A historical look at the Coptic position on abortion

[dzheremi]

In light of recent pushes from the pro-abortion political faction in New York and Virginia, I think it is good to look at the historical position of the Church on this matter.

From the very interesting blog On Coptic Nationalism and its owner Dioscorus Boles, we read:

Coptic manuscripts and literature that talk about abortion are rare, and the issue has not received in Coptic society the same attention and treatment it receives in western societies, possibly because it hasn’t yet reached a level of concern. I have recently come across a Coptic manuscript that puts forward the traditional Coptic view on abortion: what is called the “First Letter of Saint Pisentios, Bishop of Coptos”.

[...]

One of the sins that St. Pisentios counsel Christians to avoid is abortion:

[5]اى امرأة تستحسن سقط حملها الذى فى بطنها قبل ان يكمل خلقة الجنين الربّ يلقيها اسفل هاوية الجحيم

Any woman who aborts what she carries in her womb of the incomplete foetus the Lord shall throw her into the depth of the pit of Hades.[6]

This is a rare occasion of abortion being mentioned and condemned in old Coptic literature. Notably, the Coptic Church Canons, which multiplied in the Middle Ages, do not at all deal with the issue, suggesting that abortion did not reach an epidemic level then, particularly in al-Qahira and Misr,[7] and so did not constitute a major concern for Coptic society and Church, as, for instance, circumcision did.[8] Can we attribute this abortion section in the First Letter to Pisentios himself or was it an addition by a later writer? It is an interesting question for which we may never find an answer! Anyway, if it is a later insertion, it may suggest that some Coptic women in the 13th century started emulating Muslims, whose religion is comparatively lax on this issue[9] – another instance of Cultural Islamisation of the Copts in the 12th and 13th centuries, [10] which we have seen before with circumcision, and which was lamented by so many Copts of the period.​

Out of respect for the author's work, I will not quote more, but I highly suggest that anyone interested in the historical Christian position on this matter go read the entire post (it's not much longer), as it also references as far back as the Didache, from the first century AD.

So the true Christian message has been clear and consistent in all of this time (from the first century Didache until now), even in societies such as Egypt which are run according to the dictates of a foreign religion which is comparatively very permissive of abortion. I would like to call the reader's attention to the use of the term "incomplete foetus" in the quote (in the original قبل ان يكمل خلقة الجنين lit. "before the creation of the fetus"), which shows a clear understanding of the fetus as a human being even if it is not yet viable when aborted. This is very different than the popular stance in the world today, but whether it is actually from the time of St. Pisentios (7th century) or from the 13th century (the date of the manuscript), it is still right.

 

[Messerve]

On this subject, how do we really respond to these decisions being made by states? I mean, if a fetus is just as much a human being as a 9 month old baby, then part of me says we should always have been as disgusted and shocked as people are now.

At the same time, where there may have been some degree of uncertainty about the humanity of fetuses, there can be no doubt about the humanity of a 9 month old baby... So while the murdering of fetuses is somewhat forgivable on the grounds of ignorance or spiritual blindness or social brainwashing, I really can't think of any way to explain away the killing of babies who look and act like human beings! I'm not saying we can't forgive those parents, but I'm honestly struggling with that...

I know in some cultures parents will bury babies alive that they don't want... I find that just as inconceivable! Give the child to someone else, for goodness sake! There are so many godly couples struggling with infertility!

Sorry. I'll get off my soapbox now.

 

[archer75]

The whole matter is so crushing. And the fact that in our time and place (in the US, anyway) of material wealth, there are women (regardless of financial status) who are so terrified by the thought of a baby or another baby that they even consider this means that things are very, very wrong...

 

[Kenny'sID]

Any woman who aborts what she carries in her womb of the incomplete foetus the Lord shall throw her into the depth of the pit of Hades

And there ya' go, for the most part anyway.

I'd be terrified to do that at any stage. Sometimes we just know what is wrong, and there are no doubts, however, if there is, ere on the safe side.

How can killing a baby at any stage of their life be ok?

 

[GoingByzantine]

When I read the words of St. Pisentios, I can't help but wonder if he is referring to miscarriage. I have read that Christians of his era believed superstitiously that miscarriage was caused by a lack of faith and care by the mother, and treated as a sin. Is there any chance of this?

 

[dzheremi]

I'm not sure. You'd need to talk to an expert in the Arabic language on that, because I don't know enough about the language used here to say. I think that miscarriage and abortion can be expressed by the same word in Arabic (إجهاض ighad), but that is not the word used here. It's a little unclear to me, actually, how he gets that meaning out of these words (تستحسن is something like 'approve of', while سقط is 'fall', which could cover both abortion and stillbirth, so perhaps the more important aspect is not whether it is aborted by choice or by nature, but rather whether or not the abortion is approved of by the woman), but since he's the Egyptian and I'm not (and since it corresponds in this same way with the French translation given in footnote 6, which is "Every woman who finds it expedient to get rid of the fruit that she carries...", which likewise doesn't use the word avorter), I'll take Mr. Boles as such an expert himself. It seems highly likely to me, knowing how conservative Coptic people tend to be and how the surrounding society reinforces that conservatism, that we would expect to find some use of euphemism or otherwise artful language to avoid using the exact words which are maybe a bit too rough, direct, or distasteful to be tolerable, the same as we might not talk about gay marriage or the reality of infidelity and/or conversion to Islam among Copts, but we will say things that cover all of these in one fell swoop, without having to specifically point each one of them out:

As it was in the 7th/13th century, so it is today, apparently.

 

[rakovsky]

I think it is good to look at the historical position of the Church on this matter. From the very interesting blog On Coptic Nationalism and its owner Dioscorus Boles, we read: ... I highly suggest that anyone interested in the historical Christian position on this matter go read the entire post (it's not much longer), as it also references as far back as the Didache, from the first century AD. So the true Christian message has been clear and consistent in all of this time (from the first century Didache until now),

This is also what I remember reading in the first century writings that I have been going through. Clement of Alexandria, one of the most respected early Church fathers associated with Egypt, cites the Apocalypse of Peter that I made a forum thread about:

The providence of God doth not light upon them only that are in the flesh. For example, Peter in the Apocalypse saith that the children born out of due time (abortively) that would have been of the better part (i. e. would have been saved if they had lived) -these are delivered to a care-taking angel, that they may partake of knowledge and obtain the better abode, having suffered what they would have suffered had they been in the body. But the others (i.e. those who would not have been saved, had they lived) shall only obtain salvation, as beings that have been injured and had mercy shown to them, and shall continue without torment, receiving that as a reward.

Clement of Alexandria, Prophetical Extracts
The Apocalypse of Peter (translation by M. R. James)

After reading alot of these kinds of modern and patristic references to 1st-2nd century Christian writings (Didache, Apocalypse of Peter) that I'd never read before, I decided to read them all for myself. So that is how I got into the topic.