ABSTRACT
Coptic literature in the proper sense of the term originated in Egypt as a result of Christian missionary work there by the Church of Alexandria. It began as a way to satisfy the need for preaching the Gospel to native Egyptians. Its wide spread, however, was the result of the monastic movement that the Copts gave birth to in the fourth century AD. In particular, coenobitic monasticism required of its new recruits the ability to read the Scriptures. So it would not be surprising to see that early literature in Coptic was either biblical or monastic. As the number of Christians increased in Egypt, Coptic literature slowly began to gain prominence in relation to Greek, which was the lingua franca of both literature and administration in Egypt. The steady oppression that the Copts faced in post-Chalcedonian Egypt greatly affected the type of Coptic literature circulating among the Copts. It became a way of uplifting their spirits in the face of adversity.1 It declined in quantity and quality, however, as the number of Coptic-speaking Christians steadily began to decline after the late ninth century. It was being replaced by Arabic, which already had more than a two-century head start as it functioned as the official language of the country’s administration.
