Word: coptic
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When Egyptian President Anwar Sadat cracked down two weeks ago on religious militants who oppose his regime, one of his targets was the Coptic Orthodox Church, the ancient Christian community that has survived in Egypt since its establishment by the Apostle Mark in the 1st century A.D. Sadat abruptly stripped the Coptic Pope, Shenouda III, of his authority, banished him to a desert monastery, and ordered the arrest of some 125 Coptic clergy and lay activists. The world was shocked, but many members of the church hierarchy were considerably relieved. For at least a year, they had been concerned that...
Father Matta el Meskin, one of Egypt's most influential Coptic clergymen, told TIME Correspondent Robert C. Wurmstedt last week, "I can't say I'm happy, but I am at peace now. Every morning I was expecting news of more bloody collisions. Sadat's actions protect the church and the Copts. They are from...
...older than, the Muslim majority. Indeed, many Copts feel that they, and not the Arabized Muslims, are the true Egyptians, the descendants of the pharaohs. As they are quick to point out, "Copt" is the Arabi-cized, then Europeanized, form of the Greek word for Egyptian. Although the Coptic language is used today only in the church's liturgy, it was the language of Egypt until the 13th century...
Shenouda aggressively resisted the increasing Islamization of the country: in 1977, for example, he called on Copts to undertake a four-day fast to protest proposed legislation that would make it a capital crime to renounce Islam. The bill threatened Christians who convert to Islam to avoid stringent Coptic divorce laws, then apostatize once proceedings are over. The bill was shelved. He also complained often and bitterly that the government did not do enough to protect Copts from violent persecution by Muslim fanatics. Last year, after a reported series of church burnings, attacks on clergymen and forced conversions, Shenouda canceled...
Then, to the surprise of his audience, Sadat declared that he had revoked a 1971 presidential directive affirming Shenouda as the leader of Egypt's 6 million Coptic Christians, who form 14% of the population. Sadat accused Shenouda of failing to assist his government in quelling sectarian strife. Among the detainees were eight Coptic bishops, 13 priests and 125 alleged lay activists, as well as 55 secular dissidents and intellectuals...