Copts' confrontation to Roman Catholic aggression

The Coptic church is one of the respectable ancient churches in the family of oriental ones, to whichbelong the Armenian, the Ethiopian, the (Syro-)Jacobite churches. The word ''copt'' derives from the wrong Greek name of Egypt byArabs. Copts were Egyptian people before the Arab conquest and Islamization of Egyptian population. Since then the Muslim Egyptiansare called Arabs and the Christian Egyptians are called Copts. In the 17th century to expand its influence in the East Vatican tried tooverride the Coptic church, which was in a bad state, - its monasteries and churches were neglected, education among the Coptic monkswas at a low level. Gradually the Uniate churches started to found social institutions and schools according to European methods andtraining plans. Thus, Catholic missionaries who helped the members of the Uniate church and they reached good results and beganactivities called ''assistance to developing countries'' in the second part of the 20th century. As these countries most needed schools,hospitals, orphanages, etc., these institutions were multiplied and developed. For many Copts who adopted the Roman CatholicChristianity and became the Uniates, the important issues were not spiritual motivation of the belonging to the Uniate church but thecivil rights connected with the church membership in an Islamic state. Patriarchs who first favoured western educational activitieschanged their attitude to western activities for the worse because they realized their real purpose. The Western church started to meddleinsistently and categorically in what had no direct relation to the church. Catholics influenced through the social and educationalinstitutions the most. The danger of foreign interfering especially in the sphere of education for Oriental churches emerged in the 19thcentury. The school programs created by the western standards had an impact upon the local Christians. This strong European andAmerican influence led to the deep estrangement from their own national, spiritual and cultural environment. The education reforms,which were carried out among the Copts in the second part of the 20th century, showed that the Christian church can successfullypractice its faith not refusing from its own traditions. The Catholic church in Egypt follows the Roman Catholic doctrine keeping theAlexandrian rites in church service. The total number of the Catholic Copts is about 150 thousand people who live in Egypt.

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