Who are Egypt’s Christian Copts and why are they persecuted?

In the worst violence in Egypt since the fall of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in March, some 27 Orthodox Coptic Christians were killed Oct. 9 after clashes between the Copts and Egyptian security forces in Cairo. Some reports put the number of injured at 300.

The violence came after Christians peacefully took to the streets to protest against Muslim radicals who they said had partially demolished an Orthodox church in Aswan province the week earlier. The crowd of some 150,000 Copts were also demanding the dismissal of the province’s governor for failing to protect the building.

Blame is being directed at the heavy handedness of Egyptian security forces, but tensions between Muslims and minority Coptic Christians, which have simmered for years, also appeared to be worsening. Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, the apostolic nuncio to Egypt, could not comment on the latest violence, but told Aleteia on Oct. 10 that Egypt is “facing a great period of uncertainty.”

Father Rafic Greiche, director of communications for the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt, called the situation “critical,” and noted that tensions are rising between the Copts and the army: “Egyptian society is on the edge of, I don't want to say a civil war, but a kind of civil war. We are really in a dangerous situation because now the problem is not between Christians and Muslims but between Christians and the army. This is a turning point. There has never been this situation between Christians and the army, but since the (2011) revolution up until now, we've had four big incidents against churches, worshippers being ordered not to pray etc. We've also had the burning of churches and people killed.”

The ruling military council has called on the interim government to investigate the clashes urgently and said it would take necessary measures to maintain security, Egypt's state-controlled television said. Father Greiche noted that the army stated that it “didn't start to open fire, that they didn't have bullets,” and that the army was attacked by “aggressive” protestors. In a further effort to calm the situation, the Sheikh of al-Azhar University in Cairo, Ahmed Al Tayeb, invited all of Egypt's Muslim and Christians leaders to meet and try to end the violence, according to the Arabic Web site “al-Nashra.” Al Tayeb also spoke on the telephone with Pope Shenouda III, the leader of the Orthodox Coptic Church.

The latest violence marked the second time in five days that military and police forces had forcibly dispersed Coptic protesters.

But Muslim radicals are also being blamed for the violence. According to a Sept. 27 report by the Assyrian International News Agency AINA, recent attacks by Muslims against Copts have included the killing of Coptic youths in Moqattam (Sept. 3) and Embaba (Aug. 5), cutting-off the ear of a Copt (March 26), attacks on churches (May 3), as well as preventing the governor of Qena from occupying his post because he is Christian (March 5).

Before the March uprising, tensions were already worsening. Between November 2010 and January 2011, a series of attacks against Copts were reported, including a bomb at an Alexandria church that killed 21 worshipers. AINA reported from January 2008 to January 2010, there were at least “52 incidents of sectarian violence or tension-about two incidents a month-which took place in 17 of Egypt’s 29 governorates.”

The term “Coptic” was given to Christians united within the Church founded by St. Mark in Alexandria. A dynamic and vibrant church from its beginnings, by the second century, the Gospel was translated into Coptic and gained footholds in the local culture. The Church of Alexandria is the oldest church in Africa and is considered one of the first four major Apostolic Sees together with Rome, Jerusalem and Antioch.

The Council of Chalcedon in 451 sealed the theological division between some of the Eastern Churches and those communities who would decide to follow the Roman Church. Before the peace of Constantine, this Church experienced numerous vicious persecutions by the Romans, but it always overcame these trials. Its liturgical calendar is very closely tied with these persecutions. It is also closely associated with monasticism, famous for the “Desert Fathers.”

Today, Coptic Orthodox Christians are by far the most influential of Christian groups in Egypt. A minority in Egypt, they were growing in number thanks to the emergence of a diaspora in America, Europe and the Gulf countries in particular.

The Catholic Copts were historically adherents of Coptic Orthodox Church, but then later formed their own Church in communion with the Holy See in Rome. Their numbers slowly increased in Egypt, to the extent that in 1741, a Catholic priest, Athanasios, was assigned as the first Coptic Catholic Apostolic Vicar to head the established Coptic Catholic congregations.

The Ottoman authorities allowed Coptic Catholics to begin building their own churches in 1829 in Egypt. Today, the Coptic Catholic Church is based in Patriarchate of Alexandria, headed by Patriarch Cardinal Antonios Naguib.

Copts make up just 10 percent of Egypt's roughly 80 million people, and constitutes the largest Christian population in the country.

The Copts have historically been discriminated against by the Egyptian government; they are given few labor rights and can be subjected to violence and abuse. This has resulted in a growing resentment among Egypt's Copts over centuries, which continues today.

According to a Sept. 27 report by the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organizations (EUHRO), around 100,000 Christian Egyptians have left for Europe and North America since the March uprising. EUHRO warned that emigration of Christians out of Egypt will threaten its demographic makeup and national economy.

The situation is being exacerbated by Salafist clerics, an Islamist sect, who gained political influence after the March uprisings and have become emboldened. They have resorted to calling Copts “Dhimmis” [subservient] and have called on them to pay the jizya (tax paid by non-Muslims to the state) because they are not “first class citizens” and can never enjoy full citizenship rights, or obtain sensitive posts.

Father Greiche told Aleteia that the current violence is “an effect of more than 30 years of oppression towards Christians. We don't have our rights, we can't build churches easily, we must face discrimination. We can't be deans of universities, colleges and in work. So there's discrimination all over, and Christians are fed up.”

When asked why this discrimination exists, the Egyptian priest said that it “is a very long story”: “It starts from the revolution in 1962. From the time of Nasser they have tried to marginalize Christians.”

Catholic Coptic Bishop Youhannes Zakaria of Luxor told Aleteia that the “current situation in Egypt is not good and the relationship between Christians and Muslims has greatly deteriorated.”

“The governing authorities -- currently the armed forces -- do not want the Copts to protest or to raise their voices to ask for their rights regarding a life of dignity like the other citizens,” he explained. The bishop noted that some fundamentalist Muslim groups “want to abolish the Coptic presence in Egypt and the Middle East.”

It is too early to say how this uncertain time will play out. However, elections are scheduled for November, the outcome of which will have a serious bearing on Egypt’s Coptic communities. Father Rafic Greiche explained that the elections could result in “a balanced parliament in which all the political parties, even the Muslim Brotherhood, share and have their part in it.”

“What we don't want,” he added, “is that we have an Islamist party taking over all the seats. This would cause a major problem. We think they'll get 20-25 percent of the seats. And that is why Christians are trying to get involved ... in the elections themselves.”

Archbishop Fitzgerald said he hoped the spirit of freedom and democracy that characterized the uprising earlier this year will be maintained, but wasn't able to predict the outcome of the upcoming elections. “We don't know what the result will be,” he said, “but if they sit back and do nothing they won't get the result they want.”

“With the help of our good God,” Bishop Zakaria added, “the Copts will not leave Egypt and the Middle East, and will remain to bear witness to the Gospel and live the love of Jesus, forgiving and loving our Muslim brothers.”