Copts

Copts (Coptic: ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, romanized: niremənkhēmi; Arabic: أقباط, romanized: aqbaṭ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to Northeast Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt since antiquity. Copts predominantly follow the Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria. They are the largest Christian denomination in Egypt and the Middle East, as well as in Sudan and Libya. Copts account for roughly 14 percent of the population of Egypt.
Originally referring to all Egyptians, the term Copt became synonymous with native Christians in light of Egypt's Islamization and Arabization after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 639–646 AD. Copts have historically spoken the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken in late antiquity.
Following the Arab Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century, the treatment of the Coptic Christians who refused to convert ranged from relative tolerance to open persecution. Historically, the Copts suffered from waves of persecution giving way to relative tolerance in cycles that varied according to the local ruler and other political and economic circumstances. Persecution is significantly involved in the Copts' ethnic identity due to historic and current conflicts. Most Copts adhere to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, an Oriental Orthodox Church. The smaller Coptic Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church, in communion with the Holy See of Rome; others belong to the Evangelical Church of Egypt. The Copts played a central role in the Arab Renaissance as well as the modernization of Egypt and the Arab world as a whole. They also contributed to Egypt's social and political life and key debates such as pan-Arabism, good governance, educational reform, and democracy. They have historically flourished in business affairs.
While an integral part of their society, Copts remain culturally and religiously distinct from their surroundings. Coptic music is a continuation of ancient Egyptian music, and Coptic culture is considered a continuation of that of ancient Egypt. For instance, Copts still use the same calendar and months that have been used by their Egyptian forefathers for thousands of years. Thus, modern Copts are not only genetically descendants of ancient Egyptians, but retain some tangible cultural Egyptian heritage such as language, music and more.
While Coptic Christians speak the same dialects and are culturally similar to other Egyptians, they strongly oppose Arab identity and associate it with Islam and Islamism. Copts reject Arab nationalism, emphasizing indigenous Egyptian heritage and culture as well as their own unique ethnicity and genetic makeup, which are completely different from those of the Arabs. In Egypt, Copts have a relatively higher educational attainment, a relatively higher wealth index, and a stronger representation in white-collar job types, but limited representation in military and security agencies. The majority of demographic, socio-economic, and health indicators are similar among Coptic Christians and Muslims in Egypt.
The English language adopted the word Copt in the 17th century from Neo-Latin Coptus, Cophtus, which derives from the Arabic collective qubṭ / qibṭ قبط "the Copts" with nisba adjective qubṭī, qibṭī قبطى, plural aqbāṭ أقباط; Also quftī, qiftī (where the Arabic /f/ reflects the historical Coptic /p/) an Arabisation of the Coptic word ⲁⲓⲅⲩⲡⲧⲓⲟⲛ aiguption (Bohairic for "Egyptian" or in relation to Egypt) or ⲕⲩⲡⲧⲁⲓⲟⲛ kuptaion (Sahidic). The Coptic word in turn represents an adaptation of the Greek term for the indigenous people of Egypt, Aigýptios (Αἰγύπτιος).
The Greek term for Egypt, Aígyptos (Ancient Greek: Αἴγυπτος), itself derives from the Egyptian language, but dates to a much earlier period, being attested already in Mycenaean Greek as a3-ku-pi-ti-jo (lit. "Egyptian"; used here as a man's name). This Mycenaean form likely comes from Middle Egyptian ḥwt kꜣ ptḥ (reconstructed pronunciation /ħawitˌkuʀpiˈtaħ/ → /ħajiʔˌkuʀpiˈtaħ/ → /ħəjˌkuʔpəˈtaħ/, Egyptological pronunciation Hut-ka-Ptah), literally "estate/palace of the kꜣ ("double" spirit) of Ptah" (compare Akkadian ḫi-ku-up-ta-aḫ), the name of the temple complex of the god Ptah at Memphis (and a synecdoche for the city of Memphis and the region around it).
The term Aigýptios in Greek came to designate the native Egyptian population in Roman Egypt (as distinct from Greeks, Romans, Jews, etc.). After the Muslim conquest of Egypt (639-646) it became restricted to those Egyptians adhering to the Christian religion.
In their own Coptic language, which represents the final stage of the Egyptian language, the Copts refer to themselves as rem en kēme (Sahidic) ⲣⲙⲛⲕⲏⲙⲉ, lem en kēmi (Fayyumic), rem en khēmi (Bohairic) ⲣⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ, which literally means "people of Egypt" or "Egyptians"; cf. Egyptian rmṯ n kmt, Demotic rmt n kmỉ.
The Arabic word qibṭ "Copt" has also been connected to the Greek name of the town of Kóptos (Koinē Greek: Κόπτος, now Qifṭ; Coptic Kebt and Keft) in Upper Egypt. This association may have contributed to making "Copt" the settled form of the name.
In the 20th century, some Egyptian nationalists and intellectuals in the context of Pharaonism began using the term qubṭ in the historical sense to refer to all native Egyptians, both Christians and Muslims.
Copts are the native inhabitants of Egypt, and the direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians whose ancestors embraced Christianity in the first centuries. After the Arab conquest of Egypt, Egyptians who converted to Islam ceased to call themselves by the demonym Copt, and the term became the distinctive name of the Christian minority in Egypt. Coptic Christians lost their majority status in Egypt after the 14th century. Today, Copts form a major ethno-religious group whose origins date back to the ancient Egyptians.
After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C., the country came under the rule of Greek Ptolemaic kings. While the majority of the population remained Egyptian, foreign settlers of both Greek and non-Greek origin emigrated to Egypt during that period. While 10% may stand as a very approximate figure for the total immigrant population in Ptolemaic Egypt, including both Greeks and non-Greeks, this figure has been challenged as excessive. The native Egyptian population, which remained Egyptian in language and culture, spoke the latest stage of the Egyptian language, which came to be known later as Coptic. The creation of Coptic as a coherent writing system to express the Egyptian language undoubtedly served to cement the distinction between the native population in Egypt and the ruling Byzantine Greeks. Despite the presence of these immigrants and a foreign pharaoh, Egypt remained home primarily to Egyptians, by far the largest group within the population. In fact, most of the rural and urban native population that lived in towns, villages and hamlets the length of the Nile Valley continued their lives little changed during the rule of the Ptolemies. Even in Alexandria, the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt and the largest Greek city outside of Greece, the number of native Egyptians far outnumbered that of Greeks. In numbers and in culture, Egypt remained essentially Egyptian, even as foreign communities were incorporated into the life of the country. Over time, the small numbers of foreigners were integrated into the Egyptian population so that, when finally Rome took control of Egypt in 30 BC, the vast majority of Greeks in Egypt were essentially categorized by the Roman conquerors as Egyptians.
The Faiyum mummy portraits reflect the complex synthesis of the predominant Egyptian culture and religion, with that of Hellenistic art, and were attached to sarcophagi of firmly Egyptian character. The dental morphology of the Roman-period Faiyum mummies was compared with that of earlier Egyptian populations, and was found to be "much more closely akin" to that of ancient Egyptians than to Greeks or other European populations.
According to ancient tradition, Christianity was introduced to present day Egypt by St. Mark in Alexandria, shortly after the ascension of Christ and during the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius around 42 AD. The legacy that St. Mark left in Egypt was a considerable Christian community in Alexandria. Within half a century of St. Mark's arrival Christianity had spread throughout Egypt. This is clear from a fragment of the Gospel of John, written in Coptic and found in Upper Egypt that can be dated to the first half of the 2nd century, and the New Testament writings found in Oxyrhynchus, in Middle Egypt, which date around 200 AD. In the 2nd century, Christianity began to spread to the rural areas, and scriptures were translated into the Coptic language (then known as Egyptian). By the beginning of the 3rd century AD, Christians constituted the majority of Egypt's population, and the Church of Alexandria was recognized as one of Christendom's four apostolic sees, second in honor only to the Church in Rome. The Church of Alexandria is therefore the oldest Christian church in Africa.
The Copts in Egypt contributed immensely to Christian tradition. The Catechetical School of Alexandria was the oldest school of its kind in the world. Founded around 190 AD by the scholar Pantanaeus, the school became an important institution of religious learning, where students were taught by scholars such as Athenagoras, Clement, Didymus, and Origen, the father of theology who was also active in the field of commentary and comparative Biblical studies. However, the scope of this school was not limited to theological subjects: science, mathematics and humanities were also taught there. The question-and-answer method of commentary began there, and 15 centuries before Braille, wood-carving techniques were in use there by blind scholars to read and write.
Another major contribution the Egyptian Copts made to Christianity was the creation and organization of monasticism. Worldwide Christian monasticism stems, either directly or indirectly, from the Egyptian example. The most prominent figures of the monastic movement were Anthony the Great, Paul of Thebes, Macarius the Great, Shenouda the Archimandrite and Pachomius the Cenobite. By the end of the 5th century, there were hundreds of monasteries, and thousands of cells and caves scattered throughout the Egyptian desert. Pilgrims from all over the world visited the Egyptian Desert Fathers to emulate their spiritual, disciplined lives. St Basil the Great Archbishop of Caesarea Mazaca, and the founder and organiser of the monastic movement in Asia Minor, visited Egypt around 357 AD and his monastic rules are followed by the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Saint Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, came to Egypt while en route to Jerusalem around 400 AD, leaving details of his experiences in his letters. St. Benedict founded the Benedictine Order in the 6th century on the model of Saint Pachomius, although in a stricter form.
The major contributions that the See of Alexandria has contributed to the establishment of early Christian theology and dogma are attested to by fact that the first three ecumenical councils in the history of Christianity were headed by Egyptian patriarchs. The Council of Nicaea (325 AD) was presided over by Pope Alexander I of Alexandria, along with Saint Hosius of Córdoba. In addition, the most prominent figure of the council was the future Patriarch of Alexandria Athanasius, who played the major role in the formulation of the Nicene Creed, recited today in most Christian churches of different denominations. One of the council's decisions was to entrust the Patriarch of Alexandria with calculating and annually announcing the exact date of Easter to the rest of the Christian churches. The Council of Constantinople (381 AD) was presided over by Pope Timothy I of Alexandria, while the Council of Ephesus (431 AD) was presided over by Pope Cyril of Alexandria.
In the fourth and fifth centuries AD, the foundations were laid for the divergence in doctrine between the native Christian Church of the Egyptians, and that of the empire. The official schism occurred at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. The council, which condemned, deposed, exiled and replaced the native Egyptian Patriarch of Alexandria Dioscorus I, was rejected by the Egyptian delegation to the council, and by extension by the entirety of the native Egyptian population. As a result of the Council of Chalcedon, the Church of Alexandria, which had jurisdiction over the entire country of Egypt, as well as all of continent of Africa, was divided into a church that accepted the decrees of the council, and one that rejected them. The church that accepted the council, became known as the Chalcedonian church, and survives today as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. On the other hand, the church that rejected the council of Chalcedon, to whom the vast majority of the native Copts adhered, became the predecessor of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The latter has been erroneously referred to as Monophysite, although it itself rejects that term and self-proclaims to be Miaphysite. The non-Chalcedonian Miaphysite doctrine became adopted as a badge of nationalism for the native Egyptians.
A distinctive Egyptian character of Egypt's native Copts began to develop after the council of Chalcedon, and reached its zenith in the period after the reign of emperor Justinian I in the sixth century AD. That process became the foundation for the evolution of a distinctive Egyptian character for the Coptic Orthodox Church, with its distancing from the empire's official Chalcedonian Orthodoxy and its distinctive Greek character. During that period and until the Arab invasion of Egypt in the seventh century, the Byzantine emperors repeatedly deposed and exiled native Egyptian non-Chalcedonian patriarchs of Alexandria, and imposed pro-Chalcedonian ones, most of whom were non-Egyptian. Over the years, because of what they had construed as persecution of the imperial authorities, the Egyptians hardened their position and rejected all conciliatory efforts that fell short of a full condemnation of the Council of Chalcedon. This position coincided with the rise in the public visibility of the Coptic language in several areas of the Egyptians' daily life.
In 641 AD, Egypt was conquered by the Arabs who faced off with the Byzantine army. The Arab invaders treated the native Egyptian Copts harshly, destroying the walls of Alexandria and burning many of its churches with fire. During the early years of the Rashidun Caliphate, the Egyptians were exploited by the Arabs for money due to the rich tax base and the wealth of the country's resources, for labor due to the large population with expertise in shipbuilding and irrigation, and for produce due to the high fertility of the Nile Valley and Delta. The first concern of the Arab conquerors was resource extraction from the Copts, and taxation was particularly heavy.
By the early eighth century, Copts were being requisitioned for forced labor projects in Egypt and beyond, such as ships of the war fleet and imperial building projects like palaces and mosques in Fustat, Damascus and Jerusalem. Every Egyptian village was required by the Arabs to hand over a given number of individuals every year to provide forced labor and conscription, which weighed heavily on rural Egypt, and may have hit the country particularly heavily because its population had always been higher than that of other provinces. The fleet was the most dreaded of all, as it was unlikely that those conscripted would ever return to their villages. To escape forced conscription, persecution and heavy taxation, particularly the Jizya taxation levied only on non-Muslims according to Islamic Sharia law, Egyptians gradually began to convert to Islam. Copts who converted to Islam became known as Mawali, and eventually simply as Muslims. The term Arab remained reserved for the invaders. Thus, the term Copt gradually changed meaning over time to eventually designate only those Egyptians who kept their Christian faith.
The burden of taxation left many Copts in rural areas unable to meet their obligations. Oppressive taxation resulted in local resistance and many revolts by the Copts against the Arab occupiers, the most famous of which were the Bashmurian revolts between 720 A.D. and 832 A.D. Another reaction to the heavy taxation was for poor Christian Copts to either borrow money from richer members of their communities, or to altogether flee their lands and escape to other parts of Egypt.
Despite the political upheaval, Egypt remained mainly Christian for approximately 800 years. Coptic Christians lost their majority status after the 14th century, as a result of successive persecutions and the destruction of the Christian churches in Egypt. From the Muslim conquest of Egypt onwards, the Coptic Christians were persecuted by different Muslim regimes, such as the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid Caliphate, the Fatimid Caliphate, the Mamluk Sultanate, and the Ottoman Empire. The persecution of Coptic Christians included closing and demolishing churches, forced conversions to Islam, and heavy Jizya taxation for those who refused to convert.
Coptic converts to Islam were lured to the new religion by the prospect of paying less taxes, since they would no longer have to pay the Jizya taxation levied only on non-Muslims according to Islamic Sahria law. The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria recounts the history of fiscal oppression imposed by the caliphate against Copts as driving conversions from Christianity to Islam. Early converts had to attach themselves to Arab Muslim patrons as Mawali. While they had to adopt Arabic as their main language, they remained fluent in Coptic, thus creating a growing bilingual group among Egyptian Muslims. Nevertheless, Egypt remained a majority Christian country well into the Middle Ages. Many cities in Upper Egypt had no Muslim communities at all during that time.
The persecution and harassment of Christian Copts by their Muslim rulers continued throughout the Middle Ages and well into the Early modern period. When Napoleon conquered Egypt in 1798 as part of the Napoleonic wars, a military unit known as the Coptic Legion was created out of necessity for self-defense by the Coptic community for protection against the Mamluks, Ottomans and Egyptian Muslims. The Coptic Legion was headed by a Coptic general, General Yaqub, who recruited young Copts from Cairo and Upper Egypt for the Legion. These were trained by instructors from the French army. Together with the Greek Legion, the Coptic Legion formed the Bataillon des Chasseurs d'Orient. Members of the Coptic Legion returned with the French army to France in 1801 after the defeat of the Napoleonic conquest of Egypt.
General Yaqub is considered to be the founder of the first project for Egypt's independence in modern times from the Ottoman Empire. He argued for the country's independence from an Egyptian nationalist point of view, highlighting the past glory of Egypt, lamenting its current state unworthy of a people who built a great civilization, and stressing the debt that humanity owes to Egypt's ancient culture.
During the Ottoman period, Copts were classified alongside other Oriental Orthodox and Nestorian peoples under the Armenian millet. Under Muslim rule, Christians paid special taxes, had lower access to political power, and were exempt from military service.
The position of he Copts improved dramatically under the rule of Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century. He abolished the Jizya (a tax on non-Muslims) and allowed Copts to enroll in the army. Pope Cyril IV, who reigned from 1854–61, reformed the church and encouraged broader Coptic participation in Egyptian affairs. Khedive Isma'il Pasha, in power 1863–79, further promoted the Copts. He appointed them judges to Egyptian courts and awarded them political rights and representation in government. They flourished in business affairs.
Egypt's struggle for independence from both the Ottoman Empire and the United Kingdom was marked by secular Egyptian nationalism, also referred to as Pharaonism. Copts were in the forefront of that struggle for Egypt's independence. When the Egyptian nationalist leader Saad Zaghlul met the Arab delegates at Versailles in 1919, he insisted that their struggles for statehood were not connected, stressing that the problem of Egypt was an Egyptian problem and not an Arab one. When Zaghlul was exiled by the British to Malta in 1919, a number of prominent Christian Coptic figures who joined him in resisting the British occupation of Egypt were also exiled with him, including Wissa Wassef and George Khayat, both key members of the Egyptian nationalist movement. When Zaghlul returned from his first exile, he was joined by the Copts Wissa Wassef, Sinout Hanna, Wassef Ghali, Morcos Hanna and Makram Ebeid in forming a strong opposition against British colonialism in Egypt. Later in 1921, when Zaghlul was exiled to the Seychelles, the prominent Copt Makram Ebeid was exiled with him. The exiles were part of the larger Egyptian nationalist response to British colonial rule and represented a unified effort across religious lines in Egypt. They galvanized widespread protests in Egypt that culminated in the famous 1919 revolution, which further emphasized the shared desire for independence among Egyptians of all faiths. This unity became a hallmark of the early 20th-century Egyptian nationalism. In his memoirs, Fakhri 'Abd al-Nur, one of the most recognized Coptic figures of the 1919 Revolution, recalls the positive impact of the statement made by Saad Zaghlul at the onset of the revolution, declaring "equal responsibilities and equal rights" of Egyptian Copts and Muslims. In fact, the preacher of the 1919 Revolution was a Coptic priest, Father Morcos Sergius, who had been previously exiled by the British in 1915. In April 1922, the British ordered the execution of seven Egyptian nationalists, four of whom were Copts: Wissa Wassef, Wassef Ghali, George Khayat, and Morcos Hanna. As a result of their struggle, Egypt gained its independence from both Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire on 28 February 1922. This struggle of Copts against the British and the Ottomans within the framework of Egyptian nationalism highlighted the Copt's (as well as the Egyptian Muslims') self-identification as Egyptians first and foremost with little attention to religious affiliations.
Egyptian nationalism rose to prominence in the 1920s and 1930s. It looked to Egypt's pre-Islamic past and argued that Egypt was part of a larger Mediterranean civilization. This ideology stressed the role of the Nile River and the Mediterranean Sea. It became the dominant mode of expression of Egyptian anti-colonial activists of the pre- and inter-war periods. There was no place for an Arab component in the Egyptian personality at that time, and Egyptians had no Arab orientation as they saw themselves as Egyptians regardless of religion. Foreigners visiting Egypt noted that Egyptians did not possess any Arab sentiment in the first half of the 20th century. As one Arab nationalist of the time put it "Egyptians did not accept that Egypt was a part of the Arab lands, and would not acknowledge that the Egyptian people were part of the Arab nation." Many of the champions of Egyptian 20th-century liberalism were Copts, such as Salama Moussa and Makram Ebeid.
Two significant cultural achievements for Copts in the twentieth century include the founding of the Coptic Museum in 1910 and the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies in 1954. Some prominent Coptic thinkers from this period are Salama Moussa, Louis Awad and Secretary General of the Wafd Party Makram Ebeid.
In 1952, Gamal Abdel Nasser led some army officers in a coup d'état against King Farouk, which overthrew the Kingdom of Egypt and established a republic. Nasser's mainstream policy was pan-Arab nationalism and socialism. The Copts were severely affected by Nasser's nationalization policies. In addition, Nasser's pan-Arab policies undermined the Copts' strong attachment to and sense of identity about their Egyptian pre-Arab, and certainly non-Arab identity.
Living predominantly in a country with Muslim majority, the size of the population of Copts is a continuously disputed matter, frequently for reasons of religious jealousy and animosity. The Coptic population in Egypt is difficult to estimate because researchers are forbidden by Egyptian authorities to ask a survey participant's religion. A lack of definite, reliable demographic data renders all estimates uncertain. As of 2019, Copts were generally understood to make up approximately 10 percent of Egypt's population, with an estimated population of 9.5 million (figure cited in the Wall Street Journal, 2017) or 10 million (figure cited in the Associated Press, 2019). Smaller or larger figures have also been cited, in the range of "somewhere between 6% and 18% of the population," with the Egyptian government estimating lower numbers and the Coptic Orthodox Church estimating higher numbers. In 2023, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria stated that the number of Copts in Egypt is estimated at approximately 15 million out of a total population of 105 million, or approximately 14% of the population in Egypt. He also said there were another 2 million Copts living in approximately 100 different countries in the diaspora. He explained that this data was obtained from records of child baptisms, marriages, and deaths.
Despite challenges, Copts are well integrated in the Egyptian society. The highest concentrations of Copts are in Upper Egypt, especially around Asyut, Minya and Qena.
There are approximately 1-2 million Copts living outside of Egypt, and are known as the Coptic diaspora. They live mainly in the United States (500,000), Sudan (400,000-500,000), Australia (75,000), Libya (60,000), Canada (50,000), France (45,000), Italy (30,000), the United Kingdom (25,000–30,000), the United Arab Emirates (10,000) and the Netherlands (10,000).
Sudan has a native Coptic minority, although many Copts in Sudan are descended from more recent Egyptian immigrants. Copts in Sudan live mostly in northern cities close to the border with Egypt. Many Sudanese Copts have advanced educations. They have occasionally faced forced conversion to Islam, resulting in their emigration and decrease in number.
Modern immigration of Copts to Sudan peaked in the early 19th century, and they generally received a tolerant welcome there. However, this was interrupted by a decade of persecution under Mahdist rule at the end of the 19th century. As a result of this persecution, many were forced to relinquish their faith, adopt Islam, and intermarry with the native Sudanese population. The Anglo-Egyptian invasion in 1898 allowed Copts greater religious and economic freedom. However, the return of Islamism in the mid-1960s and subsequent demands by radicals for an Islamic constitution prompted Copts to join in public opposition to religious rule.
Introduction of Islamic Sharia law in 1983 began a new phase of oppressive treatment of Copts, among other non-Muslims. Coptic leaders supported a secular candidate in the 1986 elections. However, when the National Islamic Front overthrew the elected government with the help of the military, discrimination against Copts returned in earnest. Hundreds of Copts were dismissed from the civil service and judiciary. In 1991, many Copts in Sudan fled the country after the execution by the government of a Coptic pilot for illegal possession of foreign currency and refusing to convert to Islam. Restrictions on the Copts' rights to Sudanese nationality followed, and it became difficult for them to obtain Sudanese nationality by birth or by naturalization, resulting in problems when attempting to travel abroad. The confiscation of Christian schools and the imposition of an Arab-Islamic emphasis in language and history teaching were accompanied by harassment of Christian children and the introduction of hijab dress laws. In contrast with the extensive media broadcasting of the Muslim Friday prayers, the radio ceased coverage of the Christian Sunday service.
After the 2018 Sudanese revolution, one Copt (Raja Nicola Issa Abdul-Masseh) was appointed in 2019 to the 11-member Transitional Sovereignty Council, which was convened as part of plan to transition Sudan to democracy. However, a military coup in 2019 dissolved the council and halted the democratic transition. Christians, including Copts, were subjected to intensified persecution during the civil war that began in 2023. Many became refugees or were internally displaced.
A 2018 report by the Minority Rights Group said Sudanese Copts had previously estimated their numbers at 400,000 to 500,000, about 1% of the Sudanese population, but that emigration and conversion (including forced conversion) to Islam had decreased their number.
The Coptic population in Libya is uncertain. A 2013 estimate by the U.S. Department of State placed the entire population of non-Muslim Libyans at 180,000 (roughly 3% of the country's population). However, the Coptic Orthodox Church in Libya estimated that its membership alone was 300,000, including those who do not regularly attend church services. In 2011, there were three Coptic churches in the country. From 2011 to 2015, during the Libyan civil war, at least 200,000 Christians fled Libya. during that time, Islamist militants such as the Ansar al-Sharia, Nusra Front, and Islamic State violently persecuted Copts.
In 2015, twenty Copts were killed by beheading in Libya by the Islamic State. The video of their execution, which was broadcast by Al-Hayat gained widespread international attention, leading to their canonization by both the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church.
The largest Coptic diaspora population outside of Egypt is located in North America, both in the United States and Canada.
The first Coptic Orthodox church in North America, Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Church, was built in Toronto in 1964. The first Coptic Orthodox church in the United States, Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in New Jersey, was built in Jersey City, New Jersey shortly afterward.
As of 2018, the Coptic American population was estimated to be more than 500,000, with more than 250 Coptic churches in the United States at the time. In the early 2010s, the Canadian Coptic Association estimates that the population of Canadian Copts was 35,000. By 2017, there were an estimated 50,000 Canadian Copts, with more than 80% living in Ontario, mainly in the Greater Toronto Area.
The Coptic Australians population has been estimated at 30,000 (ABC News, 2017) to 100,000 (SBS, 2018). The first Coptic Orthodox priest in Australia arrived in 1969. The Coptic Orthodox Church in Australia is organized into two dioceses, the first based in Melbourne (diocese organized in 1999) and the second in Sydney (diocese organized in 2002). There is a single Coptic Catholic church in Australia, consecrated in 2019.
Smaller communities of Copts are found throughout the Middle East, including Kuwait, Jordan and Lebanon.
Jordan has a minor community of Copts. In 2005, the Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox Church in the Abdali district of Amman had 8,000 members, mostly Egyptians.
As of 2012, the Lebanon's Syriac League estimated that the Coptic population in that country numbered 3,000 to 4,000.
In Israel, there were approximately 1,000 Copts as of 2014, mostly residing in Jerusalem.
In Europe, France has the largest number of Copts, estimated at approximately 45,000. This is followed by Italy (30,000), the United Kingdom (25,000–30,000) and the Netherlands (10,000).
As of 2017, Germany was home to between 6,000 and 10,000 Copts. In the 2020s, the Coptic Orthodox population of Austria was estimated to be 10,000, although the 2001 Austrian census (the country's last to record religious affiliation) tallied just 1,633 Coptic Orthodox.
In Switzerland, the first Copts arrived in the 1960s, mostly students and those fleeing Egypt after the 1952 revolution. The first Coptic church in Switzerland opened in 2004, when there were approximately 1,000 Copts in the country.
Copts in Egypt are generally characterized by relatively high levels of educational attainment, income, and representation in professional and white-collar occupations, though their participation in security-related institutions remains limited. Most socioeconomic and health indicators among Copts in Egypt are broadly comparable to those of Egyptian Muslims. Historical data also suggest that Egyptian Christians have been overrepresented in the country’s middle and upper-middle classes. As of 2016, 36% of Egyptian Christians had completed university education in institutions of higher education; among the highest rates in the Middle East and North Africa.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Copts held significant roles in Egypt’s financial and administrative sectors. They were widely employed as accountants in government offices, and by the 1960s reportedly owned 51% of the country’s banking institutions. In the mid-20th century, Christians were estimated to represent 45% of Egypt’s medical doctors and 60% of its pharmacists.
Several Coptic families have attained significant economic influence, particularly in the private sector. The Sawiris family, through its Orascom conglomerate, became one of Egypt’s most prominent business dynasties in the early 2000s, with interests spanning telecommunications, construction, tourism, and technology. In 2008, Forbes estimated their combined wealth at $36 billion.
Some scholars attribute the high educational and economic profile of the Coptic community to a historical emphasis within the Coptic community on literacy and the development of human capital.
Copts are the native inhabitants of Egypt, and the direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians, whose ancestors embraced Christianity in the first centuries. After the Arab conquest of Egypt, Egyptians who converted to Islam ceased to call themselves by the demonym Copt, and the term became the distinctive name of the Christian minority in Egypt. Nevertheless, genetics have proven that the vast majority of Egypt's Muslims today are also of Coptic origin.
Genetic studies have shown the ancient Egyptians to be genetically intermediary between the populations of Southern Europe and Nubia (two frequently-used reference points). A study of the genetics of Copts has confirmed them to be the most ancient population of Egypt, sharing ancestry with North African and Middle Eastern populations. Thus, Copts have a genetic composition that resembles the ancestral Egyptian population, without the present strong Arab influence.
An allele frequency comparative study conducted in 2020 between the two main Egyptian ethnic groups, Muslims and Christians, supported the conclusion that Egyptian Muslims and Egyptian Christians genetically originate from the same ancestors.
According to Y-DNA analysis on Copts in Sudan, around 45% of Sudanese Copts carry the Haplogroup J. The remainder mainly belong to the E1b1b clade (21%). Both paternal lineages are common among other local Afroasiatic-speaking populations (Beja, Ethiopians, Sudanese Arabs), as well as the Nubians. E1b1b/E3b reaches its highest frequencies among North Africans, Levantine Middle Easterners, and Ethiopid East Africans. The next most common haplogroups borne by Copts in Sudan are the European-linked R1b clade (15%), as well as the archaic African B lineage (15%). Maternally, Copts in Sudan exclusively carry various descendants of the macrohaplogroup N. This mtDNA clade is likewise closely associated with local Afroasiatic-speaking populations, including Berbers and Ethiopid peoples. Of the N derivatives borne by Copts, U6 is most frequent (28%), followed by the haplogroup T (17%).
A 2015 study by Dobon et al. identified an ancestral autosomal component of Western Eurasian origin that is common to many modern Afroasiatic-speaking populations in Northeast Africa. Known as the Coptic component, it peaks among Egyptian Copts who settled in Sudan over the past two centuries. In their analysis, Sudan's Copts formed a separated group in the PCA, a close outlier to other Egyptians, Afro-Asiatic-speaking Northeast Africans and Middle East populations. The scientists suggest that this points to a common origin for the general population of Egypt, or Middle Eastern and North African populations. Copts in general shared the same main ancestral component with North African/Middle Eastern populations. They also associate the Coptic component with Ancient Egyptian ancestry, without the later Arabian influence that is present among other Egyptians.
Hollfelder et al. (2017) analysed various populations in Sudan and observed that Egyptians and Copts showed low levels of genetic differentiation and lower levels of genetic diversity compared to the northeast African groups. Copts and Egyptians displayed similar levels of European or Middle Eastern ancestry (Copts were estimated to be of 69.54% ± 2.57 European ancestry, and the Egyptians of 70.65% ± 2.47 European ancestry). The authors concluded that the Copts and the Egyptians have a common history linked to smaller population sizes, and that Sudanese Copts have remained relatively isolated since their arrival to Sudan with only low levels of admixture with local northeastern Sudanese groups.
The Coptic language is the most recent stage of the Egyptian language. Coptic should more correctly be used to refer to the script rather than the language itself. Even though this script was introduced as far back as the 1st century BC, it has been applied to the writing of the Egyptian language from the 1st century AD to the present day.
Coptic continued to flourish as a literary language in Egypt until the 13th century. It was supplanted by Egyptian Arabic in Lower Egypt and Sa'idi Arabic in Upper Egypt toward the 16th century but remained part of the education of well-bred Copts until the middle of the 17th century, and was still taught regularly in Coptic schools. In the early 19th century, Coptic was instrumental in Champollion's success in deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Today Coptic is extinct but it is still the liturgical language of the native Egyptian Churches (the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church). It is taught worldwide in many prestigious institutions, but its teaching within Egypt remains limited.
Dialects of the Coptic language:
The Coptic calendar, also called the Alexandrian calendar, is used by the Coptic Orthodox Church and also by Ethiopia as its official calendar (with different names). This calendar is based on the ancient Egyptian calendar. To avoid the calendar creep of the latter, a reform of the ancient Egyptian calendar was introduced at the time of Ptolemy III (Decree of Canopus, in 238 BC), which consisted of the intercalation of a sixth epagomenal day every fourth year. However, this reform was opposed by the Egyptian priests, and the idea was not adopted until 25 BC, when the Roman Emperor Augustus formally reformed the calendar of Egypt, keeping it forever synchronized with the newly introduced Julian calendar. To distinguish it from the Ancient Egyptian calendar, which remained in use by some astronomers until medieval times, this reformed calendar is known as the Coptic calendar. Its years and months coincide with those of the Ethiopian calendar but have different numbers and names.
The Coptic year is the extension of the ancient Egyptian civil year, retaining its subdivision into the three seasons, four months each. The three seasons are commemorated by special prayers in the Coptic liturgy. This calendar is still in use all over Egypt by farmers to keep track of the various agricultural seasons. The Coptic calendar has 13 months, 12 of 30 days each and an intercalary month at the end of the year of 5 or 6 days, depending whether the year is a leap year or not. The year starts on 29 August in the Julian Calendar or on the 30th in the year before (Julian) Leap Years. The Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Julian Calendar so that the extra month always has six days in the year before a Julian Leap Year.
The Feast of Neyrouz marks the first day of the Coptic year. Its celebration falls on the first day of the month of Thout, the first month of the Egyptian year, which for AD 1901 to 2098 usually coincides with 11 September of the Gregorian calendar, except before a Gregorian leap year when it's 12 September. Coptic years are counted from 284 AD, the year Diocletian became Roman Emperor, whose reign was marked by tortures and mass executions of Christians, especially in Egypt. Hence, the Coptic year is identified by the abbreviation A.M. (for Anno Martyrum or "Year of the Martyrs"). The A.M. abbreviation is also used for the unrelated Jewish year (Anno Mundi).
Every fourth Coptic year is a leap year without exception, as in the Julian calendar, so the above-mentioned new year dates apply only between AD 1900 and 2099 inclusive in the Gregorian Calendar. In the Julian Calendar, the new year is always 29 August, except before a Julian leap year when it's August 30. Easter is reckoned by the Julian Calendar in the Old Calendarist way.
To obtain the Coptic year number, subtract from the Julian year number either 283 (before the Julian new year) or 284 (after it).
Coptic music is the music sung and played in the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church. It has its roots in ancient Egyptian music and many elements of ancient Egyptian music continue to survive in Coptic liturgical music, with possible additional Byzantine and Hebrew influences. It consists mainly of chanted hymns in rhythm with instruments such as cymbals (hand and large size) and the triangle. The percussion instruments used in the Coptic Church are unusual among Christian liturgies. Since similar instruments appear in ancient Egyptian frescoes and reliefs, some believe that they may represent a survival from a very old tradition. Coptic music is purely religious.
Coptic chant is a very old tradition with links to ancient Egyptian music. For instance, a hymn sung today on Good Friday in the Coptic Church has its roots in an ancient Egyptian melody that ancient Egyptian priests played during the burial of Egyptian kings.
Coptic music has been transmitted orally over thousands of years, and only recently have manuscripts, musical notes and books been used to record the Coptic music.
As the native inhabitants of Egypt, and the direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians, Copts have a strong attachment to their Egyptian identity. Over the centuries, Copts have always rejected and fought against other identities that foreign rulers attempted to force upon them, stressing their own Egyptian identity. This attachment to the Egyptian nation was embodied in the saying of one of the twenieth century's most prominent Copts, Makram Ebeid, who declared:
The formulation of Coptic identity in the ethnic sense began in Greco-Roman Egypt against the backdrop of foreign rulers, first the Ptolemies and subsequently the Roman emperors. In Greco-Roman Egypt, the term Copt designated the local population of Egypt, as opposed to the elite group of foreign rulers and settlers (Greeks, Romans, etc.) who came to Egypt from other regions and established prominent empires. During that period, foreign rulers respected the Egyptians and their local religion, and erected many temples for Egyptian gods, such as the Temple of Horus in Edfu and the Temple of Hathor at Dendra. Despite the presence of these immigrants and a foreign pharaoh, Egypt remained home primarily to Egyptians, by far the largest group within the population. In fact, most of the rural and urban native population that lived in towns, villages and hamlets the length of the Nile Valley continued their lives little changed during the rule of the Ptolemies. Even in Alexandria, the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt and the largest Greek city outside of Greece, the number of native Egyptians far outnumbered that of Greeks. In numbers and in culture, Egypt remained essentially Egyptian.
The foundation for defining the Copts as an ethno-religious group rather than just an ethnic group began in the fourth and fifth centuries AD, as divergence in doctrine between the native Christian Church of the Egyptians and that of the empire began. The persecution and exile in the fourth century by emperor Constantine the Great of Athanasius, the native Egyptian patriarch of the Church of Alexandria, became the embodiment of the Egyptian character of the Church in Egypt. The persecution of Athanasius helped to create a type for the later patriarchs of Alexandria, who were repeatedly portrayed as defenders of the truth against outsiders and non-Egyptians. The official schism occurred at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. The council, which condemned, deposed, exiled and replaced the native Egyptian Patriarch of Alexandria Dioscorus I, was rejected by the Egyptian delegation to the council, and by extension by the entirety of the native Egyptian population. As a result of the Council of Chalcedon, the Church of Alexandria, which had jurisdiction over the entire country of Egypt, as well as all of continent of Africa, was divided into a church that accepted the decrees of the council, and one that rejected them. The church that accepted the council, became known as the Chalcedonian church, and survives today as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. On the other hand, the church that rejected the council of Chalcedon, to whom the vast majority of the native Egyptians adhered, became the predecessor of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The process of identity-building for the native Egyptians emerged into view most clearly in the period after the reign of emperor Justinian I in the sixth century AD. That process became the foundation for the evolution of a distinctive Egyptian character for the Coptic Orthodox Church, with its distancing from the empire's official Chalcedonian Orthodoxy and its distinctive Greek character. Copts viewed their Church as one with direct doctrinal continuity with such Egyptian patristic giants as Athanasius of Alexandria and Cyril of Alexandria, both of whom were Popes of the Church of Alexandria, and whose theology was the foundation of worldwide orthodox Christian belief. Another important aspect of the Coptic community's self-perception was its ethnic and religious continuity with the community that produced the many local Egyptian martyrs.
By the time of the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641 AD, the Copts had formed a distinct ethno-religious identity that was Egyptian and non-Chalcedonian, as opposed to the mainly Greek Byzantine Chalcedonian identity of the ruling empire. Under Arab Muslim rule, and to escape forced conscription, persecution and heavy taxation, particularly the Jizya taxation levied only on non-Muslims according to Islamic Sharia law, Egyptians gradually began to convert to Islam. Copts who converted to Islam became known as Mawali, and eventually simply as Muslims. The term Arab remained reserved for the invaders. Thus, the term Copt gradually changed meaning over time to eventually designate only those Egyptians who kept their Christian faith.
Under Islamic rule, Coptic identity continued to be defined against the backdrop of sound theology and Christology, in contrast to those of the Chalcedonians. However, with the presence of non-natives in the country, Coptic identity also began to stress the native Egyptian character of the Copts. As Muslims, mainly Egyptian converts and less commonly Arabs, slowly started settling in the countryside, they provided an other against whom this identity became better defined. Coptic monasticism played a crucial role in the preservation of Coptic identity in Egypt. The Copts' Egyptian Christian identity was thus formulated. It was then with the spread of Arabic beyond the big cities that the Egyptian Church became known as "Coptic" and that native Egyptian Christians became known as "Copts", a semantic shift that occurred in the eighth and ninth centuries. Nonetheless, in their own native Coptic language, Copts continue to refer to themselves today as ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ (the Egyptians), and to their Church as Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ (the Egyptian Orthodox Church).
In modern times, the question of Coptic identity was never raised before the rise of pan-Arabism under Nasser in the early 1950s. Up to that point, both Egyptian Muslims and Egyptian Christians viewed themselves as only Egyptians without any Arab sentiment. The struggle to maintain this Egyptian identity began as Nasser and his regime tried to impose an Arab identity on the country, and attempted to erase all references to Egypt as a separate and unique entity. Today, Copts and many Egyptian Muslims reject Arab nationalism, emphasizing indigenous Egyptian heritage and culture as well as their own unique ethnicity and genetic makeup, which are completely different from those of the Arabs. Persecution has become pivotal to the Copts' sense of identity.
Religious freedom in Egypt is constitutionally guaranteed but restricted in practice, particularly for the Coptic Christian minority. Discriminatory policies and bureaucratic hurdles have historically hampered the construction and repair of churches. Until 2005, presidential approval was required for even minor repairs. Although this requirement was devolved to governors and further eased by the 2016 Church Construction Law.
Copts have been the target of sectarian violence. Notable incidents include the 2000–01 El-Kosheh clashes that left 21 dead, attacks on Alexandria churches in 2006, and mob violence in Marsa Matrouh in 2010. Reports from the same period indicate that police frequently arrived too late to prevent violence, pressured Copts into "reconciliation" sessions, and rarely prosecuted attackers.
Following the 2013 ousting of President Mohamed Morsi, churches and Christian properties were targeted in retaliatory attacks. At least 45 churches were attacked, with accusations that Muslim Brotherhood rhetoric incited the violence.
Human trafficking and forced conversions have also been reported. Coptic women and girls have been subject to abduction, coercion, and forced marriage, with congressional and NGO concern raised about state inaction and complicity.
Copts are underrepresented in public office, security services, and judiciary positions. During President Mubarak's tenure, only a few Copts held cabinet or gubernatorial positions.
Religious conversion laws in Egypt remain asymmetrical. While conversion to Islam is easily recognized, Christians converting from Islam face legal and bureaucratic obstacles. Some converts have been arrested or denied identity documents. Though a 2008 court ruling allowed 12 citizens to re-register as Christians after converting to Islam, it required them to list their period as Muslims on official documents.
Recent years have seen incremental improvements. Church construction has become easier, with thousands of churches legalized under the 2016 law and fewer reports of obstruction. In Open Doors' World Watch List, Egypt dropped from 25th place out of 50 in 2013 to 40th in 2025, indicating a decline in reported persecution, though social and legal challenges remain.
Today, members of the non-Chalcedonian Coptic Orthodox Church constitute the majority of the Egyptian Christian population. Mainly through emigration and partly through European, American, and other missionary work and conversions, the Egyptian Christian community now also includes other Christian denominations such as Protestants (known in Arabic as Evangelicals), Roman Catholics and Eastern Rite Catholics, and other Orthodox congregations. The term Coptic remains exclusive however to the Egyptian natives, as opposed to the Christians of non-Egyptian origins. Some Protestant churches for instance are called "Coptic Evangelical Church", thus helping differentiate their native Egyptian congregations from churches attended by non-Egyptian immigrant communities such as Europeans or Americans.
The previous head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, died 17 March 2012. On 4 November 2012, Bishop Tawadros was chosen as the new pope of Egypt's Coptic Christians. His name was selected from a glass bowl containing the three shortlisted candidates by a blindfolded boy at a ceremony in Cairo's St Mark's Cathedral.
Some famous Copts include: