Improvising the Baptismal Grammar: Liturgical Defiance and Intercommunal Boundaries in Medieval and Contemporary Coptic Rites

This paper examines two Coptic Orthodox rites—the medieval Rite of the Jar and contemporary exorcism sessions—as improvisational extensions of the baptismal liturgy. Though separated by centuries, both rites operate as liturgical responses to the porous boundaries between Christians and Muslims in Egypt. The Rite of the Jar, used to reconcile those deemed apostates or those who transgressed intercommunal sexual norms, reflects a medieval ecclesial effort to police communal boundaries while avoiding the redundancy of rebaptism. Contemporary public exorcisms, by contrast, invert the logic of hidden liturgy, projecting the proclamation of Christ’s lordship into contested public space. Both rites reveal how liturgical performance becomes a mode of theological agency and boundary work in minoritized religious settings. Drawing on ritual theory and historical anthropology, this paper argues that these rites improvise upon baptismal grammar to negotiate identity, perform resistance, and mediate the tension between ecclesial self-understanding and interfaith proximity.