Coptic Saints and Pilgrimages

by Otto F.A. Meinardus

The Coptic Christian tradition is one that goes back almost two thousand years to the very beginnings of Mark the Evangelist himself is said to have brought the faith to Alexandria. In his Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity (AUC Press, 1999), renowned scholar Otto Meinardus reviewed the history of the official church from its earliest days to the end of the twentieth century, with its doctrinal disputes and its long isolation from other world churches. Here in Coptic Saints and Pilgrims, he examines the other side of the coin, the popular traditions and beliefs of the people. While the Coptic Orthodox church is strongly influenced by Hellenistic modes of thinking, many of the folk attitudes and practices by contrast have their roots in the religious heritage of pharaonic Egypt, and while the official faith is by its sacramental nature exclusive, the folk religion is inclusive and touches every aspect of the personal lives of ordinary Copts. It is this popular aspect of Coptic religious devotion that is revealed here, in its many points of biblical saints, martyrs, ascetics, equestrian warriors, ‘silverless’ physicians, women saints, pilgrimage, dreams, visions, and apparitions.

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Mark Rizk Farag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite fascinating, even if it nearly made a protestant of me!

Describes Coptic folk religion, as opposed to the high minded theological beliefs of Copts, it focuses on the beliefs surrounding veneration of saints, apparitions, miracles, dreams and relics among the lay people of the Coptic Church.

Reading this as an educated Copt in diaspora, does raise some questions for me to consider. I am not a fundamentalist or a particularly superstitious person.

On a random note, I also learned that Maspero (who somehow still has streets named after him in Egypt) was disinterring hundreds of corpses of our Ancient Egyptian ancestors and selling them as fuel for trains or to paper factories, which is horrifying.

[Sheila Bitts]

used as source in paper on medieval pilgrimage for history course taken at Loyola lakeshore fall 2008.