![]() The name “Coptic” is thought to derive from the ancient Greek word for Egypt, Aigyptos, known to the Copts as Kyptos. The Coptic language, which after centuries of Arabisation survives today in Egypt only in liturgical use in the church, is an evolution of the language spoken in Ancient Egypt. There, he founded the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, which would become one of the five episcopal sees, or areas of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, of Christendom, alongside Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Rome. 54 to 68), Mark the Evangelist, believed to have been born in the ancient Greek city of Cyrene, near present-day Shahhat in Libya, brought the teachings of Christ to Africa. ![]() (Getty Images)ĭuring the reign of the Emperor Nero (A.D. 49.įor the Copts themselves, inured to sacrifice and suffering after centuries of persecution, the horror on the beach was just another chapter in an ancient story that began as it was fated to continue, steeped in the Christian tradition of martyrdom.Īn 18 th-century French painting depicts the massacre of children in Bethlehem that drove Mary and Joseph to seek sanctuary for the infant Jesus in Egypt. Yet for many outside Egypt and the immediate region, the grim video would be their introduction to one of Christianity’s oldest churches, founded in Alexandria by Mark the Evangelist in about A.D. The Copts, who trace their lineage back to ancient Egypt, and whose religion predates the birth of Islam and its arrival in the land of the Nile, have been a central part of the Egyptian story for two millennia. One week after the massacre, all 21 would be declared martyrs by Pope Tawadros II, leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Only then did they break their silence, to offer final, brief prayers in Arabic to Jesus Christ with their last breaths. Instead, they remained almost shockingly composed, even as their captors forced them face down onto the sand and pressed knife blades to their throats. ![]() Even as they were forced to their knees, not one of the men struggled, cried out or begged for mercy. Reportedly he was offered his freedom but chose instead to remain with the others, and shared their fate.Īll 21 refused to deny their faith. ![]() The 21st man, a Ghanaian worker who had been captured with them, was a Christian, but not a Copt. They had been kidnapped in early January 2015. Twenty of the men were Egyptians, poor migrant Coptic Christians who had been forced by economic circumstances in rural Upper Egypt to leave their homes and families to seek work in Libya. In the video, the camera panned along the line of faces as the leader of the terrorists delivered a rambling speech, condemning the “followers of the hostile Egyptian church.” Wearing orange jumpsuits, with their hands tied behind their backs, the men were marched to their deaths by the masked, black-clad members of a terror group claiming allegiance to Daesh. 15 2015, the world reacted with revulsion to the release of a video showing the savage execution of 21 men on a Mediterranean beach, near Sirte in Libya. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |