Saints and tradition in Coptic Orthodox Christianity in Egypt
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11210%2F21%3A10430578" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11210/21:10430578 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=8XZPBIYjdv" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=8XZPBIYjdv</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/Rel2021-1-1" target="_blank" >10.5817/Rel2021-1-1</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Saints and tradition in Coptic Orthodox Christianity in Egypt
Original language description
Based on ethnographic research, the article explores the position of saints in the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, focusing particularly on the relationship between Copts and their saints, and on the role the saints play in the Coptic understanding of their Church past. I demonstrate that Egyptian Orthodox Copts are encouraged to model their selves on narratives about their saints, and the saints' lives are turned into forma vitae, i.e., lives to be emulated. Further, I show how Coptic Orthodox saints can be considered key symbols, while their lives can be deemed key scenarios with suffering and persecution representing a root metaphor. The saints, thus, embody Coptic Orthodox values, which are socially accessible through ecclesiastical teachings on the appropriate Coptic Orthodox Self. In this way, Copts are made a part of the same series as the saints, and this seriation, as Bandak calls it, authorizes certain social actions, and social agency is thus challenged to follow such comportment (and particular social values). Further, the saints are crucial for understanding the Coptic concept of tradition, an indispensable element of Orthodox faith, as they represent its constituting elements. I point out that tradition in the Coptic Orthodox Church is defined as a lived experience (anchored in the experience of suffering) that can be lived again (it is not a historical moment located exclusively in the past) and is directly linked to the past. I link this understanding of the past with Simon Coleman's notion of historiopraxy to illuminate the Coptic disposition towards the past, and I argue that in the Coptic Orthodox Church the existence of the past without tradition is meaningless.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>SC</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the SCOPUS database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
50404 - Anthropology, ethnology
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach
Others
Publication year
2021
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Religio
ISSN
1210-3640
e-ISSN
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Volume of the periodical
29
Issue of the periodical within the volume
1
Country of publishing house
CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC
Number of pages
30
Pages from-to
3-32
UT code for WoS article
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EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85114044275