The Coptic Orthodox Church,, also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the See of Alexandria is the pope of Alexandria on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark, who also carries the title of Father of fathers, Shepherd of shepherds, Ecumenical Judge and the 13th among the Apostles. The See of Alexandria is titular. The Coptic pope presides from Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia District in Cairo. The church follows the Coptic Rite for its liturgy, prayer and devotional patrimony. Adherents of the Coptic Orthodox Church make up Egypt's largest and most significant minority population, and the largest population of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). They make up the largest percentage of approximately 20 million Christians in Egypt
Copts are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt since antiquity. They are the largest Christian denomination in Egypt and the Middle East, as well as in Sudan and Libya. Copts in Egypt account for roughly 5–15 percent of the Egyptian population; Copts in Sudan account for 1 percent of the Sudanese population, while Copts in Libya similarly account for 1 percent of the Libyan population.
Written in Syriac in the late seventh century, the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius shaped and influenced Christian eschatological thinking in the Middle Ages. Falsely attributed to Methodius of Olympus, a fourth century Church Father, the work attempts to make sense of the Islamic conquest of the Near East.
Seeing Islam As Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam from the Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam series is a book by scholar of the Middle East Robert G. Hoyland.
Bahira is the name of a Christian monk in Islamic traditions who is said to have foretold Muhammad's prophethood when they met while Muhammad was accompanying his uncle Abu Talib on a trading journey. His name derives from the Syriac word bḥīrā, typically used in that language to describe or address a monk, meaning "tested and approved", and is not a proper name.
The Apocalypse of Elijah is an early Christian work written in the Coptic language commonly held to be a documentation of the oral presentation of multiple original and classical manuscripts. Presented in part as the direct word of the Hebrew God, Yahweh, to the biblical prophet Elijah, from where its name is derived, the text includes a short commentary on some early Christian fasting and prayer disciplines, a prophetic message about the kingdoms of Assyria and Egypt, and accounts of the presentation of the antichrist, his encounters with Elijah and Enoch, and his ultimate demise.
Coptic literature is the body of writings in the Coptic language of Egypt, the last stage of the indigenous Egyptian language. It is written in the Coptic alphabet. The study of the Coptic language and literature is called Coptology.
The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 50 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Christian tradition. Oriental Orthodoxy is one of the oldest branches in Christianity.
The Islamization of Egypt occurred after the 7th century Arab conquest of Egypt, in which the Islamic Rashidun Caliphate seized control of Egypt from the Christian Byzantine Empire. Egypt and other conquered territories in the Middle East underwent a large scale gradual conversion from Christianity to Islam, accompanied by jizya for those who refused to convert. Islam became the dominant faith by the 10th to 12th centuries, and Arabic replaced Coptic as the vernacular language and Greek as the official language.
Copts have a long history as a significant Christian minority in Egypt, in which Muslim adherents form the majority. Coptic Christians lost their majority status in Egypt after the 14th century and the spread of Islam in the entirety of North Africa.
Abu Raita al-Takriti, was a 9th-century Syriac Orthodox theologian and apologist.
The Arabic Homily of Pseudo-Theophilus of Alexandria is a pseudonymous prophetic sermon pertaining to eulogies and stories of miracles in Rome about the Apostles Paul and Peter, including their corpses. A dialogue between Peter and Athanasius of Alexandria during Athanasius's exile in Rome is considered one of the most important stories in the text. It pertains to the future of the inhabitants of Egypt as well as Egypt itself and presents passages about Arab dominance and Islam.
The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Athanasius is an apocalyptic sermon authored between 715 and 744 during the Umayyad Caliphate. Very popular, the work was found in multiple Coptic manuscripts and in Arabic translations. The text most likely served as an influence for both Coptic and Copto-Arabic writings and is also a rare witness to the reaction of Copts towards the Muslim conquest of Egypt. Though Islamic practices of faith are absent from the text, it still provides the author's Coptic perspective to the fundamental historic changes in their country and the everyday-lives of the inhabitants.
The Second Apocalypse of John is a pseudepigraphal Greek Christian text sometimes classified as among the New Testament apocrypha. It is falsely attributed to John of Patmos. Its date is uncertain and has been placed as early as the late fourth century and as late as the mid-ninth.
The Edessene Apocalypse or Edessene Fragment is an apocalyptic text. The original title has not been preserved due to missing pages; the conventional title was coined by modern scholars because the content heavily focuses on Edessa. The text is a revised and an abridged version of the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius with modified schema. It is a witness to the crisis Syriac Christians were experiencing due to the political success of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr and the intensified pressure on non-Muslim communities in his reign.
The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles is a gospel text that summarizes the four canonical gospels and the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles followed by three apocalypses. It survives only in a single manuscript and is inspired by the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius. Its eschatological expectations was both simple and updated from previous Syriac apocalyptical texts of the same period and is a witness to the Syrian Christian strategy on coping with Muslim rule in the second half of the seventh century as the Muslim rule was no longer being perceived as a temporary event causing apocalyptic tensions to dissipate. It also advocates disconnection from Judaism and non-Miaphysite Christianity and presents the author's advocacy in their own community to not have them convert to Islam but have the community keep the true faith.
The Passion of the Sixty Martyrs of Gaza is a hagiography text pertaining to the martyrdom of sixty Byzantine soldiers at Gaza. Contrary to many hagiographies which martyrs were killed for religious reasons, martyrs had also died for either military, political, or non-religious reasons such as in the Passion of the Sixty Martyrs of Gaza. Palestine 's history during Muslim conquest in the Greek original Passion of the Sixty Martyrs of Gaza contains unique details of significant events along with Jerusalem's early occupation by the Muslims. The text is also an early witness to many of these events predating Theophilus of Edessa, even contradicting him such as Gaza's surrender on a different date and Sophronius's circumstances leading to his death.
The Apocalypse of Peter or Vision of Peter, also known as the Book of the Rolls and other titles, is a Miaphysite Christian work probably written in the 10th century; the late 9th century and 11th century are also considered plausible. Around 40 manuscripts of it have been preserved and found. It is pseudepigraphically attributed to Clement of Rome, relating a vision experienced by the Apostle Peter of the resurrected Jesus; the actual author is unknown. The work was originally written in Arabic; many Ethiopic manuscripts exist as well, with the reworked Ethiopic version in the work Clement along with other stories of Clementine literature.
The Arabic Sibylline prophecy is a set of Christian apocalyptic texts based on the tradition of the Tiburtine Sibyl. The original version of the prophecy was probably composed in the late 8th century by Melkites in ʿAbbāsid Syria. It is an example of vaticinia ex eventu and was composed "to give encouragement and hope to Christians living under Islamic rule, especially during periods of political instability." The prophecy is possibly the oldest apocalyptic text composed in Arabic.
Copto-Arabic literature is the literature of the Copts written in Arabic. It is distinct from Coptic literature, which is literature written in the Coptic language.