THE COPTIC EXODUS: A LIFELINE FOR THE COPTIC NATION

THE COPTIC CHURCH IS NOWV A WORLDWIDE CHURCH AND IT’S BOUND TO AFFECT THE FUTURE OF THE COPTS ENORMOUSLY

Samuel Tadros, a Coptic Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom in the US,[1] has written an important an erudite article on the recent Coptic history since 1952, but particularly in the life span of the great Coptic Patriarch Shenouda III (1971 – 2020). It is titled, The Coptic Church in peril: The Islamization of Egypt and the end of Egyptian Christianity, and has been published in The ABC Religion and Ethics Portal (15 September 2013).

In his article, Tadros talks about the phenomenon of Coptic exodus since the 1950s, and describes it as “The most important development in the history of the Coptic Church and one that would have profound implications for its future took place outside the borders of Egypt.” It may well be. He describes four waves of Coptic exodus:

The first wave of exodus: 1950s

It is the first substantial wave of emigration by Copts to the West took place, and was composed of highly qualified professionals who were seeking a better future after the coup d’état by Nasser in 1952.

The second wave of exodus: 1960s

This wave was triggered by Nasser’s socialist policies in 1961, which disproportionately affected the Copts. It was composed of members of the upper middle class and upper class.

The third wave of exodus: 1970s

This wave was caused by the rise of Islamists in the 1970s under the policies of Sadat which effectively Islamised Egypt. Egypt became alien to the Copts. Emigrants of the third wave were more diverse in background and economic and social standing and included many poverty-stricken Copts. The continuous drain of Copts from Egypt only intensified in the following years.

Another wave of emigration was not permanent in nature and involved Copts emigrating to the Gulf States and Libya to take part in the building of the booming economies in those countries after the oil shocks in 1973 and 1979.

The fourth wave of exodus: 2010s

This wave occurred after the 2011 Egyptian uprising against Mubarak, the election of Mursi to the presidency, thereby consolidating the power of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the increased Islamisation of Egyptian politics. As Tadros describes it, it is immense wave. Copts headed to the countries their brethren settled in past decades: the United States, Canada and Australia. Richer Copts are buying houses in Cyprus and with it receiving residence there, while Georgia is becoming a favoured destination for their poorer brethren.

Hence a huge Coptic diaspora in exile from Egypt has built up, mostly in democratic Western countries. No one knows exactly how many Copts are now in exile. Various estimates are cited, but a reasonable figure is two million; and the numbers are rising.

Wherever Copts go, they form close-nit communities, and the first thing they thing about is establishing a church. The church is the central point of Coptic life. The Greeks and the Armenians had experienced exoduses, for various reasons, a long time ago before the Copts, and established themselves across the world. Wherever they landed they built churches, schools where they taught their children the language and culture, and set up social clubs. The Copts are similar to the Greeks and Armenians in taking the building of churches in their new homes as a priority, but they are not as good as them in establishing schools and social and cultural clubs. The focus for the Copts is religion, and so churches are bought or built everywhere they went; and churches need to be staffed by priests and bishops. A Coptia (you can take the terms in many ways: nation, community, physical space)[2] has been created outside the borders of Egypt, and beyond the traditional lands outside Egypt, such as Sudan and Ethiopia. The Copts are now found in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Georgia, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Bolivia, brazil, Japan, South Korea, china, Fiji, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Pakistan, Kuwait, UAE, Sudan, Ethiopia, etc. Most of the Copts are in the West. In all of these countries there are Coptic churches.

When Patriarch Shenouda III ascended to the patriarchal throne in 1971, there were only seven established Coptic churches in the West: in New Jersey, Los Angeles, Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, Montreal, and London. Today there are over 550 Coptic churches outside Egypt:

The Coptic nation’s body has grown and expanded to beyond Egypt’s border, though its main body still resides in Egypt as it should be. The Islamists of Egypt, whether in government or out of it, have wished evil to the Copts, but Providence is always able to extract good out of evil situations. And the creation of the Coptic diaspora is a good example of God’s work in history. The Islamists wanted to eradicate the Copts or force them to accept the superiority of Islam over them and meanwhile to sing its praise. They wanted us to act as happy dhimmis. While some inside Egypt have been forced to play that act in order to survive, others didn’t – and Patriarch Shenouda III was one of them. In fact, Patriarch Shenouda III became the icon of Coptic resistance to the Islamic and Arab oppression.

The goodness that Providence hand has affected through Coptic immigration can be understood in the following way: the Copts outside Egypt have to fear no more the Islamic and Arabic oppression. Most are now citizens in the West, lands of freedom, equality and opportunity. In such an environment the Copts are bound to shed off all vestige of the subservient morality that many of them were forced to adopt through persecution. Not only that, but they will replace whatever Arabic and Islamic culture that has contaminated their culture by a higher culture of democracy, freedom, human rights respect, education and science. The Coptic character is bound to change; and the Copts are destined to straighten up their back and stand tall – they will engage in political and cultural activism to change Egypt and the lot of their brethren in Egypt. This is an enormous development in the history of the Copts. Tadros may be right in describing the Coptic exodus as “The most important development in the history of the Coptic Church and one that would have profound implications for its future took place outside the borders of Egypt.”

[1] For Samuel Tadros, and his scientific work and activism, go here.

[2] For the meaning of the coined term, Coptia, see: Dioscorus Boles, Coptia – Coining A New Word: The Copts’ Physical Space, Community and Nation كوبتيا، كلمة جديدة تعني المكان القبطي، المجتمع القبطي والأمة القبطية

(April 2, 2011) and Coptia Again – And More Specifically – Is the Coptic Nation and The Potential Coptic Patrie (December 27, 2012).