DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4640#0005
EGYPT.—AN INTRODUCTION.
the disorders which arose in Rome itself, extended to the provinces, and for many centuries Egypt
was the seat of those horrors which attend an unsettled government.
Whilst the Romans, and, subsequently, the Greeks of the Eastern empire governed, Christianity
was promulgated in Egypt. It was introduced there soon after its dispensation; but the history of
its early propagation is obscure. It was probably through the agency of those men from "Egypt
and the parts of Lybia about Cyrene" (Acts, h\), who were present when the gift of tongues was
given to the Apostles, and who heard the new doctrine delivered "to every man in the tongue
wherein he was born."
Egypt is known, however, in Christian history as the first place where the Anchorets and
Coenobites established their wild perversions of that beneficent doctrine, which taught "good tidings
of great joy to all people." Alexandria was the seat of a Christian bishop at an early period,
and among those who held its chair, and are venerated as the Fathers of the Church, are Origen,
Athanasius, and Cyril; and here the first great doctrinal struggles which divided the Christian
Church occurred, between the Athanasians and the Arians. From Egypt, Christianity ascended the
Valley of the Nile into Ethiopia and Abyssinia. Of Ethiopia the first Bishop was Frumentius, a
young Roman, who had been a prisoner in that country, but who afterwards rose to great power
and distinction; he became a Christian, and was consecrated Bishop of Axum by Athanasius.
In Abyssinia Christianity is still the religion of the country, and many Christian communities
exist in Ethiopia. Nearly every temple in Nubia, and in Egypt, was used as a place of worship
by them, and their symbols are still found in many places amidst the hieroglyphics of the early
periods. Now, the only native Christians are a few Copts, the descendants of the ancient
Egyptians, and they are not found above Esneh. With them the only vestiges of Christianity in
Egypt remain, which Gibbon calls " a sightless and hideous mummy of a Christian Church."
But the enmity and power of the followers of Mahomed subdued or extirpated the doctrines
and professors of our religion. Egypt had continued under the rale of the Romans till the rise
of the Eastern empire, and Rome herself was deserted. The feeble power of the Paleologi could
not defend these distant possessions, and, in 634 of our era, Egypt was conquered by the Arabs
under Omar.
Wherever "The Koran or the Sword" has established its power, mankind has degenerated
and sunk into barbarism, and has nowhere been raised above it. Countries, the most favoured by
Heaven, have become wild deserts; and the curse of Mahomedanism has been allowed, in the
inscrutable wisdom of the Almighty, to cast its blight over the very scenes where our inspired
religion arose, and the countries where it was first promulgated. With Omar commenced the
Mahomedan power and sovereignty in Egypt, but to us the history of her various Caliphs has
little interest. The dynasties of the Omiades, the Abbasides, Toloomides, the Fatimites, and the
Curds, extended to the middle of the thirteenth century; when the Memlook power arose, which
continued to our own day, to be extinguished by the reigning sovereign, Mehemet Ali.
The present condition of Egypt is one of the greatest importance to us, since the establishment
of a communication by the Nile, and transit by the Isthmus of Suez to the Red Sea, with our
vast possessions in India. The new means afforded by the application of steam-power to the
increased rapidity and facilities of intercourse will probably do more to establish a powerful dynasty
the disorders which arose in Rome itself, extended to the provinces, and for many centuries Egypt
was the seat of those horrors which attend an unsettled government.
Whilst the Romans, and, subsequently, the Greeks of the Eastern empire governed, Christianity
was promulgated in Egypt. It was introduced there soon after its dispensation; but the history of
its early propagation is obscure. It was probably through the agency of those men from "Egypt
and the parts of Lybia about Cyrene" (Acts, h\), who were present when the gift of tongues was
given to the Apostles, and who heard the new doctrine delivered "to every man in the tongue
wherein he was born."
Egypt is known, however, in Christian history as the first place where the Anchorets and
Coenobites established their wild perversions of that beneficent doctrine, which taught "good tidings
of great joy to all people." Alexandria was the seat of a Christian bishop at an early period,
and among those who held its chair, and are venerated as the Fathers of the Church, are Origen,
Athanasius, and Cyril; and here the first great doctrinal struggles which divided the Christian
Church occurred, between the Athanasians and the Arians. From Egypt, Christianity ascended the
Valley of the Nile into Ethiopia and Abyssinia. Of Ethiopia the first Bishop was Frumentius, a
young Roman, who had been a prisoner in that country, but who afterwards rose to great power
and distinction; he became a Christian, and was consecrated Bishop of Axum by Athanasius.
In Abyssinia Christianity is still the religion of the country, and many Christian communities
exist in Ethiopia. Nearly every temple in Nubia, and in Egypt, was used as a place of worship
by them, and their symbols are still found in many places amidst the hieroglyphics of the early
periods. Now, the only native Christians are a few Copts, the descendants of the ancient
Egyptians, and they are not found above Esneh. With them the only vestiges of Christianity in
Egypt remain, which Gibbon calls " a sightless and hideous mummy of a Christian Church."
But the enmity and power of the followers of Mahomed subdued or extirpated the doctrines
and professors of our religion. Egypt had continued under the rale of the Romans till the rise
of the Eastern empire, and Rome herself was deserted. The feeble power of the Paleologi could
not defend these distant possessions, and, in 634 of our era, Egypt was conquered by the Arabs
under Omar.
Wherever "The Koran or the Sword" has established its power, mankind has degenerated
and sunk into barbarism, and has nowhere been raised above it. Countries, the most favoured by
Heaven, have become wild deserts; and the curse of Mahomedanism has been allowed, in the
inscrutable wisdom of the Almighty, to cast its blight over the very scenes where our inspired
religion arose, and the countries where it was first promulgated. With Omar commenced the
Mahomedan power and sovereignty in Egypt, but to us the history of her various Caliphs has
little interest. The dynasties of the Omiades, the Abbasides, Toloomides, the Fatimites, and the
Curds, extended to the middle of the thirteenth century; when the Memlook power arose, which
continued to our own day, to be extinguished by the reigning sovereign, Mehemet Ali.
The present condition of Egypt is one of the greatest importance to us, since the establishment
of a communication by the Nile, and transit by the Isthmus of Suez to the Red Sea, with our
vast possessions in India. The new means afforded by the application of steam-power to the
increased rapidity and facilities of intercourse will probably do more to establish a powerful dynasty