The last stage of ancient Egyptian, written in Greek-derived letters: translation and liturgical language of Egyptian Christianity in its Bohairic and Sahidic dialects.
When Egypt became Christian, its ancient language was written in a new alphabet of Greek letters and demotic signs. The Coptic versions are among the earliest witnesses to the New Testament text, and Coptic remains the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Prayers & Creeds in Its Traditions
- Jesus Prayer Orthodox — A short, repeated invocation of Jesus asking for mercy, central to the Orthodox hesychast tradition.
- Trisagion Prayers Orthodox — The opening prayers of Orthodox services and prayer rules, built around the thrice-holy hymn 'Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal.'
Translation Traditions
- The Ancient Church Translations: Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic — The early versions of the daughter churches, which preserved texts lost elsewhere and made the Bible a literature in five more tongues.
- Arabic Bible Translations — A thousand years of Arabic versions, differing by community and confession, down to the Van Dyck Bible of 1865.
Learning and Reference Resources
- Coptic Bible and resources (see the Libraries page) Free / open access
Provenance
Classification follows Ethnologue; identifiers verified at build time.