Patriarch Cyril V (1874 – 1927). Portrait at the Old Coptic Patriarchate in Azbakiyya
Since the coup d’état in 1952 by the Arabist Nasser (1952 – 1970) the Copts have been forbidden to refer to themselves as a nation. Now arose the concept of Arab nationalism, and all peoples and nations in Egypt are required to accept Arabdom as their only nationalism. In the name of national unity, other views were suppressed, and Copts were reduced by fear to accept that they are part of one Egyptian nation. The previous Coptic view of themselves as a distinct nation, not just a religion, which became prominent in the nineteenth century and continued to survive until the mid-twentieth century, has almost disappeared. Suppression on the part of the oppressor and fear on the part of the oppressed can lead to so many unwelcome things.
There is no doubt that great Coptic Patriarch Cyril IV (1853 – 1862) saw the Copts as a distinct nation – his whole programme was directed to revive this nation. Historians of the day also saw the Copts as a nation, thus Yacoub Nakhla Rofaila, for example, calls his book, History of the Coptic Nation (1898).
Patriarch Cyril V (1874 – 1927) also saw the Copts as a nation. Writing on 2 November 1898, he addresses the custom of wailing at funerals, which he set himself to fight:
لما كان من جل رغائبنا تقدم أمتنا وإيرادها مواردالنجاح قد وجهنا نظرنا الى إبطال العادات القديمة الغير ممدوحة التي لا تزال جارية حتى الآن …
Whereas one of our greatest objectives is the progress of our nation and bringing it to success, we have paid our attention to the abolishment of the unpraiseworthy old customs which have continued until now … . [1]
What Patriarch Cyril V saw in the Copts is that they constituted a unique cultural nation, with strong national criteria, that were distinguishable from other nations around them, all Egyptians by country like the Copts, but different culturally by race, ethnicity, history, language, religion, music, literature, etc. While there is nothing in his writings to tell that he saw the Copts as a political nation – that is congruent with state, requiring secession and national independence, there is equally nothing that he wanted the Copts to merge with other Egyptians to become one nation only distinguishable by religion. Now we see that the prevailing propaganda is that the Copts are simply Egyptians like the Arabs, Berber and Nuba of Egypt, with the only distinction that the first group goes to church while the other groups go to the mosque. Of course, this is rubbish, not just on historical or cultural basis, but also politically as the Copts are not treated equally in Egypt, and are still exposed to many legal and non-legal restrictions and constantly brace themselves from attacks by the Muslim majority. The discrimination and persecution of the Copts by the Muslims of Egypt is not only based on their religious difference – they are seen as genus Pharaonicus. The Copts knew that. In Lowrence Durell’s Mountolive, a main Coptic character[2] says to an Englishman[3], “’Do you know what they call us — the Moslems?’ Once more his head wagged. ‘I will tell you. Gins Pharoony. Yes, we are genus Pharaonicus — the true descendants of the ancients, the true marrow of Egypt.’”[4]
The erroneous view that the Copts and non-Copts in Egypt are basically the same in everything except religion, was first expressed by the unsympathetic British imperialist Evelyn Baring (later Lord Cromer), the 1st Consul-General of Egypt (1883 – 1907), who saw all Egyptians as unequal Orientals, and with a broad generalisation remarked that the only difference between the Copt and the Moslem is that the former is an Egyptian who worships in a Christian church, whilst the latter is an Egyptian who worships in a Mohammedan mosque.[5] Bizarrely, later, the Arab nationalists, knowingly or unknowingly, adopted his views: henceforth, all are one – that is uniform – as long as they see themselves as Arabs, and as the Nasserists remain in power. This is not equality but suppression and elimination of the distinct Coptic identity and dissolution in the Arabs. In other words, it’s Arabisation and assimilation of the Copts.
But Cyril V did not see so.
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[1] Riad Surial, Coptic Society in Egypt in the Nineteenth Century (in Arabic) (Cairo, Maktabat al-Mahabba, ?1971), p. 252.
[2] Falthaus, the invalid head of the Hosnani Coptic family.
[3] David Mountolive, a junior English diplomacy trainee, later to become British ambassador in Cairo.
[4] For the whole discourse, see: Lawrence Durrell, Mountolive (Faber Paper Covered Editions, 1958), pp. 39-46.
[5] Cromer, The Earl of., Modern Egypt, Volume 2 (New York: Macmillan, 1908), pp. 205-6.
