URL originale : https://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/58405
The Copts, part of Egypt’s identity
p. 62-63
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| 5,000,000 | 1981-1985 | October 2011 | August 2016 |
| Official number of Christians: the Church claims three times as many | Suspension of Pope Shenouda III | Maspero Massacre* (Cairo) | Adoption of a law designed to facilitate the construction of churches |
| Source: CAPMAS, 2017 | |||
1The terms Copt and Coptic, originate from the Greek Aegyptios (qibti in Arabic, pl. aqbat), meaning “Egyptian”. They refer to the indigenous Christian community of Egypt, a religious rite and a language, now dead. The Copts represent the largest Christian community of the Arab world: 90% are Orthodox, with a minority of Catholics and Protestants. The Coptic Church, or Church of Alexandria, was founded by St Mark the Evangelist and has stood as an independent (autocephalous) and monophysite church since the Council of Chalcedon (451): it is led by the Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St Mark.
2Although religious identity is noted in most official documents, there is no consensus on the number of Christians in Egypt. The Coptic population may grow but its share of the national total shrinks, especially because of migration flow. Conversion to Islam is often motivated by divorce, which is difficult to obtain under Coptic personal law, or by marriage, in the case of inter-confessional unions, leading to political and media controversy.
3Monasteries, religious retreats and lavras are scattered along the Nile and throughout the desert, evidence of the expansion of monasticism in the 4th-5th century, and then the renaissance in the 1970s and 1980s propelled by Kyrillos VI and Shenouda III.
4The Coptic “community” is widely spread, both socially and politically, from poor peasants and zabbaleen* to a middle class of public sector employees and white-collar professionals, as well as millionaire industrialists and entrepreneurs (e.g. the Sawiris family) and political dynasties.
Marginalisation: the community turns in on itself
5The modernising policies launched by Mohamed Ali accorded a special place for non-Muslims in Egyptian society and within the administration. The edicts of 1839 and 1856 promulgated by the sultan in Constantinople recognised the equality of Muslims and non-Muslims throughout the Ottoman Empire and officially abolished dhimmi* status. At the beginning of the 20th century Christians participated in the economic development, intellectual flourishing, and the nationalist ferment of Egypt. The year 1919 represents a golden era in relations between Muslims, Christians and Jews as they united against British occupation. Coptic personalities played key roles in the Wafd*, effectively establishing political families (Makram Ebeid, Boutros Ghali, Abdel Nour).
6The founding of the Muslim Brotherhood (1928), and the socialist bent of Egyptian nationalism, sprinkled with Islamic references after 1952 and especially 1956, marked a turning point. Christians felt the impact of the wave of nationalisations and were ousted from the civil service, nationalised companies, the press and senior positions. The infitah policies of the 1970s did allow the creation of private Coptic fortunes, but the Islamisation of society and the education sector under Sadat, along with Islamisation of State pronouncements and the legal code led to heightened tensions and aggravation as well as a confrontation between the pope and the presidency. After a period under house arrest Pope Shenouda III depoliticised his discourse under Mubarak.
7The uprising of 25 January 2011 saw the Copts return to political action when they took part in the demonstrations, despite a ban by the Coptic Orthodox hierarchy and the well-publicised support of the patriarch for the president. For a few weeks in Tahrir Square community barriers were down. An upsurge in anti-Christian attacks in March 2011 led to a more community-based engagement by the Copts at Maspero, in front of the public television headquarters, which was crushed by the army that October. Relations between Christian communities and the Muslim Brotherhood government were very tense, and the Copts supported the toppling of Morsi. While President Sisi has made many positive gestures (demanding reform of religious discourse at Al-Azhar, attending Christmas mass since 2015, inaugurating the Cathedral of the Nativity in 2017 etc.), the security situation for Christians remains worrying and their defence serves to justify the regime’s repressive policies.
Recurring violence
8Beginning in the 1970s the increasing assaults on Christians (extortion rackets, churches burnt etc.) led the community to turn in on itself. The release of jailed Muslim Brotherhood members under Sadat and migration to the Gulf coincided with a rise in power of Islamist groups, which exercised pressure within universities, instigated attacks, and developed an anti-Christian rhetoric accusing them of plotting with foreigners etc. Local and neighbourhood squabbles took on a confessional dimension.
9Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist entryism gained ground under Mubarak and the Islamisation of public space followed (prayers performed in the street, widespread wearing of the hijab, broadcasting of prayers in public transport). This was seen by Christians as symbolic violence to be added to more concrete discrimination – the building of churches and conversion to Christianity, for example, remain very complicated. Religious references in everyday life, the media, politics and education become all the more obvious.
10Despite the anti-Islamist repression of the 1990s, direct attacks never stopped, but after 2011 they recurred to an entirely greater extent. Accused by the Muslim Brotherhood of being responsible for the ousting of Morsi and the massacre in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, Copts were also targeted by the so-called Islamic State in Egypt and in Libya, where hostages were killed in 2015. In Middle and Upper Egypt terror attacks and clashes occur regularly in the main towns and are met by a certain unwillingness by the local forces of order and the judiciary to put a stop to such outrages.
3.17 A painting of Shenouda iii in front of the Monastery of Anba Bishoi, Wadi Natrun, December 2018

© Karine Bennafla
3.18 Principal Christian sites and network of churches

3.19 Distribution of Christians in Egypt

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An Atlas of Contemporary Egypt
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