Copts

Copts

ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ
Coptic diaspora
Regions with significant populations
Egypt	15 million (2023)
Diaspora:	1–2 million (estimates vary)
United States	500,000 (2018)
Sudan	400,000-500,000 (previously)
Australia	75,000 (2003)
Libya	60,000
Canada	50,000 (2017)
France	45,000 (2017)
Italy	30,000
United Kingdom	25,000–30,000 (2006)
United Arab Emirates	10,000
Netherlands	10,000
Languages
Egyptian Arabic Saʽidi Arabic Literary Arabic Coptic (liturgical and ancestral)
Religion
Coptic Orthodox Church Coptic Catholic Church Coptic Protestant Churches

Copts (Coptic: ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, romanized: niremənkhēmi; Arabic: الأقباط, romanized: al-aqbaṭ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to Northeast Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt since antiquity. They are the direct descendants of the Ancient Egyptians. Copts predominantly follow the Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria. They are the largest Christian denomination in Egypt and the Middle East, as well as in Sudan and Libya. Copts account for roughly 14 percent of the population of Egypt.

Originally referring to all Egyptians, the term Copt became synonymous with native Christians in light of Egypt's Islamization and Arabization after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 639–646 AD. Copts have historically spoken the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken in late antiquity.

Following the Arab Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century, the treatment of the Coptic Christians who refused to convert ranged from relative tolerance to open persecution. 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. Persecution is significantly involved in the Copts' ethnic identity due to historic and current conflicts. Most Copts adhere to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, an Oriental Orthodox Church. 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. They also contributed to Egypt's social and political life and key debates such as pan-Arabism, good governance, educational reform, and democracy.. They have historically flourished in business affairs.

While an integral part of their society, Copts remain culturally and religiously distinct from their surroundings. Coptic music is a continuation of ancient Egyptian music, and Coptic culture is considered a continuation of that of ancient Egypt. For instance, Copts still use the same calendar and months that have been used by their Egyptian forefathers for thousands of years. Thus, modern Copts are not only genetically descendants of ancient Egyptians, but retain some tangible cultural Egyptian heritage such as language, music and more.

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. Copts reject Arab nationalism, emphasizing indigenous Egyptian heritage and culture as well as their own unique ethnicity and genetic makeup, which are completely different from those of the Arabs. The majority of demographic, socio-economic, and health indicators are similar among Coptic Christians and Muslims in Egypt.

Etymology

Further information: Name of Egypt

The English language adopted the word Copt in the 17th century from Neo-Latin Coptus, Cophtus, which derives from the Arabic collective qubṭ / qibṭ قبط "the Copts" with nisba adjective qubṭī, qibṭī قبطى, plural aqbāṭ أقباط; Also quftī, qiftī (where the Arabic /f/ reflects the historical Coptic /p/) an Arabisation of the Coptic word ⲁⲓⲅⲩⲡⲧⲓⲟⲛ aiguption (Bohairic for "Egyptian" or in relation to Egypt) or ⲕⲩⲡⲧⲁⲓⲟⲛ kuptaion (Sahidic). The Coptic word in turn represents an adaptation of the Greek term for the indigenous people of Egypt, Aigýptios (Αἰγύπτιος).

The Greek term for Egypt, Aígyptos (Ancient Greek: Αἴγυπτος), itself derives from the Egyptian language, but dates to a much earlier period, being attested already in Mycenaean Greek as a₃-ku-pi-ti-jo (lit. "Egyptian"; used here as a man's name). This Mycenaean form likely comes from Middle Egyptian ḥwt kꜣ ptḥ (reconstructed pronunciation /ħawitˌkuʀpiˈtaħ/ → /ħajiʔˌkuʀpiˈtaħ/ → /ħəjˌkuʔpəˈtaħ/, Egyptological pronunciation Hut-ka-Ptah), literally "estate/palace of the kꜣ ("double" spirit) of Ptah" (compare Akkadian ^āluḫi-ku-up-ta-aḫ), the name of the temple complex of the god Ptah at Memphis (and a synecdoche for the city of Memphis and the region around it).

The term Aigýptios in Greek came to designate the native Egyptian population in Roman Egypt (as distinct from Greeks, Romans, Jews, etc.). After the Muslim conquest of Egypt (639-646) it became restricted to those Egyptians adhering to the Christian religion.

In their own Coptic language, which represents the final stage of the Egyptian language, the Copts refer to themselves as rem en kēme (Sahidic) ⲣⲙⲛⲕⲏⲙⲉ, lem en kēmi (Fayyumic), rem en khēmi (Bohairic) ⲣⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ, which literally means "people of Egypt" or "Egyptians"; cf. Egyptian rmṯ n kmt, Demotic rmt n kmỉ.

The Coptic name for Egyptians, remənkhēmi (Coptic: ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ), is realized in Fayyumic Coptic as ⲗⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲕⲏⲙⲉ lemenkēmi and as ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲕⲏⲙⲉ remənkēme in the Sahidic dialect; cf. Egyptian rmṯ n kmt, Demotic rmṯ n kmỉ.

The Arabic word qibṭ "Copt" has also been connected to the Greek name of the town of Kóptos (Koinē Greek: Κόπτος, now Qifṭ; Coptic Kebt and Keft) in Upper Egypt. This association may have contributed to making "Copt" the settled form of the name.

In the 20th century, some Egyptian nationalists and intellectuals in the context of Pharaonism began using the term qubṭ in the historical sense to refer to all native Egyptians, both Christians and Muslims.

History

Main articles: Coptic identity, Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, and History of Christianity in Egypt

Copts are the native inhabitants of Egypt, and the direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians whose ancestors embraced Christianity in the first centuries. After the Arab conquest of Egypt, Egyptians who converted to Islam ceased to call themselves by the demonym Copt, and the term became the distinctive name of the Christian minority in Egypt. Coptic Christians lost their majority status in Egypt after the 14th century. Today, Copts form a major ethno-religious group whose origins date back to the ancient Egyptians.

Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt

Main articles: Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt

Faiyum mummy portrait of an Egyptian man with sword belt, Altes Museum

After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C., the country came under the rule of Greek Ptolemaic kings. While the majority of the population remained Egyptian, foreign settlers of both Greek and non-Greek origin emigrated to Egypt during that period. While 10% may stand as a very approximate figure for the total immigrant population in Ptolemaic Egypt, including both Greeks and non-Greeks, this figure has been challenged as excessive. The native Egyptian population, which remained Egyptian in language and culture, spoke the latest stage of the Egyptian language, which came to be known later as Coptic. The creation of Coptic as a coherent writing system to express the Egyptian language undoubtedly served to cement the distinction between the native population in Egypt and the ruling Byzantine Greeks. Despite the presence of these immigrants and a foreign pharaoh, Egypt remained home primarily to Egyptians, by far the largest group within the population. In fact, most of the rural and urban native population that lived in towns, villages and hamlets the length of the Nile Valley continued their lives little changed during the rule of the Ptolemies. Even in Alexandria, the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt and the largest Greek city outside of Greece, the number of native Egyptians far outnumbered that of Greeks. In numbers and in culture, Egypt remained essentially Egyptian, even as foreign communities were incorporated into the life of the country. Over time, the small numbers of foreigners were integrated into the Egyptian population so that, when finally Rome took control of Egypt in 30 BC, the vast majority of Greeks in Egypt were essentially categorized by the Roman conquerors as Egyptians.

The Faiyum mummy portraits reflect the complex synthesis of the predominant Egyptian culture and religion, with that of Hellenistic art, and were attached to sarcophagi of firmly Egyptian character. The dental morphology of the Roman-period Faiyum mummies was 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.

Foundation of the Christian Church in Egypt

Coptic icon of St. Mark

According to ancient tradition, Christianity was introduced to present day Egypt by St. Mark in Alexandria, shortly after the ascension of Christ and during the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius around 42 AD. The legacy that St. Mark left in Egypt was a considerable Christian community in Alexandria. Within half a century of St. Mark's arrival Christianity had spread throughout Egypt. This is clear from a fragment of the Gospel of John, written in Coptic and found in Upper Egypt that can be dated to the first half of the 2nd century, and the New Testament writings found in Oxyrhynchus, in Middle Egypt, which date around 200 AD. In the 2nd century, Christianity began to spread to the rural areas, and scriptures were translated into the Coptic language (then known as Egyptian). By the beginning of the 3rd century AD, 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 in Rome. The Church of Alexandria is therefore the oldest Christian church in Africa.

Contributions to Christianity

Main articles: School of Alexandria and Coptic monasticism

The Copts in Egypt contributed immensely to Christian tradition. The Catechetical School of Alexandria was the oldest school of its kind in the world. Founded around 190 AD by the scholar Pantanaeus, the school became an important institution of religious learning, where students were taught by scholars such as Athenagoras, Clement, Didymus, and Origen, the father of theology who was also active in the field of commentary and comparative Biblical studies. However, the scope of this school was not limited to theological subjects: science, mathematics and humanities were also taught there. The question-and-answer method of commentary began there, and 15 centuries before Braille, wood-carving techniques were in use there by blind scholars to read and write.

Another major contribution the Egyptian Copts made to Christianity was the creation and organization of monasticism. Worldwide Christian monasticism stems, either directly or indirectly, from the Egyptian example. The most prominent figures of the monastic movement were Anthony the Great, Paul of Thebes, Macarius the Great, Shenouda the Archimandrite and Pachomius the Cenobite. By the end of the 5th century, there were hundreds of monasteries, and thousands of cells and caves scattered throughout the Egyptian desert. Pilgrims from all over the world visited the Egyptian Desert Fathers to emulate their spiritual, disciplined lives. St Basil the Great Archbishop of Caesarea Mazaca, and the founder and organiser of the monastic movement in Asia Minor, visited Egypt around 357 AD and his monastic rules are followed by the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Saint Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, came to Egypt while en route to Jerusalem around 400 AD, leaving details of his experiences in his letters. St. Benedict founded the Benedictine Order in the 6th century on the model of Saint Pachomius, although in a stricter form.

Ecumenical councils

The major contributions that the See of Alexandria has contributed to the establishment of early Christian theology and dogma are attested to by fact that the first three ecumenical councils in the history of Christianity were headed by Egyptian patriarchs. The Council of Nicaea (325 AD) was presided over by Pope Alexander I of Alexandria, along with Saint Hosius of Córdoba. In addition, the most prominent figure of the council was the future Patriarch of Alexandria Athanasius, who played the major role in the formulation of the Nicene Creed, recited today in most Christian churches of different denominations. One of the council's decisions was to entrust the Patriarch of Alexandria with calculating and annually announcing the exact date of Easter to the rest of the Christian churches. The Council of Constantinople (381 AD) was presided over by Pope Timothy I of Alexandria, while the Council of Ephesus (431 AD) was presided over by Pope Cyril of Alexandria.

Council of Chalcedon

Main article: Council of Chalcedon

In the fourth and fifth centuries AD, the foundations were laid for the divergence in doctrine between the native Christian Church of the Egyptians, and that of the empire. The official schism occurred at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. The council, which condemned, deposed, exiled and replaced the native Egyptian Patriarch of Alexandria Dioscorus I, was rejected by the Egyptian delegation to the council, and by extension by the entirety of the native Egyptian population. As a result of the Council of Chalcedon, the Church of Alexandria, which had jurisdiction over the entire country of Egypt, as well as all of continent of Africa, was divided into a church that accepted the decrees of the council, and one that rejected them. The church that accepted the council, became known as the Chalcedonian church, and survives today as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. On the other hand, the church that rejected the council of Chalcedon, to whom the vast majority of the native Copts adhered, became the predecessor of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The latter has been erroneously referred to as Monophysite, although it itself rejects that term and self-proclaims to be Miaphysite. The non-Chalcedonian Miaphysite doctrine became adopted as a badge of nationalism for the native Egyptians.

Byzantine Egypt

A distinctive Egyptian character of Egypt's native Copts began to develop after the council of Chalcedon, and reached its zenith in the period after the reign of emperor Justinian I in the sixth century AD. That process became the foundation for the evolution of a distinctive Egyptian character for the Coptic Orthodox Church, with its distancing from the empire's official Chalcedonian Orthodoxy and its distinctive Greek character. During that period and until the Arab invasion of Egypt in the seventh century, the Byzantine emperors repeatedly deposed and exiled native Egyptian non-Chalcedonian patriarchs of Alexandria, and imposed pro-Chalcedonian ones, most of whom were non-Egyptian. Over the years, because of what they had construed as persecution of the imperial authorities, the Egyptians hardened their position and rejected all conciliatory efforts that fell short of a full condemnation of the Council of Chalcedon. This position coincided with the rise in the public visibility of the Coptic language in several areas of the Egyptians' daily life.

Arab Muslim invasion of Egypt

Main articles: Arab conquest of Egypt and Islamization of Egypt

The Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo

In 641 AD, Egypt was conquered by the Arabs who faced off with the Byzantine army. The Arab invaders treated the native Egyptian Copts harshly, destroying the walls of Alexandria and burning many of its churches with fire. During the early years of the Rashidun Caliphate, the Egyptians were exploited by the Arabs for money due to the rich tax base and the wealth of the country's resources, for labor due to the large population with expertise in shipbuilding and irrigation, and for produce due to the high fertility of the Nile Valley and Delta. The first concern of the Arab conquerors was resource extraction from the Copts, and taxation was particularly heavy.

By the early eighth century, Copts were being requisitioned for forced labor projects in Egypt and beyond, such as ships of the war fleet and imperial building projects like palaces and mosques in Fustat, Damascus and Jerusalem. Every Egyptian village was required by the Arabs to hand over a given number of individuals every year to provide forced labor and conscription, which weighed heavily on rural Egypt, and may have hit the country particularly heavily because its population had always been higher than that of other provinces. The fleet was the most dreaded of all, as it was unlikely that those conscripted would ever return to their villages. To escape forced conscription, persecution and heavy taxation, particularly the Jizya taxation levied only on non-Muslims according to Islamic Sharia law, Egyptians gradually began to convert to Islam. Copts who converted to Islam became known as Mawali, and eventually simply as Muslims. The term Arab remained reserved for the invaders. Thus, the term Copt gradually changed meaning over time to eventually designate only those Egyptians who kept their Christian faith.

The burden of taxation left many Copts in rural areas unable to meet their obligations. Oppressive taxation resulted in local resistance and many revolts by the Copts against the Arab occupiers, the most famous of which were the Bashmurian revolts between 720 A.D. and 832 A.D. Another reaction to the heavy taxation was for poor Christian Copts to either borrow money from richer members of their communities, or to altogether flee their lands and escape to other parts of Egypt.

Middle Ages

Egyptian Coptic monks at the American Colony, Jerusalem, between 1898 and 1914.

Despite the political upheaval, Egypt remained mainly Christian for approximately 800 years. Coptic Christians lost their majority status after the 14th century, as a result of successive persecutions and the destruction of the Christian churches in Egypt. From the Muslim conquest of Egypt onwards, the Coptic Christians were persecuted by different Muslim regimes, such as the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid Caliphate, the Fatimid Caliphate, the Mamluk Sultanate, and the Ottoman Empire. The persecution of Coptic Christians included closing and demolishing churches, forced conversions to Islam, and heavy Jizya taxation for those who refused to convert.

Coptic converts to Islam were lured to the new religion by the prospect of paying less taxes, since they would no longer have to pay the Jizya taxation levied only on non-Muslims according to Islamic Sahria law. The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria recounts the history of fiscal oppression imposed by the caliphate against Copts as driving conversions from Christianity to Islam. Early converts had to attach themselves to Arab Muslim patrons as Mawali. While they had to adopt Arabic as their main language, they remained fluent in Coptic, thus creating a growing bilingual group among Egyptian Muslims. Nevertheless, Egypt remained a majority Christian country well into the Middle Ages. Many cities in Upper Egypt had no Muslim communities at all during that time.

Early Modern Period

Napoleon at the Pyramids in 1798, by Antoine-Jean Gros

Portrait of a Coptic Christian woman by Bertha Müller, circa 1850

The persecution and harassment of Christian Copts by their Muslim rulers continued throughout the Middle Ages and well into the Early modern period. When Napoleon conquered Egypt in 1798 as part of the Napoleonic wars, a military unit known as the Coptic Legion was created out of necessity for self-defense by the Coptic community for protection against the Mamluks, Ottomans and Egyptian Muslims. The Coptic Legion was headed by a Coptic general, General Yaqub, who recruited young Copts from Cairo and Upper Egypt for the Legion. These were trained by instructors from the French army. Together with the Greek Legion, the Coptic Legion formed the Bataillon des Chasseurs d'Orient. Members of the Coptic Legion returned with the French army to France in 1801 after the defeat of the Napoleonic conquest of Egypt.

General Yaqub is considered to be the founder of the first project for Egypt's independence in modern times from the Ottoman Empire. He argued for the country's independence from an Egyptian nationalist point of view, highlighting the past glory of Egypt, lamenting its current state unworthy of a people who built a great civilization, and stressing the debt that humanity owes to Egypt's ancient culture.

During the Ottoman period, Copts were classified alongside other Oriental Orthodox and Nestorian peoples under the Armenian millet. Under Muslim rule, Christians paid special taxes, had lower access to political power, and were exempt from military service.

The position of he Copts improved dramatically under the rule of Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century. He abolished the Jizya (a tax on non-Muslims) and allowed Copts to enroll in the army. Pope Cyril IV, who reigned from 1854–61, reformed the church and encouraged broader Coptic participation in Egyptian affairs. Khedive Isma'il Pasha, in power 1863–79, further promoted the Copts. He appointed them judges to Egyptian courts and awarded them political rights and representation in government. They flourished in business affairs.

Copts in modern Egypt

Main articles: Copts in Egypt, Pharaonism, Egyptian nationalism, and Coptic identity

Further information: Christianity in Egypt

The flag of Egyptian nationalist revolutionaries during the 1919 Revolution. It displays both the crescent representing Muslim Egyptians and the cross representing Christian Egyptians

Egypt's struggle for independence from both the Ottoman Empire and the United Kingdom was marked by secular Egyptian nationalism, also referred to as Pharaonism. Copts were in the forefront of that struggle for Egypt's independence. When the Egyptian nationalist leader Saad Zaghlul met the Arab delegates at Versailles in 1919, he insisted that their struggles for statehood were not connected, stressing that the problem of Egypt was an Egyptian problem and not an Arab one. When Zaghlul was exiled by the British to Malta in 1919, a number of prominent Christian Coptic figures who joined him in resisting the British occupation of Egypt were also exiled with him, including Wissa Wassef and George Khayat, both key members of the Egyptian nationalist movement. When Zaghlul returned from his first exile, he was joined by the Copts Wissa Wassef, Sinout Hanna, Wassef Ghali, Morcos Hanna and Makram Ebeid in forming a strong opposition against British colonialism in Egypt. Later in 1921, when Zaghlul was exiled to the Seychelles, the prominent Copt Makram Ebeid was exiled with him. The exiles were part of the larger Egyptian nationalist response to British colonial rule and represented a unified effort across religious lines in Egypt. They galvanized widespread protests in Egypt that culminated in the famous 1919 revolution, which further emphasized the shared desire for independence among Egyptians of all faiths. This unity became a hallmark of the early 20th-century Egyptian nationalism. In his memoirs, Fakhri 'Abd al-Nur, one of the most recognized Coptic figures of the 1919 Revolution, recalls the positive impact of the statement made by Saad Zaghlul at the onset of the revolution, declaring "equal responsibilities and equal rights" of Egyptian Copts and Muslims. In fact, the preacher of the 1919 Revolution was a Coptic priest, Father Morcos Sergius, who had been previously exiled by the British in 1915. In April 1922, the British ordered the execution of seven Egyptian nationalists, four of whom were Copts: Wissa Wassef, Wassef Ghali, George Khayat, and Morcos Hanna. As a result of their struggle, Egypt gained its independence from both Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire on 28 February 1922. This struggle of Copts against the British and the Ottomans within the framework of Egyptian nationalism highlighted the Copt's (as well as the Egyptian Muslims') self-identification as Egyptians first and foremost with little attention to religious affiliations.

Egyptian nationalism rose to prominence in the 1920s and 1930s. It looked to Egypt's pre-Islamic past and argued that Egypt was part of a larger Mediterranean civilization. This ideology stressed the role of the Nile River and the Mediterranean Sea. It became the dominant mode of expression of Egyptian anti-colonial activists of the pre- and inter-war periods. There was no place for an Arab component in the Egyptian personality at that time, and Egyptians had no Arab orientation as they saw themselves as Egyptians regardless of religion. Foreigners visiting Egypt noted that Egyptians did not possess any Arab sentiment in the first half of the 20th century. As one Arab nationalist of the time put it "Egyptians did not accept that Egypt was a part of the Arab lands, and would not acknowledge that the Egyptian people were part of the Arab nation." Many of the champions of Egyptian 20th-century liberalism were Copts, such as Salama Moussa and Makram Ebeid.

President Nasser welcomes a delegation of Coptic bishops (1965)

Two significant cultural achievements for Copts in the twentieth century 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, Gamal Abdel Nasser led some army officers in a coup d'état against King Farouk, which overthrew the Kingdom of Egypt and established a republic. Nasser's mainstream policy was pan-Arab nationalism and socialism. The Copts were severely affected by Nasser's nationalization policies. In addition, Nasser's pan-Arab policies undermined the Copts' strong attachment to and sense of identity about their Egyptian pre-Arab, and certainly non-Arab identity.

Socioeconomics

Copts in Egypt are generally characterized by relatively high levels of educational attainment, income, and representation in professional and white-collar occupations, though their participation in security-related institutions remains limited. A 2013 demographic study found that most socioeconomic and health indicators among Copts were broadly comparable to those of Egyptian Muslims. Historical data also suggest that Egyptian Christians have been overrepresented in the country’s middle and upper-middle classes.

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Copts held significant roles in Egypt’s financial and administrative sectors. They were widely employed as accountants in government offices, and by the 1960s reportedly owned a substantial portion of the country’s banking institutions. In the mid-20th century, Christians were estimated to represent 45% of Egypt’s medical doctors and 60% of its pharmacists.

A 2016 study by the Pew Research Center found that 36% of Egyptian Christians had completed university education, among the highest rates in the Middle East and North Africa.

Several Coptic families have attained significant economic influence, particularly in the private sector. The Sawiris family, through its Orascom conglomerate, became one of Egypt’s most prominent business dynasties in the early 2000s, with interests spanning telecommunications, construction, tourism, and technology. In 2008, Forbes estimated their combined wealth at $36 billion.

Some scholars attribute the high educational and economic profile of the Coptic community to a historical emphasis within the tradition on literacy and the development of human capital.

Pharaonism

Main article: Pharaonism

See also: Coptic identity

Many Coptic intellectuals hold to "Pharaonism," which states that Egyptian culture is largely derived from pre-Christian, ancient 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. However, some Western scholars today argue that Pharaonism was a late development shaped primarily by Orientalism, and doubt its validity.

Church affairs

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 Catholics 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.

The previous head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, died 17 March 2012. On 4 November 2012, Bishop Tawadros was chosen as the new pope of Egypt's Coptic Christians. His name was selected from a glass bowl containing the three shortlisted candidates by a blindfolded boy at a ceremony in Cairo's St Mark's Cathedral.

Copts in modern Ethiopia

Main article: Christianity in Ethiopia

In Ethiopia 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

Main article: Copts in Sudan

Further information: Christianity in Sudan

Holy Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Khartoum

Sudan has a native Coptic minority, although many Copts in Sudan are descended from more recent Egyptian immigrants. Copts in Sudan live mostly in northern cities, including Al Obeid, Atbara, Dongola, Khartoum, Omdurman, Port Sudan, and Wad Medani. Many Sudanese Copts have advanced educations. They have occasionally faced forced conversion to Islam, resulting in their emigration and decrease in number.

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 Mahdist rule at the end of the 19th century. As a result of this persecution, many were forced to relinquish their faith, adopt Islam, and intermarry with the native Sudanese population. The Anglo-Egyptian invasion in 1898 allowed Copts greater religious and economic freedom, and they extended their original roles as artisans and merchants into trading, banking, engineering, medicine, and the civil service. Proficiency in business and administration made them a privileged minority. However, the return of militant Islam in the mid-1960s and subsequent demands by radicals for an Islamic constitution prompted Copts to join in public opposition to religious rule.

Gaafar Nimeiry's introduction of Islamic Sharia law in 1983 began a new phase of oppressive treatment of Copts, among other non-Muslims. 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.

In February 1991, a Coptic pilot working for Sudan Airways was executed for illegal possession of foreign currency. 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.

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 hijab dress laws. A Coptic child was flogged for failing to recite a Koranic verse. In contrast with the extensive media broadcasting of the Muslim Friday prayers, the radio ceased coverage of the Christian Sunday service. As the civil war raged throughout the 1990s, the government focused its religious fervor on the south. Although experiencing discrimination, the Copts and other long-established Christian groups in the north had fewer restrictions than other types of Christians in the south.

As of 2010, the Coptic Church in Sudan was officially registered with the government, and exempt from property tax. In 2005, the Sudanese government of National Unity (GNU) named a Coptic Orthodox priest to a government position, though the ruling Islamist party remained dominant.

After the 2018 Sudanese revolution, one Copt (Raja Nicola Issa Abdul-Masseh) was appointed in 2019 to the 11-member Transitional Sovereignty Council, which was convened as part of plan to transition Sudan to democracy. However, a military coup in 2019, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, dissolved the council and halted the democratic transition; Christians, including Copts, were subjected to intensified persecution during a civil war that began in 2023. Many became refugees or were internally displaced.

In 2023, Fikiru Mehari, an researcher for the Christian charity Open Doors, estimated that about 4% of Sudanese population was Christian; the majority of these were Roman Catholics and members of the Episcopal Church of Sudan with a "smattering" of Coptic Orthodox and Africa Inland Mission adherents. A 2018 report by the Minority Rights Group said Sudanese Copts had previously estimated their numbers at 400,000 to 500,000, about 1% of the Sudanese population, but that emigration and conversion (including forced conversion) to Islam had decreased their number.

Demographics

Further information: Christianity in Egypt, Christianity in Sudan, and Christianity in Libya

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. As of 2019, "Copts are generally understood to make up approximately 10 percent of Egypt's population," with an estimated population of 9.5 million (figure cited in the Wall Street Journal, 2017) or 10 million (figure cited in the Associated Press, 2019). Smaller or larger figures have also been cited, in the range of "somewhere between 6% and 18% of the population," with the Egyptian government estimating lower numbers and the Coptic Orthodox Church estimating much higher numbers. A lack of definite, reliable demographic data renders all estimates uncertain. Despite challenges, Copts are well integrated in Egyptian society. The highest concentrations of Copts are in Upper Egypt, especially around Asyut and Qena.

The Coptic population in Libya is uncertain. A 2013 estimate by the U.S. Department of State placed the entire population of non-Muslim Libyans at 180,000 (roughly 3% of the country's population). However, the Coptic Orthodox Church in Libya estimated that its membership alone was 300,000, including those who do not regularly attend church services. In 2011, there were three Coptic churches in the country. From 2011 to 2015, during the Libyan civil war, at least 200,000 Christians fled Libya; during that time, Islamist militants such as the Ansar al-Sharia, Nusra Front, and Islamic State violently persecuted Copts.

Diaspora

Main article: Coptic diaspora

St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Bellaire, Texas (Greater Houston). There are about 1–2 million Egyptian born Copts living outside of Egypt, and are known as the Coptic 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 first Coptic Orthodox church in North America is St. Mark in Toronto; it was built in 1964. The first Coptic Orthodox church in the United States, also called St. Mark, was built in Jersey City, New Jersey shortly afterward. As of 2018, the Coptic American population was estimated to be more than 500,000, with more than 250 Coptic churches in the United States at the time.

In the early 2010s, the Canadian Coptic Association estimates that the population of Canadian Copts was 35,000. By 2017, there were an estimated 50,000 Canadian Copts, with more than 80% living in Ontario, many in the Greater Toronto Area.

The Coptic Australians population has been estimated at 30,000 (ABC News, 2017) to 100,000 (SBS, 2018). The first Coptic Orthodox priest in Australia arrived in 1969; the Coptic Orthodox Church in Australia is organized into two dioceses, the first based in Melbourne (diocese organized in 1999) and the second in Sydney (diocese organized in 2002). There is a single Coptic Catholic church in Australia, consecrated in 2019.

Smaller communities are found in Kuwait, the United Kingdom, France (45,000), South Africa.

Jordan has a minor community of Copts; the Jordan Times reported in 2005 that the Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox Church in the Abdali district of Amman had 8,000 members, mostly Egyptians. As of 2012, the Lebanon's Syriac League estimated that the Coptic population in that country numbered 3,000 to 4,000. As of 2017, Germany was home to between 6,000 and 10,000 Copts. In the 2020s, the Coptic Orthodox population of Austria was estimated to be 10,000, although the 2001 Austrian census (the country's last to record religious affiliation) tallied just 1,633 Coptic Orthodox. In Switzerland, the first Copts arrived in the 1960s, mostly students and those fleeing Egypt after the 1952 revolution; the first Coptic church in Switzerland opened in 2004, when there were approximately 1,000 Copts in the country. In Israel, there were approximately 1,000 Copts as of 2014, mostly residing in Jerusalem.

Persecution and discrimination in Egypt

Main article: Persecution of Copts

Religious freedom in Egypt is constitutionally guaranteed but restricted in practice, particularly for the Coptic Christian minority. Discriminatory policies and bureaucratic hurdles have historically hampered the construction and repair of churches. Until 2005, presidential approval was required for even minor repairs. Although this requirement was devolved to governors and further eased by the 2016 Church Construction Law.

Copts have been the target of sectarian violence. Notable incidents include the 2000–01 El-Kosheh clashes that left 21 dead, attacks on Alexandria churches in 2006, and mob violence in Marsa Matrouh in 2010. Reports from the same period indicate that police frequently arrived too late to prevent violence, pressured Copts into "reconciliation" sessions, and rarely prosecuted attackers.

Following the 2013 ousting of President Mohamed Morsi, churches and Christian properties were targeted in retaliatory attacks. At least 45 churches were attacked, with accusations that Muslim Brotherhood rhetoric incited the violence.

Human trafficking and forced conversions have also been reported. Coptic women and girls have been subject to abduction, coercion, and forced marriage, with congressional and NGO concern raised about state inaction and complicity.

Copts are underrepresented in public office, security services, and judiciary positions. During President Mubarak's tenure, only a few Copts held cabinet or gubernatorial positions.

Religious conversion laws in Egypt remain asymmetrical. While conversion to Islam is easily recognized, Christians converting from Islam face legal and bureaucratic obstacles. Some converts have been arrested or denied identity documents. Though a 2008 court ruling allowed 12 citizens to re-register as Christians after converting to Islam, it required them to list their period as Muslims on official documents.

Recent years have seen incremental improvements. Church construction has become easier, with thousands of churches legalized under the 2016 law and fewer reports of obstruction. In Open Doors' World Watch List, Egypt dropped from 25th place out of 50 in 2013 to 40th in 2025, indicating a decline in reported persecution, though social and legal challenges remain.

Language

Main articles: Coptic language and Egyptian language

Coptic and Arabic inscriptions in an Old Cairo church

The Coptic language is the most recent 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 has been applied to the writing of the Egyptian language from the 1st century AD to the present day. Coptic remained the spoken language of most Egyptians until it was slowly replaced by colloquial Egyptian Arabic in Lower Egypt and Sa'idi Arabic in Upper Egypt by the end of the 17th century, although it may have survived in isolated pockets for a little longer.

Today Coptic is extinct but it is still the liturgical language of the native Egyptian Churches (the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church). It is taught worldwide in many prestigious institutions, but its teaching within Egypt remains limited.

Leaf from a Coptic manuscript, 6th-14th century, Metropolitan museum of art, NYC

Dialects of the Coptic language:

• Sahidic: Theban or Upper Egyptian.
• Bohairic: The dialect of the Nile Delta and of the medieval and modern Coptic Church.
• Akhmimic
• Lycopolitan (also known as Subakhmimic)
• Fayyumic
• Oxyrhynchite

Calendar

Main article: Coptic calendar

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

See also: Computus

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 first day of the month of Thout, the first month of the Egyptian 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 284 AD, 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).

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. Most ethnic Copts are Coptic Oriental Orthodox Christians. According to Y-DNA analysis by Hassan et al. (2008), around 45% of Copts in Sudan carry the Haplogroup J. The remainder mainly belong to the E1b1b clade (21%). Both paternal lineages are common among other local Afroasiatic-speaking populations (Beja, Ethiopians, Sudanese Arabs), as well as the Nubians. E1b1b/E3b reaches its highest frequencies among North Africans, Levantine Middle Easterners, and Ethiopid East Africans. The next most common haplogroups borne by Copts in Sudan are the European-linked R1b clade (15%), as well as the archaic African B lineage (15%).

Maternally, Hassan (2009) found that Copts in Sudan exclusively carry various descendants of the macrohaplogroup N. This mtDNA clade is likewise closely associated with local Afroasiatic-speaking populations, including Berbers and Ethiopid peoples. Of the N derivatives borne by Copts, U6 is most frequent (28%), followed by the haplogroup T (17%).

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.

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.

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.

Prominent Copts

Main article: List of Copts

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former Secretary-General of the United Nations

Some famous Copts include:

• Boutros Boutros-Ghali, sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations.
• Charlotte Wassef, Miss Universe 1935
• Dina Powell, American Politician.
• Fayez Sarofim, heir to the Sarofim family fortune.
• Halim El-Dabh, musician and academic.
• Hani Azer, prominent civil engineer.
• Jean Messiha, Egyptian-French politician.
• Magdi Yacoub, cardiothoracic surgeon.
• Marty Makary, 26th Commissioner of Food and Drugs
• Mena Massoud, actor.
• Naguib Sawiris, CEO of Orascom.
• Pahor Labib, Egyptologist.
• Rami Malek, actor.
• Samih Sawiris, businessman, investor and billionaire.
• Sam Soliman, boxer.
• Youssef Wahba, twelfth Prime Minister of Egypt.

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
• International Coptic Union
• List of Coptic saints
• Coptology
• Christianity in Egypt
• Christianity in Sudan
• Christianity in Libya
• List of prominent Copts worldwide

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
• Charles, Robert H. (2007) [1916]. The Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu: Translated from Zotenberg's Ethiopic Text. Merchantville, New Jersey: Evolution Publishing. 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.
• Meyendorff, John (1989). Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450–680 A.D. The Church in history. Vol. 2. Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. 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

External links

• Worldwide Coptic Directory
• Copts United Newspaper
• Coptic Cairo
• U.S. Department of State International Religious Freedom Report: Egypt