many Christians are there in Egypt?". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
- ISBN 9781611177855.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-5381-2418-5.
- ^ a b Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples – Egypt : Copts of Egypt". Refworld. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
- ^ ISBN 9789774160936.
- ^ ISBN 9789774160936.
Al Hakim Bi-Amr Allah (r. 996—1021), however, who became the greatest persecutor of Copts.... within the church that also appears to coincide with a period of forced rapid conversion to Islam
- ISBN 9789774160936.
- ^ Deighton, H. S. "The Arab Middle East and the Modern World", International Affairs, vol. xxii, no. 4 (October 1946)
- ^ a b c "Egypt from "U.S. Department of State/Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs"". United States Department of State. September 30, 2008.
- ^ Foreign and Commonwealth Office -UK Ministry of Foreign Affairs. August 15, 2008. Archived from the originalon December 12, 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-8028-1020-5.
- ^ Todros, ch 3–4.
- ^ "Britannica: Egyptian Christians - Copt", britannica.com, retrieved 30 July 2023
- PMID 26017457.
- ISBN 978-0-521-09973-8. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
- ^ "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
- OEDs.v. "Copt".
- ^ qtd. in M. Hussein. el Ittigahat el Wataneyya fil Adab el Muʻaṣir [National Trends in Modern Literature]. Vol. 2. Cairo, 1954.
- ^ Hackett, Conrad (16 February 2011). "How many Christians are there in Egypt?". Pew Research Center.
- ^ a b c "Egypt from "The World Factbook"". American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). September 4, 2008.
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- ISBN 978-1-58768-744-0. "The Coptic church, however, is not in communion with Rome due to the fifth-century Christological maelstrom of heresies that resulted from an attempt to more fully understand the identity of Christ."
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The North African/Middle Eastern genetic component is identified especially in Copts. The Coptic population present in Sudan is an example of a recent migration from Egypt over the past two centuries. They are close to Egyptians in the PCA, but remain a differentiated cluster, showing their own component at k = 4 (Fig. 3). The Coptic component at k = 4 peaks highest among Copts and makes up most of their distribution while it is not predominant among Egyptians. K = 2 to K = 5 (Fig. 3) shows Egyptians distribution resemble Qatar more than Copts. Copts lack the influence found in Egyptians from Qatar, an Arabic population. It may suggest that Copts have a genetic composition that could resemble the ancestral Egyptian population, without the present strong Arab influence
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Further reading
- Betts, Robert B. (1978). Christians in the Arab East: A Political Study (2nd rev. ed.). Athens: Lycabettus Press. ISBN 9780804207966.
- Capuani, Massimo et al. Christian Egypt: Coptic Art and Monuments Through Two Millennia (2002) excerpt and text search
- ISBN 9781889758879.
- Courbage, Youssef and Phillipe Fargues. Judy Mabro (Translator) Christians and Jews Under Islam, 1997.
- Ibrahim, Vivian. The Copts of Egypt: The Challenges of Modernisation and Identity (I.B. Tauris, distributed by Palgrave Macmillan; 2011) 258 pages; examines historical relations between Coptic Christians and the Egyptian state and describes factionalism and activism in the community.
- Kamil, Jill. Coptic Egypt: History and a Guide. Revised Ed. American University in Cairo Press, 1990.
- Meinardus, Otto Friedrich August. Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity (2010)
- Thomas, Martyn, ed. (2006). Copts in Egypt: A Christian Minority Under Siege : Papers Presented at the First International Coptic Symposium, Zurich, September 23–25, 2004. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 9783857100406.
- ISBN 9780881410556.
- Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- Van Doorn-Harder, Nelly. "Finding a Platform: Studying the Copts in the 19th and 20th Centuries" International Journal of Middle East Studies (Aug 2010) 42#3 pp 479–482. Historiography