Coptic Egypt : The Christians of the Nile

by Christian Cannuyer

Egypt has been home since the time of Christ to an ancient sect of Christians called the Copts. According to legend, Mark the Evangelist founded their first church in Alexandria in the 1st century ad, when Egypt was under Roman rule and practised polytheistic religions. Though Egypt long ago became a Muslim nation, the Copts maintained their traditions and practised their rites at monasteries and villages throughout the Nile Valley, the river delta and the Mediterranean coast, and still do today. Beautiful antique textiles, mosaics, illuminated manuscripts, frescos, bookbindings and monuments attest to their rich and venerable culture, which drew inspiration from Hellenistic, Egyptian and Near Eastern art. Modern Copts are the living descendants of the ancient Egyptians, heirs to a splendid and unique patrimony.

Genres: History, Religion, Egypt, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2000

Reviews

[7jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to know about the Copts and their faith, and their history, this is a good place to read about it. What I knew about Copts before was small: Christians of Egypt, St Mark claimed to be the founder, a minority these days. So this book opens things up a lot, with nice photographs that show the richness of it (art, objects etc.) and their history. They are one of the most ancient Christian orders, with some influence of the Ancient Egypt times. Inventors of the monastic system.

The religiousness, even at the beginning, was strong and has continued to help them keep the faith. There are Protestant and Catholic Copts, too, these days, but most follow the old faith. Their beginning, not surprisingly, happened in the Jewish quarters of Alexandria, and spread from there. There are plenty of saints in their history, and the Desert Fathers were strong especially here. Also some trouble from Manicheans, Gnostics, Arians etc.

The Christian Egypt period was about 391-641, then came the Muslim rule and the Copts’ status varied from being tolerated to being oppressed, depending sometimes on the current dynasty. The number of the Copts declined now. After a brief renaissance in the 13th century, the decline began until late 19th century. But the Westerners then started to have interest in them (incl. in archaeology and linguistics), and their status started improving. Reforms and revivals happened. These days the biggest threat are the extremists, but otherwise the minority’s faith is going strong.

At the end are some interesting writing snippets on things like church origins, Desert Fathers, liturgy, calendar system, Western views on them, etc. Plus a map of Egypt with important cities and monasteries (maybe some of the latter merely historical sites with no present occupants).

I was left quite impressed at how well this small book told about the Copts. Of course, we don’t go very deep into faith materials and details, but enough is given to get a good picture of it. You get a small dose of the history of Egypt too, and all the pictures bring the text alive. A very well-balanced introduction, or one essential read if you only need one book on the Copts.

[Kevin de Ataíde]

This book I snatched up because of my interest in the ancient churches, because of my interest in the Coptic culture that passed me by during my period of employment in Egypt and because the persecuted, and especially the persecuted Christians, hold my particular attention during our times. There is a nice and concise history in these pages. There are some interesting elements here, such as the apparent hatred of the Copts for Europe that was witnessed by European visitors [p.91] during the eighteenth and nineteenth century is one. Again, it seems from the book that the Arabs employed the Copts in art and architecture, Copts who were schooled in the Byzantine techniques; this is the reason I see so much ‘Moorish’ or ‘Islamic’ art in the history of the Middle East before the advent of the Islamic prophet.

This book's biggest problem, to me, is its concern to demonstrate that Coptic Christianity is in direct continuity with the paganism of the ancient Egyptians, a romantic idea (towards the end, the author proclaims 'Egypt the Eternal,' an apparent spirit of Egyptianness that has transcended the ages; this I can't claim to have witnessed in two years) that has little basis. The possible elements of pagan tradition that the author names, for example, are common to all the great churches and flow from the Hebrew-Jewish heritage of the Catholic Church. Take, for example, on p.42 the link presented between the image of the Virgin feeding the Child and a similar image of the Egyptian goddess Isis feeding Horus. The author also tries to claim that the term Theotokos comes from the Isis-Horus relationship. This again has no basis and this is even admitted to, as in p.105 and p.126, where we are told that and even asked to IMAGINE that the Coptic hymns (which happen to be in Greek) ‘were intoned by the priests in the temples of the old religion.’ Then, on p.107, the Christian memorial calendar is compared to the pagan calendar; ridiculous. This is one of the faults of current scholarship, that we have to look for HUMAN precedents for any cultural property. We can't seem to imagine something entirely new happening. Science and classical history seem to me to be a series of widely spaced dots, and scientists/historians join them with imaginative theories.

This book is terribly small for such a large subject and I would like to trace the development of the Coptic liturgy at some point in the future. I'd also like to find more detail on the difference between the Egyptian church and the monophysite heresy. According to this narration, they sound like quite the same in effect, but the author is convinced that they are different. Also, and relatedly, I need to find out about the Cyril-Nestorius controversy, which this book takes up with a decided anti-Cyril stance. S. Cyril seems to have been quite the villain, by this author.

Long enough. End review.

[Ahmad Abdul Rahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku bersaiz poket berkenaan kristian koptik ini mengejutkan aku dengan penjelasan historikal koptik mesir yang begitu detail.

Tapi aku masih tak nampak apa beza koptik dgn mazhab2 kristian yg lain. I cannot see a clear cut picture. Tak sure sama ada salah penulis atau memang mazhab2 kristian ni teologinya begitu berselirat dn iqtiraab smp payah nk beza satu dgn yg lain.

[Roger · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nicely illustrated guide to the basic history of the Coptic Church

[Kafkasfriend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cannuyer C Coptic Art Thames HudsonBrief introduction to Coptic culture and history. Growth out of Ancient Egypt - assimilationist and non-confrontational