Publications

Elena G. Tolmacheva
Copts: Egypt without Pharaohs

Moscow: Aletheia, 2003. 248 p., ill. — (Vita memoriae) ISBN № 5-89321-100-6 Е.Г. Толмачева «Копты: Египет без фараонов». — М.: Алетейа, 2003. — 248 с., илл. — (Vita memoriae) ISBN № 5-89321-100-6

The book is devoted to the popular description of the world of Egyptian Christians, studying of their culture, art and spiritual life. The author makes an attempt to summarize historical facts, important religious and cultural events, descriptions of the most famous and glorious persons concerning to Christianity at early Christian, Medieval and Modern Egypt.

The first part of the book is devoted to the history of Christianity in Egypt. the author considers the historical and cultural background that influenced on the forming and development of Christian ideology, the expansion of the Christianity all over Egypt. Some attention is paid to the connection between Egyptian, Gnostic, Hellenistic and Christian ideas and mentality. The history of the Copts is recounted in the context of ancient, medieval and modern history of Egypt.

In the second part represents the Coptic world as a religious and cultural phenomena. The author speaks about the place of the ancient images in the Coptic Christianity, the legends concerning the escape of the Holy Family to Egypt, the peculiarities of organization and service, theology and rites of the Coptic church. Some chapters tell a reader about famous Coptic saints, the history of the Coptic monasticism and the asceticism of the first monks.

The chapters about famous Coptic churches and monasteries, the collection of the Coptic museum in Cairo are also in this book.

The publication is supplied with illustrations, maps, a chronological table and selected bibliography on Russian and foreign languages. It will be interesting for all those who are fond of ancient Egyptian and Christian history, philosophy, literature and history of art.

© Centre for Egyptological Studies of the RAS, 2004