The Copts, part of Egypt’s identity

5,000,0001981-1985October 2011August 2016Official number of Christians: the Church claims three times as manySuspension of Pope Shenouda IIIMaspero Massacre* (Cairo)Adoption of a law designed to facilitate the construction of churchesSource: CAPMAS, 2017 The terms Copt and Coptic, originate from the Greek Aegyptios (qibti in Arabic, pl. aqbat), meaning “Egyptian”. They refer to the indigenous Christian community of Egypt, a religious rite and a language, now dead. The Copts represent the larg...