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The Coptic language is a universal language used in Coptic churches in every country. It descends from Ancient Egyptian and uses the Coptic alphabet , a script descended from the Greek alphabet with added characters derived from the Demotic script .
Copts have historically spoken the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken in late antiquity. Following the Muslim conquest, the treatment of the Coptic Christians who refused to convert ranged from relative tolerance to open persecution.
The Coptic Rite is an Alexandrian liturgical rite. It is practiced in the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church. [1] The term Coptic derives from Arabic qubṭ / qibṭ قبط, a corruption of Greek Aígyptos (Ancient Greek: Αἴγυπτος, “Egyptian”). The Coptic Rite traditionally uses the Coptic language and Greek.
Coptic has no native speakers today, [6] although it remains in daily use as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church and of the Coptic Catholic Church. [5] Innovations in grammar and phonology and the influx of Greek loanwords distinguish Coptic from earlier periods of the Egyptian language.
Coptic Christians lost their majority status in Egypt after the 14th century and the spread of Islam in the entirety of North Africa. Today, Copts form a major ethno-religious group whose origins date back to the Ancient Egyptians. [5] The Coptic Christian population in Egypt is the largest Christian community in the Middle East. [6]
These texts lack the consistent script style and borrowed Greek vocabulary of later Coptic literature, which is entirely Christian or para-Christian (i.e., Gnostic and Manichaean). [ 1 ] [ 4 ] Some use exclusively Greek letters, with none of the borrowed Demotic letters of standard Coptic, while others use more Demotic letters than became ...
Oriental Orthodox Christians, such as Copts, Syrians and Indians, use a breviary such as the Agpeya and Shehimo, respectively, to pray the canonical hours seven times a day while facing in the eastward direction towards Jerusalem, in anticipation of the Second Coming of Jesus; this Christian practice has its roots in Psalm 119:164, in which the ...
The Coptic Catholic Church does not have Coptic monasteries. Instead the Church has religious congregations such as the three communities for women: the Sisters of the Sacred Heart , the Coptic Sisters of Jesus and Mary (both based in Egypt ) and the Egyptian Province of the Little Sisters of Jesus .