There are no original works ofphilosophy in theCoptic language.[1] All surviving philosophical passages in Coptic are ofGreek origin and many are anonymous.[1] Mostly they deal withethics and are treated likewisdom literature.[1] Only a few texts have been edited and published.[1]
Among the named philosophers quoted in Coptic areDiogenes,Plato,Dios and the probably legendaryAnacharsis.[1][2][3] A translation of an excerpt from Plato'sRepublic (588A–589B) has been found in theNag Hammadi library, but it is a poor translation, extensively reworked to better conform withGnostic teaching.[1][4] Many leaves of a Coptic manuscript consisting of philosophical texts, fables with Christian interpretations and explicitly Christian texts survive dispersed between libraries in Vienna and London.[4] The parchment manuscript was copied in the 10th or 11th century in theWhite Monastery. The section of philosophy is titled "Notes of Some Philosophers".[5] Anthony Alcock supposes that it was compiled inAkhmim, a centre of Greek learning into the 6th century and also a late redoubt ofEgyptian paganism.[4] One of the anonymous sayings from the Vienna fragments that cannot be identified with any Greek text is this:
It is better to do good to a dog and a lion than to feed a thankless person. When the dog and the lion become tame, they remain friends of those who feed them. The disorderly person not only does not remain a friend but you will find that when you are doing him a favour, he is trying to rob your house and deliver you into the hands of your enemies.[4]
Six anonymous sayings found in the Vienna fragments K 944, 945 and 946 are also found in theHomily on the Passion and Resurrection ofPseudo-Evodius, where they are called "wisdom that is outside" (i.e., of the Bible).[6]
Although many writings of theChurch Fathers contain extensive philosophizing, few of these are known to have been translated into Coptic.[1] The most notable isGregory of Nyssa'sDe anima et resurrectione, a piece ofphilosophical theology that includes references to Plato'sPhaedrus.[1] The native Coptic saintShenoute also references Plato in his writings.[1]
Conflicting Coptic attitudes to Greek philosophy are apparent in several sources.[7] Some philosophy, or at least Plato, seems to have been a standard part of a Coptic education in the first centuries AD.[4]Socrates of Constantinople records that when the Greek monkEvagrius Ponticus went to the Coptic monastic complex ofKellia in Egypt, he spent fourteen years as a calligrapher learning the Coptic language. He became a disciple ofMacarius of Egypt andMacarius of Alexandria, "acquiring from them the philosophy of deeds whereas before he only knew the philosophy of words".[7] In this passage, Socrates uses "philosophy" in its original sense (love of wisdom), even citing thedefinition of philosophy in Plato'sPhaedo, i.e., the "practice of dying".[7] The Coptic letters ofAnthony the Great (died 356) treat the quest of philosophy and Christianity as the same (wisdom), but thehagiographicLife of Anthony portrays its subject as an implacable foe of the philosophers.[8]
Some later Copts wrote philosophy or philosophical theologyin Arabic. TheKitāb al-Burhān, written byIbn al-Rāhib in 1270–71, combines theology, ethics and philosophy. It contains atheodicy based on that of the Islamic theologianFakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī.[9]
In modern times, and especially with the strong French and British influence during the colonial period, there was a resurgence of Coptic philosophical writing. Two notable examples of modern Coptic philosophers are Bishop Gregorius (General Bishop of Higher Studies)[10] and Zakariyya Ibrahim.[11]