The Copts and
Christian Civilization
Aziz S. Atiya
Introduction
------------
Occasionally, the Copts have been described as a schismatic eastern Christian
minority, a lonely community in the land of their forebears. They have
been
forgotten since they chose living in oblivion after the tragedy of
Chalcedon
(451 A.D.) which was followed by a new wave of persecution inflicted
upon
them by fellow Christians and Byzantine rulers. Though they were not
unknown
to mediaeval and early modern travellers from Europe, Western
Christendom
appears to have lost sight of the Copts until 1860 when a
Presbyterian
mission came to convert them to Christianity, and the Coptic archbishop
of
Asiut asked them the rhetorical question: "We have been living with
Christ
for more than 1800 years, how long have you been living with him?"
However, since the rediscovery of the Copts and their Christianity, interest
has been intensified in the attempt to explore the religious traditions
and
the historical background of this most ancient form of
primitive
faith. Scholars of all creeds were stunned as the pages of Coptic
history
began to reveal the massive contributions of the Copts to
Christian
civilization in its formative centuries. This brief essay is intended
to
outline the major segments of these contributions and show the need for
the
rewriting of numerous chapters of early Christian history.
But let me first define the term Copt [1] and introduce you to some of
the
relevant data about that community. In all simplicity, this term
is
equivalent to the word Egyptian. It is derived from the Greek
"Aigyptos",
which in turn is a corruption of the ancient Egyptian
"Hak-ka-Ptah", i.e.,
the house of the temple of the spirit of Ptah, a most highly revered deity
in
Egyptian mythology; this was the name of Memphis, the oldest capital of
the
unified Upper and Lower Egypt.
When the Arabs came in the seventh century, Egypt became known
as
"Dar-al-Qibt", home of the Copts, who were the Christian
Egyptians to
distinguish them from the native Muslims. Ethnically, the Copts were
neither
Semitic nor Hamitic, but may be described as the descendants of
a
Mediterranean race that that entered the Nile valley in unrecorded times.
As
such they are the successors of the ancient Egyptians, sometimes even
defined
as the "modern sons of the Pharaohs" [2]. Traditionally, the
Copts kept
together in the same villages or the same quarters of larger cities until
the
dawn of modern democracy in the Middle East during the Nineteenth
century,
which rendered their segregation quite meaningless. Numerically, it is
not
easy to give a precise estimate of the Copts. Whereas the official
census
tends to reduce their number to less than three million [6% of
the
population] for political and administrative reasons, some Copts contend that
they are ten million [20% of the population], which may be an
exaggeration.
A conservative estimate may be set between six and seven million [12-14%
of
the population], until an authoritative and factual census conducted by
the
church reaches its completion.
The wider circle of Coptic obedientiaries who are not ethnic Copts,
however,
includes at least twenty million Ethiopians, more than five million
other
Africans, and another million of mixed racial origins in
other
continents. Doctrinally, therefore, followers of the Coptic
Alexandrine
Christianity must be reckoned in excess of thirty million, making the
Coptic
Church one of the largest units in Eastern Christendom. [All the figures
in
this essay reflect the populations of 1978].
The origins of Coptic Christianity need no great elaboration. Saint Mark
the
Evangelist is its recognized founder and first patriarch, in the
fourth
decade of the first century. During the first two centuries, there was
a
continuous admixture of paganism and Christianity in many parts of Egypt.
But
the fact remains that Christianity must have penetrated the country
far
enough to justify the discovery of the oldest Biblical papyri in
Coptic
language buried in the sands of remote regions in Upper Egypt. Most of
these
predate the oldest authoritative Greek versions of the Scripture in
the
fourth and fifth centuries including the Codex Sinaiticus, the
Codex
Alexandrinus, te Vaticanus, and the Codex Ephraemi Syri Rescriptus [3],
which
constitute in all probability four of the fifty copies of the Bible
ordered
by Constantine the Great after he declared Christianity the official
religion
of the state by the Edict of Milan in 312 A.D. Fragments of those papyri
dating from the second century, both Coptic and Greek are to be found
in
numerous manuscript repositories in the world. The most
monumental
collection is the Chester Beatty Papyri [4], now in Dublin, Ireland.
These
manuscripts have been dated by the classical scholar V. Wilcken at about
200
A.D. Another staggering papyrus collection, this time in Sahidic
and
Sub-Akhmimic Coptic dialects, numbering fifty-one texts, thirty-six
hitherto
unknown, most Gnostic or apocryphal, was discovered far up the Nile Valley
at
Nag-Hammadi in the 1930's [5]. The importance of this discovery, which
is
regarded by scholars studying its contents as peer and parallel to the
Dead
Sea Scrolls, lies in the fact that it was found in the remote regions
of
Upper Egypt. All this proves beyond a shadow of doubt the depth of
the
penetration of the new faith among the Copts.
The Catechetical School of Alexandria
-------------------------------------
In fact the fiery activity which flared up in the field of Biblical
and
theological studies in Egypt must be identified with the foundation
and
development of the Catechetical School of Alexandria before 200 A.D.
The
first mention of it was in the life of Pantaenus, its first president,
who
died in 190 A.D. This is the earliest contribution of the Copts to
Christian
civilization and culture. Created as a rival to the ancient pagan Museion
of
the Ptolemies which survived until the assassination of Hypatia in 415
A.D.,
the Catechetical School became the first great seat of Christian learning
in
the whole world.
We must remember that primitive Christianity came to the world and to
Egypt
as what many have described as an amorphous faith, based on the life
and
sayings or wisdom of Jesus without formal dogmatization. It was in
this
fortress of Christian scholarship, the Catechetical School, that
Christianity
and the Bible were subjected to the very rigorous studies which generated
the
first systematic theology and the most extensive exegetic enquiry into
the
Scripture. The greatest names of the era are associated with
that
institution, which continued to flourish in the age of
Roman
persecutions. Pantaenus [6], the founding father and first president of
the
School, started by bridging the gap between dynastic Egypt and the
Greek
Gospels through the propagation of the use of the archaic Greek
alphabet
instead of the cumbersome Demotic script, thus rendering the Bible
more
readily accessible to the Coptic reader. His successor was Clement [7]
of
Alexandria, a liberal who wanted to reconcile Christian tenets with
Greek
philosophy. The School finally came to age under Origen [8], a scholar
of
pure Coptic stock who is thought to have been the most prolific author of
all
time. Six thousand tracts, treatises and other works of considerable
bulk
have been cited under his name by his old pupil, Bishop Epiphanius of
Salamis
in Cyprus, though his literary remains now are fragmentary and we must
assume
that this number could have been possible only by a collaborative effort
of
the whole School. His Hexapla [9], a collation of texts of the Bible in
six
columns from Greek and Hebrew sources, is only one instance of his
gigantic
contributions. His labors in exegesis [10] went beyond those of any
other
expositor, for he wrote most detailed commentaries on every book of the
Old
Testament and the New. He established for the first time in history
a
systematic theology [11] from which all students of divinity start to
this
day. His philosophy [12] generated much controversy, not only in his
time,
but in succeeding centuries. We hear of the existence of two camps
bearing
his name in subsequent periods: the Origenist and anti-Origenist schools
of
thought [13]. His pupils included some of the most illustrious divines of
all
time. Among them was Heraclas, whose preferment to the throne of Saint
Mark
carried with it the title of "Pope" for the first time in history
and long
before the Bishop of Rome (Episcopus Romanorum Servus Sevorum Dei)
claimed
that dignity. Another pupil was Didymus the Blind, a forceful theologian
and
author who combated Arianism. Actually the well-known pillars of the faith
in
the Alexandrian hierarchy were both graduates of the Catechetical
School,
Athanasius the Apostolic and Cyril the Great. The international panel of
its
scholars who contributed to Christian scholarship in the Byzantine and
Roman
worlds was represented by such immortal names as Saint Gregory
Nazienzen,
Saint Basil, Saint Jerome, and Rufinus, the ecclesiastical historian
[14].
It was a picturesque age, an age of great saints and heretics, an age
in
which the Copts worshipped openly in defiance of their Roman persecutors
and
sought the crown of martyrdom rather than pray in catacombs and
subterranean
galleries, an age in which paganism finally gasped its last idolatrous
breath
under Julian the Apostate (332-363 A.D.) and in which the Museion
was
liquidated as the last refuge of Neoplatonist pagan philosophy. In sum,
the
foundation of an institutionalized system of Christian divinity was laid
down
within the walls of the Catechetical School of Alexandria and
in
deliberations and massive writings of its theologians.
It was on this foundation that the next universal movement could
formulate
Christian doctrines and dogmas through the official gatherings of the
bishops
of Christendom in the General Councils of the Church. In other words,
the
formal emergence of Christianity as an organized religious system
passed
through two stages of evolution. The first took place in the open
and
informal philosophical-theological arena of the Catechetical School,
the
equivalent of the modern university with its free and
unbridled
thinking. This stage was in advance of the second, congressional phase
of
codification of the outcome of those deliberations. in the case
of
Christianity, the second phase is described as the Oecumenical Movement,
in
which the hierarchy of all churches met to decide what was canonical and
what
was uncanonical in Christian beliefs and traditions.
The Oecumenical Movement
------------------------
This movement began as early as the reign of Constantine the Great,
under
whom Christianity was recognized as the religion of the state by the Edict
of
Milan in 312 A.D. With the disappearance of Roman persecutions against
which
the Christians had had to present a unite front, elements of disunity
began
to surface among those same Christians in matters of faith. Heresies
arose
with the vehemence of intense piety and split the faithful into rival
camps
which imperilled the peace of the Empire. Perhaps the most
dangerous
situation occured in Alexandria in the war words which broke out between
the
followers of Arius and Athanasius, for both groups claimed to profess
the
only true orthodoxy, and each of them had a strong army of adherents to
the
extent that both factions had penetrated the inner circle of the
imperial
court. The problem was the principle of consubstantiation. The
"Homoousion",
signifying that the Father and the Son were one and of the "same"
essence,
was the thesis of Athanasius in opposition to Arius, whose conception
was
that of the "Homoiousion" [16], indicating that the Son was of
divine origin
but only of "like" essence, begotten of the Father as an instrument
for the
creation of the world, hence the Father's unequal in eternity. Mark ye!
That
little "iota" in the middle of one word made all the difference in
the world
and shook the Empire to its very foundations, and the peril of civil
war
between the contestant camps loomed on the horizon. In passing, it might
be
said that a parallel of the latter scheme of thought predated Arius in
the
idea of the "demiurge" of late antique Neoplatonism and
Gnosticism.
Admist all these confusions and in order to bring unity back to the
Church
and the Empire, Constantine inaugurated the Oecumenical Movement by
calling
to order the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. under the presidency of the
old
bishop of Alexandria. This was Alexandros (died 328 A.D.), who came with
a
young and able deacon, the future Athanasius, destined to follow him on
the
throne. Against some accepted views in the science of patrology, he
is
revealed to be Coptic and not Greek. Recently, it has been found
that
Athanasius wrote in Coptic, though most of his monumental works were
composed
in Greek. Greeks knew no Coptic and had no need for using it [let
alone
learning it]. But the educated Copts were masters of both tongues,
and
Athanasius belonged to this class. Furthermore, Athanasius spent two years in
one of his five exiles in the Red Sea wilderness with Saint Anthony
the
Great, whose life he compiled in a famous Vita. It is well known that
Anthony
was an illiterate Copt and spoke nothing but Coptic, which was his only
means
of communication with his illustrious visitor. It is, therefore,
not
unreasonable to relate Athanasian contributions to the native Church
of
Egypt.
It is beyond the limits of this work to cover the immensity of the
Nicaean
canons and the literature in which they have been discussed. But
certain
criteria are clear from the deliberations of the Council under
Coptic
leadership. First and foremost, the Nicaean Creed was sanctioned by
the
Council. Composed by Athanasius, it remains a triumph for
Alexandrine
theology to this day. Of historic importance was the creation for the
first
time of a Bishopric of Constantinople. A gift from a
predominantly
Alexandrine Council, the same bishopric paradoxically joined forces with the
Bishopric of Rome two centuries later to degrade the former
Alexandrine
benefactor.
But let me first sum up the momentous events in the field of
Christology
which occured between 325 and 451, from Nicaea to Chalcedon, to signal
the
parting of the ways between East and West. In that period, three
major
councils were convened [17], one at Constantinople (318 A.D.) and two
at
Ephesus (431 A.D. and 449 A.D.), and all seemed to be under
Alexandrine
control. They dealt with two new major heresies: Eutychianism, which
denuded
Christ of his humanity, and Nestorianism, which relinquished the unity
of
Christ's divinity and humanity. Constantinople condemned Eutychius, though
he
was reinstated at Ephesus II after abjuring his former views. At Ephesus
I,
Nestorius clung to his view that Mary should be pronounced Mother of Jesus
in
the flesh, not Mother of God (Theotokos), a thesis that implied a
cleavage
between the human and the divine nature of Christ. Again under the influence
of Discorus I, a Coptic patriarch, the formula of Cyril the Great
(412-444
A.D.) was accepted, and Nestorius and his teachings were condemned,
leading
to the schism of the Nestorian Church. What matters here was the question
of
Coptic leadership in definitions of Christology. Sait Cyril was succeeded
by
his nephew, the aforementioned Dioscorus I (444-454 A.D.), a determined
and
active theologian whom the Copts describe as a pillar of the faith, while
the
Romans stigmatized him as the leader of a Robber Council
(Latrocinium)
because he had judged Eutychius without reading the Tome or letter of Leo
I
to Ephesus II.
Feeling was running high in Rome and Constantinople, and the change
of
Emperors brought changes in imperial policies. Theodosius II was succeeded
by
Marcian and his wife Pulcheria, a former nun, who deplored
Alexandrine
supremacy in ecclesiastical matters. The two capitals were drawn nearer
by
the high-handed actions of Dioscorus, and Coptic patriarchs were described
as
the "Pharaohs of the Church", which was unpalatable to the
authority of
Byzantium. Thus Marcian summoned Dioscorus to answer for his actions
at
Ephesus II and to discuss his views on Christology at Chalcedon [18] in
451
A.D. The Romans quickly mustered a massive army of bishops from the West
to
join the East European prelates at Chalcedon in Asia Minor, while
Dioscorus
was detained by the imperial guard under a kind of house arrest, and
the
Council summarily condemned and exiled him to the island of Gangra
in
Paphlagonia near the southern shores of the Black Sea where he died a
few
years later.
In this wise, the Copts lost their leadership in Christendom. Chalcedon
of
course was not recognized by them, and from that moment we begin two
parallel
lines of succession from Saint Mark, the one a Melkite obediantiary
to
Byzantium, and the other proudly nationalistic of native Coptic stock.
Thus
was inaugurated a new wave of merciless persecution to curb Coptic
separatism
and humiliate the so-called Monophysite Christians, with disastrous
results
on the eve of the Arab Conquest.
Monastic Rule
-------------
If the Copts lost their leadership in the fifth century, we must go back
in
time for a more enduring contribution to Christian civilization. Parallel
to
the Catechetical School and the Oecumenical Movement, a new and more
stable
institution had evolved which must be regarded as a purely Coptic gift
to
Christendom. This is the monastic rule [19], which was generated by
Coptic
piety and the image of Christ and the Apostles. Social and economic
factors
played a role as well, since persecution forced many to escape to
the
desert.
From its humble beginnings on the fringe of the desert, monasticism grew
to
be a way of life and developed into cenobitic communities which became
the
wonder of Christian antiquity. With its introduction to Europe, it
was
destined to become the sole custodian of culture and Christian civilization
in the Dark Ages. However, like all great institutions, Coptic monastic
rule
was perfected through a number of long and evolutionary stages.
The founding of this way of life is generally ascribed to Saint Anthony
[20]
(died 336 A.D.), though organized flights to the wilderness are known to
have
predated his retirement from the Nile Valley. A certain Frontonius
and
seventy companions decided to reject the world and espoused a celibate
life
in the Nitrean desert during the reign of Antonius Pius (died
161
A.D.). Anthony himslef, while penetrating deeper and deeper into the
Eastern
Desert, assuming that he was in perfect solitude with the Lord,
suddenly
discovered Saint Paul the Hermit at the age of 113 years already long
established in that remote region.
Nevertheless, if we overlook these isolated instances, we can safely
consider
that the first definable phase in the genesis of monasticism was the
Antonian
way of life based on solitude, chastity, poverty, and the principle
of
torturing the body to save the soul. How did all this begin? An
illiterate
twenty-year-old Christian at the village of Coma in the district
of
Heracleopolis in Middle Egypt, Anthony heard it said one day in church:
"If
thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor,
and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven" [Matthew 19:21]. A fundamentalist, he
did
just that and crossed the Nile for the desert solitude where he
spent
eighty-five years of increasing austerity and asceticism. Though a
solitary,
he could not hide his light of sanctity under a bushel, and, when his
fame
had spread so as to reach the imperial court, Constantine wrote asking
for
his blessing. Even the great Athanasius spent two years with the Saint
and
composed his biography. Others followed this "athleta christi" to the
Red Sea
Mountains and lived around his cave to seek his spiritual guidance. Thus
the
second phase in the evolution of the monastic rule arose in what may
be
termed "collective eremiticism" where settlements of solitaries
sprang up
around the person of a saint, not merely for initiation and orientation,
but
also as a measure of self-defense in the arid desert. A disabled anchorite
in
this distant wilderness could perish for lack of food and water, if he
were
not observed by another neighborly solitary. Such settlements began
to
multiply in other parts of the country. Besides Pispir in Eastern
Desert,
others arose in the Thebaid in Upper Egypt as well as the Nitrean Valley
[21]
in the desert to the west of the Delta of the Nile.
Subsequently at Tabennesis, the third stage in the development of
cenobitic
life was already taking shape under the rule of Saint Pachomius [22]
(died
346). Originally a pagan legionary in the armies of Constantine and
Licinius,
he was exposed to the goodness of Christian villagers during the
wanderings
of his battalion. They came to wash the soldiers' feet and broke bread
with
them despite their harsh tax levies. Captivated by their kindness to
their
oppressors, he decided, on his liquidation from the service, to become
a
Christian. After his baptism, he zealously followed a hermit by the name
of
Palaemon for training in the art of sanctity and self-torture. An
educated
man with a background of military discipline, he soon perceived
that
self-inflicted torture could not be the only way to heaven. This
signalled
the inception of one of the greatest cenobitic doctrines of all times.
The
new Rule of Saint Pachomius prescribed communal life in a cenobium
and
repudiated the principle of self-mortification. Instead, the brethren
should
expend their potential in useful pursuits both manual and intellectual
while
preserving the monastic vow of chastity, poverty, and obedience.
The
Pachomian system reflected the personality of the soldier, the
legislator,
and the holy man. Pachomius aimed at the humanization of his monastic
regime
without losing the Christian essence of Antonian or
Palaemonian
sanctity. Every detail of a monk's daily activities was prescribed within
the
walls of a given monastery. Each monk had to have a vocation to make
himself
a useful human being to his brotherhood; all must labor to earn their
daily
bread, without losing sight of their intellectual advancement; and each
must
fully participate in the devotional duties of monastic life.
Pachomian monasteries multiplied rapidly in their founder's lifetime, and
all
were enriched through wise administration as well as honest and
selfless
labor. in his famous work entitled "Paradise of the
Fathers", the
fourth-century Bishop Palladius states that he found in one monastery
fifteen
tailors, seven smiths, four carpenters, fifteen fullers, and twelve
camel
drivers besides unspecified numbers of bakers, cooks, basket and rope
makers,
millers, weavers, masons, instructors, and copyist of manuscripts --
all
living in complete harmony and perfect discipline within a structure
that
looked like a vast Roman fortification.
To preserve good government in his expanding institutions,
Pachomius
established a closely knit Rule to guard against corruption and
moral
deterioration. Three or four monasteries within reach of each other
were
united in a clan or a stake with a president elected from among their
abbots,
and all of the monks in the clan met periodically to discuss
local
problems. All clans were organized under a superior-general who summoned
the
whole brotherhood to a general council twice each year: once in the
summer
after the harvest for administrative and budgetary considerations, and
agin
at Easter for making annual reports as well as for the announcements of
new
abbots and the transfer of office among the old ones. The last meating
ended
with an impressive scene of prayer and mutual forgiveness of sins.
The fame of Pachomian foundations spread far and wide, not only within
Egypt
but also throughout the world. Monks came to live with the fathers of
the
desert from many nations -- Greeks, Romans, Capadocians, Libyans,
Syrians,
Nubians, and Ethiopians, to mention a few of those on record -- and
Pachomius
devised a system of wards for each nation within every monastery.
The Coptic cenobitic rule became the wonder of ancient Christendom.
The
planting of the Coptic system in Europe and other continents of the Old
World
was achieved by some of the greatest divines of the mediaeval world. We
know
that during one of his exiles in Europe, Saint Athanasius spoke about
Coptic
monasteries at the Roman Curia of Julius I (337-352 A.D.) But the
real
apostles of Coptic monastic rule were celebrated personalities who
resided
for years in Pachomian establishments in the Thebaid and sojourned as well
in
the convents of Kellia, Scetis, and Nitrea in the Western Desert. To
quote
some of the illustrious names who made extended pilgrimages to the
Coptic
fathers of the desert, we must begin with Saint Jerome (342-420 A.D.),
who
translated the "Regula Sancti Pachomii" into Latin, which version
must have
been used by Saint Benedict of Nursia (480-550 A.D.) in composing his
famous
Rule. Others included Saint John Chrysostom (347-407 A.D.); Rufinus
(345-410
A.D.), the renowned ecclesiastical historian; Saint Basil (330-379 A.D.),
the
Cappadocian author of the great Eastern liturgy used to this day and
the
founder of a Byzantine monastic order on the model of the Rule of
Saint
Pachomius; Saint John Cassian (360-435 A.D.), the father of monasticism
in
Gaul, who is known to have spent seven years in the Thebaid and
Nitrea,
Palladius (365-425 A.D.), Bishop of Helenopolis in Bithynia, who compiled
the
lives of the desert fathers in "The Lausiac History"; Saint Augen or
Eugenius
of Clysma, the father of Syrian asceticism; and many more from other parts
of
Europe in addition to some lesser known persons from Ethiopia, Nubia,
and
North Africa.
In reality, the rule of Saint Pachomius continued to influence
European
monasticism beyond the Middle Ages. Saint Benedict failed to incorporate
in
his rule the Pachomian system of unifying the convents into clans with
annual
meetings for mutual surveillance of their activities. It is known that
independent Benedictine houses became very rich in the long run, and that
the
Benedictine monks decided to discard toil and live luxuriously on the
hired
labor of local farmers, thus losing the virtue of the Pachomian system
of
surveillance by other members of the brotherhood. Only the Cluniac reform
of
the tenth century was able to remedy that rising evil by reverting to
the
spirit of the Pachomian rule. Subsequently most newer European orders
of
religion observed the same cooperative system. The Carthusians and
the
Cistercians in the eleventh and twelfth centuries as well as the
Franciscans
and the Dominicans were founded on the basis of union among their
convents
under the authority of a central government. Even the Jesuits in
the
sixteenth century appear unwittingly to have fallen under the spell
of
Pachomian dictates. It becomes quite obvious that the contribution of
the
Copts in the field of monasticism persisted until the modern age.
Missionary Enterprise
---------------------
A by-product of historic significance to the monastic movement among
the
Copts was their early missionary endeavour. All the aforementioned
renowned
names of men who spent years of ther lives in the monasteries of Nitrea
and
the Thebaid must be regarded as unchartered ambassadors and missionaries
of
that Coptic Christianity which they had experienced among Coptic
religious
leaders. Meanwhile, the Copts themselves, at least in the first four or
five
centuries of our era, proved to be extremely active in the spreading of
the
faith beyond their frontiers in practically every direction.
It is not inconceivale that Coptic relations with North Africa, notably
with
Cyrenaica or the Pentapolis, took place with the introduction
of
Christianity. In his visitations from Alexandria, Saint Mark must have
been
accompanied to the Pentapolis by Alexandrine helpers. Educationally,
the
natives of the Pentapolis looked toward Egypt. Synesius of Cyrene [25]
(370-414), bishop of Ptolemais, received his instruction at Alexandria
in
both the Catechetical School and the Museion, and he entertained a great
deal
of reverence and affection for Hypatia, the last pagan Neoplatonists,
whose
classes he had attended. Synesius was raised to the episcopate by
Theophilus,
patriarch of Alexandria, in 410 A.D. Since the Council of Nicaea in 325
A.D.,
Cyrenaica had been recognized as an ecclesiastical province of the See
of
Alexandria, in accordance with the ruling of the Nicaean Fathers.
The
patriarch of the Coptic Church to his day includes the Pentapolis in
his
title as an area within his jurisdiction. It is doubtful, however,
whether
Coptic influence extended further west in North Africa, where Carthage
and
Rome held greater sway.
The area were Egyptian Christianity had its most direct impact was
probably
in the upper valley of the Nile, by the southern gate of Egypt at
Syene
(modern Aswan). The ancient Egyptians had known those parts since
the
eighteenth dynasty, some fifteen hundred years before Christ, and
their
magnificient temples and monuments are spread all over Nubia. Two
factors
helped in the steady flow of Christian missionaries south of Syene.
First,
the persecutions gave the initial incentive to Christians to flee from
their
oppressors to the oases of the Western Desert and beyond the first
cataract
into Nubia. Secondly, the rise of ascetic monasticism furnished the
new
religion with pious emigrants who penetrated the southern regions as
soldiers
of Christ. Recent archaeological excavations in the lower Sudan prove
that
Christianity had struck root in those distant regions by the fourth
century
[26]. In the fifth century, good relations are recorded between the
monastic
order of the great Saint Shenute whose monasteries still stand at Suhag
and
the Nubian and Baga tribes of the south. At the beginning of the
sixth
century, there was a certain Bishop Theodore of Philae, apparently
a
Christian substitute to the Isis high priesthood established on that
island
from Roman times. IN the same century, Justinian (483-565 A.D.) issued
a
command that all the pagan tribes on the periphery of the Byzantine
empire
should be converted to Christianity. The imperial order accelerated a
process
already taking place in Nubia, though, as a consequence, the
monophysite
Copts had to combat both paganism and the Chalcedonian profession of faith
at
one and the same time. It would appear that the Coptic victory was
completed
by 559 A.D., and through the sympathy and connivance of Empress Theodora,
and
in defiance of court injunctions, a monophysite bishop, Longinus [27],
was
consecrated for the see of Napata, capital of the Nubian kingdom. The
ancient
temples were progressively transformed into Christian churches including
the
temple of Dandur (now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
City),
and new churches were constructed. Furthermore, monasticism was
introduced
among the Nubians, who founded numerous monasteries on the edge of
the
valley. The most outstanding example is that of Saint Simeon (Anba
Hidra),
which stood at short distance across the Nile from modern Aswan.
Though
raided by Saladin's Islamic armies in the year 1172 A.D., its imposing
ruins
are still a testimony to architectural, artistic, and spiritual solidity.
Even more romantic than the conversion of the Nubian kingdom to
Christianity
in late antiquity was that of the more distant and isolated kingdom
of
Abyssinia. According to an apocryphal tradition, the Ethiopian court at
Axum
had long been acquainted with monotheism. The story of the journey of
the
Queen of Sheba [28] to the court of King Solomon in the tenth century
B.C.,
their marriage, and the subsequent birth of Menelik I of Ethiopia,
though
probably legendary, has given the Ethiopian monarch the title "Lion of
Judah"
[29]. Menelik's visit to his father in Jerusalem, and his return with
the
Ark of Covenant, said to be enshrined in the cathedral of Axum, belongs
to
the same tale [30]. The next contact with monotheism occured when the
eunuch
in the service of "Condace, Queen of the Ethiopians", encountered the
Apostle
Philip on his return from Jerusalem by way of Gaza [31]. Here, however,
the
Nubian queen is confused with the Ethiopian. Historic evidence shows
that
Ethiopia remained pagan until the fourth century A.D. when the
authentic
evangelization of the kingdom took place. Two brothers, Frumentius
and
Aedesius, residents of Tyre but originally from Alexandria, boarded a
trading
ship going to India and were shipwrecked on the Red Sea cost near the
shores
of Erythria. They were picked up by men of the Ethiopian monarch,
probably
King Ella Amida [32], who took them into his service. Aedesius became
his
cup-bearer, and Frumnetius his secretary and tutor to the young crown
prince,
Aeizanas (Ezana), to whom he doubtless gave a Christian education.
When
Aeizanas became king, he and his courtiers and retainers were converted,
and
Christianity was declared the official religion of the state.
Afterwards
Aedesius was allowed to return to Tyre, while Frumentius went to
Alexandria
to consecrate a special bishop to watch over the spiritual welfare of
those
distant Christians. The meeting with Athanasius was presumably between
341
and 346 A.D. [33]. The patriarch appointed Frumentius himself under the
name
of Abba Salama, that is, "The father of peace" [34]. The new bishop
of Axum
finally returned to his see in or before 356 A.D., no doubt accompanied
by
presbyters to help in the process of evangelization of the kingdom and
the
establishment of churches in the country [35]. In 356 the
Emperor
Constantius, an Arian, wrote to Aeizanus to withdraw the Orthodox
Frumentius,
but without avail. After the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D., the
Ethiopians
adhered to the Coptic profession.
The winning of Ethiopia for the Gospel must have been regarded as one of the
most spectacular events in the century, crowning the labor of the Copts
in
Africa [36]. Further east, the Copts emerged in the missionary field in
Asia,
though of course on a more modest scale. It is very difficult to
generalize
here on the basis of isolated instances, but there is no doubt that
the
Egyptians moved freely to many parts of Palestine, Syria,
Cappadocia,
Caesarea, and to some extent Arabia. Origen, the great theologian,
was
invited to Bostra to arbitrate in doctrinal differences. Mar Augin of
Clysma
(the modern Suez) was the founder of monasticism in Mesopotamia and
the
Persian empire, making a considerable impact on both Syrian and
Assyrian
Christianity [37]. As early as the second century the great Pantaenus,
who
presided over the Catechetical School of Alexandria, was chosen by
Demetrius
I, the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria to preach the Gospel in India
[38].
After accomplishing his mission, he visited Arabia Felix (modern Yemen)
where
he must have continued his missionary enterprise. Unfortunately
our
information on this fascinating chapter is extremely limited. In the
sixth
century there was a further Indian adventure by another Alexandrine,
Cosmas
Indicopleustes [39], who later became a monk on Sinai and left an account
of
his travels, now in Saint Catherine's monastery. He speaks of
Christian
communities with their bishops on the Persian Gulf, the existence
of
Christians in the island of Socotra, and the yet more numerous Christians
of
Saint Thomas in India. He is reputed to be one of the first travellers
to
Ceylon.
The role of the Copts in Europe may be illustrated from the first two
exiles
of the great Alexandrine patriarch, Athanasius. The first exile began
in
Constantinople and ended inTrier, where the saint spent parts of 336 and
337,
and it is difficult to believe that he did not preach during all that time
in
his new environment. Most of the second exile, from 339 to 346, was at
the
Roman curia as the guest of Julius I. Apart from establishing good
relations
between Alexandria and Rome, Athanasius carried out some missionary work
by
introducing into Roman religious life the highly developed monastic rule
of
the Fathers of the Egyptian deserts. This was an important event in view
of
the magnitude of the contributions of the rising monastic orders in
the
preservation of culture, and in the progress of European civilization as
a
whole [40].
In those days the stream of pilgrims who came from the west to visit
the
Egyptian wilderness with its hermits and monks included many who may well
be
regarded as missionaries of Coptic religious culture, since they
transplanted
Coptic teachings to their native countries. One of the most eminent of
these
was John Cassian (360-435 A.D.), a native of southern Gaul and the son
of
rich parents who gave him a good education. He and an older friend
named
Germanus decided to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and in
Bethlehem
they took monastic vows. Then they went to Egypt, where they spent
seven
years visiting the solitaries and holy men of the wilderness of Scetis in
the
Nitrean valley as well as the Thebaid during the fourth century. It was
on
that occasion that John Cassian collected the material for his two
famous
works, the "Institutes" [41] and the "Conferences"
[42]. These books deal
with the life and habits of the Egyptian monks as well as their wisdom
and
institutions, and both were widely read in mediaeval Europe. Saint
Benedict
of Nursia used them when he codified his rule in the sixth century.
After
spending some time with Saint John Chrysostom in Constantinople on his
return
journey, John Cassian was ordained priest, probably in Rome, before settling
down in the neighborhood of Marseilles, where he has been accredited with
the
introduction of Egyptian monasticism in Gaul. At Marseilles, above the
shrine
of Saint Victor, who was martyred by Emperor Maximian (286-305 A.D.) in
the
last Christian persecution, John Cassian founded a monastery and a nunnery
on
the model of the Coenobia, which he had witnessed in Egypt [43]. In
the
catacombs below present day fort of Saint Victor will be found
numerous
archaeological remains, including sarcophagi with stone carvings
and
sculpture which betray in animal and plant motifs the direct influence
of
early Coptic art. On the island of Saint Honorat, off the coast of
Cannes,
there is an old monastery where the monks explain to visitors that they
use
the rule of Saint Pachomius of the Thebaid.
Wherever the Roman legions went, they apparently were followed by
Christian
missionaries. To Switzerland a mission from Thebes, according to local
legend
or tradition, arrived in the year 285 A.D. with the Theban legion. It was
led
by Saint Mauritius (Maurice or Moritz), who seems to have earned the crown
of
martyrdom for refusing to sacrifice to the heathen gods. His statue
stands
today in one of the public squares of Saint-Moritz, and his body
was
enshrined in what later became the chapel of an abbey of Augustinian
canons
at Saint Maurice in the Valais. His companions, a legionary named Felix,
his
sister Regula, and a third called Exuperantius hid themselves in the
dreary
wastes of the land of Glarus and ultimately reached the lake of Zurich,
where
they baptized converts until they were seized by the emperor's men and
led
before Decius, the Roman governor of the region. On refusing to sacrifice
to
the gods, they were tortured. Tradition says that as they were beheaded
a
voice from heaven called to them: "Arise, for he angels shall take you
to
Paradise and set upon your heads the martyr's crown." The place where
they
sleep undeneath is now the crypt of the Zurich Grossmunster. on the spot
of
their martyrdom arose the Wasserkirche. The Fraumunster cloister across
the
Limmat River has eight famous mediaeval frescoes representing every stage
of
their story. The three saints with heads in hand are the subject of the
coat
of arms of the city of Zurich. A parallel story with some variations
has
been recounted about the town of Solothurn, and the name of Saint Victor
(the
Coptic "Boktor") is mentioned as its hero and patron saint.
There is little doubt that the Coptic missionaries reached as far as
the
British Isles on the fringe of mediaeval Europe. long before the coming
of
Saint Augustine of Canterbury in 597 A.D., Christianity had been
introduced
among the Britons. the eminent historian Stanley Lane-Poole says: "We do
not
yet know how much we in the British Isles owe to these remote hermits. It
is
more than probable that to them we are indebted for the first preaching
of
the Gospel in England, where, till the coming of Augustine, the Egyptian
monastic rule prevailed. But more important is the belief that
Irish
Christianity, the great civilizing agent of the early Middle Ages among
the
northern nations, was the child of the Egyptian Church. Seven Egyptian
monks
are buried at Disert Uldith, and there is much in the ceremonies
and
architecture of Ireland in the earliest time that reminds one of
still
earlier Christian remains in Egypt. Everyone knows that the handicraft of
the
Irish monks in the ninth and tenth centuries far excelled anything that
could
be found elsewhere in Europe; and if the Byzantine-looking decoration
of
their splendid gold and silver work, and their unrivalled illuminations,
can
be traced to the influence of Egyptian missionaries, we have more to
thank
the Copts for than had been imagined" [45].
Even when we review Coptic heresies and heretics, it behooves us to
consider
how these ardent sons of the Nile, forbidden to practice the beliefs of
their
sects within the Pax Romana, crossed the frontiers of the empire to
the
unknown realms of the barbarians and there freely preached Christianity
in
accordance with their convictions [46].
Coptic Music
------------
On the subject of music, we are constrained to seek the opinion of
the
specialist. In 1927 the great English musicologist Ernest Newlandsmith
of
Oxford and London Universities spent several months in Egypt listening to
the
old native chanters of the Coptic Church and reducing their tunes
to
notation. He managed to compile a number of volumes and declared that
the
results of his pursuit exceeded his wildest expectations. We can do no
better
than quote his verdict. "What we understand today as Oriental
music," he
proclaimed, "appears simply a degradation of what was once a great art.
This
music, which has been handed down for untold centuries within the
Coptic
Church, should be a bridge between East and West, and place a new idiom
at
the disposal of the western musicians. It is a lofty, noble, and great
art,
especially in the element of the infinite which is lacking
today."
Newlandsmith is apparently of the opinion that, to quote his own
words,
"Western music has its origin in ancient Egypt" [48]. If we
believe this
renowned English musicologist, then, we must accept the thesis that
Coptic
Church music is a bridge between the music of ancient Egypt and western
music
in some way. It is not inconceivabe that the Coptic missionaries who
crossed
over to Europe at the dawn of our era could have carried with them
the
essence of the native Coptic chanting [49]. The theory that there had
been
interaction between that Coptic vocal music and the Gregorian chants,
though
still debatable, seems to have more than a little historical support. At
the
present juncture, we can only say with the eminent English musicologist
that
"Such a basis of music opens up a vista quite undreamt of by the
ordinary
musicians of the Western world."
Coptic Art And Architecture
---------------------------
Akin to music is the field of the Coptic arts which have been shrouded in
a
blanket of oblivion for many centuries. In recent times, however,
the
discovery of Coptic art has aroused a great deal of excitement and interest
among historians, archaelogists, and modern artists. There is hardly
a
notable museum in the world which has not devoted a special section
or
department to exhibits of Coptic provenance. In originality, depth
of
feeling, and unusual vigor, Coptic art has earned for itself a
position
of independence in Christian antiquity. The motifs of Coptic art emerged
in
stonework, painting, woodwork, terra-cotta, ivories, and, above
all
considerations, in the renowned monochrome and polychrome fabrics from
Coptic
looms.
The Coptic textile industry has been attracting a great deal of attention
in
recent years, and specimens of embroidered fabrics of astounding beauty
are
on display in all major museums. The Coptic weaver's dexterity
produced
fantastic scenes from classical antiquity, which were replaced, from
the
fourth century or a little earlier, by Christian themes. In the early
Islamic
period, the figures became increasingly stylized but retained their special
vigor, and geometrical designs were customary. The fabric and
carpet
collections, both public and private, have had their impact on the style of
a
number of great modern artists. They proved to be a source of inspiration
to
some masters including Matisse, Derain, and Picasso. When the
American
painter Marsden Hartley discovered Coptic textile portraiture, he set out
to
build a collection of his own, and his style was strongly affected by
this
contact.
In the realm of Coptic ecclesiastical architecture, we can assume that
the
genesis of the basilical style in the Christian world may be traced
to
ancient Egypt with Coptic craftmanship the bridge between the
ancient
dynastic temple and the modern cathedral. At the beginning, the Copts were
in
the habit of transforming the ancient temples into Christian churches.
Later,
when the Copts started to erect their own chapels independently, it
was
normal for the Coptic architecture to copy existing models of their ancestral
master builders of antiquity, more especiallyas these old structures
appeared
to fulfill the requirements of the new faith.
The topography of the ancient Egyptian temples comprised three
main
divisions. First the outer gate flanked with two lofty pylons led into
an
open court lined by two rows of columns with a narrow stone
roofing.
Secondly, beyond that huge quadrangle devoted to general worshippers, was
the
hypostyle. This space was filled with crowded columns in close rows
supporting a massive stone roof and reserved for the royal family and
the
aristocracy. The third section at the end of the temple was a dimly
lit
chamber, wrapped in great mystery. This was the inner shrine, the
"sanctum
sanctorum", or holy of holies, where the deity resided, and which
was
accessible only to the high priest or pharaoh.
The primitive Coptic churches appear to have retained this triple
division,
which may still be witnessed in some of the historic chapels of the
ancient
convents. The innermost area behind the iconostasis was the
sanctuary
("haikal") where priests and deacons alone were admitted to
officiate the
mystery of the Sacrament. Outside the sanctuary, the central part of
the
church was reserved for baptized Christians, while a third section at
the
narthex (or entrance) was left open for the unbaptized catechumens.
This
architectural arrangement fits the Coptic offices to perfection. Indeed
the
Coptic liturgy is divided into three parts, namely, the liturgy of
the
catechumens, the liturgy of the faithful, and the Anaphora. Whereas
the
catechumens were expected to depart after the first stage, the screen
was
drawn after the second to conceal the mystery of sanctification of
the
Precious Body and Blood before Holy Communion. [This tradition is
practiced
no more, except for the service on Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday of
the
Pascha service (during Holy week)].
At an unknown date, the distinction between the baptized faithful and
the
unbaptized catechumens began disappear with the elimination of the
latter
through the the spread of Christianity, and it became meaningless to
retain
the three transverse divisions of the church. Instead, the perpendicular
triple divisions of nave and aisles was substituted for the
transverse
sections of bygone days. In this wise, the basilical style began to
assert
itself in Coptic ecclesiastical architecture. Saint Mena's cathedral,
built
by Emperor Arcadius (395-408 A.D.) in the district of Mareotis west
of
Alexandria, the ruins of the magnificient cathedral at Ashmunayn in
Middle
Egypt, and the majestic churches of the Red and White Monasteries of
Saint
Shenute at Suhag are fourth- and fifth-century examples of this
imminent
change which was gradually adopted by the rest of teh Christian world.
It
would, however, be a mistake to assume that change was sudden even among
the
Copts. The irregularity of church forms in Old Cairo proves
that
the definitive style of the basilica must have been an extended process.
But
it is an inescapable conclusion that these architectural developments
in
Egypt are tied with basilical forms throughout Christendom.
Oblivion and Rediscovery
------------------------
One of the most disastrous events in Christian annals came to pass at
the
Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. Its condemnation of the Coptic
patriarch
Dioscorus I, and its interpretation of Saint Cyril the Great's formula of
the
"physis" or "hypostasis" of Christ contrary to the Coptic
profession led to
the irreparable cleavage of Christendom into two hostile camps,
Eastern
[better labeled as Oriental] and Western. To this day, Chalcedon
is
acrimoniously remembered by the Coptic natives of Egypt and, for that
matter,
also by the Jacobite Syrians, the Ethiopians, and the Armenians, who
followed
the example of Egypt. The immediate outcome of Chalcedon, however, was
more
keenly felt in Egypt. The Byzantine Emperors who aimed at unity within
the
Church as the sole bearer of cohesion in the Empire stopped at nothing
to
impose that unity by brutal force on the Egyptian people. It was thus that
a
new wave of gruesome persecution was inaugurated to obliterate all
vestiges
of separatism in Egypt. For effective action, the Emperor combined the
civil,
military, and ecclesiastical authority in the hands of one man, the
perfect
Apollinarius, who was the governor, army general and patriarch of Alexandria
at one and the same time. This offered him immense powers to force
the
Chalcedonian profession of faith on the obstinate Copts who were
adamant
against the Greek dictates. In opposition to this military rule of
the
Church, the natives followed their own national Pope elected on the seat
of
Saint Mark, who was pursued by the legionaries of the Melkite patriarch
while
he moved in secret from monastery to monastery. Unbearably excessive
taxation
together with the most horrible torture and humiliation were inflicted
upon
the Egyptians throughout the period from 451 A.D. to 641 A.D. until
the
advent of the Arabs on the scene.
The defeat of the Greeks and the surrender of Cyrus, the last
perfect-
patriarch, to the Arab conquerors on Good Friday, 6 April 641, has often
been
ascribed to Coptic connivance with the invader against their oppressor.
But
this is not true. The Copts merely took a neutral position between
the
contestants. They had nothing to lose by changing masters. On the
contrary,
whereas the Byzantines inflicted servitude on the Copts both religiously
and
politically, the Arabs promised religious freedom to all the people "of
the
Book" (ahl al-Zimmah), i.e., the Christians and the Jews. In fact, after
the
downfall of the last Greek bastion of Alexandria, Amr invited the
fugitive
Coptic Patriarch Benjamin II out of his concealment and offered him
an
honorable safe-conduct and the Melkite churches which were vacated by
the
Greeks.
In this wise, a new chapter opened for the Copts and a new barrier
under
Muslim rule terminated the relationship between the Christians of the
East
and those of the West for more than a thousand years. It is beyond the
scope
(and theme) of this article to detail the story of the Church
under
Muhammadan dynasties. The main point here is that the Copts were
gradually
forgotten by Western Christendom and lived in oblivion until the dawn
of
their rediscovery by the French Expedition of 1798-1802 A.D. At that time
the
Copts began to establish a measure of communication with
Western
Christendom. With the birth of democracy and the enfranchisement of
all
Egyptians, the Copts emerged from their closed communities and opened
to
interaction with the West. With little to offer beyond their ancient
heritage
and long-established traditions, they became curious objects of
interest
vis-a-vis the searching Western mind. At the same time, increasing
confidence
in age-old enemies began the process of removing the barriers erected by
the
misapprehension of other Christians. This led to gradual rapprochement
with
other Western creeds and sects, thereby quietly bringing to a close the
old
Chalcedonian feud which had broken out fiercely in 451 A.D. between
the
"physis" or "hypostasis" of God's word incarnate.
Perhaps the most
significant demonstration of the rebirth of interaction between East and
West
became ostensible in the participation of the Copts for the first time
in
this century by means of the dispatch of a delegation consisting of
one
secular and two clerical representatives to the World Council of
Churches
convened at Evanston, Illinois, in the summer of 1954. An amusing incident
took place at that meeting when the Copts vehemently protested against
the
gracious welcome accorded to them by the delegates of Western Christendom
as
newcomers to oecumenicity. The Copts rejected the word "newcomers".
They had
been participants in a leading position from Nicaea in 325 A.D.
until
Chalcedon and the parting of the ways in 451 A.D. The were just
resuming
their role in oecumenicity after an interregnum of 1,503 years. Since
then,
the Copts have been active in that international body, notably in
Africa,
where their mission is more readily acceptable to the Africans than
the
Europeans and American missions of colonial days.
At this juncture it may be fitting to ponder the miracle of the survival
of
this most ancient Christianity. the explanation of this remarkable
phenomenon
may be found in a set of causes, some internal and others
external.
Internally, the Copts, in the historicity of their own Church, have
developed
a profound spirituality, watered by the blood of their martyrs and
confirmed
by the racial consciousness of their remote ancestry which extends
over
millennia, and which is visibly represented by the Church in the
Christian
era, only the last of many earlier ages. Within the walls of that fortress
of
faith, they preserved the purity of their race against pollution
from
intermarriage with the ceaseless waves of invasion from outside. The
Church
proved to be the cementing ingredient among those sons of Ancient
Egypt.
Initially a way of worship, Coptism became in the end of a way of life and
a
symbol of an old culture for those isolated Christians in their
ancient
homeland. Consequently they became the bearers of a torch which had
been
ignited in the first century and which they were determined to hand on
to
posterity and keep aglow.
On the external level, we have to admit that the shrinking Coptic
community
of the Middle Ages was never underestimated by its Muslim rulers. The
Copt
not only was accepted by the growing Muslim majority but also was revered
as
a highly beneficial neighbor and an honest civil servant of the
state.
However, at numerous critical moments in those lonesome centuries
the
depleted Coptic minority was actively and viciously persecuted by
the
overpowering Muslim majority. But the facts of history have proved
such
persecutions to be ineffective, and to the contrary, they have
indubitably
contributed to the realization of Coptic survival.
On occasions in modern times, the Copts were offered integration with
other
Christian powers, but they chose systematically a life of harmony with
their
Muslim compatriots. Peter the Great (1689-1725 A.D.) in the
eighteenth
century offered a merger with the Copts on the condition that they become
a
Russian protectorate. The reigning patriarch then asked the
Russian
delegation "Who protects the Czar?" The reply was "God."
The patriarch then
answered that the Copts are under the protectorate of He who protects
the
Emperor. The matter was dropped at that. The Episcopalians of Britain
tried
the same tactic in the days of colonialism with the same
response.
Nevertheless, in recent years, with the increasing spirit of acceptance and
dialogue among the sects and nations of Christendom, the Copts seem to
be
advancing out of their prolonged isolation to participate in the
widening
circle of good faith among all Christians in anticipation of the discovery
of
their common Father.
Conclusion
----------
Like a great and solitary Egyptian temple standing sorrowfully on the edge
of
the desert and weathering sandstorms over the years until it became
submerged
by the accretions of time, the ancient Coptic Church led its lonely life
unnoticed on the fringe of Christian civilization and was buried in the
sands
of time and oblivion. Like the same massive temple, too, it has proved
itself
to be indestructible though battered by the winds of change. As an
organism,
its potential vitality, though enfeebled by sustained fighting, has
survived
in a latent form under the weight of accumulated rubble. In the last
few
decades, with increasing security and liberty from within and support
and
sympathy from without, its sons and daughters have started removing the
sands
of time from around the edifice, which has shown signs of shining again
[51].
The miracle of the survival of the Copts in a surging sea of Islam,
coming
after the black days of Byzantine misrule since Chalcedon in 451 can
be
explained only by the depth of spirituality which the genius of
their
forebears was able to build during the formative ages of
Alexandrine
Christianity. The religious contributions of the early fathers of the
Coptic
Church have remained unnoticed and sometimes have been ascribed to
the
Greeks, until the relatively recent rediscovery of the Copts and
their
heritage. During the first four or five centuries of our era, Egypt
produced
some of the most illustrious names in Christian annals. Men such as
Origen,
Athanasius, Cyril the Great, St. Anthony, St. Pachomius, Shenute the
Great,
and many more have left their mark on the history of Christian
civilization
both within and outside Egypt. Wheareas the Catechetical School of
Alexandria
was the only center of Christian scholarship in the second and
third
centuries, the Oecumenical Movement was inaugurated in the fourth and
fifth
to formalize decisions on burning questions of Christology. In both fields,
the role of the Copts was supreme, and their enduring contributions became
an
integral part of Christian civilization for all time. Perhaps even
more
staggering as a Coptic contribution was the monastic rule in its
perfected
form. Irrespective of later views on monastic life, the fact remains
that
monastic orders have been instrumental in the preservation of culture
and
civilization through the darkest ages of European history. Furthermore,
the
Coptic monks of those early centuries were responsible for an
active
missionary movement and the evangelization of many parts of the Old World.
In
the south, the kingdoms of Nubia and Abyssinia were converted to
Christianity
by these missionaries, and in the north, missions from Thebes and
from
Mareotis followed in the steps of the Roman legions to Switzerland, Gaul,
and
even Britain long before the advent of St. Patrick and St. Augustine
of
Canterbury.
The impact of Coptic Christianity may also have penetrated other fields
which
are still open to other enquiry. The interaction between Coptic
vocal
chanting and the immortal Gregorian chants, the basilical style in
Coptic
ecclesiastical architecture and the standard cathedrals of the West, and
the
minor arts of the Copts are all subjects which attract increasing
attention
by specialists with a promise of revealing hidden influences on
our
civilization.
In fact, the conglomerate impact of these and more items has awakened
the
searching minds of students of divinity and culture in many countries of
the
West to explore this forgotten corner of a most ancient Christianity
for
greater light. The foundation of institutes of Coptic studies
independently
and within the framework of noted universities came as a natural response
to
this growing pursuit of knowledge. Coptology was established as perhaps
the
newest branch of the humanities, parallel to the other disciplines
of
Egyptology, papyrology, and Islamology. Then in 1976, the Coptologists of
the
world convened in Cairo by the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, and
there
they created the International Association of Coptic Studies for
the
coordination of the expanding activities in the exploration of the
Coptic
heritage. It was also on that occasion that the project of the
Coptic
Encyclopaedia was hailed as a much needed and long overdue research tool
in
an unusual field and as a means of diffusing knowledge concerning one of
the
most glorious chapters in the story of Christian civilization.
About the author: Aziz S. Atiya
-------------------------------
Aziz S. Atiya was born in an Egyptian village shortly before the turn of
the
twentieth century. His education began in Egypt and was continued in
England,
where he secured a Ph.D. in 1933 from the University of London and
D.Litt.
from the University of Liverpool in 1938. He was awarded the Charles
Beard
Fellowship as well as the Ramsay Muir Fellowship in 1931 and the
University
Fellowship in 1932 from the University of Liverpool for
outstanding
scholarship in Mediaeval History. In America he was granted three
more
doctorates in an honorary capacity: an LL.D. from Brigham Young University
in
1968 and two doctorates of Humane Letters, from Baldwin-Wallace College
in
1962, and from the University of Utah in 1968.
Professor Atiya's teaching career began with a Tutorship in the University
of
London School of Oriental Studies in 1934, followed by a Professorship
of
Midiaeval (including Oriental) History in the University of Bonn in
Germany
from 1936 to 1939. He returned to Egypt after the outbreak of World War
II,
became the First History Inspector for Egyptian Secondary Education from
1939
to 1940, then Professor of Midiaeval History in Cairo University from
1940
and in Alexandria University from 1945 to 1954. He was elected
first
Fulbright scholar from Egypt in 1951 and as such acted as Consultant to
the
Library of Congress as well as lecturing at many American universities.
Professor Atiya was later invited back to the United States as
Visiting
Professor at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) for the year 1955-56.
The
following academic year he occupied another Visiting Professorship of
History
at Columbia University together with the Henry W. Luce Professorship of
World
Christianity at Union Theological Seminary. Simultaneously, he was
elected
Patten Lecturer of the year at Indiana University. He accepted a
similar
appointment in the following year (1957-58) at Princeton University
and
became a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study in 1958-59. At the end
of
his term at the Institute, the University of Utah offered him a
tenured
position as Professor of Languages and History. He founded its Middle
East
Center and its significant Middle East Library, and in 1967 he was
named
Distinguished Professor of History.
Immediately before coming to the United States, Professor Atiya
established
the Institute of Coptic Studies and became its first President in 1954.
He
also was elected Corresponding Member of the Society of Coptic Archaeology
as
well as UNESCO International Committee for the Cultural History of
Mankind.
Among a number of similar memberships of learned academies and societies,
he
was elected one of four Orientalists in the world to be Honored Fellow of
the
Middle East Association of North America.
Long recognized as a leading authority in the fields of Midiaeval Studies
and
the Near East with a concentration of the Crusades and East-West
relations,
Professor Atiya has published widely, many of his books appearing
in
translation and in several editions. Among his most influential works are
the
"Crusades in the Later Middle Ages" (1938), "A History of
the Egyptian
Patriarchs" (1948-59), "Crusade, Commerce, and Culture"
(1962), and "A
History of Eastern Christianity" (1968). His academic achievements
were
crowned in 1991, two years after his death, with the publishing of
the
"Coptic Encyclopedia", a monumental piece of work that engaged
Professor
Atiya for the last twenty years of his life.
References
----------
[1] A.S. Atiya, "A History of Eastern Christianity" (London, 1967,
reprinted
Notre Dame, Ind., 1968), p. 16.
[2] S.N. Leeder, "Modern Sons of the Pharaohs: A Study of the Manners
and
Customs of the Copts of Egypt" (New York, 1918).
[3] Jack Finegan, "Light from the Ancient East: The Archeological
Background
of the Hebrew-Christian Religion" (Princeton, N.J. 1951), pp.
324ff.,
340ff.
[4] Frederic A. Kenyon, "The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri",
14 vols.
(London, 1933-1958); idem, "Our Bible and the Ancient
Manuscripts
(London, 1940).
[5] "The Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices", 14 vols.
(Leiden,
1972).
[6] J. Quasten, "Patrology", 3 vols. (Westminster, Md., 1951-1960),
II, 4;
A. von Harnack, "Geschischte der Altchristlichen Literatur bis
Eusebius",
3 vols. (Leipzig, 1895-1904), I, 291-296; G. Bardy, "Aux origines
de
l'Ecole d'Alexandrie, Recherches de sciences religieuses", XXVII
(Paris,
1937), 65-90.
[7] J.E.L. Oulton and H. Chadwick, "Alexandrine Christianity"
(Philadelphia,
1956), pp. 56ff.; J. Quasten, "Patrology", 3 vols.
(Westminster, Md.,
1951-1960), II, 4; A. von Harnack, "Geschischte der
Altchristlichen
Literatur bis Eusebius", 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1895-1904), II, 5-36;
J.
Patrick, "Clement of Alexandria" (Edinburgh, 1914), passim.
[8] J.E.L. Oulton and H. Chadwick, "Alexandrine Christianity"
(Philadelphia,
1956), pp. 171ff.; J. Quasten, "Patrology", 3 vols.
(Westminster, Md.,
1951-1960), II, 37-101; W.E. Barnes, "The Third Century
Greatest
Christian -- Origen, The Exposition Times", no. 44
(Edinburgh,
1932-1933), pp. 295-300; W.R. Inge, "Origen", British Academy
Lecture on
a Master Mind (London, 1946).
[9] H.H. Howorth, "The Hexapla and Tetrapla of Origen",
Proceedings of the
Society of Biblical Archaeology, no. 24 (1902), pp. 147-172;
H.M.
Orlinsky, "The Columnar Order of the Hexapla", Jewish
Quarterly, XXVII
(1936), 137-149; W.E. Staples. "The Second Column of Origen's
Hexapla",
Journal of the American Oriental Society, LIX (1939), 71-80.
[10] A. von Harnack, "Der Kirchengeschichtlische Erfolg der
exetischen
Arbeiten des Origenes" (Leipzig, 1919); F. Prat, "Origene le
theologien
et l'exegete", 3rd ed. (Paris, 1907).
[11] W. Fairweather, "Origen and Greek Patristic Theology", (New
York, 1901);
J. Quasten, "Patrology", 3 vols. (Westminster, Md.,
1951-1960), II,
75ff.; A. von Harnack, "History of Dogmas", translation from
3rd ed. by
N. Buchanan, 7vols. (London, 1987-1999), IV, 340ff.
[12] G.W. Butterworth, "Origen on First Principles" (London,
1936).
[13] L.B. Radford, "Three Teachers of Alexandria -- Theognostus, Pierius
and
Peter: A Study in the Early History of Origenism and
Anti-Origenism"
(Cambridge, 1908).
[14] A.S. Atiya, "A History of Eastern Christianity" (London, 1967,
reprinted
Notre Dame, Ind., 1968), p. 37-39.
[15] A.S. Atiya, "A History of Eastern Christianity" (London, 1967,
reprinted
Notre Dame, Ind., 1968), p. 55-59.
[16] A.S. Atiya, "A History of Eastern Christianity" (London, 1967,
reprinted
Notre Dame, Ind., 1968), p. 42.
[17] C. J. Helfe, "Connziliengeschichte", English Translation by
W.R. Clark
as "History of the Christian Councils" (Edinburgh, 1871-1896), Vols.
I-V
(to 787 A.D.); authorized French translation by H. Leclercq as
"Histoire
des Conciles", 11 volumes in 22 (Paris, 1907-1952).
[18] R.V. Sellers, "The Council of Chalcedon" (london, 1953); A.
Grillmeier
and H. Bacht, "Das Konzil von Chalcedon", 3 vols. (Wurzburg,
1951-1954).
[19] W.H. MacKean, "Christian Monasticism in Egypt to the close of the
Fourth
Century" (London, 1920); R. Draguet, "Les peres du
desert" (Paris,
1949); Helen Waddell, "The Desert Fathers" (London,
1936); Otto
Meinardus, "Monks and Monasteries of the Egyptian Desert",
(Cairo, 1961).
[20] R. Meyer, "St Athanasius -- The life of St Anthony",
(Westminster, Md.,
1950).
[21] M.C. Evelyn-White, "Monasteries of Wadi'n Natrun", 2 volumes
(New York,
1926-1933).
[22] A.S. Atiya, "A History of Eastern Christianity" (London, 1967,
reprinted
Notre Dame, Ind., 1968), p. 62, n.2.
[23] See references [41] and [42] below.
[24] C. Butler, "The Lausiac History of Palladius", 2 vols.
(Cambridge,
1898-1904); E. A. T. Wales-Budge, "The Paradise of the
Fathers", 2
vols. (Oxford, 1934).
[25] H. L. Marrou, "Synesius of Cyrene and Alexandrian
Neoplatonism", in the
"Conflict between paganism and Christianity in the Fourth
Century", ed.
A. Momigliano (Oxford, 1963), pp. 126-50; Synesius of Cyrene,
"Letters",
English translation by A. Fitzgerald (Oxford, 1926); idem, "Essays
and
Hymns", 2 vols. (London, 1930). For biographies of Synesius, see
C.
Lacombrade (Paris, 1951), G. Grutzmacher (Leipzig, 1913), W.S.
Crawford
(London, 1901), and J.C. Pando (Washington, 1940).
[26] D. Dunham, "Romano-Coptic Egypt and the Culture of Meroe,"
in Coptic
Egypt (New York, 1944), pp. 31-33; C.P. Groves, "The Planting
of
Christianity in Africa", 4 vols, (London, 1948-58), I, 46-49; S.
Clarke,
"Christian Antiquities in the Nile Valley (Oxford, 1912).
[27] He appears to be the true apostle of Nubian Christianity, though it
is
said that he was preceded by another Julian, who seems to have
converted
the king and the court of the tribe of the Nobadae. Groves, I,
49-50;
Zaher Riad, "Kanisat al-Iskan-dariyah fi Ifriquiyah (the Church
of
Alexandria in Africa) (in Arabic; Cairo, 1962), pp. 159-65.
[28] Meaning "Queen of the South".
[29] The figure of the lion became the coat of arms of the kings of
Ethiopia.
[30] The story is derived from a fourteenth-century MS., said to have
been
translated from an Arabic version of an original Coptic work in
Egypt
and prompted by Zague dynasty, which ascended the throne in 1270
A.D.,
in an attempt to establish the continuity of the Solomonian line
in
Ethiopia. A.H.M. Jones and E. Monroe, "A History of Ethiopia
(Oxford,
1960), pp. 10-21; J. Doresse, "Ethiopia", English translation
by Elsa
Coult (London, 1959), pp. 13ff.
[31] Acts of the Apostles VIII, 26-40.
[32] He reigned in about the years 320 and 325 A.D. Archaeological
evidence
shows his inscriptions to retain the pagan character, whereas his
sons
refer to a monotheistic deity. Further, numismatic evidence is
decisive.
Early coins of Aeizanas' reign bear the pagan symbols, later replaced
by
a cross. Jones and Monroe, pp. 26-31; Doresse, "Ethiopia", p.
30.
[33] J. Doresse, "Ethiopia", English translation by Elsa Coult
(London,
1959), p. 62.
[34] Called "Abuna" (our father), also "Casate Berhan
Salama" (Revealer of
Light).
[35] The Abyssinian tradition mentions Nine Saints. See Groves, 1, 53;
J.
Doresse, "Ethiopia", English translation by Elsa Coult
(London, 1959),
p. 81.
[36] It is interesting to note that there is a growing tendency among
present-day African Christians towards affiliation with the
Coptic
Church; see "Arab World", no. 110 (30 July 1962), p. 53.
The Coptic
Church has a resident bishop in Nairobi.
[37] See sections on Jacobite and Nestorian monasticism in Atiya's
"Eastern
Christianity", pp. 184ff., 291ff.
[38] The geographical situation of India was rather confused in those
days
with those of Southern Arabia and Abyssinia, but it is quite
possible
that Pantaenus reached India proper. On his return journey,
Eusebius
(Hist. Eccles., V., 10-11) tell us, he recovered the original Gospel
of
Matthew in Hebrew which had been brought to the East by the
Apostle
Bartholomew.
[39] Critical edition of his "Christian Topography" is by E.O.
Winstedt
(Cambridge, 1909).
[40] A.S. Atiya, "A History of Eastern Christianity" (London, 1967,
reprinted
Notre Dame, Ind., 1968), p. 39ff.
[41] "De insitutis coenobiorum et de octo principalium vitiorum
remedis
libri, XII. (see reference [42] below).
[42] Collationes Patrum, XXIV; both works by Cassian translated into
English
by E.C.S. Givson in the "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers", ser.
2, vol XI
(1894), pp. 161-641. Cassian wrote another but less important
work
against Nestorius entitled "De Incarnacione Domini".
[43] H.I. Marrou, "Jean Cassien a Marseille", Revue du Moyen
Age Latin,
I(1945), 5-26; O. Chadwick, "John Cassian: A Study in
Primitive
Monasticism" (Cambridge, 1950); L. Cristini, "Jean
Cassien, ou la
spiritualite' du desert", 2 vols. (Paris, 1946); A Hoch, "Die
Lehre des
Johannes Cassianus von Natur und Gnabe" (Freiburg, 1896).
[44] A measure of length varying in different countries but
averaging
approximately one yard or a little more.
[45] "Cairo -- Sketches of Its History, Monuments and Social Life"
(London,
1898), pp. 203-204; F.H. Henry, "Irish Art in the Christian
Period",
(London 1939).
[46] E. A. Thompson, "Christianity and the Northern
Barbarians," in A.
Momigliano, "The Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in
the
Fourth Century", (Oxford, 1963), pp. 16-78.
[47] A.S. Atiya, "A History of Eastern Christianity" (London, 1967,
reprinted
Notre Dame, Ind., 1968), pp. 138-140.
[48] The London "Morning Post", 22 April 1931.
[49] This may be sampled in a record prepared by the Institute of
Coptic
Studies in Cairo and published by Folkways (New York, 1960).
[50] A.S. Atiya, "A History of Eastern Christianity" (London, 1967,
reprinted
Notre Dame, Ind., 1968), p. 131-138; P. du Bourguet, "The Art of
the
Copts", English translation by Caryll H. Shaw (New York, 1971);
Hilde
Zaloscer, "Die Kunst in christlichen Agypten", (Vienna and
Munich,
1974), provides a copious bibliography on Coptic art and architecture.
[51] A.S. Atiya, "A History of Eastern Christianity" (London, 1967,
reprinted
Notre Dame, Ind., 1968), p. 119.
Selected Bibliography
---------------------
This bibliography includes a brief selection of general books in English.
For
further and fuller reference to the sources and to special Coptic
studies,
see W.Kammerer "A Coptic Bibliography" (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1950,
reprinted
1969), and also footnotes and bibliography of the "History of
Eastern
Christianity" (London, 1967, reprinted Notre Dame, Indiana, 1968).
- Attwater, D. "The Christian Churches of the East", 2 vols. Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, 1948.
- Burmester, O. H. E. "The Egyptian or Coptic Church", Cairo,
1967.
- Butcher, E. L. "The Story of the Church of Egypt", 2 vols. London,
1897.
- Butler, A. J. "The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt", 2 vols.
Oxford 1884.
- Duchesne, L. "Early History of the Christian Church, from its
Foundation
to the Fourth Century", English translation by Claude Jenkins, 3
vols.
London 1950-51.
- Fortescue, A. "The Lesser Eastern Churches". London, 1913.
- Fowler, M. "Christian Egypt: Past, Present and Future". London,
1901.
- Groves, C. P. "The Planting of Christianity in Africa", 4 vols.
London,
1948-58.
- Hardy, E. R. "Christian Egypt, Church and People". New York,
1952.
- Iris Habib El-Masry "The Story of the Copts". Cairo, 1978.
- Kidd, B. J. "The Churches of Eastern Christendom, from A.D. 451 tp
Present
Time". London, 1927.
- Latourete, K. S. "History of the Expansion of Christianity", 7
vols. New
York, 1937-45.
- MacKean, W. H. "Christian Monasticism in Egypt to the Close of the
Fourth
Century". London, 1920.
- Meinardus, Otto. "Christian Egypt, Ancient and Modern". Cairo,
1965.
- Neale, J. M. "A History of the Holy Eastern Church: Patriarchate
of
Alexandria", 2 vols. London 1897.
- Waddell, H. "The Desert Fathers". London, 1936.
- Wakin, E. "A Lonely Minority, The Modern History of Egypt Copts:
The
Challenge of Survival for Four Million Christians". New York, 1969.
- Westerman, W. L., et al. "Coptic Egypt". New York, 1944.
- Worrell, W. H. "A Short Account of the Copts". Ann Arbor,
Michigan, 1949.