Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 434 Coptic Coptic

April in Egypt is the most pleasant time of year for locals, with mild weather, everything coming back to life, cool breezes blowing from the northern Mediterranean, and the first signs of heat waves from the southern desert.

But for strangers, it seems a bit too hot.

Sebastian wiped the sweat from his brow. As an Englishman, even after living in Egypt for two years, he still couldn't adapt to the climate.

Indeed, sunshine all year round is much better than continuous rain, but too much of anything is never good.

The dry air and scorching sun had long since caused his lips to crack and his skin to darken.

Nowadays, even when he goes to a brothel to find some girls and feels their soft lips, he can't help but sense the disgust in their eyes.

But what can be done?

Could he really give up his position as centurion in Egypt and travel thousands of miles back to England by Genoese ship just because of the weather?

Egypt is a fiery land, with scorching sun overhead and unruly people below.

But here, he can still earn more than a hundred gold coins a year, and after retiring from the army, he can also receive a rural fief of his own.

As for England, there was no place for him there.

As the second son in the family, he has an older brother to inherit the family business, and even if he becomes a priest in a church, he has a younger brother.

If you stubbornly insist on staying in your hometown, you won't starve to death, but you won't have any future either.

Unless one happens to be able to negotiate with a noble lady whose male heirs have all died, it is impossible to obtain a territory; one can only spend the rest of one's life doing odd jobs for one's brother.

That kind of life is worse than death.

Such aimless complaining had become a daily occurrence for Sebastian.

Even now, as he marches along the banks of a tributary of the Nile with his colleagues and subordinates, it is the same.

But complaints have an end, and the scene before us has remained unchanged from beginning to end, nothing more than an endless expanse of lush wheat fields and a river flowing ceaselessly.

To kill time, he turned to his colleague and asked:
"Nasser, do you know what happiness in life is?"

Nasser was somewhat reluctant to answer. He couldn't very well say that his happiness in life was watching the British or Frenchmen in the Egyptian army get their bellies ripped open, and then the living Franks rolled away from Egypt, round and plump.

"Lord Sebastian, my happiness in life is to serve the true faith! To eradicate evil heretical beliefs from this ancient land and restore the ancient and correct Church!"

After listening, Sebastian smiled and asked a question: "Does that also include the Coptic Church?"

In his mind, Nasser was probably a Coptic Christian from Alexandria, or someone who came from the Coptic community.

Otherwise, it would be unlikely that an Egyptian native who had just converted to Catholicism and was originally a Muslim would have such a deep understanding of the various common sense and rituals of Christianity.

Those religious details that permeate every aspect of life serve as tools for distinguishing groups of people.

Having a good understanding of the details of Christianity can help intermediaries like Nasser to quickly climb the ranks.

However, although the Coptic Church was considered a branch of Christianity because it recognized the Trinity, it was ultimately seen as heresy by the Roman Catholic Church.

Can converts like Nasser truly make the right choice between the Coptic and Roman churches?

Even the Patriarch of Alexandria (the Coptic Pope), who was practically under house arrest by the Egyptian legions, was only temporarily cooperating with the Crusaders due to some practical pressures, and was far from being of one mind. Was this a test of loyalty? Nasser asked himself.

Although Nasser was also a centurion, on par with Sebastian.

Can a person born in Rome be the same as a barbarian who obtains Roman citizenship?
But such probing was meaningless to him.

Indeed, Egyptian Muslims are indistinguishable from Coptic Muslims in appearance.

It's normal for him to be considered a Coptic, but his true faith ultimately comes from the Jerusalem Faith, which was spread through the "church".

Only a faith that enables people to stand firm on the earth, free them from hunger and thirst, and liberates them, is real and unbreakable.

Therefore, Nasser answered without any qualms: "Including the Coptic Church, all errors should be corrected whenever necessary."

Sebastian didn't dwell on the topic too much and continued chatting with Nasser about other things.

For example, what food is available in Alexandria, why Egyptians don't like wearing clothes, or any strange monster legends.

In short, there is no concern whatsoever about whether the upcoming bandit suppression operation will be dangerous.

……

Words possess power, not in a dramatic way, but as witnesses to history, recording many truths that have been overlooked.

Just like Romulus, the founder of Rome, whose real name actually means "Little Roman," his hidden meaning undoubtedly leaves a crack in the door to the true history that is covered by myth.

The word Copt also bears witness to the thousands of years of changes in the inhabitants of the Nile.

The ancient Egyptians' name for their country, phonetically speaking, was probably Kemet, meaning "black earth," referring to the fertile land along the Nile River.

However, with the conquest of Egypt by the Hellenized Macedonian dynasty, the Ptolemaic dynasty that followed began to influence and transform Greece on a cultural level.

The Coptic alphabet, derived from the Greek alphabet, became the mainstream script for writing in Egypt at that time.

The pronunciation of Kemet began to evolve into Kypt or Gypt.

Then, in the 7th century AD, the Arabs conquered Egypt, and the Arabs' name for the locals was transliterated into Arabic (al-Qib).

Finally, from the Arabic pronunciation, the French word "copte" evolved into the English word "Copt".

Today, the Coptic people, the original inhabitants of Egypt, comprise only about 20% of the Egyptian population.

But was that because the Coptic people experienced some kind of massacre by the Arabs?
Nasser shook his head, looking at the Egyptian farmers in front of him.

His skin was tanned a deep bronze by the scorching sun, his forehead and cheekbones were etched with wrinkles from the years, his nose was slightly flat, his lips were chapped and peeling, his stubble was unkempt, and his hands were calloused and thick like armor.

Whether they are Coptic or Muslim, this is true for both.

They look the same, use the same things, and even have the same blood flowing through their bodies.

When the Greeks came, the Egyptians used the Greek alphabet; when the Arabs came, the Egyptians used the Arabic alphabet; and now the Latins have arrived…

How many Egyptians are left who are willing to stand up and resist?
(End of this chapter)