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The Copts are Christian Egyptians.
After the conquest of Egypt by the Muslim Arabs in the 7th century, the Copts name for the native Christians of Egypt. The Arabs, however, used this word also for all non-Muslims in Egypt, which is also enclosed the Egyptian Jews. Most of the Copts living in the cities of Upper Egypt.
The word is a header (Arabic) corruption of the Greek word for Egypt: Ægyptos.
According to the Egyptian government's 8% (over 3 million) header from the Egyptians. The Coptic Orthodox Church - is the largest but not the only Egyptian Christian church - in her baptismal records are up to 11 million adherents (23% to 27%). Impartial experts estimate the number of Christian Copts in contemporary Egypt 7-8 million (17%). Most of them belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, with over 160,000 Copts belong to the Coptic Catholic Church who geünieerd with the Roman Catholic Church.
As a result of the activities of American pastors arose in the 19th century groups of Protestants, mostly former Coptic Orthodox. In 1957, the Coptic Evangelical Church was founded as an independent church. It employs approximately 80,000 believers spread across 200 municipalities with 180 pastors. This church is particularly active in the fields of education and health services and operates a number of educational institutions and hospitals.
In the Copts is teaching at a high level and there are among them intellectuals more than the average for Egypt, but appointments to the highest positions mainly Muslims preferred. The Copts feel solidarity with the Egyptian Arabic nationalisme.Heden the Copts in Egypt are discriminated against in the day and subordinated.
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History
Christianity made its appearance early in Alexandria, from Syria and Palestine. According to tradition, the Christianization was done by the Evangelist Mark. The patriarchs of Alexandria therefore consider themselves the successors of Marcus who was the first bishop, according to them. In the year 312 (Edict of Milan) Christianity became an allowed religion of the Roman Empire in 385 and the state religion. Around this period also began the historic unclear decay of the famous library of Alexandria, with its many writings from antiquity. Library of the Serapeum, a pagan temple, was sacked after 391. Coptic monks of the Wadi Natrun took around 398 many pagan writings from the library for libraries in their monasteries, the building fell into disrepair because it was used as a building material. Meanwhile possibly disappeared much of the writings to Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. According to Arab sources are the books from the monasteries as well as an imperial library in Alexandria around 642 lost during the Islamic conquest of Lower Egypt. Egypt made - since 323 AD - part of the Eastern region of the now divided Roman Empire (later known as Byzantium).
In the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries, there were disputes between the successive patriarchs of Alexandria (Cyril and Dioscurus) and that of Constantinople (Nestorius and Eutyches). The guidelines from Constantinople were in Egypt increasingly intrusive and oppressive as experienced and in response, the Coptic Church increasingly became a national church with very pronounced liturgical, theological and spiritual attributes. Finally, even the Greek, the language of the Byzantine 'oppressors' rejected and the distinguished Egyptian official language, ie Ancient Egyptian demotic adopted as ecclesiastical language. The ancient Egyptian language evolved over time to the modern Coptic. In the liturgy is still used Coptic.
The actual origin of the Coptic Orthodox Church goes back to the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The Coptic Church rejected the decisions of this council and eventually seceded from the Patriarchate of Alexandria that as an extension of the Byzantines was seen. This lost the Eastern Orthodox Church almost all its members in Egypt. Many had to do with the ongoing struggle between the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria. Political factors have certainly played a role. According to the Copts planned this last council the political domination of the Byzantine Empire. Indeed Constantinople was generally hostile to the Coptic citizens and settled there were even executed by the Byzantine government persecution for returning excommunicated heretics to the Greek Orthodox mother church
The Arab invasion (639-642) did not result in an immediate Islamization of Egypt because the largely Monophysite Coptic Christians Arabs as liberators from Byzantine (Greek Orthodox yoke saw and welcomed them at first. Under the Umayyad dynasty (658- 750), showed that the Muslims Copts were not favorable. the Copts, who then were in the majority, tried in six rebellions between 725 and 773 to dispose of the Umayyad yoke. Since the Islamic rule they were long time forced to wear a special costume (dark robe with blue or black turban.) The Christians continued at least until the end of the 9th century in the majority, according to some historians even until the 14th century. Gradually took to Islam transferred Coptic Christians Arabic about as everyday language; it is certainly not a Semitic language Ancient Egyptian, but an Afro-Asiatic and thus in the distance also related to Arabic. Arabic spoken in modern Egypt, also called Egyptian Arabic has many loanwords taken from the Coptic.
Under the Fatimids (969-1171) the fate of the Christians became more bearable, but around 1000 raged among the religious fanatic Caliph al-Hakim again bloody persecutions, with many churches and many rich monastery libraries and schools were destroyed.
During the new persecution under the Mamluks (1250-1517) was even most of the more than a thousand years old churches and monasteries destroyed. After 1300 the Coptic language was as also legal way to Arabic.
Further south, in Nubia, Christianity maintained its Coptic form much longer and the Islamization could only be implemented in the New Era
Since Mehemed Ali (1805-1849), there was no official discrimination against Coptic Christians, but in practice little changed in favor of the Copts. The 19th century brought relative stability, although the share of the Copts in the total population by waves of migration and marriages with Muslims declined substantially. In the Egyptian army in the 20th century could express a strong political influence on the state, Muslims are privileged.
During the protests in Egypt in 2011 that led to the fall of the regime Hosni Mubarak, Muslims and Copts acted together. Although the Copts embraced Arab nationalism and identified strongly with Egypt, the Copts of emigration took sharply. The Coptic churches preach all under the Mubarak regime a slow withdrawal of Copts from politics, under the influence of political Islamism. This contributes to strengthening the isolation of Copts in Egypt, while increasing attacks against Coptic churches and monasteries in severity.