Tag: Monasticism

Categories
Lapido Media Middle East Published Articles

Who are the Copts?

Muharraq MonksWorld attention has turned to the Coptic Christian community of Egypt, following the beheading of 20 of their migrant workers in Libya at the hands of the so-called Islamic State.

The Coptic Orthodox Church considers them martyrs. A new icon venerates their death and their names have been added into the Synaxarion, the liturgical church history commemorating the saints.

But who are the Copts, and what is their understanding of martyrdom?

The word ‘Copt’ derives from the Pharaonic word ‘gypt’, which through the Greek ‘Aigyptus’ became the modern-day ‘Egypt’.

Copts are therefore Egyptians, descendants of the ancient Pharaonic civilization. As such, the Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic Egyptians call themselves Copts, as do some Muslims.

Coptic population figures are highly contested. Some Muslims estimate as low as 3-4 percent; some Christians as high as 20-25 percent. The CIA world factbook estimates 10 percent. Official Egyptian ID cards list the religion of every citizen, but these figures are not released. Roughly 90 percent of Copts belong to the Orthodox denomination.

Coptic tradition says the church was planted through the missionary preaching of St. Mark, writer of the second Gospel in the New Testament. He was martyred in Alexandria in 68 AD.

The Coptic Orthodox Church dates its calendar from the year 248 AD, the first year of Roman Emperor Diocletian. His reign witnessed up to 800,000 Christian martyrs in Egypt.

According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad said that after conquering Egypt [649 AD] the Muslims should treat its inhabitants well. To come under the protection of the new rulers Copts had to pay the jizya tax. Those unable had to either convert or risk death.

Historian Phillip Jenkins, author of The Lost History of Christianity, says that periods of persecution waxed and waned until the end of the 12th century, when Islam became the dominant religion.

Islam considers a martyr to be one who is killed while striving in the path of God, often interpreted as participation in jihad.

In Christianity, the early church defined martyr as a technical term to mean one who was put to death for their faith, in imitation of Jesus.

Christology was an issue that divided Coptic Orthodoxy from emerging Roman Catholicism. In 451 AD at the Council of Chalcedon the Copts were anathematized over the issue, but in 1998 the two churches reconciled. Copts prefer to be known as ‘miaphysites’, where Jesus’ humanity and divinity unite to make one nature.

In many issues the Coptic Orthodox are similar to Roman Catholics, following a traditional liturgy, holding to seven sacraments, and believing that during Eucharist the bread and wine become Jesus’ actual body and blood.

They differ in that the Copts have their own patriarch. Pope Tawadros II is the 118th in a line stretching back to St. Mark. Coptic priests are free to marry, though bishops must be celibate and are drawn from monastic communities.

Coptic ascetic spirituality is exhibited through the practice of fasting. But unlike complete abstinence as in Islam’s Ramadan, faithful Copts maintain a vegan diet while fasting 210 days of the year.

Monasticism as a Christian expression is traced back to St. Anthony in the Third century. St. Benedict and John Cassian visited the Egyptian desert monks and introduced the practice to Europe.

Being a bishop-led church independent from Rome has also contributed to close relations with the Anglican Church in the UK. According to Heather Sharkey, author of American Evangelicals in Egypt, the Church Missionary Society worked to revive the Orthodox Church in the Nineteenth century, as opposed to US Presbyterians from whom most of today’s Egyptian Protestants are descended.

Competition between denominations has often led to tension, but especially since the Arab Spring Copts have deemphasized distinctions in light of the challenges of Islamism.

It has also resulted in a surge in spirituality. The late Pope Shenouda III encouraged biblical literacy and winsome preaching. Today the Bible Society of Egypt is the fourth largest in the world.

Over the past 30 years the Coptic Orthodox Church has spread throughout the world, establishing over 15 dioceses in Europe, Australia, and the Americas. Commenting on the martyrs in Libya, Bishop Angaelos of the UK demonstrates Coptic—and biblical—spirituality.

‘As a Christian and a Christian minister I have a responsibility to myself and to others to guide them down this path of forgiveness,’ he said to CNN. ‘We do forgive the killers from the depths of our hearts. Otherwise, we would become consumed by anger and hatred. It becomes a spiral of violence that has no place in this world.’

This article was first posted at Lapido Media.

Categories
Personal

John, the To-Be Monk, Eventually

The St. Toma Monastery

Becoming a monk in Egypt is a long process, one I have not studied completely, but encounter often on visits to various monasteries. This weekend my family and I visited St. Toma Monastery to the northwest of Cairo, about two hours away. It is among the newer monasteries in Egypt, but is a sister monastery to the original St. Toma Monastery in Sohag, deep to the south in Upper Egypt, where the saint lived centuries ago.

St. Toma was a wandering ascetic, but a community grew around him in the desert that begins only a few kilometers away from the banks of the Nile. Today, as Egypt’s population continues to explode, the city of Sohag has encroached upon the ancient monastery, stealing the seclusion so valued by monks.

In order to rectify the situation, as well as create more outlets for the burgeoning monastic movement, St. Toma in Sohag spawned this new monastery. John, who I met and told me this story, is originally from Sohag. He states that while twelve monks or so reside in the newer location, significantly in the desert off the Cairo-Alexandria road, only about three monks remain in the original.

For himself, he felt the spiritual longing to devote his life to God, but found the monastery nearby too connected to the world. His family, friends, and neighbors could still have claim on him, or at least access, no matter how confined he kept to his cell. In the early days of testing his calling, he was encouraged to spend a few days at a time, several times a month, in silence and meditation at the monastery. When his aptitude was confirmed, both internally and by his spiritual leadership, he decided to head north.

John was a teacher, in his mid-twenties, when he sought his monastic vows. At the northern St. Toma monastery he was given charge over hospitality, offered to those like himself early on, who wished to spend a day or two in prayer and isolation. These he would receive, provide lodging, and instruct on the ways of the monastery. He would also help assign each a task in which to contribute at the monastery. For Girgis, who I met earlier, this involved washing the dishes for the many day visitors – like ourselves – that the monastery receives.

Chamber rooms for visitors who wish to spend a day or more in meditation.

John was soft-spoken and humble in our conversation, and only reluctantly spoke of his love for God and prayer. It was prayer, in fact, he asked of me. He has now been in his training period, joining the monks in their activities, for over a year. He is with the monks, but not one of them. He did not know when his consecration might come, but he was not overly bothered. The life of a monk is one of long and patient waiting, in obedience to spiritual superiors. To wait on God, as he waits on a man, is part of his calling.

All the same, he asked for prayer. Please feel free to join along with me. If nothing more, it is the desire of his heart.

It is good to have such desire. Much in life must be done for the sake of responsibility, and there is honor and reward for fulfilling one’s duty well. It is desire, however, that helps provide meaning to life. It offers a task that may not be necessary in the formal sense, yet is absolutely necessary as internal compunction. It is a fire in the belly that not only endures, but forges through adversity, sacrifice, and the obstacles which stand in the way.

This was a spirit witnessed among many Egyptian revolutionaries. It is a spirit evident in John. Is it found in you, or me?

Maybe it is not a spirit present in all. Maybe it does not need to be. Maybe it only inhabits some. Maybe both God and the self can be fully satisfied with a life well lived, simply.

But if it is there, nurture it. It is the spirit that changes both self and the world. This change cannot be defined – it may be as wide as Tahrir Square, or as narrow as the entryway to a monk’s chamber. It may be broadcast around the world, or never noticed by a single soul. The fire is internal; though it gives light to all around, it is not meant for an audience. It burns because that is its nature.

The burning will consume its host, but only that which is not essential. What remains will be pure, the truest self. May God be honored; may the cause be just. May each locate their discontent, and channel it into the fire.

May our world be the better for it.