The answer
I have spoken often of asceticism in the Coptic Church, its theological understanding, its life of worship, and its behavioral implications. It will be sufficient, then, to add the following few points:
1. The influence of the ascetic life on the Coptic worship is clear. There are many hymns that bring joy to the soul; the Church fasts more than half of the year; her liturgies are centered around waiting for the coming of Christ with an eschatological mindset.
2. The Coptic Church is known for her numerous martyrs, to the extent that some scholars regard the fact that the Coptic Church still exists till our present day as a divine miracle. Entire cities were martyred, and the martyrs faced their persecutors with joy, waiting for their crown of martyrdom.
3. Ascetic and spiritual thought influenced Alexandrian theology, which bears a salvific mindset, so that her theology was centered around salvation (Soteriology). Theology is not about some philosophical ideas for research, as much as it is tasting God’s salvific work in the believer’s life.
4. The ascetic life does not mean being in enmity with the flesh, but rather viewing the flesh as being sacred and a helper for the soul.
5. The ascetic life paved the road to start the ascetic movements in all their forms (solitude, coenobitism, and semi-eremitism). These movements aimed for a life of unity with God, in one form or another. This is why the believers understood solitude not as isolation from people, but as solitude with God. Even if a monk lives in the wilderness alone, his heart is never isolated from the rest of humanity, but he rather bears them with love in his heart, as he prays for them and suffers with their sufferings, longing for the salvation of everyone.
6. Many Egyptian fathers resisted exaggeration in asceticism, especially if done without discernment or wisdom.
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty