Religion and violence

Conflicts between Christians

In writing Armanoussa l'Masriyah, Juiri Zaydan[1] gives an historical account in relation to the details of the Islamic conquest of Egypt by Amr Ibn Al-As in the year 640. What he wants to show is the support of the Copts[2] for this conquest, due to to their opposition to other Christians who, since the time of Byzantium, had sought to impose on them an orthodoxy which they resisted. The writer describes the violence and tyranny of the Byzantine troops who occupied Egypt before the Arab Muslims. However, he neglects to mention that violence was equally committed by the Copts against the Byzantine Christians and that their churches were given to the Copts after 640.

Further north, in what was to become Lebanon and Syria, the Melkites[3] , the Jacobites[4] and the Nestorians[5] engaged in sometimes bloody conflicts during the course of the centuries. The fact that they subscribed to the same gospels, preached the same religion of love and peace and aimed to govern society according to that same scripture, did not prevent this conflict. Beyond rivalry for power and the corruption of some leaders, this is explained by differences in interpretation and the desire to impose theirs exclusively. In such a way wars, massacres and exile divided Catholics and Reformers for a long time in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

  1. Jurji Zaydan

    Jurji Zaydan (1861-1914): Successful Christian Lebanese writer living in Egypt. An editor with an encyclopedic knowledge, he aimed to reform the individual and collective behaviour of his readers.

  2. Copts

    The Copts are Christians living in Egypt. Their name comes from a contraction of the Arabic word “aïguptos” to signify “Egyptians”. These Christians broke with Rome and Byzantium at the time of the Council of Chalcedon (451) over disagreements relating to the human-divinity of Christ. On several occasions they came under the authority of Byzantium before the Muslim conquest. Under Muslim authority they became a demographic minority by the thirteenth century. The great majority of Copts are members of the Copt Orthodox Church, but since the nineteenth century there is also a Copt Catholic Church and a Copt Evangelical Church.

  3. Melkites

    Melkites: Christians in Syria and Egypt who accepted the definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451) on the two natures, human and divine, of Christ. Originally, they were named from the Syrian term malka (“the king”) to describe them as 'royalists' or 'servants of the Emperor' of Byzantium. Later the term referred to those faithful to the Patriarch of Alexandria (non Copt), of Jerusalem and above all of Antioch.

  4. Jacobites

    Syrian Christians opposed to the Christological definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451). In the middle of the sixth century the Archbishop of Edessa, Jacob Baradaeus, helped to establish the Syrian Jacobite Church. Opposed to Byzantium, his followers were relatively favourable to the Muslim Umayyad dynasty, but they were marginalised with the coming of the Abbasids.

  5. Nestorians

    Christians who defended the thesis of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius (in post 428-431) but rejected by the Council of Ephesus (431) and exiled. Their doctrine was developed in the second half of the sixth century. The Nestorian Church became widespread under the Abbasid caliphate (750-1258) and extended as far as China. After the thirteenth century it suffered through its support of the Muslim conquerors, some of whose chiefs became Christians before converting to Islam.

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AccueilAccueilImprimerImprimer Randa Saliba Chidiac, University of the Holy Spirit, Kaslik (Lebanon) and Marie-Thérèse Saliba, University of Montreal, (Canada) Paternité - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de ModificationRéalisé avec Scenari (nouvelle fenêtre)