But in 200 years will your children be American or Egyptian? What should their Orthodoxy look like? Should it be separate from the Orthodoxy of others who are also American and subject to the Patriarchate of Alexandria?
The Church of Finland is within the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate and has not lost its own sense of being Finnish. The Church of Ethiopia was part of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and was not simply a copy of Coptic culture. There is no need for organisational unity to subvert cultural diversity.
I always prefer the term Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria because the term Coptic Orthodox Church seems to me to be modern, (please prove me wrong!), and because in the Patristic period churches were never tied to ethnicity. It is only later that we have become ethnic.
Why should I not use the correct term simply because some others might use it? I don't like calling myself Oriental Orthodox to be honest because I believe that I am Orthodox, and I am not from the East in any case. If someone wants to ask a follow up question to discover which local Church I belong to then that's fine. But I am Orthodox, and a member of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria.
You are correct Fr. Peter. The Coptic part came because of the Chalcedonians and later the Arabs. Otherwise, the Coptic Church is the Church of Alexandria and I prefer it to be that way. The liturgical prayers still preserve that name.
As to what should we call it in the land of Immigration, I prefer to keep it the Church of Alexandria. However this is not feasible because there are Catholics and Greeks who claim that this name is theirs. Unfortunately, the identity of the Church is no longer the city, as it used to be, but the ethnicity.
[quote author=Biboboy link=topic=11736.msg140563#msg140563 date=1309464611] Remenkimi, when you return, please give us a short summary of Hany N. Takla's, The Sale of Dismembered Manuscripts of Coptic Egypt on eBay. Update Report.
Thanks!
Bibo, I think this was the best talk of the entire conference, even better than my presentation on Agios Istin. Hany Takla has been purchasing, dealing and monitoring Coptic manuscript transactions on ebay since 2002. He has tracked 12 different ebay users/dealers and now he has a pretty large database of who bought which manuscript from whom and how much they bought it and sold it after and so on. It turns out there is a huge black market for Coptic manuscripts. Even though are international laws on antiquity theft, the practice is wide spread in many continents. And the second generation of manuscript dealers are now selling a manuscript (usually 200-500 pages each) page by page. Do the math. $10000+ for a book. And if you have a manuscript that's older than the 15th century, the price is much higher. Hany is able to piece back manuscripts that have been auctioned or sold to different people after they were dismemebered. His database is quite intense. Thank God, through Hany's efforts, St Shenouda Coptic Society now has nearly 120 manuscripts and it continues to grow. The wealth of information in these manuscripts are greater than you can imagine. About 50 of the Society's manuscripts are online in a subscription based website. It's the best $30 I have ever spent. If you have any more questions, please ask. George
Comments
The Church of Finland is within the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate and has not lost its own sense of being Finnish. The Church of Ethiopia was part of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and was not simply a copy of Coptic culture. There is no need for organisational unity to subvert cultural diversity.
I always prefer the term Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria because the term Coptic Orthodox Church seems to me to be modern, (please prove me wrong!), and because in the Patristic period churches were never tied to ethnicity. It is only later that we have become ethnic.
Why should I not use the correct term simply because some others might use it? I don't like calling myself Oriental Orthodox to be honest because I believe that I am Orthodox, and I am not from the East in any case. If someone wants to ask a follow up question to discover which local Church I belong to then that's fine. But I am Orthodox, and a member of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria.
As to what should we call it in the land of Immigration, I prefer to keep it the Church of Alexandria. However this is not feasible because there are Catholics and Greeks who claim that this name is theirs. Unfortunately, the identity of the Church is no longer the city, as it used to be, but the ethnicity.
Remenkimi, when you return, please give us a short summary of Hany N. Takla's, The Sale of Dismembered Manuscripts of Coptic Egypt on eBay. Update Report.
Thanks!
Bibo,
I think this was the best talk of the entire conference, even better than my presentation on Agios Istin. Hany Takla has been purchasing, dealing and monitoring Coptic manuscript transactions on ebay since 2002. He has tracked 12 different ebay users/dealers and now he has a pretty large database of who bought which manuscript from whom and how much they bought it and sold it after and so on. It turns out there is a huge black market for Coptic manuscripts. Even though are international laws on antiquity theft, the practice is wide spread in many continents. And the second generation of manuscript dealers are now selling a manuscript (usually 200-500 pages each) page by page. Do the math. $10000+ for a book. And if you have a manuscript that's older than the 15th century, the price is much higher. Hany is able to piece back manuscripts that have been auctioned or sold to different people after they were dismemebered. His database is quite intense. Thank God, through Hany's efforts, St Shenouda Coptic Society now has nearly 120 manuscripts and it continues to grow. The wealth of information in these manuscripts are greater than you can imagine. About 50 of the Society's manuscripts are online in a subscription based website. It's the best $30 I have ever spent. If you have any more questions, please ask.
George