Coptic Christianity in Ottoman Egypt

Coptic Christianity in Ottoman Egypt PDF Author: Febe Armanios
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190453990
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
In this book, Febe Armanios explores Coptic religious life in Ottoman Egypt (1517-1798), focusing closely on manuscripts housed in Coptic archives. Ottoman Copts frequently turned to religious discourses, practices, and rituals as they dealt with various transformations in the first centuries of Ottoman rule. These included the establishment of a new political regime, changes within communal leadership structures (favoring lay leaders over clergy), the economic ascent of the archons (lay elites), and developments in the Copts' relationship with other religious communities, particularly with Catholics. Coptic Christianity in Ottoman Egypt highlights how Copts, as a minority living in a dominant Islamic culture, identified and distinguished themselves from other groups by turning to an impressive array of religious traditions, such as the visitation of saints' shrines, the relocation of major festivals to remote destinations, the development of new pilgrimage practices, as well as the writing of sermons that articulated a Coptic religious ethos in reaction to Catholic missionary discourses. Within this discussion of religious life, the Copts' relationship to local political rulers, military elites, the Muslim religious establishment, and to other non-Muslim communities are also elucidated. In all, the book aims to document the Coptic experience within the Ottoman Egyptian context while focusing on new documentary sources and on an historical era that has been long neglected.

Coptic Christianity in Ottoman Egypt

Coptic Christianity in Ottoman Egypt PDF Author: Febe Armanios
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190453990
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this book, Febe Armanios explores Coptic religious life in Ottoman Egypt (1517-1798), focusing closely on manuscripts housed in Coptic archives. Ottoman Copts frequently turned to religious discourses, practices, and rituals as they dealt with various transformations in the first centuries of Ottoman rule. These included the establishment of a new political regime, changes within communal leadership structures (favoring lay leaders over clergy), the economic ascent of the archons (lay elites), and developments in the Copts' relationship with other religious communities, particularly with Catholics. Coptic Christianity in Ottoman Egypt highlights how Copts, as a minority living in a dominant Islamic culture, identified and distinguished themselves from other groups by turning to an impressive array of religious traditions, such as the visitation of saints' shrines, the relocation of major festivals to remote destinations, the development of new pilgrimage practices, as well as the writing of sermons that articulated a Coptic religious ethos in reaction to Catholic missionary discourses. Within this discussion of religious life, the Copts' relationship to local political rulers, military elites, the Muslim religious establishment, and to other non-Muslim communities are also elucidated. In all, the book aims to document the Coptic experience within the Ottoman Egyptian context while focusing on new documentary sources and on an historical era that has been long neglected.

Coptic Christians in Ottoman Egypt

Coptic Christians in Ottoman Egypt PDF Author: Febe Yousry Armanios
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Copts
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Abstract: This dissertation explores the beliefs and worldviews among the Coptic Christian community living in Egypt under Ottoman rule (1516-1798 CE), predominantly through the use of Coptic Church documents. Research in this topic has ultimately isolated three groups of Arabic Christian manuscripts which are closely considered here. These sources, written by Copts themselves, show Copts to be major actors rather than groups "marginalized" by the Islamic society at large. The first sources are chronicles that record communal events, noting momentous occasions such as pilgrimages or "miracles" performed by Coptic patriarchs. An example of this material is found in a discussion of the Coptic pilgrimage to Jerusalem during the Ottoman period, a ritual that reflects insight into the construction of spiritual meaning among Ottoman-era Copts. Two other categories of sources characterize the massive literary output which was a hallmark of this era. These are hagiographies and sermons, which were read out loud to sizable audiences and which document the performative dialogue between the church hierarchy and its congregation. A hagiography, that of Saint Salib, is considered here as a text of "communal remembrance" from the late Mamluk and early Ottoman periods, a time of political transition in Egyptian society. Another, that of the Coptic female martyr Saint Dimyana, illustrates ascetic values reflected in her legend that were popular among Coptic believers. The sermons which are examined in this dissertation were written to instruct the community in appropriate moral codes and behavior during the late eighteenth century. They reveal the Coptic clerical hierarchy's concerns with the encroachment of "non-Coptic" morals into the community and provide clues to widespread practices among the community in this era. Ultimately, this dissertation speaks to the need to recognize and document the Coptic contribution to Egyptian society and religious life, and it addresses Coptic popular religious practices in relation to other communities; the gendered nature of religious participation; and tensions between clergy and laity within the Coptic community.

Coptic Christianity in Ottoman Egypt

Coptic Christianity in Ottoman Egypt PDF Author: Febe Armanios
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199781273
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
In this book, Febe Armanios explores Coptic religious life in Ottoman Egypt (1517-1798), focusing closely on manuscripts housed in Coptic archives. Ottoman Copts frequently turned to religious discourses, practices, and rituals as they dealt with various transformations in the first centuries of Ottoman rule. These included the establishment of a new political regime, changes within communal leadership structures (favoring lay leaders over clergy), the economic ascent of the archons (lay elites), and developments in the Copts' relationship with other religious communities, particularly with Catholics. Coptic Christianity in Ottoman Egypt highlights how Copts, as a minority living in a dominant Islamic culture, identified and distinguished themselves from other groups by turning to an impressive array of religious traditions, such as the visitation of saints' shrines, the relocation of major festivals to remote destinations, the development of new pilgrimage practices, as well as the writing of sermons that articulated a Coptic religious ethos in reaction to Catholic missionary discourses. Within this discussion of religious life, the Copts' relationship to local political rulers, military elites, the Muslim religious establishment, and to other non-Muslim communities are also elucidated. In all, the book aims to document the Coptic experience within the Ottoman Egyptian context while focusing on new documentary sources and on an historical era that has been long neglected.

History of the Coptic Orthodox People and the Church of Egypt

History of the Coptic Orthodox People and the Church of Egypt PDF Author: Robert Morgan
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1460280288
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 924

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Book Description
Egypt was trampled by almost every great power in the world. Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Persians, Turks, French, and English. Each came with their own agenda, greed and avarice. looting and pillaging the riches of Egypt, In many instances the proud people resisted staunchly, but in many others they fell to their invaders. The Egyptians adopted Christianity early on, after the evangelist martyr Saint Mark visited the country. Christianity flowed in Egypt like the River Nile that flows through the arid dessert and rapidly transformed its people into ardent believers, saints and martyrs for the sake of their savior. This is the story of the Copt Christians of Egypt, they still inhabit the narrow Nile Valley till today, against all odds. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt still persist on this spot of land in spite of centuries of marginalizing, ostracizing and sanctioned persecutions. This book tells the story of the Copts of Egypt throughout the ages, the descendants of the great Pharaohs of Egypt.

Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs

Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs PDF Author: Jill Kamil
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136797874
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
An engaging survey of Coptic Christianity in Egypt since Pharaonic times, through its development under Rome, Byzantium, Islam and beyond. Ideal reading for students of Egyptian history and Christianity.

The Copts of Egypt

The Copts of Egypt PDF Author: Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Publisher: Minority Rights Group
ISBN: 1897693265
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 17

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Book Description
This report, which has been written by Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Director of the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies in Cairo, carefully examines the historical role played by the Copts and the tensions to which they are vulnerable. The report aims to promote constructive responses. The recommendations reflect this approach and stress the importance of freedom of worship; equal access to employment opportunities; an education which recognizes the Coptic contribution to Egyptian history; the importance of preventing stereotypical and defamatory remarks about Copts in the Egyptian media, and the need to end discrimination against women. Please note that the terminology in the fields of minority rights and indigenous peoples’ rights has changed over time. MRG strives to reflect these changes as well as respect the right to self-identification on the part of minorities and indigenous peoples. At the same time, after over 50 years’ work, we know that our archive is of considerable interest to activists and researchers. Therefore, we make available as much of our back catalogue as possible, while being aware that the language used may not reflect current thinking on these issues.

The Political Lives of Saints

The Political Lives of Saints PDF Author: Angie Heo
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520297989
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Since the Arab Spring in 2011 and ISIS’s rise in 2014, Egypt’s Copts have attracted attention worldwide as the collateral damage of revolution and as victims of sectarian strife. Countering the din of persecution rhetoric and Islamophobia, The Political Lives of Saints journeys into the quieter corners of divine intercession to consider what martyrs, miracles, and mysteries have to do with the routine challenges faced by Christians and Muslims living together under the modern nation-state. Drawing on years of extensive fieldwork, Angie Heo argues for understanding popular saints as material media that organize social relations between Christians and Muslims in Egypt toward varying political ends. With an ethnographer’s eye for traces of antiquity, she deciphers how long-cherished imaginaries of holiness broker bonds of revolutionary sacrifice, reconfigure national sites of sacred territory, and pose sectarian threats to security and order. A study of tradition and nationhood at their limits, The Political Lives of Saints shows that Coptic Orthodoxy is a core domain of minoritarian regulation and authoritarian rule, powerfully reversing the recurrent thesis of its impending extinction in the Arab Muslim world.

Arab Orthodox Christians Under the Ottomans 1516–1831

Arab Orthodox Christians Under the Ottomans 1516–1831 PDF Author: Constantin Alexandrovich Panchenko
Publisher: Holy Trinity Publications
ISBN: 1942699107
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 966

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Book Description
Following the so called "Arab Spring" the world's attention has been drawn to the presence of significant minority religious groups within the predominantly Islamic Middle East. Of these minorities Christians are by far the largest, comprising over 10% of the population in Syria and as much as 40% in Lebanon.The largest single group of Christians are the Arabic-speaking Orthodox. This work fills a major lacuna in the scholarship of wider Christian history and more specifically that of lived religion within the Ottoman empire. Beginning with a survey of the Christian community during the first nine hundred years of Muslim rule, the author traces the evolution of Arab Orthodox Christian society from its roots in the Hellenistic culture of the Byzantine Empire to a distinctly Syro-Palestinian identity. There follows a detailed examination of this multi-faceted community, from the Ottoman conquest of Syria, Palestine and Egypt in 1516 to the Egyptian invasion of Syria in 1831. The author draws on archaeological evidence and previously unpublished primary sources uncovered in Russian archives and Middle Eastern monastic libraries to present a vivid and compelling account of this vital but little-known spiritual and political culture, situating it within a complex network of relations reaching throughout the Mediterranean, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. The work is made more accessible to a non-specialist reader by the addition of a glossary, whilst the scholar will benefit from a detailed bibliography of both primary and secondary sources. A foreword has been contributed to this first English language edition by the Patriarch of Antioch, John X. It contextualizes the history found in this work within the ongoing struggle to preserve the ancient Christian cultures of the Arabic speaking peoples from extinction within their ancestral homeland.

The Copts of Egypt

The Copts of Egypt PDF Author: Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Copts
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
Copts in Ottoman Egypt

The Coptic Christian Heritage

The Coptic Christian Heritage PDF Author: Lois M. Farag
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134666845
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the heritage of Coptic Christians. The contributors combine academic expertise with intimate and practical knowledge of the Coptic Orthodox Church and Coptic heritage. The chapters explore historical, cultural, literary and material aspects, including: the history of Christianity in Egypt, from the pre-Christian era to the modern day Coptic religious culture: theology, monasticism, spirituality, liturgy and music the Coptic language, linguistic expressions of the Coptic heritage and literary production in Greek, Coptic and Arabic . material culture and artistic expression of the Copts: from icons, mosaics and frescos to manuscript illuminations, woodwork and textiles. Students will find The Coptic Christian Heritage an invaluable introduction, whilst scholars will find its breadth provides a helpful context for specialised research.