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The Coptic Orthodox Church, also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt, serving Africa and the Middle East. 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. Christians in Egypt total about four million people, and Coptic Christians make up Egypt's largest and most significant minority population, and the largest population of Christians in the Middle East.
Pope Shenouda III was the 117th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. His papacy lasted 40 years, 4 months, and 4 days, from 14 November 1971 until his death.
Copts are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are Coptic Oriental Orthodox Christians. 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.
The Coptic Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic particular Church in full communion with the Catholic Church. Along with the Ethiopian Catholic Church and Eritrean Catholic Church, it belongs to the Alexandrian liturgical tradition. Uniquely among the Alexandrian Rite Eastern Catholic liturgies, the Coptic Catholic Church uses the Coptic Rite and the Coptic language in its liturgy; the Ethiopian Catholic Church and Eritrean Catholic Church use the Ge'ez Rite.
The Catholic Church in Egypt is considerably small as compared to the rest of the Christian population in Egypt, which is a significant minority among Muslims. The Catholic population in Egypt is said to have begun during the British control of Egypt. However, many emigrated after the 1952 Revolution in Egypt, which also caused the overthrow and exile of King Farouk of Egypt. Catholics in Egypt belong to seven distinct ritual Particular Churches sui iuris, the largest being the Coptic Catholic Church, led by its Patriarch of Alexandria.
Religion in Egypt controls many aspects of social life and is endorsed by law. The state religion of Egypt is Islam, although estimates vary greatly in the absence of official statistics. Since the 2006 census religion has been excluded, and thus available statistics are estimates made by religious and non-governmental agencies. The country is majority Sunni Muslim, with the next largest religious group being Coptic Orthodox Christians. The exact numbers are subject to controversy, with Christians alleging that they have been systemically under-counted in existing censuses.
The "Coptic period" is an informal designation for Late Roman Egypt and Byzantine Egypt. This era was defined by the religious shifts in Egyptian culture to Coptic Christianity from ancient Egyptian religion, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century.
Christianity is the second largest religion in Egypt. The vast majority of Egyptian Christians are Copts. As of 2019, Copts in Egypt make up approximately 10 percent of the nation's population, with an estimated population of 9.5 million or 10 million. In 2018, approximately 90% of Egyptian Christians were Coptic Orthodox.
Minya Governorate is one of the governorates of Upper Egypt. Its capital city, Minya, is located on the left bank of the Nile River.
Coptic architecture is the architecture of the Coptic Christians, who form the majority of Christians in Egypt.
Christianity, which originated in the Middle East during the 1st century AD, is a significant minority religion within the region, characterized by the diversity of its beliefs and traditions, compared to Christianity in other parts of the Old World. Christians now make up approximately 5% of the Middle Eastern population, down from 13% in the early 20th century. Cyprus is the only Christian majority country in the Middle East, with Christians forming between 76% and 78% of the country's total population, most of them adhering to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Lebanon has the second highest proportion of Christians in the Middle East, around 40%, predominantly Maronites. Egypt has the next largest proportion of Christians, at around 10% of its total population. Copts, numbering around 10 million, constitute the single largest Christian community in the Middle East.
The Monastery of Saint Fana is a Coptic Orthodox monastery. It is named after Saint Fana, also known as Bane, Coptic Christian hermit. The monastery is sometimes called the Monastery of Abu Fanah and is also known as the Monastery of the Cross, due to the presence of many beautifully decorated crosses inside its church.
The persecution of Copts and the discrimination against Coptic Orthodox Christians are historic and widespread issues in Egypt. They are also prominent examples of the poor status of Christians in the Middle East despite the fact that the religion is native to the Middle East, and its practices are old in the country dating back to the Roman Era. Copts are the Christ followers in Egypt, usually Oriental Orthodox, who currently make up 10% the population of Egypt—the largest religious minority of that country. Copts have cited instances of persecution throughout their history and Human Rights Watch has noted "growing religious intolerance" and sectarian violence against Coptic Christians in recent years, as well as a failure by the Egyptian government to effectively investigate properly and prosecute those responsible. However, as political violence is common many churches believe that the attacks against the church are not religious statements, instead political statements. Since 2011 hundreds of Egyptian Copts have been killed in sectarian clashes, and many homes, churches and businesses have been destroyed. In just one province (Minya), 77 cases of sectarian attacks on Copts between 2011 and 2016 have been documented by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. The abduction and disappearance of Coptic Christian women and girls also remains a serious ongoing problem.
Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils—the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. They reject the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon. Hence, these Churches are also called Old Oriental Churches or Non-Chalcedonian Churches.
Twenty-one Coptic Christians were the victims of a massacre in Kosheh, Upper Egypt, located 450 kilometres south of Cairo, on Sunday, 2 January 2000. The Coptic Christians killed in this incident were considered martyrs of the Coptic Orthodox Church by Pope Shenouda III.
The 2011 Alexandria bombing was an attack on Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, on Saturday, 1 January 2011. 23 people died and another 97 were injured as a result of the attack, which occurred as Christian worshipers were leaving a New Year service. The attack was the deadliest act of violence against Egypt's Coptic Christians in a decade, since the Kosheh massacre in 2000 left 20 Copts dead. The target of the bombing was the Saints Church, a Coptic church located across the street from the Masjid Sharq El-Madina mosque.
Christianity is the religion of large part of the population in Minya Governorate in Egypt. The Copts made up 19.4% of the population in the year 1914 and even today they form the majority in some parts of the governorate, as Copts presently account approximately 40% of Minya Government region. There exists a Minya eparchy of the Coptic Catholic Church, which is part of the Roman Catholic Church. Antonios Naguib, the Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, was born in Salamout in 1935. The area also has a quite large Protestant population.
Copts in Egypt refers to Coptic Christians born in or residing in Egypt.
On 26 May 2017, masked gunmen opened fire on a convoy carrying Copts from Maghagha in Egypt's Minya Governorate to the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor, killing at least 28 people and injuring 22 others.
On November 2, 2018, masked gunmen opened fire on a group of Egyptian Christians traveling by bus through Minya. There was a convoy of three vehicles and two of them managed to escape. The vehicles were carrying Copts traveling from Sohag Governorate and Minya Governorate in Egypt to the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor. At least 7 people from Minya were killed while 12 others were injured. A similar attack near the same place had happened in 2017.
References
- ↑ "Sohag - I monasteri copti". www.egittopercaso.net (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-03-22.
- ↑ Fakultät, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Evangelisch -Theologische. "Centrum für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Mittelmeerraums". egora.uni-muenster.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-22.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ "Persecution in Sohag, Egypt Islamism Exposed". www.sullivan-county.com. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
- ↑ "islam: unterdrueckung andersglaeubiger ..." www.kunstnet.de. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
- ↑ "10. Tribal Fanaticism reigns supreme in southern Egypt | Arab West Report". www.arabwestreport.info. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
- ↑ "ZENIT - Papst Benedikt würdigt verstorbenen Patriarchen der koptisch-katholischen Kirche". Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2011-07-24.