File:Jerusalem Coptic Pater Noster - Carmelite sisters - Mount of Olives (6036440262).jpg

Linguistically speaking, Coptic (the liturgical language of the Egyptian-based Coptic Orthodox Church) has a particularly interesting place in history. For many centuries, knowledge of the Ancient Egyptian language and how to read hieroglyphic writings had been lost to human memory. European orientalists tended to … not be very successful when trying to decipher them. Eventually European linguists realized that Coptic *is* Ancient Egyptian -- or at least, a later spoken version of it -- written in Greek-like characters which could be read by plenty of people. Knowledge of early Christian-era and modern Coptic became very helpful in deciphering ancient Egyptian (along with helpful things like the Rosetta Stone that helped give context by writing two versions of Egyptian in classical and common hieroglyphic variants alongside a Greek translation). Anyway, the Copts are still around, and I think that's spiffy!