Loading article…
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 / qibṭقبط, a corruption of Greek Aígyptos (Ancient Greek: Αἴγυπτος, "Egyptian").
The Coptic Rite traditionally uses the Coptic language and Greek. Arabic and a number of other modern languages (including English) are also used.[2]
Along with the Geʽez Rite, it belongs to the Alexandrian liturgical tradition.
The Coptic Rite originated in the ancient Patriarchate of Alexandria which, in the first centuries of Christianity, was mainly composed of ethnic Greeks. The rite then spread among the indigenous inhabitants of Egypt, amongst whom it has survived to this day.
The Coptic Orthodox Church, being one of the historical successors of the ancient Alexandrian Church, did not accept the decision of the Council of Chalcedon, and, like the rest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, from the second half of the 5th century, it is in schism with the Eastern Orthodox Church of the Byzantine Rite and with the Catholic Church. Church schism and conflict with Byzantium led to the creation in Egypt of an alternative, ethnically Greek, Chalcedonian See of Alexandria with the Greek Rite. After the Arab conquest of Egypt, the Coptic Church was persecuted. All of the above led to significant changes in the liturgical rite of the Coptic Church.
The oldest Coptic liturgy, the liturgy of Saint Mark, was the main liturgy of the Coptic church until the 8th-9th centuries. The Church of Constantinople actively fought against the liturgy of the Apostle Mark and the Coptic Rite as such, trying to achieve the unification of worship in the East. By the 12th century, in the Coptic churches, everywhere except for the Coptic monasteries, demonstratively ignoring Constantinople, liturgies were close to the ones in Byzantine Rite.
After the formation of the Coptic Catholic Church in 1741, she also began to use the Coptic Rite in worship. Copts-Catholics managed to defend their rite from Latinization in all aspects, with the exception of the monastic tradition, which they have organized according to the Roman Catholic model. In the ancient Coptic Orthodox Church, the historical Coptic monastic tradition is preserved.
A characteristic feature of the Coptic Rite is the wide variety of liturgies. The historical liturgy of the Copts, the liturgy of Saint Mark, practically disappeared from use in the 12th century, supplanted by the Byzantine type liturgies. Currently, three liturgies are served in the Coptic Rite:
The cycle of canonical hours is largely monastic, primarily composed of psalm readings. The Coptic equivalent of the Byzantine Horologion is the Agpeya.
Seven canonical hours exist, corresponding largely to the Byzantine order, with an additional "Prayer of the Veil" which is said by bishops, priests, and monks (something like the Byzantine Midnight Office).
The hours are chronologically laid out, each containing a theme corresponding to events in the life of Jesus Christ:
Every one of the Hours follows the same basic outline:
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) (printers in ordinary to Her Majesty; here printers for the Bishop of Salisbury)