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Rh 1. The Patriarch and Hierarchy

We are now clear as to what is meant by a Copt. A Copt is a native Egyptian who is a member of the national Monophysite Church. We do not call an Egyptian who belongs to any other religious body a Copt, nor do we so call a Monophysite who is not an Egyptian.

In 1900 the total number of Copts was estimated at 592,374; that is about one-fifteenth of the whole population of Egypt. By far the largest group is in Cairo (27,546). Alexandria has 5338; the rest are scattered through towns and villages of Lower, Middle, and Upper Egypt. After Cairo they are most spread in Upper Egypt (As-Siut, Girgah, etc.); here in many villages they form the majority of the population. They all talk Arabic; even the clergy know very little Coptic (p. 277); they dress in the usual Arab dress, a long shirt down to their feet (sirbāl, ḳamīṣ) girt around their waist, a cloak (mashlaḥ, 'abā'), and a turban. But the cloak and turban are nearly always dark (black or blue), remnant of the days whey they were forced by law to wear dark colours. The tight black or dark-blue turban is characteristic of Copts, especially of their clergy.

The most remarkable qualities of the Copts have always been their power of reviving and their comparative prosperity, in spite of fierce persecution. In this they resemble the Jews. Copts have never been fighting men. They have lain down under treatment which would have driven any Western race to desperate resistance. So the Moslem looks upon them as poor creatures. But no persecution could extinguish them. We read of ghastly massacres, wholesale confiscation of their property; then a generation or two later they are again a rich and large community, ready to be plundered again. There are Coptic peasants (fellaḥīn) who till the soil; but their leaders are rich merchants at Cairo and Alexandria.