Coptic Nazarism
 The Most Holy Coptic Church of the Nazarenes | |
|---|---|
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| Classification | Non-Nicaean |
| Orientation | Miaphysitism |
| Polity | Presbyterian |
| Leaders | Presbyter Princeps Zephyrinus Victor I Rector Princeps Paul XXIII |
| Headquarters | Oyat, Tyreseia |
| Founder | Saint Paul (traditional) Saint Alban of Vigueria (traditional) Saint Euphrosynos of Adrianople |
| Origin | 1st century Tyreseia |
| Members | 19.7 million (official records) |
The Tyreseian Coptic Church or Nazarene Copts, officially the Most Holy Coptic Church of the Nazarenes or simply Coptic Nazarism is a NazaristSarpetic religion, operating as a distant offshoot of the Alban church. The faith is named after the Tyresene city of Oyat, formerly known as Coptia or Kóptos; this town is taught by Church tradition to be its birthplace following the arrival of Saint Euphrosynos of Adrianople. Working from a Gnostic interpretation of the Two Treasures, Euphrosynos preached a wholly dualistic vision of Yeshua and of the Godhead that quickly took root in the communities of modern-day Tyreseia and other fringes of the Alban world. Diverging from St. Alban's vision of a purely monastic polity, Euphrosynos created a largely presbyterian structure that survives nearly unchanged to this day.
The Coptic Church intensely developed elements of esoterism and mysticism over the centuries as part of a central belief that active pursuit of knowledge, especially through invention and exploration of the cosmos, brings the faithful closer to the Unbegotten and hastens the onset of the End Times. Despite this, Coptic monastic orders and societies exist, though they are not as numerous or as prominent as they were in their heyday.
At present, the vast majority of Copts live in Tyreseia, Anteliyea, and Charnea, though smaller communities exist across the Periclean basin and elsewhere. The Deshretic Rite of Coptic Nazarism accounts for most of the practicioners in Charnea, while the Tyrian Rite accounts for both the vast majority of practicioners and the dominant rite in the religion's homeland of Tyreseia. Anteliyean Copts follow a more distinct version of the faith, with a blend of local syncretic traditions; this rite remains in communion with the wider Coptic world.
Principal beliefs
The Coptic Church's believes in a spiritual realm outside of the known universe called the Pleroma, created and ruled over by a supreme being. This being is known by many names, such as the Godhead and the Monad. The Pleroma, sometimes translated as "fullness" or "totality," serves as the realm of the Monad, as well as of various lesser spiritual entities. In the beginning, according to Coptic myth, the Monad created pairs of spiritual beings called aeons, the last of which being Sophia, or Wisdom. Through some misbehavior or accident, Sophia caused an instability in the Pleroma that itself led to the creation of the known universe. Some Coptic sectarian traditions maintain Sophia and the Demiurge, ruler of the imperfect universe, as lovers or perhaps even spouses, though canonical teachings do not address the topic.
The Demiurge was created ignorant of the Monad's existence. As a result, it incorrectly assumed that it was the supreme being of creation; Nazarist tradition identifies the God of the Old Testament as the Demiurge. As such, the Demiurge is also known by numerous names in Coptic Nazarism, including YHWH, Ialdabaoth, El, and Saklas. The status of the Old Testament in the Coptic worldview is consistently debated; numerous Nazarist scholars have advocated for its removal from the canon as a collection of works that would mislead the faithful through the ignorant teachings of the Demiurge. Other viewpoints, the traditional majority in the Coptic discourse, hold that the Old Testament contains fundamental theological points based in the Godhead; due to the corruption of the Demiurge, this book proved insufficient to save the trapped souls of the material world.
As humanity continued its fall into wickedness, Sophia and the Monad are said to have conspired against the Demiurge and sent the Aeon known as Yeshua Amitai to Earth to spread new doctrines of salvation to the people. It is through St. Alban's and St. Euphrosynos' interpretations of these teachings that the modern Coptic church defines itself and its teachings. The Coptic Church teaches that recognizing the Monad as the true source of divine power in all things is the first step toward salvation. From this, it is all humans' duty to pursue gnosis, or knowledge of the divine and its workings. Various sects and branches of the Coptic Church have debated what constitutes true gnosis. Many early groups found it through the study of certain worldly scientific fields, such as astronomy, geology and cosmology, while others found it through the ritual consumption and exploration of various mystical and esoteric rites and texts. A further split exists on whether gnosis can be achieved through self-work. Most of the sects in communion with the main Coptic Church in Tyreseia take the position that spiritual guidance and teaching is required, as the paths to enlightenment are many and sometimes fraught with deception by the Demiurge. In essence, Yeshua served as the first spiritual guide. The Church, therefore, ordains priests to serve primarily as guides and teachers for their lay congregations. Some sects, usually out of communion with the mainstream Church, believe that self-practice is enough, and that with sufficient faith and practice, one can make direct contact with the Godhead via a medium in the spiritual realm. Such spiritual guides will directly impart gnosis to their charge. This tradition derives from the end of the Coptic Golden Age, with many of the more isolated monastic communities developing this tradition through losing contact with the Church hierarchy. Some groups, like the Fredricians originating in 15-century rural Gajexa, practice a mixture of both interpretations; they believe that guidance from worldly teachers is necessary to gain the right path to make contact with the spiritual intermediaries.
Scriptural canon
The Sarpetic scriptures considered canon by the Coptic Nazarene Church share similarities with other Nazarist canon lists found in other denominations. The Coptic canon list is closest to those of the Alban Nazarist Church, with which the Coptic Church claims to share deep spiritual affinity. The Old Testament, known in Coptic terminology as the First Treasury, remains largely identical to other renditions in other Sarpetic sects. Its inclusion in the Coptic canon, however, was highly controversial. During the drafting of the Coptic canon in the late 4th and early 5th centuries CE, numerous factions wished to excise it altogether. Ultimately, the First Treasury was retained; interpretations of its contents from a Nazarist perspective are diverse, as with the Second Treasury.
A list of the books comprising the Coptic Second Treasury, or New Testament, are as follows:
- The Gospel of Thomas
- The Gospel of John
- The Excursus of Luke
- The Secret Revelation to Judas (1 Secrets), also known colloquially as the First Book of Secrets
- The Secret Revelation to Mathaias (2 Secrets), also known colloquially as the Second Book of Secrets
- The Secret Revelation to Thomas (3 Secrets), also known colloquially as the Third Book of Secrets
- The Book of Acts
- The Gospel of Peter
- The Book of the First Annunciation (1 Annunciation)
- The Book of the Second Annunciation (2 Annunciation)
- The Gospel of Truth
The Excursus of Luke is theorized to originate from the same lost written source as the Christian Gospel of Luke.
History
As the Sarpetic religions developed in the early 1st century CE, a number of early theologians and priests rose to prominence. One of these was St. Alban of Vigueria, a Latin priest who was responsible for collating and spreading much of the Coptic Gospels in the Western Latin Empire. As Alban traveled, he accumulated numerous followers, including Euphrosynos, the son of a merchant family in Latin Adrianople. Following the fracturing of the Alban Church after Alban's death, Euphrosynos moved to the Hellenic settlement of Koptos in modern-day Tyreseia, where he founded his own branch of the Church and quickly subsumed all of the Albanist preachers in the region. The religion spread widely until the Fabrian Catholic Church came to be the State Church of the Latin Empire in 372 CE. From this point onward, the Coptic Church was cut off from Alban control as anti-Gnostic persecution became the norm across the Latin Empire until its withdrawal from the Tyreseian region.
By the time of the 6th century, the Coptic Church had solidified its position in a post-Latin Periclean region, with the Presbyter Princeps establishing a primary see in Coptia while the Rector Princeps established administrative headquarters in the city of Tyria. With the collapse of the hostile, Fabrian Catholic-leaning Latin Empire, the Coptic Church was suddenly free to grow and expand. The 8th century saw the establishment of over a hundred monasteries across modern-day Tyreseia, with many growing to own farm estates and other manorial land holdings. These sprawling religious complexes, rendered self-sufficient by their land deeds and isolated from secular society (and, as it often happened, from each other), quickly began pursuing inventions and advancements in both the mystical and physical realm. Politically, this time was dominated by the invasion of the religiously Azdarin Caliphates; as many city-states in the Transrubricine chose to pay tribute to the Caliph rather than fight, they found more freedom than most other polities at the time. This, indeed, allowed Coptic Nazarism to indeed grow and develop, spreading along the newly-established Caliphal lines to modern-day Charnea and beyond with Tyresene traders to the rest of the Periclean Basin and the Ozeros Sea. Such exchange and exposure to Azdarin ideas accelerated the accumulation of knowledge and pursuit of innovation at Coptic seminaries and monasteries in the Periclean. This subsequent 500-year boon to science and technology came to be known as the Monastic Golden Age, or more broadly the Coptic Golden Age. This period saw many of the first major additions to the scientific literature since the end of the Classical Era, as well as the development of the first form of the modern scientific method in 894 CE by the scholar-monk Georgius Mossos. Other key advancements include:
- The spherical astrolabe, essential for medieval timekeeping, astronomy, navigation, et cetera,
- The first use of a mastectomy to remove a breast tumor,
- The origin of the social sciences like sociology, historiography, and economics,
- The sulfur-mercury theory of metals, a key theory of alchemy,
- Mass developments of mathematical theories such as algebra, trigonometry, and geometry,
and many other advancements in the fields of law, philosophy, epistemology, astronomy, physics, geography, biology, healthcare, agriculture, and engineering.
Arts and literature also prospered under this Golden Age, with techniques and styles in fields from architecture to painting developing beyond Latin traditions into new, native schools. The 10th century saw both the work on both the sciences and the arts branch out from the regular clergy into the secular world. In 1095 CE, one of the world's first universities, Collegium Bibliothecae Tyriensis, was established in Tyria through funding by the local Merchant's Guild. The halls of the Collegium were quickly filled by scholars, polymaths, and lecturers from numerous fields and nations, and its shelves were filled with modern and ancient works covering every subject from biology to philosophy. Students from far-flung locations, too, were known to visit the Collegium to study under the masters of their field: records exist of students traveling to study astronomy under polymath Phameas the Boetharch from places as far away as modern-day Ghant and Uluujol, likely using fellow Collegium scholar Gisco Pisari's recent invention of the spherical astrolabe to reach him.
For many of the scholars of the Golden Age, this pursuit of knowledge was inextricably intertwined with the pursuit of Coptic gnosis, and as the Golden Age progressed, the monasteries that had started the age began to turn away from secular pursuits entirely, turning to more esoteric and mystical matters at some time following the Tyrian Collegium's establishment. The end of widespread monastic patronage taxed the momentum of secular scientific progress, and many scholars identify this event as the start of the decline of the Golden Age. Despite this declaration, however, it is known that the monastic orders were still producing esoteric and mystic works at a rapid pace, and disseminating them to the secular clergy and other orders. During this latter period of the age, from the 12th to the 14th century, numerous fleeting and fragmentary schools of Coptic thought formed from the competing abbeys. These abbeys began developing increasingly fringe and divergent beliefs; some sects believed in ideas as obscure and distant from mainstream Gnostic thought as reincarnation, such as the Valentinians.
Modern forensics have established that many of these isolated monasteries deliberately grew barley infected with the ergot fungus. Ergot is hallucinogenic, and it is believed that the consumption of this fungus and other psychotropic substances was ritualized and thus greatly influenced the divergent sects' teachings. The use of ergot was accentuated by the arrival of N'nhivara in Tyreseia following the 1353 Siriwang Eruption and the collapse of the Tahamaja Empire. The Ozerosi religion's own ritualistic substances would henceforth be incorporated into some of these hallucinogenic rites. The abuse of substances and influence from outside religion caused the central authority of the Coptic Church to weaken in the following years. Additionally, many of these monasteries were located far away from major urban settlements in the Arkelbi Mountains, leaving them simultaneously vulnerable to both bandits and any foreign invasion from the south. The disintegration of the Caliphate as a unifying political body left the Church thinly stretched, with a central administration controlling all the rites across Scipia, Ochran and Malaio. As such, many of its fringe communities were either granted autocephaly or simply lost touch with the overworked center, leading to a general contraction in the Church's overseas presence.
The Charnean invasion of the late 14th century ended the Coptic Golden Age definitively, as many of the more isolated monasteries were completely severed and sometimes destroyed by the invading armies. The divide-and-conquer strategy of the Charnean invaders meant that the potential unifying power of the Coptic Church was preemptively dismantled, leading to a further decline in Church power that Coptic Nazarism has yet to overcome, even after the Charnean departure. To this day, the Church operates to a much less widespread portion of the population thanks to its dramatic loss of prestige and power following the Charnean invasions and the destruction of many of the monasteries. To this day, however, rumors persist that self-sufficient semi-monastic "colonies" exist high in the Arkelbi, operating autonomously from the Church body and still producing untold numbers of religious works while under the influence of powerful psychedelic substances.
Organization
The Coptic Church lacks the ascetism, monastic emphasis, and disdain for ritual practice of the Alban church. The network of churches serve as networks to spread divine and esoteric knowledge to the initiated faithful, as well as centers to encourage worshippers to pursue gnosis in the correct directions to connect with the Monad through Sophia's works. Monastic orders, though not central to the Coptic Church, still serve important functions.
In keeping with its dualistic cosmology, the Coptic Church maintains a dualistic logistical structure through two co-equal executive heads: the Rector Princeps and Presbyter Princeps. Each administers a different portion of the Church, with the Rector Princeps in charge of secular affairs like finance and the Presbyter Princeps in charge of maintaining "unity of the faith." This directive can take many forms, such as organizing and collating sacred scriptures, or, more controversially, selecting which strains of thought du jour are correct for the Church and which are considered heretical. The Rector and Presbyter meet twice a year for a week each to exchange information and inform each other on the progress of each of their departments.
The basic unit of organization in the Coptic Church is the diocese, presided over by a college of the priests, monks, and nuns who live within its bounds. Collectively, they govern diocese finances and policy, and each diocese submits a single delegate to a Grand Council to elect either a new Presbyter Princeps or a Rector Princeps, should one vacate their seat through death or resignation. Only one Rector Princeps, Euphrosynos XI, has resigned from his post; no Presbyter Princeps has ever left the seat through means other than death or exile.
Controversy
Most modern controversies surrounding the Coptic Church come from the Rector Princeps' control of the outward flow of finances. For instance, in 2004, numerous protests were lodged with the National University of Tyreseia following a Ⲇ2.5 million Rubric endowment from the Church towards the Department of Religious Studies. Critics denounced this move as an attempt to introduce bias into the Department's curricula, while the Coptic Church defended its actions in a bull, stating the Rector Princeps was "merely trying to foster debate and discussion, as well as ensuring the presence of the Most Holy Church in debates on Tyreseian religion." Following this, the Tyreseian Supreme Workers' Council severely restricted the rules on religious organizations donating towards secular educational facilities.
In November 2009, a similar scheme to finance the Astronomy Department of the Tsabratan University of Science using a shell corporation was uncovered by the Tyreseian newspaper Res Publica. Following an investigation by the Tyreseian Republican Guard, a total of Ⲇ4 million was seized from the University and the shell company, leading to 40 arrests and the resignation of the then-Rector Princeps, Euphrosynos XI. Such a resignation was unprecedented, as no leader of the Coptic Church had ever left office beyond death or involuntary exile up to that point. The motive for such a brazen violation of the educational donation laws remains unknown to this day, but is frequently theorized to relate back to the Coptic Church's doctrine on pursuing knowledge for the faithful at all costs.
Media coverage of the Tsabratan University of Science payment scandal generated a counter-controversy, especially due to international reporting perceived as ill-informed or malicious. The most publicized incident came after Ghantish satirical newspaper The Nibbler published an article titled "Coptic Church Proves Pursuit of Wisdom is Holy by Committing Moronic Crime." The article appeared in translated forms across Tyreseia soon after publication, where Coptic moral groups began lobbying for a nationwide boycott of The Nibbler. Due to the paper's low readership in Tyreseia and the Church's loss of moral standing following the scandal, this call was largely ignored. Similarly, the Yisraeli late-night show Evening Shmooze with Eli Kahane featured a repeat segment called "The Coptic Coffers," which ran from late December 2009 to January 2010, featuring numerous skits lampooning and satirizing Church spending and finer points of Coptic theology. The Presbyter Princeps Zephyrinus Victor I issued a bull to Yisraeli Channel 20 in January demanding the segment be halted and an on-air apology for "creating inter-religious strife" be aired in its stead. The segment was indeed pulled, but Channel 20 and host Eli Kahane doubled down, airing a new segment called "Letters from the Inquisition" in protest. This segment featured the reading and belittling of the bull itself, as well as ridiculing other letters sent in by the Coptic faithful in protest of the show. This segment ran from February to April 2010, when it was abruptly halted after it was revealed that some of the letters were unknowingly sent in by trolls and improperly screened.