Coptic Church
Coptic Church (Arab., qibṭ, from Gk., Aigyptios, ‘Egyptian’). The national Christian church of Egypt.
Its position under Islam has, however, always been difficult. There were occasional persecutions under the khalīfas, besides the legal disabilities imposed on non-Muslims as dhimmis. Many restrictions (e.g. on church building and publication) still exist.
The Coptic Church was a founder member of the World Council of Churches in 1948. Its vitality appears in its Sunday schools and in a recent repopulation of some of the ancient desert monasteries. The number of Copts in the 1976 census was given as 2.3 million, but Coptic leaders claim it is 5 million or more, and that the figures were falsified to serve the picture of Egypt as an Islamic state.
Coptic liturgies and ceremonial preserve some very archaic features. The traditional liturgical language is Coptic, although it gave way to Arabic as a spoken language as early as the 9th cent.
Its position under Islam has, however, always been difficult. There were occasional persecutions under the khalīfas, besides the legal disabilities imposed on non-Muslims as dhimmis. Many restrictions (e.g. on church building and publication) still exist.
The Coptic Church was a founder member of the World Council of Churches in 1948. Its vitality appears in its Sunday schools and in a recent repopulation of some of the ancient desert monasteries. The number of Copts in the 1976 census was given as 2.3 million, but Coptic leaders claim it is 5 million or more, and that the figures were falsified to serve the picture of Egypt as an Islamic state.
Coptic liturgies and ceremonial preserve some very archaic features. The traditional liturgical language is Coptic, although it gave way to Arabic as a spoken language as early as the 9th cent.
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Coptic Church