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The Coptic Encyclopedia
,
Editors and Consultants Editor In Chief Aziz S. Aliya Ullivcrsily of Utah EdItOnl William Y. Adams University of Kell1/lcky Basilios IV
Archbishop of lemsalem PieTTC du Bf)urguet, SJ. Lollvre Museum, Paris Rene-Georges Coquin College de France, "uris w. H. C. Fl'cnd GltUgow Univers;ly Mirri! BoUlI"OS Ghali
Society of Coptic Archaeology. Cairo Bishop Gregonos Higher Im;/iwle 0/ Caplic SlIldics. Cairo Peter Grossmann Germatl Il/stiW/e of Archaeology, Coiro AnlOine Guillaumont College de France, Paris
Rodolphe Kassel' Ulliversity 0/ Gelleva Martin Kr-.luSC
West/alische Wilhelms~U"iversilal, Milnsler Subhi Y. I...,bib Kid Ulliversily Tilo Orlandi University (If Rome Marian Rob(,rtson Ulah State University Khalil Samir Pontifical Oriental Ins/ilU.le, Rome Consultants Labib Haba(:hi Egypt/WI Depurlmelll of Antiquities, Cairo
J. M. Robinson h,slitllle of AIl/iquity alTd Chris/iallity, C/arCIIIOIlI, Colifomia Magdi Wahba Cairo Ulli,'ersity Editorial Managing Committee S. Kent Brown Brigham Young University, Provo Fuad Megally Polytechllh' of Cell/rol London
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Aziz S. Atiya EDITOR IN CHIEF
Volume 6
Macmillan Publishing Company NEW'rtJRJ(
Collier Macmillan Canada TORONlD
Maxwell Macmillan International NEW 'rtJRK· OXFORD· SINGAPORE· SYDNEY
,
Copyright C 1991 by Macmillan Publishing Company A Division of Macmillan, Inc.
All righLS reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any fonn or by any means, electronic or mechanical. including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and rClrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Macmillan Publishing Company 866 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 Collier Macmillan Canada, Inc. 1200 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 200, Don Mills, Ontario M3C JNl Library of Congress c..,talog Card No.: 90-23448 Printed in the United Slates of America
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The Coptic encyclopedia p.
I Aziz S. Atiya, editor-in-chicf.
em.
Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN O·02·897025-X (set) 1. Coplic Church-Dictionaries. 2. Copts-Diclionaries. I. Atiya, Aziz S., 1898BXI30.5.C66 1991 281 '.7'03-dc20
90-23448 CIP
The preparation of this volume was made possible in pal1 by a groint from the National Endowment for lhe Humanities, an independent federal agency. Photographs on pages 567, 736, 754, 755, 790. 791, 876-878, 1284. 1311, and 2168 arc reproduced courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photography by the Egyptian Expedition.
(continued)
MUHAOHOHAB A....oIN ABO SA'ln IBN ARt SULAYMAN, physician son of Abi SuJ3ymflll D;'iwlid ibn Abi 31·Muna ibn Abl Fanah from whom, 3mong OIhers, he learned medicine, and brolher of AaO ALFAQL IBN ADI SUL\yM.\N and of Abu Sh:iklr ibn AbT Sulnymiin, to whom he laught Ihe 3n of medicine. He wa.~ a skilled uoclor, respected and wilh a good position at coun. The suhlln al-M;lllk al·'Adil (1200-1218), for whom he worked, app..inted him to the sentlee of his son ai-Malik al-Mu'~m. He also worked as physician for ai-Malik al-Nl\sir Salt\h • • • ai-DIn. He moved to Egypt and remained there umil his death in 1216, He wns buried at Diir ~i·Khandaq in ClIiro. While in D(llna~ell~ he also taught his nephew Rashid ai-DIn AnO t.tUL\YUAIl, PENE,;WPE JOHNSTONE
MUI:fAMMAD 'ALI, VICEROY. See Mu~am. mad 'All Dynasty.
MUJ:lAMMAD 'ALI DYNASTY, a family dial ruled Egypt for about a eenlury and a half (1805-
1691
1952). The following is a brid survcy of Ihe line of succession, with panicular reference to Ihe role played by the Copts during Ihe time of each ruler. Dales refer 10 the yean of their accession and demise or abdication.
Mubammad 'All, Viceroy (1805-1849) An outstanding soldier and statesman, Mu~am· mad 'All wa~ the founder of modem Egypt and of the dynasty that ruled the country until the 1952 revolution. Following the French Invasion or Egypl (1798), the sultan sent lin cltpedJtlooary force, including a contingent of Macedonlan Albanians, of whom Mu· J;lammad 'All W89 an officer. After the defent of the French and Iheir departure in 1801. Mu~ammad 'All stayed on and watched the ensuing confusion and struggle for power between the MamJuks, the OUOman governor, and the Egyptian people, whieh he eltploited for his own benefit. In 1805, having won the contidence of the inhabi· tants, he was asked by Ihe '«/emas (the Muslim) 10 become Iheir ruler, and Ihe sultan had 10 confirm him as governor (walI). MuJ;lanullad 'All was subsequently able; 10 gel rid of his rivals and become; the; unchallengcd master of the counlly. Ue
1692
MUI:IAMMAD 'ALi DYNASTY
now SCt out 10 Ir(lllSfQr'ln ~gypt into 1l powerful slate sclf·sulfidcnt economically, industrially, and ag,'icuhUl'ally. 1·le rcbuih [he army alld the navy,
with which he achic\'ed resounding succco;scs and victurics all lIround I;gypl. He Clltcndcd I,is influence into Arahia, the Sudan, Sy.ia. Crete, and Ana· tulia, upscuing the political balam;c in tht, arca. With their inl(~reslS seriously thre:uened, the for· cign powers intervened, and in 1840, Muhammad 'All's vast empire was reduced to Egypt and the Sudan. He ....'35 also given hereditary rule of Egypt. MuJ.tammad .All's physical and menial faculties deteriorated IOward the end of his life, and he died in 1849, 11is SOil Ib,..oIhim having prt:1.1l-'Ceas..'J him in 1848. Among the innucnlial Copt:; who scrYl'd under Mu~ammad 'All, supplying him with huge amounts or money from their pri\'lnc sources to finance his projects, WllS Mu'allim JIMJIS AIAAWHAII.I (d. 1810), and Mu'allim CHAw. Mu~ammad 'AIT also l.'mployed some Cop!.s in key lIdmi"istrtltive positions as gov· ernors or provinces: Riu: Asha in Sharqiyyah, Makram Agha in Atnt.l, Mikha'll "II:M in Fashn. and Bu!ru~ Agh1 in Bardls (Riy!~ Sury:\l. 1984. pp. 4950). II is said that when Muhammad 'All was approached by Europeans st.-cking 10 ronn a o.:ompany to finance the building or a canal between the Med· itcrranean and the Red Sea, Mu'allim Ghalj pointcd out to him the inherent danll:cr of such a "Olnpany to the sovereignty of Egypt.
'AbbAs J;ltlmll, Khedive (1813-1854) Frum the beginning of his reign. 'Abbfls l;Iilmi aimed at selling mles and policies contral)' to those of his predeccssol1l. He wanted to relieve the Egyp· tian economy of foreign pressure lmd inflllcnce by liquidating (III projects of economic growth inaugu· ntled by his gl1lndralher. Muhammad 'AIT, whicb, in his opinion, rendered the economy or Egypt suhser· vient to Eurupe, As " resull. he closed ,,11 modern factories and all higher schools, and decreased the l"orces of both the army and the navy. He believed that his grandfather had opened the door widll for Europe:tll influence :tnd weakellt.~ the Ottuman elllpil"e by the destruction of its rniHtal)' power in Egypt. Because uf his Otlumiln eduCiltiun ilnd upbl'inging, he lended to oppose the policies of both Mu~ammild 'Ali and Ibrahim. Cunscquentl.v, he de· viated from their policies and stal1ed pel-,;ccuting allthl.'ir fonner assistants in the European projects. In this way, 'Abb& thought to relUl'n Egypt to its
Islamic and Orienl:.1 Ch.\rtICler and lu fn:~ il frum Western ambitions. But soon lime Iwoved hi.~ gross misjudgment. In fact, even his l-elationship with lhe Supreme Pone or ConSlanlinupl1; deleriur,lted later bt.-cause of his allempt 10 suppress some of its administrative privileges gr,lnled under iln [846 treaty. Owing to BI'itain's fa\'Ot"llble position with Turkey, 'Abb.'is thought 10 ask Ihe English authorities to negotiate on his behalf with Ihe Suprenle Pune and in return offered the British a projeci of constructing a railW.lY linl; from Alexandria lu SUC"L via Cairo. In Ihe meantime, he insisted that this projecl should be rl,.-garded as an Egyptian one 10 avoid the infihm· tion or English influence into lhe country. This siluation was indin.'t:t1y afT«ted by the oul· break of the Climean War between Russia and Turkey. The czar olfc~d Britain the oppol1unity to occupy EiYiJt in return for giving him a rree h.md 10 seize cenain J13l1!i of Ottoman terrilOry. Accord· ingly, 'AbbAs hasH:Ilt.'t! 10 accept lhe Turkish sui· tan's proposal 10 cnler Ihe Crimenn War, by rein· forcing the Egyplian amlY and the ronifieiltion of hi~ own coa.~!.'1 against any JI'05-~ible incur.;ions by the British navy. In the lonll: run, Egypt W,lS able to escape all h37.ards precipitated by this Orienlal cri· sis. Internally, the viceroy enlertained lhe idea or lransport.ing the Coplic communily from Egypt to lhc Sudan and Ethiupl:l, thereby giving Egypl an unmixed Islamic color. Thl!! strange project was communicaled 10 Ihe Islnl1lie religious authurilY fur comment, and a clear' fulwo (religious opinion) was issued refuting this idea and informing lhe viceroy th,lt the Cupls were lhe ur'ill:innl inh'lbilnnls uf the land of Egypt and that their extelmination would he holh wrong and impractical. On 14 July 1854, 'Abbfl.~ was assassinated by a group uf eonspirnlurs from his own f:lmily in his own palace at Sanh:'. Al the lime or hi.~ death, the nlilwuy line had re'jehed Karr ill·Zayynl; il was cumpletcd in the reign of his successor, Sa'Td [·asha.
Sa'ld, Khedive (1854-1863) Unlike his preclecessul", 'Abbf\s Hilmi I, &l'td en· coumge<1 foreign par1icipaliotl in Ihe Egyptian economy and administr,ltiun, thus facilitating Europe:1Il infilll7\tlon. He gave various concessions to foreign companies for the development of the coun· try, Ihe IllOSI impol1ant beina the COllstnlclion of the Suez Canal. Consequently, by the end or Sa.'ld·s reign, Egypt had conlracled huge debts.
MUHAMMAD 'ALI DYNASTY • • Sa'id had great esteem for the Coptic patriarch. CYRil. IV (1854_1861), rntlll~r of rdorm. lie gave him permission to build a church in the l;Iarit al·S....q· qay'ln quarter of Cairo. lie alSQ relied on the patd· arch to negotiate with Emperor Theodoros of Ethio· pia an end to the dispute between the twu countries over the Sudane~e frontiers.
lsmA'II, Khedive (1863-1879) Through his Western education and his connections in important European capitals at the time, Isma'i1 acquired subst:lOtial political experience. He ruled Egypt durinll a critical stage of its hilitory. through which European pre.~'lUre e.~ened ilo;elf throughout the country. To ClIIT)' out the refomls that he had in mind, he had to have fC(:ourse to foreign aid and contracted several loons. He was therefore forced to usher the foreign pn'sencc and innuencc into Egypt. since he relied on l!uropean monetary sour'Ccs 10 finance Ilis economic and political projects. Nc\'crthcless, !sma'II's reign was (ml; of cuhural enlightcnment. A.~ he was intent upon setting up a modern administr:tth'e system, Copts proved of great impOl1anCe during his reign. He appointed 5<;ver..1 of them 10 the Minililry of finance and othe,' administratl\'e branches of the governmem. During his reign, American mission:uics stanl.'d their campaign in Upper Egypt to com'ert Copts to Protestantism. They succeeded in annexing two well·known fnmllic:,'s of Asyli!, the Wi.. ;M and the Khayyii!s. 10 the Evangelical church. The Copts fought ugainst prosclyti:.eation. They had the full suppol1 of the khedive, \Vho sponsored a tour for Pope Demitrius (1862-1870) in Upp<.:r 4:YPllo eonfronl the missionary activity there. AI·Jllm'lyyah a!·Khuyl'iyyah (Cuptie Benevolent Society) waS eSlablished in 1871 to p""vide educa· liom.l tmd social services tu Copts. It W
[693
Lord Cromer, the High Commissioner, ran the country wilhout nny opposition from the khedive. He filled government posts wilh Europeans and preferred Syrian Christians to Copts, as he felt that the British were htlted by Copu no less than b)' the Muslims. However. some Copts whu had been appointed prior to the occupation m~e 10 high rank, such as OOIlfIl.OS G...At.1. who won the title Pasha. Solidarity bet\liCC'l Muslims and CoplS wa.~ mani· fest during the 'Uttibl revolt. When Ihe kht-dive or· dered the dismissal of 'Urtlbl as nlinister of war, over five hundred Egyptian reprcsentativ(.'S, includ· ing tho: two religious leadel'$, the shuykh of al·AJ:hnr Mosque and the patriarch of Alexandria. CYRIL v (1874-1927), on 22 July 1882 signed a do;:daratkm of support of 'Unih1 and a condemnation of the kht..dive'5 surrender 10 fureign powers. Among the other signatories were Bou!fOS Ghall and other Copts (AI·Rafi'1, 1966, pp. 439-448). 'AbbAs I;Illmf II, Khedive (1892-1914) The fifth member of the Mu~ammad 'All dynasly to rule Egypt. 'Abbas ~Iilnll acceded to the throne at the nge of eighteen. His reign was eventful because of the role he pillycd in the national movement and his policy In relation to the British occu· plltion of I;gypl. Unlike his father, Khedive Tawfiq, he resented the idea of being a puppet in British hands. He therefore dismissed Mu~!nfa Fahml Pasha on 15 Janunry 1893. This was the first cabinet to include Bou!l'os GhAlT Pasha as a 'llinister, who was to become prime minister in November 1908. At Ihe Qulsel Qf 'Abbas I~ilmill's reign, there WI,s di:>agreement between the members of the COMMuNITY COUNCIL. on the one hand, and Pope Cyril V, 0/1 the other, over the methods of reform. The council asked rQr the !'Cml)v;tl or the pope tl) I)AYIt A[..UAItA· MOS. where he stnyed for approximately one year berol'C returning 1Q his seul in C;liro through the intervention of some CoptS opposed to the council. During 'Abb:'is l;Iilmi's reign, a group of Coptic intellectuals started to n1obllil':e COl'tic public opiniun in support I)r certain scctarlun requirements thnt were opposed by I)OU!I'OS GhAlI, thus leading to radical trends in the political movement. This I'eached its climaJl with the :lsS:lSsimltion of Bou!ros Ghali hy a Muslim fundamentalist and triggered sectarian duls. In 1911 the CoptS held a congress at Asyli! (see COPTIC CONGRESS OF ASYO'T) to diseuss their sectarian demands. Another congress, known as the ECYPTtAN CONI'IlRENCE OF HEUOPOUS. orgnnizcd by Muslim ••
1694
MUI;IAMMAD 'ALi DYNASTY
pt:rsonalities and some Copts, was held in Calro. It sought a $Olution 10 the sectarian crisis and put an end to the riots. The British occupation forces look the opportunit)'
to muzzle the press. ban political meetings. and
country, with such well-known nallles as MAKRAM EBEID and WISSA WASSEF. They found conditions fa· vorable for pursuing social and cultural activities by selling up benevolent societies and educational organizations.
liquidate the muionalisl movcmcm. Farouk I. King (1936-1952)
l:Juaseln Kamll, Sultan (1914-1917) When World War I broke out in 1914, 'Abbas l;IilmT II was on a vis!1 to the sultan in ConstanLino-
pie. The Brhish .sei7;ed the OpportUllily to depose him. on the grounds of his IOy;Jlty 10 their enemy.
They installed his uncle l;Iusscin Kamel wilh the title Sultan, the first Egyptian ruler 10 carry this lille. Eaypl Wa$ declared a British protectorate, and martial law was imposed. The e(:onomic resources of the country were put in the servin' of the British
anny. as Egypt became a military base. This in· flamed public feelings agaim;{ the British, culminating in the eruption of the 1919 revolL ':Iuuein Kamel died in October 1917, after a
rei,n of three years. liis son declined to succeed him to the throne, which was men'fore offered to his brother, Fouad. Fouad I, King (1917-1936) Followinll the death of ':Iussein Kamel. his broth· er, Fouad. occupied the throne from 1917 to 19]6. As a )'
The last monarch of the Mu~ammad 'Ali dynasty, Farouk succeeded his father, Found, in May 1936, as a young man straight back from school in England. Farouk's reign coincided with various politi, cal and $OCial movementl Ihat evenrually led to the 1952 revolution. Among these may be mentioned Young Egypt (Mqr a/·FtJlfJh) and the Muslim Brethren (a/·/khwiJn a/·!tfus!imiln), both of which adopted fascist ideologies within an Islamic fTamework. The reaction to these movementl was manifest in the formation of the shon·lived Coptic Nation Associa· tion (lamA'at al·Ummah al.Qibliyyah). The seareh for a true Egyptian identity polarized two distinct tendencies: 10 consider Egypl as pan of the Mediterranean world, with ilS TOOtS in ancient Egyptian civilization, and to emphasize Egypt's 15lamic past. In addition, a new current of Arab nationalism led to the foundation of the Arab League in Mareh 1945, In 1948 the outcome of the Palestine war damaged Farouk's standing, and the country was seething with the rumors of corruption in high places. The Cairo fire of 26 January 1952 was Ihc beginning of a series of events that culminated in Farouk·s abdication and the proclamation of the Egyptian republic, 8IBLIOGRAPHY
'Abd al-'A~.Im Rllmll~IAn. TU/llwwur al·f,lawka!r al· WII!Ulliyyah II Mi~'r, 1936-/948, Beirut, 1974. 'Abd al.Ra~ml\n :l1-JaburtT. 'AblIJ'ib al-AIMr If al·Ta· rIJjim wa·II/·AkhblJr, vol. 4, Cairo, A.H, 1297. Abd al·Rahmtln al·RM'I, Fl A'qab al-Thawrah al· Mi.1riyyah, J vols, Cairo, 1946-1951. 'A~r /smtl'II, 2 \lois. Cairo, 1948. , AI·Thuwrah ul·'Urtlbiyyah wa-all~till'll al·/n{ifIll. Cairo, 1966, A~mad Abd·al Ra~rm MuHaf1, Mi~r wa-al·Mas'alah al-Mqriyyah /875-1882. Cairo, 1965, Chriol, Valentine, 1'he Egyptian Problem, London,
==' :
1920.
Cromer, Lord. Modem Egypl. 2 vols, London, 1908. E1g00d, P. G. The Transit of Egypt, London, 1928. Ghorbal, S. Mu1Jalllmad 'All al·Kablr. Cairo, 1944. Hanotaux, G. Hislcire de la nalion Egyptienne. Paris, 1931-1940.
MUHDJ, MUHAMMAD AL·
Ikbal Ali Shah. Fallad Killg al Egypt. London. 1936. Jerrold, B. Egypt Under Ismail Pasha. London, 1879. King, J. W. Historical Dictionary 01 Egypt. London. 1984. Landau, J. Parliaments and Parties ill Egypt. New York, 1954. la!lfah salim. Mi~'r Ii al'lIam ul.',l,lamiyyah al·MlJ. Cairo, 1982. Uoyd, Lord. Egypt Since Cramer. 2 vals. London, 1933. MacCoan, J. C. 1:.DPt Undu Ismail. I...(lIldon, 1899. Manassa YO!;ulnnl. TiJrlkh al·Kanf$Uh al.Qib(iyyah, pp. 508-510. Repr. Cairo, 1983. Marlo~, J. ,t.nll'().Egyptitl>1 Rdations, 1800-1953. London, 1954. Mlkhl'lI ShAnlblm. AI·KlJ/r 11 TllrlkJr Mi:fr al..(}adim wll·al fladrth. Cairo, 1900. Precis de I'histoire de I'Egyptt:. Cairo, 1932-1935. Dalllni Fahml (Pasha). Mudhllkkirllt 'an Ba'd lIawll· dith Il/.MtJ.t!I, vol. I. Cairo, 1931. RamzJ Tlidrus. ,t./,AqbiJ! /t-flI·Qam tll·'hhnn, vol. 2. Cairo, 1911. Ri~ Suryal. M-Mlljtllma' al.Qibri 11 Mi:fr Ii al·Oam al·Tllsi' 'Ashar. Cairo, 1984. Sabry, M. L'Empire etyplian sous I.~mail. Paris, 1930. Safran, N. Egypt in St:llrch 0/ Political Community. Cambridge, Mass., 1961. SchoIch, A. Egypt lor lIlt: Egyplians. London, 1982. Nawllbigh al.Aqbii! waTaw8q lskan1s. Mashllhlmhllttt II al·Qam al-Tllsf 'A.~har, vol. 2. Cairo, 1913. Tignor, R. Modllmization ulld British Ca{ollial Rule in Egypl, 1881-19/4. Princeton, N.J.. 1966. Ya'qob Nakhlah Ruraylah. Tlirikh al·Ummah al-Oib· (iyyah, pp. 282-81. Cairo, 1899. Youssef, A. Independent Egypt. London, 1940. RA'OI' 'Af:lIIAS HAMED
MUJ:lAMMAD RAMZJ
(1871-[945), Egyptian scholar. He wa~ born and educated at Ihe town of al.Man~Orllh in the Delta and latcr al llic School of Law In Cairo. [n 1892 he joined the Ministry of Finance as a clerical employee, and by 1930 he had been promOled to the position of inspector general of land taxalion. During his lung carel", he visited every region of the country, making extensive sur· veys of every town, village, hamlet, and fann. He was keenly interested in the names, history, and background of every area, which he checked and revised in the light of information given mainly by al·Maql1lJ'S KillJh al.Khi{a! (Land Survey) and 'All Mubllrak's AI·Khital al-Tawliqiyyah, as well as many medieval and modem geographers, including such French geographers as Emile Aml:lineau, Jean Mas-
1695
pero, a·M. Quat remere, and G. Daressy. He thus became the leading authorily on Egyptian topony· my. In 1941 he published M·Dall1 al-lllghrafi (Geo· graphical Guide), but his mast valuable work, AI· QiJmus al·lullhrajt fjf·Bilad al.M4rlyyah (Geographi· cal Dictionary, 2 vols.), was posthumously published. Its illlponance lies In the facl that it is fully comprehensive, covering Egyptian loponymy from ancienl lim(:$ 10 Ihe present. FuAD MEGAUY
MURDI. MUJ:lAMMAD AL-, Muslim scholar, born as a Copt about 1731 and died a Muslim in 1815. Muhdl became one of the leading Egyptian 'ulam/J' (Muslim scholars) of hb time. As a child of Coptic parents, he was originally named Hibal' Allah. About 1150 his father, Abu F1nylls (Epiphan. ios) Fa<:Jlallah, became intcndant-eomptroller under Sulaymln al·K.bhif, who employed Ihe young Copt on condition of conversion to Islam. Eventually, he enrolled him for study al al-A7.har. When he left his family as a young boy of barely thineen years and adopled Islam by Ihe new name Mul)hammad aiMuhdI, the famous shaykh al'l;Iifni became his tUlOr and foster father. Arter his education by the leading teachers of al-Amar, he received the qualification to teach in 1716, and two years latcr he occupied a vacant chair al thi~ mosque school. He was a proponent of the ShMi'ite school of law. Earlier in his career, besides being a Muslim scholar, he undertook administrative tasks In the government. Because of his good contact with Suo laym:'i.n al·K:bhif, he got a post as secretary in the DlwAn al·'UmOml, the council of the supreme dignl· taries in Ottoman·Mamluk Egypt, in 1163. In 1166 'All Bey appointed him secretary general in his of· fice, a position that he lost upon the overthrow of 'Ali Bey (1112); he regained it after the death of Mu~ammad Bey (1715). During the following period he maintained good relations with the beys dom· inant at tlte time, especially 1sma'II Bey (17861791), who also gave him duties in the mint, the slaughterhouse, as well as the administration of the pensions. Muhdr made usc or his insight into the methods of Ihe dominant caste to accumulate an enonnous fortune for himself through his administrative activilies. In Ihe course or the political crisis and the plague of the year 1191, he was able to procure numerous leases of tax fanns and management of
1696
MUHTASIB, AL·
found:llionJ;. He :11"0 p:lrticip:lted in trading comp:l· nics, When BonAparte conquered Egypl in 1798. he W:lS. with his private bu.~inesses and the pensions he obtnincd from lhe Ouornan Slale. one of lhe wealth· iC!\1 'II/amd' in lhe country, Mui)ammad al·Muhdl immediately began to l:ollaborate with lhe French and W:lS appointed in the post of St:crclary general in lhe newly fonned general council, He soon became an imp0l1anl. if not the mOSI import:lnl. support of the Fn'nch rule in Egypl. I~e edited the Arabic proclam;:'lions of lhe comm:lnding gcnerals in coopcralion with the French inlerprctel'S and Orientalists. lie willingly placed his experienee in go\'emmental administrolion at lhe disposal or the French generals and ad· ministraton;, and he made many pcr.iOnal friendships with them. Muhdl used his posilmn of confidence in many critical situation.~ to moderate the policy of the Freneh against the Mu:;lim popul3" lion, I-Ils repulallon and his influence on his fellow bdieVt:n1 oftcn allowed him to calm the overheated mood and to subdue allempts at rebellion at the vel'}' beginning. Even aftcr lhe failure of the French military venture. he remained in wrinen conlact with some of the French, C!\pccialJy with Jcan Joseph Marcel. the former direclor of the "Imprimerie Nationale" at Cairo. uteI' Marcel published a translation of Muhdl's works. Among lhem lhere are some poems that reflect a view of religious lolcr.tlion unusual for a Moslim sdlOlar of lhe eighleenth centul'Y. possibly caus<:d p:ortly by his conlaCI with the French, In spile of his collaboralion with lhe French, lhe return of Egypt to OUoman sovereignty did not l:(luse him :IIlY difficulties. He sueccednl quickly in making himself liked and indispcnsaole, thereby saving his posts and benefices, In tllc followin& yeat~ of inlernal .~truggle ror powcr betwecn thc Mamluk beys lmd lhe Olluml,n p:lshas, be behaved as neutrally as he could, hut he justified, along with otber leluliny 'II/Ilma', the seizure of puwer by MlJl)"'MM"'U .... 1..1 in July 1805. After this ev<'nt, he withdrew a little ITom politics and devoted himself to the adminislration of his tax farms and his busincsses, Hc gave lectures at al-Alhar and occupied him· self privately with seientifle-technil:al l'xpcrimcnts, When in 1809 the leader of the Ashrlf sect. 'Vmar' M:lkram, fell into disgrace with Mui)l\mmad 'Ali, Muhdl mllde use of the situfllion at the expense of the exiled Makrnm to secure again more political influence lind 11I01'(: p,'Ofitable offices. Aftcr the dealh of the sllOykh al·Al,har :l1·Sharqawi in 1812, Muhammad al·MuhdI was e1,-cted as his
successor in the oflice of the director of al·A1:har and head of lilt scholars in Egypt. For somewhat mysterious reasons. howevel'. Mu~ammad •All suDstituled him shortly aflcrwdrU by another person. He died in January 1815. BIBLIOGRAPHY
'Abd al·Rahmlin al·. JabanI. Ajd'ib QI.Al/liir Ii Q/_ TQrlJj;m t"Il-Il/-AkhbtJr. Vols. 3-4. Cairo, 18791880. Marcel, J. J. COllies dll d,eykh e/-Mohdy, Vols, 1-3, Paris, 1835. Motzki, H. Dimma Ilnd EgQlilt. Die nich/muslimi· schen Millderhcilen Agyptelu in del' tWdlen Ho.llte du 18. lQhrhwlJerts WId die Expt'dilioJl BonQ_ PQrles (/798-/BOJJ. Bonn, 1979. HAll.Aw MOTlK.!
MUHTASIB, AL-, See llisooh. al-. MUI, SAINT, martyr in fourth-eentury Egypl. Mui is known only by SOnle fragmenlS of an Encomium in his honor. by an unknown author. published by W. E. Crum. The fmgmenls repol't some miracles perfonned by him when hc was in prison in Alexandria. his confrontation with lhc prefect in the lawCOllrt. and the tortures inflicted upon him. The be· ginning and the part dealing with lhe martyrdom are miSSing, U1UUOGRAPHY
Cmm, W, E, Theological Tuu from Coptic Papyri. Anecdola Oxonien8ill, Semitic Series 12. Oxford, 1913. TJ'l'O ORl.ANDI
MUMMIFICATION, Ther'e is evidence for mum· mification in Egypt from the heginning of histurielll times, Herodotus llnd Diodoms report on the different ways of mummifying. Thc practice arose from the idea that preservation uf bodily integrity is the presupposition for life after death. This idea is evidently also the rcason for litatemenl~ in mllr1yr' legends of the "Coptic consensus" (Baumeister, 1972, pp. 1461L). After the torture but befol·c the death of lhc martyr, an archangel comes down from hea.ven and removes (loy bodily nmtibtions nrising from the m:lrtyrdom, !iO it can be affirmed thai "then~ wa.s no kind of injul')' to his body. and no damage was done to him at all."
MUMMIFICATION
As latc as 450 SH£NlfTE,. in [I sermon 011 the resurreclion, came to tenns wilh wch idea.~: "Even if your eyes llre 10m out, you will not "rise in the resuiTection without eyes, , .. Even if ynm- head is laken off, you will lise again wilh il on you, Evell if evel)' member is cut off, you will nOI only arise withoul hlll'ing Ihe Iiule linger of your hand cui off, or (the lillie toe} of your fOOl, bUI you will also arise as a 5pirilual body:' Hence it is nOI surprising Ihal no crillclsm of mummification wa.~ voiced by the church. Only Arsenius, who lived in the fiflh cenlury, was, according 10 Ihe opinion of H. G. Evelyn-White (1932, Vol. 2, p. 163 n. 7), againSI mummification. For Augustine (semw 361, De resII"eCliollt mortllofljm) mummificalion is proof that Ihe ancienl £muians believed in the rc5UrTeCtion of Ihe dead. In the slory of Joseph, deriving from the fourth century, Jesus is brought into association with mummification. Aftcr thc death of his fulher, Joseph, he lays his hands on the body like a magus and says, "The Slench of death shall nOI be masler over thee, nor shall Ihine ears decay, nor shall lhe festering mailer ever lIow from Ihy body, nor shall lhy burial~loth pass into the eanh nor Ihy flesh which J have laid upon thL"C, bUI il shall remain fa.~1 to thy body until Ihe day of Ihe IhOlU;lOd·year ban· quel:' This is the lilcrary parallcllo "IuTlllnificalion in praclice. It is further reponed that when the Jews came to lay Joseph 10 resl afh:r Iheir Immner of burial, Ih!..')' found him ulready rll'epa....:d for buri· ai, "with Ihe burin! [clolh] clinging to his body as ir it had becn altaehed with il'Oll clasps" (chap. 27, If.; Murenl., 1951, p. 23). This is intended to demonstr'ate thnt Joseph had been mUlIlmified by Jc.~us' utterance. Allhough so far only (l rew Coptic cemeteries hnvc been systematically excavated, mummies or Christians have been nuthentic(ltcu beyolllJ dispute, partieulady in Kurnm. Antinoopolis. Akhmlm, Thebes, nnd Aswan. From Ihe runenu)' equipment in the graves. these cemeteries arc to be dated from the fifth to the eighth ccntUl)'. TIIC cxamination of Coptil,; mummies (J)nwson and Smith, 1924, Pi>. 127ff.) showed Ih
1697
rounded with large quantltu:s or r.:oarst: 5311, wl'apped in c1olhs, and swathed with mummy Ixlnds. In additiOn srah was scnllered in the mUlllmy bands. The use of juniper berries was nlsa established (Dawson and Smith, 1924, pp. 1301r.). Mummies were depietL-d ill book illustmtions. In the Alexandrian Chronicle Ihe palriarch TIMOTHY I (d. 385) is represented as a mummy (Kopiische Kunsl, p. 450, no. 623). Th\s iIIustralion docs nOl, howe\'Cr, prove that he was mummified, for l....azarus also is reprt'scnled as a mummy in early Christian and medieval ar1, nlthough he W"dS not mummified (Hcnnann, 1962). On Ihe evidence of hili testament (in Gff!d Pap).,i in the British Museum, 1.77.57ff. [London, 1893]), bishop AlJllAliAM OF IIERMONTHIS (beginning of the seventh century) was to be mummified. He also promoled the lIlummifying; of Christians of his dio· ccs
n"umeister, T. Martyr illl'letlu: Der MiJrlyrer uis Sinnbild dcr JJrliJ.~lm{; III dcr Legellde Imd im Kull der frjihen koptisdlen Klrchc. Milnster, 1972. Castel, G. "Elude d'l/ne Illomie coptc:' In Hom· muge.~ II S. S/ltlllcrOIl, Vul. 2. Cairo, 1979, Cn/ln, W. E.. Coptic Os/raca from the Collectlorl of the B/:ypl Explora/lml FllIld, the Cuir/) Museum and Olher~·. l..ondon, 1902. Dawson, W. R., lind G. E. Smith. EgyrJllan Mum· mil'S. London, 1924. Dl.ierzykray-Rogalski, T., (lnd E. Prominska. "O.~se· menl..~ de l'cgllse cople de St. MHrc de Dei.. cl Mcdineh," Etlldes eltravcallX 8 (1975):151-57. Evelyn·White, 1·1. G. The MOIIIl.~l/'rics of the WI/dl'll NIl(rllll, 3 vols. New York, \926-1933. Godlewski, W. "The laiC Roman Necropolis in Deir el Bahari." In Grotco-CoptiCll. GriecllclI lind Kop·
1698
MUMMY LABELS
ten im bYUlrIlirlUchen ~cypten. cd. P. Nagel. Manin·luther-Un.iversilll Halle.Willcnbcrg. Wiss· enschaftJiche Beitrltgc 48, pp. 111-19. Halle, 1984. Hennann, A. "Agyptologische Marginalien zur spat· anlikcn Ikonographie. I. la7.arus und Osiris:' JGhrbuch fiir Anlib urld Chris""I'lm 5 (1962):60-
Ouaegebeur. J. "Mummy Label!.: An Orienlation.'· In Tu/u grecs, demOliqu(l$ e/ bilingues. cd. E. Boswinkcl and P. W. Pestman. Papyrologica wgduno-Batava 19, pp. 232-59. Leiden, 1978. Cites older literature. MAkTlN KRAlIS.E
•••
Herodotus. The lIis/()ry of Huodotus. Vol. 2, pp. J 18-25, nos. 85-90, ed. George Rawlinson. New York, 1893.
KOplischc Kuns/. ChrisUn/llm tim Nil. Catalog of the exhibit al Villa Hugel. Essen, 3 Mily-IS August 1963. Krause, M. Apa Abraham v(m Hemrom/lis. Ein oberI1gyptischer Bischof urn 600, 2 vols. Ph. diss., Ber· lin, 1956. _ _ . "Dtls Wcitcrleben lI.gypllscher· VOfSlellungcn und Brtiuche im koptlschen TOlenwcscn." In Das romisch.bYZImtinische. Agypte.n. Aktell des intema· tiona/en Symposions 26.-30, September 1978 ill Triu, ed. G. Grimm, H. Heinen, and E. Winter. Aegyptiaea Treveren$ia 2, pp. 85-92. Maim:. 1983. Morenz. S. Die Gesehidw: VOIl Josltph .lern Zimmef· mann UbefSctV. ItTllJu/ltfl und un/(lrsucht. Texle und Untcrsuchungen 56. Berlin. 1951. Sandison. A. T. "Balsamierung." In Uxikon du Agyptologilt. Vol. I. cols. 610-14. Wiesbaden. 1975. S<:hmitz. A. L "[)as Totenwe.len der Kopten. Kri· tische Obersicht uber die Iiterarischen und monumentalen OueUen." Zeitschrifl fnr agyptische Spfache und AltUlumskullde 65 (1930):1-25. Sternberg, H. "Mumie. MumicnhUlle. -binden, -netz." In Uxikon der "gypto{ogie. Vol. 4. cols. 213-16. Wiesbadcn, 1982. MARTIN KRAU5E
MUMMY LABELS, tablets, mostly made of wood, on which lire stated the name" of the de· ceased, his parents, and his gl'i\ndfalher. and infor· mation aboul age, d:ttc of death, and lhe place to which he belonged (sometimes also his occupation). The majority arc in Demotic and Greek (Coptic tablets are also known). The mummy labels were hung round the deceased's neck by a cord after MUMMtFICATION and lhc wrapping of the mumIllY in bandages. for idenlification and transpon to the place of burial. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Krebs, F. "Mumienetikcltcn aU5 Agypten.'· Zei/schrift fUf iJ.gyplisdu Sprache und Alunumskunde 32 (1894):36-51.
MUNIER, ADOLPHE HENRI (1884-1945), French Ctlptologisl and bibliographer. He WolS born in Meuf$!lult, COte-d·Or. He WlU librarian of lhe Cairo Museum (1908-1925) and succeeded Adolphe Cattaui as secreta!)' of the Societe royale de ~og raphie de l'Egypte (1924-1945). He published many ill"ticles in journals, most of them devoted to Coptic lell:ts Rnd the subject of early Chl'istlnnity in Egypt. He died in Cait'O. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dawson, W. R.• Egyplology, p. Kammerer, W.• Arbor. Mich.•
and E. P. Uphill. Wilo Was Who ill 209. London, 1972. compo A Copli~ Bibliography. Ann 1950; repro New York, 1969. AzIZ S. ATtYA
MUQA WQAS, AL-. Su Cyl'Ulll.
MURAD KAMlL (1907-1975). Egyptian scholar and educator in ancient and modem languages. He studied under Erma Uttman and had a brillant academic ca''eer in Egypt and Gcnnany. He specialized in Semitic languages, ancient and modem, those of the Middle East as ·well as those of Ethiopia. A mtlster of Greek, Latin, and classical Arabic. he was also well acquainted with many Western language.~, including Gel'man, French, English, Spanish, lind Italian. He taught at Cairo University, the Coptic CLERICAL COllECE. in the Institule of Coptic Studies, the University of Frciburg, and the Institute of Ara· bic S(udie.~ at the League of Arab Slates. Murad headed the education mission delegated to Ethiopia by the Egyptian governntent and was for two years (1943-1945) undersecretll!)' of state at the Ethiopian Minisl!)' of Education. He founded and direCI· cd the Higher School of Languages in cairo. He was a member or the Academy of Arabic Language and many other scholarly institulions. Always deeply concerned with the problems of the Coplic church, Murad took pan in 5oC'verai of the protract· ed negOliations between the Coptic and the Ethio-
MURQUS IBN QANBAR
pian churches. He bequeathed his Iibrnry, comprising about 20,000 volumes, to the Coptic palriarchale. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ayad, A. B. "Bibliography of Murad Kanlil." Bulletin de fa SQcieti royale d'Archiologie caple 2J ( 1976-1978):223-46. Ghali, M. B. "Obituary." Bulletin de fa Socie/e royale d'Archeofogie cople 23 (1976-1978):299-301. Kamil, M. Coplic Egypt. Cairo, 1968. MIRRJT Bou'rIlOS GHAU
MURQUS. See Mark or Marqos.
MURQUS AL.ANTONr, saint menlioned as a hennil of Ihe Monastery of Saint Antony during the reign of me Mamluk suhans (fourteenth eenlury). We do nOI know the date of his birth, or who his parenu were and whal their attilude to Ihe ruling power was, nor at what date he entered the Monastery of Saint Antony. We know only that renunciations of the Chmtian faith weTC numerous down to Ihe accession of Ihe Patriarch MATTHEW I (in 1378). The grealest perscculion Ihe Coplic comrnunily had undergone raged frolll aboul 1351, gready diminishing Ihe number of Christians. Matthew's accession marked a spiritual and nationaliSI renewal of the COPIS In the face of the alicn Mamluk power. G. Grnf, in his Guchichle der chrisllichen arabischen Uterat"r (Vol. 2, p. 475), gives the date of his uealh as 1386. His tomb became a place of pilgrimage and quickly became known through the mirnch:s thut look place there. A chapel containing his relics was built at the Monastery of Saint Anto· ny, a chapel mentioned by J. M. Vansleb in 1672. C. Sicard also menlions it (Vol. I, p. 25) in lhe journey he made to the monastery in 1716. After Sicard's visit, the chapel was reconstructed in 1766 (Fedden, 1937, p. 56). It was in this ehapel that tIle Franciscans were authorized to celebrnte the mass in the seventeenth century. They resided at the Monastery of Saint Antony 10 have their young missionaries taughl Arabic. At present this church serves the mo"ks for the period of !.em, but pilgrimage appears (0 have fall· en out of usc, for Viaud docs not mention il in his book on Ihe Coptic pilgrimages. Mark's k'351 day is 8 Ablb.
1699
BtBLJOGRAPIIY Crum, W. E. "Hagiographiea from Leipzig ManuscriplS." Proceedings of Society of Biblical Arche. ology 29 (1907):289-96; 301-307. Fedden, H. R. "A Siudy of Ihe Monastery of Sairll Antony in the Easlern Desert." Bullelin of the Facully of Arts 5 (1937):1-60. Graf, G. Calalogue des manuscrils arabcs-chrbiens conserves all Caire. (Sludi e Tcsti 63). VaLican City, 1934. Meinardus, O. Chrislian Egypt, Allcient and Modem. Cairo, 1965: 2nd ed., 1977. ___ "The Mediaeval Graffiti in lhe Monasteries of 55. Antony and Paul." Collectanea, Studio Ori· enlalia Christiana II (1966):513-27. Sicard, C. Oeuvres, 3 vall. Blbliolh~que d'Etudes 83-85. Cairo, 1982. Troupeau, G. CaraloRue des manu.u:rits arabes, Vol. I, Mallu#rils chrelicIlS. Pam, 1972-1974. vansleb, J. Nouvelle re/alion ell forme de journal d'ull VO)'age fail en Egypte en 1671 et 1673. Paris, 1677. Trans!. as The Present Slate of Egypt. Lon· don, 1678. Viaud, G. w pelerinages coptcs en Egyple; d'apr~ fes II0tes du Qommos Jacob Muyser. BibliothCque d' eludes caples 15. Cairo, 1979. REN£-GF.oRCES COOUIN
MURQUS IBN QANBAR. lauHwelfth-century n:ronncr. He worked to reintroduce the secret confeSliion and for the more frequent administration of communion, even oUlside liturgical services. These and other' InnOvations, such as the abolition of cir· cumcision before baptism for the Copts and changes in the rules of fasling and Ihe use of the sign of Ihe crou, were strongly opposed by the official de· fenders of Coptic morals and customs, but he had a great following for a time. His elevation to the sta' tus of priest and monk under Patriarch JOHN v (1147-1167) had been scen as a scrious mistake and as immoral And illegal. I-Ie was repeatedly dis· ciplined and drew closer to the Melchites, eventual· Iy joining them fonnlllly. After his tempornry return to the Coptic chul'ch, the Melchite patriarch ban· ished him to DAYR AL-QUVoYR. southeast of Cairo. Here he spent the last twenty years of his lire as an administrator. He wrote prolifically to implemenl his refonns, but his works have been lost for the most pan and are known only through writings opposing him, especially Ihose by MIKHA'IL Of DAMI· ETTA.. There is a commentary on the Pentateuch (see ow TESTAMI!HT. AItAUIC VERSIONS) that is probably his, as judged by style and subjecl, mat is, interpre-
1700
MURQUS IBN ZAR'AH
lations are made on the b:uis of symbolic !'atht!' historical or uiclionary mcnnings of wo~ds and actions, with an emphasis on the confes..,ion and pen-
ancC'. VINCENT FRIlDER]CK
MURQUS IBN ZAR'AH. SCI' MURQUS
A.....MASHRIOJ
Mark
III,
Sail'll.
AL.MALLA.-
\VANJ, eightcenth-eentury Copt. Three lellers are associated wilh this name. A Jirjis a)·Qib!! (George the Copt) who had taken up the Roman Catholic faith sent two leiters to Murqu5 with arguments for the Roman Catholic doctrine, a refutation of the Monophysitc crron. and an invitation 10 com'cr· sian. Murqus' Jelltr in reply declined the invitalion, and its polemical message appan-ntly had the effect ltut Jirjis relUmed to the Coptic faith and accepted the penance that the bishop of ABO TIJ. ChrislodouIus. laid on him. The extant manuscript of the letters dates 10 1795-1796.
VINCENT FRl'DERICK
MURQUS SIMAYKAH
(1864_1944), public ser-
VlInl and founder of the COPTIC MUSEUM in Cairo. Born 10 an old Coptic family of clerks and magis· tr.ucs, he had a distinguished career in Ihe govern· ment service, but Ihis was nOI enough 10 oco.;upy his time after he rcached middle age. He then devoted himself to public affairs in tlte Legislative Assembly, the Highel' Education Council. and the Coptic Com· munily Council. (Al,..MAJUS Al,..MtLLI). where he was an active and a vocal member. He was awarded the tille of paslm for his publil: sl:rvil:e. FI'l'lm eady youtll. he was altracted hy lhe numer· ous and vlIried rem:lins of the Egyptian heritage, hut he was pal'liculal'1y partial 10 till' monuments and objects of the Christian period. which then tended to be neglected for the more grandiose re' mains of othel' pcliods. In his memoir'S, nOI yel published, he descrilx'S how he was influenced by reading Butler, Stl7.ygow. sky, and Solllen Clarke. The fint two of these were to become ]'>el'sona! ti'iends, as well as most of lhe scholan who studk-d the art and th\· language of Chrislian EGYpt dUring his Iifelime. Thaoks 10 his efforts, lhe aneienl Coplie churches were placed under Ihe adminislratioll directed by the Commi~ion for the Pn.'Sel"\'ation of Ar.tb Monu· ments. This commission was eslablished in 1881
and MurQUS Sirnaykah, a memhcr since 1906, later becamc chairman of iUl permanent commillee; he spared neilher lime nor effort to ensure the continuity and Ihe high slandnl'd of excellence in ilS work. The greatest achievem¢1ll of his life was the crealion of the Coptic Muscum. This was founded by him in 1908, in a room next 10 Ihe Church of the Virgin in Old Cairo (al'MU'ALLAQAH) in order 10 col· lect art objects lind olher remains of Christian Egypt. He was able 10 inieresl the enlightened public of EiYpt in his enlerprise; an imposing list of private subscriptions preceded an annual sub\'ention from the sUite. The museum was syslematically devdoped Ihrough the untiring efFons of its found· er and it slowly look on its pn:sent fonn. In 1931, it was put under Jhe conlrol of lite millistry of educa· tion. without prejudice to the rights of the palrial" duue and tlte ehurchC$ on its contents. The con· Slant dcvdopmcllt of the museum required the buildillg of an importanl Ilew willg. A sigllifieant slep wa.~ the Il'llnsfer to the Coptic Museum of the imposing Christian collection From lhe Egyplian Museum. Thi!! colleclion had beeo slarted by G. MASI'EIIO. who was one of the first 10 call altention to Ihe archaeological and cultural importance of the Chrislian er.t of Egypt. In 1983 and 1984, lhe Antiquities Dep:lI1lllent completed an impol1ant renoV'dlion and modemiwtion of thc museum. MurQUS Simaykah also devoted illueh alieni ion to recording and cat:lloging the Coptic and ChrislianAr'llbic manuscriplS In Egypl, wilh Ihe collaboration of the museum's lihrarian, VASSA 'A80 AL-MASII;I. These are preserved in the libraries of the Coptic Museum and of the patriarchates in Cairo and Alexandria, llS well as in monasteries and churches. Some ill.~titutlons, Including the SOCIl:TY 01' COI'TIC AH,CIlAOOLOGY. sporndically continued this enterprise, hut much remains to be don¢. His effigy in brolll.e stands at the cntrnnee to the museum lhal was his life's work. BIBLIOGRAPIIY
Ghall, Mirrit Boutros. "N(:crologi¢" (Obituary). Huf· letin de 10 Societe d' orcheologie 10 (1944):207. Simaykah, Murqus. Short Guide to the Coptic Ai/He· rim and the Principal Chllrches of Coiro. Cairo, 1937. MIIIIIIT BOlJl'lIOS GflAl.I
MURRAY, MARGARET ALICE
(1863-1963),
Engli5h EgyplOlogisl and Coplologist. She was born
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
in Calcuttll. At lirst, she intended 10 have a nursing ca~r, but she abandoned this goal when she did not qualify in Englund. She was the first wOlllan to become a full·time Egyptologist, She entned Uni· versity College, London, in 1894 !Illd studi"d under J, H, Walker, F. L Griffith, and Flinders Petrie, becoming a junior lecturer in 1898. She published mainly in Ihe field of Egyptology, but also issued a limited number of works in the field of Coptic stud· ies. She died at Welwyn, l·lertfordshire. BIDUOGRAPIIY
Dawson, W, R., and E. P. Uphill. Who W/U' Who in Egyptology, pp. 210-11, London, 1972, Kammerer, W., compo It Coptic BiblioBraphy. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1950: repro New York, 1969, Azt7. S. ATIYA
MUSA AL·ASWAD. See Moses thc Black, Saint. MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN. Not all ancient Coptic artifacts-whether the most commonplace items, those to be c1a~.dlied a.'i art, or fragments of architectural sculptuR'S and mur... 1 painlings-have remained in situ. A great number have disappeared, and of thc objects that have SUI" vived, most have been plnced in privale 01' public collections in Egypt and elsewhere throughout the world. Thl'SC items merit study, for thoul~h sollle offer but a sampling, the majority-via the various techniques employed in their creation-serve to fill out one's piclure of Coptie'cuhure and enable one to trnce Ihe evolution of its nrt and crnfts u~·.eording 10 the SI11l!tes of its histol)' and its characlt'ristics. Therefore, it is necessary to present ;l survey of the artifacts in theSe collections. Emphasis is placed on those open tn the general public, of which the greatest number bclong to museums or arc con· nected to university Centel'S, but a few private collections are included bee.lUsc of lheir siz" and/or importance, Obviously it is impossible to give detailed infoI" malion about these items (e,g., chnl1lolor,ical, de· scriptive, nnd nl1istic, according to their prove· nance in Egypt). Therefore a simple yet "dequate descriptiOn i.~ given by ca.tegOl)': it includes a numerical cslimute of the items in each coll«:tion and II note as 10 their state of preservation. From such succinct lists, anyone nl'Cding more precise informalion can Ihen go on to consult the varioll.'i museums and collcctions. However, even in sueh con·
1701
dcnsed form, these lists arc very informative, if only for showing lhe rtlllge and variety of Coptic work. The sUlvey is al'r.lngcd in alphabetical order :.It:cording to (I) country: (2) cities within each coun· try: (l) mu.o;eums or collections within each city, and (4) the categories represented ill each museum and the state of preservation of the various items ("c" stands for "complete"; "IIC," for "1101 com· plete"; "fl'," for "fl':l.gmenL~"). Some of the numbers shown are neccssarily approximnte. Apart from the &eneral schema described above, three public collections deserve special mention, for in each one the prhlcipal aspeclS of Copdc art and technique are sufficiently .....ell represented 10 allow one 10 perceive a coherent and complete whole. Finll, and without equal. is the CQf'TIC MUSEUM in Cairo. Only two other collections-whkh as a whole cannOt be placed on the same level a'i the Cairo collections, ahhough in some domains thcy arc more represc;:ntlltive-have the aspec.:t of a Coptic museum outside of Egypt, even 10 the poinl of being "ambassadors" for the Coptic Museum in Cairo, for their range is complete as well as abundantly stocked in the diver:;e calegories of ancient Coptic work ThC5C are (he STATE MUSEUM OF BERLIN' in the German DcmOCntlic Republic (East Germany) and the I.ouvRE MUSEU).t in Paris, ARGENTINA La PlaIa Universidad Natiolllli lie /11 PIlI/II Sculpture in stone: al'chilectul':l.l capitals (c: I) Cerdmics; dccordted VliSC (fr: 6) AUSTRALIA Melbourne MII~·e.mll
of Vktorif4
Ceramics: lnmps (c: 2): Stlint
Mena.~
phitlls (c: 2)
Nlltio'1l1l Gallery uf VicturiC!
Textiles: outer garmentS (c: I), (nc: I), (fr: 34) Olleeus College Textiles: outer gal'ments (rr: 47) Sydney Macql/(lrie Ul1ivers;ty, A"cill"t History Teaching Col· lections Textiles: outer gllnllenls (fr: 25) Ccramics: lamps (c: 3); Saint Mcnas phials (c: I) Nicholsu/I MuseulIl, University of Sydney TextilC1l: outer galmenu (fr: 35); handbags (ne: I) Power House MuseuIII Te:uilC1l: outer glllmenL'i (fr: 2)
1702
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
Mus~e
AUSTRIA
KunslhiSlorisdul.s Museum Paintin,,~: relief of Saini Menas (I); mummy portraits (8) OSferr,!ichisches Museum fUr angewand/l! Kunst TextilC$: variou5 (1,600), mOSI uncovered near a cemetery near Saqqllra Papyms.Sammlung de, osurreichischen N(J/jonalbibfiolhek Paintings: mummy portraits (2)
BELGIUM Antwerp Muuum Mflyer Van Den Bergh
Textiles: variOWi (fr: 3) Museum VlusJwis-OudheidJcundige Mldea Textiles: various (fr: a few) CcramiC$: various Ifr: a few) Ivory and bone: $18tuelle$ (e: 2) Bl'\lges
Gruuthllsmuseum Textiles: various (rr. II) Brussels MljS~es royOWl. d'Art de I'Hisloire dll CinquQtIlena;re Section-An ch~tien d'Orieot TClIliles: various (fr. a few) Ceramics: dolls (I) Bronzes: cross, cauldron Dcpartcmcnl egyplien SculplUre in Slone: friezes (fr: 11); large relief (c: I): capllllis (e: 5); slllluary (e: 3); Slelae (e: 5) Sculpture in wood: (e: 1) Ivory and bone: seulptun:s IS): games (I) Painting on wood: (e: 1) Ceramics: lI;oblcts and dishes (e: 10); S..int Mcnas phials (e: 10): lamps (c: 50), (IT: 40): various (e: 20) Gla.~s: vllSe~
and houles (c: 3)
Ghent MuseWll SCulpture in wood: combs (I) Leather: SllndalS (e: I), (fr: a few) Korlrijk (Counrai) Museulll voor Olldheidklmde en Sierklms/en Textiles: outer garment (fr: I); lilUrgictll vestment (fr. I); v:lrious (fr: 9) Leuven (Louvain)
Music: dc: l'Univc:ni/i Ceramics: lamps (e: a few); Saini a few) I...i~e
Mena.~
phials (e:
Cur/ius GlilSS: glasses (a few) Louvain·la·Neuve Music: de J'Utrlversite Ceramics: various (a few) Mons Musie PI/issant Textiles: various (fr. Indeterminate) Morlanweiz Musie Royal de Mariemont Sculplure in Slone: sidae (a fcw) Cc:ramiC5: lamps (3 few) Textiles: various (a few) Namur Cathedral 01 Hamur, Musle Di()(;esaitl Textiles: variow (e: 1) Scheldewindeke Museum Sculpture in wood: combs (e: I) Textiles: (fr. 15)
CANADA Montreal Musellm of Fine Arts Bone: (fr: 56) Textiles: outer garments (fr: 434): bonnets and handbags (c: 9); hangings (fr: 4) Bronzes: various (e: 14) Leather: boots (e: SO), (ne: 6) Toronto Pomifical JrlSli/u/I1 of Medlaevul Studies, Mu/cove Col/eetiorl Sculpture in stone: relief (e: 16); other elements (e: 2)
Sculpture in wood: spoon (e: I) Paintings: muml (fr: 20); on wood (fl'. I) Ivory: various (e: 4) Bone: various (e: II) Textiles: various (45), including outer garments (ne: I), (fr: 40) Ceramics: various (e: 5) Bmn7.es: various (c: 25) Metals: lead tlask (c: I): gold earring (e: J) Royal Ontario Museum, Greco-Roman DepurlmetZI Sculpture in stone: decorated stelae (e: 4), (ne: I): statuary (ne: I); figurative reliefs (nc: 3): vases (c:
2) Sculpture in wood: various (e: 13), (ne: 7) Ivory and bone: various (e: 45), (ne: 36) Paintings: mural portraits (c: 2) Ceramics: decorated vases (c: 25), (ne: 5), (pc: 5) (fr: 1); cups (c: 4), (fr: 1): lamps (c: 35), (ne: 25).
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
•
I
(fr: 10): $alnl Menas phials (c: 3). (nc; 6), (fr: 1); various (c: 7), (ft: 4) Bronzes: crosses (c: 19), (oc: I), (fr: I); lamps (c: 10), (nc: 6); lamp feel (e; 4); decorated vases (c: J); weights (c: 2) Glass: vasn (c: 12). (oc: I), (rr. 6); mirroni (oc: I) ROYQI Ol1fDriQ MI4$eum. TutUe DtJUlrtmem
Textiles: various (798), Including ouler gannenlS (c: 19), (fr: 135); hangings (c: 3), (n-: 61)
8mo MorQvska Gaferie
Texliles: various (30) VS/QV
TUliles: (1)
Can SbUce Muuum Bo~I1>, Nemcovi Textiles: various (25).
II
Tutitn! MUieum
Cairo
Coptic Museum See separ.lIe entry,
Sculplurt; in wood: SUtuary (c: 10) Painting on wood: caskcts (c: 2) Texliles: various (10) Ceramics: busl.~ (c: 5); various (fr: 100) Class: various Cologne Schllillgen.Museum Teltliles: various (numerous)
Kmo, Muuki Mu~um Textiles: various (22) lJberec;: Sll'trot:l!s/cl Mllleu,,"
Textiles; various (40)
Lomnice Nad Popelkou MesuJc.i Muull/lI Textiles: various (11 few)
Opa,. MUlt1Um
Textiles: various (10)
Plzen ZiJpQdoctsk~
Muztum Textiles: VllriouS (15) Prague Ndprstkovo Muttum A)'ij)'kych, Afriekyeh 0. Ameriekyeh Ku/tur Textiles: various (50) Sculpture in Slone: various (a few) Sbfrka Univerziry Karlovy, Katedra 'ltd 0 Anlichem Sraroveku Tcltliles: various (1) Umtleckoprumyslove MUleurn TCltllles: various (90) DENMARK
Copenhagen MU$cum 01 DeCOr/Hive Art Textiles: outer gannents (c: I), (nc: 2),
EGYPT
10)
Cholebor Mes1ski. MUltum Textiles: various (20)
Sltt)U
Na/ionafmuseet (Naliollal Museum Q! Denmark, Textiles: outer garments (fr: 12) Ceramics: lamps (c: 9): Saint Menas phials (c: 3)
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY (We-It Ge-rmany) Aachen Suennond/-t.udwif'Museum Textiles: various (26) Berlin·Dahlem Stuutlitht Musttrl prtussischtr Kulturbesitl. Sculplurt; in Slone: sUtuary (c: 2); reliefs (c: about
CZECHOSLOVAK.IA
VI/lslivednj
1703
Darmstadt He:uisches Larldesmllsellm Textiles: various (several) Ceramiu: oil lamps (fr: 3); various (several) Bronzes: various (severnl) DUsseldorf KunSllnllseUnI Tcltliles: bonnets (c: 7): various (550) Lealher: sandals (several) Erlangen ArchiJologischer Ins/rllll der UrriversitiJt Textiles: various (sever'nl) Essen Fulkwu I1g-Mu scum Textiles: various (several) Frankfurt am Main Museum Illr KWlSlh/Hidwerke Textiles: various (fr: 130) Stiidtische Galerie LicbigharlS Sculpture in slone: architectural (fr: several) Tcltliles: val'ious (fr: 20) Ceramics: Saini Menas phials and various (1,000) Frciburg inl Breisgtlu
(rr~
80)
Insllml filr christliche ArchiJolofic u"d KU"SIgeschichte der U"ivcrsi/iJ/
1704
MUSEUMS, COPT1C COLLECT10NS 1N
Sculpture in Slone: sialuary (I) MllSllllm (ii' Vljlkcrkuudc Sculpture in wood: fumiture combs (~ver:lJ) Tellliles: various (sever011) CCr:lmics: lamps (severol) Bronows: various (several)
Kllnslgescliiclillidles I/Is/illl! dcr /ohamws-Gulellberg,Ullil'l.'!rsiliit
hncr.lI pieces);
Leather: sandals (scvcral) Basketry: various Hamburg Museum /ii' KUllst .md Gcwcrkc Texlil~:
lunics (sever-d); various
(h~
180)
Hamm
Stiidtiwhcs G.lstav.Liibckc·MIl5CWII ScUlplUl'l! in SlOne: reliefs (I.': 4) Textiles: various (60) Ceramics; lamps (scveral): amulets (25) Hannover Kumu MtUtu", Sculpture in .IOlonc: statuary (several); decor.uive relids (several) Sculpture In wood: combs (several): castaneLS (sev-
er..l) Ivory: various TClltilcs: various (several) Bronzes.: various Heiclelbel'¥ Jlls/j,llt der UlliVIU$itiJl
Sculpture in Slone: slalUary (5everall; r1'lie[~ (sev. eral): Sl:lrCOphagll$ (I)
SCulpture in wood: utcnsils, combs, and various (seveml) TextilCli: various Cernmlcs: var'iouli Leather: various Metals: various Glass: v:lrious Baskelry: VllrlOUli Hildcshdm Rllme_ /Iud
l'elit(U!IH-MII,~l:lml
Sculpture in slonc: rcliefs (3) Textiles: various (300) Kllrlsrohe Rodi5ches 1-n,u]esmll$eIUII
Sculplure in SlOne: stlltuary (1); relid (1) Textiles: vlll'lous (263) Krefcld IJclIl$clil!S Texlilwusellm
Textilell: varioUll (numerous) Malnl.
Textiles: various (fr: 18). R(jlllisch'germ{l/ti.~cJres le,lIru/ MIIS(!lIt1l ScUlpIUr/!; in stone: relief!; (~vernl) SculplUl"¢ in wood: combs (several); various utensils Textiles: vadous Ccrnmir;s: lampli (sc\'eral) Monchengladbach ScMuss Reyd/ Mllseum Texliles: various (25) Munich SloQtfiche SQm",luIIg Hgyptische Kllnst Sculpture in stone: statuary (several); reliefs (several). 1vory: various Textiles: various Offenba
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
Tlibingcn Agyp/ische Summllmg der UIIIl'/!rslral (Egypliull Cui· IlC/itm of /he Ulliverslly} Sculpture in stone: stelae (severnl) Ulm Museum der SIQd/ Will (Ulmer Museum) Textiles: "arious (SO) Wiesbaden Sammlulll: lltJJ.sauischer Allerliimer Textiles: \'arious (87); tunic (1) WlIrWurg
Wal"er Mllselllll der Ulliversilat Textiles: \'lIrious (57) FINLAND
Hel.sinld FlnuWt No.liollul MrlSi'llm Texliles: v:u;ous (160)
FRANCE
"miens Masee de Picardie Textiles: outer garments (fr: 2) Ange~ MlIs~t
Pilld Textiles: bands (rr. 23) Ceramics: vases (c: 2) Metals: cruciform omilment of a lamp (f..: I)
Auch MIISft d'A,n el d'An·heofoJ:ie
Sculpture (oc: I): (fr: I) Ivory and Paintings:
in wood: fr"leze (c: I); figurative reliefs decorative reliefs (e: 2): various (c: 2),
bone: st:lluary (c: I) lIIur-als (fl": I); portrait.~ (c: 2) Ttxtlle~: ~hawl~ (fr: 4) Ceramics: var'ious (c: I) Plasters: archltectuml c1emenls (fr; I) Avignon MIIs~e ellivel Tcxliles: OUler' gar'ments (fr: 7) Besanl;on Mlide des Be(ll/x Aru e/ d'Arc/reo/ogle Sculpture in stone: capillil (e: I): base of decortued vases (c: 1) Textiles: undergarments (fr. 40) Ceramics: decornted vase (c: I): undecorated amphora (c: I): lamps (c: 3). (nc: 2): &tillt Menas phial (c: I)
1705
Bordeaux Musee d'Aq"ilaill~ Textiles: tunics (c: 2), (ne: 10), (fr. 750) Boulogne-sur-Mcr Musee des Beaux Arts el d'Arc"coIOl:i~ Sculpture in wood: various (fr: 6) Textiles: uutcr garments (fr. 13) Cel'amies: lamps (c: 3) Leather. pair of $3ndals (e: 1)
Cahon MlIsle Allcilm PalQis Episcopal Textiles: outer garments (fr: 40)
Lealher. shoes (c: 1): pairs of boots (e: I) Calais M..sle des Beolu Aru el de la IJetl/d/e Textiles: outcr gannenlS (fr: 1) Chalon-sur-S30ne MllSce Duroll Ceramics: amphora (c: I), (fro several) Ch.:\tcaudun Musle des BeQ/u A.rts el d'HlSluire NQlurelle Ceramics; Saini Menas phials (c: 4) Chtlte:lurow; Musee Bertraf/d Tclttiles: ollter gal"menu; (fr: 4) Colmar Museu", d'l/iSloire Nalilrelle Textiles: outer garments (fr: 90) Compi~gne
Mllsfe Vive"eI, tHule! de SouKeolls Textiles: tunics (nc: I), (fr: severol), shawls (I'; 1): pillow co\"ers (ft: seve....ll) Dijon Pulais (1es EIUI~" lIe BumKo!:tl/: Sculpture in wood: weaving tools (c: 19): dolls (c:
21 Texli1e"~:
outer garments (fr: 150) Ceramics: lamps (e: 22); vases (c: 28): goblels (f1": several): dishes (c: I) Glass: bOllles (c: 4), (fr: several) Ol'enoble M,4Sfe de Grerroble Textiles: outer garments (ft'; 21): bonnets and bags (c: I), (ft': 4); hangings (fr: 12) Gucret M,uee A.tlele", /'H61e1 (Ie la SillD/Orule Textiles: ouler garments (fr: 155) Ut Roche-sur-Yon Musec Mlmic/pQI Ceramics: VllSC5 (c: 3): goblets (c: 4)
1706
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
laval
Nantes
Mu.fe~
Dipurlemtmla{ de la /..Qirt Allan/iqllt: Sculpturc in wood: comb (c: I); weaving imple· ments (c: several) Tcxtiles: outcr garmcnts (rr. 39) Ceramics: lamps (c: 16): Saint Menas phials (c: 1) Orleans Muslt des 8eQu.r Ans Decorated fubricl: outcr gannents (fT: 2); hangings
du Vi~u.r ChlW!all Ceramics; vases (c; 2) Lille UnilJersile de LiJle JI1, U,E,R, d'Histuire de rArt ~l d'Archen{ogie Ceramics: dl.'Corated potsherds (several) Melals: silver cross (I) Umogcs Muse, Municipal Sculpture in wood; doublc comb (l'; I); rectangular block ornamented with a cl"O!\~ (c: I) Texlilcs; outer ganncnts (fr. 14) C~ra.mic5: Saint Menas phials (c: 2); decorated vases (c. 2) Bronzes: lamps (c! 9); human head (c: I); animals (c; several); bracelcts (e: 2); pyx (c I); small bell (c: 1); sheep bell (c: I); head of gv.elle (c: 2); ornamented wand (e: 1) Lons-le-5aunier Afllse~ d~ l'Ho/t1 d~ Vifl~ Textiles: outer gannenlS (fr: 18) Luneville Musee Municipal, ChlJ.leau Textil~; outer garments (rr. 17) lyon!' Must~ des Betm.r Ar/s Sculpture in stone: frie~es (rr: 5); capiuls (oc: 1); broken pediments (fr: I); ligunltivc reliefs (c; 2); decorative reliefs (c: 5); sculpted table holding jars (c: I) Telttiles: outer garments (fr: 200) Ceramics: lamps (e; 6), (ne; 3); Saint Menas phials (c: 7), (ne: 4) Bronzes: br.uiers (ne: I); ltlmps (e: 2); lamp base (ne: 2); ornamental finery (nc: 1) Glass: mtlgic intaglios (c: 2) Mu~·ee. Hisloriqw! dl!s TiSSIU Textiles: outer gtlrments (e: 4), (nr: 7), (fr: 850); weavlr:gs (ue: 30); hongings (fr: .'\, often of imj}OI1ance); pillow covers (fr; 6) Marseilles M/<see d'Archcologic, Cha/call Bordy Telttlles: outer garments (fr: 76) Cemmics: lamps (c: 5); Saint Menas phials (c: II), (nc: 10) Bronzes: dancel' with crotalum (c: I) Leather: i>andals (c; I), (ne: I) MontbeJiard Ml/Set dll Chaleall Bronzes: frying pan (c: I)
Mu~~~
(rr: 26)
Ceramics: vases, with or without decoration (c: 8), (nc: 2), (fr: 2): lamps (rr. I); Saini Menas phials (e: I), (ne; 2); various stamps, corks, elc. (e: 2), (pc: 2), (fr: 7)
Paris Admilli$.lrtllkm Gllllra!t du Mnbilitr NQliontll tt des Malluftlcturu Nalionales des Gobelins t/ d~ Beauvtlis Textiles: outer garments (fr. 470); liturgical garments (c: 30) Bibliolh~qu~ NatiOrtal~
Painting: illuminated manuscript (nc; 1), an c::vangdiary containing pictures of three of the four Evangdists and seventy-four .scenes: some leaves with figurative subjects (IT) Bibliotheque Natiolla/e, Musle des Mtdailles ~l An· tiques Painting on wood: various (c: 2) IIISlilll1 Cafholique de Paris Painting: illuminated manuscript (c; I) I.ouvr, Museum See separate entry. Musee Augusle Rodin Textiles: outer garmenl~ (fr: 74); underclothes (fr. I); shawls (fr: 2\); hangings (fr: 18); pillow covers (fr: 12) Musee des Arts Dlcoralifs, PavillO'1 de Marst/II Telttiles: outer garments (c: I), (nc: 41), (fr: 47); liturgical vestments (fr: 38); hangings (fr: 20) MlIsl!e de l'IJomme Textiles; 500 items, including outer garments (fr: 63); shawls (fr: 9); bonnets and bags (fr: 7); hangings (fr: 15); cushions and pillow covers (fr: 2) Musee des Thennes el de I'Ho/el de Cluny Sculpture in wood: combs (fr: 2) Ivory and bone: statuary amulet (ne: I); figurative reliefs on (:ombs (fr: 2); decorative reHefs (fr: 1) Telttilcs: tunic (nc: I), (fr: 2); hair-nets (fr: 5); hangings (fr: 180) Leather: sandall (c; I) (ne; 5) PerigueullO Mllst~ du Perigord
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
Textiles: outcr garmcntS (c: 1 tunic), (rr: 15S); un· dershin (c: I) Rennes Mus~e des BeQux Arts Textiles: outer garments (fr: 67) Roanne Mus~e Joseph Deche1ette Textiles: OUler garmcnUi (fr: 25); undergannents (nc: 2); lilurgieaJ vestments (fr: I); pillow covers (nc: I), (fr: 2) Romans-sur-Js~re
Mush de tQ ChQU$Sure el d'EthnogrQphie RigionQle Leather: sandals (e: 4); booUi (e: I); shoes (I;: 9)
"""'"
Mus~e
DepQrtementul des A.nliquitts de IQ Seine Maritime Sculpture in wood: weaV1,:r's I;omb (e: I) Textiles: outer garments (nc: I), (fr: 68); ha.ngin~ (fr. 1)
BronteS: libation goblels decorated with a crrn;s (c: I): insignia of a horseman's lance (c: I) Saint-Just, Saint-Rambert-sur·Loire Musil' Munici~l, Ie Prie,/re SCulpture in wood: statuelte (e: I) Textiles: various (fr: 7) Toulouse Musil'S Georsts LaM Tutiles: outer gannents (fr: 19) Toumus Musil' Grl'ute Texliles: outer garments (fr: 73) Troyes Musil' du Beaux Ar/s lit d'Arch~ologil' Textiles: vairous (fr: 77) Verdun Music Municipal, C/ollre de /0 Tritlitc Textiles: outer gl1r!llent~ (fr: 15) Vienne MlIs~e d'Art Chr~lle'l Textiles: outcr g:trments (fr': 2) GREAT BRITAIN Batley East Klrk/ees-Bagshaw Museum Textiles: various (fr: 14); trimmings (many); tapestry trimming$ (many) Leather: sandals (ne: 4)
Belrast Uhler Mllsewn SCulpture in stone: stela (ne: I) Ivory and bone: bone cross (c: I)
1707
Textiles: outer garments (fr: 6) Bronms: figurine (c: I) Birmingham City of Birmingham M,lseulff Qnd An Gal/cry Sculplure in Slom:: window sill (fr: J); statuary (c: I); stela (ne: I); other elements, vases (c: I), (nl;; I)
&ulpture in wood: VIlriOUS elements (c: 2), (nc: 5) Ivory and bone: various elements (c: 4) T"Liles: various (nc: 7), (fr: 26) Ceramics: decorated VL~ (e: I), (ne: I), (&: I); Saint Menas phiab (e: 19); plain vessels (c: 27); various (nc: 4) Glass: vases (c: I) Basketry: various (e: 6) Bolton Lancashire-Bollon Museum Qnd Art GtJl/ery Sculpture in Slone: capitab; (fr: 2); broken pediments (&: 2); decorated stelae (c: 2); figurative statuary (c: 2) Sculpture in wood: various (e: 7) lvol)' and bone: various (c: 7) Textiles: outer garments (c: I), (ne: 2); bonnets (c: (6); shawls (c: I); undergarmenu (e: 4), (ne: 8); tunics, hanging$ (fr: 7(0) Ceramics: decorated vases (c: 2), (fr: 2); cups (I;: S); lamps (c: 4); various (e: 2) Brontes: crosses (e: 1): ornaments (e: 18) Leather: sandals (e: 2); boots (c: 1), (fr: 10) Melals: iron (e: 10), (fr: 2) Glas..'l: vases (fr: 31)
Brighton Art Gallery and MlueWIlS of the Royal Pavilion Textiles: piece (fr: 1) Bristol Cily of Bristol MljSlJUm olld Art Gallery Sculpture in stone: stelae (c: 2) Sculpture In wood: antelope heads (ne: 2); other clcments (c: I); figurative friezes (ne: I) Paintings: illuminations (c: 1) Textiles: OUIl:r garments (ne: 7); bonnets and hand· bags (c: I); tapestries (rr: 22); undergarment.~ (nl;: 2) Bronzes: cross (nc: 1): inscribed cross (c: I); cen· ser (c: I) Leather: I;ushions (nc: 1?): piece of cut leather (fr: I)
Metals: iron (c: 1), (nc: 2) Cambridge Fitzwilliam Muse..m SculplUrc in Slone: fTiezes (e: I), (oe: l); capitals
1708
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
(c: 2). (m;:: I); decoraled stelae (c: 1); decomted
Gla.~gow
reliefs (c: I)
GIi'SKUII' Museums (HId Art Gaffen'es, OI/1feff Collec· tion TCJtliles: lapC.~try (fr: 2l) Hllllferian Ml/sc:wIl Tcxtill.'S: various (fr: J). OSIr"dea (c;:; 24)
Sculpture in wood: elements (c: 8), (ne: 3), (fr: I) IYal)' and bone: statuary (I.': I), (ne: I); figurative rclicb (c; I), (ne: 2), (fr. J); decorative reliefs (c: I), (ne: I), (fr. 10); other elements (I.': 8), (ne: 3), (fr: 1) Textiles; outer garments (e: 4), (m::: I), (fr: 172): bonnelS and hllndbag:> (c: I) ceramics: decorated vases (c: 15). (ne: 3), (fr: 23); lamps «(r. 2), Saint Mena.~ phials (I.': 2). em::: 8); various (c: 7), (nc: 32), (fr: 31) Bron7.es: Cro5S\.'S (c: 6); lamps (c: 2); plain vases (e: 2): om3ments (c: 8) Le;uher: sandals (c: 2); boots (ne: I)
Melals: silver (e: 3); various (c: I) Glass: vases (e: 2) EAccplionaJ items: ivory diptych showing the four
Evangelists. sixth century: capitals from the ba· silica at loIawW3n:1 Cardiff National MIiUllm IJf Wain See Swansea. below. Chelmsford, E.t.fu-<:hdmsford. llnd E.Ht% Mustum See London. VictOria and Alben Museum. Colchester Co/clltsltr Qnd Essu Mllseum Cel'tunics: Saini Mena.~ phials (c;:: I) Dundee Dundee MlIsc:w/ls /lIld Art Galleries Sculpture in wood: kohl stick and lid (e: 2). (ne: I) Ivol)' and bone: ivory bracelet (fr: 2): bone pin (c:
2) Metals: copper ring (e: I); copper bral:clct (e: I); bror17.e crosses (c: 2) Textiles: dCl:or".ltl:d (e: 24) ClaS5: va.~es (fr: 6); beads (c: 6) Lealher; sand:l! (c: I) Durham Bowes M/j/;I!III1J, Bamard Castle Textiles: tapestr'les (fr': 2) Edinburgh Royal Mllselllll of Scmlmld ScUlplUl'e In Slone: stebe (c: 6). (fr. I); statuary (c;:: I)
Ivory and bone: figurdtive reliefs (fr: 2); decorative reliefs (fr: 2) Textiles: Outer garments (c: 4), (fr. 120); bonnets (c: 2) Bron~s: crosses (e: I); bronze censers (c: l) Metals: gold (ne:: I)
Greenock AleC/elll! Museum alld Art Gallery Textiles: various (few) HalifaJ( BanJcfidd M.lselllll. Ca/derdo/e MuseulPls Se,..,iCI! Textiles: various (fr: 86) Hereford City MI.se.lm and Art Gal/cry Bronzl.'S: bmps (e: 2) Ipswich Ipswich Mllseum Ceramioo: Saim Menas phial (c: I) Painting: stucco painted with II crude figure of a saint (e: I) Kl!tldol,ClIlIlbria-AblJOI Art GtJllery Textiles: decon:ued fabrics (fr: several) Leicester Jewry wile MIISI!I/'" Texlil..,:>: sock (e: 2): infanl's shin (c;:: 2), (fr: I): shin slee\'e (c;:: 1): woolen ball (c: I); decorated fnbrics (fr: 8) Liverpool Liverpool Muse.ulIJ Sculpture in stone: friezes (nc: 2): t!el:orated .~telae (c;:: 2), (nc: I) Sculpture in wood: figurative relids (c: 2), (nc: I): decorative rclief~ (e: 5), (nc: 50): mhe!' clements (c: 16), (nc;:: J). (fr: 5) Ivory and bnne: slAllHU)' (c: 3): figumtivc I1:lids (c: I): decorative reliefs (c: 10); olhl:r clements (c: 6), (ne: 3) Textiles: gAI'mcnts (fr: lOO) CertlITlil:s: decorated vases (c: I); eups (c: 2); lamps (c: 4); Saint Mcn:\s phials (c;:: 100): various (c; 6), (nc: 3) BI'Oll1.es: crosscs (c: 5); hl'll7.iers (c: I); lamps (c: I); plain vase (c: I); ornaments (c;:: 3) Leather: COclCK covel' (c: I) Glass: VaF.e (c: I) l..ontlon Britisll MI<Se.IIIII, Deporlmell/ of Egyplian AmiqlJilil's Sculpture in stone: friezes (nc: 180): stone capilab (c: 21); broken pediments (c: 4); decor"dted stelae (c;:: 195): slatual)' (c: 4): ligur.llive reliefs (c: J), (nc: 10): decorative reliefs (nc: 5)
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
Sculpture in wood: frie'l;CS (nc: 10); olher elelllenl~ (c: 35), (ne: 10), (fr: 5) IVQry and bone: slaluary (e: 1), (nc: 12), (fr: 5); ligurntive reliefs (e: 4), (nc: 8), (fr: 3); decomtivc relids (c: 7), (nc: 6), (fr: 7); other demenlS (e: 100), (ne: 50), (fr: SO) Painting: murals (nc: I) Texliles: outer garmenlS (e: 2), (nc: J), (fr. 165); bonnets and handbags (c: I), (fr: I); litu~ieal vestments (ne: I); lape8lries (c: I), (nc: 2), (rl~ 2) Ceramics: decorated vases (c: 4), (ne: 1), (fr: 33); lamps (c: 129); SainI Menas phials (c: 7), (nc: 8); various (c: 23), (nc: 2) BronitCS: crosses (c: 4); lamps (c: 4); lamp feet (nc: 3); ornaments (c: 15) Leather: sandals (fr: I); codex cover.> (nc: 1), (fr: 2) Metals: gold (e: I); silver (c: 2); iron (fro 5) Glass; VllliCI (c: 3); mirrors (nc: 3) Bri/ish MUSf!II1t/, Deportmen/ uf Medieval arrd 1.i1.l/'r
AlIliqui/ies Sculpture in slone: (fr. 2); bread stamps (.-: J); crosses (c: J); seals (c: 7) Sculpture in ...."OOd: door p«ncfs (e: 10); e~ (e: 2); bread Slamps (e: 2); pecloral (c: I): comb (e: I); pin (c: 2) TClltiles: various (fr: 29) IVQry and bone: ligures (c: 15); bone erncironn pendants (c: 12) Cemmics: lamp.~ (c: 42); Saint Mem.s phials (c: 12); pilgrim medallion (e: 1); bread "~lamp!l (c: 4); dishes (c: 4), (fr: 4); doll (c: l) Metals: gold rings (e: 2); breast chain (c: I); ear· rings (c: 2); It'on ling~ (1); brneclets (c; 2) Bronzes: rings (e: 7); weiHhts (e: 55); tamps (c: (0); lamp fittings (c: I); peacock (c: I); goose (l": I); patera (c: \); dish (e: I); ewer (c: I); huck."t (e: I); alllphora (c: I) pedestal (c: I); medallion (e: 1); cros~I.'S (c: 16); hrooches (e: 3); buckle (,-: I); earrings (c: 12): hraeelets (e: J); pins (c: 1); cro~scs (e: 2) Glass: eoin weights (c: 2); pend.nlts (c: 2); hottle seals (c: 2) From W,",di Sarjflh: stuctn muml painling (1): 650 complete and incomplete pottery vessels and lamps; Ilpprollimately 80 assorted textile, wood, bone, iron, lll'oll:r.c, lead objects; apprQximately 410 glll.'i~ fragments Vic/orio oud Aiberr Mu.icllm Telttilcs: tapestries (fr: 64); tunic (fr: 2); gill le"1her slrap (fr: I); bnskel (fr: I). To be added from Chelmsford, l3.ss(;ll·chdlll~ror(l, and Essex Museum: val'ious elements: (Fr. 20) donated To be added from London·SQUlh Kensington Musc-
1709
urn (Telltile Machinery CoI1e<:llnn): lhe whole Coptic colleclion on 10nH-tenn 10;1n Maidstone Maids/one Muse"m oud Ar/ Gallery Textiles: (rr: 3) Newbury Newbury Dililric/ MUlillU,", Berkshire Ceramics: decorated vases (fr. 3); cups (fr. 4); Saint Menas phials (c: I), (nc: I), (fr. 5); various ob· jects, shank (fr. 12) Northampton Cell/ral MI/sewtl Le:uher: shoes (ne: 2); .sandals (nc: J) Norwich
Cas/Ie Museu," TClltiles: outer garments (fr. 13); tapestries (fr: 6) NOllingham Cily of NOl/inghnm Arts Departme1ll, Museum of Cos· fume and Texfiles
Telltiles: outer gnnnents (IT: J8) Oxford Ashmolean
Ml/sC1/1II
Sculpture in slone: altar slab (c: I); capilal (c: I); bLt~1 (c: I); MeIne (c: 4); cross (c: I) Sculplure in wood: cross (c: I); altar board (c: I); combs (c: 3), (nc: 2), (Fr. I); lriPlych (nc: I) Leather. headband (e: I); decoraled piece (Fr. 1): shoes (c: 5), (ne: 2), (fr: I); .\andnls (nc: I), (fr: I) Ivory and bone: comb (c: I); spindle whol'ls (c: 6), (nc: I) Ceramics: lamp (c: 7), (nc: 2); pots (e: 3), (ne: 6), (fr: I with chi·rho symbol on base); Saint Mena~ phials (c: 14), (nc: 39), (fr: 2); incense burner or lamp Slant! (ne: I); euchar'isllc loaves (c: 5) GI"ss: flasks (e: (9), (ne: I), (fr': J); vases (fr: I); howls (fr: 6); jar~ (c: 8) Bronzes: tripod stand (c: I): bucket (c: I), vase (c: 1); cruct and sland (ne: I); lamp (c: I), (nc: 2); bowl with spout (nc: 1); pyll: (fr: I); cenSel' and thUl'ible (fr: 1); staluetle of dove (1) (c: I); cross (c: 1)
Metals: iron knife blade (c: I); iron cross (nc: 1); silver prm:essional cross (c: 2); silver cruss and saer.tmental spoon with Arabic inscription (c: I); silver fan (c: I); silver-gilt bridal Hown (c: I); sled knife or cleaver billde engraved with doves and crosses (c: I) TClltiles: decorated f..bries (fr: 444) Reed: whislle (nc: I) Pill Rivers MusellJII and Depur"'lImt of Elhllology and Prehistory
1710
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
$(:ulpture in wood: doll (c: 3); combs (c: 2); keys (c: 2) Ivol')' and bone: statuary (c: I) Paintings; panels (c: 2); ornamented ostrich egg Bron1.es: lamp (c: I); cross (c: I); rings (c: 4); bracelets (c: 2); lock (c: I); keys (c: 2) bolts (0::: 2) Metals: brass bracelets (c: 2); bronze and iron rings (c: 4); iron padlock (c: I): keys (c: 10) Reed: pipes (c: I), (oc: 1)
Note al$O oslrich egg. olTlamente,l with incised pictures of public buildings, probably in Caim. signed by the anlsl, Hasan Fahmi. length, 6 in., and mall. width, c. 4.3 in.; four bronze and iron finger rings (?): bronze bolt from lock; two wooden pin-lock keys; iron padlock. Reading Urc Museum of Gnek Archaeology, ReQding Univer· sity Textiles: decorated fabrics (fT: 18). Rochdale Rochdale Museum, LAmcQshire TCJ{tiles: outer garmentS (c: I), (fT: 25): shawls (rr. 2) Salrord Sallord Mus~ums lI11d Arl Galleries TCJltilcs: tapestries (ff: 10)
Swansea SWllnsell University College, Wdlcome Collection Sculpture in stone: frieze (c: I); decorated stelae (e: I), (nc: I), (fr. 3) Ivory and bone: weaver's implemenls (c: 3) Textiles: OUler garmcnt.~ (nc: I), (rr: I); bonnets (nc: 3), (fr: I) CcrJ.mics: Saint Menas phials (c: I); stamps (c: 1) Brom:es: ornaments (c: 3) SwindOIl Swlndofl MU$elj/tl IIfld Ar/ Gallery, Wil/shire Ceramics: lamp (e: l) TorqulIy, Devon Torqlla)' MII$ewtl
Textiles: tapestries (fr: 2) Ceramics: decorated flask (ne: 1); Iigurine (c: I)
tive reliefs (c: 2); decoralive reliefs (e: 2); various (c: 6), (nc: 40) Ivones and bone: figurative rcliefs (ne: 6); de<:oralive reliefs (c: 16), (nc: 7); various (e: 4), (nc: 8) Paintings: portrait5 on doth (c: 2) Textiles: garments (c: 4), (nc: 6), (fr: 337); bonnets and bags (nc: 3); hangings (ne: 3), (£r. 46); pillow covers (fr. 15) Cernmics: decornled VlISCS (c: 29), (£r. 22); lamps (nc: 3); Saint Menas phials (c: 16), (ne: II); van()t..IS (c: 17) Bronus: crosses (c: 7), (nc: I); inscribed crosses (c: 2); Cen5C1'I (c: 12), (fr: 1); braziers (c: 1); candelabra (c: 3), (nc: I), (rr. 5); lamps (c: 10), (nc: 3), (fr: 9); lamp bases (c: 5), (nc: I); plain vases (c: I), (£r. I); ewen (c: 3); ornamental finery (c: 12), (nc: 1) Leather: sandals (c: 2) Metals: silver (c: 17); iron (c: 8) HUNGARY Budaprst Szlpmilvisl,eti MUleum (Hungarian Museum 01 Fine Arts)
Sculpture in ~one: capitals (c: 2); relief (fr: I) Bone: figurines (c: 20), (fr: 5); weaving tools (c: 16); tools (c: 15); figurative reliers (fr: 2); various (e: 2)
Textiles: outer garments (fr. 60) Cernmics: decorated YMCS (c: 5), (£r. I); lamps (c: 25); Salnt Menas phials (c: IS), (fr: 4); vases (c: 8), (fr: 7); figurinetl (c: 18), (£r. 80); stamp.s (e: IS) Bronzes: candelabra (fr: 2); lamps (rr: 2); ornamental finery (c: 5); jewelry (c: 5) GIll5S: stamps (e: I) Gems: soapstone steatIte figurines (I:: 1); jewelry (c: 3)
Ipam/Uveste/; Muzeum (Museum of Decora/ive Arts) Textiles: outer garments (fr: 173) Debrecen Dere MUZCIIIIl Textiles: Ouler garments (fr: 5) ISRAEL
Jerusalem
GREECE Athens Bf!tlakl MusewlI
Sculpture in stone: capitals (c: 2); figurative reliek (c: I); decorative relie£s (c: 1); vanc'lus (c: 4), (ne:
35) Sculpture In wood: SUlIuary (c: 7), (fr. 22); figura-
Is/all Musf!wlI TeJltile~:
outer garments (fr: 7); tapeSlries (c: 1), (nc: 5), (fr: 30)
ITALY
Rome Mllseo Silcro della Biblioleca Apos/oUcll del Va/i_ cana (Pnville Collection)
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
Tcltliles: various pieces from Akhmlm·Panopolis, dating from fourth-fifteenth centurie~ (19), multicolored silks (coll(:(:lloo) from the treasure of the Santa Sanctorum, which combine Sassanian, Christian Syrian. and Byzantine r:Icmcn15 Vllticlln Museums (Private Collection) Textiles: various pieces of Antinoopolilan provenance from third to ninlh ccnu,lries. including one thlrd-eentury painted mummy wrapping (99) JAPAN
""" Kanebo. Ud. Collection of Coptic Tutilts Decoratcd fabrics: large altar pil.'Ccs: clothing: hangings; curtains: covers: pillows; belts: bags; other objects (more than 5,000 items, many of which are fragments) NETHERLANDS, THE
Amsterdam Alltt,d Pierson Musewn Sculpture in slone: friezes (fr: 13); c;apilals (c 3),
err.
(ne: I), I): decorated stelae (c: 8). (oe: 4): statuary (c: 2), (ne: 4), 2)
err.
Sculpture in wood: fricus (rr. I); panels (c: I); reliefs (e: 4) Ivory and bone: various (c: 2), (nc: I) Textiles.: ouler gannents (c: I), (ne: 5), (&: 75); liturgical vestments (ne: 11). (fr: 12); OOllnets and bags (fr: I) Ceramics: decorated vases (e: 2); goblets (r".:: I); lamps (e: 2); Saint Mcnas phials (e: 2), (nc: 7); various (e: 7), (nc: I), (fr: I) Bronzes: crosses (c: I), (ne: I); cauldron (e: I); lamps (c: I); decol'8tcu vascs (c: 4); ornaments (e: 10)
leather: sandals (c: 3), (ne: I); boots (c: 1); belts (nc: 1), (fr: t) Metals: iron (c: I) Glass: mirror (c: I) Lelden Rij5k5mll$lUm Vall Dudlredw Sculpture in stone: friezes (nc: 7); decorated stelae (c: 6); figurative reliefs (ne: 3) Sculpture in wood: various (nc: 13) IvaI)' and bone: statunry (nc: 27); figurative reliefs (nc: 23); decorative reliefs (nc: 9); various (ne: 19)
Painting: manuSCl'lpt illuminations (c: about 2.5) Textiles: tapestries (nc: 1); pillow covers (nl:: 8); various (fr: about 110) Ceramics: decorated vases (c: 15); lamps (c: 38); Saint Men4$ phials (c: IS); various (c: 6)
17 I I
Bronzes: crosses (c: 4); ornaments (c: 22) leather: ~ndals (nc: 5); codex callers (c: I) Metals: iron bracelet and buckles (c: 8) POLAND
Krakow }(Igellonian University, Department 01 Medire"ancan Archaeology Ceramics: dccorated vascs (c: I); plates (ft: I) Museu.m 01 ArchtJeo/ogy Sculpture in stone: stelae (c: several) Textiles: outer gannenlS (fr: several) Ceramics: Saint Menas phials (e: several) NationtJ/ Museum Textilcs: outcr gannenu (ft: 70); figurines (c: sev· eral) Nalional Mlueum, CWl'foryski Col/urian Sculpture in stone: panels (c: I); stelae (c: I), (nc: 1)
Textiles: outer gannenlS (fr: 9); pillow covers (c: 2) Ceramics: goblet (e: I) Warsaw NtJtional MIIS~lIm Sculpture in stone: figuratille reliefs (fr: I); decora· tive reliefs (fr: 7): incised Stamps (e: 4) Textiles: outer ganneng (ne: I), (fr. 52): bonnets and bags (c: I): liturgical vestments (f..: I?) Ceramics: decorated vases (c: 5), (nc: 13), (fr: 308); Saint Menas phials (e: 5); figurines (nc: 3), (fr: 49)
PORTUGAL Li~bon
Milseu Nacianal de Arle Antiga Texliles: outer gannenu (fr: 26) SWITZERLAND
Basel Gewerhemusewn, Museum fur GUlallung Textiles: outer garments (c: 2), (nc: 1), (fr: 54); bonnets and hag..~ (c: 1); lIarious (fr: 74) Musl!um IUr ViJlkerklmde Illory and bone: I1l1riOUS (c: 20) Textiles: various (fr: 1,200) Be!'n
Bemisclres hislurisches Museum Sculpture In wnod: decorated reliefs, diptych (c: 1); beads (c: 17), (fro 2) Paintings: on linen (ne: 2.) Textiles: various (fr: 60) Ceramics: statlletle (c: I) Metals: brass eucharistic chalice (e: I): processional crosses (c: 5)
1712
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
Boob: various (e: 2)
Geneva Mllsee d'An tt d'His!olre Sculplure in stonc: rric1.es (fr: I): "apilals (e: I); statuary (nc: 1): figurativc relicfs (e: I), (fr. I); various (c: 5), (ne: I), (fr: I) SculplUre In wood: combs (fr: 3); stamps (nc: I), bUllon (c: I) Ivory and bonc: crosses (c: 2); spoons (c: I), (ne: I); combs (fT: I); straighl pins (e: 2), (nc: 2), (fr: 2); brticclclS (e: 2), (nc: I); bulton.~ (c: 8). (ne: 4): various (e: 1), (ne: 6), (fr: 2) Tcxllles: lunlcs (ne: 2), (fr: 4): bonnets and bags (fr: 4); $C1Il'\'CS (fr. 8); cloak (oe: I); hangings (oe: 2): pillow covers (oe: 2): variOu.~ (fr: 430) Ccramics: lamps (c: 9), (Ile: I): phi'lls (e: I). (ne: 1): saini Meoas phials (ne: 3): various (c: 4), (ne: 8), (rr. 1)
Bronl',l,:$: crosses (c: 8), (nc: I); bells (ne: 2), (fr. I); ornamental finery (c: 43), (ne: 7), (rr. 9); spoons, spatulas, styli (e: 9), (nc: 2), (rr: I); disks (e: 2) Metals: lold (e: J). (ne: 4), (fr: I); silver (e: I), (ne: I), (fr: I): iron (e: 4), (nc: 2), (rr. 2) Glass: ornamental finery (e: 16), (pc: 1) Zurich ArchtJologishl$ InSlilll! der Univcrsitiil Zjjrich Sculpture in stone: figuroltivc relids (e: 3) Textilt:s: ouler gannents (fr: 3); hangings (fr: I) Ceramics: Saint Mena5 phials (ne: 10); various (fr. 10)
ViJ/lcerJumdclIllUellttl der Uulvaslliil Ziirich Textiles: outer garments (e: I): vluinus (ne: II)
TURKEY Istanbul Archaeulogical MIlSlwms of Istanbul Textiles: tapestries (c: 30) Centmics: various (fr: 5) UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPU8L1CS Ivanovo Museum of Fille Arl.~ Texliles: various Kaumu Museum of Fllle Arts Textiles: V:lrlOUS Kiev Musellm of Occidlmlal and Oriel1tal Arl Textiles: various (fr. JO) Leningrad He",lilag~ Mu,~cwl1
Sculplure in stone: capitals (c: I); stelac (fr. 40)
Sculptul'e in wood: figurative reliefs (c: 6);
; bells (c: I); cushions (c: I)
Metals: vanuus (fr: 450) Gla.<;..": va.o;es (fT: more than JO) L~.
MllSelim of Ethllogrelphy Texli1es: various (fro 16)
Minsk NaliO/lell Ul1iversity Textiles: various (fr: Moscow MUJiemll of Fille Arts Textiles: various (ft: Tallinn Museum of fille Arts Textiles: various Tbilisi Museum of Georgitm Textiles: variOU.'l (fr:
4)
JOO)
Arts 10)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Amherst, Massaehusetl~ Mead Art Mllseum, Amherst College Sculpture: (I) Textiles: various (II) Ann Aroor, Michigan KtlJiey Mllsewn of ArdwculQI;)', Universily of MichlI:lm
Sculpture in Mone: reliefs (198): other (5), Sculpture in wood: various (30) Bone: various (400-500) Cernmics: painted poltet)' (5): stamp seals (20) Glass: (1) Bahimore, Maryland Ballimore MuseWI1 of Art Textiles: vadOIlS (few) Wallers Art Gallery
Sculpture: reliefs (many): Olher (many) Metal.~: jewell)' (few) Mosaic: (I) Minur arts: variuu$ (12)
Bilmingham, Alabama Binllilll:hulI/ Mllsellm of Arl
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECfIQNS IN
Bone: statUal)' (I) Bloomfield Hills, Micllig:1n Cranbrook Academy of An TcxtilCli: various (35)
Cincimla/; Ar/ Mllscllm
Bloomington. Indiana JlldiQIIQ University Art Mllsellm
Sculpture in Slone: ~epuh::hral marble stela wilh male and female orants (I) Sculpture in wood: carved pallel (I) Textiles: \'arious (many) Brooklyn. New York Brooklyn
M'l$elllr/
Sculpture: various (10) Reliefs: VllriOllS (220) Textiles: variou~ (220) Minor ans: various (50) Buffalo, New York Albright.Knox An Gnllcry
Sculpture in Slone: relief of a Nereid (1) Cambridge, Massachusctts
Fogg Art Mllsemn Sculpturt' in stone; architectural limestone frogmenlS. engaged arches. pilaster cnpit..ls. ornamental mC1:es and bands, lintels, colonnene.s (214); Iiun head uf fifth-seventh centuries (I) Textiles: linen. wool. I;lpestry. IOnic appliques, fragments uf large hangings, burden>, loop-pile coverlet. silk twill. resist·dye from fillh-ninth ccnluries (106) Melal: brass lamp (I): bl'on~e lamp (2); polycan. dela (I); small lidded toilet 0011. (1): open-work censer dome rroln sixth-Ienth century (I) Bone: styli~ed dolls In bone; fragments or liturgical manuscripts on p:lper Chapel Hill, North Carolina AcklmuJ Ar/
MUHlIWl,
U,,;vers;ly uf Nur/h Carulina
Textiles: fragments (5) Ceramics: tert1,-cotl<' lamp (I) Chicago,
Jl1inoi~
MIiSli/llll
Sculpture in stone: capitals (4); pediment (I) Textiles: (13) Minor arts: (105) Claremont, Calirol'nia Ills/iwII! lor All/iqllity and Christ/arlity. Claremonl Graduale SChC10I
Minor an...: (rew) Cle\·eland. Ohio CIt!I,t!fDlld Musewn 01 An
Textiles: (many) Columbia, Missouri Musellm 01 Arl atld ArchaeufuKY, University uf Miswllri-Columbia
Sculpture: (I) Reliefs: (2) Textiles: (35) Minor an...: (6)
Coral Gables. Florida Lowe A" MlISI:III11, University 01 Mi(lmi Textiles: (10) Dayton. Ohio Day/on A" fUSlilllle
Textiles: (fr: 9) Denver, Colol1ldo Denver An Mllslim"
Sculpture in stone: polychromcd limestone figure (1); sarcophagus relier of Pan with three goats (I)
DctJ"Oit, Michigan Detroil Jlls/itute of Arts
Textiles: (40) Durham, North Caroliml Duke U"ivcr,t;ly M'UII,m, 01 Art Paintings on wood: (fr: 4); wine jar (I) Hannvel', New Hampshire Dar/mull/ir Culllige Museum aud Calleries
Sculpturc in ,ttone: stelae (2) Textiles: (rr: 1)
Arl IIlS/illl/1i uf Chicago, DCpar/I1ICll/ 01 TIi;
Hartford, Connccticut
Textiles: various (many) Field Mllsellm uf Na/ural Histelf)' Textiles: various (700-800) Metllls: bronze containers: jewelry Minor arts: vlIl'ious (100)
Wadswor/h
Orilill/al hlS/itlllc, Ullivcr,fity 01 ChkagQ
Sculpture: (rew) Reliers; (rcw) Minor al1S: (many) Cincinnati, Ohio
1713
A/Ir(lll/:iWU
Sculpture in stone: reJ1efs (2) Textiles: vflrious (80) Metals: hl'On~e lamps and vessels I'lonolulu. Hawaii Honolulu Academy 01 Aru Textiles: various (36) Indianapolis, Indiana IndiDllapolis Mlisellm of Ar/ Textiles: various (fr: 200)
1714
MUSEUMS, COPTIC COLLECTIONS IN
Lawrence, Kansas fle/e.n ForesmrHl Spenctf Museum
"I
Art
Relief: (I) Textiles: varioU5 (fr. many) Los Angeles. California
ws AnStlu County Mustum of Art SCulplI,lre: architectural reliefs (few)
Textiles: tunic (c: I); various (34) Memphis. Tennessee Brooks Monorial Art Gallery Textile5: (fr: I)
Minneapolis. Minnesota Minnc
Sculpture: (3) Te,ll.tilcs: large woven panel pol1....ying a jeweled cross standing in fronl of a wreath (c: 1): various (0)
New Brunswick, New JerKy
New Brunswick Theological Seminary Textiles: (19) New Haven, Connecticut
Beinecb Rrm! Book and Mrmuscripl Library, Papyrus Collection, role University Ceramics: Stamp seals (3)
Yale Unillt!rsily Arl Gallery Sculptu~ in slone: sl:l.luary (3); reliefs (15) Ivory and bone: inlay (few) Paintings on wood: (I) Textiles: (200) New York, New York Coopu-I/flll'itl Museum Te)l;lilcs: (175) Me./ropolila" Muse/lm of An, Etyptiu'l and Islamic Dcparmretl/s Sculplure in SlOnc: (many) Sculptul'c in wood: grave monuments Reliefs: (m:my) Textiles: (many) Minor tll'IS: (m"ny) Newark, Delaware Utlivttrsily uf Delaware Gal/ery Ceramics: terl'a-coua lamp (1) Newal'k, New Jersl)y Newark Museum Sculplure in Slone: reliefs (2) Sculptul'e In wood: relief (I) Painlings on wood: (1) Texliles: (46) Ceramics: painled vases (c: 2), (fr: I); lamps and flasks (7) Bronl.es: large croues (5); small crosses (14)
Minor ar1S: bone and wood objects (31); scale and box (1) Northamplon, Massachusctls Smith College Museum 01 Art Textiles: various (rr: 5) O~r1in, Ohio Alletl MtmoritJI An Museum, Oberlin College Sculplure: (I) Relid: (1) Textiles: various (fr: 28) Omaha, Nebraska Joslyn A.rt Musellm Sculpture: (I) Relier: (4) Teniles: (7)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Druef Must/14m Coffeetion, Drexel University Textiles: (3) Philadl!!lphia Mu.sellm 01 Art Textiles: various (n-: 88) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Carnegie Museum of Nalural Hutory, CQrntgil!! Ins/iIWI!!
Textiles: (475) Minor arts: (24) Museum 01 Art, Carntgit InSli,we Textiles: (9) PrinCelOn, New Jersey An Museum, PritlCeton University Sculplure: (I) Textiles: various (fr: 46) Minor arts: (23) Scheide L.ibrary, Princelon University Textiles: various (fr: 8) Providence, Rhode Island Museum 01 Art, Rhode Island Sch()()/ 01 Design Sculpture: various (few) Tcxliles: variou~ (250) Jewelry: various (few) Richmond, VirgInia Virgitlia Muj,um 01 Fine Arts Sculplure in stone: statuettes (few) Textiles: various (fr: 7) Ivory: slatuelles (few) Ceramics: ~arious (fr: few) San Josc, California RosicrlIciatl Egyptian MIls,,,,n Sculplure In Slone: cro.ss (I) Textiles: various (many) Bronzes: lamp (I)
MUSIC, COPTIC: Description of the Corpus and Present Musical Practice
Santa Barbara, Californi:l San/a Barbara Museum of Arl Tex.tiles: various (9) Santa Monica, California J. Paul Ge/l)' Museum Grave relief. (I) Elaborately painted sarcophagus: (I) Textiles: various (fr: 2) SamoUl, Florida John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Minor arts: a rew Seatde, Washington Seatlle Art Museum Sculpture in stone: relief (I) Sculpture in wood: reJier (fr. I) Textiles: various (14) Stanford, California Stanford Unil'er$it)' Museum of Art TeJltiles: various (125) Urbana, l1linois World Heritare Museum, Unillusil), of Jl/illOis Textiles: various (28) Washington, D.C. Dumbarton Oaks, 8)'Ulntine Col/ecliorl Sculpture: various (12) Textiles: various (160) Minor arts: (many) btstitule of Christi,m Oriental Research, Calholic Unil'ersil)' of America Ceramics: lamps (few): Saint Men3S phials (few). Tutile Ml<seum Tex.tiles: various. including large hangings (450) Williamstown, Massachusetts Will/ams Col/ege M'4Se"m of Art Sculpture: various (fr: 4) Textiles: various (fr: 18) Worcester, Massachusett.~ Worcester Art Mustmm Texliles: (116) Bron7.es: (3) "JERRF. DU BOURCUET. S.J,
MUSIC, ANTECEDENTS OF COPTIC.
See
Music, Coptic: History.
MUSIC, COPTIC. (Tllis erllry
consisl~' of Ihe fol-
lowing articles: Description of the Corpus and Prcscnt Musical Practice
1715
Canlicles Oral Tradition Melody. Its Rellllion 10 Different Languages History Cantors Musical InstnJments Musicologists Transcriptions in Western Notation Nonliturgical Music)
DescrlpUon of the Corpus and Present Musical Practice The follOWing remarks penaln only to the music of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Other Christian churches in Egypt (Greek Orthodox. Coptic Catholic, ProtC!;Lant, etc.) have their own musical prac· tices. Coptic music, an exprcssion of a proud and con· stant faith. still lives today among the Copl5 as a vestige or an age-old tradition, II is monodic, vocal, and SlIng a cappella solely by men, with the exec?" tion of some respons.es assigned to the whole con· gregation. Small hand cymbals and the triangle tire cmplo)'oo with specified pieces during cenain ser· I'ices (see Musical InstnJmcnt5. below). The Divine Lllurgy and Offerings of Incense Thc core of Coptic music lies in the Dil'ine Litur· gy (Arnbic: qllddlls). whose texts are all meant to be sung. excepting the Creed and the Dismissal. In the liturgy the must ramilillr hymns and chant!' arc heard. [t 15 basIcally :l great music dr.-rna, consisting of three parts: (I) the Preparation; (2) the Llturgy of the Word, also called lhe Liturgy of lhe Catechumens, which comprises the PRAYER OF TtlANKSGtVING. the !'criptural rcadlngs. various intercessions and responses, the recitation of the Creed. and the Prayer of Pence; nnd (3) the anaphortl, lhill is, the eucharistic ritual (scc I!UCUMUST). The entire scrvice may require some three hours of singing, and during Holy Wcek, the spccial services may lasl six or scven hours, TI1I'ee liturgies (see History, below) havc been established in the Coptic church: (1) the Liturgy of Saint Basil is celebrated throughout the year except for the rour major feasts of Nativity, Epiphany. Resurrection. and Pente<:ost; also, it is used daily in the monasteries whether thcre is a fast day or not; (2) the Liturgy or saint Gregory Is used today in the celebration of the four major reasts mentioned
1716
MUSIC, COPTIC: Description of the Corpus and Present Musical Practice
J_ 116
~ o
KY - fl - - . - - - - - OC
H6 ·T.l. - . - - - - . - - . - . - •• - . - - - - . - - . - - -
o ky·1'i .. -.-.-- os me-Ia- -- .. -. -- --. -- -- --. --. (a)····
J.IOO
J:96
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.
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(a)
~,
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J. lOof
a;m'ii9i4J_
(a)···-------------··········--·----····---·-·····--
J" 110
~·~~\yJitl -,.w· .. II
y .. -. -- - .... HID ----- --- --. -. --.
pan - -ti'!· - - n
U··-·--·----Ill(}·-··--------····
n.l.ll .
(a)
r-3----,
,
3
1
3
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·
··
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·····_·H.
- - - - - - - - - - - - .... - -. _.•....... - ----no
l:.xample of oflici:ml'5 music. S,'1lulalion: Preface to the Anllphora from the Liturgy of 51. Basil. TrtHucripliollhy To/h. In the transcriptions by T6th, nOtes with stems tlimcd duwnwilrd can he disc~rned only when recordings arc played al a slow tempo. An :lrrow poinling UJ1ward [f) over a nute indicates a qual1er·tone higl,cr, whereas an arrow puinting downward [~l indicates :I quarter-lone lowe!'. All musicllltlllnscr'ip' tions an' made frum rCI"ordings done at thc IllGHER INSTITlfl'P' 01' COPTtC STUDIES under the aegis of Ragheb Murl:lh.
above; it.~ mw;ic ili somewhat more "mate than that of the UtUf&Y of SI. Basil and has bc1:n charaeler· i'l:ed ~ Ihe most beaUliful because uf ilS high emotion: and (3) Ihe Liturgy of Saint Cyril, also knowll as the Lilurgy of Saini Mark, Ihe !llQSt Egyptian of the three.
Unfortunately, mosl of the melodies of Ihe Litur· gy of Saint Cyril have been lost, and it can no longer be performed in its enlirety. The most recenl record of its performance ili lhat of Patriarch MACARIUS III (1942-1945), who used it regularly. 1m· mediately thereafter, Ihere may havc been a few
MUSIC, COPTIC: Dcscdption of the Corpus and Pt'esent Musical Practice
),c· n),-c),c· 06
loX· AU - AOYC ell
as - pa- sa.~ ·thc
al . Ie - lous en
J.'l
..•• - . . • . . . . TI
phi· Ie . rna ••.•........ Ii
J"u
~j~ ),·····································_··rl·-w.
a·_···-··········· .···········.··· ... ···gi··O. Example of deacon's music. Uiddi'lg: Kiss of Pcac\,: frurn the Liturg)' of St, B:\sil. Transcription by TIl/h.
J:91.104 Sung al1eraalcly (OIOTUS ltivi!'i) ttlirll>en time,.
~j KY'fl-'"
-a
(I·MIll···
(;()H
Ky·ri·····e e·lee·--!'ion
-
KY--J'l-(I
(1-
KY-·Ii-~·
KY··fl··f>
(I"-A(I- - - ,11-· --COH
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e···le··
·MI· _. ·11· .
co· ... II
·Ie····(:·· so····n
··c·· ··son
~, ky"pl"6 (I·>.611·COtl
Ky··ri· -C C·Icc· son
Ky·······pl·e···················· Ky·······J·i·e··-.
~ (1- - - - _ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
AeH-COIl
e···············_--··-··lee-son Example of anliphonal choral singing. The Furt)'-one Kyrit! preceding the Procession of the HOIit from Ihe Liturgy of St. Basil. Transcriptiun by Robt!rlSon. In the trnnscriptions by Robcrt50n. a plus sign (+J over a note indicales a quaneNone higher. and a minus sign (-] indicates a quaner'lone lower.
1717
1718
MUSIC, COPTIC; Des crip tion of Ihe Cor pus and Pre sen t Musica l Pra ctic e
tl- -·· ·-· -·· ·T tI· --· ·-· -·- -·· -tl hi· - . - - - - - - - - te . - . - - .. - . - - - - . n
Nl- --- -·-· --- ·.E iy- --.ni· .. - - - .... - . - eu ... - -
--'.
-~ XH
N - -Ttl
she
(e)n ··lc
.),- .--. --.- -.-r . 8- - - •• - - - - ••
HH nO
N
6·· --- ··· --0 ··o y- ··· ·-- -·· · c-· -·· ··- -·t h·· au ··· ·-- -·· ··
---- -Tt !
1I.l.1
-b (e)n - - - - - te
(; ••• 2<) ••
pal
c·· -ha -·
(0) ' - - - - - . - - - - . y
(a) --· ·-· -·· ·-- u
III .. oy .. - -.).I • • • . . pi - . au· . - '81' •.
- - ••
- •••
"'-- --o y-pi· ·-·o u··
.l.- --·· I
K.l. - - T.),
IIfl --·
a ·-- -i
ka· . ta
pe- --- -f( e)- ra- --· ··-- --- --- n;
--'l (e) -p.) ,--· .· -- ... . -. -1'1;
-.
~
....
~
(6 )·· -·- ·-· ··· --· --· -·· ··· --· h .. --.· ·-O O .. -·· -·· --- -· (e) - - -"" - - -. ·-(e )p·· - -- -- ·ch a-· ·· - - -." '"
Z "MO T
(O)IC
.l.-
(o)i r
a- ri·· --e h··m OI
pl· ·· -
H.H nan
M·l 1l-· 'XW
(e)m . pi -. -kh 6
. -e--{;
MUSIC, COPTIC: Description of the Corpus and Present Musical Practice
r.o- - - - _.), N - - _. ·Tf; VO- - _. - -I (e)n-·· - te
116H
NO - . - lit
nell
no-·-vi
1719
Ftlcing ptlgt tlnd tI/wVt: ualllple of chornl unison singing. Strophe Six ("Through the prayers of the saints ... ") from the Response to Censing, from the Liturgy of St. Basil. Trtll/sen'plio" by To/h.
priests in Upper Egypt who remembered his manner of celebrating the anaphol'a. Abun;) Pacllomius a1·Mu!:tarraql, vice-rector of the CLfJUCAI. COL1.F.GE, also performed it on various occasions.. According to BUIlJ,IESJU.. only two chants have survived: the concll15ion of the Commemor.l.lion of Ihe Saints ("Not that we arc worthy, Master ... "), and an extract from the Commemoration of the Faithrul Dc· parted ("And thC$e and everyone, Lord ..."). The celebration of the liturgy is prccedt:d by two special services unique 10 the Coptic church, of which one is observed in thc morning just before the liturgy and the other the previous evening. They Ire known as the Morning (or Evening) Offering of Incense (Arabic: Rtll' Bukhur Bilkir lind Ruf Bukhur ',tshiJ'Ytlh). Today, in aClllal practice, th~· Morning Offering of Incense is often incorporated into the liturgy itself. Like the liturgy, these two services lire cantillated. They include the well-known Hymn of the Angels (Coptic; Hl.re~C tleH tlll.n·Il,\OC ... , marenh6s nem niangelos, "Let us sing pl':l.ises with the angela ... "), the Pr,lyer of Thanksgiving (Cop' tic; ..... fe~mHOT ... , marenshcp(e)lllnot ... ), various prayers and responses, and oLher preanaphoral material. The texts and rubrics for the three liturgies and the Offering of Incense lire (0 be found in the EU· CIIOLOGION (Arabic: tI/.khMb.if), which pres<:ribes the order of the various pr,lycrs, hymns, lections, versi· cles, biddings, 3nd l·eSJ'>Onses. Today these are sung in Greco·Coptit:, Coptic, and Arabic. The texl.~ 3re written in the Bohlliric dialcct (in Upper Egypt thc Sahidic dialect m3Y be heard), and al'e accompa· nied by a line·by·linc translation in Arabic. with the rubrics all being in Arabic a.~ well. The l3st section of the E"cha/ogiol/ contains ahe texts of many chants and hymns proper to the various tilurgical
seasons. The panicipanu in the celebration of the liturgy and Offering of Incense are:
I. The offidafll, that is, the pricst (Arabic: til.
Kilhin), and/or other high mcmbers of the dcflO' who happen to be prcscfll and wish (0 palticipale. It is the role of the officiant to offer the prayers (Arabic: tlwshi)'}'llh, pl. Ilwilshf), which may be noeitcd silently or sung aloud, according 10 the traditional melodies adjusted to the festal and seasonal requirements. These prayeTS are constructed on recurring psalmodic formulas, some beginning with simple, unadomed Slalements, and othcTS having an eXlended mclisma from Ihe OUI$CI. Since they bCi:ome more and more elaborate as they continue, and conclude with a formula comprised of Ihe richest of melismala, they llIay be rather 'engthy. They a~ int<med in fn.oe rhylhm that generally follows Ihe lexlual accents and metel'S. 2. The DeACON (Arabic: tI/.shtimmils) wh~ dutil$ include relaying the biddings (Arabic: /l/-"bru,siit, from Greco·Coptic; r'lfoceyxtt, derived from Greek 1TpocmJX+', proseukht) of the officiant, reading the lessons, and le3ding the set reSJl()nSeS and singing of the Conl{regational hymns. Like the officiant, he cantillates in free rhythm, and his melodic line may be both rhapsodic and/or chanting. His melodies are genel'ally more rhythmic thlln thosi: of the officiant, with duple and triple metres alternating ac· cording to the textual accents. Voealises and melismata arc common, but they in no way change the basic structure of the melody. Because the melodies of the officiant and deacon arc rendered solo, then.: is greater opportunity here fOJ' improvisation and vocal embellishment lhan in the choir pieces. 3. The choir and/or people (Ambie: U/-lihfl'b) sing certain responses (Arabic; lIlaraddllt) and portions of the hymns. In the ellrly centuries, these sections were Mlligned to Ihe people a.~ a whole, but as the IituT"iY developed, they became so complicatt:d that Ihose who were not musiclilly inclined could nOI sing them. Thus the choir of deacons, trained in
-, 1720
MUSIC, COPTIC: Description of the Corpus and Prescnt Musical Practice
A··························· ...
(a)······························
(u)
(a)
'"
. .
.
. .
.
. . .
.
...
.
-
.
.
.
_
.
(a)································
(u) • . • • • . . • . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(a)···························
MUSIC, COPTIC: Dt=scription of the Corpus and
(a)
. . . • - .•
....
Pres~nt
Musical Practice
1721
_--_._.- ...
Facing pog~ ond ooovc:: Example of chor.tl vocaliM'. Beginning of the TrisagiQII Hymn, as sung on Good Friday. Transcription by Rober/SOil.
smgmg, replaced the congl'egation. In the la'"gcr cOngregations this choir may number about twdve. The deacons involved stand by the iconostasis at light angles 10 the sanctuary in two Jines fadng each othel', with one line known liS the bahr! ("nonhem"j, and the other as the qiblf (".~ollth. em"), According to the rubrication of "I]" or "Q" marked in the margin of the text, the choil' may sing antiphonally, strophe aoout, or two strophes aboul. The singers altcmate according to the r"rm of the musical phrase. They may also sing in uni·
. ,.
Among !litany familiar choir pieces, th~ rna}' be dted: (I) Ihe hymn "We worship the Father .. :' (Copeic: ~T H4-T. lenouOSht(e)tIl{e)phiOI), which is sung Wednesday through Saturday at the beginning or the Morning Offering of Incense; (2) the nJSM;tQH ("Holy God! Holy and Mighty! Iioly and Immortal! .. :': Greco-Coptic: MK)(; 0 oc-oc: ,\/1()C tcXy1'OC: )J'"IOC ,lo9,\,IU,TOC ••• , agios 0 thllQS: agios isshyros: aglOS athanatos ... ), which, according to legend, comcs from a hymn lOunS by Nic"demus and Joseph at the Lord's entombment; and (3) the LORD'S PRAYER (Coptic: xe OOHIIlT ...• je peni· 01 ... ), which is chanted on one note. The melodies for the people and/or choir arc quite simple, with lillie embellishment, Hnwevel·, certllin hymns are complicllted by some rudinll'llta· ry, rhythmic ormtmenHltion inteilral to the compn· Jhlon. As has been stated, thi.~ choral singing is lllorHxl· ic, and should any harmonic clements appear, they are only occasional overlappings of the incipits or one part with the linalis of another. AI.'lO, the unison chant may not always be perfl-oct, for some singers, wishini to participate in the ac~ of praise but not having good musical ears, do not listen to each other. Such lack of precision may be rather p...,va· lent today, for in many chun;hes the people, led Ind supported by the choir of dcacons, are again Iclively rendering the hymns and responses, once
again fulfilling the role originally assigned to them, A. vel)' wide vibrato characteri1.es all the singing. Although the melodies of the participants arc dis· tinctive, as described above, there arc many trails common to all. One of the most obvious characteristics of Coptic music, and one that probably de· rives from ancient times, is the prolonglltioll of a single vowel ovcr many phra~es of music that vary in length and complication. This phcnomcnon may take two forms identified by scholars as vocalise, when the vowel is prolonge<.l with a definite rhyth· mic pulse, ;lI1d mdisma (pI. mdisma/a), when the vowel is prolonged in a fTee, undefined rhythm. A melisma generally laslS from ten to twenty seconds, but some vocalises may continue for a full minute. lk.'C3USC of tht.'l>I: many vocalisCli and mdismata, ::J. study of the text alone does not always indicate the form of the music. The music may rurther show its independence from the text in that musical and textual phrases do not always cOlTCSpond. For CJtample, in the Utul'1O' or Saint 8a~il, there is considerable enjambment in the solos or the priClit and in the hymns sung pl"\.'ceding the anaphora: in !lOme hymnlO a musical ca· dence ma)' occur even in the middle of a word ("Juda.~. Judas," heard during Holy Week on Maun· dy Thursday, is a case in point). In addition, the music nllIy distort the stresS and length of the syl. lables, especially it' the text being sung is Greek. Other tmlts ure also prevalent. Melodies tend to pr'OCeed diatonically, usually within a range of five tones, with a characteristic progression of a half· step, whole step, and half·step, both descending and ascending. There may be intervals of thirds in the melodic line, although the distinction between the major and minor third is not always recognized as clearly as in WClitem music; the augmented second 11O rare: the diminished fourth occurs rather often. Throughout, there arc numerous microtont.'$, and, therefore, many intervals can never be accurately reproduced on a keyboard instrument. Indeed, by
1722
MUSIC, COPTIC: Description of the Corpus and Prescnt Musical Practice
J" 82
moll() rll,
~~J~~'I b. EJlamplc of char:aclcri:;lic interval progressions. a. From the I-Iymo Shere Maria ('o'-hlil Mlll)'''), prepnl':uol)' 10 the Liturgy O(SI. D.ll;il. b. Typical Cadcm;c (fTom P"llim ISO, sung as a COl1lmuniull Hymn). TrOlrJf;riplions /Iy Rober/SOIl.
means ot' these rnicrotone:-;, the implied lonal cent,'e of a given tune may shirt imperceptibly, some' timeli by as much ;IS a minor thil1,l or more. Many Kholal'$ have felt Ihal Coplic melodies ~m
to unfold in spontaneous anJ endless improv-
isation. However, analyses reveal that this music ha..~ been construc!cd according to definite fonlls, lhn;oe of which may be described. (I) Some sonB-~ are made up of various brief ph'"ases, which an.: woven together SO us to form clearly identifiable sections (usually three or four) unci repeated with slight vadalion: the piece ends with a prescribed cadcntial formul;!., Concerning these compositions, Newlandsmith (sec Musicologisls, below) isolnted tcn musical pIU'U5eS which he temlcd "typical." The extended voealisc:s and mclismalll described above are fUllnd most often in this kind of piece. (2) Other melodics arc composed of longer, Individual phras. es. complete in thcmsel\'es, so thaI one or two such pht"'olS(,.'S, repeated as strophes and/or fefmins, are 5ufflcielll for the construction of an entire hymn. (3) Some songs are made up of melodic line and rhythm lhlll Me simplified to fit the inflection and rhythm of the te~l. Such melodies tend to be syllah, ic and often have an ambitus of only two or three tones. Some important terms, which appear in liturgical books and manuscripts to specify th~ music to be sung with a givcn text, are the Coptic HXOC, adopt· (I!'chos): the Coptic ~ ed from Greek (Bohem) or 0)"(n6H (ouohem). meaning ··fe· sponsc": and the At"'oIbic LAI:IN (I'll, ,,(I./ull). Ibn 8i,,1 (1106-1187), ll!l quoted in LisM/ o/·'Arab (complied by Ibn Man?,lir, 1232-1311), asslJ.:ned to lal,m six meanings, among which are "song" arid "pSlIlm,
",roo;
odbdng" 01' "inloning." Western scholars have manslated la~ltl as "lone," "air:' and/or "melody," bOl none of these words conveys ils full meaning. Although the lenn may have some affinilil$ wilh Ihe Ambic maqAm and the Byzantinc echos, in Cop, tic music it refers basically to a cenaln melody or melody-Iype which l~ readily recognired by Ihe people and known by a specific, oflen dcscripti\'e name, such as /al!/l a/.~,u", (".. ,of grief"), {al!lI a/·faral., (n", of joy"), lal,m al'la;"fl (n. , , for the dead"), (/1.!a~lIl a/'lIla'rflf ("familiar"), etc. Wl'itinll in the fourteenth century, IRN KAI)AR named some lwent,v·silt OII!IJII, mOSI of which are slill known today, Some, designated sUllawiyyah (annual), lire sung throughout Ihe year, whereas others may be reserved for one occasion only. The same text may be sung to different QII!IJ", and conversely, the same IQI111 may have different tellts. Funhennore, Ihe same lal1" may have Ihrec fonns: shol' (qaffr), abridged (mukhlafar), and long (!owf/), Among many beautiful al~IIJ", the sorrowfullal1" Idribf may be ciled as one of the most eloquent. Performed on Good Friday, during the Sillth Haul', h expresses vividly the tt"'dgedy of the Crucifixion. Its text being Ihe psalm versicle preceding the Gospel Icelion, it is also called Mal/HI'r Idribf (Psalm Idlibl). This name may derive from Ihe ancient village Alribi, which once Siood near prescnt·day Suhilj, or it may stem from Coptic 6T6f'2tI&l (one causing grief). An· other 'QI1" whose rulmc shows the anliqoity of its music is I.Q~1Il Si"jdrf, named after SINJAR, an lin· eienl village near RosellO, The twO melody types mOSl frequently named are Afhml and Baros (Ar..bic: ADAM and wATUS). Hymns labeled Adam arc to be sung Sunday through Tues·
MUSIC, COPTIC: Description of the Corpus and Present Musical Practice
J _116 MOli( I
-
Motif II
X6-r6 H.1.-r t -.····.·.1.----·--
t· .oy ..... t .'"
•
).. ),0-1t.1
she-re Ma-ri-······· a······· ti··ou··ro ti . vo (c)n a·lo·1i Malif III
~
Motif IV
~~'~ 0I1-6··TO Moo oY'-W--'-1 the-c·-te (c)mpe au -. 6 - - - - i
6---fO-·····-·y-·-w·--······--·-1
e·--ro--······u···6········-····i
{I·······-·roc·· e····-----ros··
Example of compositiun type 1. Beginning of Ihe Ilymn Shere Aft/ria ("Hail Mary'), preparalOry 10 Ihe Ulurgy of 51. Basil. TrartUripl;()I1 by Rober/5OtI.
J>=72-80
Phrase I.
-
Ii ·He • 'T·~e • GoJ-go-tha (e)m.mc··t·h(; /"0,\·/"0·9.),
J ,,,
- .• - . • . . - •• &re • • • • • • • . • • • • OC
···bl'c""""",
'OS
. .
* "01 6····W·····1t.
.
af··o··-·········-----sh e,-,-v(J·····I
.
.1....
-0)-- •• - •••••••••
Example of composition Iype 2. From lhe Hymn Ca!gollrll, sung during lhe Twelfth Hour on Good Friday. TrQ"~ripl;o,, by Rober/sort.
1723
1724
MUSIC, COPTIC: Description of the Corpus and Pnolsenl Musical Practice
cove
lII-----XfIC---TOC
(I - - - lOtI - - - - -fl
le----sQUS
pi--(c)Khris - - - los
(c)['I' .. she· ... -n
III - - .
~\
)i
IW'
I~\
P ~
-J
~ss ,
H._._ .. <}.--.1I0y-- .. -t
c.I'---T
G----··-rotl
.
(c)m----(c)ph--·nnu----ti
sO····tem
c-··· -. -ron
.
E:c.ample of composition type 3. Near the ending of Psalm 1SO, sung as Hymn. Trtmscriptiotl hy R~rI${m.
day, and also un ccnain specified days, while hymns labeled 8010s are reserved lor Wednesday through Saturday, for the evening service. and fOl' Holy Week. The tWO nallles lkrh-c from the TheDtokia for Kiyahk (!iCC below), in which Adam is lhe lirst word of lhe Theotokia {Ot Monday, ),Jt,..l.H OAJG.Qw ..."). Althnugh they arc distinct from each other in ven;c struClurc, length, and mood, their music differs lillIe in eontemp0l111)' praclil:e, and both may be heal·d in the same servo ke, The foregoing descriptions of the musk and terminology u.~ed in the 5el"Vices of Il,e Divine Liturgy and Offering of Incense also apply to the rest of the COl"pUS, discussed below.
The Canonical Hours A great wealth of Coptic hyn,nology Ill:'!y be heard in the e(lnonil:lll hours, which arc prayers pel'forilled by lay people in the city churches and by monks in the mon;:\,.~teries, Then,' are seven: First Bour', or Morninlj: Pmyer; Third Hour; SiJith Hour: Ninth Hour: Eleventh Hour, or Hour of Sunset: I-lour of Sleep, with its three NQC!urns; lind Mid· night Hour. In the monasteries, the Prayer of the Veil (Ar;lbic: fullJl u/·:;;llIr) is added, The book containing these proyers is the Book of Ille flours or
3
Communion
HOROLOGtON (Coplic: ~, piajpla, from ~, ajp, "Hour"; Al"dbic: ul'ajbiyyah, or ~alawal al.sawa'i). The canonical hours consist of the reading of the Psalms a5signcd for ,,:tch hour, followed by lhe can· lill:)Iion of the Gospel, two short hymns written in strophic {ann, known as ICOpariO (Creek: Tf'Orrl..pw", tcoparion, pI. Tptn(irplO. tro.,aria), pluli two more ICOpOriO c:tlled Theolokia, which arc an invocation to lhe Virgin Mfll)' (see below). The lroparia and Thcotokia are liepanlled from one another by the Lo.::sscr 001':01010', which ili :tlso cantillalcd, Thcn follow the Kyl'ie, the I'I'ayer of Absolution, and throughout, responses to each part. Although lroporio lind Theotokia are also heard in the canoni· cal offices of the Greek Orthodox chun:h, their order of performance is different from that of thc COplli, The Greek and Coptic melodies differ a.~ well. Since the hours are oat dependent on priestly dirCl:tion, in Ihe towns (Ul(J cilles, the musical part.~ of each hour are led by thc cantor (sce C"ntors, below), formerly, in tile monasteries, the monks, not being mUliieally educated, could not intone the hour.l; moreover, during the C;lrly ye(lrs of theil' development, the monastic communiticli rejected singing and chttnting as nol conducive to the revercncc lind piet)' l'Cquircd of their stl'ict discipline. Today, however, many of the monks are former dcal:onli well acquainted with the melodies of the church rill'S, and thcy cantilJate the hymnic por· tions of the hours liS prescribed. In gcncl'al, the hours arc in Ambit only, but in some monasteries. the Illonkli are beginning to recite them in Coplic.
"
,
MUSIC, COPTIC: Description of the
The Service of Psalmodla 10 addilil,m lQ the l,;anoni(:l1l hours, .I,ere is a
• •
special choral service known a.~ P.nl1mooiIA).
which is l>elfonned immediately before the E"cning Offering of In-
cense. at the conclusion of the Prayers of the Mid· night Hour, and between the Office of M0l11ing Prayer and the Moming Offering uf Inccnt<e, In the monasteries, Psu/modia is performed dall.v, bUI in the city churches, il has become cuslom31)' 10 perfonn il only on Sunday eve, that is, Saturday night.
I
,
The texis IIml order of the prayers, th~' hymns. and the Iec:llons are to be found in the bo..II:, a/.A1>SflJmudiyYuh a/.Sanuwiyyah. Abo. a special book, a/·Ab.wlmlfdi)')·llh Il/-KiYrlhkiYYrlh. comains the
COIT\US
anti Present Music
hymns to be sung for Advent. that is. during the month of Klyahk. In both books, the basic hymn forms of thi... service are given a.~ folIO\VJ: I. The Ms (Coptic: 2IlC. derived from Egyptian h·s·j, "10 sing. 10 prai...e" (Arabic: Mis. pl. h"i,fat). lll'e four special songs of praise. Burmester rcfcr!l to them
Chantcr:
J...
r~ oy - - - CUtl2
~
• - $0),
H · •• tOy..
ou---6nh
c--vol
(c)m(e)phm)u-
t
If· "T~ Ii (e)o'''l(:
'N ...
tlOVt
nj·--nouti
People:
~5~'1 ~ X(; 116" ..
oy· . 'WN2
C--$OA
OU .• ·(Jllh
co-vol
N)"tll}Otl
01),
C--/162
jc pef - - nai shop sha
C - -neh
N- --it---60tC
N ---Ttl
m·-·60tC
(c)m-(clp- - -chois (I:)n- - ·te
ni··-chois
People:
~ u- - - -.
·.\11·· - --
--,\oy· - ti:
al . _.. - -Il:· - - - _. -Iou - - ia:
1725
XO IlO
0·· m;~.
jc pef·· naishopsha e - -neh.
ExlraCI fn'lIn/flu Two, Suullhes IWO and three with Refrain from HfJs Two (P~lm 136), from the service of PsufmodilJ. Transcriptioll by To'h.
1726
MUSIC, COPTIC, Description of the Corpus and Present Musical Practice
an Alleluia refrain in each strophe; Has Three, the Song of the Three Holy Children (Apocrypha, On. • 1-67; Coptic KCHAp
en ...
sisting of a ecoto of Psalm verses. Deriving from the ancient synagogal rites, the lu35 are very old. Indeed, according to Anton BAUMSTARK, Has One and Has Three were the first canticles to be used in the Christian liturgy. A fragment of papyrus, brought fmm the Fayyum by W. A. F. PETRIE, published by W. E. (RUM, and identified as a leaf from an ancient Egyptian office book, contains pieces of these two hymns. FUl1her, part of the
Ostracon showing text of Has Three ("The Three Holy Children"). Courtesy Coptic Museum, Cairo. Photo by S. K. Brown.
Greek text of Has Three has been found on an ostracon dating probably From the fifth century. From Has Three has grown the canticle known in the West as Benedicite. Descriptions of the four has dating from the fourteenth century, early twentieth century, and mid-twentieth century all concur, a fact that confirms the unchanged tradition of their usage. Each hos is framed by its proper PSAU. lQSSH. and TARI:I (see below). 2. The Theotokia: As mentioned above, the Theotokia are hymns dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There is one set for each day of the week, with each set presenting one aspect of Old Testament typology as it applies to Mary, the Mother of God (Greek: .;, {hmax.o<;, he theot6kos). The Theotokia for Saturday, Monday, and Thursday have nine sets of hymns each; those for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday have seven; the Sunday Theotokia (performed Saturday night) has eighteen. The strophes for all the sets of these seven Theotokia are nonrhyming quatrains, whose textual accents prescribe the rhythmic and melodic formulae. Each set has a common refrain of one to three strophes that acts as a link to unite the set. Along with each Theotokia, there are interpolations, which enlarge upon the text (Coptic: BW>., B61; Greek: ~PIL1Jllda, hermeneia, "interpreta· tion"), and every set ends with a paraphrase called labsh (see below). In actual practice, not all the sets of hymns in a Theotokia are perfonned in a single Psalmodia service because one hymn may suffice to represent the complete set. There is a special collection of Theotokia meant to be penormed only during the month of Kiyahk for Advent. De Lacy O'Leary has determined that although many of their texts resemble those of the Greek Orthodox church-especially those Greek hymns attributed to Saint John Damascene and Arsen ius the Monk (see ARSENIUS OF SCETIS AND TURAH, SAINT)-the Coptic Theotokia are not translations, but, rather, original poems composed on the Greek modeL De Lacy O'Leary's translation and editions of the Theotokia for Kiyahk pmvide ample material for analyzing the texts and comparing manuscripts. A succinct summary of their contents has been outlined by both Martha Roy and Ilona Borsai (see Musicologists, below). As was mentioned above, two of these Theotokia have given their names to the melody types most commonly used lhroughout the liturgy and offices, namely, Adam and BaIOS. Legend attributes the texts of the Theolokia to both Saint Athanasius (see ATHANASIUS I. APOSTOLIC SAINT), and Saint EPHRAEM SYRUS while ascribing the melodies to a saintly and virtuous man, a potter by
MUSIC, COPTIC: Description of the Corpus and Present Musical Practice
tnKIe, who became a monk in the dcscl1 of Scetis. £oringer has idemlfied him as Simeon tl'e Potter of Gcshir (a village in the land of Antioch); he is also known as a poet and protege of the hYll\nist Jacob of Sarugh, who died in 521. This date inJicatcs that the Coptic Theotokia were composed ill Ihe carly pan of the liixth cenlul)'. Mallon, however, asscl1S that these works are of neither the same author nor the same period. He would date them no earlier than the filth centul)', but before the Arab conquest of Egypt (642-643). In the founeenlh cenlul)', AbU aJ·Barnk.at wrote that the Thcolokia for Kiyakh were nOI used in Upper Egypt, but were passed around among lhe churches of Mi,r, cairo, and the northern pan of the country. 3, The IlJbsh (Coptic: UlIo\t, IObsh, "crown," "con· summ.:r.tion"; Arabic: Illbsh and/or lrlf:;lr, pl. TAfASIR.. "ellplanation, inlerpretation") immedialely follows a ht15 or a Theotolda; it iii a nonbibli~1 text on a biblical theme. In hymn fonn. consisting of four· line strophes and usually unrhymed, the {oosl! is recited I'3ther than sung. However. ilS tille designates the appropriate falIn, either Adam or Blllos, which would scem to indicate that at one lime it was sung. 4. The Psall~ (Cop(ic: t).,U, Psali; Arabic: A~UV VAil. or mud/II. pI. madtfiJ.,. "praise, laudation") are metrical hymns Ihat accompally either a Th...-otokia or nOs. Muyser and YASSA 'ABD Al-MASH.I have pubIWled detailed edillons of ccrtain Psalis, using manuscripl$ daling from the founeenth and eigilleenth centuries. Their articles scrvc 10 demonstrate the high level of technique in handling Corti.. rhym..s and rhYlhms allained by Psali authon. EveI)' Psali has from Iwenty·~ix to forty·six slroph"s. caeh of which is a rhymed quatrain; the rhyming schemes may vary. The strophes arc often arranlll'd in acroslic order according to the Coplic or Greek alphabet by the 6nll letter of each strophe. Some arc even in double lIcrostic, and others in reverse acrostic. Such patterns servc os mnemonic devices, cmlbling the singers 10 perform the hymn~ in thdr en1irely with no ollli~sions. One feature which makes the Psalis ve,)' popular is the refrain, an elemenl mrely found in the ritual pieces of the liturgies and canonical houn;, or in the hOs and TheolOkia of the service of Psalmodi(l. Usually the refrain Is made by repealing only the founh line of the strophe. but sometim... ~ both the third and fOUl1h lines are repeatcd. AnOlher unusual aspect of the ?salis is that, ex· CCJM for a few paraphrases reserved for Kiyahk,
1727
Ihese are the only pieces of Coptic music whose authors arc identi6ed in the texl~. The writel"s name may be found embedded in a strophe, wilh a pica for mercy and pardon from sin, and with men· lion of him as "Ihe poor servant" or "a poor sin· ncr." In the paraphra.~es. the author'S name may be given in acroslic fonn as the fin;t leller of each strophe of the hymn, or as the initial leuer of each of a SCI of hymns armngcd seriatim. Man Psalis are 10 be sung eilher 10 Ihe melody· lypc Adam or BlliOS. depending on the day of the week, and are thus designaled as Psali Adam or rsali Balas. However, cenain ones specify the lide of anOlher familiar Psali or hymn 10 wh05C melody Ih...")' may be sung. These melodies are rhythmic and syllabic, that is. the notes malch the texts with little trace of melilirna or improvisation: Iheir range usu· ally cO\'ers four, or ill most, 6ve lones; lhey swing along in quasl-parlando slyle, and emphasis on lex· tual and melodic acccnu makcs them easy to sing, all of which encourages congregalional participalion. The vel)' simplicily of these hymns leads the listener 10 speculate that herein lies the oldest core of ancient Egyptian melody. A few PsaHs are wriuen in both Coptic and Greek. some in both Coptic and Arabic, and others in Arabic alone. Only one manuscript entirely in Greek has been discovered (Church of Saini Barbara, Old cairo. History 8, 1385). MOlil Psalis, however, are in the Bohairic dialect, and the dale of their composition is unknown. It is probable lhat some are no earlier than the thirteenth eenlury. On the other hand, certain Psalis in the Sahidic dialect have been a....~igned to the ninth and lenth centuries (Morgan Collection, vol. XIII). These latter :II"(' in acro~tic order, according to thc ICIlCU of the alpha· bet. and Ihey are unrhymed. .5. The TAltI) (pI. ("r(ll.rM) usually denoles a paraphmse used to explain a pr'eeeding hCJs, Theotokia, or Gospel reading. It diffcrs from the I6bsh or psali in that It is introduced with two unrhymed strophes in Coptic, which lire followed by an Arabic prose text. In gencl'al, il is recited, nOI sung. Sometimes the samc hymn is termed both Psali (Coptic) and (arl.' (Arabic), but, tcchnically speaking, it may be considered a (arii when it follow~ the Coptic hymn of the Gospel leclions. A luri) dOling (rom the ninth cenlul)' has been edited by Marla CRAMER. Wriuen in Sahidic for Palm Sunday, it was supposed to be sung. Abii ai-BarakAt referred to the {fJrII as a hymn. which further testifics 10 its once musical character. 6. The doxologies are hymns of praise sung duro ing the service of Psafm()l/ia in honor of the Sl.'3liOn,
1728
MUSIC, COPTIC: Dest:ription of the COI-pUS and Present Musical Practice
Ch~nh:r;
J. "
-,~ +-ooy--t (e)ph - nou - - Ii
tu. - •• ,toy ..
t
pa---nou-- Ii
e---f"1b: e·--go:
no· ..
Fe.. pc'.- -lcn - - -ref· ·T(lH - - -
~j---~ t
~ ..
Gil.
TUN
i····-rcu:
C6--'A(e}fU Hl----CJ"U
sO·ti ek
tnn
a·----g6:
Se- -. d(e)·rak Mi···· saak Ab-
a/-
-
Ae·-N~-·-··rcu:
de--na--···g6: """pie:
_'1 .
•
6---pO'l
),,--rt----to¥
o
6~C".
e· .. ror
a - ·ri·---hou
o
cbasf.
E.'I ....ll;1 from a Psuli. Slrophe Iwenty·one Wilh Refrain from the Service of PsalmuJiu, TrUIlSt'ripl;QII by To/Ii.
the Vir~in Mary, lhll angels, the apostles, the sainI of a panicular church, or ulher Coptic saints, as lime may lllluw. Their ledS are similar in slructurc to those of the Psali and (uri,!, having shan strophes of fall I' lines each and concluding with lhe lasl slrophc of the Theotokia for lhe d:ly. 'Abd al-MllsI1.l ha.~ published deluiled sludies of the doxologies. In lldJilion LO the foregoing, other special hymns tll'C sung by the Copts in commclllO"ation of their saints and martyrs. These are to be found in the DlFNAR or tll1/iplnJllurium (Greek: &vrl(!lwmpWl'. an.iph6n6l'ion. from CtIlTl,J,wI>t/ll, anlipl'Oneo, "to answel', to reply"), a book containing biugnlphil."S of the Coplic saints wtitlen in hYOlnic form. This \'01· ume alS() include!> hymn!> for the fasts and feasts. The tC;II:IS arc alTIlnged in su'Ophes of I'hymed qualrains, and IWO hymns are given for Ihe same saint, their use being dependent Oil Ihe day of the week.
P~'llli
Ar;ps"fjll ... , from
lhat is, one for lhc days of Adam, :md :mother for the days of Sll/os. Because lhesc hymns are quile lung, only twO or three strophes may be sung dur'ing the service of I'SlIlmodill 10 cornmem01'lltc the sainI of lhe dny. FUt1hel', if the SVNAXARJON is read as a commemonltiun, lhe singing of the diflllir hymn may be omllted completely. The compilation of the dif"lIr is ascribed 10 the seventielh palrltlrch, GM1RTP.1. II (1131-1145). How· ever, the oldesl known manulicript with ii/filar mao terial dates from 893 (MOlllun Library, New York, manuscript 575). Another unpublished dif'lllr from the fourteenth centUl)', found in the library of lhe Mona.~H'ry of SI. Antony (see Ill\VII. ANRA ANTONIVOS), hM been described by A. Piankolf and photognlphed by T. whitlemore. Mention should also be made of the numerous ritual books thaI conlain ful1her repertoire to be
MUSIC, COPTIC: Canticles
sung for plu1icular liturgical occasions such as the rite of holy lIAPTISM and the dIe for MARRIACE. Each of Ihese rnany rituals ha-~ it~ own hook detailing Ihe lipecificli of the rite, which of coun;(; include the usc of lIlusic. Olher rilllais with Iheir special boob conlaining hymns for thc lipccific occasions Ire those for Ihe feastS and fasts of Il,e liturgical calendar, liuch as t.he rilual for the feast of the Nativity, for the feast of Epiphany, for Ihe feast of lhe Resurreclion, for the fea...t of Pentecolit, for the !'asl of Holy Week, the fast of the Virgill Mary, and Olhers 100 nurnerolL~ to mention here (liCe J1'ASTS. NAJOR; F1!ASTS. MINOR: FASTING). There is one other book very impol1ant in Ihe description of lhe corpus, The Services of fhe DeClCO" (Arabic: KhidmQI QI·ShammIH), which wa.~ a-~. sembled. by AbUnA TaklA and first published in 1859. This work was compiled from lhe various boob and collecllons of hymns already in existence in order 10 lISSist the dca(:on, who, alol1g with the cantor, has the responsibilily for the proper selec· tion and order of the hymns and rt.'Sponses for each lilurgy lind office. This book oUllines the hymns lind responses in Coptic and Arabic for the lilurgies and canonical offices throughout the year-according 10 lhe various seasons and the calend:II' of feasts and fasa-and for lhe wriouli riles such as weddings. funel1lls, b."\ptisms, and so on. Ils rubrics aloe all In Arabic, bUI the hymnli and n:sponllCS arc in bolh Coplic and Arnbic. Musical tcrms arc employed in directing the singers. The name of the IQ~m for eilch hymn and response is specified, and lhe mbl'ic for lhe use of inSlrumenL~ (Arabic: bj·t1I·u6.qr..~. "with cymbals") is ;1150 iodie"t· cd where nel:l:SSllry. Sinl:e its firSI p,-jnting, The Service.~ of fill! Dcacml hali appeared in four edilions. RACHEB MOfTAH
M"ll.lilN
ck~
arc also sung llS h')$ during lhe office of Pstll· modia (HI'Js One, lhe Song of Muses, and I/M Three, the Song of the Three 110ly Children). The lhree from the New Testament arc embcdd<:d as Gospel lections in six of the hymns of the Sunday TheOlok· ia for Kiyakh (see Dl$cliplion of lhe Corpus and Presenl Musical Praclice above). These an~: the Song of Mary (lk. 1:46-.5.5, known in Ihe West as the Mllgnifieal): Ihe Song of Simt.'On (Lk. 2: 29-32, known as the Nunc I>imillls); and the Prayer of Zaehari$ (Lk. 2: 69-79, known as the Bcnedic· tus). The full sct of canticlC!li is perfomled al the vigil service on the nighl of Good Friday (thl: eve of Salurday). For this service, Ihe offieianl and hili deacons arc seated around a low table upon which are placed three lighted CllndlC3, and they read the Biblical prayers lind hymns, each deacon taking his tum al reading one canticle. The Song of Moses and the Song of the Three Holy Children arc performed in Coptic. Alllhe resl are recited in Arabic. The full set includes: OLD TESTAMENT (LXX)
I. Song of Moses (Ex. 15:1-21).
2. Second Song of Moses (Ot. 32:1-4]). 3. 4. 5. 6.
MAIl.GJT T6TH
of Hannah (I Sm. 2: 1-11). of Habakkuk (Hb. ]:2-19). of Jonah (Jon. 2: 2-10). of He7.eklah (Is. ]8: 10-20).
7. PI'::lyei' of MantL<:.'IC~ (Man. 1-1.5). Ow TE$I'AMI.ONT (LXX) 8. Pr.lYl:r of l!>OIiah (I) (Is. 26: 9-20).
9. Praise of Isaiah (2) (Is. 25: 1-12). 10. Praisl.: of 1S
12. Praise of Bllrtlch (l3al'. 2: 11- 16). 13. 14. [5.
16. 17.
Canticles
Prayer Prayer PI'::lyer Prnyer
APOCRYPHA
RUUElrrSON
MARTHA Roy
1729
OLD Tl!STilMt!NT (LXK) Praise or Elijah (I Kgs. 18:26-]9). Pr..lyer of David (II Kgs. 29:10-1]). Praycr or King Solol11on (I Kgs. 8:22-]0). Prayer or D(lIliel (On. 9:4-i9). Vision of Oaniel (On. ]:1-23). APOCRYPHA
18. Song or the 1'1ll'ee Holy Children (On. 1-67).
In addilion to the P.o;alms, some 01 the early Christian churches adopled inlo lheir systcm of ca· nonlcal officC!l cel1ain Old TClilament Ilraises and prayers whil:h 'In,: knuwn loday as ,·wl/ide$. The Coptic church recognizes twenty--one in all, eight· een from the Old Testament lind Ihree from the New T61llrnenL Two of the Old Teslament canti-
Nnw TESTAMENT
19. Song of Mllry (Lk. 1:46-.55).
20. Song of Simeon (lk. 2: 29-]2). 21. Pmyer of Zachariah (Lk. 1:68-79).
MOI'TAII MARTllA Roy
RACHEB
1730
MUSIC, COPTIC; The Oral Tradition
The Oral Tradition All the manuscripts discovered and books com· piled to d:ue re<:ord only texts and rubrics. There is no known notation now in existence ,Iesigned specifically for Coptic music, though manuscripts bearing ancient Greek notation ha...e been found in Egypl (see History, below). From the heginnings of the church, Ihe music has passed frono one person to another, from one generalion 10 Ihe next, by oral teaching and rotc learning. Thus Coptic nJusic has always depended on a continuous oral tradition. Because the Copts have tended to be fiercely can$erVouive about Ihe many rituals of Iheir rt'ligion, il is reasonable to suppo5C that thl.'Y must also have been meticulous in regard to the music. According to Hans Hlckmann (see Musicologists. below), this music wM held as a sacred trust by those who learned it, and indeed. was purp()5dy not tlOmscribed lest it fall into the wrong hands. For the mOSt pan, the instruction must have been very strict and rigid. as it is today (sec Cantors. belo....). To sludy the reliability of this tradition. Marian Robertson has compared transcriplion:s of Ihe same piece of music wriuen decades apart by different seholaf$. Thesc studies indicate Ihm the Simpler melodies may have remained imact for centuries. Other comparisons of recordings made years apart at the Institute of Coptic Studies also ~how that the basic melodics have remained unchanged. and that even the embellishments, though \'aJ)'ing slighdy, occur in the 50Iffie places throughout thc melody in question. This is especially true for tlu'oSe compositions ~ung by the choir. In the case of solo performers. variation and improvisation aroe ro be found. particularly in the embcm~hment~ and meli~mata. as nmy be expecled. In view of lhe abundance and complexity of Coptic musk, one mighl well wonder' if IIny mnemonic devices were used to aid in transmitting it. Hick· mann mainlt\lned that a system of chironomy thaI dalcs from the POUl1h Dynasty (2723- 2563 B.c.) is still employed. However. nol all sl:holan; have shared this opinion. Indeed. Ragheb Moftah, head of the Music Department at the Institute of Coptic Studies. allirms that ahhough a cantOI' may use his hands in directing other singen;. his sy&tem ill' &trictIy Individual and not consciously adopled from anyone. The chironomic gestures used in Coptic singing seem to relAte more to selling the rhythm than to delineating the pitches of a given melody. Scholan; do not agree concerning rhe antiquity
and purity of the Coptic Illusical tradition. Admittedly, without notated manuscript&. il ill' virtually impossible to unravel the sourcc§ of the many melodies. Nevenhelcss, spcciali&ls who have &ludied, transcribed. llnd analp.ed this music concur that, at the very le3.<;t, it does rellect an extremely ancient practice. Emt."St Newlandsmilh (see Musicologists. below) traced it 10 pharaonic Egypt. whereas Rene Menard, a bil morc cautiou&, proposed thai those melodiC$ sung in Coplic descended from the preIslamic era. In all probability, variOUlI' sections of the music, like the numerous texl6, were introduced into the rites during different stages of the early Coplic church, and the music 3.<; 11 whole does not date from any single era or region. It is clear, ho.....e...er. that the musical tradition has continued unbroken from its beginnings to the present day. Hickmann considered it 11 living link between the pa<;t and the present. RA(;IIf,B
MOFTAU
MARtAN ROBERTSON
MAJtTllA Roy
Melody, Its Relation to Different Languages The relation of vadous languages 10 Coptic melody is a !tudy still in ilS infancy. Comparison of pieces sung interchangeably in different languages could help identify the nature of change as well as indicatc roughly the age of cer1ain hymns whose texls have been identified in ancient manuscripts. The titles and rubrics for many hymns designate various linguistic origins (for the texts at least). with most bcirt¥ noted as Ruml, lhal is. from Byan· tium. or "the New Rome." a~ it was once known. Burmester referred to a number of Greek troparia from the ByJ.antlne offices which are also used in the Coptic office. Further, a.~ has been mentioned, scveral PSlllis show IIf1inilies to Greek (sec Desedp· tion of the COll)US and Present Musical Practice, above). Other hymns are designated tl.S Beheirl. from northern Egypt. So',dr, from southern Egypt, or MUfrl. from lhe central pal1 of the country. Each region has It.~ own distinctive dialect. Initial invc&tigation5 hllvc revcaled that when text.<; are t'ung interchangeably in different tongues, the melodies remain c&scntially intact. For example. in the Easter hymn. "Remember me, 0 Lord" (performf..-cl on Good Friday during the Sixth Hour). which is sung first In COptic (J.f'IIUJ.HI~ • ru.O"e.
• MUSIC, COPTIC: History
aripamevi 0 rachols) lind then ill Greek, lu",,",,1jn 1W1l1t~, mnklhctl mOll kYric), the mll.,ie docs nol change with the language. Other examples could be
ciled. Schola~
have observed that, with the tr.mslalion
of the Htulogies and numerous hymns llitO Arabic, those melodies put 10 an Arobic text ha\'c tended 10
become simpler, shorter, and less orna",ented lhan the original Coptic version. Fear ha.' been
ClI-
pressed lhal the Coptic melodies sung in Ambic
may lose their genius and character, especially where cxtcnsh'C vocalise is concerned. However, the few studies made of pieces sung inlerchangea. bly in Coptic (or Greek) and Arabic seem
(0
~ow
WI the bailie melodic lines and rhythms are kept intact, and thaI even the ornamentation is main·
tained to a remarkable degree. The Easter song r~rved for Maundy Thursday, "Judas. Judas " (Greek:
·I~.
'Ioio&ro; ...• (olidas, lolidas ; Arabic: YaJlIldh<2, YlIlllidhll ... ), may be cited as an
example. Nonetheleu, conclusions must await much further comparison. Other hymns written originally in Arabic (mad<2'il]) have been introduced into the liturgy in relatively recc:nt tim~. Those well acqu:limed with the age--old traditions aver that despite the populari. ty of the allractive melodies and rhythms of the madd'il], Ih~ newer hymns contain lilllc of theological or spiritual value. Further, Copts now maintaining residence in for· eign lands have begun to petform their lilurgk-s in French, English, and Gennan. bpcrts once again expres.~ fear that, with Ihls trend, the unique style and navor of the true Coptic melodies will be absorbed into new eKprcssions unable to rellect their distinctive herit:lge. They feel thai Coptic music must be sung In Ihe Coptic language if it is to cKpreSll the splriluality of Ihe ancient church. MARIAN ROBERTSON
History Possible Sources and Antecedents There are three primary traditions from which Coptic music very likely absorbed elelllellts in varying proportions: the Jewish, the Greek. and the an· cicnt Egyptian. POlilble Jewl,h Jnnuenee. Many aspt'ct.~ of the Jewish services Wi!re adopted by the Christian church in Egypt. As elscwhere in thl' primitive c:hu~h, the whole of the Old Testament was proba-
1731
bly adopted, with the PSlIller being the oldest and most venerated song book. The AU.ElJJtA (Ps. 105ISO) and Sanetus {Coptic: *OY),1 *oyu *oyu ... , (e)Khouab, (e)Khouab, (e)Khouab ... , "Holy, Holy, Holy .. :') (Is. 6:3) are IWO notable hymn teltt.~ that have become an integral part of the Coptie ritcs. According 10 John Gillespie. the benediction, Bamh Ahfah Adonai ('11lanks be to nu:c, 0 Lord"), was also adopted by Ihe Copts. UOWi!ver, how much Jewish liturgical music came into the Coplic church, either from Jerusalem or Alc:o;andria, must remain a mailer of speculation al this point. To date, no specific melodies have been identified lUi belonging to both traditions. Hans Hick· mann even postulated that although the music: from the synagogue played an important role in the de\'elopment of the Syrian and Byatntine Ijturgi~, in Egypl the case might have been reversed, thai is, Jewish music in Egypt could ilSclf have been influenced by the pagan Egyptian liturgies. POHlble Greek Influence. The Greek koine (kOl~), which was the lingua franca of the eastern Mediterranean. became the language of the primitive Christian church. The Helleni7.ed centers of Egypt-AICJIandria in particular-produced notable Greco-Egyptian music theorists and teachers such as the grammarian Didymus of AleKandria (finn century A.D.), for whom the "Didymian Comma" (an intcrv",1 betwcen a major and minor lone) i.~ named; Pseudo-Demctrius of Phalcron (first ccntury A.D.), who wrote the first composition manual known in music history; Claudius Ptolemy (second century A.D.), whose Hannonics beeame the stan· dnrd mathematical treatise on music; Alypios of AI· eKandria (c. 360 A.n.), whose comprehensive survey of Greek notation mllde the dcelphering of Greek mu~ic po~~lble; the poet·teacher· OIQSCORUS Of' API/MOOITO (fourth century); the Gnostic VAlENTtNUS (foUlth century); nod Pl'oclus (421-485). Two manuscripts containing carly Greek musicl\l notation have been found in Egypt. The first one is pre·Christian; it dates from about Ihe middle of Ihe third centuI)' B.C. and is one of the most ancient pieces of musical notlltian yet discovered (Zenon, Cairo Museum, no. 59532). The second is a hymn fragment daling from the middle of the third centuI)' A.D. (from the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1786, ed. Grenfell and Hunt). Recognized as the earliest c:o;· ample of nOlated Christian hymnody, it was probably once part or the Coptic repenoire, allhough it b nm known to the church tooay. A study of these two manuscripts, as they have been transcribed by modem scholtlrs, shows that both contain an
1732
ambitu.~
MUSIC, COPTIC: History
and intervals much larl:',~I' lhun lhose nor"!lIlly hCltrd in Coplic music: nor arc the imerval progreuiom; similar. However, there may be some cadential likencsscs. Another manuscript disco,'e ..ed in Egypt Is a hymn fr.lgmellt, Hymu uf file Sa"iQr, lL~ribed 10 CLEl.1ENT 01' At£XANI>RIA (c. 150220), which, however, may date from an ClIrIicr period. Only the telll is given. Three more papyri from Egypt, edited by Jourdan·Hemmen.linger. contain a system of dots related to letters of" the lext, which may perhaps indicate a type of musiC-'ll notation. Two of thl'SC date from the third cemury s.c.. but one of them (British Museum, 1m'. 230), found in the Fayyl1m and dating from the third or founh century UI.. appears to be from a Psalter wrilten in Greek. None of these has yel been deciphered into musical fonn. One other manuscript of Egyptian provenance, dating from the fifth or sixth cemury 10.0.. Is contruversial. Covered with circles of varied si'l'C$ and colors. it "'"as considcrcl.! by A. Gulezyan of New York to represent musical notation, which he transcribed IIlIO Western notation and subsequemly published. Jourdan-Hemmcrdinger. viewing it as a po.s.~ible development from the system of dots, has tentatively identified it as an elememary manual of practical music. Eric Werner and Rcn~ Menard, on Ihe other hand, do not consider it to be any kind of musical notation. Although it is obvious Ihat many texts are common 10 both lhe Coptic and Gn'ek Churches, it doe~ nOI necCMarily secm 10 follow Ihal Ihe melodies have been held in common as well. For e~am· pie, Ihe great hymns The OIt/y-81'~ottell (Creek: b P.OJiO'Yfv1F.. ho trIonogenes) and the TRISAGION havc the same text In bOlh traditions, bUI the Greek and Coplic mclOi:lies for lhem arc entirely different. In view of this facI and mher supporting obselvations, one might lent:ltivcly propose that hOlh the melodic style lind Individual melodies of the Coptic \;hurch appet\r to have remained diSlinct. However, since lhe relalion of Greek and Coptic music is il study slill in its infancy, no comprehen~ive or definitive Sltllement can be made nbout Ihls problem at pres· ent. Poulble Egyptian Influence. Despite Greek innuenees in lhe urban centers, in th~, pharaonic tern' ple5 and throughout lhe nlrnl 1l1'eaS in general, an· cient E&yplilln music continued to bc pcrfomled. "The people lhought, fclt, and sang 'Egyptian'" (Hickmann. 1961, p. 17). Homdsha, a haflJist. and 'Ankh·hep, a temple musician and cymbal player (bolh Iirst century A.D.), arc IWo prufl:Ssionals whose names indicate their Egyptian lOOK Hicklllllnn pmpo.~ed a connection between the
Kyrie and the ancient Egyptian riles of lhe sun-god, and according to Baumstark, a litanic form of the l~i~ prayer is found in lhe Olfyrhynchu.~ Papyrus 1380; even the Invocations of the saints in the RolIIan formulary arc dosdy relnted to this andent cult. In the Songs 01 Isis and Nepht/lYs (Middle Kingdom teXiS, trans. both Faulkner and Schou), evidcOl;:e exists of antiphonal singing, which still remains today as a basic feature of Coplic music (see ANTIPHON and Description of the COIPUS and Present Musical Practice, above). This pnlclice was also known among Ihe Thempeutae, an a.~etic sect of Alexandria (c. 100 R.C.). Another Coptic musical characteristic that might have exisled in pharaonic EcYPt is Ihc vocalise and/or melisma (sec Description of the Corpus, above). After research into Middle Kingdom texl5, Hickmann suggested that certain repeated syllables (translitenltctl by him as X', X', Xf ... , khe, khe, khe ... ) mighl be inteflJrctl-od as such. Further. some Gnostic lexts contain vocal· ises said to be built on the seven "magic vowels." Pseudo-Demetrius of Phaleron referred to this phe· nomenon as well, calling it "kalophony." Other holdovers from ancient Egypt could be the use of professional blind singers in Ihe performance of the liturgical services (see Cantors, below). and the use of percussion instrumenls in certain rituals (see Musical Instruments, below). Hickmann and Borsai felt that Ihe folk song.~ of Egyptian villagers have melodies and rhythms similar to those of Coptic ehanl. Much more l'CSCarch needs to be done, however. From the Beginning or the Church to the Council orChnlccdon (451 A.D.) Uke other Christian churches in the early centur· ies, the Coptic church was a nUlional one. It used the musical style and perhl1p~ even some melodies familillf 10 the people. According to Baumstark, the primitive Iiltlrgiclll leX1S were, for lhe mOSl part, ImproviSlltions. 'nle riles developed gradually, and varied from region 10 r·egion. But there was throughoUl lhe church a common font of telfts meant to be sung. The Coptic hr)s might possibly be assigned to this first period (see De.~riplion of the Corpus, above). De LlIcy O'leary, maintaining that the earliesl hymns were composed in imitation of the Psalm.~, .~uggcsted that such works should be dated before Ihe second half of the third century. In Ihis regard, he cited three hymns (rom Coptic ser· vices that appenr to have derived from the Syrian rite or "its ByulOtine daughter," the GLORIA IN EXCELSIS (Luke 2: 14), lhe Trisagioll, and the Prayer
MUSIC, COPTIC: HislOry
• of E.osalllli (excerpl~ from b. 8 and 9, nol to be
confused with the canlides; sec Cilnliclet;. above). This last hymn is no longer found In recem Coptic liturgical boc.Jks. FIJI' its part. the Copti<" church probably influenced the rites of the Syrian church, for by 350, public obscn.'ancc of the daily office (the Third, Sixth, lind Nimh Houl's) had begun in Syria, and il is n;:asonablc 10 suppose that th", general plans of psalm chanting and lessons were suggested by the already existing monastic prncliccs of Lower Ea,ypl. However, the outline of Ihe Coptic f/orofogi· 011 (see C4NONlCAl. HOURS. BOOK OF) might not really
have laken shape until the firth cenllJl)'. The COptll adopted SainI Paul's classification of sanas suitable for worship (£ph. 5:19 ;md Col. 3:16), Psalms (Cre1!Ic: tIoA~. psalmoi: Coptic: ,!,UHOC, Psalmos), hymns (Creek: ·ii~J'OI.. hymnal; Coptic; btoy, (e)smOll), lind spiritual song.'i (Greek: ~i, Odai; Coptic: tuAH, hodc:). Some experts k-cl thai these lem15 refer to the texIS to he used, wheuas olhers propose lhat they relate to the style of singing, According 10 Werner, lhe psalms, hvmns, and eamides were established as three distinci forms in the founh cenlUry. A.oi 10 Ihe three divine liturgies, Iheir texIS must have been sct in the founh and fifth centuries, when the church IH Alexandria played a very active role throughout the Meditemmt'an, Ahhough the puthors of the liturgies calllc frolll Cappodocia, each had close ties wilh Egypt. Saint Il.\.sll. TilE CIlEAT (c. 330-379) scrvt.:d an llpprentic(..oship in a Pachomi:m mona.~lcry before inlroducing mona.~ti· cism Into DYlanlium: Suint GR£GORY Of NAZIANZUS (c, 257-337) w....~ a pupil of IlIllI'MUS TilE IIUNO in the renowned CATIlIlCIlETICAL SCIIOOL OF AUiXANDRIA: and Saint CYRIL t THE GRF.AT (412-444), as patriarch of Alexandria, stood :11 the head of the Coptk church. In these early centuries, the church exprcssed varying attitudes towal'd music. AI its inceplion. lhe church used music :IS a means of attracting proselytes; an example is Ihe story of Philemon, "the disciple of Saint Peter," who Is credited with can· verting many s.ouls by means of his beautiful sing' lng, The church fathers had valioUli aHitude.~ toward music, Clcment of Alexandria (sec above) did nOI approve of instl'\llllents, but accepted ~inging. He did, nonetheless, seek to bim t:hromatie and nondi· atonic scales from church music as being too voluptuOla, ORIGEN (c. 185-254), that controvcrsial figure in Coptic church hi~lory, altested Ihe wide use of singing in many languages througllout the church. Saint ATHANASlUS I (326-373). palriarch of
1733
Alexandria, sought to keep psalm singing from be· coming overclabor,jte; the C<Jpts have aseril)!:-d to him the hymn The OuJy.8l!gotll!ll (the Gnaek church ascribes it to the Emperor JL/l)TINIAN I. who is said to have written it in 528; the Syrian church ascribes il to SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH, c, 465-538), Saini Basil, the aUlhor of the liturgy bearing his name, ddcnded the singing of psalms both antiphonally and reo spons.orially, a praclice popular in many lands induding Egypt, Libya, Pale5line, and Syria. Accord· ing to Dc Lacy O'leary, it was Saint Basil who inlroduced this more melodious, antiphonal type of singing inlo Ihe Byzantine chureh 10 supplement an older, more severe style known as "Alexandrian." Although this scholar describes the new slyle as "Syrian," if one considers Saint Basil's own remarks, Ihe antiphon::!l style must have already been known in Egypt and elsewhere in Ihe Eastem M\,.'di· tcrrnncan. Though not a church father, ARIUS (c. 250-336), author of the Arian heresy, should also be mentioned, for he versified his theology in a collection of hymns known as TlIuliu (Feas!). com· posing Ihem on models of popular folk songs in an effort to win Ihe people to his cause. In the monastic communities, altitudes toward music varied as well. PAI.lJoOIUS· LQluiac His/aT)' relate!' that in Ihe days of $aint ANTONY, "the habita· tions of the monks were m,:cepled as tabernacles of praises, and Psalms, and hymns ... ," and it was cxpected that the monks "should proy eonlinually and be retldy [10 sing] Ps.'llms and [to recitel Ihe Office before Ihey went to sleep." It i.~ also told Ihat when SainI Anlony and Saini Paul met, "they said together the Psatm~ twelve times ... , and then they sung (Ind pmyed until morning." However, as the mona.~u~rie~ developed, the monks. in Iheir ex· lreme aScelicism. COndemned music, An aneedute from JOHN OF MAYUMA telt~ of Abbot Stl.V"NUS (foul1h century) who, :IS a munk lil'lit (It Scetis, then :It Sinai, and finally In Palestine, felt Ihut singing hurd· ened lhe hearl, was (I prim:ll)' :lcl of pride, :IOd thtlt u~ such, was not fol' the monks but I'ather for those uutside the munasteries. Abbot PAMBO (c. 320-373) was another to deplore any use of music, In these early centuries of Chl'istianity, the inllu· ence of the Coptic church and its Htm'gic:lI services was felt nol only throughout the eastel'll Mediterl'a· nean, but beyond. Through the e(fonll of Coptic missionaries, who spread Ihe Gospel even as far as lr't'I/l.I1d, and tlll'ough traCe5 left by Ihe Theban Le· gion in northern Iialy, Swilzcrland, and down the Rhine Valley, I'elllnanl.~ of the Coptic fuith werc Icft throughout western Europe. Music probably fol· lowed closely upon Ihis lI-:liI. Stanley Lane·Poole, a.~
1734
MUSIC, COPTIC: History
quoted by Aliya, has called Irish Christianity "the child of the Egyptian Chun::h" (Aliya, 1968, p. 54), and one i~ templed to wonder if thuse early Coptic missionaries brought a bit of th.'ir own highly developed music with them to this distant land and left it along with their names. According to
O'Cuny. the famous Irish harp may ha~ come from Egypt. In Ireland are found three representatiOl1$ of a harp withalll a forcpillar. The first such items hilhel10 discovered outside of Egypt, they arc an omamenlal cover of an Irish manuscript dating from at le::ut 1064; II Jruwing tnken from one of the ornament"l compartments of a sculptured cross at Monasterboicc sct up before 830; and a similar monurncllt at the old church of Ullard. County Kilkenny, which appears 10 be even older than the MonasteriKlice item. O'CufT)' also felt thaI the quadnmgular halll of Ihe ancient Tuathe ~ Danaan people, though nOI exactly the sallie, could have lx.'Cn modeled upon lhe early Greco-Egyptian harp of this same forlll. How these harps were introduced into Ireland is unknown at present, As well a.~ missionarie~, Coptic mOna.~leries influ· cnced ,'itual in Europe. To cile one e",ample, Ihe eslablished Coplic n:cit:llion of Iwelve psalms was almost certainly lhe basis of the .\oimilar twelve· psalm series in the Gallic and ROffian churche$. 1.3 yet, no melodies have b«:n discO\·eret! that are idemical to any specific Coptic hymns or chants, lI':'t there is a ~imilarity of slyle (inte'vals. ambitus, rhythms), particularly In the simpler Coptic syll
happened regarding mu~ic is unknown. l-lowevel", there is some indiclltion that the COpis kept their music distinct lind apan from Byzantine influence. Speclfie mention Is made in the IIlSTORY OF THt: PATRtARCIlS of the people rejoicing when Palriarch tSAAC (686-689, sec ISAAC, SArNT) had the liturgics rel'lored in the churches of the Orthodox (Coplic) which had been prohibited due to Melchite (Hrzan· line) domination. Elsewhere in the same His/ory there is a description of Ihe monks going forth from their 1ll0nastery, OAYR ANoJ. MAOAR. singing their tTa' dilional sacred songs to greet the patriarch, who had been exiled from Alc:umdria to this desct1 reo treat. This work funher states that long afler the Arab conquest, during the reigns of Patriarchs Chrislodoulus (1046-1077, sec! Jtl&USA1.£M. COPTIC SEE OP), CYRIL 11 (1078-1092), and MICIIAFJ... IV (10921102), the Copts worshiped sc)X\Tately from all other Chrislians and kept their own rituals. Dc.~pile their self.imposed separation from IlYl.8ntiurn and Rome, the Copts continued to maimain eontnct with the Syl'lan church and its music. Our' inll the fifth nnd sixth centuries, there was n flour· ishing musie school at the Syrian Monastery of Saint Sibas near the Dead !ira where Coptic monks came to study. Here, Ihey were probably acquaint· ed with the form known as .1:41110/1 (Greek: ,uu'lilu), which. in Coptic usage, became a hymn with sll'Ophes of five lines, distinguisht:'d by a refrain of two lines. A Coplie melody type bears its name (AI1lbic: lCl~lI1 qClm1/1). Arter the Arnb Conquest (642{643) When lhe Arabs entered Egypt, they brought a new religion and language, bur this made no change in Ihe Coplic riluals. Coptic slill remainc:<1 in general use among the ChriSIIans even as laIc as the reign of Patriarch ZACIIARJAS (1004-1032) and though the Gospels and other church books had been put into Arabic under the rule of Patriarch PItrLOTHI!US (979-1 003), Cyril II continued to con· ducl Ihe Divine Lilurgy entirely in Coptic. Manu· scripts dOlling from the sevenlh lhrough the nine-tC1:nth cenluries show that the tCJlts of the anciem hymns-the ThCOlokia, Psalis, IUTl-'~{It, and so on {5ee Description of the CollluS. above)-wcre kept in Greek, Greco·Coptic, and Coptic with little or no aher-alion. 11 seems logical to a!,SUllle Ihal thc music also remained essentially intact. A~ has beeo indio cated llbove, even aflcr Arabic was introduced into parts of the rites for those who no longer under· stood Coptic, this did not seem to change the basic elements of the music (rhythms and melodic lines)
MUSIC, COPTIC: History
(see Melody, lis Relation to Different Languages, above). Coptic manuscriplS, probably dating from the tenth or eleventh centuries (Rylands Ubnuy at Manchester, Insinger Collection, Leiden Museum of Antiquities) contain unusual signs as )'et unde· ciphered. Some scholars have tenlatively suggested that they may be a sort of ckphonetic notation (a system of symbols placed above the syll..blcs in a tCJlt) that fell into disuse. At the MOU"'''' SINAI MONASTERY OF SAINT CATlIERINl!. many ancient m:museriplS of hymn and psalm text... have been discovered. None is in Coptic, but there are several in Arabic, with the earliest dating from 977, A study of these Arabie manuscripts could be very useful, for al· though Saint Catherine's is Greek 011hodo.x, it has a complicated history connected to Egypt yet to be fully elucidated, During the Middle Ages, three authOl'5 described the rites and musical practices of the church. The first, Is~aq al·Mu'taman Abu IBN AI.·'AS.';,\1. (thir· teenth century), devoted a chaptcr from his K;ldb MA.JMO' U$OL AL·DIN (The Foundations of Religion) to a discussion about the growlh of music in the church, citing Scripture and historical ev.:nts (this chapter has been edited and troru;latcd by Georg GRAf as "Der kirchliche Cesang nach Abu Is~Aq , , . Ibn a1.'Ass4I:' Vocal Church Music Acc"rding to Abo Is~q ... ). The second, Yuh1nna ibn Abi laltlri)'Yi IBN 51&' (late thirteenth century) detailed contemporary usages or liturgical music in his opus, AI'JAWHARAH AL-HAFISAH " 'Ulilm u/·Krmi5tlh (I1Je Precious Essence ... , cd. and lrans. Jean Pi!rier as La Peril' prtcirmse). The third author, Shams al·Ri'1isah Abu al·Barakat ION "AllAR (early fourteenth century), penned MISuA.J AL-~ULMAH '1 Id(J~ al·Khidmali (The Lamp of Darkness, cd. and ,rans. Louis VTllECQU\I.T as La Lampe cit'S lenebr(!.~), in which he listed and specified the use of lhe mllny melodies (Arabic: allJlm, sec Description of the Cor' pus and Present Musical Practlce, above) known to the church in Egypt. Although he reported eertain local variations in the order and choice uf ulllii/l, the names of the songs and practices he discussed are virtually the same loday. These three authors also outlined the Coptic schema of the okwr'chos, which had been developing for many centuries in Egypt, Syria, and Byzanti· um. A teml of several meanings in the early church, oktoechos eventually came to refer to a group of eighl adaptable melody-types (ullOl) used in the B)'lllntine chureh in a cyde or eight Sundays to correspond with an eight·week titurgical cycle. Their invention is allribUled 10 saint John Dama·
1735
scene (d. 754), but his contribution was probably one of organization sincc they were already in existence long before his time. His classification of the et:hQ; into four authentic (xiip«K, kurioi, i.e., "lords"), to be paired wilh four plapl (d~. pl!gos, "side:' OT perhaps daE, plax, "flat and broad"), was likely based on some symbolic principic ralher than any purely musical reason. The eltpression okJoechos first appeared in the P/erophorla by John of Mayuma (c. SIS) in an anec· dote indicating that this word referred both to a kind of proyerbook and to a collection of songs an-anged from a musical standpoint. According to E. Werner, Ihe telm may originally have derived from the Gnostic teon Oge/oas, which, as the num· ber eight, wa.s identified with the Cl'entOI' and the essence of music in an apocryphtll hymn of Jc.sus that probably originated in Egypt or southern Pales· tine in the middle of the second century, The philo. sophie Ideas of the Ogdoas, the Gnostic mngic vow· els as thcy relatcd to the tone~ of a cosmic oclave, the fOUl' essential clements (air, water, fire, and earth). and the four essential qualities (dl'Y, humid, hot, and cold)-aJl indiscriminately milled with mon,: or Icss biblical conceplS, and ari~ing in Egypt and southem Palestine during the K'Cond and early third cenlurie,-funher contributed to the forma· tion of the oklrHchos. The alchemist Zosimos of PanopoJis (now Akhmim) (c. 3(0) is credited with a brief passage about ecllo; found in a treatise that basically concems alchemy. However. the work is likely DYLantine, dating from Ihe late eighth or C'aT' ly ninth century. l-terein, Pseudo-Zosilnos estab· lished a system of echoi based on six !\Cries of four elements (rcprest:nt<:d by the Greek symbols for the numbers I to 4) to produce twenty.four entities that were to serve as the foundation for the composition of all the hymn~ and olher religious melodies. In the By.t.....ntine and Syrian churches, the oklo· cellos was systematized onty in the eleventh century. Two CenlUries later, Ibn at·'Assal, following this lead, quoled lhe priest Yll'qub nl-M~riclilnI, who stated that the sense of hearing has eight levels of feeling (tempel'nrllents), and that therefore songs must be bascd on eight kinds of ccho; (Arabic: alJ.liJn): these he then classified and describ..-d. In the early fourteenth century, Abu IlI·Bnrak1t em· braced this ~me classification and described its usage in Egypt llS follows: The first (11f'DTOC) and fifth (1\UHHf06O'(, planerothou, or ~ , planprOtou) echo; excite joy, and arc USI.-d fur purc and glorious feasts; thcir temperoment is hot and humid. The second (n;ynlf'oc, teuteros) and sixth (n,uHT6yT6fOC, planteuteros) humble 0$, and
1736
arc
u~d
MUSIC, COPTIC: Canturs, Their Role and Musical Training
for times of humility amI hUlllilialion like
Holy Week; their temperament is cold and humid. The third (Tf'TOC, Iritos) :md seventh (U('IC, baris, from Greek /3«pk, Ixll'us. "heavy"), make us sad. and l'll'(: lherdo,'e most frequently UM..-d for funerals and buriab; their temperament is hoi and
Mu'allim GhubriyAI of OAy, Abu &I'd al·Ablilljl, and Jirjis al·Shinniwl. RACHEB MOFTAII MARIAN ROBI'.RTSON MARTHA ROY
dl)'. TIle fourth (nrr),fTOC. telanus) :md eighth (llUHT6TJ'loTO)'. plnnlctralOu) em;:oumge br.J\'cl)', lift the heart, and are meant to encourngc listeners, nOI put fear into their souls: their tempera·
me
ment is cold and dry. In all other descriptions of the Coptic a{l]a,1 and their usage. Abo al·BaraUt made no funher refer-
ence 10 these eight edroi. nor arc th\")' known or mentioned elsewhere in Coptic church mwsic. Thus, whether the schema of the olaoechos was merely theoretical or actually put into practicc by Coptic mu.~iciam; is an open quc:;tron. Regarding a possible Arabic influence on Coptic mUllie over the ye:ln, it has been observed that there are some truces of similarity between Coptic incantilliltion and Our':1n chaming, However, at this writing, it would be impossible to say who bor· rowed ~lIld who lent. The Ambs may have had somc li'ffect on the singing style of certain individuals, but for the t",1ditional manner of singing trnnsmiuoo by the canton as a whole, it would be dillicuh to pinpoint anything as specifically Arabic, The uhi'llate provenance of the improviS3tional style heard in both Coptil: Dnd Arabic cantillation, a.~ well a.~ in other Middle Eastern musical systems. is unknuwn al prcscnt. This cmire problem is )'el awaiting much·needed comparative study. fn conclusion, sumc remarks ab"ut authors should be mllde. Although Coptic arti~ts, compos' ers, ltnd writers havc largely remained anonymou.~ by tradition, the authorll of a few hym/ls have been idl.'ntified. Mention hlls been made of h"w some left lheir names in lhe Psalis (sec Description of lhe Corpus. above), Other ascl'iplions have been noted in lheir historical conlext. In the currently used (J1-Ah.~(Jlllludi>,yah al.Ki)'ahki)')'alr (sec Dl'S\;ription or the Corpus, IIbovc), the following are some of the more prominent authors named (IS having euntrib· Uled hymns to the collection, sorne mOr'e prolifical. Iy Ihan otllers: ro,' I'salis Mu'allim Yu'annis (six Coptic patOlphr.L'lCs), Sarltis (ninc Greek p;lra· phrases), :lOd Nicodemus (nine Coptic Psalis): for lIlada'l1.1 Dnd pamphmsc:; in Ardbil: 'Abd al·Masll,t al·Masu'di from DAYR A1A.tUt;tARRAQ. al·B"rallludah of BahnasA, and Fa41 AllAh al.Jbyari; and for hymns in Ar,lbic with frequent Coptic terms and phra.'lCs interpolated, Patriarch MARK VIII (1796-1809),
Cantors, Their Role and Musical Training Because members of the clergy were not equally talented as singel1i, it became and has rcmaint..J the tr.ldilion to entrust perfonnance of the music 10 a professional canlor (Arabic: 'ari!, "one who knows:' or mu'al/im, "teacher"), who is employed and tmined by the ehurch to be responsible for the eurr«t delivery of the hymru; and responses in all the services. He is uwaUy blind, due to the popular belief dating from anciem limes that the 5Cnsitivity of ey~lght w.15 transferred frum the eyes of a blind person to his cars, and that such transference l'nhanced oluslcal skills. He is ellpcctcd to be at the church to perform and siog all the ritcs at their proper times and ill thereby assured his Jiving. The camor is not an ordained member of the ch~,'ical orders, but in timl'S past, a prdyer used to be said for him as the llppoimed singer in the church. This pmyer, entitled A Proyer Over Ooe Who Shall Be Made a Singe,' (COI)tic: oyeyxE E.XEN OYJlI 6yt!J.J.l't !1tJ.>,HI,IAOC, oueukhe ejen ouai eunanir (e)mpsalmOd01i), is as follows: Master, Lord God, the Almighty, ... This Thy servant, who stands before Thee and hath hastened to Thy Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, do Thou illumine him for rendering sweetly Thy holy words. and give grace to him to chant unto Thec, with un
MUSIC, COPTIC: Cantors, Their Role and Musical Training
1737
him 10 be teacher of melodie~. Later, this teacher was ordaincJ II deacon, Abllnli Takla by name. M p:an of his ta.~k, AbOna Takla corrected the pronuncialion of the language, Jemanding propcr enunciation lind delivet)' of Ihe hymns. III 1859, al the order of Pope Cyril IV. he published the Ii!"'!:t edition of the book Thll Services vI Ihe Dt'(lCUII (sec Dc$criplion of the Corpus, above), with the help of Deacon IRyAN JllUlS MUI'TAJ,I. teacher of Coplic in the Patriarchal College. Abo at the direction of the pope, AbOnA Takll1 included Iherein four Greek hymns, which he translaled into Coptic, llnd which are sung ~t today for Ihe fcasts of thc N:,tivity and Resurreclion, They have kept their Greek melodiC!> and are designated as Y/flll"11 (Gn..'Ck), FUr1hcr, Ab
of Bey. AbOnl Takll had 5Cvcn students to whom he transmitted his knowk-dge and skills, Among these were two <:ant011l, AbOna. Murqus of M;I!ay, and Mu'allim Arrnanyus. In the generation following, aile of thei,' students was the blind cantor Mu'allim MIKHA'lt. JtRJIS al· BatanOnI, who wa.~ blessed with an e...celient, very clear voice and a prodigious memory, AJ.> a youlh, he was senl to visit churches in many lowns of f.&ypttO learn and collect hymns. A faithfulteachcr al the Inslitute of &lint Didymus, he was the CantOr chosen by Raglteb Moftah to sing to the English musicologist, Ernest Newlandsmilh, wl.o, from 1928 to 1936, notaled the complete Uturg,v nf Saint Basil and many hymlls rcscrved for Advent and Lent (sec Tmnscriptions in Western Notalion, be· low). Thereby, Mu'ollim Mikhll"l beCllme Ihe means through which many of Ihe great trea~urc~ of Cop· lie hymnology h:lVc been preserved in writing. He died In 1957, over seventy·five years old. Cantors :md deacons of today who were taught by Mu'alllrn Mlkhll'll Include Mu'allim Tawflq Yiissuf of the Monastel)' DAYR Al.-MUI:M,RRAQ. Mu'allim S~diq Allalltih, Dr, YI1ssuf Mf\n*lir, and m:my others in the churches of Cairo and the provinces. Tl,ese men art acknowledged today as the c"pen.~ for Ihe Iitul" gical services and correct rendering of hylllns, They have also assisted in the recordings of the 1i1U11~ies and offices now being made by Ragheb Moftah. In 1893, at Mahmashnh, Cairo, Patriarch CYRil. V (1874-1927) opened lhe Theological seminary, of which one brolnch was th<: Saint Didymus Institute for the BUnd. It ....-as only natural for lhe blind
Mu'allim MikM'U, emlr/llsy Egyptiall Alfliqllitic$ 0,ganization. Photo by 11. JlidwlCum,
canlors to come here rOl' theh' Il1lining. This insti· tute is now locllied in Shubrll, under the direction of Mu'nllim Faraj. Today, the HIGIl£R INSnTlrm or COPTIC STUOIBS has a music depal'tl11ent where the music of the church rileS is lliso t:'lugh!. Rllgheb Monah h;lS helldeJ this department since its beginning in 1954 and has been responsible for the training of those wishing to maSler the myriad hymns :md mclotlies nccessary 10 Coptic ritual. Mr. Moftah has also been in charge of the Icaching of the hymns and responses to the .~tudent.S in the Coptic Clerical College adja· cenl to lhe Im;litute. ThClie Jailer students are not cantors, but loathe,' will beeome priests. Each sum· mer, Mr. Moflah takes a group of talentcd pupils to summer camp in Alexandria for addilionaltl'aining. Here, they review what Ihey have b<:cn taught, correct their intoning and language, and slUdy new repertoire. In all this work, Mr, Moftah is assisted
1738
MUSIC, COPTIC: Musical Instruments
by priests having good eal'S and strong voices. All instruction is donc by rotC, with the students repeating the melodies until they become note perfect. Thereby, music, which perhaps was in danger of being lost and forgollen, is now heing preserved for a new generation. RACHED MOFrAH MAltT1tA ROY
Musical Instruments When Christianity was cstablished in Egypt, many musical instrnments of dh'ene fonns and origins were known. However, they wert'. in the main, frowned upon by the church and the early fathers wrote stricl injunctions forbidding lheir US(:. Clem· enl of Alexandria (c, 150-220) in,-eighed against playing the psaltery, the trumpet, the timbrel or Iympanon, and the pipe. However. he seems to have tolerated the lyr(J and kilh(lr(l, because of King David's allcged use of them. Origen (c. 185-254) altributed delinile spiritual qualities to the sound of cenain instrnmems, with Ihe trumpet represenling the power of God's word, Ihe Iympanon depicling the dcstruction of IUSI, and the cymbals expressing the eager !(lui enamored of Chmt. Saint ATiiANAS1US I (326-373) also g..w e instruments symbolic: me-.Illings (Reese, pr. 61-62). For his pan, Saim CYRtL I (412-444) dUll'ilClerized a psalm as "Il musiCal ut· terance for which the instrument is played rhylhmi. cally according to haononic notes" (Werner, 1959, p. 3 IS), thcreby recalling the Greek definition of this ancient form as a song sung to the accompaniment of a harp, or k{thuru, or Iyr«. Three Arabic manuscripts from Saint Catherine's MonaStelY (nO, 30, 977; no. 21, el('venth century: no. 22, twelfth century) quote hyllln and Psalm
Hand cymbals. COllrtesy Coptic Mus"lIm, Cairo.
texis that name many dilfercnt instruments suitable for praising the Lord: cymbals (fanj), small drum (daff), two dilfcrent chordophonL'S, whose sound is produced by a vibrating string, either bowed 01' plucked (awl6r and ma'6tif), drum.~ (!IIM/), and r.u· tics (~(l/iJfi1), all of which indicate the variety of inSlrumenl$ known at IhL~ time (ALiya, 1970, pp. 77, 21 and 25), Today, two percussion instruments are used in the rites of many of the Coptic churches: the small hand cymbals (Anlbic.:: fun;, or colloquially fajjiJ/), and the metallriangle (Arabic: "'If/halla/h, or colloquially wriall/a), L'ltch played by one of the deacons and/or the camor. Providing a mythmic accompa· niment to spet.:ifi<..-d hymns and responsts sung by the choir and/or congregation, they signal the con· gregation to panicipate and unify the singing. The hand cymbals art: mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments (h. 150; I Cor, 13:1), which might be considered as a sanction for their use in the Coptic services. They were probably brought into Egypt from the Near East, bUI when Ihey wert: introduced into the church is as yet unknown. They art: a pair of slighlly concave metal disks (usually silver) about 7 inches (IS cm) in diameter, with a cupped center I V. inch (3 cm) in depth. A hole in the cente,' of each disk pemlil$ the passage of a string held in plnce by a woodcn pin that acts as It handle for manipulating the cymbals. Throughout the bymn which they accompany, two movements of the cymbals characterize the beat: a diagonal sliding of tbe tWO di~ks again~t eac.:h othcr, and a circular motion of the two rims alternately against each other. Both movements produce a varied depth in tone, A trill of the rims with a linal d&p complete~ the rendition of the hymn, The Arabic word daff is It controversinl terlll pop' ularly used by sOllle Copts to refer either to the cymbals or sometimes to the tri..mgle, but this is a misnolnet' since the dall' is a membranophone can· strueted of a circular wooden fmme ovcr one side of which a fish or goat skin is stretched taut: such instruments are considered unsuitable for use in cburch services. The Arabic word n6qiis (pI. IlawQqls) is the only teon mentioned in the rubrics of the liturgical books (notably the Khidmu/ ul·SI,ultm:l
MUSIC, COPTIC: Musical Instruments
came into the early church perilllp~ via Alexandria, where it replaced the small wooden clapper'S lISed in antiquity as an instroment to signal the beginning of worship services. Writing in the fourteenth century, AbO al·BarakAt (see Description of the eo...· pus. and History, above) referred 10 Ihl' niiqiis in his description of the rite of consecration of the ahar in Ihe church: ''The bishop proceeds around the ahar and beats the ndqils three times. after which the ministers holding many nQw/iqis strike them:' However, the exae! fonn of the n
1739
existed among the COpts. The follOWing infonnation about them is based mainly on research published by Hans Hickmann.
Idlophones
I, Clapper. A kind of casUtnel, the: clapper consists of two small boards that strike against a third, central board which also fonns the handle. AIIhough nothing can be affinned as to ilS use in Ihe early church, many clappers dating from the: third 10 sixth centuries have been conserved. These have been found at Saqqara (DAYR API. JEJtEMIAH). the Fayyl1m, llnd elsewhere in Em'Pt. 2. CaslQnet. Made of concavc shells of h'ory or hard wood which are struck one against the olher, the castanet CJtistcd in ancient Egypt, but it proba· bly took its definitive fonn only in the second cen' tury A.D. In the Coptic Mu..~eum in Old Cairo there
Clappers. COrlrlesy Ellen Hickmall/I. Pholo by H. Hick· mall/I.
1740
MUSIC, COPTIC: Musical Instruments
are a numbel' of them dating from the Coptic era, found at Akhmlm and Elephantine. It is thought that they descended from the hand·shaped clappers of pharaonic times. J. Cro/alum. Composed of two small c)'Illbals auached to the cnds of a son of elastic fork that strike against each other when the fork is shaken. the crotalum was invented by Egyptian musicians of the Lower Epoch. Examples dating from the Coptic Epoch have been found at Thebes. 4. Sismml. ConSisting of bars Iitkd loosely into a metal frame that rattle when the handle is shaken. the sistrum ""'as the instrument sac,ed to I-Ialhor and other goddesses such as Isis and Baslel. From Egypt it spread to Gree<:e. Rome, and wherever else the cults of these Egyptian goddesses penetrated, In Western Europe, Isidor of Seville (560-636) men' tioned its use (Serl//mtia!' d!' musica). as did Pscudo-Odo (OdQ Qf Cluny. 879-942). According to Hickm;mn, the sislrum was also used by Ihe Copts for many centuries.
S. Bdl. Not found in Egypt until the Late Kingdom, most of the bells recovered from ancient times stem from the third to sixth centuries A.D. Ancient Coptic bells. which may be decoraled with the sign of the cross. have been found mostly in the FayyOm or other centers of early Coptic life. Hickmann felt Ihal Ihe usc of Coptic bells might be the origin for the sounding of bells during the Roman Catholic mau, and Ihal these instruments appeared in Rome following lhe cult of Saint Anlony. Aerophones
I. Flute. The long flute. which is held vertkally when played. is the most ancienl ....ind instrument of E&,ypl, having existed in prehistoric limes. Exam· plC$ made of bone dating from the third 10 sixth centuries A.D. have hexn found at Saqqara (ncar DayI' Apa. Jeremiah). Known in Arabic as the Plliy. its descendent is still heard today in Egyptian folk music. 2. Clarir'!'t. Like Ihe flute, the Egyptian clarinet descends from very ancient times. The double c1ari· nel, which has IWo pipt."S Iinkcd together, dales from the Fifth Dynasty. Similar instruments dating from Ihe Coplic era have been found at Saqqara (near Dayr Apa Jeremiah). These are the prototype for the modem Egyptian lWPlmliran. J. lIydrlllllis. According to Athentlius. Ihe hy· draulis (water organ) was invented by Clesibus of Alexandria, surnamed "the Egyptian" (c. 246 !J.e-). It wa.~ delicribed firsl by Philo of Alcxandria (sccond century Ii.C.), and !tIler, in more detail, by Hero of Alexandria (c. ISO A.I).) and Vitl'uvius. A favor'ite instrument at gladiatorial shows, it became vcl)' popular with the Romans. Although thc organ later became the m(lin instrument for thc rites of the Latin chur'Ch, it has nevcr been accepleu in the Coptic church.
Chordophones The harp i~ prohably of Egyptian ori· gin, llnd during its long history, it has assumed many forms which have been amply described elsewhere. The Copts did not usc the harp In r.acrcd scnlice.~, bUI it might have been popular alllong the people. O'Curl)' maintained that the Egyptian harp may have senled a~ the prototype for the Irish harp (sec HistQry. aIXlVe). which spread from l.-eland into haly. 2. LII/e. A lute found al DayI' Apa krrmiah. dating probably from the .seventh or eighth century. is I. Harp.
Crolalum, sistrum. and flute (from left to right). C(mrtesy Coptic Museum. Cairo.
MUSIC, COPTIC: Musicologists
1741
important because It repn~sents a tmnsilion from the long lutl,,'; uf antiquity (both Egyptian and Asiat· ic) and the shOl' lutes of Arabic, Imnian, and Indian origin (Ambic: uf.'lld), Described by many schol· ars. il is characlclilcd by twu c....'S<.:~llt·shaped notches, that is, il is doub/emem echallcri. There are examples in the Coptic MUSCUIII in (lid Cairo and in the Metropolitall Mu.~eum of An in New York. Hickmann suggestcd that it might lx' the foreronncr of the guitar. c..,;pecially the guilllrro Itlorisco. funher, he fell that such lutC5 indicate the role Egypt playl,:d in musical lIistol)' between antiquity and the Middle Ages, a role not cunfin,od to the development of lh~ liturgy. but also imponant in the history of musical instl'\lmcnUi (sc..'C METALWORK.
come:
WOODWORK.
conIC). RAGHE.D MOf'TAIl
ROHEJITSON MARTHA Roy
MARIAN
Musicologists Borsal, Ilona (1925- I982) After graduating from the University of Kolo:r.swr, in her native clly of Cluj, Rumania, qualified to teach Greek and French Innguages, Ilona Borsni attended the Academy of Music in Budap'-'lit. Hungary, whcre she received the Diploma of Music Education, Completing ful,her studies in th" field of mU!lieology under Bence Swloksi, she hegan to work in rese81'Ch In folk music undcr the direction oflolt;!.n Korlaly at the Academy of Science, Having retirtd in 1978. she died in Budapest on July 8, 1982,
Her r-esenrch led irHO mu.~lcological studies of Egyptian music, pharaonic, folk, :md Cuptk. During three visilS 10 EilYpl, she made many recordings of folk and Coptic music in 1967-196810 wllcct rc' con.lings for lI'onsel'ipllons lind lllllllyscs, in 1969 to nllcnd the Second Conrel'ence of Arllb Music where she presented ,I paper, and in 197010 follow up on the studies and recordings of Coptic music. As a result of thcse visits she prudueed (I number of lranscriptions in collahorl\iion with Margit T6th and publications describing the result.s of her research (sec bibliu!l:....."hy). She was (I member of the Coptic Archeological Societ)'. the Uungnl'ian Ethnolographical Society, the Association of Hungal'ian Musicians, the Hungarian Society of Studies uf Anti
Coptic lute. Courtesy Cuplic MmsellllJ, Cuiro. Koililly Society. and the International Associatioo of Coptic Studies, Her pioneering research Into the details of the historical. analytical, and liturgical sigllificanee of Coptic music opc:ned the field of Coptic musicology and defined its direction, Her I,:ontribution has had an impact not only on Coptic studies but also on all research concerning music whuse histurical roots have been tr.msmillcd through the centul'ie.~ by oral tnulition. MARTHA Roy
Hickmann, Hans (1908-1968) I'lickmann, a Gel'mnn musicologist, was known primarily :IS an (luthurity on the musical instru· menls of ancient Egypt. He devotcd much study to the music of the Coptic church, which he felt was a living link hlliween the past and tlte present (for more details of his l'e!«:arch into the Coptic musical tradition, sec 01".. 1 Traditiun, History, and Musical Instl'\lmenl$, above, and Tran!lCriptions in Western Notation, below), I30rn 19 May, 1908, in Ros.~lau bei Dessau, Ger· many, he received his early education in Halle lind cominued his studies in mu.~icology at the Universi· ty of Berlin under the dinxtion or some of the most
1742
MUSIC, COPTIC: Trnnscriptions
In
distinguished 5cholars of the time. including Erich M. von Hornbostel and Cun Sachs. After his gmuualion in I\lJ4, he studied tit the Slaallichc Akadcmie fUr Kirchen- und Schulmusik (Berlin-Charlot· lenberg) and the Berliner Hochschulc rur Muslk. His interest in Eastern music wa~ first aroused by a field trip to the Siw,\ oasis (1932-193]), sponsored by the Berliner Phonogl1lmmarchlv. In 1933, he sculed in Cairo, and from here he conducted extensive investigations into the music of Egypt for more than two decades. From 1949 to 1952, he lectured ill many coun· tries of Western Europe. In 1957 he left Egypt be· cause of political conditions and returned to Germany to head the depanmcnl of Elhnomusicology al the University of Hamburg (see Tr:,nscriptions in Western NOlation, below). In 1958, as the new di· rector of the Musikhistorisches Studio (Archlv· Produktion) of lhe Deutsche Grammophon Gesell· sehaft in Hamburg, he p,'Qduced m.my recordings of ancient music, all of great scholllrship Rnd au' thenticity. He dicd 4 Seplcmbcr 1968, in Blandford Forum. Dorset, En~land. His published work.~ cover morc than three dec· ades (1934-1968. plus articles published posthu· mously). A comprehensive bibliography, comprising !>Ome 198 entries, is listed in the Journal of the !)()ciely of EtlmomusicoloJ:J, vol. IX, no. I (January 1965), pp. 45-53, and vol. XII, no. 2 (May 1969), PI'. 317-19. MARtAN ROBERTSON Newlandsmlth, Ernesl (1875-? [arler 1936]) British violinist, composer, and writer, besl known for his eXlensive lr.mscription.~ of Coptic lilurgical music. The !>On of a clergyman, he wa~ horn 10 April, 1875. Having shown a talent for music, he eme"ed the Royal Academy of Music in 1893. from which he graduated with distinction in 189~, earning the A.R.A.M. (Associate of Royal Acadellly of Music). Disillusioned as a music teacher and concen violinist, he turned his back on music as a profession (1908) and became a "pilgrim" or "minstrel friar." Henceforth, he traveled through the countryside pTC5Cnting musical religious services and living by the generosity of olhers. In 1926 he undertook a musical pilgrimage to the Holy Land. En route, he Slopped at Cairo where he met Ragheb Moftah (sec Cantors, ab<we), who ar· ranged for him to compile a book of lilurgical mu· sic of lhe ancient Coplic church. Newlandsmith conlinued his journey to the Holy Land (Mount
Western Notation
Carmel), but soon returned to Cairo. Here, ali Ihe guest of Mr. Moflah, he lived in a houseboat on lhe Nile. nolaling the music as chanters-among them the great ma~ter chanter Mu'allim M1KHA'IL JJIU1S (see Canlors, above)-sang their limL~honored mel· odies hour afler hour, day aher day (1926-1931). He also spent some lime at Abu al-Shuquq working with Mr. Moflah on the transcriptions (1929). Thc complete projecl lasled about len years (1926-1936), and during this time. Ncwlandsmith lranscribed some sixteen folio volumes of music, including the Lilurgy of Saint Basil (vol. I), numer· ous olher special songs for lhe various feasts and fasts, and special songs reserved for high church officials. Impressed by the dignity and beaUly of this mu' sic, Newlandsmith used certain melodies in his own violin compositions, and upon relurn trips to England (1928,1931), he played lh~ works as part of his music services. He also gave cnthusialitic lec· turcs about the antiqoity of the Coptic musical tra' dition. During his life Newlandsmith founded various musical-religious societies, the most significant being "The New Life Movement." A prolific wriler, he penned sever-Ii pamphlets and books wherein he ellpounded his ideas about music. A bibliography of his early musical compositions is listed in the Universal Hatldblldr der M"siklilera. tur alter lei/en lind Vij/ku (Vienna. n. d.). vol. I, pt. I, p. 124. He based his laler works on Coptic melo· dies, of which two, dating from 1929, remain signif· icant: his Orienlal Sliite for violin and piano, and lhc Cannt'lile Rhapsody for solo violin. MARIA."l
ROBERTSON
Transcriptions in Western Notation Although there may be some evidences of a nOla' tion system using dots and a primitivc ekphonelic notation for Coptic music, the Copts have prL'SCrved their music over the cenluries css<:ntially by means of an oral ITadition (sec Oral Tradition, above). Only in the nineteenlh century did scholars begin to lranscribe Coplic melodies using the notation system cslablished for Weslern music. Guillaume Andrl: Villoteau. a French Kholar who was pan of Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, wa~ the Ilrst to tltlcmpl such a transcription when he devoled !lOme five pages of his De$cription de I'Egypte (1809) 10 an Alleluia From the Divine Liturgy. Later, near the end of the nineteenlh century, other transcriplions
MUSIC, COPTiC: Transcriptions 10 Western Notation
were made by Jules Blin (ChallIs Ulurgiqucs copies, 1888) and Louis Dadet (Ch<:lll/s lil"rgi""es des Copfes, (899). Whereas BUn's trnnscriptions are unreliable, those of Badet are fairly accurate as to the general $Cherne of the melodies. In the twentieth century, Kl\mil Ibrtlhhll Ghubri· )'11 published a small volume of transcriptions of hymns and rcsponsoria, Af·TawqI'jjf Qf·Musiqiyyah !i-Maradd4/ <:If·KtlIlts<:lh al-Afllrqusiyy<:lh (1916). Unlike previous tran$Cribers, Ghubriy:il, a lieUlenant in the Egyptian army, was a Copt, and deeply steeped in the musical tradilion of hili church. He designed his lranscriptions for Coptic YOUlh. and in an effort to make them more attractive to his audience, he adapted them for piano, adding a rhythmic accompaniment (no hannany, notes at the octave only) and making certain changes in the pitch and rhythm of Ihe vocal melodies. Notwithstanding such obvious altcrations, the basic mclodk line was kept intact, and Ghubriylil is to be recognized for his pioneering elforU as II Copt seeking to notate the music of his people. Nearly one generation laler, onc of the most ambitious efforts in this regard was undertaken by the English musicologist Ernest Newlandsmith (see Mu· sicoloaists. above), who came to Egypt at the invitation and sponJOrshlp of R.::igheb MofUlh ror the ell' press purpose of trnnscribing the music of the Coptic services. From 1926 to 1936 he compiled, from listening to the best Coptic cantor.;, some sillteen folio volumes of music, which inc1ulte the en· tire Uturgy of Saint Ba.~il, and other impOJ1ant hymns, responsoria, and so on, reserved fur special feasts (vol. I alone comprises more Ihan 100 pagcs). Because he fdt that the abundant ornamen· Union in Coptic music was primarily "Mabic de· bris," Newlandsmith tended to ignore must uf the embellishmentS. Thus. his transcl'iptions depict sim· pie melodic lines, lIdapted to the rhythm.~ and key signatures of the West. Nevertheless, for that pan of Coptic music which is devoid of embdlishmcnt, these transcriptions compare: favoJ1lbly with the work of recent scholar.;, and his vast O::0ll'us of notation offers much material for comparative study and mnalysis. All the foregoing transcribers, nut havillg the ad· vantage of recol'dlng equipment, had no way to compare what they heard with what they had notat· cd. Hence, Dlany intricacies of rhythm and intona· tlon wert neither perceived nor indicated accurntely. Fortunately, when, in the 19505, interested musicologists began to work with tapes, they were able to produce transcriptions of much greater detail and accuracy. Among these $Cholan were Hans
1743
Hickmann and Rene! Me!nard, who. working both separately and together, transcribed a rew short pieces. Me!nard, by slowing the tape, was able to hear. lind thus notate, the embelJishmenlS with more exactitude than had been possible before. In so doing, he observed that the Western notation systcm cannOI really indicate all the nuances of rhythm and expression inherent in Coptic music, and suggestcd that certain andent signs used in notating Gregorian chant might be usdul. Following directives of Hickmann, scholar.; In the ElhnomusicololY Laboratory at the University of Hamburg, employing the most modem acoustical equipment which allowed them to record the exact oscillations of the $OUnd waves, notated the complicated variances of intonation in Coptic music to the nearest quarter·tone. In 1967, Ilona Borsai (sec Musicologists, aOO\'e) went to Egypt to collect materials for study and analysis. During her short span of ethnomusicolog. ical studies, she was ablc to publish SQmc lievcntecn articles containin. tran$Criptions and observations on facets of Coptic music never before touched upon. In 1969, Margit T61h, also of Hungary, came to Cairo to study Coptic music. Working with Ragheb Moftah and the recordings he had made, she, like Newlandsmith, noulled the entire Uturgy of Saint B41sil. By using the new methods for recording and playback, she has completed transcriptions of enormous detail, wherein nOI only the audible embellishments arc transcribed, but also aultiliary tones discernable only at a slow tempo. This project wilt enable scholars to make many comparntive studies and analyses. In the I:I.te 1970s, Marian Robertson, of the United States, also workinil with tapes, began transcribing excerpts from the Liturgy of Saint Basil and Holy Week services. Having specialized lhus fur in music sung by the choir, In which the embellish· mcnts (Ire somewhat blurred by the individuality of each singer, Robertson has not tl'anscl'ibed the OJ'namentation with the Slime detail as T6th. Explanations in accompanying tellts scrve to describe the phenomenon produced by the varying vibratos and embellishments of the pcrionners. In 1976, Nab!l Kamal BOIl"OS, violin teacher in the Faculty of Music Education at Helwan University and a member of the Arabic Classical Music En· semble, completed 11 master's thesis, "Coptic Music and 11$ Relation to Pharaonic Music:' in which he made a comparative transcription and analysis of one hymn as sung by several different choirs. Although Western notation was not designed for
1744
MUSIC, COPTIC: Nooliturgicn1 Musk
transcribing Coptic music. it may be the fonn in which this ancient music from the Near East will at la~t be written. By comparing the \·"riO\.l$ transcriptions of dedicated 5Cholars, one may at least glimpse the eomple:dt)' and variety of the Coptic musical tradition. RACHEB
MOtTAII
MARlAN ROBERTSON MARTItA
ROY
Nonlliurgical Music In recent yean;. stricdy nonJitul'l?ical songs hllve been developed for use In the Sund"y schools. They bear the genepdl title al~l(m. but thirteen. composed especially in honor or the Virgin MlllY. (lrc designnt· cd laranlm (sing. Illm/lllall). BOIh the ,,1!J{m and IlIr(m/m have texts of pTllisc ,md worship, strophic in form. Sung antiphonally or in unison by both men and women. they arc monophonic. Ouite dis· tinct in style from both Ambic c1ulIlting of thc Ou.... 'lan and Coptic liturgical melody, they hetrny much Western influence, for example, tile singing is always accompanied by the violin, plano, and/or organ; this inslI"umental accompani'ncnt has rudi· mentary hannony; and some lIOng.~ harrow phrases from well-known Western melodk-s such as Handel's "Joy to the World" and Mendelssohn's "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing:' Thl.')' may be described a~ light-heaned, charming, and allr:ao.:tivc to youth. However, Coptic purists dl.,,(:ry their existence and maintain that they have neither the dignity nor the spirituality or the ancient liturgical trndition. MARIAN ROBERTSON BIRUOCRAt'HY
Recordings
Th... Coptic Litlllgy uf St. Gregury, l..'(\. Ragheb Mortah. Recorded at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studi~. Cairo, 1984. The Coplic Marriag/! Savie/!, ed. Ragheb Monah. RA:eordcd at the Higher Instltute of Coplic Studies. Cairo, 1984. Coplic Musie. Recorded in the Coptic Cathedral of Saint Mark, with notes by Ml S. Atiya. Folkways RI."C,:ords. FR 8960. New York. 1960. IJoxolor.ies and Their H)"flIl$ for the Vir£in Mary und Ihe Saill/s, cd. Ragheb MOftllh. Recorded at the Higher In~titute of Coptic Studies. Cairo, 1984. Tire flo/y Week SenJ;ces, cd. Ragheb Moftah. Recorded at the ~ligher Inslitute of Coptic Studies. Cairo. 1972. rile Ull/riO' of 51. Basil. sUl1g by Mu'allim ,"ji'ldiq, cd. Ragheb Moftah. Recorded at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. Cairo. 1968. The Order of £Vmil1j; PY(j}'er~' ('fUllS r/4sbiJ,WI 'Ashi}'· yah). cd. Ragheb Mortah. Recorded al the Higher Institute or Coptic Sludies. Cairo. 1976. The Order of Midnighl Prayers ('faq.~ Tashi~lUt N4f al.Lay/). cd. Ragheb MOftllh, Recorded al lhe Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. Cairo, 1978. The Rilllni far Ihe Fellst of Ihe Resurrectioll, cd, Ilagheb Moftah. Recorded at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. Cairo, 1974. SeleClions from the LiwfJ:)' of 5,. Basil. with ComlIle11lQry by Azil: S. Aliyn, ed. Ragheb Mortah. Re· corded at the Higher Inslitute of Coplic Studies. Cairo, 1955. SpeciD.l IIY",lIs for lhe Palriarr;hs Qlld Bishops, ed. Ilagheb Mortah. Recorded at the Higher Institute of Coplic Studies. Cairo, 1980.
Bookl and AJ1Ic1es 'Abd al·Masi~. Y. "Doxologies in the Coptic Church." Bulletin de la Societe d'arclleo/ogie t"uple 4 (1938):97-99; 5 (1939):175-78; 6 (1940):19-25; 7 (1942):31-61; II (1945):95-158. -::-_ "The Hymn or the Three Childrell in the Furnace," Bullelin de la Socibi d'Art"htJulugie COfllll
AII,1(m MU~ll'bbah and Tar(mfm wfl Madil'i~1 Iii· Sayyldah al·'Adhrli.. Twelve l'ecol'ds or nonliturgi. cal music made in Cairo (8-968053-8-968065). In the Audio·Visual Dcpanmcnt, Marriott Ubrary, University of Uilih. AII.'1l1! Spedlll 10 Popu IIIId Bishops, cd. Ragheb Mortah. RCi:orded at the Higher Institute or Coptic Studies. Cairo, 1983. Calaloglle d'ellregiSlrtltlell/s de III IfUisiqu... folklori. qu... egyptienlle, ed. H. Hickmann and Charles Gregoire due de Medlcmbourg. Strasbourg and Baden-Baden. 1958. The C(mlplele Li/llrgy of 51. Basil, cd. Ragheb Mortah. Recorded at the Wgher Institute of Cop· tic Studies. Cairo, 196.5.
12 (1946-1947):1-15.
_ _ . "A Greco-Arab Psall.'· !Jullelill de 1'1IlS/lllI/ de~ ill/des copIes (1958):77-100. Amclineau. E. C. "&lint Antoine et les commence· ments du IIlOnachismc chretien en Egyple." Re"lie d'histoire el de /itleralure religieuses 65 (1912):16-78. Atiya. A. S. History of EnSlen! ChristianilY. Notre D."lme. Ind., 1968. _:-~ CQtnlogllc RQisomli of Ihe 1.10111I1 Sinai Ara· hic 1.1allllScriplS. Tmns. into Ambic by J. N. Vussef. Alexandria. 1970. Badet. L Cllallts fitllrgiqlles des Caples. Cairo, 1899. Baumstark, A. Comparluive Liwrgy. Revised by Ber-
nard Bolle, 0.S.8. English edition by F. L Cross. London. 1958.
MUSIC, COPTIC: Nonlilurgical Music
Bennel, J. P. "Mu~ie in the Coptic Chun~l, of Egypt and EthIOpio.." Unpublished M.A. lhesi_~. Seaule, 1945. Blin, J. Cllmlts fj/llrgiqu/l.S cuptes. Cairo, 1888.
Borsai, I. "A la recherche de I'ancienm' musiquc pharaonique." Cahiers d'!liJtoire egypt;cnne II (1968):25-42.
-,__ "Melodies 1t'lI(Jilionnelles des I;g)'pticns et leur lIuponancc dans la n.'Cherche de I'ancienne muslque pharaoniquc." 5wdia Musicologica AcademiaI.' Sclentiam", HlfIlgaricae 10 (1968):6990. Musical transcriptions made in eollabonllion "'ith Margit TOth. "Quelques lraits caractcrisliqucs de Ja mu· sique cople." 1 CongrcS50 Inlcmazionalc Grono· ferrata, Roma, 6-11 May, 1968. Studio Mllsieu/ugiea, 10 {19(8):l6O-63. ___ "Az l.ogyiptomi :tenei szajhagyomflny Yizsgalalinak uerepe a1. o-egyiptorni dallamok kutat3..s3.· ban." A. M. Tud. Akadl:mia I, Os:;Jal)',hlak K(nkmbl)'ei 26 (1969);]87 -99. ___ "Varialions omcml.·ntak'S dolos l'intelTlrelalion d'un hymne copte." SllIdiQ Musico/OKi,;u AeademiQt SciclI/iamJtl HWlgarieQe II (1%9);91105. With musical transcriptions by Ma'-gil Tolh. "Concordances et divergences entre Ics mt!lodies coptes ct celk'S du fellah (·gyplien." Deuxil:me Congn.'s Inlcmalionalc de Musique "nbc au Caire, 16-23. December, 1969. Studia MIlSicologica AcademiaI.' Scien/iam", IImlguricae 12
(I970)~325-30.
"Melody Types or Egyptian Wedding Songs." Acta Etlmograplriea AeademilJt Sdl'ntiu· rrml Hlll/garic"e 19 (1970):65-81. With nIusical lranscripliuns by Margil TOth. "Cllmcterisliques generales (Iu ch,mt de la messe copte." $ll4Ilia vrie'lllllill christian" llegypU· 111'11, colll'ctultl'u 14 (1970-1971 ):412-42. _ _ . "Un TylXl mclodique paniculiel' des hymnes coptes du mois de Kiahk." 8mdia MusiculuKieu Academille Sclemiarum J1l1n~arit'ue 13 (1971): 73-85.
-,_ . "I.e Tr"Opllil\: byWnlin '0 Monogcnes' dans la pmlique du chilnl cuple." SltUliu MII.I'icologica Academlul' Sdimrillrlllll Hunguricac 14 (1972): 329-54. _:-. "Y a·t·il un 'Octocchos' dans Ie sy.'lel1lC du chanl coptc?" SrI/diu Aegyfltiaca 1 (1974}:J9-53. _ _. "Die musikhislolische Bedeutung del" ori· entalischen christ1ichen Rilen." SrI/diu MilSic%g. iea ACQ,lemiill' Sdeuliarum Hllllgilricae 16 (1974):3-14.
--::-. "A kiscbb keleti egyh:17..ak Ihul'gikus zenejCnck l.Cncludom:inyi jelemtis(:ge." Vigilia 6 (1974):404-9.
"Mt!lodies copIes d~ lelltes grt..'<"s byzan. tins." AelCS du 14c Cungrts Inlernational des Etudes lJy".!Intincs, Bucharest, 6-12 September"
1745
1971. E,lilura ACQdl.'miei ReJlllblicii SocialiSI/' Ruum,mia (1976):493-503. "lJ.eux melodies em'lclCristiqucs de la se· maine salnle copte." Sllfdi~ ill EasterN Challl 4 (1979):5-27.
_ _ . "Melodic et mel rique dolns Ics thCOlokies coptes." Slmlia Mlfsico/ogica Academiae Sciemi· arum HungaricQt 22 (1980)~15-60. _,,-_ "Music or lhe Coptic Rite:' The Nell' Grove Dictiollary of Music and Musicialls, 61h cd. Vol. 4, pp. 7Off., ed. Swnley sadie. London, Washington, D.C., and I-long Kong, 1980. Brightman, F. Eo Liturgies Eastern alld Weslenr, Vol. I. Eastern Litllrgies. Oxford, 1896. Budge, Eo A. W., tmns. and ed. TIr, PArAdise or Garden of the Holy FalheJ'$.... London, 1907. --:,,-~' trans. The Wil alld Wisdom of the Christum Falhers of El:Ypt. ... Oxford and London, 1934. Burmester, O. H. Eo The Egyplian or Coptic Church i'l Cairo, A. Detailed Description of lIer Lilllrgical Services Qlld the Rites and Ce"mOlli~ Observed in the Admillislralic)tl of lI,r Sacraltlt'nts. Cairo, 1967. BUle, J. P. The Coptic Momblg Service for Ihe Lord's Day. London, 1882. BOlros, N. K. "Coptic Music and lis Relalion to
Pharaonic Music." Unpublished M. A. thesis. Hcl· wan University. Cairo, 1976. Cramer, M. "Studien 7.U kOplischcn Paseha· BUchern." Oriens Chri~'liaIllIS 47 (l963):118fF.; 49 (1965):90-115; 50 (1966):72-130.
- __ . KQpt;sche HYlrtllu/ogie itl dt'tlucher UberSd· VIII/<: (Eillc AnsIVaJiI liltS sal"dischell IlIId baltair. isch!:1l AllIiplrollaricu 110m 9. Jahrhwlderl bi.~ wr Gegemvart). Wiesbaden, 1969. Euringer, S. "Dcr mUtmnssliehe Vcrfasscr der koptischen Thcotokia." Oriens Christianus (1911): 225ff.
Faulkner", R.O., lnltls. Sungs of Isis and Nl'ptity.! _ Described by H. G. Farmer, "The Music of An· cicnt Egypl." In Allcielll "lid Oriellta/ Music, pp. 253-82. The New Oxford Hlslory or Music, cd. E. Wa!Jcs7., Vol. I. London, 1966. Ghuhl'iy:.l, Kdmil Ibl'l1hlt11. A/·TulI'ql'a! III·MI1S/· qiyyah
li-Mar,)ddlll u!·KurIIsllh II/.M"rq/Isiy)'ah. Cail'O, 1916. Gillespic, J. "The Egyplian Copts and Their Music." Noles preccding the Tralls/atlrm of Ihe !Alurl:j' of 51. Basil. n.p., n.d.
Gmf, G., lrans. find cd. "Ocr kirchliche Gcsang nneh Abo ]shdq ... " Exlmcls from The FOImdll· 1;011 of R!digioll by Ibn al·Ass!1. B/fllelill de /a Sot"iete ,/'arclreo!ogie cOJlII' 13 (1948-1949): 16178.
Hickmann, E. MIIJicQ hlstrllmell/a{;s (Sludiell Vir Klas.~ifikatioll des Musikillstmmetllar;mlls im Mil· felalter). Baden·BIlden, 1971. Hickmann, H. "Un Instrument a cordes inconnu de
1746
MUSIC, COPTIC: Nonlilurgical Music
I'tpoquc coptc," Blllletirl de /a Sociit,' d'archioloKie cop" 12 (1946-1941):63-80. "NOle sur une harpe: au MUsel' du Cairesur I'accordage des instrunlents .. cordes. Miscel· lanea Musieologica." Am'll/es dr, Sen.iet des Anli· q,dtis de I'Egyp/e 48 (1948):639-63. ___ "La C!iquelte, un instrument d.. percussion l:l)"Plien de I'epoque eopte." Bulletin de la Socii· te d'archiologie copte J3 (1948-1949): 1-12. ___ Catalogue giniral des Ilntiqflilts ityptiennts dll Musie dll Caire. Nos. 69201-69852, Instm· menlS de MlIsiqlle. Cairo. 1949. _ _. "Observations sur Ics liunlivanCi$ de la ehironomie egyptienne dans Ie chanl Iiturgique caple." Miscellanea MII$icolo>:i"a (1949):417-45. "Ouelques observatiOns slir 101 musique Ii· turgique copte des Copies u'EI/:VJ"tc," Atti del con· gre.~so imemuziul1ule eli //II/sica .l
Lannc, E. "Textes el riles de In liturgic pascale dans I'antienne egli.se COpIC," L'Orieffl .fYrieOl 6/1 (1961 ):279-300. L.Oq3 Sayyid SldarUs. mcmH ,"6 nau.c:o. GeOyJo.I (The Book of Holy Easler). cairo, 1981.
Mallon, A. "Lcs Theolokies au l'Office de III Sainte Vicrge dans Ie rite eopte." Rellue de I'orient chre· lien 9 (1904):17-31. Mearns, J. Camicles 01 the Christiull Chllrck Cam· bridge, 1914. Menard, R. "Note sur Ics musiques arabe et copte." Cahiers coptes 2 (1952):48-54. _,....,. "Notes sur 1es musiques arabe et coptc." Cahiers coptes 2 (1952):4811. "Nolation el transcription de la mu."ique copte." CaMers caple:> 3 (1953):34-44. ___ "Une clape de l'al1 musical egyptien: la mu· sique cople-rccherchC$ aCluelles." Rellue de lu musiqae 36 (I954):2Iff. _ ' - ' "Note sur la ml-morisation et I'improllisa· lion dans Ie chant cople." Eludes grtgoriemres 4 (1959): 135-43. Moftah, R. "The Sludy of the Recording of the Coplie Airs: The History of Mu'allim Mikha'II." AI·Kir· atah, 10, 17, anu 14 January (197S). _ _ . "Coptic Music." Bulletin de l'buliwl de~ itudes caples, (\958):42-53. _:-. "Coplic Music." Sailll Mark alld Ilze Caplic Churcll. Cairo, 1968. Moumford, J. F. "A Nl.'W Fragment of Greek Music in Cairo." JOl/mal 01 Hellenic Studies 51 ( 1931):91-100. Muyser, J. "I...e 'Psali' caPle pour la premitrc hcurc du samedi de la joie." I.e MllseOrl 65 (1952): 17584. _:-~. "Un 'Psali' acrostiche copte," I.e MUS~0I1 66 ( 1953):31-40. Newlandsmith, E. Religion arid Ihe ArIS. London. 1918. A Mirlstrel Friar. London, 1927. '1'he Music of Ihe Mass as Sung in the _ Coptic Church, and Some Special Hymns in Ihe Coptic Liturgy." Sixteen Folio VO/llmes 01 flllPllbfished trallscriplions, Vols. I and 2. Cairo. 19291933. Subsequent vols. are not dated. ---;__ "The Ancient Music of Ihe Coptic church," lecture delivered at Ihe University Church, Ox· fnrd. London, 1931. : - ' - ' A Mlisidml's Pilgrimage. London, 1932. O'CIlI'ry, E. O~l tile Manllers alld Clls/oms of the Andenl Irish, ed. with an Introduction, Appen· dices, and Notes by W. K. Sullivlm. New York, 1971. O'Leary, De L Tile Daily O/Tif:e fwd Theowkia ol/he Coptic Church. London, 1911. The Coptic TheolOkia. London, 1923. _ . The Oi/nar (AnliphollarirmtJ 0/ Ihe Coptic Chl/reh. London, 1926-1930. Pl:rier, J., ed. and lrans. La Perlll pricilluse . .. by Ibn Si~'. Paris, 1922Phl!ll!hliwus al·Maq3rt. Kitllb Dal/lll wa Tartfb Jllm'Il1 al·Alllm wa 'ld al·Fi~;' a/-Majid. Cairo, 1920.
-===
-=::=.
MUSTAFA KAMIL
Reese, G. Music i'l tIJe Middle Ages willI lin hrtH}' drlclion OIl the Music of Ancil'/1/ Times, pp. 57-94. New York, 1940. Robertson, M. "It. Trunscrlpilon and Moth-ic Analy· sis of Two Coplic Hymns." Unpl,lblish,x1 manuscript. Salt Lake City, 1980.
____ "Hymns from the Uturgy of SI. B;lSil." Unpublished m;lnu~ripts. &all Lake City, 19801983. ___ "The Modern Copdc Tamtmah, 'I'al-ah!nln. faraJ:!anln' ('We An: Joyful, We Arc Joyful')." Coptologla S (1984):77-34. '''The Rcliahilily of Ihe OTaI Tr.ldition in Preserving Coptic Music: A Comparison of Three Musical Transcriptions of an Extract from the Uturgy of Saint Basil." Bufle/in dt lu Socibi d'llrchiotogie cople 26 (1984):8]-9]; 27 (1985): 73-85. _:--_ ''Vocal Music in lhe Early Coptic Church." COplo/Ofia 6 (1985):23-27. _:::-_ "The Good Friday Trisagion of the Coptic Church (A Musical Transcription and Analysis). ,. Misul/ally ill 1I0tlOllr of ACQd. lwm Duj(~~v. Sofia, Bulgaria (in press). --,:::c "A Coptic Melody Sung Inlerchangeably in Different languages: Comparisons Thereof and Proposed Daling Therefor." Paper presemed OIl the Third International Congress uf Cuptic Studies in Warsaw. Poland, 1984. -c-= "Which Came first, the Music or the Wurds (A Greek Tcxt and Coptic Melody: Musical Transcription and Analysis uf the SettingJ." In By S/udy Q/!d Abo By Failh: Essays ill lIU>wr of Hugh Nibley 011 Ihe Occasioll of His EiglllieJh Birlh(luy, 27 Murch 1990, ed. S. D. Ricks, pp. 416lf. salt Lake City, 1990. Sachs, C. Die MIUiki/!s/rwllellle /llts ailen AgyPleIlS. Berlin,192l. Die Mluik der Arrlike. Putsdam. 1':135. The Risl! of Ml/sic irl /he Arlcienl Wurfd, East ((nd West. New Yor'k, 1943. Schott, S., cd. (lnd lrans. AIJilgyp/ische Lh'bes/ieder. ZUrich, 1950, Shawan, s, :,1·. "An Annulllied lJibliography of Cop· tic Music." Unpublished M.A. thesis, Colurnbia University. New York, 1975. Sidnrous, A. "La Pilque sainle au 13 Scmaine sainte selon la liturgic copte." Proche-OriclIl cllrelifm 18 (1967):3-43. Tawfl'q l;Iablb. AI~I(Hl a/·Krll1/s/l}r /I1.Qib!iY}'nh (melo· dies of lhe Coptic church). Leclurc given a' the Coplic Girls College. Cairo, 30 March 1917. T6th, M. "A Trunscriplion of lhe Complele LilUrgy of 51. Basil." Cairo, 1970-1980. Villecoun, L.. cd. and mJns. "Us Observances li'ur· giques et la discipline du jeune dan.~ I'eglise copte" (chaplers XVI-XIX from Mi~ah al. lulmah by Abu aJ·Bamk51 ibn Kabar). I,~ Musto/!
==. :
1747
36 {I92J):249-92; 37 (1924):201-280; 38 ( 1925):261-320. Villoteau, G. A. Descriplioll de l'E.gypre, tlat mo· deme, Vol. 2: De I'ttal ae/llef de I'arl lIu4$ical ttl Egypt. pp. 754fr. Paris, 1809. Wellesz, E. "The Earliest Example uf Chlistian Hymnudy." Chrislian Q14amrly 39 (1945):34ff. -:::-::. EQs/em E/emell/s in We.flcm Chall/. Oxronl, 1947. Wel'Oer. E. The Sacred Bridge. London and New York. 1959. -:::-. "The Origin of the Eight Modes or Music (Octucchus)." CurrJrib14/iorl.J 10 a Hisloric(ll S/14dy of Jewish Music. N.P., 1976. Ziegler, C. CalQloglie des ins/rumenls de lIlusiq.u· (gyp/iens. Paris, 1979.
MUSIC, CORPUS OF. See Music, Coplic: De· scription.
MUSIC. HISTORY OF, Sell Music. Coplic: HislOry.
MUSIC, NONLITURGICAL. See Music, Coptic: Nonliturgical Music.
MUSIC, ORAL TRADITION OF. See Music. Coptic: Oral Tradition.
MUSIC, RELATIONSHIP TO GUAGES, See Music, Coptic: Melody.
LAN·
MUSIC, WESTERN TRANSCRIPTION OF COPTIC. See Music, Coptic: Transcriptions. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, See Music, Cop· tic: Musiellllnstruments; Metalwork, Coptic: Wood· work, Coptic.
MUSIC AND CHURCH FATHERS. See Mu· sic, Coptic: Hlsl01)'; Music, Coptic: Musical Instru· ments.
MUSICOLOGISTS. Sel! Music, Coptic: Musicul· ogists.
MUSTAFA KAMIL (1874-1908), Nationaiisl pal·ty leader. He sludied law at the Khcdivial School of Law and later a, Toulouse in France, where he
1748
MUSTURUD
received a dea,'ct in 1894. His political inll::rCSls :lnd his intention 10 fight the British oecup:!tion staned l'at lln cady IIge. In 1890 he founu(."(] a nlilionalisl litcl1l1)' society and followed that by publish. ing his anicles in the prominent Egyptian ncwspapel'll of thaI lime.
MlIs!af:i K.imil's political career may be divided into three stages. 'nle first stage c.wered the period bctwl-en 1894 and 1900, dUling which he founded the clandestine Nationalist party :Illd i55ucd his famous paper Af-LiWD·.
The second slage ....'as between lhe years 1900 and 1904, when he concentrated on making the Egyplian question an international onl', in order to rnanct.l\'cr the European powers, mainly France, to put rressure all England [0 force it to withdrnw from
_..
During the third stage he conCl'nmllcd on escalating internal ~ist.anee to Britain as revealed by
the erisis that arose bctw(..ocn the Ottoman and Brit· i... h empires in 1906 over T::iW on Ihe Gulf of 'Aqa· ba. He incited Islamic reactions in Egypt against the British occupation and to the Dinshway incident, when the British resoned to panicularly bru· tal measur(:s in dealing with thl' fellahin of that village. 1·le exploited the occasion to inllame EgyptiOln and European feelings regarding the:-;e measo~. This stage ended with the formation of the Nationalist Pany on 22 October 1907. Mu."!3f=i !(jlIlil died shol'tly :.fterward, in Fcb"l:lry 1908. Most Coptl'; refused to join the political move· ment initillled by Mus!afa !Camil because they resented Its religious a... peet and rhe call to Pan, IslamiMIl ;Idopted by Mus!afa Kiimil. The small number of Copts who joined his pany is evident from the f;let thilt of the thirty members who constituted the adminisU"ative conllniue", only one was a Cupt, WlliSA WASSEr, while out of th~' 113 founders of the olher' big party, Hi~b al,Ullllllah (Nation's Party), rOUl1ccn were Copts. However', lowaru the cnd of his life, Mus!,.f<'i Kumil tried to creale a society uniting Copts and Mus· lims, b;lseu un pure Ell.Yptian sentiment. The motto o( it.. adherent... was Egyptians First of All. Even so, the Copts hl'siHlted to join the Niltionalist party, on account of the r'Casons mentioned and on llceount of Mus!af5. K5.mil's connection with the Ottoman empire, YONAN UBIB
MUSYURUD, See Pilgrimages.
KtZO
MU'YAMAN ABO ISJ:lAQ IBRAHIM IBN AL,'ASSAL (Mu'tuumn al-Oawlah), llpparcntly the third and youngest brother of al-As'ad Abo alFllraj moot-AllAh ibn al-'Asstil, the seo;ond being Oil· $ali AbO al Faga'i1 ibn al·'Assal (Saft al·Dawlah). He lived in the first half uf the Ihinecnlh century, though no precise date could be as.~igned 10 him from the sources. Mallon (1907) ascribes 10 him two wol'l,-s thai appear under al'As'ad in KaI;1I;1!\la's dictionary based on Cheikho's catalog of Christian Arabic manu' seripts, They are Majmij U~id al·Ditl wa·Mas""j' Ma~~al al·YaqIIl (Recunb of FounUatiuns of Relig· ion), and AI-Tab~irah al.Mllkllltl!iarah (Abridged Contemplation), Other works by Abu I.s~q quoted by Mallon indude Adiib rlf·KallIsah (cccksiastical usag..' S) and Klur!ab al-A'yllJ ul-Sayyidiyyah (fcslal homilies). But his major and enduring contribution lies in the field 0( philoloaical studies. specifically his fa· mous scala under the Arabic title AI·Sullam aU.fu· qafftJ wa·af·Dhahub u'·MIr~affd, Several attempts were made before Abu isl;1;iq to present a lexical compilation of Coptic vocabuillry into Arabio;, but most of them wel-e confused and hardly lISllble except perhaps the work of Anoo Yu'annis, bishop of SamannOd, who made his selection from liturgical works, the Gospels, aod Theotokia. Abu Isl;1aq used the work of AnM Yu'annis and impl'Oved on it by Iilling lacunae and by alphabetiZing entries. He illso profited from the knowledge of eminent contempo· raries, notably the priest AbO·al·'lzz Mukhallis, alWajih Yu~annft of Oalyiib, and the sharldl al-Tuqu ibn al-DahlrT. For the first time, it could be said that a d~finitive and r~llable Coptic suI/am was achieved: this was the le~t thut Kh'Cher presented in his famoll~ Lil/gua lIegyp/illcll Res/il/4Iu, Apart from the three Awl.!ld al-'AssAi al ..eady ched In thiR al1icle, two others are W0l1hy of mention. Orlc WIlS their father', Ab.l al.Fa~J1 ibn IsI.ldq ibn Abi Sahl ibn Ab! YURr Yul)annd ibn al·'As~;iI, knuwn as Fakr ;II-D(lwltlh (;II-Ktltib al-Mi~rl. the Egyptian scribe). The other personality is that of al·Amjad Aba al-Majd ibn lll·'AssM, :t pruminellt Ayyubid functional)' who lacked the literal)' glamor of lhe three older brothel'S, but who sClved as the eminent fimmder of the distinguished family. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kh'Chel'. A. Li"~,,u A~KYP/ia"a Restilllla. Rome, 1648. Mallon, A. Melanges dc f(l Filmlle Oriclliule, Vol. 2. pp. 260-63. Beirut, 1907.
MYSTERI ES OF GREEK LEITERS
'Umar RI~a Kahh:ilah. MII'ia'll af·MI/'ut/iff", 15 vols. Damascus, 1957-1961.
1749
MYRON, See Chrism.
AzIZ S. ATiYA
MYSTERIES OF GREEK LEITERS, a MUWAFFAQ AL.oIN ABO SHAKIR IBN ABI SULAVMAN DAWOD (u. 1216),,, skilled physician, unc of IIll'ce brolhel"5, the olher IWu bt-.... ing AIll) AI~FAI)L IRN ASI SUUr.vt.1AN and Abu S
Ibn AbI
~ybi'ah. 'Uytill
Q/·A"bd·
/I 'fabDqdl al-A{ib-
bll', pp. 589-90. Beirut, 1965. PENELOPE JO+lNsro~E
MUWAFFAW AL·DlN
IBN
SA'ID
AL·
DAWLAH. See Hibal Allah 'Abd-1lllah 11m Sa'id al·Dawlah al-Qib!l.
MUYSER, JACOB LOUIS LAMBERT (18961956), Dulch CoplOlogisl. He was born in the Hague and sludied Iheulogy and Egyptology at Frihours in Swil1.erland with Eugenc DCV'olUd and wcnl to Egypt in 1920 as a missiunilry for the African Mission Society. In jle bruary 1921 he was ordained il priest In the Coptic Calhulic church and was assigned to the city of Zagnzlg. 1·le built a typical Coptic church named after Saint Pachumius in Ihe city of Faqu5. He conlributcd extcnslvely to rescarch in th..:: his· tory of the chun:h, Bible studies, biographie.~ of church fathers, and related materials. He wrule in English, French, Germ,ln, lind Spanish. In addition, he maSlered Coptic, Greek, Hebrew, .lOd Arllbic. He publlshed numeruus arllcles in bolh Arabic and Eurup"::lIn lungullges. One of hi.~ imp0l1ani eun· lributions to Cnptic studies is "Lcs Pclt-rinages copIes en Egypte" (ed. Gi!1'31'd Viaud, Bf4/1Ctill de I'lnslilll/ fnmfai., d'archeologit: urie"lu/e, 1979). IJIIJLlOGRAPUY
Dawson, W. R., Egypl%£)', p. Kammerer, W., Arbor, Mich.,
and E. P. Uphill. Wlru WIlS Who ill 211. London, 1972. compo A Coptic Bibliograpfly. Ann 1950: rcpr. New VOl*-, 196'). M. L BIF.II.RRIF.R
SUUr.vMAN NAsir.!
myslic ITealisc un Ihe symbolical interpreUltion of the leuers of the Greek alphabet possibly wriuen by an Egyptian 01' Pak'Slinilin monk in the fifth or sixlh cenlury. The comp]"t" litle of the work is given in Arahic: fll/iill; qllfnlUl nl.qnss al/ba Saba ol·Sll·j!, Ii sirr labalal Af/d}, al·mok",;" /1 ~lIffjl alld wllll ("Ex· planation or a defense pronounced by the priesl S},Qr~
Anb:i Saba the Hennil cunceming the mystery of the philosophy or God hidden In lhe letters uf Ihe Greek alphabet"). This ...."ork is still very little known. E. Revillout menlioned it in 1873 in eonnectkln with lhe Gnos· tic 1iternture ur the lirsl centuries. A. Hebbfolynck gavc rather more pre<:ise details in a brid account publL~hed in 1896. It WdS not unlil 1900-1901 that his edition of the 5ahidic telll was finally published. accompanied by a shon study and a translalion in French. This lcxt is known from a bilingual 5ahidic Coptic and Arabic manuscript preserved in the Bodlcian Library in Oltrord (Huntington 396). It contains 119 folios and was desc-ribed by John Uri in 1787, as number 55 of lhe Coplic manuscripls. The .$ahidic leltl i.'l cenainly Il"olnslatcd from the Greek. In 1989 Joseph Paramclle, S.J., who had discovered lhe original Greek vcn;ion uf this texl, wa.'. prelXlring hs publicaliun. The Sahidic text cumt.'S to II h!llt on folio 113. What folluws (15 pages, fok 113v-119v) is exclusively in Arabic. This Al"olblc versiun was made by the copyist of the mAnuscript himselr, who does nat give his name bUI who rcearus lhal he compleled his wnrk on 14 Ilashans 1109 A,M./9 May 1393. The A1'
The author of the trealise wrOle in Greek, but he knew Syl'iac and Hebrew. He llved after Eplphanius of Cyprus, from whom he quutes lhe following llU' thors (according 10 Hebbelynck 1900-
1750
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Amazons
monk sa.b.'1. The ract lhal he kuew Greek, Syriac, and Hebrew suggests that he Jived in Pales,ine. He may have been lhe person, born in 439 and died in 531, who rounded several Palestinian monastcri<."S. This is nOI a Gnostic or magi" work bUI belongs 10 a branch or Egyptian literature concerned with the hidden meanings or Ieucr.;. "From the rOUl1h cenlury onward:' writcs Hcbbelynck, "Egypt alTer.; relnark3ble examples or Ihe br.mch or Iitenllure. The writings, or which St. Jerome has given us II Latin veBion entitled MaNila S. Pachomii, 55. Pachomii el Theodori Eputofae, Verba mystiea (So Pachomli), contain 3 series of OIdmonitions and pn>nouneemenlS. each one more "nigmMie than the other, ba.r.ed on the occult significance of the alphabet" (Hcbbelynck, 1900, pp. 9-10; d. Patrologia Latina 23, eols. 61-1(0). Hebbclynck gives other enmplcs (pp. 10-11) or this kind or literature as .....ell. This view leads to a different hypothesis con· eeming the identity of the author. ~b! might have been an Egyptian hiemlllonk trained in Alexandria, .....ho composed his trealise dire<.·tly in Greek. BIBLlO(;RAFHY
Uebbelynck, A. "Une Page d'utl manuscrit copte intitul~ 'Le5 mystcrcs des leures grecques' (Description cosmogonique)." In Melallges CJulTfes de lI(lrfez. pp. 127-32. Leiden. 1896. _ _. "Les mysteres des letln:s grecques d'apres un manuscrit copte·arabe de la Bibliotheque bodleienne d'Oxford." u Musi,m 19 (1900):5-36, 105-36,269-300; 20 (1901):5-33, 369-414, and phues 1-3. Revilluul, E. Premi~re ~wde sllr Ie mouveme/lt des esprits JUIlS les premiers siecl,!s de /lotrll ere. Vie el Sllll/el/ees de Seci/udus, d'"pre.( divers ma/lu, .~crif.! oriemaux. Les aualogies de ee livre (lvec ies omITage$ g!1o$tiqut!s. Paris, 1873. Uri, J. B;bliotllec(le Bodle/a/lae cudicum ma/luscripturl/III urietl/aliw/l ... C(lWIOgl'S, Vol. I, p. 327 (110. 55). Oxford, 1787. KHALIL SAMIR. 5.1.
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COP· TIC ART, liml (llld (l
[Thi~' Iml')'
cotlsists of (l brief imrodllc. number of short artide.s by various (Il/-
tllors: AIllIl7.0nS Aphrodite Apollo Ilnd Daphne Bdlcrophon ami tile Chimera o..neers
Daphne Dionysus Hercules Horos Jason '-'do Nereids The Nile God Nilotic Scenes Pastoral Scenes The Seasons Thetis The Three Graces] The ancient civilizations of the Middle Easl abounded in myths, which expressed sacred troths in words. Mythological subjects were a fenile souree of inspiralion for artists. As one civilization succeeded another in the same area, Ihe newer my· thology gradually superseded the old, and lhe iconography changed accordingly. But elements of the older faith often blended with or wcre assimilated to the ncwer onc or continucd 10 ellisl alongside it. Thus in Roman Egypl, elements of pharaonic mythology Ilnd iconography were absorbed into GrecoRomlln mythology and iconogrnphy. And in Ihe Christian and early Muslim periods, from lhe midfifth cenlury 10 Ihe l.....elfth century, a grcat many pagan themes persisled in Coptic an. In some instances a pagan theme, such as rcbinh, was assimilated to a Christian lheme. In olher in· stances, the pagan symbol was so often repeated Ihlll all its original religious significance was lost and it became merely a decoralive device. In still olher situations, the pagan symbol was relained for ilS magic value, refleeling lhe ancient Egyplian be· lid in lhe efricacy of magic, which was deemed 10 prevail over the new faith.
Amazons In Greek lr..ldilion, lhe Ama~ons are a nation of women warriors ruled by a queen, said 10 Jive in nonhern Asia Minor. Descendants of the Gl'eek W3r god, Ares, lhey are a.~sociated with combat in such evell\~ a.~ Ihe Trojan W.. r; the battle against the hero Hercules (GI'eck, Herakles), tbeir enemy par excellence l>ecausc be killed lheir queen, Hippoly. ta; .md ,he invasion of Attica in vengeance against an expedition by the hero Theseus. 10 addition Ihey arc linked wilh funeral divinities and wilh the cor· lege of Ihe wine god, Dionysus, probably as an ellpTC55ion of Ihe forces of change. A cult was devoled
r
•
,
,
, ,
,
j
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Amazons
\0 them. In ESYI)\ a demOtic papyrus mCOllions the
Amazons and their queen as allies of Pctckhons (P:·ti·Hl'lIw) in a millfat)' expcdilion to Illdia (Vol-
len, 1962). In Coptic aI" the Amazons appear chiefly in n:::la·
tion to the labors of Hercules and the Dionysiac world. They moe most deady depicted ill textiles; their identification remains doubtful in olher nledia $Uch as a small ivol)' tlll"¥ing in the Slale Collection of Egyptian An, Munich. As warriors th,')' wear a light chilon, lung or shon, sometimes spedled with small circles, leaying one or both breasrs bare so Ihey can wield weapons more freely. They also wear the cap of the Phrygian archers and the trousers (Illlillsyrides) worn by Eastern people.... When
on ho~back, Ihey are anned. either drawing II bow with an arrow filled 10 it or brandishing a two-edged hatchel. The ~hicld i$ on thl' ground, betwa:n the hOf$e'$ hoofs, The Amll7.ons gellendly appear in scenl'S oC violence-occMionally In war, more often duding with • hero or hunling. Representations of warlarc, Ama· zonomachy, are, in fact, rather rare. In a textile in Jerusalem (Baginski and Tidhar, 1980, no. 13), Amazons and Greek wan;ol'$ face each Oilier bdligerently, with three Amazons on hon;eback and two others fallen conquered. An unusual t~lilc, Crom the clIcavations of A. Gayct at Antinoopolis (Rutschowseaya, 1984) nnd doting from Ihe Courth to fifth centuries, depicts a scene wilh two Ama:wns kneeling bcsit.le a male figure who is subduing them. A lextile in the Museum of Ancient Arl, Mi· lan, from the sixth to scventh centuries (D'Andria. 1968) preSf!l....es the figure of a hero gl'asping a kneeling Amazon by Ihe hair, while another figure bearing a shield advances on the opposite sidc. This composition goes bOlek to the shield of Ihe Athena Parthenos by Phidins, which also served as the model for the schema of Ihe kneeling Amazon held by the hero-when Ihis is nn Isolated SUbjCl'l. Far more common arc the themes of the AmazOll dueling with the hero and the Am:twn hun ling, The theme of the Amamn dueling is al1ested in two Iconographical schelnas. In Ihe first, thc Amazon riding her hone bl'alldishes an alt while tl,c warrior pursues her, seizeli her by the wrist or by the hair, and i~ about to pierce her with his sword. In the second theme, the unhorsed Amazon ha.~ fallen to her kne-e5 disarmed, wilh her llmlS b<:hind her body, The hero, ~ei7..ing her by lhe hair, pulls her head back and prepares 10 Slab her. The first schema has been idenLilled in a tel(lile from Ille Rcnnki Museum, Athens (du lJourgucl,
1751
1964, no. 242) lmd in a textile from tile St:tte Pu~h kin Mw;eum of Fi'le Arls, Moscow (Shurinova, 1967, no. 7). Sever.!1 other clUlrnples that have remained unidentified or hllve been wl'Ongly interpreted may be cited, such as, for ellample. a piece from the Vicloria and Albert Museum, London (Kendrick, 1920. no. 100), and another from lhe Museum of Fine Ans, Dijon, France (C..~ut.lerlier, 1986, no, 158). The all brandished by the Amamn, who is always in the same posilion, !K:ems transformed into a CI'05..~, a portrayal that has given much food for thought (perhaps loa much) to those who have sllldied il. The S\.'Cond schema may be rccognized in mllOY elt;:l,mples, ranging from very leaible representations (Kendrick, 1920, no. 56; Akashi, 195], no. 12), lhmugh a progressive stylization (Shurinow, 1967, no. 86; du Bourguet, 1964, no. 177; Forrer, 189], P IX, 8), to an almOSI lotal t.Iisaggn:gation of Ihe figures (du Bourguel, 1964, F 22]; Kendrick, 1920, no. 57). A subcategory eom,titulcs IhO!iC renderings that appear to be divided hori:>:ontally by the hero's cloak. In laic examples (sevenlh century) of this schema, the figures are: no longer in conlact. In the Lundon textile menlionc.:d by Kendrick, it i.~ the Amill'.on herself who bl'ings her hand to her head, which reentls the originnl formula. The hero, hen: clearly Hen:ure~, leans on his club, while a cupid in night holds Ihe crown of viclory above his head. Although it ill not easy to identify dellnitely the two prulligonists of Ihe $eene, il seems thlll Ihe Coptic artisl u~ually tended 10 Ddopt, til(, Dnd rcpeal a schema, chosen from :tmong the great variely of matel'ial in the traditional ,·epertoil·e. In this textile the anist apparently wanted to memoriali7.e the duel between Hercules and Hippolyta., tire ninth of his twelve ktbor:!, in which Hcrcules wrest~ from her the prccious lIirdle Ihul WllS a \lift from Arcs. Such an interpretation is ~upported by the fact that io other' textiles this representution fi\lurcs amung the l:tboNl of Hercule~. Moreover, the hero Is recog· nizable beyond a doubt in both the Athens and London lelttiles, The theme of the Anlllzun hunting, which seems mOSl widesprelld in the sevenlh century, can be seen on textile~ notahly in the medallions-often in silk-thal enclose IWO AmllWOS, each astride Il rearing hol"5C and ~ymmelrically sepal'ated in rela· tion to a cenlrnl axis (von Flllkc, 1913, nos. 4S and 47; Wessel, 1964, no, 126; Kendlick, 1922, oos. 810-16). Wearing shoft ehilons and long, flowing iKanot:s, they hold their bows ready to shoot the felines I>icturcd in the lower pal1 of Ihe mc.:dallion.
, 1752
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Aphrodilc
Two dogs also :'I'llClII" nn occasion (Kendrick. 1922. n.... 821). On olher lUlilcs, wo",,,n I,iclurcd ... n horsclxlck ",e;I(;III: I'h'ygian cap' and ;H:COIllFl"nicrobably excruled ;'1 lhe rC(I"~1 of a cuhh'llied and refined c1ieulc1e ;n dIOse cities mo.~l imbued wilh lIe1leni1.oo cuhure such all Alex· andri;, "",J l'anopolis ("1'11.\111-1), Ihey circul:lloo IhmughoUI the cnlin, Medilerrnnean ba:;in.
whose wvr:;hill had spread to EII}'I'I. Th~ EIl~Pli:",~ p,...bahly found the falUily linb bet"'c<"O Aphrodite, her tonT, the war god I\n."II. and her son. Eros, r"miliar hecause of tlie ,~Inlions between their own beloved divine ramily-Ihe godd\:.$ Isis. her hus· band. Osiris, and Iheir son, Ilo.....s. Aphrodite was idemilled with Isis. who had :>Iready fuso..-d wilh the
homed sky goddess H:uhor. and incorpomlcd sume of the "..cYrli"n di"iniey's :lllrihula; in her own appearance. Tcrrn
arms
c1OS<:-li<':t 10
the
bod)'
in the I4;yI,tian slyle and
bear on Iheir h...ad Ihe disk of the sun between cow's honls charnclcrislic of Ha,hor.
IJIIII.IOGItAI'II Y
Akasni. K. Cuplic Texfiles from BIt";i,,x Gro""ds i" f,-,:)'pl ju lire Cul/cclw" of Ihe KQl/egQfuchi Spill' "'''I CO"'fIil"~' K)"'IO, 1953. lkigillsli. A., and A. lidh:,r, TOit,f~ from I:&>'pl 4th IJII. C""I"ries C,I:, Je""...lcm, I'JIlO. 8clurlWct, P. duo I:Arf cople, Pelil Palais. l'aris, I .... CQlalog du boffes ctJpIC.>. Vol. I. MusCc Nalional du Lo ·re. Pam, 1%4. Caudedier. J>. l"cs TiS5"J cupl,,$. Ca'alogue ... isonnt' du Mu$Cc tk... lkaux·A,u de Oijo.>n. llijon, 1986. O'Andria. F. "Un l<:$$ulO CDpIO con AIIlUOtlomachia del MU:M'U del ClLSlclio Srorzesc... a Mila"o:' Ao'g)'pms 43 (1968):141-46. Fllllte, O. \'On. K,mslgt:JClrielr/t! del' Sl'idl'",wbl'rei. Berlin. 1913, Fum:r, R. Oi" frill,ehrisllicll
In another ,'(Orsion of Aphrodite's SlOry. she
"'as
-.,--c
.'U"
,n
LUKl!""~
unt. FRANCIA
Aphl"oJile Aptlluditc was ,he Greek goddl'SS of love rind
!J.e;,u'y, who probably o1'i"i""led in As'a or C}'Prus. She was the ",osl pOI,ular or "II lhe G~'Ck divinilies
COllch .hell rcprescll1ing Arlmxli,l'. Third-fourlh
ceIlIUl)'.
CUlm~'J'
Co!"ie AI",·em". Caif(>.
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Apollo and Daphnc
1753
Aphrodile Anlld)'Ome~ hi:1""~...,n .. Trilon and" Nen,id. lime5lOoe. $i.,lh eenlul)'. C(mrl~s)' /.Ol...r~ ,11"51:'11I". Purl•. believ"d 10 hi: born of the foom of Ih" sc" and ..... a.~ blown Iv land. I'lossihly in Cyprus in a conch shell. As tlphrodihl AlI"d)'ornene ("'rising fr()l" the wa· ters"). under the inlluellce vf the Platonic COllccpt of itle"s, she became Ihe symbol vf spiritu:ll 100·e. A new intluence. this time Chrisli:m. alf,·cl<.'c! Ihe myth of Aphrodile. According 10 a Syrian legend. Nonl105. II fiflh·century bishop of tteliop.,lis. w:as present "I I~ Council of Anlioeh. n.cre he played a decish-e role in the eOfwersion of Ihe cdd>l':loled cou,1l$IIl Pe("gia, who was d.,dieatcd 10 Aphrodite Anad)"Omene. I'clagia is s.:lid to h:1\'e wilhd ....wn '0 Gcthscmane in j;(>liltJlJe "5 Pelagia ,he anchoritc. Thus the l'''&,IIl sea·horn goddess Aphrodite Anally· ollie'", see"'s to h.."., becoJlll' "ssocim"d willt the rehil1h of Ihe soul in the waler of Christian bap· tism. As much PI,"ollic ,IS Cht'islian in inSllir;"ion. she al'pc(lrcd with rern'lI'knbl<: frequency in COJllic an. ~pcel.:>.lly in Middle Eg,)l>t, as 1:11" as Ihe Muslim ~rioo. She is Il.'prescnted as a woman. :l coneh shell. or:l cross in relids in SlOne as at II..., m<.>nas· tet)' of I""VII Mil. JEJlE.IollA1I :11 S"qqa"" or in wood ;n lhe. monaste,)' al 11.~wl1. She lliso apt'le;,ors In lapesI~. IIOW in the Lou\'~, Paris.
Apollo ;H1d Dallhnc In Crtck IllylholoBY Al>ollo W"S the god of the sun. archei)'. soolltS:lying, medicine. and lIlusic. He had Illany amorous esc:lJ'adcs. induding Ihe ":lin pursuil of Ihe nymph D(lphnc (see below). who W(lS ch""I:<'-.1 by the c:lnh goddess into (I laurel tre" to a,...id cnplure. Coptic ani.~s occasionally d<'1>icl~'d the SIal)' of Apollo and Daphne in ''nriou.~ Ilkcc:s of sculplure and textiles. A bt.-:lutiful h'ory can"i,,!; of th~' fifth 10 si.~lh cen· lUI)' in Ihe National Museum of k:l\'cnna bears :I sccne in which it nude Apollo is playing hiS lyre in a" crfv!1 to charm tl1e u"happy Daphne. enlmpped in the I,·ce. The flgul·e.~ arc ~er:u~'tt:uy,'e. II 1I,,'gniflcently d"co-....le5 onc of tl,e 1,'pc'Hly .«juarcs of a hanging
IIII1UOGR,u'IIY
Bourguel. I'. duo L'A,-I coplC. Collecl;on l'At't ([,illS Ie 1110,,<'Ie. Pads. 1968. Fr~"ei;l. L. del. "Un ICMltlO c<.>pl<.> c<.>n m.sciw
AJ,hnxlilc. UmCSlone can'ed relief. Ahnilsiph. Third century. Co,mt:sy Coptic 1>1,,5"""'. Cairo.
1754
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Ariadne
The Shawll'lf Sabine. Delail: A square depicting the myth of Apolln and Daphne. Fmgllllml of a lapc~lry, Anlinoc. SiXlh centUl)', CUur(fi.~.v L01l1're MII$(lllrII, P(lfi.~.
known as lhe Shawl of Sabine (fiflh to sixth century), Here the god is depicted as ;1 hunter holding hili bow in one hand and laking an ;Irrow from his quiver wilh the 0111<;1'. He is nUlk under the cloak thrown over his shouider. H is lyre leans against a Cl'llumn entwined by two gariand~ in a .~ign of can· sccl1ltion. Daphne aPreaD in Ih.: laurel lree, unclnlhed but bedecked with earrin~, bmcelcls, and a necklace. Al lhe instant of her mctamorphosis, she 011('11i Apollo a nower in the shape of a cross, which gives a Christian significnnce 10 the scene, The other tcxtile, a medallion of Ihe nimh century, shows Ihe Slime subject but is poor in style and difficult to identify.
god of the vine (sec bdow), Accurding to onl: version of Ihe myth. Al'iadne en;aped from Crete with Ihe Greek hero Theseus but was lefl by him on Naxos, the h.land of Dionysus. Her c1evalion 10 divinity through the god's love symbolized the ascent of the soul to the divine light and immortality_ Dionysus and his I'etinue-the shepherd god Pall, satyrs and sileni (woodland spirits), maellads or bacchantes (female devotees), gmpe-gatltering cupids, and Ar'iadne-were fl'cquently dcpicted in Coptic a", Nevertheless, the only certain reprcscnlation of Ariadne is in a tapcstry squal'C in the Mu· seum of Fine Arts, Vienna. Within the SQuare, framed by a scroll of acanthus leaves with fmil, "OWCI1i, and bi..-ds, is her bust surmounted by her name in GI'eek. Ariadne, seen full-face with he,' cyes turned toward the left, IHls on her head a jeweled diadem and wears a necklace wilh a ouIJa (hollow pendant) and eanings, Her head stands out against an aureole, an aUribule of the ancient solar deities and a symbol of immortalilY. This square is the counterpart of an identical square in Ihe museum representing Diunysus' head and shoulders in the same attitude. The fact Ihat they match suggests that if a tap.::Slt)' square in the Louvre thal presents a maseulille bust crowned with ivy i.~ indl.'Cd Dionysus, then we must recognize Ariadne in a similar square also in the Louvre, In Ihis piece her finery consists of a diadem, earrings, and II necklace adorned with pendanl pomegranales. All these squares show the same style of round face with large ringed eyes and url: marked by a slight shad· ing of colors, reminiscent of bas-relief, that is char· 'Ielcl"islic of the fifth eentUl)'. IUDLIOGRAPHY Bourguet, P. duo ell/a/oglle du boffe:s copt~!l. Vol. I. Mus('C nalional du Louvre. Paris, 1964. Wessel, K, L'M/ cople, figs, 112, 113. Brussels, 1964.
MARIE·Httl!Nu RUTSCIlOWSCAYA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dourguet, P. duo 1,'Art cuple, pp. 47, 88, 89. Paris, 1968. CI.f\..MENCE NtlVItF.1"
Ariadne Ariadne was a Minoan princ{'''S and vegetation goddess whu was the spouse 01 Diunysus, Gred
Bellerophon and the Chimera Bcllerophon was a Greek IIcl'O from Corinth who rode the divine winged horse PellaSUS and slcw thc fire·bretllhing, lion·headed Chimera, The two fig· Uf(..'S sYlllhoH~e the Il'iumph of good nver evil. a parallel 10 the ancienl Egyplian myth of the sun god Horus who conquers Ille evil god seth, rcpresl.:nted as a monster, or various vicioriOU5 Chrislian saints:
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Dancers
1755
SislnniOll, conqueror of Alab:1Sll';a; (;eQ''l:.e, slayer of the d''llgOllS; Michacl, conqueror of Lucifcr; and olher sainls on horscbllCk, Bellerophon and Ihe Chime..a appea.. only once in Coplic an, in a lapt'Slry mf,.'(I;,[Iion in Ihe si~lh· cenlUl)' Shawl of Sabine in the Louvre. They may be gh'en a Cluislian inlerpretalion, as appears in Ihe nearby small panel of Daphne, holding OUI a cnJcifonn flo.....e.. 10 Ihe pursuing Apollo, pl"rhap!l 10 keep him al a dislance, BI8L1OGRAPHY
Bool'(Ucl, P, duo "L'An eople. Pctil Pill.,is." In CIl-
tllJosue d'Expasition, nv. 152. Paris, 1')64. Ptllllll.E DU BouRGUET, SJ.
Dancers In ancient EGYPt, dance was closely linked with many a5J)l.'Cts of life-religious ceremonies. funeral rilCS, and ::r.gricuhural feslivals. Dancers. Ihcrcfon:, arc among the oldest (lnd most frequently represented subjects in pharaonic art. In Ihl" period of
Ariadne. TapC5try, Fifth centUl)'. COl/r/esy l..ouvre Alusewn, Pllris.
111e Shawl of Sabine. Oetail: aellcl'Ophon and the Chimera.. Tapestry, Anlinot:. Sixlh celilury, Courtesy Lmlllre Ml/scl/m, PtlO$.
1756
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Dancers
like a tamoouline). Genel"illly. however, these danc· ers UfC recognized by their cros.~ed legs. which be· come rigid like crossed sticks arter the Muslim conQuest in the seventh centul)', when Coptic a.l1 declined. An eltample is a stone n:licf in the Coptic Muscum, Cairo. Dancers are found especially in textiles. TIll:Y evolve in stylI', pose, and costume in three stage.~. At first, by means of hatching (line criss-erosscd lines) achieved with the !lying shullle, Ihe figures present the illusion uf modeling in the round, and a great \'01riely of poses unfol& freely and endlessly. The dancer. male or female, is l,asily confused with the pUllO (cupid). especially when !he dancer is holding a winged creature. M;de and female couplcs are often found. The man L1Sually wears a loinc1Q.(h. The woman often wears only a long necklace
Patera with the handle shaped like a (lancer carrying a CI"OS$. Bronze. Eighth century. Comlcsy Coptic AllliSlWlII, Cuiro.
the Plolemies, dancing wns associalcd with the bacCh:;InIC5, who look part in Dionysiac riles of Greek origin, which probably blended with older Egyptian rilCS. In Christian timell, dance di(l not vanish. II continued 10 be p....1l1 uf sCilsonal festivals such as saints' blt1hdays, which still exist, 01' was an c1emllnl of piltlrimallCs, often confused with festivals, or was simply an expression of joy in an African countl)'. The fruit of vine of the Gospels wa.~ substituted without .~cl'uple for the exaltillion of wine in Dionysim: celebrations. Thus dancing is one of the most favored themes in Coplic tin from the second or third centulY to iL~ diSn)lp¢lll'nnce in the twelfth ccntut")'. Its long life is explained by the chnnging symbolism aunched 10 it. A nOlable example of the Cht"istianization of the Egyptian dancing girl 01" Greek bacchante is on the handle uf :111 eighth-century bronze saucer (patera). The upright figure has her legs ct"OS-~ed and holds a compo:;ilc cross above her head. On stonework. bronl.c vases. 0" moldt.-d day forms. the dancer. male or female. is an isolated figure in relier. A bl'On7.e figure of a daneing girl in the Louvre from the sixth century has stroight leg.~ and roised ann..~ and holds a sistnrm (instrument
D:lI1cer with a sistl'Um. Stone r-eHef. Seventh century. Crmrlcsy Coplic Museum, CUiTO.
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Daphne
and II sellrf on one IIrm. Occa.~ionaJJy shc wcan; a lOO!;I' robe leaving one breast bare. In the second 51age, Ihe poses sliffen and the body is tending towolrd a silhouette willi limbs out of proportion. In lhe third slage, afler the Muslim conquest, the figure becomes nothing bUI a fullface, sllIT silhouelle, which becomes p,-ogressively more disproportionate, until in the Falimid period (I01h-12th cenlury) lhc head reslS on Ihe legs. The couples give way 10 isolated individuals. usually girls. The dominant posture is both lOmlS raised, with or without castanets, and the legs par.1l1e1 instead of crossl:d. If she is nOI holding castanelS. the girl dancer may have on one arm II scarf, wreath, plant, or shepherd's crook. A mille dancer usually has one arm raised or both arms bent ....oith each hand holding an implemcnt that might be a trident or a plan!. By lhis lime bolh the male and female dancer are fully clothed in a long robe falling from the shoulden.
1757
Two dancer! In a square, with I\Qwerel decorations. Tapestry. Ninth cemury.I'leight: 25 em: widlh: 24 em. COl/rlt!$y Wllvre Mluelfm, Paris.
BIBLIOGRAPlIY
Beckwith, J. Coptic Sc"lpf"re. London, 1963. Bourguct, P. duo Cafaloglllt des efoff~ l'ap/n, Vol. I. Musec: nalional du louvre. ~ris, 1964. ___ L'A" cOP/t!o Collection I'an dans Ie monde. Paris, 1968. PIERIII! OU BOUMGUtrr. S.J.
shown nude, her legs vanishing into thc tree and her neck ornamented wilh a necklace of heavy bul· lac in Ii'll.' form of Oowers. She is holding the laurel Il-ee with a geslu,-e analagous 10 that of Aphrodite Anadyomene, rising from the Sl.'a Iwisting her long hair. Whelher these Ihree reliefs bear any Christian signilicanc;:e remnins obscure, butlhe interprelation
Daphne In Greek mythology, Ihe nymph 1r..l'hne is the daughter of lhe river god, Peneus, and lhe beloved of Leuclppu$, son of Oenomeus. She is pw'Sued by lhe god Apollo, whose love she rejects. and when he is about 10 seize her', the nymph beg~ help rrom the earth goddess, who Immediately causes her to disappear by transforming her inlO (I l(llll'el tree. In sculpture, tlccording to well·known examples, lhe nymph alone seems to have found preference over the dnuble representation of Apollo and Daph· ne that appciil"li in other media, A group of reliefs based on mythologIcal Ihemes has been discovered al Ahnas al·Madlnah In Middle Egypt, but it cannot be determined whether they C(lmc frum a pagan temple or a Christian church. Two of these reliefs, from the lifth cenlllry, in the Coptk Museum, Cairo, depict Dtlphne, unclolhed and bereft of her jewels, clinaina with both anns 10 Ihe tree br..nches. In a relief (from the fifth 10 sixth century) from Shaykh 'A~dnh, now in the Louvre, Daphne is
Niche representing the goddess D:,phnc. LimeslOne. Ahnl\siyah. Third cenlury. Courlesy Coptic: ,unsell"', Cairo.
1758
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Dionysus
D-Jphne as an oranl emerging from Ihe IR.'C. lillIe"'Ione. Shaykh 'AMdah. Fifth century. Co"rle:>)' UJI/vre Musellm, Paris.
of nn 111'ched stela of Ihe late period. in the Louvre, is dc.u. Daphne is clepiclcu in an .lIlituue of prJyer within a beaded medallion, which is placed on a column flanked by two dolphins. A funcrary inscrif)tion slaning with a cross runs around the hordeI'. Thus the Christitlniution of Daphne is accomplished. The nyrnpll in thc mcdallion derives from funerary pol11'1lIts in medallions on Roman s:lrcoph. agi, and the dulphins m'e symbolic of Chds!. II seems clear that the r'csurTcction or Daphne in the form of 1\ laurel trec musl be llssilllilatcu to a sce· ond Ilnd Illore imp('lI1ant l)i'1h-lh:lt of the l100ul into eternal Jife. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bour(l:uet, I', duo f,'Arf cop/e, PI". 86-121. Co!le<.:lion l'An dans Ie Illollde. Paris, 1968. Coche de la Fel1e, E. L'Anliqllit'· dm!tiemlc au Mlls~e dll LOIll're. p, 88. Paris, 1958. Outhuit, G. La SClllpllm! COpIC. PI" 3slf, Paris, 1931. ClEMEKCE NEYRET
Funerary stela in Ihe name ofTebika. decol1l1ed wilh Ihe Iheme of Daphne. Painlecl limc:;tonc. Eighthninlh century. Height: 38 em: width: 28 em; Ihickness: 8 em. Courtesy LOI",re Mllsellm, Par/5.
Dionysus The Greek wine Kod Dionysus was Ihe focus of a mystel)' religion introduced into Egypl al Ihe time of its conquest by Ale~ander the Gr'ellt in the fourlh centulY B.C. [n rac:t. Alcsandcr justified hi.~ claim 10 guvern Egypt by dcel:H'ing himself to be a descendent of Zeus·Amon and Dinnysus. That claim was appropriated by his suel:cssors, Ihe PlOlcmics, who developed the Dionysiac cult. it Ilourished widely during the Ptolemaic period and the first three l:cntudes of Ihe Christian e''Il. Dionysus and his retinue W3.ll the pagan subject most frequently depicted by Coptic aI·tists. His popularity was probably due 10 the Egyptians' lntcre!lt In mystery n~lIgions and es· pecially to the emphasis given his cult by the Ptolemie.... Dionysus was the SOil of ZCus pnd a mortal, Semele, She, pl'egnant with Dionysus, wa.-. dClitroycd by the god's lighlning when he appeared in his divine ...plendor, Zeus thcn had to carl)' Ihe baby (0 tenn
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN Cor'TIC ART: Dionysus
,n hi~ Ihl(lh-hcn~" II,,, I.>aby'~ """''' "T",io,;,,-I.>uno:· lIe,n's \'cngenncc against her husband's child coo· M,,,uly I'U,."..,,lIc those IU whum he h;ul been entrus,cd. 'Illd Dionysus. IInns· fo","ed by 7".;:"s i.llu a kiJ, "~..s ..ca~'d b)' nymphs. A.< :In adul1, he di.~co\'ered Ihe "inc "nd its usc. Himsclf dli .....'n .m.d b}' Hl'n., hc "'3.I1<1e...:d .hrough the world until ,he mOl her goddess (')'bcle-Rhe" eun:d him, when:upon he dl'p'lI1ed on a IXllh of CO"qllC$', 1I10unl"d un his ch"lio' dr..wn by ",In' then; and adoml"d wi,h ,·inC' Icnd,;L~ and iry le:l'·es. It conege or 51lenl, batth;.. ntcs. and s;,.....s "u,·"d...'d him ill his Ir:wds. En-muany Dionysus descended inro ,he nndc,wtlrld '0 :lsk II:wJcs 10 release his nlOlher. Scm,:Il·. Triumph:m'. he 'Y:\j; wdcoroed inlO hen.'en. Cddmned b), NonllQ!; of I'anopolis in his epie pucm the Ou.,,'ys;uC$ in II.... founh ccn.UI)' A_D.• he :lppCOlr5 as Ihe en,·o)' from the gods senl 10 comfun diSlrcs.....-d mankinJ :>nd bring tu th...·m the ville. which Is :> symbol of ...:binh, Diunysus is gencr..ll) depk:'l-U as:> gUIde, holding a .h)'r'Sus, a long Malr '~Or.,'cU wi.h iV) "nd ,ippo..-u with a pine eonc ur 3. bunch of grnpc.-s. Mosl of,en nude:. he has the chla"')'5, a dook of Mae"don;;m origin. Ihrown o"cr hi. shoulder, :md i~ shod wi,h ...",h"J<:s ("rell shoes"), " >OO\1\'e"ir ur hi>< sojuurn in Indi:•. Hc is piclu.....d a.~ blond, al rea~t where\'er colur pla)'S a role, and his curly loch arc crowned ....i.h II......",.,;. ivy. amI ~incs. lie is wi
1759
Niche d...,)ictin~ l)ion\'5US :onJ his folluwcl'll. Umc' s,one f",gmC'n. from Ahnllshnh, Third ccn,urv, Co..... "'sy Coplic MII$<''''", CillfO.
,he .")11. of Diony$Us. ",e god, holding Ol '"egC,al diadcm ~imilar to OsIris' crown of jUSlifica'lon. is shu"",, ,n his 'riumph.anl ,,-'SUIT«,ion from II.., world of the dead as 3 guide for m.ankind loward lik artcr oc·alh. I{ememlle,;ng 111.3, Uion)'Mlll "':l.~ the o,;gin:llor of "iticultun' :0....1 ,h", wine w.os arrc;>
Diunysus e:.u!:ht '" Ihe ";ne. CUlme.'), Cupl;,' Af"sc· m", C,,;ro.
1760
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Dionysus
Dion)'!lu$ $CCnt;. Sixth c,·nlury. Cour/ts)' DlIIIlbfJrlQII QfJU ColleclloII, WasJrillgtoll, D.C. plele without menlioning the exislcnce of his "offi· cial" ponroilS. There are. in fuel. many Ic:c:tih..'S wherein his mlmc is inscribed in complele lellers alongside his half·length ponrait, for example, a textile in the Vienml An Museum. Such ponroi15 have lheir eounterpans picturing his wife Ariadne. Dionysus is also pictured afoot, as on OJ ribbon frag· ment in thc An Museum in Dilsseldorf. These por-
lrayals gh'e an irrefutable identity to the peI~mage represented, and lhereby pennit one to identify as Dion)'5Uli all piC'(:es of u:xlilC$ or $Culptureoo in wood, slone, or ivory that are iconographically similar. At the beginning of lhe twentieth century, schol· ars W(lndered if lhe cult of Dion)'SU5 had nOI mn important in the origins of Christianity in Egypt, notably bectiuSC' of the dual role of victim and savior pl:lyed by both Dionysus and Chrisl and Ihe importance of wine in Dionysiae ritual and in the Eucharist. It is true lhat lhe vine nppenr5 frequenlly in both clUtlcOmb paintings and Coptic an. It does nOI seem, however, that lhe personage of Dionysus ~\S evcr assimilated 10 that of the Christ crucified at Golgotha, lhough the Greck god was a figure of great human and religious significance. Nonctheless, owing to its frequency, the theme of the vine must have been imperceptibly blended with that of the troe vine of the Chri~tjans mentioncd in In. 15:1 without any refcrence to lhe pagan god. OIBLlOGRAPHY
Dour!iluel,
r.
du. l.'Ari COp/l,l. Petit Palais. Paris,
1964, ___ . L'Ar/ cop/e. Colleclion l'An dans Ie monJe.
P(ll'is, 1968. BI'lln de Saint Hippolytc, C. La CUIl/amina/ion dll
Dion)'1'inc pt'l"$Onagc. LimeSlone relief from Shaykh 'AbAdnh. Founh ccntUl)'. Height: nt cm: width: 60 em: ThicknC'!l<;: Niche, 7 em; perso"age in 1"C'lief, 14 em. Courles)' WllI're Muscum. Paris.
m)'/he d'Osiris e/ dll my/hI! de Dionysos clans les tiuus cop/u. Paris, 1984. ElTcnberger, A. Kop/i~'dre Kllns/. Leip7.ig, 1975. Glimal, P. DicliomlQire c/e fa m)'/hofogie grt'CqrlC el romaille. Paris, 1963. Jeanlllah'e, H. Dioll)'sos, Histoire dlf clffte de 80.c· elms. Pal'is, 1970.
Koplische K.wst. Christentum alii Nil. Catalog of the Exposition al Villa BUgel. Essen, 1963.
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART; Horus
1761
f'icard·Schmiller, M. T. "Une Tapls.~erie hel· I~nisliq"e d'A/llinOC:' du li,Iu..ce du I.nuvn,:· Mum,· mems Piu! 51 (1962);27-75. lI.ul$Chowsc"p. M.·H. "Un" Tenlure cuplc 'lUX "mou"", ,..,n.dangeurs.·· III 1-<1 Re"I,e dl' w.,,'re,
bsc. 3. Paris, 1911O. Turc2n, 11.. lA'S !Wrr:QI,lwges rom"itls ;, upr&UltI1i
Hercules Ilercules ""as" GRock hero nOled f.... r his great br,,\·cl)'. Slrt:nglh, and good hUlllor. The son of Zeus and the morlal Alemcnc, he 'I'M drh'en mad by Zeus' I'engeful wife, lIem, "ml ~i'h:J his own wife "nd children. After performing Iwell'" I... burs 'IS penance, he heeame illllllurl"l. In Egypt Hercules w,,~ "ssimil... ted to Horus, and two tOWI1S were named Ilemklcopoli~ ill hi, l\tmor, b1J1 Ihen, are few rcprescnl:llioM of him in Cuptic "rt. A stela from the 11.0111,,,, !X'1'iod nQw In Ihe LoUl're sllOws him in " niche of Egyptian illsri""lio". I-lis long eh",,,,, of the hind of eeryne:" one of his Iwell'e laburs. can be n'eognil.ed in II thlrd·eelltury tapestry prescl""ed in Ihe llc""ki MUK'um. In anmher Ulpcstry from that museutll, the A",a~ou 'lu..ocn Hippolyt", killed b}' Hen:ulcs in ont' of his laoon<, l~ surt"OU"'....d by the figures of lIeo"(:ul..,., his second wife, [)(:ian;r..., and th~' centaur Nessus. IlerculC$ appca"", on four reliefs of the fiflh or shth eemul)' in Ih" Cuplioc Mus.:um in Cairo. Two of Ihem, from Ahna.~ aJ·Madinah or IIcraklcopulis, show his head and shoulde"", only. surrounded by omamenl"l foli· age. III the Ihird relief, he is bcanlcd, ... "ars only a dr;lpcd mantlt', and holds his duh a.~ h..- fights Ihe Nemellll lion, one of liis 11l!xJl'l;. This dynamic com· ]1'O:>iliull indud.-s a second charncler, '...."rin& " re· line skin, which no doubl r"l,rcscnts ~kreules afler his viclUry. In the foul1h rdief, he slllnds in heroic nudity bel ween the liun "nd hi_~ cluh, cro....ned by two Victories, On a pit'C..- or '''I:>cstl)' ;n tIll' Coptic Museum, Ihe lion I<.:ap" upon the hern, who is :lI'Illed with his club. Nu",erol1S Coptic t"pestr)' decomiion" ,lnd sculptures sho.... II Illan al grips wilh II feline heast, This ieollugr;lphy p<:rh"ps de· I'iv..-, r"om the fl'at of Hercules hut lias b,'en "pplied to simple hunlin!: 01' ei,'>,;u,; sccnes,
F";e~e
showing llereu I..-s. rift h·sixt h cen Iuric'li, CourIe)'" C<J/lI;C M"sc"",. Cairo. Z"loscl'r, H., "Une secllc dc chasse sur (Ille (lI'(;hi. trav" nil Mus"'e cople," /)"lIc/;" tic I" Sud.
Horus Horus was Ihe ...::gyptian sun goo who avcng.:d thc "e"lh of his falher, Osirl~, by killing Osiris' IImlher :and murderer, the goo Selh. Osiris, who is fre· quently n:pn'Sl.'nt"d with a faleon'S head. s}ll1bo1il' ~ &OOl1. $elh, in ,h... fonn of a monster, s)'mbolizcs ",,·il. 11K' m)1h of Horus., traditi<>nal in ph:"oonic lilcrdtorc:am! iconogr.tphy, \\'3S empha.~;1.ed juS! !Joe. fore the l"tolemaic period, .... hen a lemple ",,
H1HUOGRArIIY Duthuit, G. I.a S""lplllre CQPle, p, 39. and pI. 24. ....Os. 1931.
lIereu"'",. Relid fmm Ahllasiyah. ThinJ ccnllll)'. Courtesy COplit: M".~,m" Cairo.
1762
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Jason
ChZll';)cterlstic of Con.u
Hercules pursuing:a feminine pel":'lonn:age. T:apestry. from the yoke ofa lunic cont:aining this det:ail. Height 15 cm; length: 35 cm. C()"rlr:~y wuvre Museum, Paris. to him in Khal)~nh, am.! ill lhe Ptolemaic perioo. as evidenccd by his temple in Idfl1. In lhe Rom:an :and even tlie endy Coplil; period, the !;':ou. still fakon· headed, is shown as :a foot soldier in a Roman lcllion. An equestrian represenlation of Ho'us as a legion auxiliary, lhuu~h rem:.inin!;,: pOlgan, appears in relief on a late Sixlh.cenlu,y frogment of all ornamental openwork s:mdstone window now in the Louvre. Probably the odginal window .~how"d the whole SlUry. In Ihe rnlt\t1lent the mounted Horus OlppeOlrs in prolile, slill wilh a falcon's head, Iransfixing the Sethi:m crocodile with his lance. The ragan subject and Ihe "CllJiSlil;(,l1y rounded forms of Ihe horse originally suggested a date in the third centulY. But the equeslrian r:ank accorded to Ihe god, at a period when it was denied 10 Copls, llnd thl' foreshortening of the horse to flatten out thc relid forms make the slxth<entu,y dille more plausible. The fragmenl lllUy be comp.'1rcd with the mounted emperor Jus· lini:an in the Bm1>el'ini ivo,y of lhe middle or late sillth century now in the Louvre, which is more relined in matcrial :and mo'oe !lkillfully Illlxleled, althout\h showin~ a slightly mochankal classicism
Jason Jason was a legendary Greek he,'O who sailed in the Argo wilh the Argonauts to Colchis and brought the Goldcn Fleel;c and lhe witch princess Medell back to Greece. Three ,'cctangul:ar limestone panels arc the only known eXHmples of Coplic art llevot<..'(1 to thc stolY of Jason. Thc mOSl complcte is in thc William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas Cily, Mis.",ouri. The olher lWo, fragmenlalY, are known from pholollraphs at Princeton University. According to M. !lell, Ihe borders of florets 01' knOl' led dbbonll and lraces of detachment on one side indiClltc thllt Ihese panels wet'e o,'iginally in pail'S and mUSl have been ul1:lehed to some surface, per' haps a wnll. The fi~llres, sculpled in low relief, form a lalliee. Since the subjecl was widely used in funernry u'1, Ihe pllnels mllY h;lVe adorned tile Sl;reen of a shline sheltcdng a tomb, On Ihe Kanll:l~ City panel, Jason Iries to lay hold of lhe Golden Fleece, which is hanging from an oak. Nl'ar him, Medea, sitting on a throne. holds a branch of juniper in one hand :and in the other the cup from whil:h the Sl.:rpcnt who guards the F1(:IX:(: comes to dlink, as described in Apollonius of Rhodes' ArgOI/Q/I/ika. Jason is accompanied by an Argonaut holding a ja\'elin, white two soldiers asleep in the lowl'r part of the panel iIIustr~le in
MYTHOLOGICAL SUI3JECTS IN COPTIC ART: Nereids
.:;<;ull'lurc lh.: "a,.,·"li,·e as lold by l)Iod("u_~ Siculu.~ (4.48, 1-5}."h.., right upJlCr comer is occupied by Ihe Arx<> """ili"g 011 II,,, lide fOl' the reIL,rn or Il,e Argonaul~. while the left corner presents a bl.lSl. perhaps of the muse Culliopo:, ,'elk-d, n:adillll " scroll. The !;:Ime icollOCr:apl'ly appc:lrs OIl '':lSCS from haly of thc rounh ceolOl)" lI,e ulld. in Ihe Roman period. on sarcophagi. gem.~, and a Campa· nian plaque in ll'ITIH:OIlU (in I"'" Urilb,h Mu!>Cum, 1.o",lon) tu which Ihis I",nd is nlo,;l closdy similar. '''e second pand, of which ooly Ihe IlJlJlC" hair is pl'(.~n·cd. prescnlS lhe goddCM Victory cmwning 5OI1Ie Jll-'rsonagc (10,;1) and .. hurscm.. n. pOliloibly J.. iWII. 'I"e Ihird paJld illu.trall.'" dlC Ilighl ur J;,,;o,, ;md ~kdca prcsu"",bly "flel' Ihe C;Ipl",.e of Ihe Golden I'leiX:e. On I)' Ihe bU.1< of Jason and Mcd"a rem"in, ~I~ w.-ll ~" lhc Alllu in Ihe "ppCI' righl·I",,,d Curner tllHI (wO) I;,,:onls ill Ihe lefl enl'llel'. The loss of .-lassie pl'Oporlluns ~lI\d Ihe Il'e"lmelll of sl'"ce wilhuut illusionist elt'cci h'lVe led so""e schnlal1l; to compal'e these pancl.~ with th" seulplUl'CS of Ahnas "1·M..di",,h ",,,I O;\),I'hyndIUS ill Ihe Ime rOUl'll1 or l'arly nfth eenil"" and I" cunsidc" lhcm "S being of IOgyI" ian manubclure. '1 hcir origi· nalily r..sts in Iheir nalTIlt;"e char:><:ler. n,n: 011 sculptul'\.'S ill slolle but ",,,I-e f,-equent in bb";cs 01' ivoril'j;, which may have sen'cd as modds, lllDUOGRAl'llY
Bdl, M. "A Coptic Jason Relief," Gul.., I"'"n",'io'l' 01 CerrleT 01 MedicI'ol "" 18 (1979);45-52. WCil~_",ann. K., ed. Age of S,,,ri,,,,,I,/)': '-,,'e "",iq.. c f",d Earl, Chrisli"" Arl, TMrd fO $<:"c",l, Cc",,,ry. Cat:,IOll of the E.~hibilio", no. 214, M.·tl'Opolitan Museum or An. Ncw Yod,. 1979,
1763
afler the sillth CClltmy. lhcsc ,-elicfs I",ow.bly bolo lung..-d to loc:ll l)lIgan lemples. wben' since the da)'5 of I"'" Plolcmics Ihe phur.lonic gods ""rc KI':,du..lly n·pl.. n'd by Greco-Roman di~i{litics. Such .empll-!i "~re swept clear by Christianity in Ihe Silllh c"nllll)' oT ab.anoonl.-d In Ihe sevenlh century ;tfler Ihe /'.I,KIi", COII(I"esl. HIIII.IOGMAPIIY
Llourguc', P. duo 1.·Ar' e(>I""', p. 121. Colkction l'An dans Ie Il10lKIc. l'aris. 196.8. Driolu{l, Eo 1....5 Se"lp/llr...s copies d" "i/omen" dl: ROOo/,. C:,Iro, 1942. RemOlloon, R. "EJ!)'ple Chre,ienll":' In /);cliol!' .wire ,Ie ,
Nereids NCI'dds, in Creek 'nylholog)", were the dallghtcrs of Ncrells, .. !I\.'ll J!0d, As 1""idclIS ;l~imed Wllh waler. Ihcy supply II lively motif in Coptic llrt, The e"ItUl~'1. IlUlilic:,1. ;Jml iX:onomic ueh;lI1g"~ ....,. tween Rome and Alexandria and the conu"on ele· ment or ",..Ier in Ihe Nile 1I.;"er and Ihe i'oC::L.~ around G,"'ecc cenail.ly ra ....rcd th" popularily or the Ih,,",e in Eg)'pl, The Nereids apf>C:lrccJ o";ginally In ,oosaie floors In Ihe lIellenislic and Roman periods. later they a...• round in Coptic Slone reliers and in
MARIE·Hl!:Lt.N1! RUTSCIWI-\-'SCAYA
Leda In Greek mylhology u:d~I WI'S (I ""een of Sp"r!~, who, bclm'cd uf Zeus in thc for", of n swnn. he· come Ille mother of Helen of Truy, Ttl<' Ihelne of Lcd~l and thc swan "ppe"rs on \',II';OUS n'licl" scull" tlll"<:, from AI,nas al·,\1"dinah or Ihe Nilon'elcr of Rod"h. Th,-)" ",." ,,11 assigl'cd to Ihe lifl), "nd si",11 cenlu,'iC!! heeause Ihe;,' erudl' upJlCm~'{lel' rescm· bles Ihe 'I)-Ic or uther lVo,'ks of the ,..·..iod. The cn;lI'S<: ,realment of a pagan subjeci "t such .. laiC date is surprising in U pocI·io<.l .hal we Ihink of as predominan'ly Cbristlall. Because Ibc subjeel doo..'S not :Willi. or Christian symbolism ;",d is not found
Niche wilh decor r''Presenlillg a N,'reid IlinK 011 lhe hack of a ~ca cr"ature. third-fourth c"ntury. Calif'''' 51 CUI,lie
M"s",,"'. CoirO.
1764
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: The Nile God
centering on the Nile or the TibeL In the Nile cycles lhey are onen confused with putti. Some· times Ihey appear on Iheir own and may offer a cup, suggesting a religious implication. As a pagan motif, Nereids survived in Iiule pagan pockets righl down 10 Ihe lasl manifestations of Coplic an in Ihe Iwelr1h cenlury. An especially line tapeslry panel from Ihe seventh century is in the Cleveland Museum of An. As a Christian motif, from the fifih 10 Ihe twclfih century. Nereids are 50metlmes accompanied by a cross or arc shown with a nimbus supponing a cross. Even if such an emblem is absent, it does not mClin lhe mOlif is 5t."Cular. Its ChriMian meaning remains implicit be· cause its reference 10 Aphrodite rising from the sea suggests the internal transformation of lhe soul in Ihe waler of hap/ism. BIBLIOGRAPHY
BourguC:I, P. duo Catalogue des i/offes caples. Vol. I, no. FJ67. Musee National du lnuvre. Paris.
,....
Nereid. Greco-Roman'Slyle \YOUI and linen tapeslry. Third-fiflh centuril,:s. Courtesy The Cleveland Muse· mil of "'rt, Purchase from the J. H. W"de 1-',,,,d, 53./8.
L'A" cOP/e, Pl'. 140 ff., passim. Collection l'An dans Ie monde. Parilll, 1968. Kopluchc Kuns/. Chris/crullm am Nil. Catalog of the Exposition at Villa HUgel. Essen, 1963. PIERRE 00 BoURCUET, SJ.
The Nile God
The Nile god. T<tpcstry. End of s..:cond century. Diameter: 25.5 em. COI/rtts)' Pllshki" Slate MI/seum of Fine "'rIS, Muscuw. Pholo b)' M. Scitltl.
The Egyptians have always seen a supernatural power in their life'giving river. Myths, legends, and fe!ilivals engendel'ed by its yearly flooding have sur· vived the civilizations and religions adopted succes· sively hy the country. Dudng the ph:mlOnic period, the Nile, the source of prosperity, was represented as plump tutelary spidts luden with gifts. Greco· Rom.m .111 depicted it in the image of its river gods: a.~ an old 1110n, bc:orded, hlllf·n::dining, crowned wilh lotus, and holding a horn of plenty, an ear of COl'll, or It wilter plan!. The godde$$ Euthenia and pUlli wel'e a.~sociated with him. Coptic ar·t, inspired by Greeo·Roman iconogm· phy, ha.~ continued 10 use the Nile ItS a theme. Sumetimes it is personified as an old man in a Nilotic ~lIing. He may b¢ a bus!, a full figure, or indolently lying down with a mantle draped over his legs and his nude IOrso emerging from it; he iii crowned with aquatic plants, holds a horn of plen· Iy. and may be accompanied by pUlli or a goddess. A few examples in various media survive. One is a tapeslry medallion of the latc: second century in the
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Nilotie Scenes
Pushkin Museum, A calved capital of the third or fourth century from Ahnas 1l1·Mlldlnllh is a land· mark in the transition of the iconography from Greco-Roman to Coptic. The figure is still uf an old man crowned with plants, holding a napkin, and Banked by pUlli, but iu style, influcntx--d by Palm· yran art, is Coptic in its frontal pose, d",corative appearance of the diadem, and wide'Opcn ~ye.s in a disproponionatc face. Anothe... a...chitt.octur..l1 sculpture of two centuries later, in the Brooklyn MuSC' um, presents the Nile as an old man lying noncha· lantly among lotus blossoms. Folds of flesh underline his chest, and his drapery evukes the course of the rive.... The decorath'e treatment of his crown recalls the earlier Nile on the capital, but the whole figure belongs to Coptic an. On an ivory pyx of the fourth or fifth century in lM Wiesbadcn Museum, the iconography is identi· cal, but the workm3nship b liner because the mate· rial is softe.... In two tapestry orbicufll in the Louvre, lM Nile is eltccuted in the style of siltth-cemury Coptic fabrics. Firmlly, a seventh-<:entury wall painting discovered at Kellia shows a mao half·lying on an ovcnumed amphora: the inscription suggests that he may be a new allegory of the Nile. Thus the image of the Nile god, having become a simple .nefOry of the prosperity dispensed by tiJe flood, was kept fo... it.~ decorative value by anists who wished to enrich the Nilotic evocations so highly prized by Coptic a'1. BtHlIOCMAPHY Andreux, G., and R,·G. Coquin. "Septil~me cam· pagne de fouliles (lUX Kellia." 811lf~lin d~ r"ISlllul f"mfllis d'ArcheQIQl>(ie Qr;ellw/e 81 (1981): 174- 75, and fig. 5(c). Badawy, A. Coplif: Art IIml ArdweQ!ugy. Cambridge,
Mass., and London, 1978. Pfi~ter, R. "Nil, nllometrc ct I'orientation du pay' sage helleni~tlque." ReV/u! des arl.~ a.lialiqucs 7 (1931):120-40. DOMINIQUE BENAZETH
Nllotlc Scenes In conlrasl to the sun, aj'lCnnanCnl and unchang. ing source of light and heat in Egypt, the Nile from the beginning hIlS dlspen!letl beneliu only through human collabOnltion, The Ptolemaic and Roman governments in tum recognil.ed the rive" god and took careful account of the seasonal rise and fall of the river mea..\ured on a Nilomete.... The COI)ts were no less aware of thc importance of the river and its
1765
The Nile god. Umcstonc relicf. Fourth ccntury. Cour· ttsy Mlucul'l of Finc Ans, Brook/)'/!. god and, like the pagans, paid him their respects. This intcrest in the rive... naturally pa.sscd into Egyptian an. During the Roman period when Greco-Roman themes gencnally replaced pharaonic themes, the range of ~ubjeclS involving the Nile continued to appea... in art. Aleundria profoundly influenced the art of the Mediterranean basin, and Roman an in· lIuenct.-d that of Alexand...ia, Fo... Clt;lmplc. Nilotic scenes notably provide the subject matter for a fa· mous mosaic in Palestrina, Italy. nle river god is pictu~ with Romanll.ed features. An expanse of water represents his Egyptian domain and is crossed by pulli guiding small boats. Other putli ride marine animab and chase aquatic bird~ in thc intense :lbund;lO<:C of lire that enlivens the rive ... and lhe vegetation It Cl'Cotes fal' beyond Its banks. Coptic art docs not conceive wholc panomma~ of this kind. I( is satisfied either to borrow isolated details, su<:h as une ur seve...al Nereids in a specific scene, 01' to usc NC"eids and puui rol' deCOnllion 10 accompany a portrait or a mythological ~ccne used as a centl'al motlr. The pUll! often mingle wilh the Nereids, laking on femInine characteristics. The greatest variety prevails, outdoing Pompciian fres· coes in invenlive Capacily. Such tl'CRtment of thc theme may be seen in Coptic carved reliefs and in tnpeslry or boucle deco"'ll1ions on shawls, lunics, 01' cushion COVCf!ii, whe...e the nalTOW ~hape~ of the orbicllla, squa...es, and bands required fI:strained subjects. The stylistic treatment of the figures cvolvt.'d from the picturesque realiSIll of Hellenistic Alelt3ndria 10 a dcIo ...mt.-d schcmati:rotion from the sixth to the twelfth cemu,)'. The I~~ of realism lIlay be due to carelt.-ssnt."SS or the routine repetition required by a
1766
MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART: Pastoral Scenes
Square ol'Tklmented with putli swimming or booting. Tapestry. Aminol! (?). Sixth century. Length: 30 em; width: 28 em. COur/t!.)'Y WUl're Mlfwum, Paris.
Cl1Ift, hut it 1:<0 most oftcn the result of the search
rOl"
imaginllllvc om:lIncnlaliun Ihal is pl:culiar lO Cop" lie (Ul. The ligul'eS may be used pUl~~ly decol'lllivdy,
without thought of their former mylhological 5ig· nlficance, or they may convey sorlie sense of ancient m"sic power, or they may have taken nn Christian symbolism. The proct.'Sliiuns of Nereids and pUlti may he linked wilh Aphrodite Anadyomenc, sylllbuli,dng rebirth of lhe soul in the waler5 of hapti51l1, or wilh Dionysu._, palron of the vinc, whu was as.simil:llcd tu the Christ as the Tnlc Vine. D1DLlOCRAI'HY
Bourgucl, P. duo CArl coplC.
P;),ri.~,
1968.
I'mlllll! du IJOURGUET, 5,1.
Pustoral Scenes Bucolic or pa~iloral poeu)' was a creation of the Hellenistil,: age, beginning in GR'Ck with Tht:ocrilus and then Longus, nnd In Lalin, wilh Virgil. The tasle In Hellenisli,,; art for genre ligures, such as markel women, fo~ignel"!l, and cripples, and for individunlized portrails cxpr,,;sSl::S this literary lradi·
tion by showing the SlIme new inlerest in nalure. Roman art, pal'tieularly North Africao mosaics, con, linllt."tl 10 draw subjl.."t:1 m:lltl,:r from it. Allhough pagan iconography in Coplie al1 con· sists chicOy of Dionysian motifs, a few represt'nla· lions ~lIecl Ihe p;L.'lloral lilel-ary II'adilion. PaslOra] image!; are relaled 10 n:pR'SCnlations of specific mythologIcal evenlS or personages. A silver dish from Thebes. which m;),y h;),\'e heen made al Alexnndria {daled 10 lhe fifth or sixlh cen' tury bill possibly a Iiltle earlier}, exemplifies bueol· ic scenes in Coptic art, On il a shephenless wilh her child on her back and canying a baskel of huit diR'Cls a flock of sheep led by a goat. in a landscape wilh simple buildings and a sheepdog. A similar expression of Alexandrian style is !iCcn on a frag· mentary ivory camng from Ramlah showing car· pcnlefS at wotil;, which cxpresses the interest in nalul"e and tvtryday lire that accompanies th,;: Jevelopment of the Iilerary JXI.~toral tradition. The Coptic continuation of bucolic iconography is beller rcpreSl::ntt.-d in texliles. Notable is an in· eomplcu.· J;el of lapestry ornaments in mute
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MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COI'TIC ART: The Three Graces
lewis, S. "A Coplil: R..." resenilltion of Theti~;u the Forgl: of HephaisIO'l:' American Jo.m,al of Ar. chowlOf:177 (1973):309-318. SlIZANNI! LEwIS
The Three Graces
Thetis in lhe forge of Ilcphaeslus. Tapeslry. Sixth eenlul)'. Each side: 12.5 em. Ct,mrlesy Viewr;I' tmd AlI,"'t Museu"" (.(J,,,lo". in lhe 51"le Museum, Fmnkfun, tlOd prohably d;ues from lhe sixllt cenlury. Th" London leMil" repl"\:' "",nl" Thelis "I lhe fOl'ge of lhe blacksmith god He· ph~tU5, as he mal<es new ar",or for Achilles. an epiw''';l.n 'eplicas in Pompeian fre!lCOeS. The indU!iion of lhe nude figure of Achilles is cont/aled from arlOlher ve,~ion rcp.-e. sented on Roman s;,,~oph:Jgi and wall p;>inlings in the Casa dei Dioscuri in I'ompdi. The lIumeric imllge, howe,·"r. has be..,n ll':lnsformcd inlo a Copl:ic ellp1"-'S5ion of eschatological belief (&1'llrO!"illle 10 ilS funelion as "n om"menl on a buri:ll lunic or a shroud. Based on lhe A"I1,cio/,is, all ;weienl epic 9""e. lhe ponrnil in a rnC"daliion M1spcnded fmm a tree introduces a symoolie allusion 10 the itllmort"lity of Achillcs by repreS<:lnting the hel"'eled hero np01heosized 011 his shield ;,ner dealh. In this tYlli· 1';,1 sixth·centu,)' pa~lieh<,:. elcmcnts of lhe HOIlIerie epic ha"e been lr;lI1sfOl"lned imo ;, Cnplic nllegol)' of hemic immortnli,y nSSIH'cd by the Nereid Thetis [0" her wn. BlDUOGRAI'IIY I)wy<':", E. W, '"N"rr.lli,·c and Allegory in a Coplic TeXlilc:' A",,,rican 10m/wi of IIrc/we%gy 78 (1974):295-97.
In Greek rnylhology. the Three Grnc~ are daugh· ters of Zcu~ who personify beamy in ils inw;u"tl and outw:>rd fOl'ln. n,ty are OflCn altend:lnls on lhe goddess Aphrodite. TI,ei,' n:lme in Gn:cl<. K/,nriles ('·g'accs"). is a WQ,-d rich in Chr.SI;:ln meaning. 'l1le subjecl could have been ..dop'ed by ChriSli",n COplS bUI sec"'" only 'Q ha"" becn used by p..gan COpl~. A wooden ca~ket covereJ with a thi .. sheet of embussed bronze now in the Coptic Muscu", dc· picts Illree personages associ:.ted with Aphrodite. alung wilh gorgon hcad•. I.i•• uckling Il000us. and Apbrodile slalldinll benemh an ~,rcadc, J. Slrzygowski (1904) considers this a Coptic worl< from Akhrnl"" Although the C~ISkCI is akin 10 simi· luI' cxumplcs in Ihe Egyptian Muscu",. Berlin: lhe Greco·Ronmll Museum. Alexandria: Museum of Fine An". Budapl'$t: llnd the Capitoline Muscum in Rome. il is lypic;,lIy Alexandrian in st)·le. The proIX'I1ions of lhl: bodi" rcm:lin nor"':ll, even if lhere is less rcspt:CI for lhe modeling of Ihe limb!;. dmraeteristie of a period of decadence. Then: an: none Qf lhe eonscious deformations characlerislic of COfI'Iic art. nlC casl<el must consequently dall: from lhe """"nlh century. A lapeslry orlnc..''''''. possibly from Ihe 5:)me period as Ihe easl<et, presents the Three GmcCli in eannine red on a "ern,ilion background belween carmine borders. Ilere Ihey are crowned wilh a diadem and lhe h...- "ds and It·gs are turned to the opposite side from lhal on lhe embossed bron1£ ca.~l<el in Cairo, The f... "IU1"-"; of lhe faces in p,"Olile, through the u~ of the flying shull Ie. :'1''' a tillie twisted: lhe w:lists He low and lhe leg.~ are shorl. The lreatmenl is nol e!cg"nl or pr<:lenliuus. AJ, thullg]' no doubt lhis w:lS nOI ill1cnded. il atlraCtS one's ollentlon "lid even provukes sume mnuse· mellt. Thesc a,'c all characleriSlics of Coptic ",'I, w
UlULlOGK-'I'HY 130""Il"et, P. duo CIJI,,/ogue des elolfes copies, Vol. I. Mus(:e Nalion:ll du Louvre. I'aris, 1%4. Strzygowski. J. KO/I/ische K,msi. Vicnn:l. 1904. PiI!RRE DU BooRC,uF.T.
SJ.
NABAR(JH, town in the Egyptian Delta. located
NABIS, fourth-6fth.cenJury bishop or ·AydhAb. The
.bout Smiles (8 km) northwest or al-Man~urah in the Gharbiyyah province. Nabanlh 6rsl look on importance fo... Chri5liami during the patriarchate of MARl( ,,(799-819) when • certain Macarius who administered the district of Sakhl urged 'Abd al-Au;t to write to Patriarch Ma...k bidding him to establish his residencc in Nabariih. The lette... was written and Mark acceded 10 Macarius' wishes. Nabariih received the patrian.:h with dut: respect and Mark resided there in the church dedicated to Macarius from W:'I.di Habib until his dealh. Other 1I11estations or Christianity in Nabariih are lacking, but there is still a Coptic church in the town.
commemoration or Bishop Nabis in the Arabic Syn· axarion or the Copts on 22 Kiyahk provides the only piece or evidence of an episcopate situated on the coast of the Red sea. This Arabic lellt bean all the indications of a lranslation from the Coplic. The "scala copte 44" identifies 'Aydhab with Berenice in Nubia (Munier. 1930). J. Muyser W"4S inclined to believe that Bishop Nabis lived belween the M:venlh and tenth ccnluries (Muyse.... 1944). Nabis was born in a village near COplOS (Oi'1) and became a monk at an early age. The compiler of the Synax;uion lclls us Ihat he was found worthy of Ihe episcopal dignity over the church!.'! of 'Aydhab, "for our fatheD held this scat from the beginning, SO lhnl merchants and sailors who voyaged over thc Red Sea could receive com· munlon there." Bishop Nabls did nOt reside in 'Ay· dhab but in a small church at Coptos. Hc scnt one priesl lind onc deacon to 'Aydhll.b. When it wns neccssary for thc bishop to go there himself, the 8illA, a tl'ibe that lived in Nubia and the Eastern Desert in UppCI' Egypt, carried him and the church ornamcnts on thei... camels, receiving a priee fol' the hire of theh' beasts. Three bishops arc mentioncd in thc Synaxarion lIS conlemporaries of Nabis: "The fathers, lhe bish· ops who lived dUling his time, a.~ked him often 10 gather with 1hem in the Cathedral. Those were An· b1 Phoibammon, who is indeed worthy or mention, Anrn\ John, and Anm\ Papnou1e." Since the residence of Bishop Nabis was in Coptos, the cpiscopates or these three bishops most have been located in thaI same pan of southcm Upper Egypt. A certain bishop or Hermonthis (Armalll) named Johu
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Timm, S. Das t'hriSllich·kopfjsche Agypt<:n in arabiJehu Zeit, pI. 4, pp. 1718-19. WiesbIH.len, 1988. RANDALL STEWART
NABD(JNAH, Coplic woman known frum a single manuscript (National Ubral'y, Paris, Arabe 4887, fols. 4Iv-48r). The daughter of a king Ya'qob, she wore masculine gamlents and became a monk in the monastery of Saint Maearius (DAYR ANDA MAoAR). We do not know at what period she lived. BIBLIOGRAPIIY
Troupeau, G. Cala/oglle des malluscrils arabes, Vol. 2. Paris, 1974. RENE-GEORCES COOUtN
1769
1770
NABRAHA, SAINT
was COtlse<:I'tlled by I'alrillrch THOOl'HILUS (385412); Papnoutc, bishop of Ou~, also lived al tllat lime (Gabra, 1983, 1986). The third bishop, Phoioommon, is among the bishops who panicipaled in Ihe Coundl of l!I'In:.SUS in 431 (Municr, 1943). Thu.~ Nabis musl have lived in the founh/fihh cenlury. According to Ihe Synaxarion, his epise-opal ministry 13.'lled fOI'Y years, and he died when he was nincly yL-an; of age-, TIle COllllllcllloralion of Nabis in Ihe Synaxarion is importanl in thai it provides evidence conceming a bishop who had 10 deal wilh diITen:nt groups of people having varying interests. The first were lhe Beja (B1ellllllyes), who oflen allack.·d Egypt and m3de the flow of trade between the Red Sea and Coptos unSllfe. Significanlly, Bishop Nabi5 had can· siderable contaCt with them long before the spread of Christianity Ihroughout Nubia. The second group were lhe military reprcscnlalives of lhe laIc Roman Empire. The Ihird group consisted of merchants and sailors. Moreover, lhe bishop look care of Ihe congregation of his own diocese. The relatively long text about Nabis diffcrs from olh"r texts of the Synaxarion in that it preserves the e-hame-terislics of an encomium (Gabra, 1986).
Gabra, G. "Zu cinelli ;mlbischen IJcricht fiber Pcsynthells, cincn Hciligcn aus Hnmonlhis im 4.-5. Jh." Bulle/ill de /a Societe d'archia/ogic eopte 25 (1983):54-57. "Bemerkungen 1.U den Auss;,gen des ard' bischet\ Synaxars del' Kopten tlber N:Jbis, .tcn Bischof vun 'Ai91.mb:" In Procel'-ding.~ 0/ the Fi//h buem(l/iona/ Con/ere/Ice 0/ NljbitJ/J Smdie_~, ed. M. Krause, pp. 231-36. Mainz, 1986. G:ucin, J.·C. Un celllre 1It1l.mlmall de til /lall/eEI:YP/c IIlMMvalc: QIIS, PI'. 31-34. Cairo, 1976. Meinardus, O. ",0\ Compm'lltive Sludy .,n thc Suurc' es of lhe SYJH'~:lri\J1I1 uf lhc Cuptk Church." 8u/· //'./in de III S()~·ielf!. d'i/rc/leu/ugi/'. cop/e 17 (19631964):111-56. Munier, H. La scala eop/e 44 de ia Bibli()/heqllc 'la/ionale de /loris, Vol. I, Trmlscn'/,/ion, p. 162, no. 44. Caim, 1930. _ _ . Reclltti! dll~ fj)'/es ep{R·()PIlI.'~ de l'eglise cupit), p. 14, no. 7. Cairo, 1943. Muyscr, J. "ContJibution il. l'elUde de liSles epi.'lCo,
was sent into exile, and became an ascetic (feast day: 8 Ablb). He is not in the Copto·Arabic SYNAXAR· ION. and hi.~ Pa....~ion ha.~ survived only in a damaged Sahidic codex of the ninth Cl'nlUry in the Egyptian MUliCum, Cairo (Hamuli E.), published by H. Munier (1918). He is one of the very few confes.'lOO'S who survived until the reign of t:OtiSTANTtNll. The text opens with the edict of Diocfetian sent to the prefect ARtAHUS in Egypt instructing him 10 force the Chrililian.li to sacrifice to the pagan gods. NabraN' coma forward confC5Sing his faith and rcfUsing to .sacrifie-e: he is therefore senlenced to death. The lk.'Vii app.,ar5 and lric.s 10 discourage him. Then follows hili confrontation with the prefeel and subsequcnt tonurcs. Both hcavcnly appari· tions (Raphael, Jesus) and diabolical ones appear during his wnurcs. AI a ccnain moment Arianu.~ has 10 leave fOt" the soulh, and hI: d\."(:ides lu take Nabraha with him to Antinoopolis. During Ihe jour· ney Nabraha pe:rionn.li a miracle aboard the ship they are trneling on. In pri5Qn al Antinoopolis, he cures the warden's son of an ailmcnt. In Ihe law COlIn, in Ihe COUnlC of renewed tonurcs. once again he has the vision of Jesus, who makes it c1C3r to him that a unCluary will be erected in his name. This seems to be the nlain rcason for which the text was wriuen. At last Alianus decides to send N:Jbrah:- to exile. The texi ends with the death of Dioclctian and Maximianus and the accession of Constantine to the thronc, leading to the relea.~e of Nabraha from prison. Thereafter hc 1x.:eoJllcs an ascetic until hili death. 'fhe wriling of the lext is very carelcss and it must bc datcd toward the end of lhe original Coptic hagiograrhic activity (eighth ccnlury: sec II"CIOGRA· PIlY). Moreover it mUM have heen conceived in a suburban arca, since il docs nut belong to any cycle tlnd, as we said before, it ha.~ not been accepted in the Synaxarion. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Munier', H. "Un Nouvctlu nlllr1yrc eopte, Saint Na· br'tllm." Dulle/in de I'blSli/ll/ frartt;ais d'Arclt· eu/ogle orieltlale 14 (1918):97 -190. TlTo ORU-NDI
pales de J'eglisc copte." Bulletin de ia Societe d'arc!tc%gle cop/e 10 (1944): 137-3X. GAWDAT GABRA
NABRAHA, SAINT, a founh.cenhll)' confessor who
1o.'aS
tonured under vrOCl£TtAN but survived,
NAG HAMMADI, town in Upper Egypl in the province of Oin;] that has become famoul' for the discovery there in 1945 of the Coplic-Gnostk codi· CL'S that laune-hed a ncw era in Coptic litudiCli (see NAG HAMMAOt U8RARY). The town, situated on lhe
NAG HAMMADI LIBRARY
1771
._---
west bank of the Nile some 50 miles (I«) kill) southeast of Suh:'j, has no Christian tradition apart from hs relatively recent fame. RANDAlL STEWART
NAG HAMMAD) LIBRARY, thi'1een ancient papynu CodieC5 translated from Greek into Coptic, accidentally discovered in De<:ember 1945 by farmers in Upper Egypt. They contain fOrly-flY<" distinct works, including our chief sources of firsl-hand knowledge of CNOSTICIS,,,,. Although the demils of the discovery have relTU:lined unverified, despite archaeological invelitigation, there is Iiule re;)$()n 10 doubt the eyewilness reports Ihal the books ....ere found in a ceramic jar hidden at the Jabal al·Tiirif, a section of the Ca5tem wall of the Nile Vallcy ncar the modem village of I;lamrah Oilm. There are no tntces of ancient habitation in the immediate vicinity of this site, except for aboUI 150 pharaonic tombs cut into the cliff face. Some of these lombs conlain evidence of use during the Greco-Roman period and later. It is nol known who originally owned thc codices or why they were thus hidden. Hence, whether or not they should be regarded .11; an an· cient "library" is also a mailer of dispute. Chcnoboskclon (Chcnoboskia), the town nearest the burial site at the time the codices wen: written, has been used by some scholars and bibliographers to name the collcction. But it is standanl now to refer to the codicC!l by the name of th.: largest modern city in the urell, NUll Humm.,di. The indio vidual codices are referred to with the abbn~via· tions NHC (Natl Humnmdi Codex) or simply NH or, less commonly, CG (CairenJis GnO$ticus). The stan· dard numeration of lhe codices is thaI eslablished by the ARE-UNESCO F(jc.~imile EdilitJll, though several other nUlllberintl systems have "Iso b~'cn used. The Nag Hammadi codice.~ are cU!Tcntly the property of lhree instilutions. The bulk of the collection Is kepi Ilt the COptic Museum in Coit'O (Nos. 4851. 10544-55, 10589, 10590, 11597, and 11640), which began to acquire them in 1946. Fot" a time, part of Codex I ....as the properly of the psychologist C. G. Jung, llod it is also known us the lung Codex. lung's heirs retul1led his ]lOl1ioo to Egypt, where it joined the rest of the collcction in the Coptic Museum. The leather cover of Codex I, together with the scrop papyrus (cllrlonnage) thlll lined it, is owned by the Institute for Antiquity and Christiunity in Claremont, Califorllia. Part of one leaf of Codex III (pp. 145-46) is owned by the Beinecke Ubrary,
• Natl Hammadi Library. Codex II, Upper part: End of the Apoeryphu of lohn. Lower P:lrt: Beginning of the Gospel of Thomas. Courles>, Coptic Museum, Cairo. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (Yale 1784), It is rossible llmt other parts of lhe collection sUrlive el.~ewhere, nwaiting identification. BCtlinnintl in the late 19508, lhc Coplie Muscum, with the help of the Germnn Institute of AI"Cheology in Cairo, undertook 10 conSCrle the manuscripts by taking apa"l each codex and placing Ihe leaves and fragments between panes of acrylic plastic, During the following decade, Ihese aCI)'lic frames were photographed, under the auspicell of the United Na· tions Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organiwtion (UNESCO), with a vicw to\wrd publishing a complete photographic facsimile edition.' During
1772
NAG I·IAMMADJ LIBRARY
the 19105 a UNESCO Intemation:>1 Commillcc for the N:>g lI:>mmadi Codices w;lS (onnt.-d to overst.-c Ihe work on the manuscripts. ]:>mes M. Robinson. seerel:>ry of Ihe UNESCO com III inee, also org:>uluxl lind dlr~"'h.xl tWO olhe.- proj\.'Ct~ thm facililaled Ihe commlu..,e·s work: the Coptic (;l1oslic Lib... ry I'raj. eCI or Ih.., lnSlhule lor AIlliquity and ChJ'i~Ii"llily and Ihe Nag H,,,,,,,,,uli Codiee~ Editing Project of the Amerie,m Ites<:ardl Cent..,.' in Egypi. Th,;: I'llier project w:.s d\.'lSigned prim:lI'ily to conserve the manuseriplS, a p:linSlnking lask llul il $Uec~(ulJy (oncluded in 1918. The originllol 5Cquence of lhe pagel in C3(h (ode~ was detem,i.>\.-d wilh only a r\.·'W urKcnaimies. and hundreds of fragmenls were reslol'cd '0 Iheir prof>' er posilions. Se\'cn hundred and Ihincen inscribed fr.lgmenlli ""''''!lin unplaced. hut mOSt of these ,u-e vcry small. Robinsoll's Icam al:cciilUy d..,· signed cabillets. The unplaccd fr,lgmenlli. e
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iJ• .". Al-.l ~ r.~ .,'" u>cE-llo~"2>i
N:>g Hamlll;odi Library. From Codex III. COlme.sy Coptic MII"""', CII/ro.
lealher co,",~r of whi<:h ;II'" :L'lSUmed 10 h,,,,c been lost si"ce the disco,,,,,,)' (Codex XII); and eiChl lea,'cs (Codex XllI) thai had been ,,,,,,,o"cd in on· liquily fro", II thirteenlh (odex and laid inside Ihe front eo.'er of Cudex VI, The o,.lginal extent of Ihe collecllon may be e"l· culated at a minimum of 1,240 Insc,'ibed pages. or lh<:sc Pl'lle. 1,156 .:H'C CUITently ,.epresentc,1 by;1I least a f,'tlglllent. The majOl' loss (el'timaled (II III Ica:sl 5 I pages) is fro." CodCl< Xli a'one. While Codices 1_111. VI. VII. aod XIlI cont3io many co",· plete or nearly complete I.,..lv,'$, Codices IV. V. and VlIl-XIi arc fragmenlary enough IMt comprehen, sion of Ihe tUIS cO"lain\.-d in Ihem is ~v"rely hampered. T'lIuughout me CollCCllon Ihen.- arc ~me P;1$liagcs of 1<:11 thai are now presel...·et! only, or ~meti",Cli p,...,scrved best I" phologldphs. The Nag JlarnnH,di eodice~ conl;,I" f,flY-Qne text~. Some uf Ihese are copie~ or ",a,.blll vCI.,;iolIS or other lexlS ill Ih,;: collection. so tlrat there 1ll"C aClu, ally ollly fOl1y·five dlSlinct worb. Ihiny·slx of which were previously unknown in IIny fonll. In addition. u'aecs of 31 lea.st tWO fUrlher leXls 3.rt' recOllni7~,ble in Codices 1 and XII. The number of lelU$ per codex ,-ariC$ from one (Co:KJ" X) to eighl (Code" VI). All the te"t$ ",...,re originally compo;l5fiJ in Creek, al dilTerent limcs (mostly during II", firsl four centunt'$ of the Chnstian era) and in ,.;arious p:u's of Ihe M~-dilerraneJm world. They we,'<': I"",s· lated illlo Coplle, pr('sumably during the f00l1h cenlul)' or sHghlly carlier. Although soUle of Ihe texts wCI'e 1",,,sh,led inl0 a v"dety of the Lycnpol· il:\Il dialect (Codices I. X. and Ihe f'l'st IWO lexl~ in Xl). most were lransl"leu into Ihe Sahidic di:,lecl. with val)'ing dellrc\.'S o( devialiou frum what is gen, "l1Il1y n,eogni7.ed IlS the c1aliSical standard. Nonc of Ihe Nag lIa'"II1,>
NAJ' AL-I;IAJAR
moved, much of this cartonnage was found to be inscribed in both Coptic and Greek. One of several dated telllS used in the cover of Codcx VII indicates thaI il was nlimufaclUred sometime afler A-D. 348. Variow; documenl$ used in the covers of c..:odices I, V, VII, and XI mention places in the Nag lIammadi resion. It is generally assumed that all 01 the Nag Hammadi CodicC1i were produe<.-od in the bller half of the fourth cenlury, somewhere in Ihe area surrounding lhe site of their discovery. They are among the old~t well-preserved books in codex form 10 have survived the centuries. (See also: Ael5 of Peter and the Twelve Apostles; AllogenC$; Apocalypse of Adam; Apooc;alypse of James, First; Apocalypse of James, Second; Apocalypse of Paul; Apocalypse of Peler; Apoc,yphon of James; Apocryphan of Jonn; Asclepius 21-29; Authentikos logOli; Book of Thomas the Contenrayer of the Apostle Paul; Second Treatise of the Greal selh; Senumccs of Scxtus; TC'"dchings of Silvanus; Three SIdes of Seth; Thunder, Penect Mind; Treatise on the Resurreclion; Trimorphic Protennoia; Tripartite Tractale; Valenlinian Exposition; Zostrianus.) BIBLIOGRAPHY
Emmel, S. "Unique Pholographic Evidence for Nag Hammadi Texts." 811/1~till of tlze Americull Society ofPapJruiu/:i$lsI4 (1977):109-21; 15 (1978):195205, 251-61; 16 (l979}:179-91, 263-75; 17 (1980): 143-44. _ _ . "The Nag Hammadi Codices Ediling Project: A FInal Rep0l1." Americal1 Research Cellter ill Eg)'pf Newslt:/Ier 104 (1978):10-32. Focsimilo: Edilioll uf Iho: Nug Hammadi Codices, published under the auspices of the Deparunent of Antiquities of the Ar,lb Republic of Egypl in con· junction with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organi7.lltion, 12 vols. Leiden, 1972-1984. Robinson, J. M. "From the Cliff to Cairo: The StOl)' of the Discoverers and Middlemen of lhe Nag Hammadi Codices." In Colloqlle infemaliollal sur Its /I:,rtes de Nat: Hammadi (Ollibec, 22-25 aOll/ /978), ed. B. Barc. Bibliothequc copte de Nag Hammadi, Section "Etudes," vol. I, pp. 21-58. Quebec and Louvain, 1981.
1773
Scholer, D. M. Nag Hammadi BibliocraphJ 1948/969. Nag Hammadi Studies I. Leiden, 1971. Supplemented annually in the aUlumn issue of Novlim Tes/Qltlell/um, beginning with Vol. 13 (1971). STEPHI!.N
EMMEL
NAGUIB MAHFOUZ (1882-1972), pioneer of gyn<.-"Cology and obstell;cs. He was born at al· Manfilrah, Egypt, the youngest son of a family of eight. Al the age of sixteen he entered the Egyptian School of Medicine at (}~r al-'Aynl, from which he graduated four years Inter in 1902. Appoinlcd an· aesthetist in his CllTly career, he later decided 10 specialiu: in obstetrics. An exchange of visits between him and surgeons in Europ<: brought him 10 the limelight. He headed ~vera.l departmenu of gynecology in Cairo's major hospitals. In 1914 he was appoint<.--d head surgeon in the O~r al-'Aynl hospital. later he was entrusted with the establishmenl of Ihe firsl outpaticnl gynecological clinic in Ihat hospilal as well as a child welfare scction. To him is also attributed the establishment of the school of nursing. Duling his long years of teaching and rrsearch he collecled a VIlSI number of diSC'a.~ specimens that he presented 10 his school in 1929 on the occasion of its centenary. They became the MaMou:/, Obstetric and Gynecological Museum. He received many honorary degrees from Europe and America. In 1942 the honorary fellowship of lhe Royal College of Surgeons was awarded 10 him along wilh Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer or penicillin. His principal works are The Ufe of an Egypliall Do,·/or (Edinburgh and London, 1966); The History of Medical Edllculiul1 ill Ef:Ypl (Cairo, 1935); Alias of Muh!uuz's Obstelric a,td GJIIQecoiogicQI Museum (3 'lois., London, 1949); Arl uf Midwifery (in Arabic, Cairo, 1933); Eleme/ltary GYllaecology (in Arabic, Cai· 1'0, 1927); and Practical GYllao:cology (in Arabic, Cairo, 1927). SOPHY AL-13AYAIlI
NAI' AL-DAYR. See Dayr 1lo1·Shahld Phllilthawtlus. NAJ' AL.J:lAJAR, site on the east bank of the Nile about 10 miles (15 km) north of ,\swan. A few years ago in the course of excavations carried out by the Egyptian Antiquities OrganiUltion in the area between the <.-odgc of the town and the bank of the
1774
NAOS
Nile. ruln§ of:l. Romall Cllnlp wer'e Jiso;·oven..x1. They <:an be d'ltcd. on the oosis of a few in~cribed blocks of l;tone found on the site. to the firsl century A.D.. thc period of the emperor Vespa~i:ln. On the west §ide there callie 10 lighl a fine gllle O
GRoss.\lANN
NAOS. See Architectural Elements of Churcht."S.
NAQADAH. [This cily
ill Upper EgyPI is situated •)11 the west batik 01 lite Nile opposit,· Q{'f Ihe prollillce 01 Qil/II. Tflis elltry discllsses Ihe geograp1ly
i.,
"lid the SCQlII archaeological remail/s.]
Geography Although ample :ltlestation elli~ts to show thai Naq:'l.d:lh wa.~ the scat of a bishop, il is 1I0t kllown when the eity frrsl beeame a bi~hopdc_ The SYNAX. ARION commemOl'UleS ~l Bishop Michael from Nuqlldah on 22 Baramhflt, hut It gilles no indication when this bishop lived. The nexi bishup uf Naqfidah atlested in elltant SOUI'ces did not live until the sillteenlh cenlUry. However, lhe evidl>nee for this bishop i~ ambiguous. In a list of bjsh~,ps from thc year 15011 we find a Bishup Basilius of Ou~ and Naqadah :lS well as a Bishop Gabriel of the same cities (Muyser, 1944, pp. 162-63). It is nOI clear why the Il§t names IWO bishops uf the samc area. In lhe fifteenth CC",ury al'MAQRIZI lisled four chun:he5 for NaqAdah without specifying whether they were located io NaqAdah il"Clf or simply with· in the enllirons of the city: a church of the Virgin, a church of John the Baptist, a church of Gabriel, and a Ghureh of John the Compassionate (1845, p. 141).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Muyser. J. "Contribution a I'etude des Jisles episcopalcs de I'egli~ coptc." 8"lIel;n de 1.1 Societe d'archcologie cOpte 10 (1944):115-76. Tilllm. S. /JIIS christlicll·koptische ){gyplcJI ill arabi. scher Zeit. Wicsooden. 1988. RANllAU. STfiW"RT
Architecture No medieval churches halle been preserved in Naqadah. On the edge of the desen there are three monasterles-Dayr IlI·Giw. Da)'T a.I.Majma·. Da)'T al'!?allb-in which some medieval remains of build· illgs are still containt.x1, at lellSt ill part. or were visible to earlier travelers. UtUl.IOGRAPHY
Meinardus, O. Chmlian Egypt, Arrcifml flrrJ Modem. Cairo. 1965. PtrrER GROSSMANN
NAQIZAH, town in the province of Gharbiyyah. "80 Al~MAKARIM. in his d...'SCription of the churches
and monasteries of Lower Egypt. situates at Na· OUlUS lived there lIecluded in a cell, and in it was the body of S:lint nmCLA. the disciple of the apostle Paul. Thill reclulle hel;:lI11e lhe si.~ly·sl)(th patr'iar'Ch of Ale)(llnrJrl~1 (1047-1077). This hlst rc' mark is certainly horrowed from the trrSTOIf.Y OF Tlrli PATlf.rAIf.CtrS where we rcad it almust wurd for \vOl·d. Howeller, Abo al·Mak:'l.rim'~ testimony is impor1ant, for il allows us here 10 correct (he tt'llt of the Histo· ry of tire PMriarchs, where Nafwah is wrillen ill place of NaqJ~;\h. The author of this hiography of the Patriarch Chl'istodoulus, Mawhl1b ibn Man~iir ibn Mufarrij, adds that during the patriarchate of Christodoulus the body of Saint Thecla was tl1ln~· ferred to Sinj:'l.r. !!.eat of the patriarch. This infomla· tion is also found in (he notice of Saint Thecla in the SYNAXARtON at 2.5 Abfb. "al Sinj:'ir. in lhe hermit· age." The geographical situation is clIplaincd by M
NASTAS IBN lURAYl
thors think that the Arabic Naqlz.ah derives [rom the Coplie NikcjOu.
1775
Tfibah A.M. 1474/26 January ....0. 1758, and nlS(l giv· en to Ihe Church of the MU'allaqah. It is a large· sized manU."Cl'lpt (29.5 )I 21 cm).
8IHI.IOCMA)'HV Amtlinc:au, Ii l..u Geographic de I'Eg)'PfC a l'i!poquc cuP/c:. ..... ris, 1893. Maspero, J., and O. Wiet. Afa/criQUX pollr St'n';r a IQ giugrQphic: dc: I'IIJ:Yple. Cairo, 1919. R£Nt.GEORGES COQUIN MAURICE MARTIN. S.J.
NARTH:EX.
Sc:c:
Arehiltttural
ElemenlS
of
Churches.
NASH PAPYRUS,
papyl'Uli named after the buy-
er, W. L Nash, now in the Cambridge University Library (Or. 233; facsimile in Albright, p. II). The papyrus contains the Decalogue (Ex. 20:2-17) and the Sh'ma (DI. 6:1-5) in Hebrew. 11$ datc is debated. While Albright dates it in Ihe second cenlury u.c.. most Old Tt:Stamem scholar5 place it in the first century before or after Chrhil. It is to be inlerpreled not as a paPYI'IS bUI as a phylactery. BIHI.IOGRAPHY
Albrighl, W. F. "On the Date of the Scrolls from 'Ain Fcshkha and the Nash Papyrus." Blll/e/ill 01 the Am/iriCIJ/I Sc/wufs ul Oriel/lof H.eS/lllrch 115 (1949):10-19. Dawson, W. R., and E. P. Uphill. who wo' whu in Egyp/%X)', 2nd ed, p. 213. London, 1972. M ... II'r1N KR"'USE
NASIM ABO SA'D IBN 'ABO AL.SAYYID, eigilleenth.cenlur)' deacon, archon, shQ)'kh, and mt<'Qllim. He had aome liturgical manuscripts cop· ied by the dencon ...BIB IBN N"'$R in Coptic ;,nJ in Ambic for the Church or the Mu'allaqal, in Old Cairo. The first of the two manuscripts is II lccliontuy in Coplie (Lilul'K,)' 317) for Ihe second tJimcslcr of the Coplic year (Klyahk, ro.bah, and Amshlr), u[ which, however, only lhe month of Arnshil' sUlvives (fols. 241-363). This manuscript was complel<.,d on I Bashans A.M. 1472/7 May ....1). 1756, and given 10 the Church of the Mu'allaqah in Old Cairo. It is a large· sized manuscripl (32 )I 21 CIll). The second manuscripl is a lectionary in Ar..bic (Ulurgy 320) for the weekdays of the first three months of the Coptic year, Hit. Babah, and Hlilfir (fols. 4-246). This manuscripl was complered nn 20
DIOLIOGRAPIlY
Ol'af, O. CQ/o!ogllt! dc... malluscr;pls "rubes r:hretie.u cunsen'i.~ all CQinl, pp. 254-55. Vatican Cily, 1934. KIIM.n. s.unil..
SJ.
NASTARUH (Naslara....~.th), lown in Egypt that seems 10 havll been located in the nonhern Della along the eoalit of Ihe Mediterranean Sea on Lake Bashrnur (Maspero, 1919, p. 211). The [act that lhe repeatlld onslaughts of the Greeks against Dumy.i! in the middle of Ihe ninth century prompted the citi7-cn.~ of Rashtd, A[exandri:l, and Nastaroh to strengthen lheir walls is an Indication of Naslaruh's proximity to the sea and t;:onsequent vulnerability to 3.lIack. Nastaruh's position in medieval CopticArabic scales lind IisL~ of Egyptian bishoprics, as well as the evidence or Inedieval MU!l1im authors, poinlS to Korn Ma.~taruh west of Nisf Charb !II· Burullus as the probable site of lhe old town. Naslaruh is lI11ested in the M)urt;:es as a bishopric !lince lhe tenth c;:enlury. The IIlSTOIO' Of mE "...TRI· Ail.CHS relllies lhal around 960 the bishopric of Nas· Inruh had to he combined wilh neighboring bishop· rics bec.lUlie lil"rvntion ntld poor harvC1\ts had severely diminished the popuJulion of Ihc dtics in the region. D10UOGRAPHV
Amclinemr. E. Lfl GiwMrupllie de /'Egyp/c a /'CpOqIIC coptc, pp. 275-76. Pnds, 1893. Maspcl'o, J., and G. Wiet. Milterillux PUII~ su,';r a la gtogrllphic de I'Egypte. Cairo, 1919. Tim!ll, S. Da.~ c"ri,~tllclr·koptisclle iigypletl in arabi· sdler Zeit, pI. 4, pp. 1739-42. WicsbaJcn, I\lSS. RANfM.I.!. STEW... RT
NASrAS IBN JURAYJ, lenth.century Christian physician of E.gypt. The Arabic !iOurees do nol rllllke it dear whether he was fI Copt or a Melchite. HoweveI', Schachl and Meycrhof (1937, p. 137, 12) and M. Ullmann (1970, p. 1)8) stale that he wa.~ a Copt. P. Sb!llh (1940) calls him a "Coplie monk," which is impossible unless he became n monk after becoming n widower, since hc had a fllmous grandson, IS~:iq ibn IbrAhIm ibn Nas!AS. Nas!As lived at the time of al·lkhshld Mu~amnlad
1776
NATIONALIST PARTY
ibn Tughj (A.H. 935-946), just before the arrival of the Filtimitls. He was primarily famous for his knowledge of urology. He passed on the medical tradition to his family, and his gr.lndson ISl;iAo IBN lRRAIlI-.t IBN NASTAS became the personal doctor of al·ljAKIM BI·.ulR luAH (996-1021). Nas!As corresponded about medical mallen; with the famous Christian physician of Cordoba, Khalid ibn YiWd ibn RumAn al.NaJ:irunT. Conccming this physician, see the hislory of physicians by Ibn Juljul (1955, p. 96), a work composed in 987. Nasw's Risilioh fl kOyfiyyol ol.islidllJf bi·ol-bowl 'ollJ a~WiJl Il/·shtlkhf wll'llmrlJt!ih (Epistle on How to Know the Situation and Sicknesses of a Person, on the Basis of his Urine) is preserved at Cairo in two manuscripts (D~r al·Kutub. TaymOr, Riyfu:liyy.it 139, seventeenth ccntury, fols. Ib-4a; and a manuscript belonging to Dimitri Oandalaft, a Gn'ek Orthodox shopkeeper, dated 1347, Sbath, 1940, p. 32, no. 2695). Nas!1s abo composed a CofleClion of Dn.gs Ihal is preserved in a manuscript dated 1347 belonging to Dimitri Qandalaft (Sbath, 1940. p. _ll, no. 2694). BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abo Ofr,wt1d ibn Juljul al·AndalusI. Le.~ Gbu!r(J/ions du mtdecins el du sages, ed. Fu'Ad Sayyid. Cairo, 1955. Sooth, P. A.{·Fihris (Callliogue de mUrlu~crilS arabes), Supplement. Cairo, 1940. Schacht, J., and M. Meyerhof. The Medico·PJ,ilosophical COII/roversy between Ibn BUllall of Baghdad a"d fhll Ridwan of Cairo. Cairn, 1937. Se2.gin, F., ed. Gesehichle des ((rabiscneu Sch,iflIIIIIlS, Vol. 3, p. 303. l.ciden, 1970. Ullmann, M. Die Medizi'l illl IslulIl. l.ciden and Co' logne, 1970. KIIALIl, SilMIIl., S.!.
1(1585): 4 (thirteenth centul)'): 5 (fifteenth centul)'): 6 (1433): 8 (~i"teenth century): 9(1284): 10 (1330):
NATIONALIST PARTY. See PoJilleal Pal11es.
NATIONAL LIBRARY, PARIS, ARABIC MANUSCRIPTS OF COPTIC PROVENANCE IN. The principal source for knowledge of the Coptic euhure of the Middle Ages is the Arabic Chri$tinn manuscript tradilion. It is, however. very difficult 10 distinguish which of these manu· scripts originate rrom Copl,lc unless an examination is made on Ihe basis of experience with Arabic pa1eoar.lphy. In order 10 facilitate research work in this domain, this article contains a listing of Arabic manuscripts In the National Ubrary, Paris, lhat were copied by Copu or difft.ued among them. Disregarding the coment of the manuscript, ccr· tain Coplic texts have been excluded because Ihey were in circulation outside the Coptic world. for example, Ihe "is/ory of al·Makln Jilji5 ibn al·'Amld copied by the Tunisian Muslim MuJ.1ammad Mahdi ibn AmIn al·Tilnisl (Arabe 295). or the Life of Saini PQchomius and His Disciple 7'1leodonu. copied by a Melchite (Arabe 261). l'lowever, the /lislory of the Mclchilc Sa'ld ibn Ba!l1q copied by Copts (Arnbe 288, 289, and 290) and lhat of the West Syrian Ibn al·'lbrJ (Arnbc 296) qualify for inclusion. The manuscriplS are in the National Library's Ar· abic series. In the following list, the dale (A.D.) or the presumed period appears in parentheses. For the collections, the dominant genre (hagiography, plitriSlics, homiletics, elc.) is given. For furthcr in· formation, reference should be made to the manu· 5Cript catalogs for Ihis library. Arabic Muslim man· uscrlpts al'e excluded although these could be studied in order to discover which were copied by Copts. This tllsk remains to be done.
Bible: Old Testament Bible: Pentateuch Bible: Samaritan Pentateuch Bible: Samal;tan Pentateuch Bible: Pentateuch Bible: Pentateuch Bible: Pentateuch with the Commentary of Mark ibn Oanbar II (1331): Bible: Pentateuch with the Commentary of Mark ibn Oanbar 12 (1353): Bible: Pent.aleuch Bible: Pentateuch 13 (fifteenth century): 14 (fourteenth ccmury): Bible: Pentateuch IS (founeenth centul')'): Bible: Pentateuch
NATIONAL LIBRARY, PARIS
Bible: Pentateuch with the Comlllenlary of MOl'k ibn Q:onbar Bible: Pentateuch with patristic commenta..y, 17 (1661): plus Leviticus wilh lhe Comlllenlary of Mark ibn Qanbar 18 (fourteenth centul)'): Bible: Genesis with the Commenlal)' of Mark ibn Qallbar 19 (siJw..-enth ccntury): Bible: Genesis with the Commentary of Mark ibll Qanbar 20 (1590): Bible: Genesis with the Comlllenl.uy of Mnrk ibn Qanbar 21 (1596): Bible: Genesis with the COlllmelllary of Mark ibn Qanbar 22 (1344): Bible: Historical books 24 (fourteenth century): Bible: Chronicles 25 (1586): Bible: The prophets 40 (1292): Varia 4\ (fifteenth century): Colh,-clion of the Psalms 42 (1433): Colkction of the Psalms 4] (fifteenth century): Colkction of the Psalms 44 (1635): Bible: Psalms 45 (seventeenth century): PsaIITlli and Canticles (copied from a Coptic manuscript dolled 1386) 16 (12]8):
49 (fifteenth century): Wisdom collection 50 (fifteenth century): Bible: Wisdom books Bible: Gospels 5 I (1412): 54(1619): Bible: Gospel... SS (1619): Commentary on the Gospels by the fJthef5 56 (seventeenth century): Bible: Gospels 57 (1656): Bible: Gospel... 59 (rifteenth eentuly): Commentary on the synoptic Gospels by the fathe ..s 61 (1665): Bibl...: Gospel of John 62 (sixteenth century): Biblc: Gospel of John 63 (1340): Bibk: Paul, Catholicon, llnu Acts 64 (Mteenth century): Bible: Paul, Catholicon, and Acts 65 (1614): Bible: Paul, Catholicon, and Acts 66 (1651): Bible: Pliul. Catholicon, lind Acts 67 (fifteenth century): Bible: Commentar)' on Revelation by Ibn KlItlb OHy~ar
69 72 73 74
(1343): (1358): (fifteenth century): (fifteenth t.:entUly): 75 (fifteenth t.:Ciltury):
Vari:l
Hagiographical collection Homiletic collection Hagiogl1lphical collection Book of the Rolls of Pseudo-Clement of Rome 76 (1337): Book of the Rolls of Pseudo-Clement of Rome 77 (1665): 78 (fourteenth cel1\llry): Book of the Rolls of Pseudo-Clement of Rome Apocryphal texl.~ on the apostles 81 {siltteemh centUly): 82 (fourteenth centuly): Theological apologetic collection 85 (thil'eelllh cenlUry): Commentary on the Gospels of Luke find JOhll by 'Ahdalliih ibn aJ-'fayyib 86(1247): Commentary on the Gospels of Mark, Luke, find John by 'Abdallah ibn al-'fayyib 87 (foul1eenth century): Commentary on the Gospels for Sundflys and feasts, according to the Coplle Iilllrgy
1777
1778
NATIONAL LIBRARY, PARIS
88 (fourteenth centu1")'): Commentary on the Gospels for Sundays and fcasts. according 10 the Coptic lilllr'lP' 89 (I 595): COmmCnlM'y on the Gospels and Epistles of Creal
Wed 90 (fifteenth century):
91 (fifteenth century):
92 (rifleelllh century):
Commentary on the Gospds and Epislk'S for the Sundays and feasts of the first six months, according (0 Coptic liturgy Commentary on the Gospels and Epistles for the Sundays and feasts of the 1:1.". !'>ix months, according II) lhe Coptic liturgy Comments,)' on Manhew (homilies 76-90) by
John ChrysoslOlll 93 (fourteclllh century): Commentary on John drawn from lhe fathers 94 (1236): Homilies of John CllI)'SOSlOlll on lhe Epistles
•
95(1218):
10 the Corinthians and on Mallhe.... Homilies of John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hcbn:ws Ritual of Gabriel V
98 (fifteenth century): 100 (fourteenth century): Collection on holy chrism 112 (sbneenth centuI)'): Key to lhe pericopes for lhe offices of the COptic yt:ar 113 (IJI2): Lectionary for Greal Week 114 (lirteenth ceillury): Collection of praye~ and 'ncO/oha 131 (1440): Predominantly hagiographicnl collection 132 (1629): Varia 133 (fifteenth cemury): 26 Homilies of Basil, including seventeen nn the P~lms 134 (fifteenth century): Homilit$ on the Hellaemeron by 8oL..i1 and Gregory of N)'SSll 135 (thh1eenth century): Collection of the 52 honlilies of Ephrcm 136 (thil1eeOlh century): Collection of the 52 homilies of Ephrem 137 (foul1eenth centuI)"): Collection of the 52 homilies of Ephrem 138 (fo0l1eenth centOl)'): Collection of the 52 homilies of Eplll'em 139 (fOurleenth cenIOl)'): Collection of the 52 homilies of Eplll'em 140 (1689): Collection of the 52 homilies of Ephrem 141 (fifteenth century): Marlan homiletic collection 143 (fourteenlh century): Coptic anu Mclehitc homilal)' 144(1617): Ascetic homilies lInu four Gospels 145 (1641): Homiletic collection on the Annunciation and Saint Michael 146 (sillteelHh cenlul)'): 87 homilies of John Chry"~o5tom for Sundays and Lent 147 (thirteenlh celllul)'): Vllria 14ft (1645): Homiletic and hagiogrnphical collection 149 (thh1eenlh century): Ascetic works of Simon rind Stylite and Issac of Nineveh 150 (1606): Patristic collection lSI (foul1Ctlnth century): Patristic collectioo 152 (sixteenth centuI)'): Hagiogmphical colk-ction 153 (seventeenth century): Hagiogrnphical collection 154 (1604): Coptic hagiogrnphical collection 155 (1486): Colleclion on the Virgin MrU'y
NATIONAL LIBRARY, PARIS
157 (fourteenth century): Ascetical collection: Evagrius, John Climacus, John of Carpathus, Issac of Nineveh, John Sabas 158 (fourteenth century): John Chrysostom: moral theology and Christ's divinity John s;',b:ls 159(1]14): John S;,lbaS 160 (fifteenth century): 161 (fourteenth century): John Climacus Exegctil:al apologetical replies by Ibrahim Ibn 'Awn 166(I22Z/]): Refutation of Mu~ammad ibn Hlil11n III-Wam'iq by Ya~y!libn 167 (l2Z7): 'Ad. 168 (fourteenth century): Refutation of al·Warr.lq by YaJ.1yi ibn 'AdT Apologl'lical trealiscs of Y.,J.1y.l ibn' AdT anu Abu 169(1654): !ta'i!ah al·TakrttI 170 (lllirteenth century): Kitllb ol·l4a~ (Iwelve chapters) of Severus of al·Ashmo.nayn Two tht.'Olog.ical works of Severus of al·Asl1rnunayn 171 (1618): Severus of al·Ashmo.nayn (Book of Ihe Cmmciu) and 172 (1291): Refwation of Ihe JeM'S by Abo al,Fakhr al-Ma.~hj~j
\73 (fourteenth century):
\74 (fourtcenlh century): 175 (1299): 176 (sixteenth century): 177 (fourteenth cennllY): 178(1452): 179(1642): 180 (1664): \83 (thirteenth ec::n\tlry): 184 (1214):
J 85 (thirteenth cenlury): 191 (fourteenth centlllY): 19Z (foultecnth CerllUlY): 193 (1584): 197 (I 27!l): 198 (~ixtecllth century): 199 (thirtcenth century): ZOO (sixtecnlh century): ZOI (thirteenlh century):
Apolog('tical and spiritual collection Apolog('tical treatises o( 'f.sa ibn Zur'ah The Dar a{oHamm of Elias of Nisibis The Dar o{·Humm by Elias of Nisibis; and the Politics of PseuJo-Aristotle Theological varia and apocrypha AI·Rashid Abu al·Khayr ibn al-Tayyib (Coptic Manuscript of Syria) AI-Rasl,id Abo. al·Khayr ibn al.Tl..'yyib AI-Rashid Abu a1-Khayr ibn al'Tayyib The CUIl!essio PDlrlmr (dogmatic pau·i.~tic anlhology) The Kilub al,RIl'u$ (large work on spiritual uirection and ,-on(ession) Ki/(lb ,,1_Ru'us BOfJk 01 the Tower by MiiTi ibn Suloym:!n (Part I) DOfJk 01 the Tower by MiiTi ibn Sulayman (P.trt II) Sim'an ibn Kalil ibn Maq:lra (large theological tlnd spiritual work) Ki/(lb ,,1·Shifi'1' by l3ulrus ibn .tl-Rahlb Controversy between Abo Qun'tlh and v.trious Muslims Theologicl.ll varia Swt,nUl Theoiogiac by Abn IsI.laq ibn .11,' Assil.1 SI/mlliu Theoiogiac by Abu Isl.lil.q Ibn ll!·'Assil.1 (chnp. 1-19)
202 (thirtcenlhfourteenth century): Collec1 ion of four predominanlly theological manu."Cripts 203 (foUlteenth century): Encyclopedia uf AbO al·Banlkil., ibn Kabllr 205 (fOUl1eenth century): Varia 207 (foIll1ec".h centUlY); Predominllnlly liturgical cncyclopedill by Ibn SabM' 208 (follnccflfh century): Encydopc.-'C1i;t by Ibn 5;Jbbj' Theological palris/ic anthology of &'I'(.°roS of 209(1551): al.A$hmunaJ'n 2/0(/634); ThcologkaJ patristic anlholugy by SCl'e'lJS ofal· Ashmill1ayn
1779
1780
NATIONAL LIBRARY, PARIS
212(1601): 213 (1601): 214 (1538): 215 (1590): 225 (1671): 226(1671):
Varia Varia: o;;aoool(;al, theological. and
~piritual
Apologelical collection Apologelical collection Profession of failh by Patriarch Mauhew IV (scroll) Profession of faith by Palrn.rch Mauhew IV (5(;roll) concerning the Eucharist
227 (1671):
Profession of failh by Patriarch Manhcw
IV (scroll) concerning the Eucharist 238 (fourteenth cenlury): Coplic canonical collCX:lion 239 (lifleenlh century): Coptic canonical colk-clion 240 (fourteenlh century): Coptic canonical colJ<..'Ction 241 (fourteenlh century): Coptic canonical collection 243 (1641): Coptic canonical collection 244 (fourteenth cenlUry): Coptic canonical collection 245 (thirteenth century): Nomocanon of al~n ibn al·'A.ssa.l 246 (fourtunth century): Nomocanon of al·~n ibn al-'Assal 247 (fifteenth century): Nomocanon of al·~n ibn al·'AssAI 248 (fourteenth century): Nomocanon of al.$aft ibn al-'AssAl 249 (6£1eenth century): Nomocanon of al.$aft ibn al·'AssAI 250 (1356): Nomocanon of FarajallAh al·Akhmtmi 251 (1352): Canonical collection of Macariu5 252 (1663): Canonical collection of MacariWi 253 (fourteenlh l::entUlY): Apothegmala and ascetical collection 256 (slltll::enth century): Synaxarion for the whole year 263 (fifteenth f;cntury): Hagiographjl::al 1::0111.'1::1 ion 264 (fifteenth century): Hagiographkall::oll(''l::lion 267 (1344): Hagiographin! l::olI(''l::lion 271 (fourteenth cenlury); Siory of Barlaam and Yuw~f 272 (1643): Siory of Barlaam and Yuwti~"f 273 (1752): Story of Barlaam and YUWl\~f 274 (1778): Story of Barlaam and Yuwa,\i!f Varia 275 (1685): 277 (1524): Collcl::tion of four martyrs 278 (1294): HiS[Qries of monks 279 (fourteenth century): Histories of monks 280 {I 605): Histories of monks and ascetical fragments 282 (1649): Hagiographicsl collection (BarSUlll the Naked and FUl1lyj Ruways) 283 (thlrteenlh century): Abridged ascetical works by al-$aI1 ibn o!·'Assdl 284 (1591): Life of Saint Tokl;i Hayillanut 285 (1656): Epistle on chastity by Elias of Nisibis 287 (thil1eenth cenIUI)'): Varia 288 (fourteenth century): History of Sa'id ibn Bapiq 289 (fourteenth f;entury): History ofSa'id ibn Bapiq 290 (sixteenth century): History of Sa'id ibn Ba!rfq 294 (fourteenlh century): History of ai-Makin Jiljis ibn al-'Amld 296 (founCCnlh century): History of Abu al.Faraj ibn al-'Ibrf 299 (1693): History of Abu al·Faraj ibn al·'lbrt
NATIONAL LIBRARY, PARIS
300 (founeenlh century): Anonymous univcn>al history lIu(Ory of the. Patriarchs (biographies 1-20) by 301 (lifteenth cenlury): Severull of al-AshmOn&yn Hutory of the Patriarchs (blogl'llphies 21-27) by 302 (lifteenth century): Severus of al-AshmOnayn 303 (foul1eenth century); History olille Pa/riarclls (biographies 18-25) by Severus of al.AshmOnayn His/ary 01 the Patriarchs by Severus; lives of 305 (1609): saints History of the churches and monasteries by AbO ~li~ 307 (1338): Collection of philosophical sententiae: 309 (lifteenth century): thcologicaltexts 310 (sevenleenth century): Collection of philosophical scntentiae 311 (shuetnth century): Collection of prayers 314 (sl:neenth century): Calculation of the Christian feasts by Khidr • al-Burullusi Ordination diploma of twu deacons by G.mriel VII 316 (1550): Diploma to the pastor of the church of Saint 317 (1550): Mercurius in Cairo by Gabriel VII 318(1548): Diploma of Gabriel VII to three deacons Diploma 10 ~l1b ibn Abl al.Faraj 319 (1638): Diploma to Mini ibn Abi al-F:lI'llj al-Binn3wi 320 (1636): leiter of the Emperor Ady.\m-Sagad to Clement XI 321 (1702): Panegyrics of manyrs by John of Asyiil 780(1520): Oaf' al-I/amm by EIi3..~ of Nisihis (and Pseudo-Plato) 4523(1641): 1Ii$lary of ai-MakIn Jiljis ibn al-'Amld 4524 (1672): 1I&;lory of al-Murn~4a1 ibn Abi al-Fa~l'i1 (autograph) 4525 (1358): 1/iSlOry of YO~anna ibn l;Iadhiq 4702 (1785): 4711 (eighteenth century): The 27 Maqlt1d1 ofYii~b or Jirjli IlIId Akhrnim Nomocanon by Michael of Damielta 4728 (1886): 4729 (nineteenth centuIY): 1/iSlory of al-Makin Jirjis ibn al·'Amld 4734 (eighteenth century): MUlil ol-Khorli.yo. wo-o/-'lIktis (anonymous) 4755 (eighteenth c.entury): Lectionaries of the New TCSllunent pe:ricope.~ ror certain reaSl~ Lectionary of the New Testamcnt from Lent to 4756 (1866): Pentecost 4759 (seventeenth century): Bible: fragments of the Old Testtlmenl 4760 (seventccnth century): 30 homilies by James of StlrOj 4761 (seventeenth celllury): Sermons of Shenoudah for lhe 7 Sundays of Lent 4762 (seventeenth eenlUIY): Psalms 4770 (nineteenth century): Collection of lIpOcryphtl on the apostles 4771 (nineteenth century): Hagiogrnphielll collection 4772 (nineteenth century): His/ory of the Patriarchs by Severu.~ of al-Ashmanayn 4773 (nineteenth eenlUry): History of the Patriarchs by Severus of al·Ashmimayn 4774 (nineteenth century): History of monks and hagiographicaJ accounts 4775 (nineteenth century): Hagiogrophical collection 4776 (1866): Hagiographical collection 4777 (nineleenth century): Hagiographical collection 4779 (1867): Synallarion for Ihe lint six months 4780 (nineteenth century): Synaxarion for the last six mOnlhs
1781
1782
NATIONAL LIBRARY, PARIS
478t (nineteenth ,:entury): Ilagiographical collection 4782 (nineteenth century): Hagiographical colJe<:tion (on SainlS Mercurius and Victor) 4783 (1886): Life of Saint Pachomiu~ (638 pages) 4784 (1839): Life of Saint Pachomiu5 and the 20 letters of Anthony 4785 (nineteenth century): Homiletic, hagiographiCiJI, and apocalyptic collection 4786 (nineteenth century): Theological colh:ction 4787 (nineteenth n:ntury): Hagiogrnphical collection (Shetloudah. elc.) 4788 (nineteenth ('entury); Hagiographical collection 4789 (nineteenth ('entury): Histori,:s of monks :'790 (nineteenth century): Hagiogrnphical tolleelion 4791 (nineteenth century); Hagiogrnphical collection 4792 (ninctecnth century): History of B3rlaam lind Yu~f 4793 {$(:vente.:nth century): Hagiographical colleclion 4794 (1784): Homiletic collection 4795 (1885): Mlidl al-Kha!DyD w(l-QI·'"klis (anonymou.\) 4796 {nineteenth ,-('ntury): The 26 homilies o(Shenoudah; hagiographical v.~
4811 (1724): Collection of philosophical s.ementlae 4869 (scyenteenth century); Synaxarion of the first six months ($ahidic recension) 4870 (eightl.'"Cnth (:cnt\'ry): Syna:o:arion of the last Si;l; fllonths 4871 (eighteenth ,"entury): Homiletic and hagiographical collection 4872 (eighteenth ,"e,lIury): '"Iagiographical collection 4873 (nineteenth ,"emury): History of monks 4874 (nineteenth century): Apocalypse of Paul; M(lrtyrdom of Pilate 4875 (nineteenth century): Apocalypse of Paul 4876 (nineteenth century): Cycle of Saint George 4877, (nineleenth ccntury): Panegyric of Saint Victor by Demetrius of Antioch 4878 (nineteenth .:entury): Hagiographical collection 4879 (nineteenth <-"entury): Hagiogrnphical collection 4880 (nineteenth .:entury): Cycle of Saint Mcrcurius 4881 (nineteenth ccntury): Hagiographical collectiun 4882 (nineteenth l"entUry): Lifc and mir...cles of Saint Andrew; hOmily on fasting 4883 (eighteenth <-"Cntury): Life and miracles of &lint Anthony 4884 (nineleenlh (,eI1IUl')'): Life and nllr-acles of Saint Anthony 4885 (ninetccnlh ,"cntUI')'): Hagiography: Macarius the Egyptitln; Ma:o:imlls ,IOJ DOlllctius; Bar-sum the Naked 4886 (1885): Life of I'achomius 4887 (ninetcenth centuI')'): Hagiographicul collection 4888 (1885): Hagiogr-aphical collection (especially Shcnoudah) 4889 (seventecnth ccntury): Panegyric of 5aill/ Michael by TheQphilus of AlexanJria 4890 (nineteenth (:cntury): MonaSlic col1eclion 4891 (1864): StOI')' of B3l"1aam and Yuwd~f 4892 (ninctecnth ('el11U1')'): Life of Saint Takld Haymdnut 4893 (nineteenth ,"entuI')'): l-lagiographical collection 4894 (seventeenth century): Hc~amero" of P5eudo-Epiphanius of Cyprus; Combul of Adam and E\II~
NAUCRATIS
1783
4895 (fifteemh to
ce01ury): 4896 (si~teenth century): 4897 (eighteenth century): 4898 (elgilleenth century): 4899 (nineteen~th centuIY): 4900 (founeenth century): 4902 (nineteenth century): 5015 (liheenth century): 5253 (sixteenth century): 5969 (si~tccnth century): si~leenth
6125 (eighteenm century): 6147 (1832): 6280 (eightCl.:nth century); 6502 (eightct:nth century); 6855 (1816); 6932 (1784); 6933 (lI(:ventC(:nth century);
Varia (three distinct manuscripts) Itomiletic collection 30 homilies of James of 5anlj Collection of wisdom and lIIora.ltheology 19 miracles of$aint Simon the Mad Bible: Gospel of Luke (1:68-4:14) Collectioo of magic prayers Book of the Rolls of Pseuda.Clement of Rome Fragmeots of liturgical pericopes with commentaries Liturgy of Saint Gregory; ritual of the anointing of the sick The way of the cross Varia (especially Revelation) Gospels Nomocanon of al·$afr ibn al-' As!l3I Letter of the Grand Ma.~ter of the Confraternity of me Knights of Mercy 16 homiJiCl'i of James of Saruj Theological collection
OI8L1OCRAPIlY
Blochel, E. Cataloglle des mat/uscr;IS lualles des nouvelles acquisitions (1884-1924). Paris. 1925. Slane, aaron [McGuckin] de. Catalogue de., manu· seritS ara1n.~ de fa 8ibliOlhi!que natiollale. Paris. 1883-1895. TroupellU, G. Calaluglle des ",allwicrils arabes chre· liens, 2 vols. Paris, 1972, 1974. KHAUL SAMIII., S.J.
NATIONAL LIBRARY, VIENNA. See Papyrus Collection.'!.
NATION'S PARTY.
SI!I!
Political I'anies.
NATIVITY, See ChrislillO Subjecls in Copric Ar1. NATIVITY, FAST OF THE, See FlIsts. NATIVITY, FEAST OF THE. Sec Feasts, Ma· jor.
FRANCOIS.NICOLAS
Meunhe-et·Moselle. He studied at the Seminary of Saint Sulpicc. was ordained in 1887. and received his doctorate in 1897. He Wfl$ professor of mathe· matics at the Inslitut catholique of Paris from 1890 to 193 I. becoming dean of the 5<:hool of Sciences in 1928. Curious to understand Oriental literatures, he studied Syriac. He wrote his thesis, Book uflhe Ascell.~ioJl and Spirit of 8arhebrtUIlS, at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes. He eufounded the Patrologia Orientatis series wilh R. Graffin; in it he published twcl\"(: fascicles, numbers 11, 19,36,45.46,47,51, 63, and 113 (1905-1931). He was secretary (19051911) and then director of the Revue de I'Orielll ehretifm (1911-1919), for which he wrote more th:m a hundred anicles (1896-1931). Among his books, lhe following are to be noted: fliSloir~ I!I Sagf!s.~e d'A~lqar I'Assyrie~1 (1909), Le Livre d'Herac· /ide de Dumlls, llboUI Neslorlus (191O), and LII Vi· du.~culie des uptJtrcs. The catalog of his works com· prises some 248 litles, without cuunting articles fur the Dielimmairc de /a 8iblc, Die/lonnalre de Illeo/· ogie ea/holique, Die/lOll/wire d'hislUire e/ de geog· raphic eccUsiasllqlle, JOIlmal aslallqllc, and other 5uch works. FIl.AN~OIS GRAJ'I'IN. S.J.
(1864-1931),
NAUCRATIS, eity in Egypt located in the weslern
French priest and Orientalisl. He ..... a.~ born at Thil,
Delta. As a major center of Greek trade. Naucratis
NAU,
•
1784
NAVE
c:rtpcncllccd its high point in the sevemh to fourth CCll1uriell 8.C. In Coptic-Arabic litcnuure, the city is fin.' mentioned lIS one of the slOPpinl: place.'; of Apa Epimachus (Rossi, 1887. pp. 41-42. 68-69). This account, howc\·cl'. makes no mention of Christians in Nllucratis. Our earliest record of a bishop in the
city is of Isaills, who held office in the middle of the fifth centu!), (Municr. 1943. p. 23). There 'Ire no definite alle.slations of Christianity in Naucralis in the Arabic period.
In 1884, Sir Flinders Petrie bq;an CJlcavation of the nJins of Naucralis. which are localed in the province of Bchc:ira nOI,h of Ilyiy al·Bariid in the
mooern village of aJ-Niqnish. - BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aml:llneau, E. Lo. Gi!ograplrie de I'Eg,.l'pl" iI /'i!poqIlC cople, PI". 271-72. Paris, 1893. Klees. H. "Naukralis." In Real~r1..,dupiidie der classisclrell .4l/er//IIlIs""iss/lllSchfl!t, Vol. 16, cols.
1954-66. Stuupn, 1935. Munier, II. RccC''1iJ des (isles epi$<:ol'ules de NgUu. caple. Cairo, 1943. Rossi, F. I Mar/irii de Gloore, Hemei. Epimaco e PlOlemeu. Turin, 1887. Tlmm, S. Dos ChriSflich-kop(ischc Agl'P/ell ill orubischer Zeit, pt. 4. pp. 1749-51. Wk'soodcn, 1988. 1{AN1JALL STEWART
NAVE. See Architectural Elements of Churches.
NA\VAHA,
Silt
Mon"steries uf the I'rovince of Oa-
qahliyyah.
NAWAY. See Monasteries of the Middle $a'id. NAWROZ, thought to be of Persian origm un the assumption uf its t"aditional use in 1r,,". word origi· milly \Ierived from an tmeient Egyplian equivtllcl1t adopted by the Persians during their occupalion of Egyp1. H denmes Coptic New Year's Day, commem· orated in the Coptic church liturgy but also cele· brawd as one of the grcat popular feasts hy the whole Egyptian nation. II falls 011 1 lut (11 Septem· ber), which is the !In;t month of the Coptic year and lakes its name from the Egyptian god Thoth. In ancient ~pt. it was a day of celebration, ceremonies, and prol:CSSions in which the golden statUette of Hathor, the goddess of plenty. was taken out of
its temple at Dandarah al the bn?ak of dawn amid music and chanting to in:luguratc the New Year. This same day is still :I d:ay of trenlendou.~ cclcbr,l· liollS among all the people of Egypt. The fourtcenth-century Arab historian al·MAQklzl devoted space in his work to a d~ription of the popular festivities associated with that day in medie....1 time!>. Dressed in their besl allire, people exchanged visits lind fruits of Ihe season, nolably dale.. The k'Slivities continued throughout the nighl. lind the populace took to drinking and de· bauchery until the Mamluk state decided to suppress Nawnl1. a.~ an approved public holiday in the ye:lr 1378-1379. In the church, howc\·er. its ecle· bration continued. The Coptic: Nrw Year still Iig· ures in the Synaurion a..~ :II day of healing by w:atcr. BIBl.IOGRAPllY
Daumas, F. La Civiltsaliort dc I'EKYP/c pharamliqlle. Paris, 1965. Lane, E. W. Malillus aud CIlStorrtS of Ihc Modlml Egyptiotls. 2 vall'. London, 1842. Wassef, C. Wis,.
NEALE, JOHN MASON (1818-18M), British historian. He n.-ceived his higher education at TriniIy College. Cambridge. Hc spcnt most of his yean; divided between England and the island of Madcir:a, where he wrote prodigiously. The Dicli01lary of Na· liflllal Biography lists his works in four categories. Among the twenty items listed under the first cate· gory, Theologic'll and El.:desiastical, i.~ his Hislory oltht!! Holy Ells/em Church (5 vols., London, 18471873), including :I volume all the p:ltl'iareh:llc of Alexandria. Olher wl'itings :Ire Scicclio~ls Frum Ihe Writings of John Mason Nellie (London, 1884); John Mason Nellie's Lellers (London, 1910); and Collecled lIymll$, Seqllef'ce.~ mid Cilrols (cd. Mary S. Lawsun; Londun, 1914). A'l.l'l. S. Ann
NEANDER, JOHANN AUGUST WIL· HELM (1789-1850), German church historian. Jewish by birth, his original naml.: was David Mendel. He was l>Dptiu'd as a Protestant in 1806 and changed his millie to Neander. He taught ecdesiaslical histOly :It Berlin from 1813 until he died. Ap:lrt from his famoos General His/ory of/he Chris·
NESTORIANS AND COPTS
ClmrcJr (6 vols" 1826-1852), hI: wroll: anum· ber of mon0tlmphs. including one on the subject of Gnosticl~m (1818). As a confirm(.'(] Prott'stant, he held to primitive Christian simplicity. !-lis oeuvre appeared posthumously liS Collectt!d Works (14 vols., Gotha, 1862-1867).
tilln
OIDlIOCkAPHY
Kammerc:r, W.. comp, A Coptic Bibliogruph)'. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1950: repro New York, 1969. MIZ S. ATin
NEHE.MIAH. St!t! Old Testament, Ar,.lbk VCrliions of the.
NEOCAESAREA, COUNCIL OF,
held during the period of toleration for the Christians (lll-c. 321) in the reign of Ucinius. The council's canons deal mainly with moral qucslions and indicate the ecclesiaslical concern with liexuaJ issues at this time. Other et:Inons deal with the elltl-"Chumenate, with the "ge for ordination to the priesthood (not below thiny), and wilh the status of the chortpiKopi (cOt.lntry biShops). Though none or the can· ons refers spt..>t:ifically to Egypt, their p......."'Criptions p;l5SCd inlO Ihe general canon law of the F~SI, and demonslrate the underlying aseelic lempL'r of the church in the E.nst at the time the monaslic n10Vt."" ment emergt.-d in Egypt. S)"I1oo
W, H, C. FREND
1785
the Circus of Gaius and Nel'O on the Valican" (Pliny the Elder's loctltion: Namralis Iris/aria 36.74). Church trndition includ(!1; Peter and Pnul among Ihe victims. Nem committed suicide In June 68, and the per5el:utiun did not spread oUl.$ide Rome, Howe\'er, the horril1c Il.lllUre of the deed imprinted itself on Christian trddilion. Nero became a.~soclated with AntichrisL A legend also grew up among Ihe popu· lace a5 a whole that he would return with armiL'S from Parthia 10 retlaln the empire, Among Christians in the third and taler cenluries, the two ideas were combined, I.n the savage persccution under VAUJlIAN, that emperor may have become identified with Nero in the mind of Dionysius of Alexandria and Egyptian Christian. The "scventh year of Valernm" (A.D. 259), bringing pel"lieCution to ilS climax, paralleled the lhen provcrbial "scventh year of the divine Nero" (A.D. 60), which presaged the onset of the Neronian years of tyranny, The association Nero-Antichrist did not die OUI with the end of the persecution, but for a long time conlinued to find ilS place in Coptic mythology. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dcaujeu, J. "l'lncendie de Rome en 64 et les ehretiens," LaIOIllIlS 19 (1960):471r. Sardi, M. If eri.niallesimo II! Romu, pp. 79-94. 29195. Bologn!l, 1965. "Dionisio di Alessandria e Ie vicende della persecu:done di Valeriano in Egilto." Parudu,lOS polileia. 5wdi palrislid ill O'lOrt" di Gillseppe Lauali, pp. 288-95. Milan, 1979, W. H. C. FR£NlJ
NEREIDS, Sec Mythological Subjecls in Coplic
,".
NERO, TITUS CLAUDIUS, Rom:m emperor from S4 to 68, !'rom lhe point of view of ll,e hislory of Christianity, Nero is importllnt for the ferocious persecution thllt he unleashed in lhe laiC summer of A.D. 64 againSI lhe ChrislillnS in Rome. The ac· counl given by Tacitus (Tile Annals 15.44), writing some lifty yeal'S aorter the event but l"CCalling vivid memories of the time, indicates lhal Nero. finding himself suspected of causing the deSlrl.lt:tivc fire tha, on 19 July 64 desu'Oyed two entire quarter'S of the city of Rome, fixL-d on the Christian~ as wel· come sc.apegrnlL~. I~rge numbcrli of suspected Christians wcre rounded up, Those who confessed to being Christians were cl"Uelly done to droth "in
NESTORIANS AND COPTS. The fit'Sl Iheo· logical·Chrislulugic:l1 clash between the Ne~torian doctrines and Alexandrian orthodoxy look pl
1786
NESTORIUS
llna.lhema~
against Ncstorius froJIl AlcllanJria. the
center of the 0l1hoo07t Christian WQrld. This preem· inenl JlMition :md the Nestor;an stnlggle led to the
division of the church after tile Council of Chalcedon (451).
DIOSCORUS I (444-458) recognized nothing bill the Cyollian formula for Chrislology. Politics under the cover of religion did the rest. 1111lS the Alexandrian onhoooxy was (beCllUse of dishonesty or ignorance) labeled as EUlychianism ($(.'C ElTTYCIIES). The CoptS cncrgclically protested againSi lhe basic elements of Eutychianism. as Iht..')' refused llie doctrines of Ncslorianism. Their tradilional h()§lility 10 Nestorianism and Ncslorians. even from 616 10 641, when the Copts lived under Persian domination, as well as their unwillingncss to discard their ecclesiastical and national independence. were de<:iding factors in favor of the es~ablishment of a "Coptic church," The striel resistance 10 NeslOrianism and Eutychianism ha-~ preserv~ the doctrinal orthodol(y of the Copdc church unlil today. This is illustraled by the statement on Chrislology drawn up by Ihe Rom'ln C:llholic church and the Coptil: church which was silned at the Anrnl Bishoi Monastery m:ar Cairo on 12 February 1988. "We believe thai our Lord, God and S..w ior, Jesus Christ. the Incarnale Word. is perfeci in His divinily and perfect in His humilniIy. Ihal His humanity is Qne with His divinity, wilh· out mil(ture or confusion. unchanging and unaltered, and that His divinity at no ti",e was separate frOIll I-lis humanity. At the same time we analht-" miu simultaneously the doctrines of Nestorius. and of Eutyehes" (John Paul II and Shenouda Ill).
HI9L1OGKAPIIY Atiya, A, S. A Jlistory of Eastem Clrristiarlity, Lon· don. 1968. Heiler, F. Die O~lkin'IJIm. Basel, 1971. Spuler, B. "Oil' neSlol'ianische Kil'l:he." flal1dh"ch der Orlclltali~lik, SCI', 1,8 (1961):120-67. Tlssemnt, E, "L'Eglise nesluriennc." In Dit·tiamwire de 11ltta/ogie Catholique, Vol. II, cols. 157-323, Paris, 1931. M"'HI~IANO
1'. RONCACLtA
NESTORIUS. Ncstorius was born al Gcrmanicia in Sy.'ill Euphr:uensls somelime before 381, and became patriarch of Constantinople ill 428. After his condemnation for heresy and deposition by the First Council of EPHESUS in 431. he was allowed by Emperor Theodosius II 10 retire 10 his former mon-
aSlery a short dislance from lhe gales of Amioch. Because Nesto.'lus continued 10 agilale on behalf of his condemnt.-d tem;hings. Archbishop JOIl~ 01' ANTI· OCIl complained to Theodmoius. who ordered the final banishmenl of Nestorius to the Creal Oasis (Khttrgah) in Egypl on 3 Augu.~1 435. Ncstorius remained in Egypl until his death (sometime after 45 I). The mmol reliable. and the only detaik-d, source for Ncstorius' el(ile in Egypt is found in Book J, chapter 7, of the Ecclesiastical His/ory of Evagrius Scholaslicus (c. 536-600). Eyagrius c1aim.~ thai he wa..~ able to consull Nestorius' own writings, and quotes from the TraglJt!dia and the BalPar 01 Uuacleidu, work.~ written by NCSlorius to defend his position, and a leller addressed 10 Ihe governor of Ihe Thebaid. Sometime after Nestorius arrived at Ihe Creal Oasis, it was overrun by a Nubian tribe. Evagrius calls them IJlemmyes. while Nestorius is quoled as calling them Noubadcs. Both names, as used by these wrilers. are probably generic: words used 10 refer to the inhabitants of Lower Nubia. who made frequenl incursions inlo Egypt in the fifth century (see BEJA TRIBES). The tribes plundered the Great Oasis and Icfl it in ruins. They then freed NCSlOrlus and an unspedfied number of olher people with Ihe warning thill they should flee because the Ma":ices. a Ub~n lribe, were on the way 10 auack Ihe oasis, The refugees had to make their way across the desen 10 Ihe Thebaid a.~ besl Ihey could, The dale of lhis invasion is unknown. Nestorius was still at Ihe oasis when Socrates Scholasticus wrote his Ecclesias/ical His/ory in 439. Perhaps the invasion of the Ma1.ices coincided with Iheir devastation of the monasteries of Scelis in 444. Upon his arrival at Panorolis (Akhmlm), Nestor'ius mude himself conspicuous in order to avoid being branded a f\lgilive. He appealed to the governor of the Thebaid for clemency, but was in· sleud lransporled under milillU)' eseor'l 10 Eleplmn· line Island, on lhe sowhem bnl'der of Egypt. No sooner had he arrived than he was recalled to Pllllopolis. Nestorius complained aboul having 10 make the lI"ip, saying Ihal he was aged (he muSl have been ove.' Si~ly by lhis lime) and ill, suffered from the hll7.1ll'ds of tl'Uvel, and thai his hand and side had been mangled, The la11er allliciion may have been Ihe resull of the fall to which Evagrius aUriblllCS his eventUll1 death. After returning to Panopolls. Nestorius was sent 10 a place ncar it. probably the fOl1ress of Psinblje (Shard Heap) mentioned in Ihe Coplic sources, While he was lhere. another order for depol1alioll
NEW TESTAMENT, COPTIC VERSIONS OF THE
an umpccified pl;lee WitS issucJ, bUI whelher Nestorius was Illoved again is not known. The exact dale of his death is unknown. In the 8azaar of Htrac/eides he shows a knowledge of OIOSCORUS' deposition and exile by the Council of (·IlALCEOON. which would place his death sometime .aller 451. The Coptic tradition concerning Ne:slul'ius pre· :W:rYCS Slori('$ about his exile most of which are nOI found elsewhere. Aceordillg to the HJ:>TOKY Of THE PA11tIARCHS, N~~lolius wa.~ being ~~eon...d to the Great Oasis when his guard k-amed that the M;mce5 had sacked it, and so he was laken immediately 10 Panopolis lind inean:eJ'lltL-d at Ps.inblje. This contradicts Evagrius' evidence and probahly repre· senlS II badly informed summary of events. The Hi5' tory of the Church ill Twelve BooJu tells of a confrontation between Ncstorius and SHENUTE of AU1be. Nestorius asks Shenute to diStribute his Joods to the poor, and Shenute demands that he acknowledge that Mary Is the Mother of God. When Ncstorius rcfusa, Shcnutc declines to dislribute his goods. The same story appears in other works (e.g., the Arabic Ufe of Shenole) where SheoUie calls down an angel who bealS Nestorios to death. Some scholaB have seen Ihis cpi50dc as a possihle indica· tion tMt Shcnuie had a hand in N(:storius' murder. But Nestorius' delnh a.~ a re~ult of a fall, as related by Evagrius, ill the more plausible explanation. Coptic sources also relate an cadicr "onfronta· tion between Nestorius and ShenUle at the Council of Ephesus (431), when Ne:storiU5 allcgl'Jly threw the Gospel book from its throne and scated himself In Its place. Shenutc in turn unseated NC5lorius and restored the Gospel. The Coptic Ilislory of Ihe Church mentionll .. petition sent by Nestorius to Cae~arius at Antinoopolis, because Caesarius was a friend of ShellutC who mitthl be able tu persuade the laller not 10 hara.~.~ Nestorius. Caesarius is well known from Shcnute's own letterll and from an inscription found at the White Monastery (IlAYR ANR'\ 5111",(101\11). Such a pel it ion would fll the picture of Ncstorius as portrayed by Evagrius. The confrunwtion between Nestorius and Shenute was cel1ainly I'lOssible, but it is nOI cOl'l'oooraled by any account outside the Coptic tradition. While Ihe details of Nestorius' exile in Egypt arc ~ketchy in the Coptic aeeounl.~, and probably not reliable for the most part, the impact of Nestorius lIS a symbol of everything that Egyptian nnhodo~y opposed lifter the Council of ChalcL-don was profound. The adjective "Nestorian" was u-~ed indis· criminately in Egypt to describe all forms of the two-nalure Christology.
1787
BIBLIOGRAPHY
10
Johnson, D. W. "Funher Fl"ll.glllents of a Coplic Hislory of the Church: Cambridge Or. 1699R." Ellchoria 6 (I976}:7-17. DAVID W. JOHNSON
NEWARK MUSEUM. See Muscums, Coptic Col· lections in.
NEWLANDSMITH, E. See Music, Coptic: Musi· cologists.
NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS.
SU
Press, Coptic.
NEW TESTAJ\tENT, COPTIC VERSIONS OF THE. Topographical conditions along the Nile were such as to fOSler the growth and differen· tiation of similar but distinct dialects of the common parcnt language. During the early Christian period Ihe old Egyptian language had as.~umed half a dozen dialectal forms, differing from one another chiefly in phonetics, but also 10 some eXlent in vocabulary and syntax. The earliest Christians in Egypt used Greek, but soon the new faith found adherents outside the He!· lenized portion or the population. fuactly when Ir.mslations of the :lCripturcs were first made into one or another of the severdl Coptic dialects is not known, but the earliest version must precede about A.D. 270, the date at which Saint ANTONY was convened after hearing Matthew 19:16ff. read in Coptic in a village church in southern Egypt. The earliest extant biblical mllnuscriptS dllte From the end of the third or beginning of the founh century. Sahldlc Version Of the surviving Coptic documentll from the fifth century or ellrlier, those in Sahidie are m01'e than twice as numerous as thosc in all the other dialects. The manuscripts IIlleSt to more Ihan one Sahidic translation of certain hiblical books. These were conlJated in subscQuent transmission, as well as reo vised against the Greek. The edition of the New Testament in Sahidic, prepared by George W. Horner (7 vols., 1911-1924; reprinted 1969), lack.~ homogeneity, having been edited of necessity from diverse texts with quite disparate dales and provc-
1788
NEW TESTAMENT, COPTIC VERSIONS OF THE
nancc. The teltwal affinities of Ih" Sahidic.; version arc mi~ed. Alexandrian readings pl'ooominate, but there Is also a stmng "Western" dement.
Dohalrlc Version Ahout the ele\'enth century, Iklh..iric replaced Sahidic liS the liturgical language 01 the church. AI· though tI few eady mnnuscripts in Bohairie have survivl,:d, the majority arc late. The standard edition is thaI of George w. Ilorner (4 \·uls., 1898-1905; rcprintt:d 1969), who made use of fort)'-$i.ll manu· scripts for the Gospels, twenty·four for the Epistles and the ACI$ (the lauer regularly follows the Epis· ties), and eleven for Revelation. The textual affinitics of the Bohairic version are chielly with the Alexandrian type of texl. with SOml' revision toward the 8)'l:J.ntine te~l.
Other Versioni' Besides the Sahidic and the &hairic, versions were made also in severoll other dialccl$ used at different localities stretching from north to south along the Nile River. Except for Fayyumic, these dialectll died oUI a.~ literary langUtll;CS by about lhe seventh century. Fayyumic Is well p''CSC'rved in fr.,gllient:,ry manuS(;;ripll> d:.linll from the fourth to the deventh cen· turies, a few of which have been l,dited (e.g., Husselman, 1962). Aklunimic teltts of the scriptu.'C,. are quite frag· lIIentary unll few in number; perhaps only several biblicnl books were tl'anslated into this dialect. Sllb·Akhmimic, which stands hetween the Akh· mimic and Middle Egyptian (Ollyrl1ynchitc) dialects, flourished in the fourth and firth centuries. An imporlarll mnnuSer'ipl is a fourth·cenlury copy of the Gospel according to John (edited by Sir Herbert Thompson, 1924). MOSI of the oll,er elltant litel'atllfe in this dialect is Manichacan andlor Gnostic (including sevel'lll Nag Hamll1ndi treatises). Middle b);Yrll/all (Ollyrhynehite) is repre.~ented by sCl/cml irnpoftanl manuscripls d:lling from about the fifth centUIY; one parchment manuscript con' lains the complete tellt of the Gospel of Matthew (edited by H. M. Schenke, Bel'lln, 1981), another (on parchment leal/es of cxactly thc same dimension as those of the Mauhew cod,·...) contains the tCltt of Acts 1: 1-15:3 in a form that presents many so-called Western readings. A fifth.eentury papynJs code~ containing portions of ten el)istles of Paul in the Middle Egyptian dialcct has be!'n edited by Tito Orlandi (Milan, 1974).
Problems Concerning Coptic Versions The study of the textual allinities of the several Coptic I/ersions is still far from being complete and many pl'Oblel1ls remain to be 501\·ed. Pa''liculady perplexing an:: questions concerning the natore and deg"ee of the intelTClationship of the several translations. as well as the possibility of stages of revision within II given version. The limitationli of Coptic in representing Greek arise in pan from its being a language of strict word order. Coptic dQe!li not pos.'lC!l" any gramllUlli· cal constnJction t.:omparable with O'-'llio obliqll'l: consequently, recourse Is made 10 diree! speech. Nor can Coptic tndy n:presenl the Greek passive voice, since it posse...~ only the active voice. Nevcrthcll'S5, despite these and other limitations, the textual critic is grateful for the evidence from the Coptic V1:~ionll in inveJtigating the history of the transmission of the New TClitament lext in Egypt. Among noteworthy variant readings in Sahidic is the nnme "Nineve" given to the rich man who refused to help L:uaru.~ (U. 16: 19). The do~ol· oK)' at the dose of the Matthean fonn of the Lord's Prayer (Mt. 6:13) is binary, "For thine is the power nnd the glory forever."
BtBLIOGRAPHY Aland, K. "The Coptic New TI:slllment," In A TribIIle 10 Arthl
(l980):557 -60. Mel~ger. B. M. Tire Early Verslems of Ihe New Testa· mclll, Their O,lgl'I, T'UllslIllssiml, allll Lim/latlmIS.
Oxford, 1977. Has comprehensive bihliography. Orlandi, T., cd. I.;mue IIi s,H! I'uolo III COpIO' ossirillcirilll. Pllpil·j dell.. Universita degli stud! di Miluno 5. Millin, 1974. "The Future of Studies in Coptic Bihlical and Ecclesiastical Literature," In 11lc Future of Copt/e Sr'ldies, ed. R. MeL Wilson. Leiden, 1978. Ooecke, H. Das 1.llkllSeV'llIgelil<m sallMisell, Text del' Italldschrifl P Paltll< Rib. Illv.-Nr. /8/ mil den Vtlritlntt'n del' flalli/sellrifl M 569. Ban::dOnll,
1977.
NICAEA. ARABIC CANONS OF
Schenke. H.-M., cd. Dos MOllhiirls.Evollgelirml im mitltlag)'plischell Diall!kt des Kopti.~cit ..". Codex Scheide. Berlin, 1981. ThompliOn, H. Tire GosrJeI of Jolm According f(J the Earliest Coptic Manuscript. Brilish School of Archeology in Egypl 36. London. 1924. BRUCE M. METZGER
NICAEA. ARABIC CANONS OF, mime i1pplied to 5Cveml Seril'$ of canons that arc mis..o;ing in the Greek or Ultin canonical colleclions. They appear 10 have been reworked from Ihe Syriac, al leut in p3rt_ In lhe lauer language lho:: lnls ..llribulcd to thc Council of NICAEA in 325 arc said 10 Mve come from the pen of the bishop Marui! of Maiphcrbt (in Ambic Mayyaf:imqin. today a town in Tun:ey). Al all even IS, who the lranl'lator, or rather Ihe adapter. w:L'i is not known. nor at what date the calW)rl$ we~ adopled by Ihe Copls. It will be noted-Ihis ili nOI a proof thai they w<:tc previ· ously unknown-I hal in his Nomocanon the twell'th·cenluI)' pauiarch CAflIUF...I. II IPN TURAYK knew only the lwenty canons counled in lhe Greek colleclionli. while MIKIlA'Il_ bishop of Damiellil, cit· I'd tW(l SCril'S of canons of Nicaea, one of twenty canons and one of eighty·four. Given tlmt lhe grouping of IhC!:!(: texis divergl'll greatly in the man· uscdplS. it has seemed betler 10 follow the exposition given by Abil al·B:u:ak:it IBN KABAR in hiS reli· gious encyelopcuia MisbMJ al'?I1/mah, Thi:; passagc was tr:anslatcd hila French in J. M. Vanslcb'S //istoire dt! Nglise d'Alexamlrle (1677. PI" 26'i1£.). Ibn Kahar divides lhe documentS llllributcli to the Council of Nicaea inlo lhree books. In the first book (according 10 him, it is the secolld in the Greek collections) he groups :I history of CONSTAN· TINE I and his mOL her, Helen.. , as well liS II prescn!;,· tion of his incentives for lhe convocation of the council, which forms a kind of inlroduclion. The collection of Mae:lrius, :I monk of D:lyr Aho Maqar in the fourteenth century, lldds ..t this point .. list of heresies :lnd sects and a Ii~t of the 31 R hishops who parllclpnted. Then COrllO::S lhe series of twcll\y authentic canons, accol'ding to lhe Me1chile recen· sion. followcu by lhc Coplic series of thirly (s.ome· times thIl1y.tl11'ee) canons concerning lIHchorilcs, monks, [lnu Ihe clergy. W. Riedel (1968. PI'. 38, 1791) :L'iked if Ihis was riot n r(:woddng of lhe Sy,,· ftlgWtl tld IJIOlltlCl!oS atlributed to Saint Athanasius. As 10 the second book, Ibn K(lbal' tells us, ''Thc MdchitCli and the Nestonanll have tr:anslated (Ihe second book] and lhe Jacobites have adopleu il," It
1789
is a series of eighty.four (SOl1lClimcs eighty) c.mons. This division would perhaps Indicate Ihat the origi· nOli texl was continuous. The lhird book conlainll Ihe '"Books of the Kings," which al'e Ihem:>clves uivideu into four books and abo exl'it independently. This is a collec· tion of Ihe legisl:oliun enOlclL'd by the Byunline cmpcroni Constantine, Theodosius, and Leo. lIen: these l:.lInons are allribull-cl to the Council of Nicaea. It al)peal'S thnl lhe Cllristians of the Ol'ient adoplL-cl lhese: texts in dcfiance of the MUlllimll, who referred to Ihe Sllarf'ah, or Muslim sacn..'l! Jaw. for guidance in purely civil malleni such a.o; marriages, inherit3nces. and lhe like, These Il'XI5 provide numerous lranslations. The firsl book gives a hiStory of the cmperor Constantinc and his mother and relales the story of lhe council, as well as the reasons for the convocation of the billhops. It includes the twenty aUlhentic can· ons followeu by Ihe thirty canons called Ambic and gives the history. 01' prehislory, of lhe Council of Nicaea in a mthcr free latin translntloo by Abr:aham Ecchellensis (Ibrllhhn al'l:ffoqilanl), a edebrnteu Maronile deacon. The "Thirty Canonll Relative to lhe Monks and Clel'&Y" arc given in Latin by the same alllhor in a par:aphrase rather lhan a lroe tl'anslalion. 111e IiSI of heresies is given in Gcnnan translation by A, I-Inrnnck (1899, pp. 14-71). The lisl of Ihe bishopll according to the Coptic lexts is exnmin(.'(1 by, :lnlOng olhcD, F, HaillIC (1920. PI'. 81-92). All for Ihe eighty.four canons. Ihey will be found in a p..'ll,,"phnlsc by Abr~hOlm Ecehellensis in J. D. Mansi (cols. 1029-1049). The enonnOU5 mass of the dOCUmenlll I'elating, riglllly 01' wrongly, 10 the firSl council. which playcu a considerable role in the East more than anywhere else, is orgnni1.ed in the collection of MacOlrilis into four books. The difference between his division and lhal of Ibn Kabill" is lhat Macarius' second book comprises nol 'Ill the eighty.four can· ons but only Iho:: fir'SI lhir·ty·two. C.mons forty-eight to seventy-three, comhined with the thil1y concern· ing anchorites, monks. llnu clergy, form the third book, lhe founh Containing only the Coptic recen· sion of Ihe lwenty offici..1 C3nOnS. The "Four Books of lhe Kings" have with him II plilce apart. The Ambic Camms of Nictlco are, in the stricl 5Cnse, lhe eighty·four cunons adapteu from the Syri· ae by the Mclchitell and borrowed by the COrl'i. In addilion to this sel'ies of eighty.four canons in Ambic literalure, the liter:llure in the Coptic Inngunge contains a sel'ies thnl has not survived in Arabic translation. called C,,6ml'1s, It is erediled 10 lhe
1790
NICAEA, COUNCIL OF
Coundl of Nicaea and gives moral exhortations, which probably reflect the disciplinc in forcc in the fourth CtlllUI)' ill the chureh of AICllalldria. II was published alld translated into French by E. Revillout (1873, PI'. 210-88; and 1875, PI'. 5-77, 209266). BIBLIOGRAI'HY Haase, F. Die koptischcn QUill/en tum KOllzil VOir NiciJu. Studien WI' Gcschichte und KullUr des Altertums 10. Paderborn, 1920; rep". New York and London, 1967. Harnack, A. Du Kellu.kololog des Bischof:; Marula "0" Maiphcrk.al. Texte und Untcrsuchungen n.s. 4. Leipzig, 1899. Revillout. E. "Le Concile de Nicee r1'apres les documents coptes: Premiere serie de documents." lOl/m,,1 "siaJiqu~, ser. 7, 1 (1873):210-88. "Lc concile de Nicee d'aprl:s Ics textes coptes. Nouvclle sede de documents. Ic manu, scrit Borgia:' lOllmQI AsiQtiqllc, SCI'. 7, 5 (1875): 5-77 and 209-266. Riedel, W. Die Kirche,rrechtsqlldfen de.~ Palrl, urchuts Alex.md';...n. leipzig, 1900; repro Anlen, 1968. Vanslcb, J. M. Histoire de f'~gfise d'Alexulldrie. Par" is, 1677. RJJN~·G!'.oRCES CooutN
NICAEA, COUNCIL OF (325). During the Ihin! century, the Christian churcht'S hall evol~ organi· l:lltional Structures parallel in many r~pecls to those of the Roman empire. Episcopal authority ovcr rongregations paralleled in 5O,ne ways imperio al authority; episc:;opal couru adjudicated fur Chris· tiam the Sllme mllllers as civil couns did; city eoun· cils and provincial govel'nmen15 provided models for ecclesiastical organization. The ~ynod repre~ent cd a familiar political process for resolving di~putcs on m:lltc!'li of doctrine and church order with its prototype in the Roman seml1e and city councils of the empire. The fact that the church had evolved an ccclt:~illStical organization that bolTOWOO heavily from Roman political organization prepared the way for an effective integration of church and em· pire, of which the Council of Nical'a is the first and most !>terling example. On the othel' hand, !.he effecth'e ecclesiastical organi7..ation of the churches made the bishops polentially po.....erful figurn in imperial polilics, which the fullure of the Council of Nicaea in the succeeding dIXllde:s demonslrales. The controversy that led 10 the convening of the Council of Nicaea began in Egypt in 318. In its early stages it was a contest between cpiscopal au,
thority and the authorily of the inlcllectuab, that is. the authority of the theological schools. ARtUS preached in his congregation at Iklucalis a Iheologi. cal understanding of the relalionship between the Logos and the Father that he shared with others trained under WCIAN 01' AI'TrtC)ClI at the school in Antioch. A numbCI' of the Egyptian del'gy, conse· crated virgins, and the laity espoused !lriu~' vicw~. Patriarch AUlXANOl!!I. t of Alexandria (312-326), whose episcopal jurisdiction eXlended throughout the entire province of E.gypt, called for ;1 theologi. cal discussion between Arius and those who opposed him and eventually ordered Ariu!> not to ex· pound his views. When Arius refused to comply, Alexander eJl;conlmunicaled him and his suppeners. It was Arius who carried the controversy beyond Ihe boundaries of Egypt. Refusing the tht.'Ological authority of Alexander of Alexandria, he wrote to and gained the support of Euscbius of Nicomedia. a felluw student of Lucian of Antioch. In response Alexander buure,o;"o;cd his authority by convening a synod of Egyptian bishops in 319 who collectively excommunicated Arius and his companions. Alexander then communicated the delibcnttions and ac, tiuns of this synod to all bishops in the form of an encyclical. In support of Arius a Bithynian synod was convened in 320, which issued an encyclical calling for Alexandcr to restOI'e the exeommunicat· ed Arians. Alexander extended the controversy yel further by writing over seventy letters in which he solicited and gained the support of bishops in Thcssalonica, Asia Minor, Greece, the Balkan peninsula, and Rome. By 324, most of ChriSlendom had been drawn inlO the cOntroversy, which was debated among the Iheologians and clergy by letter and lrcatise, and amung the laity by song and verse. The inner Christian conllict had become so widespread that it was parooied in Ihe pagan theater. The theological point at is~ue was both subtle and abstract. It had to do with a critiquc uf Alexandlian tht.'Olugy. OKlO!!"', the most influential of the Alexan' drian theologians, conceived of the Logos of GodGod's mind or rea.'\On-as a distinct hypostasis (es· sence). In Arius' view this led 10 Ihe cquiv-oI1ent of lWo first principles. Adus, following the AnLiochene sc:;hool, rejecled lhis view as posiling two Gods and therefore tending IOwaI'd pagan polytheism. God alone can be ungenerated (agtPl~losl and without beginning (uIIQrchos), eternal and unchanging. The divine subslance of the hyposlasis of Ihe Father is uttcrly simple and cannot be divided and thereby changed, M) the Son cannot be the same substance as Ihe Father. To affirm that the Son is of the same
NICAEA, COUNCIL OF
substance as the Father would imply th"l God was changeable. According 10 Arius, Ihe Son bc1on~ed 10 the realm of the created becausc the Son h;ld a begin· ning and was generated through an act of the Fa· ther's will, out of nothing. Arius did, howeve.·, granl the pre·exilOlence of the Son before Ihe c;rt:ation of Ihe world; in this SCIISC lhe priorily of Ihe Falher over Ihe Son w.:L'l really a logieal ralher Ihan a lempor.d priorily. The Son was called Logos in a derivalh'e scnse because in Arius' underslanding Cod's logos or mind remains immanem with Him and is not a separate hypostasis. The involvement of Ihe emperor CONS'UmlNE t in this controversy derived from the Roman tradilion that the emperor is poll/ilu mllxiJmlS (chief priest), responsible for the religiOUli activities of the stale, which secured Ihe benevolence of the gods and thus the welfare of the empire. A5. emperor of the Western empire Constanline had alread)' convened twa councils in an auempt to resolve the DonatiS! controversy. He had also experimented with perM:' tulion tlnd confisclltion in an auempt to impose unily. During thilO period Conslanline h:.d selecled O$'lius of CordOY"" as his adviser in religious affairs. Constamine's firsl auempt 10 resolve the eOlllrovcny involved scnding Ossius to Alexandria to meet with the two panies that had precipitat"d the con· f1icl. This elTon fllited since the comrove~ had long sinCI! lefl thl! confines of nonhern Egypt. In 325, in connection wilh Ihe planned lavish celebra· tlon of Ihe Iwentieth year of his reign. Constantine convened a council of bishops. The site of the ecumenical council. originally planned for AncyTa, was chtmgeJ to Nkac;l in or· der to allow the emperor, whose residcnce was in nearby Nicomedla, to panicipale in lhe sessions. Constantine'li polilieal objective wa'l a religiOU$ uni· ty that would en~ure the prosperity of the state. His concept of how thut religious unity should be ob· hained was Ihe cretltioll of a cumpromise document thai would be signed by all thc bishops. His objec. tive was nOl thl! resolution of theological problems but the reconcilitltion of upposing partks. The emperol' opened the council with a solemn speech and tl symbolic acl. He delivered in Latin, the languulle of imperial alfairs, a passionate exhor· talion 10 unity. By burning in tl bnu;ier the pctitions of the bilihops accusing one another of ptl"1iOnal scandal tlnd polhical disloyally, he dcmonstrated his commitment to nonpartisanlOhip. In the ab.'lence of acts of Ihe coundl we are dependent on historians of Ihe neXI gencralion for the highlighu of the proceedings. The Arian pany
1791
sciuxlthc inililltive by presenting a creed that artie· u1:lIed their underslanding. The Arian creed was signL-d by somc eighleen bishops. Al the same lime the assembly was introduced 10 the catchy lunes of Arius' Thaleill. An uproar ensued and anli·Arian bishops cx.pn.'SS<..-d their disapproval by tealing up Ihe documeOl. F..uSEBIUS OF CAESAREA. an Arian moderate and court chaplain. a favorite of Ihe emperor, presenled as a compromise creed the baptismal creed of Caesarea. In Ihe ensuing debate it became clear Ihat the anti·Arian pany felt lhat existing baptismal creeds wert: nOI fonnulated sharply enough 10 exclude Ari· an Christology. "Scgouen not made" ....'llS added to the baptismal formula, "Begotten of the futher." "Only begotten from the Father" was sharpened with the phrase "thaI is, from the substance of the Falher," which included the tenn HOMOOUS10N. The anti·Arian pany pressed for the acceptance of the term homoousio$ to describe the relationship of the Father and the Son. It was a term without a clear history of meaning and made several panics uneasy. The Arian objL'Clion 10 the term was thai it was unscriptural and materialistic (as if Father and Son were of the same $ubslanCe or material). To others. to say that the Son was homoollsios with Ihe Father seemed to deny the Son's separate elCistence. In its br'ief theologic:.1 history, the lenn had not acquired a slable set of meanings. The political speclrum ranged from the eXlreme Arianism of the Bithynian bishops, Eusebius of Nieomedia and Theognis of Meris, 10 the extreme and·Arian posilion of Alexander of AlclCandria, Eustathius of Syria, MARCEllUS of Ancynl, and Macarius of Jerusalem. The moderate Arians were represented by Eusebius of Caes.lrea and P(luJinus of Tyre. The moderate antl·Arian pany was represented by the Westemers under Ossius of Cordova. When the creed, afler much debate. received its final fonnulatiun, CunsWntJne pressed all the bish· ops 10 sign II. Antl·Arlan anathema\ were appended to the end of the creed. The uppcndix read, "Who· ever says 'there was £I time when he was not: 'he was cre:lled out of nothing: 'the Son of God is tlnother SubsClll1ce 01' anolhel' being,'" were anathe· mali1.ed. Only three of the Arian pany refused to sign under penalty of exile: Adus, SeCundus, and Theonas. (Constantine himself provided an interprelation of hOmOOll$;U" that was intended to ease the Arians' conscience, that homoousios did not mt-'lln the same substance in a material sense.) Constantine's concern for Christian unily includ· ed not only dOClrine bUI also ritual. By Ihe lime of the Nicene council, the Ouanodeciman controven;y
1792
NICENE CREED
was ove,· a celllury old. The Eastem cl'ufches celebrated the Chlisti:1O Passover (Easlt'r) on the liame day liS the Jewish l'assover. The churches of the West, EID--pl, Greece, Palesline, and Pontus, celebrated the Christian Plissovcr on lhc Sunday following Ihe Jewi.~h Pa~ver. The council ratified Ihe praClice Ihal W",iS domimllli in Ihe W(:51 and imJ>05ed this unironnity. About twenty yea..,. after the council, the Sunday obscrv-.lOce of the Christian Passover was nearly universal. The council assigned the astronomiclll and malhemlllical task of determining the date of Ihe Chrislian Pass.wer for each year 10 Ihe Alexandrian bishop in n:cognilion of Alexandria'li promInence a~ an Intellectual cemer. Anolher Egyplian controveny ....-as sculcd by the council, that of the MF.tJTIAN SCIllS"'. MI'.lJTlUS, bish· op of L~opolis, broke with Peter, bishop of Alexan' dria, over Ihe treatmenl of the lapsed, Meliliu$ tak· ins the stricler view. The outcome was that Mcliliuli set up his own church and succcssioll of bishops. The council allowed MelitiLL~ 10 retain his see and required ll1
sees. The council also passed twenty canons on malICrs of ccdcsiaslical jurisdiclion. Canon 18 preserves episcopal power against the encroachment of de:lcons; canons 4 and 6 t:slablish Ihe rights of the metmpoliums to approve the aprKlintment of bishops in thelr provinces. The right of juriS(lit;tion of Alexandl;a is mentioned in Ihis canon. Canons 1, 2, 3, and 17 regulate the mornJity of the clcrgy; t;llnOns I. 2, und 3 Ul'(: concemed spedtically with ~exual morality. In the decade that followed the Council ot' Nicaea, the exiled bishops, Eusebius and Thcogonis, wcn: returned and Euscbius of Nicomcdia supplanted Ossius tiS adviser on rdigious poliq. Tht; '1IlIi· Arilln bishops, IJustlllhius and Alhanasius, were de· po.~ed. In 334, the Synod of Jerustlkm rcinstatt;d Arius. When ConsllU1line's sons suececded him, im· perial policy changed once tlgain. Under Constans, the anti-Al;tln ATflANASJ!JS (bishop of Alexandria, 326373) was l'etumed fJ'om exile and reinstated. But Constantius, the Easlern cmpt:rur, supported lhe AI'ian bishops. The political Jl(lwer anti diplomatic skills of the Arian bishopli succeeded in persuading ConSlrtnlius 10 allow Ihe exiled bishops to return. The relalive fortunes of both Ihe Arian and the anli·Ari:1ll p:1I1ics waxed and walled .....ith imperial politicli, dependinS on whcthcr or nol impt:rial poli· tks lind episcopal politics converged.
81DI.IOGRAPHY
Barnard, L "Church-State Relations A.D. 373-337." JUI/nlu/ol Chl/rch Dnd SUl/e 24 (1982):337-56. Barnes, T. D. CouslUlltille Dnd EI/$ebil/s. Cambridge, Mass., 1981. Boulal.md, E. L 'Hcresie d'Arius el lu "lui" de Niccu. Paris, 1972. Chadwick, 1·1. "Faith and Ordcr at Ihe Council of NicCll." HUM'ard Theological Rellil'MI 53 (1960):J71-96. Gregg, R. C.. cd. Ariallism, llisloricul aud Theo/ogi. cal Reassl'Ssltlell/s. Philadelphia, 1985. llaa.o;e, F. Die koptiscltell Ql/eUell Villi KV/lljJ IlIII NiciJa. Paderbom, 1920. Hefele, C. J. A IIislOry 01 tile Cilristian Coullcils, Vol. 1. Bdinb\lrgh, 1871. Holland, D. L "Die Synode von Antiochien (324/ 25) und ihre Bedeutung fUr Eu~bius von Caesa· rea und da.s Kon:dl von Nizaa.." Zeilschrifr IDr Kircherrge.fchichtl! Sl (1970): 163-81. Lippold. A. "Bischof Os.~ius von Cordova und Konst:tnlin dt;r Grosse." leil$drri/t IiiI' Kirche.tge· schichte 92 (1981):1-15. Loreru, R. "Das Problem del' Nachsynode von Ni· dill 327." Zeitschrifl IUr Kin:hcmgeschichte 90 {1979):22-40. Luibheid, C. The Council 01 Nic('.a. Galway, Ird:md, 1982. _-,-_ "The Alleged Seeond Session of the Council of Nkac:I." JUIIn/aJ 01 Theological Studies 34 {19S3):165-74. Opilz. 1·1. G. U,kullden lur G/lSd.ichle des aria· nisc111m S/n!;te.f: 3/8-328. Berlin, 1934. Slc:ld, C. G. "Eusebius and thl.' Council of Nkat;a." JOl/malol Theological Swdies, n.$. 24 (1974):85100.
NICENE CREED, t;recd fOl'rllUlaled and defined thl' Council of NICA".A in 325, represenling lhe ftlith of lhe dltll'ch us unucl'stood by llie 300 Of so bishop.~ who, on Ihe summon~ of the Emperor CON· STANTINE! L delibl'nlled lhe ortholloxy of tht; Arhm intetTJreiation of Chl'istOlogy. The predecesson; of the Nicene Creed were local baptismal t;l'ccds lhtlt also servcu as Ihe bllSis fOt' catcchetical inSlOlction. These baptismal creeds expressed in summary fonn the faith of the congregalioll. The Nicene Creed nOl only epitomi7.cd the faith of the bishops present, it also functioncd as:1 test or orthodoxy for bishops. It therefol1~ represcmed the basis for a new kind of unily of Ihe church, one Ihal rested on illlpel'ial sanclions; the Ihree bi!.hops who refuscd 10 sign wcrc cxiled. at
NIKIOU
Sc\'cmJ baptisnml crccus ha\'c bccn pmposcd as thl! prototype for the Nlcene Creed. Thrn.c fonnulas of the NiC{'nc Cre...-d not found in the eadier creeds reveal II SIr'Ong anti·Arian revision of thl' baptism.. 1 creed. The "Only Begotten from the Falher" of the baplismal creeds was chuified with the phrase "th:lt l~. fmm the subslance 10Ils;Q] of Ihe Fatl,er.'· To the baplismal fomlula "begOllen of the Fath{·r." the Nicene Creed add!; "begonen not made." The inser· tion of the tcrm 1I0MOOUSION (same substance) inlO the Nicene Creed Introduced imo the confession of faith a philosophic:t1 term with a very limlled histo· ry in theoloaiclll dl~cu.'l.~ions. one that W:IS intended by lhe emperor 10 be a formula for concord. The analhemas appended 10 Ihe Nicene CR:etl t:onuemn the Arian views that the Son was a different hypos. tasis (essence) from the Falher, or a diff",rent QUS;U (being) from lhe Falher. or lhal the Son wa.~ made or changeable. The Nicene Cre..:d diu not inll1led~tely supplanl the local baptismal creeds and bKome the univt:rsal confession of the church. At:cording to tradition the Nicene Cn:ed was eXJXlnded at Ihe First Council of CONSTANTINOPLE in 381; it was modified again and adopted III the Council of CH"LCEDOS in 451. in which form it bL"Came a confession of faith th:ll could Ix: c.:alled ec.:umeniclii. BIBLIOGRAPHY Boular:.md. E.. L'IUr~sje d'Arius el fa fo; de NiceI'. PilriS, 1972. Bums, A. E. III/roduclitm 10 11ll! Crl!cds. Londnn, 1fl99. Po5scni, G. L. 1/ sjmbolo di Niua e di COlls/ulllill' upfi. Rome, 1967. Hnrnack, A. "ApOSlOlisches Symbolum." In Realerr· cykfvpedie IlIr prOleslallliscire Thevlogie IIl1d Kirche, Vol. II, pp. 15f. Leip~ill, 1902. Hon, F. J, A, Two Visst/rlll/iOlls. Camhridllc. 1876. Kelly, J, N. D. Early ChriSIi<m Cn..d,. London, 1950. I.oofs, F., ed. J)a.~ Nicallicll. Tiibinllcn, 1'l22. Luibheid, C. "Euseblus lind the Nieene Crced." Irish Theologicld QUIlrIl!rly 39 (1972):299-304. Rietzmann, H. "Symbolsludien." Zdw;hrill liir die nCtl/Ulamc luliclte W isslwschlJf' 24 (19 25): I 96ff. Sc.:hwart7., E. "Das Nicat'num und uas C'mSlanlino· polhanum auf del" Synode von Chalh,Jon." Ze;l· selrrill liir die IIcwe.wamcll/lichc Wissel/schall 25 {I926);38-88, KAREN TORIESEN
NICHE. See Architectural Elements of ChurdH::S.
1793
NIKIQU, Creek nRllle of a dty in the Eg}'ptkm Delta in the a''Ca of Minor. Tr.ldiliunally. the dty was named after lhe Iloverno,' who founded il. Nikiou was known in Coptic as lll9l.T! (PsIUlti) and in Arabic IitemlUrc it \~~,1s c.:alled NiqyUs or Ihshadi. The location of Nlklou is a malleI' of some debate. There is today a town called llyi;h:1di in the provinc.:e of Mimlliyytlh, locatcd about 5 miles (8 kill) oonh....l$t of Sirsln:; and about 12.5 miles (20 km) northwesl of Miniif. E. Amelineau considered Ihis towo 10 be Nikiou (1893. p. 283), but the ruins of Zawyat IUW'n, sltualed about 5.5 miles (9 km) southwesl of Minof, match the andent leslimony about the eity muell Illore dosely (Butcher, 1897. Vol. I, p. 390, n. 1). Thus it appears lhlll Nikiou ....w; situated on the east side of the Nile arm opposite Tc.:~noulhis.
The history of Christianity in Nikiou is vcry old. Tradition holds that Ihc family of Jesus stayed in the city for sc\'cn days during hs FLIGHT Iton'O EGYPT. While there Jesus healed a man who was possessed (Mingana. 1929, pp. 405. 444). According to ~me ac.:COlints. the pa~ms of MENAS THE MtRACLE o\lAKEit. were from Nikiou, and the dty was said to have had a c.:hurch in lheir day. Nikiou is mentioned often In Coplic manyrologi· cal Htemturc. Among the cily'~ martyrs were several bishops, including Macrobius and SamJXlmon, who dk·d during the perseculions of DIOCU:.TIAN. The SYN"XARtON records Ih:1\ Silrdpatllon, who had bc.:cn ordained bishop of Nikiou by the patriarch "IlTEtt t (300-JII), wm; interred in (t c.:hul'c.:h in lhe city after his death and lhal Mac.:robius, It content· roml)' of Juliu.~ of Aqf3h~ (sec MARTY liS. COPTIC) whom he he:lled of an illness, served as bishop for lhirty·nine yeill"S. Our knowledge of olher bishops of Nikioll comes piec.:cmenl frc'Hll il number or various suurces. "THA· NASlUS 1 reported lhul in 325 a Melhian bishop named Hemdeldes wa.~ in residence in Nikiou (Ap· %gia Secunda 71.16). In 11 lellel· of Athanaslus we read lhal TrlRdelphus succeeded Stll"apa1110n as bishop of Prosopites, lhe district of whic.:h Nikiou was the chid clly. That Ihl.~ Triadclphus was a slaunch suppol1er of orthodoxy is ellidenced by the fact Ihal he was a mcmber of lhe delegation led by Bishop SPJt...rlON OF TMUIS that went tu ConSlanlino· pIc in support of Alhtlllasius (Munier, 1943, p. 7). Patriarch TltF.oPHlUJ.'> (385-412) announced in his paschal letter of 404 that he had ordained Thl..Vpellll'tus as the succ.:essor of Theodosiu.s in t.he blsh· opric.: of Nikiou (cited hi Munier, 1943, p. 12). In 454. lJishop Piu.'mmmon of Nikiou appealed to Pope Leo in Rome concerning his removal from office by
1794
NILE DEITY
Palrillrch flIOSCOIl.US r and in 459 this Plusammon joined in thc condemnation of Eutyches (Munier. 1943, pp. 22-23). The Ilame of Bishop Macmius of Nikiou comes up In the account of Saint Theopista. Maearius had blessed Theopista and inhoouced her inlO mona~ticism. but ahcr she had spent a year alone in a room. he forgOI about her. Then after seeing Theopisla in a vision. he went 10 her room and found her dead. The historian JOHN 01' NtKIOU mentions a man named John as bishop of the city at Ihe beginning of Ihe sevenlh century. In 645 or 646. not long afler the ARAR CONQUFRr OF EGYPT. Bishop Basil of Nikioo. a man described ali greal and leame
Amclineau. E. Lo Giogr(lphie de !'l3gyp/r' ii l'epoqut copU., pp. 277-83. Paris, 1893. Sutche.·, E. L Thl! 5wry of Ihl! Church of Egypt, 2 'lois. London, 1897. Coquin, H.. G. Uvre de 1a cOllS~cratioll du saHCII/· aire de /Jell/umill. Bibliolhl!que d'etudes coptes 13. Cairu, 1975, Drescher, J. Apa MClla: A Seleclloll of COplk' "("XiS Relallng 10 51. Menus. Cairu, 1946. Hyvel'nl1l, H. Lcs AClcs dl!s marlyrs de I'Egyple. ParIs, 1886-1887. Mingllnll, A. "Woodbrooke Studies 5." Journal of Ihe 101m Ryltmd~' Library 13 (1929):31'13-474. Munier, H. Reclieil des /iSles eplscopak~ de I'egli.!1! coprl!.. Cairo, 1943. Timm, S. Vas chrisllich.koptisclre Agyplell in Uf(/' bucher Zeil, pt. 3, pp. 1132-40. Wiesbadcn, 1985. RANOAlJ.
NILOMETER. a number gauge for mcasuring the rise in the walers of the Nile at ilS annual llood. In Coptic times it had Ihe shape of a grdduat<..-
BonnC(lU, D. "Lc Nilometre: aspeci architectural." Archeologiu (Warsaw) 27 (1976): I-II. Bourguct, P. duo CUIU!ogue de$ eloffes copIes, Vol. I. no. 036. Mu~6e Ntltion,,1 du Louvre. Paris, 1964.
DA.NIELLI.!
BONNEAU
NILOTIC SCENES. See MYlholugicll1 Subjects In Coptic An.
NIMBUS. See
Symbol~ in Coptic
An.
STEWA.RT
NITRIA, with IiCETIS and the KELLIA. one of lhe NILE DEITY. See Mythological tic An.
SubjcCL~ in Cop,
principal monastic hllbitations. founded about 325330 by AtoWN. The site. long confused wilh lhe present Widl al.Na!rUn. was finally identified by H. G.
NITRIA
1795
Nile deily, Eulheni::l ::Ind the Nilomctn in an orb;""I"",. TI'l'esll)'. Seventh ecntury, Oi..",eter; 13 Cm. Courtesy [.o""re M"sc""" Paris. Evelyn-White. II l~ loenll'd in the WeSten, part of the Delta, "00\11 10 ",i1es (15 kill) south olOmnnn11I1r, where the village of aj·BarnCljl stands tue is none other Ihnn the ",une of I'cmouj that !Iw Coplie documents give 10 llie ~ile c"lled by Greek llnd u,lin "ullum" Nil,.i" 0" "Ih.., l11ount:,1n of Nil";:"" hcc:lu_~e of Ihe presence in Ihis "cglo" nf I:'kc, frolll which 11;<11'011 w:'s c~' "'"clcd (as in the Wildl :oI'N:'t'~"'), MonasTic Iradi. tiun in!c"I"'l:tl:(! Ihls nnml: In symbolic fll,hion; it dcnotcs thc pille.., where the sins of ",cn were wn_~he(l. Ilk.., sollcd g:u'm..,llts, In f:I..,1 mil rOll served, "mong olh..,r US'o'S. for Ihe w[.shing of linen (d. lItS"O~M MO~~CIlORUM IN ~eCYI'TO 21; Ih.., "line intC'l',ctalion in 5,,1,,1 JerQme Leller 22). Thl: Coptic doc"lll..,nl~ also employ Ihc espn-ssiun "Ihe "'I)un-
!:.in of Ihe natron" (110'1'00'( Htll'!OCtt, [",toou mpihosm): in Ihis e.~Ill"Cs.si(Hl a~ In tl,e pr"""ding one, Ihe wonl "'mountain" I~ e!tpl~,in"ll "itlte" by some ~lighl c1"vmiotl of Ihe le'TIII" at tltis SpOI, or mo,"c I'r"OualJly by the u~", [,""quelll in tIlon"sll:,c timcs, of Ihis word to t1csillll:ne lhe ~lle in which Ihe ,nunks Ii\'cd, Among Ihc endieSl dlsciplc~ uf t"nuII wh", lived a' Nitri" in Ihe fourth ccnllll)'. we know eSI>c<.:!nlly TheU
1796
NOB, APA
monastic life tu mllke 60;t a more or les.~ lengthy stay at Nitria, and then to go and live in greater solitude at the Kcllia. Thus Evagrius, coming from Palestine, fil"'!lt spent twO years at Nitl'i" before going to settle finally at the Kcllia. The monks of Nitria in fact quickly lJ.ccame very numerous, and II was their lal'ge numbers that bl'Ought about the foundation of the Kcllia, only II dozen years after Amun's anival at Nilria. According to Saint Jerome, who stopped there about 386 on his w:J.y to Palestine with Paula, there were then 5,000 monks in this dCfiCrt (Leller 22, to Eu.~tochium). This very high figure is ..Iso the one given twice by 'AUAOIUS (His/aria la"siilca 7 and 1]), who lived there for a year in 390 before reaching the Kcllia: but it is difficult 10 reconcile with what RUFTN\lS says in his adaptation of lhe HtSTORlA toWNACHORUtol IN AECYn'O (21). He too had gone to Nitria, aboul 374. at the time when the monks of this desert were undergoing the Arian persecution. He says, in fact, that the monks of Nitria lived in some 6fty houses ('·tl1bernacula"). His testimony and that of Pal1adius agree that some of these houses were occupied by a single monk, others by two or mOrt; monks, The most complete description of Nitria at the end of the fourth century is given by Pallndius. There were then amOllg the monks or tllis d<.-'SCrt eight priest$, one of whom had preeminence over the others during his life. He it was who on SmurU:IYS and Sundays celebrated the liturgy in the church. Adjoining thc church there was a hostelry where pn...sing guests were lodged. There were various shops, among them seven bakeries that supplied the hrend not only fOt' the monks or Nilria but alS() fOt' those uf the Kellia, The monks spent the wcek alone in their cells, working mainly on the we:l.ving linen, and llsscmhll:(1 sulcly for the weekly liturgy. The "mountain of Nill'ia" seems to Itave known its IlreOllest prosperity at the end of the fOut1h cen· tUIY. The number of monks there diminished rather quickly, pmhnbly beelluse it was mar" and more dlfticult lU leud a sulilary life in a region too close to the inhahited llnd cultivated lands. In 645 or 646 whcn lhc Patriarch BENJAMIN went from Alexandria \0 the Wddt tll,Na\lutl to consecrate lhc ncw church of the OAVIt ANU,4 MAOAR. he was accompanied by the priesl Agatha, who htls left a detailed aCl'ount of thc journey. Benjamin went directly to al·Mund, Ihal is, the Kellla, "near the mountain of Pernouj," without stopping lit "the mountain of Pemouj" itself, Nitria,
or
a probahle indicatioll that the site was no longcr thcn inhabited by monks (d. R.·G. Coquin, 1975, pp. 98-99). biBLIOGRAPHY
Bernard, A. I.e 'Jelta Igyp/i,II d'llpr~~' de:> textes grees, \'01. I. Les eonfins libyques, \'QI. 3, Cairo, 1970. Coquin, R.·G. Livre de fa consecration dl. SallC/lIa;rit de Bitt/jamill. Cairo, 1975. Evelyn·White, H. G. The MOllasteries o//he Wod'~11 Namin, pl. 2. Tile IlislOry o/tlle Monasteries 0/ Hi/ria aud See/is. New York, 1932. A,.TOtNE GUII.J.,AUAIONT
NOB, APA, third..century mint mentioned in the of the Copts at 2] Ba'Unllb. A more completc Ufe is given by s.everal Arabic manu· scripts (Coptic Museum, Cairo, History 469, fols, 348r, 353r; National Library, Paris, Arobe 154, fols. 53r-64r: Arnbl: 263, fols. 128r-38r: leipZig University, Orientale 1067, fols. 202r-4v). Nob was a nalive of a villagl: called al·Biliid (8il· 4nas 1I1'1'0rding to Forget'll edition of the Synallarion). He lived in a monastery in Upper Egypl in Ihe time of D1OCI..ETIAN (284-305). I-Ie was brought before Arianl/s, prcfl:el of the Thcbaid, and called upon to offcr incense to Apollo. On bis refusal he .....as suhjected to torture and exiled 10 Pentapolis. where he was left in a pit for seven yl:III'S, l/ntil thc dl:ath of Diocleti:lll (313). The Synllxarion rcports thc following legend. When Constantine had Ilber:lted the confessors, he wished to sec seventy·two of thcm and rCl'eive tbeir blc.~sing. Among the four most illustrious, the Syn· a~l\rion nlllnCS Zaeh"ri"h, :1 native of Ahnil.s, Maximian of the Fayyom, Aglibi of Dahna, and Apa Nob of the to .....n or BUlld. AD" Nob, however, on his rcturn fmm Pentapolis hod .....Ithdl'llwn TO the moun· lain of Sishla (//larkin or district of Mit Chamr). He wil.~ Ol'dtllned prieST against his wishcs. He wcn! with thc sevcnty-two before Emperor Constantine and accepted as I'Jresents only sollle vases and vestments fol' the church. Then he l'CIUI'ned to his monastcry, where he died. SVNAXARIOH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Graf, G. Catalogl/it de I/lllllllscri/s orubes cllre/iens consitTvls 011 ClIire. Studi e Testi 6]. Vatican City, 1934.
NOBATIA
Troupe:lu, G. COla/agIle de IIUWllscrits
NORA. In medieval Arabic texIs the name Nubah usually dedgnales all of the Nubian-speaking inhab· ilanls of lhe Nile Valley (1111,:<; NUDlANS). In d:.ssical texiS, where Ihe nallle appears as Nob
and thereafter remained in the ChriSlian fold for almost :l thousand yean. In the Middle Ages the people of 'Alwt (Creek and Coptic. Alodia) were refel'TCd to as Alodaci, and the name Noba ceased to ,'der specifically to Ihis Nubian-speaking tribe. UlOI.IOGHAPHY
Adams, W. V. Nllbia, Corridor to Africa, pr. 424-28. Princeton, N.J,. 1971. Arkell, A, J. A HislCJry oftbe Sudan, from the Earliest Times to /82/, pp, 174-85. London, 1955. Hinlte, F. "Mcroe und die Noba:' Zeitschrift fiir iigyptlsche SpracJte uud Altertum.,kwlde 94 (1967):79-86, Kirwan, L, P, "TlLnq(lsi (lnd the Nob"." Kush 5 (1957):37-41. MaeMichacl, H, A, A HisfOry of the Al"abs in the Sudan, Vol. I, pp. 35-52. London, 1922. WILLIAM Y, AOAMS
,
,
NOBATIA. the m,me given in medieval times to the mOSl not'therly par't of Nubia, illllnediate1y !;(Juth of Egypt. Its territory is believed to have extended from aboul Ihe First 10 lhe 'nlird Calarael of the Nile, Ihnugh thel"e is !;(Jme doubt about the locl11ion uf the soulhern frontier. The regiun took il~ name from the Nubian·speaking Nobmae (Noba. dac, Noubadc) lribe, Ael:on.ling to Procopius, they were formerly dwelleI'll in the oa~es but were invito ed by Dioclelian tu seule in Lower Nubia when he withdrew the Roman legions, near the end of the
1797
lhird eentuf)', I-Iowever, some scholars believc Ihal the Nobalae senlement began at a considerably earlier dlltC. II is a~sumed that the Nobatae were OIiginally subjcl..'t 10 the empire of KUSH (Meroe). After Ihe collapse of Kushit~ power in the fourth century, they became politically indcpendent and were ruled by their own king. One of the early Nobatae kings, Silko, left an inscription In Greek in the temple of Kalabsha, Another, Aburnai, is mentiono,:d in a kl· tel' found at OA$R tBRIM. Mmt scholars believe that the royal tombs at BAUJoNA and Qu~tul, excavated in the 19305, are those of the Nooatae kings, although there i5 no texlual evidence to provide a certain identification, In pagan times the capital or principal royal residenec was apparently at o-~r Ibrflll, Lat~r, with th~ coming of Christianity, it may ha\'e 5hlfted to fARAS. The l..'onven;ion of Nobatia 10 Christianity in the 5ixth l..'entury iJi recorded by John of Ephl,."Sus. Accurding to him, thc WQrk of cvangcliUllion was be· gun by a Monophysite priest named JUUAN in 543 :lnd was completcd by LONCINUS. :l15O a Monophysite, in 569-575. Ecclesiastical historians suggest that there wa.~ rival missionary activity in NUBlA by the Mcichitl.'S, but the efforts of the MOIlOphysites triumphed, at leasl in Nobatia. That the WQrk of l:onversion was very I1Ipid and complete is suggest· ed by the archaeological evidence from Nubian cemeteril."S, where we lind an abrupt and complete disappearance of ragnn burial practices in lhe later sixth century. Shortly aftel' lhe coming or Chri.~tianity, Nobatia ceased to be an independent kingdom :md became a dependency of thc larger' medieval kingdom of MAKOURIA, which bordered Nobatil1 on the south, The circumStances that led to this conquest or merger arc not historically recorded, Thereafter Nobatia WI1S ruled nOI by a king but by lln epllrch appointed by the king of Makouria. However, lhe northern region conlinued to CRrry Ihe toponym Noblltill, and ilS ['uler' was designated as Ihe epareh of Nohatia or the epareh of the Nubatians, In Il1ler medievlll Coptic lind Arabic sources the region is also sometimes designated as the province of alMaris, In the rourteellth century the kingdom of Makouria disintegrolted, and Lower Nubill Olll;e again became politically independent. However, it l;ame to be known at lhis time as the kingdom of OOTAWO, and the toponytll Nobatia wa~ no longer ~d.
1798
NOBATIA, EPARCH OF
HlBLlOCRAPUY
Adams, W. Y. NI/bid, Corridor 10 Africa, pp.438-71. Princeton, NJ., 1917. Kirwan, L P. "Noles on the TopogrJphy of the Christian Nubian Kingdoms." Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 21 (1935):58-61. Monnerel de Villard, U. Sioria del/a N"bia cristiana. pp. 36-95. Orienta/ia Chrisliana AnalCCla 118. Rome, 1938. Vanllni, G. Cl,ristianity in the Sud"n, pp. 36-82. Bologna, 1981. WIWAM Y.
ADAMS
NOBATIA. EPARCH OF. The Nubian kingd
of
NOBATIA
as are the Nubian kings. Thcy are, however, depict· ed wearing a dislinclive double·homed headdress, which was evidently emblem:llk of lheir office. At 'AbeI al-Q:ldir, one late Incdicwl cparch is shown holding a m..ldcl of the church in his hands. Additional informal ion about lhe eplll'Chs has come from a great many leuers, both official and privatc, found in the archat'Ological elrcavations at OASR mRJM, ThC$C make it dear that one of the cparch's chief responsibilities was the conduct of relations with MlUlim Egypt, and with Muslims who tr-lveled and traded in Nubia. According to IBN s.uJM At~ASwANI. Nohalia in the tenth century wa.... a free tmde :wne in which Egyptians could trade &-cely, and where Egyptian money was In circulalion. By contra.sl, the upriver lcrritories of Makouria were closed to foreign traders. All cargoes destined for Makourla were delivcred into Ihe hands of the epo arch. who Ihen forwarded them to the king of Maltouria. One group of twelflh-eentury leiters found at Oa.~r Ibr1m refcn 10 commercial transactions betwt-cn the eparch and a falimid palace official, who handled cargoes and sold sltaves on behalf of the king of Makouria. Much of the other eparchal cor' respondence relates in one way or another to com· mcrce, A command of the Ambic language must have been onc of the qualifications for office, for many of lhe lellers addrcs.scd to the eparch arc in Arabic. allhough most of thosc wriuen by him are in Old Nubian. Some late mcdiev;,l Arab writers apparenlly believed that the epal'chal office was herediUlry, but thcl'c is no good cvldence to support lhis. Indccd, in onc of lhe lellers found at Oa~r Ibl1m, a son congl"iltulales his falher on his appoinlmcnt as epo arch. U1DLlOGRAPIIY
Ad:lms, W. Y. Nubia, Corridor /0 Africa, Pl'. 464-69, 526-27,534_35. I'l'Incclon, N.J., 1977. Arkell, A. J. A f/istQry of the Sudan, from the Earliest 1'imt:s to 1821, 2nd ed., Pi>. 191-93. London, 196 J. Plumley, J. M. "Oasl' Ibrim 1969." Journal Df Egyptia" ArchacolDI:)' 56 (1970): 12-18. "The Christilln Pcriod at Oasr Ibl'im: Some Notes on lhc MSS Finds." In NI.biu, ricentes reo elrerelres. ed. K. Michalowski. Warsaw, 1975. Varllini, G. Oriental Sources COllcerning Nubia, PI'. 478-79.602. Warsaw And Heidelberg, 1975. CJrristiallity ill the S./dan, pp. 72-81, 11826. Bologna. 1981. WllJ..lAM Y. ADAMS
NONNOs OF PANOPOLIS
NOMOCANONS, COPTO·ARABIC. Canoni· cal documents are preserved either in chronologi.
cal collections, in which the texts appear in the order in which lhey were published, or in nomoc:l.Oons, in which texts arc grouped according tu subject to facilitate consultation. It appean,; that the Greeks Invented this method of presentation and were imitated by the Copts, not in the Coptic period, before the Arab conquest, but in the Islamic
,no It seems thllt the lirst author 10 compile a norno--
canon Wll$ Ihc patriarch GtoDRIEL IltUN TURAYK (11311145). This Is known from the testimonies of MIKHA11., bishop of Damiclla, in his Nornocanon (chap. 34. principal anicle [National library, Paris, Arab. 4728, fol. 74v), and chap. 72, title anide INational Library, Paris, Arab. 4728, fo!. 177v]): aJ·~Ft IBN AVASSAL In his Nomocanon (prefacc (Borg. Arab. 230, fols. 74v-75v)); and Abu aJ·Barakl\t lUN !CABAR in his religious encyclopedia Mi5bdl} Q/'?-ldmQIr (1971. pp. 203-204) that lhe patriarch had com· piled a nomocanon. The manu..~cript wa..~ thought not to have survived, but R.-G. Coquin fuund lhis text among the manuscript.!; of the Patrinrchal library in Cairo. Ibn Kabar. however, pres<.:rved the table of the chnpters, which allows one to cOlllp:lre it with that of lhe manuscript Canon 3 and thus discover in hlhe NOllloc:mon of Gabriel IL In addition, Mikh~'11 of Damietta had repruduced in an appendix 10 his own Nomocanon Ihe compendium thaI Gabriel II had composed of Ihe four "Books of the Kings," thus savini the work or his predecessor from oblivion. The detnils were given. in a Gennan translalion, by W. Riedel (1900, pp. 114-15). The llecond Coptic author 10 compolle 1\ canoni· cal nomO'Conon was Mlkhl1.'11 of Oam!ctta, under the palriarchs MARK 1lI and John IV. of this nomocanon he Illude two cdilions, the fmll of whieh was corn· pleted in 1188; both arc extnnt. The dO"1te 1188, which he himself t!(we, is Ihe only certai" date in his life, for nell her the date of his binh nm' Ihat of his death i5 known. The third nomocanon is Ihe one thaI had the greateSl succeSll. It was trnnslated into ee'cz (Ethiopic) under the n:tmc of FetJ:!l1. Nagllst, becoming thus the code or civil and religious law in Ethiopia. This is the one by lhe eldest of the children of the Awl4d ol.'AsSlil family. AL-$AFIIBN Al'ASSAL This per· son was the !u.:c:n,:tary and juridical counselor of the patriarch CYRil. III IlIN ~ou.o (1235-1243). His Nomocanon was probably written to orucr, and since the (Xltriarch was nOI satillfied Wilh a first composition, which is preserved in manu:;cripl, he
1799
demanded a second, which has been edited by MurqU5 Jirjis a5 Kilflb Qf-QQwlJllr" (1927). Some idea of its content is round in the analysis given in German by Riedel (1900, pp. 65-66, 115-19). Al·~11 ibn ol.'Assal s~ms to have begun to write in 1235. He would have bcl.'n dead before 1260. Even today it is still the Nomocanon of al.$all ibn al·'Assal that ill quoted. BtBLIOCAAPIlY Coquin. R-G. us ClllIOIIS d·Hippolyle. PO 31. fasc. 2, pp. 279-83. Paris. 1966. This presents the ''arious nomocanons. Riedel, W. Die Klrchellrechlsquelltm des PQlri· tl1chats Alua.ldrie'l. Leipzig, 1900: repro Aalen. 1968.
NONNOS OF PANOPOLIS (b.c. 400), com· poser of Ihe Dioll)'silJkQ, the longest epic in Greek literature, in rOl1y-eighl books. In il he depicts, in hexameters, the lilory of Dionysus from his binh to his apotheosis, dealing in panicular detail with his expedition to India. He n:anSrOrmli the Calli· maehean form of the hexametcr into the Nonnian. which can be round in Olher writers down to the seventh century. While the DicJII)'sillka shows No-nnus as a syncI'C:tistic (Xlgan, his pornplll'ase of John's Gospel in Nonninn hexnmeters (Clavis Plltro· logiQ Graecu 5641) is probably to be regarded as a work of Nonnos' old age, al1er hili conversion to Christianity. Nonnos is thl) m05t important epic poet nOI only or the fifth eenlury but of the Imperial period. He innueneed a seriell of poets, not all of whom were born in his native town of Panopolis. Among his followers were PAMPllEPtUS 01' PANOf'UlIS. Tl'iphiodol'o~ of Pilnopolls (probably from the secoml hulf of the firth century), Collulhus of Lycopolis (in the time of Emperor Annstnsius f [491-518]), and CHRISTODOROS 01' COPTOS (d. Krause, 1985, col. 46). BIBLIOGRAPHY Keydell, R. "Nonnos VOll Panopolis." In Rea/eucye· lupiJdie der cll/ssisclren AllerrumswiHensclrtlfl, Vol. 33, eols. 904-920. Stullgan. 1936. _;:::. No.mi Pallopoli/aui Diotl)'siaca. Berlin. 1959. Krause, M. "Agypten II (litel'lllurgCliChicllllich)." In Realltxiko" fill' An/ike Wid Chris/tm""" Supp. I, cols. 14-51. 68-88. Stutlgal1, 1985.
1800
Pl.~k.
NOVATIANISM
W. Lui/am
w
dell DiQn,..~iaka dc.~ NQmlQ$.
Hildcshcim and Berlin, 1968. Simon, E. "NonnM und da.~ EJfenbeinl.:aslchen Veroli," Jaluvllell des Velltschtm archli%gischen In· .uitllfS 19 (1964):279-336. WifSIrand, A. VUII Kallimachos Zli NOli/IDs. Lund, 1933. MAIITIN KRAUSE
NOVATIANISM. Sec Cyril I, Saim.
NUBIA. The region of Nubia, the land of lhc NUBIANS. is usually thought of locJa.y as comprising thc Nile Valley from A5wan in Egypt to Dehba in northem Sudan. However, the toponym has not had a conS~lent meaning for either medieval or modem
writers. For SOniC. it is II gt.-ogrnphic term, designat.
ing
distinctive pan of the Nile Vall.:y where the river's CQun;c is broken by c.alar.ll:ls and rocky outCI"Qjl5 and where Ihe noodplain is narrow and dis· continuous. For olhen, it ill :m ethnic and linguistic term, de$ignating Ihc area occupied by speakers of Ihe Nubian languages. In lhe [aller sense Nubia does not have fixed boundaries, especially in Ihe 5OUth, because Ihe art'a occupied by Nubian speak. el1li h..... sholOk considerably since Ihe Middle Agt:s. The name is never used in a purely political sense, rOl' Nubia in rnedievul and modern timcs W'.,IS only once and briefly united under a single rulel·. Various Nubian-speaking pt."Oples. such as lhe NOBA. Makkourai, and Nobadae, arc mentioned by c1l1Sllical writers :IS living west of the Nile. However, the toponym Nubia does not appear before Ihe car' ly Middle Ages, when the Nubian speakers had mi· grated Into the Nile Valley and had laken posses' sion uf the former tenitorics of the empire of IWSlL In Arabic texts It is occasionally used lIS a synonym for the l1ol1hel'n Nubian kingdom of NORATIA. but mOl'e commonly it dcsigrwleS lhe whulc ..rca occupied by Nubian spcakcr.~, between Aswan and the conlluencc or the Blue and White Niles. The toponym Nubia appeal1li ;1150 in s.ome Copli.: texts, but il WIlS never empluyed by lhe Nubia05 tbemselves. They apparently had no sense or elhoir.: or linguistir.: unity, and always designated their !lCparate kingdoms by their individual names. At Ihe beginning of the Middle Ages there were thrce Nublan,speaking kingdoms; Nobatia in the nortb, MAlWlIRIA in Ihe middle, and 'ALWA in the soulh. All of them wel'c convcl1ed to Monophysite Christianity in the sixth ccntury. ShOl,ly aften.vard :I
Nobatia and Makouria were merged under one ruler, bUI like I!nglllnd and Scotland Ihey kepi their separate names and identities. Most of the Christian Nubian kingdoms, protected from islamic invasion by Ihe lIAor treaty, persisted until late in the fifteenlh century. At that time large parts of their tcrritory were overrun by Ar.lb nomads, Ihe kingdom.~ broke up imo warring princi· palities, and Christianity I'3pidly pvc way to Islam, In time the separ.lIe principalilies were brought un· der a loose hegemony, by the Funj sultanatc in central Sudan and by the Quoman pashas hi Egypl. The whole of Nubia \\/ali temporarily reunited under a single ruler when Mu~mmad 'All annexed the Sudan in 1821. but Ihis reunion ended wim me triumph of the Mahdist uprising in 1883. At that time the more 50Utheriy pans of Nubia fell under MahdL..t comrol, while the north remained in Egyptian hands. Under the Anglo.Egyptian condominium agreement of 1899, Ihc area north of latitude l r was fonnally annexed 10 Egypt, while Ihe remain· der of Nubia became a part of the Anglo--Egyptian Sudan, which in tUl'O became the Republic of the Sudan. Geographical usage conventionally divides Nubia into two unequal paru: LDwcr Nubia, between the First and Sccond Ni[c Catarncts, and upper Nubia. beyond the Second Cataraci. This distinction is based mainly on gt:ographic;l! rather than political or ethnic differences, for the rronticr between the cliffr.:rr.:nt medieval kingdoms and between differenl Nubian language groups did not coincide with the frontier between Lower and Upper Nubia. Howev· er, the current Egyptian-Sudanese political fromier is f;lirly close to the Second Cataract, with the reo sult Ihm 1II0st uf Lower Nubia is in Egypt, while all of Upper Nubia is in the Sudan. The whule or Lower Nubia, as well as a considerable pal' of Upper Nubia, was inundated by the building of the sllcr.:cssive Asw.tn d"ms, resulting in a wholc.~ale displncemem or the indigenous popula· tion. As a result, only 3bout half of the former terTitory or Nubia continues 10 be inhllbited. However, somc colonies of Nuhians have l'ecently reestablished themselves on the shores of Lake Nasser. [Set abo; Nubian Languages and Lilerolure.] BIBLIOGRAPIlY
Adams, W, Y. NI/bia, CurridfJr
10
Africa, Princeton,
N.J., 1977.
Emery, W. B. Egypt i" Nubia. LDndon, 1965. Millet, N. B, "Meroitic Nubia." Docloral dissertation. Yale University, 1968.
NUBIA, EVANGELIZATION OF
Monncrel de Villard, U. Slaria della Nllbia ens/imlQ,
Oricnlalia Christiana "'n:llccta. 118. Rome, 1938. La Nllbia rOIllOIlO. Rome. 1941. Siive-5&lcrbcrgh, T. Ag;'fJlCrt l/tId Nubiol. Lund,
=_=
1941.
Trigger. n. G. Nubill 'mder lhe Pharaohs_ London, 1976. Vantini, G. Orieulll! Sources Concertl;ug Nllbia. Hei-
delberg and
W:;U"'$llw.
1975.
___ Chri.ffit;m;ly in Ihe Sudan. pp. 21-207. Bologna, 1981. WIWA.... Y. ADAMS
NUBIA, EVANGELlZATION OF.
Nubia was
a pgn or the Roman empire, and lhu.f did not follow Egypt into the Christian fold in lhe fourth century. The worship oC the ancient Egyptian deities, and particularly or Isis. lived on for anOther not
tWO cenluric::s, and Nubian votaries were [leonine
, ,
by the Roman authorities 10 worship in the Temple of Isis lit I'HlLA£. In Ihe sixth century. Christian Egypt """5 rcnl by the dispute bl.:twccn Monophysitcli nnd Melchiteli, and it was apparently this dispute thai prompted both partit."5 to altcmpl thc conversion of Ihe Nubi· IIns 10 their respeclive causes. Doth l.pp....rently had some initial succelili, but the final triumph went 10 the Monophysitts, IUld Nubia became an inlegrnl part of the Coptic world. lnfornmlion about the conversion of Nubia to Christianity comes fmm tWO COlllemporary writen;, John of Ephesus and John of Biclarum, and two later ones, Eutychius and Michael the Syrian. The fullest as well as the most entertaining account is that In the Ecdesiosli"fl/ Hj~'/(Jry of John of Ephesos. According to this source, the idea of convclting the Nubillns wns lil'St pUI forward by II MOllophysite priest nllmed JULIAN, He sought and obtained from the B)'7J'lntine empress l'Ill,OOOQIlA a cornndssion 10 umlertake missionary work in the nOlthern Nubian kingdom of NOUATIA, When Emperor Justinian was apprised of this, he nl'dered Ihal a Melchi1" mission be sent to Nob..1i.. inS1e..d. Theodor..l then secretly arrnnsed that the Melchite missionaries be de1ained in Egypt. whh lhe result that Julian arrived on the Nubian !;(:cne lil'St, in 543. AeJ;:ording to John of Ephesus, his mission wa.~ warmly re<:eived, and the conversion of the Nobatian king and his subjects soon followed. Julian 1'Cmained in Nobati:l for two yea~. and then was succeeded by a certain Theodore, bishop of Philae, who continued the work of evangeli7.alion ulilil 551. After his departure there
1801
was an intenllption of misslolUu)' activity un1il Ihe arrival of LONGINUS in 569. According to 10hn of Ephesu5, it wa.<; Longinus who completed the COli' version of the northern Nubian kingdom. h i~ 1I0t entirely c1eal' how r:.pidly the Chrisliani· ullion of Nobatia proceeded. All accounts agree in suggeliting that the process of cunversion began with the king, who welcomed and perhaps even invited the Monophysite missionarics, and Ihat aftcr his convcrsion, that of his subjects rapidly followed. This mi&hl be dismissed as reflecting the biased oUilook of ardent Christian propagandists, but the cemeterics of Lower Nubia do suggcst a \'cry rapid replacement of pagan by Christian burial practices in the latter half of the sixth century (see ";UBtAN MEDIEVAl. ARCHAEOlOCY). South of NobIItia lay the Nuhian kingdom of MA· KKOOIlAJ, which in the sixlh century was apparcntly on bad terms with Its nonhern neighbor. Perhaps for this reason, neither Julian nor l1u..'Odore seelll.!i to have made any attempt to preach alllong the Maklr.ourni. Nevertheless there is evidence, both di· reet and indirect, of the convel'$ion of Makouria to Christianity before the end of the sb,th century. What little direct information is available COIllCS from a Spanish monk, John of Biclarum, who records that around 568 the people of Makouria rc· ceived the faith of Christ. Five years later, accord· ing to the .\llmc source, a delegation of Makkour..i arrived at Constantinople, bringing gifts to Ihe em· peror. This testimony, togelhcl' with olher te"tual allusions, h..s been taken as suggesting that the original conversion of the Mnkkourai was to the Mclchite mther than to the Monophysite cause. f.ll· TYCtlllJS, writinllllt a much hIler date, states categor· ically that the "Nubians" (hy whom he presumably meanl lhe Mukkourai) bCC(lllle Jacobites during the interval between 637 and 731, when there was no Me1chite palrillreh in Alexandria. However, the evi· dence on this issue is not inconll'overlible, and some schulars argue lhal Makouria, like Nohatla, W:l-~ Monophysile from lhe beginning. Certainly it was so after the seventh cemul}'. The conversion of lhe soulhern Nubi..n kingdom of "ALWA was undertaken by the same Longinus who hAd earlier worked for sill. years in Nobatia. The account of hi.~ WOl'k comes once again from John of Ephesus. According to John, IlS early as 575 the king of 'AJwli had ~nt a leller to Longinus, asking him to cxtcnd his missionary hlbors into the southern kingdom. However, the letter Dl1ived in Noba· tia after Longinus had left for Egypl, lind because of a political dispute within the palriarchate he was
1802
NUBIA, ISlAMIZATION OF
nol able to return
\0
Nubia for live years. In the
meantime, according to John of Ephesus, Melchitc missionaries had made an effort to convert the peo-
ple of 'A]wt bUI were rebulfed by the Nuloians. who would accept no one but l.onginuli. In 580 Longinus reappeared in Nahalia. and almost immediately tIlfterward liet OUI for 'Alwa. Because of the hostility of the king of Makuuria, he could nOI travel directly up the Nile. but had to take a roundabout roule through the Eastern Desert in the company of II IiF.JA camel caravan. E",entual· Iy, afu~r conliidcrablc privations along the way, he arrived in 'Alwa. where he was lIlel by a royal welcoming party. The convcnion of the king and his subjects immediately followed. This completed the conversion of the three main Nubian kingdoms, which lhereaJter remained faithfully in Ihe ChrisliOin fold for nearly a thousand yean. The aCl;ount.s given by John of Eph...-su:; and John of Biclarum of the rapid and easy eonver.;;ion of the Nubian:; are undoubtedly colored by the religious zeal of the authors. NeverthelCS$, there Oln be little doubt that the evangelists found a highly favoroble climate for their work in the Nubian kingdoms. Egypt by then had already been in the Christian fold for more than 200 years, and Nubians traveling to Philae and other Egyptian towns had plenty of opportunity to observe the newly built churches, many of them made by the conversion of older tcmples, and to Ilbsorb sollie of the influences of the new faith. Thi.<; laller development i.~ reflected in the Christilln pIlnlphcmalia found in h,tc pagan graves in Nubia (see RALJ.JlNA KINGDOM AND CllI.TURIl). There WIIS, moreover, a colony of Egyptians re.~ident wilhin Nubia at OA$R !BRIM, and their con· version to Christianity may actually havc preceded that of the Nobatlan monarchy. There may also h(!Ve been private mi5!iionary activity in Nubia prior to the royally sponsored rl1lssion.~ of 543. i\XUM, the Abyssinian kingdom that lldjoined Nubia to the southeast, had, like Egypt. been Christian since the foul1h century, 50 thai the Nubians were subject to Chrislian influences bolh from Ihe north and from the !>Quth, When Longinus arrived in 'AlwA in 580, he found ChriSlian emissaries from Axulll already on the scene. The vcry I1lpid Iransformation of Nubilln culture wrou8ht by tbe ::accept::ance of tbe new fuith is evi· dent in Ibe archaeological !"Cmains of se,·enth-eenlUI')' town and village sites, ~ well as in the Nubi::an eemeteri~.
[See also: Julian, Ev::angelist; Longinu!;. Evange· list.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY Ad,lIllS, W. Y. NI/bin, Corri,/ur 10 Afri(,'D, pp. 433-45.
Princeton. NJ.. 1977. Donadoni, S. "les Dt!butll du ehrislianisme en Nu· hie." Mellloires de /'fuS/i/1I1 d'Egyp/e 59 (1969):25~ 33. John of Ephesus. His/ariD, ecd,siusficae pars /er/iu. cd. E. W. Broolul. CSCO 105-106, Scrip/ores 5yri, ser. 3, vol. 3. LouV3in, 1952. Reprint of 19351936 edition. Kirwan, L P. "Studies In the Ul.ler Uistol')' of Nuhia." University of Uverpoo/ Allllais of ArcJlaeo/o'" and AUlhrop%", 24 (1937):88-105. _ _~ The O;;ford U"iver~ity ~uVUli(}ns u/ Firku, pp. 49-51. London. 1939. "Prelude to Nubian Christianity." In Mi· langes offerts il Klltinriert Micha/owslc.i, cd. M. L Bemhard, pp. 121-28. Warsaw, 1966. Kraus, J. Die Anfange du Chris/ell/llms ;'1 Nllbien. Vienna. 1930. Monneret de Villard, U. Storia della Nubia CristiUIIU, pp. 61-70. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 118. Rome, 1938. Vantini, G. Chris/iallity in the Slldall, pp. 33-50. Bologna, 1981. WtLUAM Y. ADAMS
NUBIA, ISLAMlZATION OF. Throughout the Middle Ages, the peoples of Nubia adhered almost exclusively to the Coplic Christian faith. They had succc!i5fully resisted two Arab invasions, in 642 and 652, and subsequently concludt:d the SAOT TREATY. which ensured them against ful1her Islamic incur· sions for severnl eenlurics. Muslim merchants from Egypt were allowed to travel and to seUle in Lower Nubia, but there is no evidence that tbey sought or made any conver1S among their Nubian neighbor'S. Arab chroniclers described the Nubians as being mainly Christians in the fourteenth cenlury, and recent textual finds have shown that p::arts of Lower Nubia were slill Christilln fit Ihe end of the fifteenth century. Yet, when J. L Burckhardt, the first Euro· pean visitor of modern times, passed Ihrough Nubia in 1811-1812, he found no surviving Imce of Ihe Christian failh. All of the Nubians professed a nominal allegiance 10 islam, although Burckhardt also observed that "the only proyer known to [mOM of them] is Ihe e~pression AlIllhu Akbar [GOO is great)" (1822. pp. 136-37). The circumstances or Nubia's tl1lllsition from Christianity to Islam are obscure, for it took place at a time for which historical records are almost entirely lacking. From thc available evidence, how-
NUBIA, ISLAMIZATION OF
ever, il arpel"'s thai the demise of ChristianilY and the adoption of Islam cannot be viewed as closely linked events, Chl'istianily disappeared arraremly very gradually after lhe loss of contact between the Nubian church and Alcxluldrin, while hlam at a later dale seeped into the void left by Ihe disappearance of the ellrlier faith. Mon.vver, dilferl"lt faclors seem to have contribUled to the blami7.\llion of the Nubians in different parts of the country. As early as 1235 the palriarch of Alexandria had refused 10 send bishops into Nubia, bL-cause of dis· lurbed polilical conditions in Ihe country. This poli· cy was not consistently followed by laler p."\triarchs, and as late as 1372 a cer1ain Bishop TimOlheus was dispatchL-d 10 Phrim (~r Ibrim), in Lower Nubia. Howe\'er. there is no record of any £Urth,·r contaCl between the Nubian church and Alexandria after lhal date. The apostolic succession was lherefore weakened, if not broken. and knowledg,e of the Chrislian liturgy probably diminished wilh each passing gener-liion. In 1540 a delegation of Nubians called on the emperor of Ab)'$Sinia, asking him to send priC"'ts and monks to teach them, hut he responded Ihal he had no aulhorily to do so. Thus. il seem~ likely Ihat In the absence of any renewal from abroad, the Nubian clergy gmdually dwindled away. At lhe slime time. the Nubian church losl the suppon of the ruling monarchs. In 1323 the ruler of MAKOURIA. the largellt Nubian kingdom, became a Muslim, although il is clear lhal the majority of his subjeet~ did not immedialCly follow. FartllCr to the north, the smaller kingdom of I.IOTAWO remained under a Chri~lian ruler until at least 1484, but a genenl.lion laIc I' its ICrdlOries wcre ove,'run and annexed by the Ottomans. To the ~()uth of Mak· ouria, lhe kingdom of 'Alwl'l rcmained under a Christian ruler until somelime around 1500, when It was defealed and absorbed by lhe Funj sultanale of Sennar. Thu~, by the end of lhe fifteenth ccntury, all of Nubia had passed under Ihe eonlrol of Mus· Hm rulers. There Is no evidence that the new mon· archs altempte([ forcibly 10 convert Iheir subjects to their own faith, but it i~ nevertheless probable thaI lhc church as un organizcd entily losl much of its slJ'Cngth when it was no longer actively supported by lhe !'!ller'S, Another factor contributing to the Islamil.lltion of Nubia was the wholesale migration of Amh bedouin tribes inlO the Sudan at the end of the Middle Agel>, partly from Egypt and pa"ly from the Arahian Peninsula. The immigrants overran most of the territo· ry of 'Alwl'i and a Jl<"\" of lhal of Makouria, establish·
1803
ing a number of petty principalilies l'!lled by tribal $h(lyk1l.~. who in turn were subject 10 the sultan of St-nmu. The newcomers inlennarried extensively wilh the sellied Nubian population and, in time, were absorbed into it. Their knowledge of Isillmic doctrine was probably no mo,-e than minimal, bUI they nevertheless conferred a sense of lslamic identity on their offspring. This ....'lIS specifically true in the case of the Kanu~, the most northerly of the Nubian peoples, who became convel1ed to Islam through their :lm:llgamation with the Arub.Bcja tribe of the llANO AL.KANl. They were probably the first of Ihe Nubian groups to become Islamic, At a somo.::whal laler date, Ihe sallie phenomenon of con· version by intennarriage was noted by the hislorian Ibn Khaldun among the Nubians of lhe DONGOLA
.=
In spite of these developments, there arc anum· bel' of references to the continued Pl"t'$Cnce of Nu· bian Chrislians in the sixteenth cenlury and even the sevenl~nth, The last known reFerence to rhem dates from the year 1742, when a missionary friar reported hearina: of a small surviving colony of Christians living somewhere in the vicinity of Ihe Third cal!lrtlCI of the Nile. It wa-" said, however, Ihal there were neither priellts nor monks umong them. M~nwhile, tlctivt: propaga.tion of Islam began in the cl:ntral Sudan early in lhe shlleenth century, within the lerrilories of the Funj sultanate. At the invitation of the Funj rulers, !I number of learned religious mysllcs came to found schools al various places, moslly along lhe middle reaches of the White Nile, above lhe Sile of present-day Khartoum. Sud:lOese tmdilion IlltribuleS lhe Islami~.ation of the counlry entirely 10 lhese pioneers, whose biographies arc preserved in Ihe exlt
1804
NUBIAN ARCHAEOLOGY, MEDIEVAL
in the ~insJe Lower Nubian community of Ilehmit in the 1960s. After the founding of the Mirghaniyyah or Khl1tmiyyah order in the last CC'htUl)'. how-
ever, the majority of Nubians also became affiliated wilh this vel)' widespread sect, which 11
confined largely to the Funj territories in the central Sudan, the an=; where large numlx,rs of Arab migrants had already seltled. There is ,
therefore, th31 the last J.Urviving mention of Christians in Nubia comes from just lhis region or that Burckhardl (1822, pp. 136-37), at the bO'ginning of lh~ nineteenth (;(;ntury, fuunJ thatth(; Nubians hel"(; had only the skelchiest knowledge of hlamic doc· trine. Their nominal convl:rsion to billlIl1 can probably be a1tributed simply to the circuttlstnnce of Onoman rule, which was established in Lower Nu· bia and Ba!n al.l;lajar sometime in Ihc sixteenth cenlllry. In the nineteenth century. two factors conh'ibut· cd 10 the development of a fuller Islamic rcligioUli life among the Nubians. The lirsl was the reestablishment of Egyptian administrative control over lhe Sudan, Following the invasion of Ism;.iI Pasha in 1821-1822, This led to Ihe eSlablishment of Egyp. linn colonies, and of mosques and schools in many of the towns of the Sudan, The i>Ccond factor was the Founding of Ihe Mirglti\niyyah or Khlitmiyyalt reHglou$ order by Mu~ammad 'Ulhm:'in al·MirghlHll, who resided for a time lit Dongola and who married a Nubian woman, Nubian,speaking descen· dants of the MirghanT fllmily have continued to guve,'n the orde,' down 10 the pre.~ent day, :md $0 the Nubilms elm in liume sense eJ:lim it liS tltdr uwn, In the nineteenth nnd twentieth centuries, under Egypti;m and, later, British rule, the Nubian peoples came Increasingly to rely on etl'It,...tion (IS a means fOI' social and economic advancement. They became, and rcmaln loday, by rar the mOSI highly educated population element in the Sudan, and their dedicution Iu le:lming hilS induded religious a.~ well a~ ~ecuJ:lI' leaming, Thu~ ha.~ it come aboul that the Nubl(l1ls, whose knowledge of Islam two hundred yeal'S ago w:u no more than minimal, have today a repulation for <,:xeeptionltl pi"ly among their Sudanl$!' and Egyplian neighboD.
DIDLIOCRAPIIl'
Adams, W. Y. N'lbio, Corridor /0 Africa, pp. 539-91. Pl'inceton, N.J., 1977. Burckhardl, J, L Tr(/"cl.~ i'l N/lbi/l, 2nd cd.• London, 11122, Hasan, Y. F. Tile Arabs allli tile S"dall, pp. 90-181. Edinburgh, 1967. Kennedy. J. G" I'd. N/lbial/ Cere/llonial Life. Berke· ley, Calir.• 1978. Macmichael, II. A, A /listory 01 Ihe Arob.f in Ihe S'ldl/l!, 2 vols. WOllon. 1922. Trirningham, J. S. blum ill the Sudall. London, 1949. WIlliAM Y. ADAMS
NUBIAN ARCHAEOLOGY, MEDlEVAL. Although Nubia was a pan of the world or Coptic Christcndom throughoul the Middle Ages, the rc' gion was very rarely visited, and slill less orten described, by Egyptians. Almost the only fjDthand accOunts of medieval NUllr" that survive are those of IBN IJAWOAL and IBN SAUM AL-ASwANI. and both al"(; preserved only in abbrevialed form. The NUBIAN!> wrote Iillic aboul themselves. 1cs a result, knowledie of the art and the culture or medieval Nubia comes largely from archacology. The invCSligalion , of lIIedieval Nubian remains wa.~ mo.~tly neglecled by the Fil1lt Archaeological Survey of Nubia, whil;:h eliplorcd the region between Aswan and WAdi al·Slbu'ah in 1907-1911. This defidency was partly offsct by thc pioneering elicavatiolls of F, L, GIUl'Fl'I'lt in the churches and cemeteries al FARAS, and by the cady studics of Nubian church al'(:hheeturc mude by G. S. Mileham and by Somcr.'I Clarke. During the Second Areh:lCOlogical SlII'Vcy of Nublll (1929-1934) rhet'c was again no anemion to Cbristian remains by the prin· cipal investigmol's, but du,'ing the same pedod Ugo MONNERET DE! VILLARD m;lde ;l lhuruugh inventury uf churches and othc,' medlevlll J'elllllins betwcen As· wan and Khartoum, Hts four·volume La Nubia med;uevale rcnmins the most comprehensive SW'vey work on mcdieval Nubian archaeology that has becn published, 1'. L Shlnnie, during his tcrlll (IS Sudanese commi!;!iioner for archaeology (1948-1955), did much to advance the sludy of medieval Nubian archaeolo· gy through his elicavations in the townsil<,: of SOBA and in Ihc monaslery at Gha1.11I1, These we,,!, the firsl field investigations 10 employ acceptable professional standards of Clica\'ation. The real break·
NUBIAN ARCHAEOLOGY, MEDIEVAL
through in medieval Nubian archaeology came, however, in lhe decade between 1960 an. I 1970, as a result of the Internatiomd Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, l!xcavations ",'er'C carried out in morc than fifty churches; in the major towmi\(.-s of (}A$1t !UltIM. J"U"L 'folll)A, and OONGOl.A: in more than a doren smaller towns and villages; in a number of large ,lOti small fortresses; and in monllSteries, pollery workshops, and cemeteries. These excavalions, now reportt.-d in more than fifty major publications, have provided a far more complete Ind more rounded pic;ture of life in medil'V"~1 Nubia than was formerly available. The medieval Nubians, as rcvealed through archaeology, were primarily small farmers who dwelt in small and scallered villagl.'s along the Nile. There were only a few provincial towns in thf> country, and none of them approached in sire the great urban centers of Ev;ypt. The typical Nubian village, especiaUy in the earlier Middle Ages, might comprise from twenty to fifty houses, and from one to three churches. There were usually no other buildings, and the settlements ~re unwalh..-d. Houses were modest affairs of mud brick, 'lL'lUalJy compris· ing from three to five fUO!TUi plus, in a few cases, an open cOUl1yard. Most of the churches were also of mud brick and were relatively small and simple in design, but thel'e were a few more imp~ing buildings of rough or dr~d stone. All of the churches. large and small, were elabo"llcly decorated with brightly colored murals. The distul"hed political conditions of the later Middle Ages arc rencetcd in a change ill Nubian JiVing patlel'Os. Many smaller and outlying ~Ille· mcnts were abandoned OIS the popuklliotl drew 10gether into larger and more defensible localities. There was (I wholesale mOvement of selliers into the rugged Md isolated BATN Al.I;IAJAR region. which prevlollsly hau eOllnted kw inlmbit'lOls. M.lOy of the late settlements, both in Batn al.I:lajOlr and In Lower Nubi,I, had defensive walls. In lhe (wdfth or thll1eenth century lher't' appeared a new type of two·story fonified dwelling, which over time evolved into a kind of minialure castle. Cllurehes in the meantime became smal1el' and simpler, 110 that by the end of the Middle Ages the eastk had re· placed lhe church a.~ Ihe main archite<:tul':ll expres· sion of Nubian civiliz.'ltion, The most highly developed arts of the medieval Nubians were church decor-dtion, pollery decoration, and weaving. Other Imponant manufactul'Cs were ironwurk. various kinds of ornament,,1 as wdl
1805
as ulililarilm woodwork, lcalherwor'k, and oosketry. Abundant examples of all these industries have been found in the wdl-preselv!.'d townsite of 0"-511. IBRIM. Bronzeware, gla.~... glazed ponery, and cer· tain kinds of fine lelllik-s weTI.' imported from f'gypt, as were such luxury foodslUffs a... olh'e oil and wine, In exchange the NllbillOS scnt slaves, amJ possibly COllon goods and ivory, to their northern neighbors. Evidence of this trade is found both arehaoologically and in Ihe recorded telllS of the lVoOT treaty. That the medieval Nubians weTI.' devout Chrisdam: is auested by many aspects of their everyday life and culture. Nearly every community of any size had its church or churches. The number of such buildings sometimes appears out of all propor· tion to the nCi!ds of the immediately llUlTOllnding selliements. MO'lit of the surviving literature, in Coptic, GrNle, and Old Nubian alike, is of a religious nature. Spt.-cifically religious motifs, such as decorative crosses, dovC$, and fishes, were employed in potlery decoration, and n:ligious mOllces or cabalistic symbols were inscribed on house and church walls, on poUery vessels, and on the nearby cliffs and rocks. The archanael Michael evidently con· fern..-d cspt.'Cial protective po~r, for his name oc· cu''s in votive inscriptions fal· more often than does that of any other holy personage. E,'ery settlement had its cemetery, sometimes ad· joining the church and sometimes removed from it. Mediev..1 Nllbi,lIl mortuary p....Ietices were austerely simple, especially in contra.~1 with the elaborate monuary cult of the immediate pfL~Christian period, The corpst was w..apped In a shroud and was laid on its back in a plain recttlngular pit, oriented toward the west. Usually there were no grave offerings, but a few of the Nubian bishups were gorgeously atlired and were aecompanied by crosses OInd staffs of office, ,lIld in one inSlllnee by pottery vessels. OSlenltltion in murtU:lry practice is observable chiefly above gmund. Many gr'llves wcr'C mar'ked only by a paving of bricks or stoncll, bUI others had mOl'e elaOOlllle superslnlC1Ul'CS. An cspecially popu· lar form of grave covering was a small brick masta· ba about 24 inches (60 cm) high, wilh a cross in raised relief all the top. Stili 1ll0l'C elaborate superstructures were cruciform m:t.stabas and small qub· bas (dome·shaped edifices). Ne~lI'ly all superStruo;:tures, whether elaborate or simple, had at the west end a smnll, reculllgular brick·lilled Iliche ill which a votive lamp could bum. Some tombs, especially
1806
NUBIAN CERAMJCS
of ecc!c:siasliclll offidals, had allach.....1 to them an omamelllal lltcla bearing the cflchologioll mega or somc Olher popular fune ...My fomlUla. The study of medieval Nubian archaeology has made i. possible to rccognire dcvclopmcntaltrcnds in house archileclun~. chun,:h an;:hiteclUre. poucry. and textiles. These trends have penniHed a division
of the thousand.yea.' period of Nubi:ITl Christianity inlO early, cla....~ic. late, and leoninal Christian peri· ods, lind sometimes into earlier and later subdivisions of the main periods. This chronological
framework has in ib lum been useful in suggesting the probable date of occupation for
II
great many
Nubian archaeological sites for which no documentary evidence is available. [See ill$O: Nubian Ce~mics; Nubian Chrntian Ar-
chitecture; Nubian Church An; Nuhian InscriptiOM, Medieval: Nubian MonastcriC:'i.] BIBLIOCRAPIIY
Adams, W. Y. "The Seven Agt:s of Christian Nubia:' Klish 12 (1964):241-47.
"ArchiH:cturol Evolution of the Nubian Church, 500-1400 A.D." Journal of the Amuican Research Cemer in Egypt 4 (1965):87_139. _ _ . "The Evolution of Christian Nubian Pottery:' In Kllllst ,md Gtsclrichlt NlIbitlis ill christ· licher Zeit, cd. E. DinkIer. Rt:cklinghaUlien, 1970. _ _. Nubia, Corridor 10 Africa, pp. 471-500, 51021. Princeton, NJ., 1977. Clnrke, S. Christian Alltiqllifies ill fh,· Nile Valley, pp. 34-94. Oxford, 1912. Griflith, F. L. "Oxford Excavations in Nubia." Uni· versity of Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and An· thropology 13 (19Ui):57-86; 14 (1927);57-113. Mileham, G. S. Churches in Lower Nubia. University of Pennsylvania, Egyptian Department of the Uni· versity Museum, Eckley B. Coxe Juniol' Expedi· tlon to Nubia 2 (1910). Monneret de VlI!llrd, U. La N/4bia mediuevafe, 4 vols, Cl,iru, 1935-1957. Shinnil,l, P. L. Excavations al Saba. Sudan Antiqui· tie.~ Selvice, Occasional Papers, no. .1. Khal10um, 1955.
_ _ , and Ii. N. Chittick, Ghululi-a Munastery in lire NUri/tun SlIdan, Sudan Antiquities Service, Occasional Papers, no, 5. Khartoum, 1961. WilHAM Y. AIIAMS
NUBIAN CERAMICS. The Nubians fin;tlearned the art of pallery making from their Egyptian neigh· bors, but almost frolll the beginning they fulloww tmditions of their o.....n in the use of color and de.:.:o-
roltion. Artistically, the bcst of the Nubian wares sometimes llurpassed anything made in Egypt. This was true in the Nubian Meroitlc period (c. 100350), lind lignin In the c111.~sic Chri5lian period (c. 850-1100).
Meroilfc poltery decoration mllde abundant UliC of andent Egyptian motifs sul:h as the allkh, so, and wildiel eye. These were combined .....ith Hellenistic florol pallems, various animal and bird representations, and geometric designs 10 produce an clabomte and highly distinclive Nubian style that was applied mostly to the exteriors of line cups and bowlll, ll.~ .....ell ll.~ to 50me larger jars and jugs. The prefcrred colors were dark brown and red on a cream or buff background, although there w:u also some da;:l;Il'1Ition in black and cream On red. After the collapse of the empire of KUSH, around 350, the whole tradition of Meruitic paller)' decoration disappeared. Both in NUBIA and in Egypt there was a preference far plain red vessels imitative of Roman foml!. Over the centuries the Nuhians once ag;Jin developed increasingly distinctive canOns of forms and decoration, although their preference in the early Middle AgC:'i was for VCr)' plain and austere geometric designs. Around 850 there appeared, quite abruptly, the classic Christian decorative style. It comprised elab· orate combinations of norol, faunal, and curvilinear goometric designs, most of them inspired by Coptic and 8Y7.antine manuscript illumination. The designs, as in Meroitic tillles, were most often execut· ed In dal'k hrown and red on a cream or yellow background. The most commonly decorated vessels were large vases and wide bowls. The clas.~ic Christian pollery wares were m:lde :It fARAS and at a factory lit or near the WildT GIHl1:;\11 monll.~tery (see NUBIAN MONASTERtES). From these and probably other centers, they were widely traded all over Nu· bia and were evidently prized luxury possessions. In the hiler MIddle Ages Nubian pottery under· went a further process of stylistic tmnsformation. Most noral and fuunal clements disappear·ed. and geometric design~ gl'lldually became more rectiline· ar, morc formal, and more ornate. This tendency I'eached ilS a]l,ogee in Ihe lale Christian slyle (e. 1200-1350), when the preference wus for decora· tion in black 011 a l-cd or bright orange background, In the last century of Nubi.m Christianity there was a rapid slmplilicntion of designs, and a return to rother plain and very boldly ell:ccuwd geometric patterns. With the fall of the Christian Nubian kingdoms, the de.:.:orntcd palter)' industry came (0 an end. The Nubians reverted exclusively to the use of
NUBIAN CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE
Ell::II11ples of Nubian cer.:arnic
Unl.lecor.lIed Ulilil)' \'ess.:ls. In ils
hey(I..~)'...o.....e'·cr.
Ad::nus. W. V. "All Illh"Olhu::lOry ChtSSifil'"lion of Chrislian Nubiml POlre,)'.'· Kw;1I 10 (19('2):24S-
".
_,-_. "All hllroduClOI')' CIas.~Hie:alion of Memilic POll"!')'." 1:,,,sll 12 (1%4):126-73. ___• "'I1,e E,'olurion or Chdsti'lI1 Nubi:1I1 1'01· lery." In K",,)" ",ril GC!idridllC NublcIls ior clll1')"/· lid,,
Ihll
"l'I:,;m"
","I
lite ~Il
dall. I'd. W. K. Sir"psull ami W. M. D:lVis. Ouslurl. 1981. Wrl.l,r"'M Y. ,\D"'MS
NUBIAN CliRJSTIAN AUCHITECTURE. According 10 Ihe lesrl"'un)' of JOliN u.' ~r'rlll:>I.IS (S07586). Nubia Wi'S e"'lIlgdized in Ihe second quarter or Ihol shih ceuIllO)" by Juli,,,, aud Theodon,s. bish·
VCS!iC1s.
1807
Comfesy William Y. Adllltls.
op or Philae. Christianil.::uion quickly ",ade grear progress. F,'om Ihe cnd ur Ihe Si~lh Celli''')" Ihe country ma), accordingly he eO'1.~ldered a.~ cJ;.';l church buildi,,~ or Ihe carl)' Chrisli•• n ",:riod (i.e.. sixlh cenIUl)') have been found in the chief towns or llie eoullu)"-I'AKAS (P:,choras. Ihe capit,,! uf Nob:.II,,) "nd Old IKlNGO.... (c:apllal of AM· Kou"'r ...), as well as the r""lress uf OA$'" 11J ... 1M (Pri· mis). From the Mlulhc1'll0llO,r capiral SOfiA III ·... l.wA the ....; a''''' :os yel IlO relevanl resulls rmm excava· lions. Since Nubia was evangcll~_cd from Egypt, Ihe church a"chileClu"e Is subs.:ulli"lly delen"I"ed by Egyptl"" models. Tbis ll1e"ns Ihlll for Ihe early Chl'isli:n, pel'iud Ihe b..silic;I ill p:n'lle\,[:or HlI,sl be considered rhe leading tyfX' of hullding, wirh Ihe s!"'clai re"I""cs en'Tenl In Egypl ;II I)ml tir"e. To th\'se bdong Ihe side rool11s uf the apse, employed "lmosl c"cryw],crc I" Egypl sl"ec Ihe linh ee"lu')'. and also lb,' retum :ai~le. In addilion 10 Ihe~c, a fCalul'e sfl"-'Cial lO Nubia was a connecli"g 1/:.s5;'l;e running along b"hind Ihe apse, which was probably
1808
NUBIAN CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE
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the re~ult of 0 sill1plirll;~d development of the apse side-room plan, and has some repreS("lllitives in Egypt also (AbO Mlnti, predcccssoJ" or the &,~t Church; Grossmann, 1980, pp. 22211"., fig. 8). In some churches in Nuhia it appt;an; very early indeed. Howevcl', il becomes canonkal in the proper .~ense
in the high Middle Ages, and then <;onsisls of a small simple pi,ssagc that merdy (;OnneCL~ two ;l~ side l"Qom5 one with the other. The basilica is usually constructed with Ihree aisles. E..~aOlples of live·aislcd basiJlca..~ have be.:en found at Old Dungola and Oa.~r Ibrim. In Old Dongola there is in addilion a kind of lrolnscpt basilica. in which the central
aisle is conStructed nOnllally. Only the outer side walls of the church tur'n uutw:,rd in the eastern pari of the noos, just before the sanCtuary area, so that at this point the side aisles widen out. In the eit:;hth century the building forms become richer. Both in Old Dongola and in rams there were cruciform buildings with sel/crnl ai.~Jes, which at the end of the tl'ilnsverse axis had cxcdrols relat· ing tu the ccnll"1J.1 7.cme. There is no informalion so far about buildings of lhls kind in Egypt, though they must ccnalnly have existed (a reduced representation of this t)'p(: may be seen in the church of al.l;ltiyz Oasis). However, there are examples in
NUBIAN CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE
1809
NOl1h Arrie:!, for ClI:;lmplc. in D:1I1l0US al·Kar;la lind Junca III. Alongside these churches there appcan;,
from the seventh century on. a type of four.pillared building with an tlmbulatOl'y, equipped with corner pillars. Preo;umahly iI too follow5 in the lrain of preceding development in Egypt, and it can be lr"ced, wilh MIme ell,mgt:s and simplifications,
pr.Il::lically down to the end of Christian architeclure in Nubia. From the early Middle Ages down 10 the beginning of the high Middle Ages the basilica remained
to a large extent the leading fonn of building, alonpide a modcst tlcvclupment of building.~ wilh a cenl...l core. I)own 10 the lenth century. pn'fcrence
was given in panicular 10 barrel-vaulted, pillared basilicas. of which several examples have been identified in lhe neighborhood of Fllra... In front of the apse almost all uample1l contain a thidt tr,tnsverse wall with a wide eentr,tl upening. which significantly elltends only the breadth of the nave and thus dearly points to lilrvng innuence from Egypt. HOWC\'(,'T, while in EaYPI the are:! 5Ct apart in £runt of Ihe apse "'ll.~ devclopt."tern JXlI I of the Nubian churehes alsu assumed its final form. The western ~tum aisle, pn:sc:nt as in Egypt in the early Chrilltian philSC......ol.S I'e modeled and merged wilh the stail'case and a further corncr nXlJll tu form 'l group of thrcc Tuums. of which only the middle one euult! be entered direcdy from the naos of the church. It was open to tile n:luS for 'llmost it.~ entire breadth, and in this fOlm represents thc former weSlern return aisle. Down 10 the thirteenth century this fonn uf the western part remilined C(l' nonical, and wa.~ employed butll in Ihe building of basilicas :lIld in ehun::hes built around a ccnlral core. Only in the fouI1centh cenlury, when the dis' s.olution of the e:IIlQns of' form in Nubian ehurch building sel In, did this form of ruum also hegin to disappe;\r. From Ihe high Middle Ages. or the beginning of' the eleventh century in Nubia as in Egypt, thc domed Slructul'e look on Increllsing importance. Hence /Tam this perivd on lhcr'c were same longitudinal eh\lrda.'S wilh domes, such as wcn' built in Egypl. The Increased building uf domes pmmoted to a much gre:llcr e~lent the idea of ('entml1y planned churches. An e~tr,lOrclin(lry numbo.,r of ex' amples h(lve sun'ived from Ihe medieval archileeture of Nubia in the form of four·pilllll'ed building.<; with square or cnlcifonn pilla!"!>. From these, small arches .....ere thro.....n across on the four sides, which
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fuample of II ban'el,vaolted, pillared basilicli. Cl)ur/esy Peter GrQSSr11rmn. in a w·,ty divided lhe whole area into nine smaller llrel'l.~. While a high dome on squinches was u.<;uaJly en-'Ctr.-"
1810
NUBIAN CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE
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Example of a four.piJlarchu,·ch. Courtesy PCler GrO$S.
these
,,
~el III II dilfcr'(:l1l height in the several
al'ea~.
lhe MellS in Ihc ;lXCS heing given preferential Irc:llmcnl. In this way Ihere l:<\lIlC inlo being a form nol unlike lIml of the Middle OY/.nnlinc cross-in-
square churches. !lnd there is therefore hnrdly any doub! 111111 these buildings were innUl'nccd from there hy way of Egypt. In :molhcr ca..~c, the domed church at Kulh is a specimen of Ihc Middle Byzantine ocl;ogon-Jomcd church, which hIlS its closest relatives in the area of Aswan. II has, however, no lateral link of rooms, whkh is the ca.o;c' also in the Sail'll Saba church or Dayr al·Ou~yr al Turah (near Cairo) and stands thus close to Ihe representatives of this architectural f01'll1 in the Gn:ek example.~, It is dbtingl.lished
from these by a certain emphasis on the lnmsversc a~is, which does not occur in lhe Greek buildings. For the l'eSI, Ihe church at Kulb contains all the p«:uliur featun!5 of Nubian church architecture, such as lind e~p~ion in particular in Ihe eastern cross·pass.:lge and the lripartile western group of rooms. In Ihis phasc the building of basilicas gr-
mBLIOGRAl"HY
Adams, W. Y. "Archilcctul'ill Evolution of the Nubi. an Church, 500-1400 A.D," Journal of America" Re.fearch CeJlfer I" Egypl 4 (1965):87-139.
NUBIAN CHURCH ART
Clarke, S. Chmlian Allliquili~s in Ih~ NiI~ Va11ey. Oxford, 1912. Gardbe'll, C. J. Lale Nubia" Sile5. The Scandinavian Joint Ellpedition to Sudanc~e Nubia 7. Stockholm, 1970. Garlkiewic1., P. M. "An Introduction to tl,e Histol)' of Nubian Church Architecture." NI/bill Chris/iOrtO I (1982);43-105. Gros.\mann. P. Elephtl>llillt! II. pp. 86ff. Mainz, 1979. "Abii Mina. Neumer vorliiuliger Bcricht. Kampagnen 1977, 1978, und 1979." Milleilllngm des Dell/S€hen Archaeologj.u;hen Inslilws, Ablei· II/ng Koiro 36 (1980):222-24, fig. 8. ___" MilleJQlurfiche LanglrollskuppeJkirr:hen wid verwa"dle Type" in Oberagypleu. GWckstadt, 1982. ''Typologische Problcme der lIubischcn VierstUtzcnbautcn." Acts of the f/l Cvtlgres_~ of Coptic S/14dies. Warsaw, 1984. Jakobicbki. S. "Nuhian Christiun Architecture." Zeitsclrrifl fur ugyplische Spraclre I/Ild Aflerlwtl,~. /twlde 108 (1981):33-48. Mileham, G. S. Churches i.. l.ol\ll'r Nubia. Oxford, 1910. Monneret de Villard, U. lA Nllbia medioel'ole, Vols. 1-4. Cairo, 1935-1957. PI;,f.Jt GROSSMANN
NUBIAN CHRISTIAN SURVIVALS. The people of NUflrA adhered to the Copric Chlistkm faith from the time of their conversion in the sixth century (51.'(: NUalA, F.VANC:lli.IZATION 01') ur'lil nearly the end of the fifteenth century. Al thai lime the Christian Nubian kingdoms were deslroyl,J lhroog.h a combinalion of inlernal weakness, nOlllad Arnb migrations, and Mamlok intervention. EH,.:<:live p0litical power passed 10 Arab tribal 5haJkhs, and at the same time contact bctween Ihe Nubian Christian communilics and Ihe Coplic patriar,;hate was broken. Gradually lhe people adopted 1I1e Islamic faith of their new mlel'S, and the numerous chorches of Nubia fell into ruin. There were reported to be surviVing communities of Christians in Nubill lIS late as the eighteenth century. bUI there are none today. Nevertheless, traces of the earlier faith can still be observed in the folk rcligiOlJs plllCtiCes of the Noblans. Among them are a fonn of bapti5m; an Easter ritual involVing early morning ablution in Ihe Nile, followed by marking the sign of the eross on housc walls; and Ihe frequent invocalion of Mary and Ihe angels by women in childbirth. [n some areas the utin term Qngeles is still in use. Christian survivals arc reponed also among Nubian tribal peoples in the western Sudan (sce NUflrANS),
1811
Ihoogh it is not certain thai these people were ever officially converted. BIDUOGRAJ'HY
Kroncnberg, A., and W. Kronenberg. "Preliminary Rcport on Anthl'Opological Field·Work 1961-62 In Sudanese Nobia." Klish 11 (1963):304,311. "Preliminary Report on Anthropological Field·Work in Sudanese Nubia, 1962-63." Kush 12 (1964):285-86. Vantini, G. Christianity in the Sudan, pp. 208-215. Bologna, 1981. Wl1.UAM Y. AlJAMS
NUBIAN CHURCH ART. Decor.ltion in the earliest Nubiun churches seem5 to have been confined to the use of sculptured capitals, lintels, :lnd cornices of slOne and of wood. Vel)' few of these have survived inlacI, for afler Ihe eighth centory such fealurcs wcre generally discarded. The speci· mcns thaI have been preserved are fairly Iypical of early Christian church decoration. They are wrought into elaborate floral pauems of Hellenistic derivalion, whh only an occasional dccoratiye cross or bird of peace 10 signify Christian inlloence. The sculptured capitllis and Iinlcls of the early Nubilln churches were probably pllinted as well. but lher'e is no suggestion of mural decoration a5 such. At the beginning of the eighth century, how· ever, a new and purely Christian artistic canon made its appearance in the form of brightly colored wall painlings similar 10 those found in early churches in Egypt. These soon became. and reo mained throoghout the Middle Ages, the highest artistic expression of Christian Nubian civili:cation. Aftcr their appeal1lnce, carved decoration declined rapidly in popularity. Thc earliesl signilieam discoveril."lii of Nubian muronl art were made by F. L GRtFFlTH at FARAS and 'i\hd aI-Qadir. Subsequently, many more fragmen' tal)' remnanl~ of paintings were discovered by U. MONNI'.RET Dt! YIU.AIU> in the coorse of his compre· hensive survey of Nubian churches In the 19305. However, il was the finding of Ihe spectacular mo· rals in lhe burled Faras catht..-dral (see fARM MtJ. ItALSJ that ultimately drew world altenlion 10 the high development of medieval Nubian rdigioU$ art. NOI long afterward, additional well'preserved murals wcre foond hi Ihe buried churches of 'A80AIJAH NrKOI in Egyptian Nubill, and o.t &inql Tlno in the Sud:m. The discoverie5 ut Faras, 'Abdallah NirqI, llOd
1812
NUBIAN CHURCH ART
Sonqi have nmde il possible 10 re<:onstruet the • been fully developed only at Fams. Elsewhere the p."linted designs in a gl'eal lIlany OIher churches. of l'Cd·yellow style continued in vogue until the end of which only slllall frngmenlS were aClually pre· the Christian period, late in tile fifteenth century. served. All of them corresponded c10licly in style Sollie of the vcry late Nubian churches. such as lhe :and iconognlphy. although the paintings in Ihe one at 'Abd al-Q4dir. cxhibiwd a highly simplified sm:allcl' churches seldom matched the qualily 01' Ilnd somcwhal degenerate slyle lhal ",~..s nut rcprc' the e11100rateness of Iho.~e at Faras. As a n:sult. it is senled al Faras; apparently it developed after Ihe now pos.o;ihle to speak in l:encral u,'nus of a Nubian Fams Cathedral had already been abandoned. school of medieval chun:h a .... Coplic influence in the Nubian painlings is very The Nubian church does nOI seem 10 have had a evident. It is also noticellblc lhat most of me in· rigidly prescribed program uf mural decoration. scriptions accumpanying the paintings are in the Ho\W'ver. lhe SlIme ur similar figures occurred in Coptic language, suggesling the possibility that the the same localion in a lallte number of churches. painh:rs were Egyptian an~ns brought in for lhe The lower apse walls were generally occupied by a purpose of decorating lhe Nubian churches. PI'l"central tigu~ of lhe Madonna and Child flanked on sumably Ihey worked from a copy book, since there either side by the apostles. while the half-dome that is a close and detailed, lhough never eXilct. similari· crowned the apse in earlicr Nubian churches WIlli ty among the paintings in different pans of the occupied by the colO5SllI head and shoulders of country. Even so. Ihe muml an of Nubia is not Christ Panlocrator. Then: was often a nalivily scene purely an imitatlon of the contemporary Christian in Ihe nonh aisle, a standing figure of the archangel a... of Egypl; it also betrays influences from Pales· Micll3el :It Ihe end of the .south ai.~le. Olnd a head of tine. Syria, and 8)"lllnllum. A purely indigenous and Chrisl nanlu.-d by the symbols of the fuur evangelislS realistic touch is added by Ihe portl"llyal of native $Omewhere along lhe soulh wall. Cavalier saints, rulers and bishops with dark fe-oltun:s. in cuntrast including the familiar figure of Saint G<.-'Ql'ge IIpear· with the while faces of the Holy Family, sainlS. and ing Ihe dl"llgon. wen: another popular mOlif. arehangels. In chul'Ch a .... as in church architec· At lellSt four periods of stylislic development lUre, il appcan that Ihe Nubians assimilatl-.J and were recognized in lhe painting at Fara.'i. They were combined inlluences from a variety of suurces, as de:<>ignated by Kazimien MICHALOWSKI as the violet well as adding touches of their own. slyle (early eighlh 10 mid·ninlh century). the white [See aiSt): Nubian Christian Architecture; Nubian style (mid·ninth IU early teluh century). the red· Archaeology, Medieval.) yellow style (lenth century). and the multicolored 818L10CRAPIIY .'ilyle (eleventh and twelfth cenlUrks). These desig. nalions I'eflect ehanllinll color preferences, bUI Adams. W. Y. N,jbill. Corridor I/) Africa, pp. 482-84. there were alliO important changes in style ana icoPrinceton. N.J.. 1977. nography. The twu earlier ~tyles Wefe characterized Donadoni. S. "Les FouUles A I't\glise de Sonqi by rather muted colors and a spi'lring use of aecOl'a' Tina." In KWUllwd Geschichle Nubiem' ill dlrist· tlve detail. The human figures were described by lidJl.:r Zeil. ed. E. Dinkier. Recklingllllusen. 1970. Wcitzmann a.Il havin~ "straight outlines which tend Griffith, F. L "O~fol'(l E~eavlltions in Nubia," Uni· versily of Uvupvvl Amrafs o{ Ardral.'o/ogy and All' to flail en Ihe figures while at the ~ame time their lilropolo!:y 13 (1926):66-82; 15 (1928):63-82, sumewhat thlcksel proportions suggest the massive Michalowski. K. Parl/S. "IHlIr'C IIflisliqlle de fa Nubie str'uCIUl'e of their bodies, underlined by their large. chretiCIlIlI.'. Letden. 1966. almoSI clumsy feet and Iheir heav)', square heads. F"ras. Wanaw. 1974. 111dr fuccs arc designed with thick and
-==.
NUBIAN CHURCH ORGANIZATION
NUBIAN CHURCH ORGANIZATION. The three Nubian kingdoms of NOBATI.... MAKOtJld.... and 'ALwA were converted to Christianity at various times in Ihe shah cenlury. There seems 10 have been rival mi!iSionary aClivity of Monophysitc5 and MclchilCS in all three kingdoms, with uiffedng results. Nobatia and 'Alwii were both converted by the Monophysiles from Ihe beginning, while Makouria may inilially havc favored the Mekhiles. Aher the sevcnlh century, however, the Munophysite Coptic church was clearly ascendtllU Ihroughout NUBIA, ahhough the Mekhilcs continued their efforts to win over the southern counulcs. An eighth-century Egyptian commentator rcpot·t· ed that the Nuhian church was headed by a metro· polltan appointed by the p::ltriurch of Alc~andria, and lhal he had the responsibility or ordaining priests and bishops throuGhout the Nubitm king· doms. However, this testimony docs nOI accord well with other lextual or with archaeological cvidence. In their funerary stelae, none of the Nubian bishops claims primacy O\'cr the whole region, and we can recogni:.oc no eccelesia.'ltlcal tille comparable with that of the Abyssinian ...IJON. The evidence tends, rather, to suggesl thai the Nubian church was treated as integl'lll with that of Egypl, under the direct governance of lhe Coplic p;1triarch. The appointment of bishops directly by the patriarch is allested in a number of documents. Notwithstanding this organi1Altional unity, Greek rath..,r than Coptic was ;always the preferred liturgical languagc in Nubia (see NUBI... N lANGU"'GES "'NO LlTl!:It...TURF.), and NUBI... N CHRISTIAN "'RcmTloCTtntE developed its own distinctivc tr...ditions. A late medieval source, of obscure orig.in, Iist.~ thirteen episcopal sees in Nubia: 5evcn In the kingdom of Makouria, and six in the kingdom of 'Alwa. The eKistencc of sces at TAFA, Qurta, QA~R !BRIM, FARAS, SAl ISLANn, and DONGOLA IHls been indepen. dently confirmed by leKlual or archaeological evidence. or the siK reported sees in 'AlwA, only Lhat al 5011.40 can now be locatcd. Some infurmation about the Nubian bishops has been gained from the study of mural represen::ations and funcnlry inscription5 found in the cathe· dral at Faras. The bi..hopll arc shown richly attired in an inner gown and fln oUler chasuble, with an omamenl:.l sash of office hanging frum th.' shoul· ders. They either are bareheaded or haw a fine white clolh draped over the head and shnulder.;. None i5 shown wearing a pectom! cross or l'anying a ~aff, although both these items have been found
1813
in thc bishops' lomhs. In the Far3S pamtmgs the bishops are alw3YS shown holding Ihe Bible in the left hand and making. the sign of blessing with the righl. There arc no representation5 of lesser clergy ill the Nubian churches. From their tOmbstone1; it appean that they bore: the title presbyuffi$. Therc are also many references to deacons, and a few 10 archdeacon.., "epide:leons," and "hypodeaeons." The monastic orders apparently consisted of monks and archimandrites. Linguistic evidence suggest.~ that many of the bishops and monks in Nubia were Egyptians, al· though other bishops. as well as moM of the lower clergy, were Nubians. The Egyplian pr'elates and monks used the Coptic language in funerary and muntl inscriplions, and quite possibly ;tlso in the liturgy, while the indigenous clergy used Greek, latel' increasingly supplemented by Old Nubian. IUN So\I.JM AI~ASWANI reported of the kingdom of 'Alwa: "Their [sacred] books are in the Creek tongue, which they lranslatc into their own language." Bisholl Tlmotheos of Ibrlm and Fanu; was coru;eeratl,.-d at Cairo in 1372. He apparenlly died Sh0l11y after reaching his sec in Nubia. 11i!l consecration documents, which were found buried beside him, provide the last definite evidence of a link between the Nubian church and the Coplie patriarch. Some Egyptian writen; nady asser1 that contact between the Nubian and Egyptian churcha was broken at this time, and thai the patriarch refused to send bishops into Nubia because of Ihc dislUrbt.-d stale of Ihe eountl)'. Bi5hops are still mentioncd in anumbe.. of legal documents from the late medieval kingdom of OOT"'WO, but there is a suggestion that they were appointed by the Nubian king him!lelf 3nd not by the patriarch in Alexandria. There is not. in fact, a clear' distinction between civil and eecle.~iaMical offices In the lale Dotawo documents. The last of these to mention a bishop bears the date 1484. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, W. Y. Nubia, Corridor /0 Afrit'u, pp. 471_ 73. Princeton, N. J., 1977. bkobiclski, S. Furus fII, a History of Ihe Dishopric of Pakhora$. Warsaw, 1972. Monnerel de Villani, U. Sioria della N"bia crislialla, pp. 158-68. Orientalia Christiana Analccta 118. Rome, 1938. Plumley, J. M. Tile &rol/$ 0/ Bishop Timotheo$. Egypt Exploration Society, Texts from Excavations, First Mcmoir. London, 1975.
1814
NUBIAN INSCRIPTIONS, MEDIEVAL
Vantini, G. ChrisfitHlily ill Ihl,' Sudan. pp. 5 I-59. Bologna, 1981. WIInA.\! Y. ADA.MS
NUBIAN
INSCRIPTIONS,
MEDIEVAL.
Uterary records of medieval Nubia are few and fragmentary, but archaeology has yielded a large number' of short writlen tell.ts, mostly of II religious nalure, that were inscribed Oil house and chul'ch walls, on pottery vessels and frngmenlS, and on tombstones, There are medic''al texts in at least four dilfercntlanguages: Coplic, Greek. Old Nubian, and Arabic. An enormously rich source of inscriptions was the buried cathedral at PARAS, On its W
pra)'l'r for "TheophiJus. this leasl of monks, who wrote these writingli on my dwelling," with a date equivalent 10 A.D, 739, Owners' names or monograms and cabalistic protective fonnulas were often incised on panery vessels, and sometimes also on house and church walls. An especially popular formula involved the analysis of names into theil' cunstituent numerical equivalents (every leiter in the COptic, Grcek, and Old Nubian alphabets slood fur" number as well as for a sound), the summation of lhe individual numerical value.~ for the lellers in any given name, and the rendering of the final sum in leller form. In aceordanee with this fonnula the very popular name MIXAHA was analp.ed as M = 40 + I = 10 + X ... 600 + A = I + H = 8 + A = 30, making. total of 689, which was thl'n written as xne, This combinatton of three letters occurs over and over again on pottery vessels and on house: walls. Ostraea (writings on poillherds) were another common fonn of inscription in medieval Nubia. Many of them were memoranda and receipts: othel'll were lIChool exercises, Still others were rell· gious nl' magical formulas, Hii{/bs (tlmulet.~) comprised or religious 01' magi· caltcxts on papcr, tightly folded and lhen sewn into ornamental leather covers, were very common in medieval Nubia, They usually had tie thongs so that they could be worn for protection by individuals. or attached to valued objects or to the hamt.'S5C."S of animals. A greal many of these have been found in the ellcavations at OA.$R tBRIM. but the telllS have not yet been systematically analp.ed. Nubian tombstone inscriptions were either in Coptic or in Grt.ock, In the Illlter case they some· timt."S had a line or two of Old Nubian at the begin· ning or the end, or both, The tellts were usually a dOlen or more lines in lenglh, and involved any of several pupultlr litl'rary fonnulas. The most com· man was lhe well·known BYLanlinc prayer formula known as the ellchologioll mllKu; Jesus Christ, Light of Life. Through the provi· dence of God, the ruler of all, He th:u said unto Adam. the lirst man, "Earth Ihou an, to earth again shalt thou return"; even thus did [such-and· such penon) on [such.and·such dale], And may God the good and benevolent give rest unto his soul in the heavenly kingdom. !lnd place him in the bosom of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the pllradise of joy. whence weeping and grief and sighing do Oy away; and may he cause the good Archa"ttcl Michael 10 watch over his bones: and cause him to hear the blessed voice which
NUBIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE
shall !laY. "Come. 'ft bles.'W!d of my father. and inherit the kingdom whieh has been prepared for you sinee die fountlation of the world." FaT diou an the rest and the rcsul'TCCtion of thy senrant [~and-soJ, and unto thee we ~nd liP praise. untO the Father and to the Son and to the Holy GhOliI, now and fo~ver and unto the agl'!l of ages. Amen. [See also: Nubian Languages and UternlUre.) BIBLIOGRAPHV
Adams, W. Y, NI/bia, Curridur 10 A/rica, pp. 485-88. Princeton, NJ., 1977. Griffith, F. l... "Oxford Excavations in Nuuia." UniV~r$ily of l.iverJ!oo/ Alll/als 01 Arc/rul!-u/u/O" IHid AnIlrrupu/ujD' 14 (1927):81-91. _ _. "Christian l)ocument~ from Nubia." Proceedi'lgs of tire British Academ:r 14 (1928):117-46. Jakobielski, S. "Some New Data to the lli~tory of Chri~tian Nubia as Found in F:mtS' Inscriptions." Klio 51 {19(9):499-S03. _::-_ "Sollle Remarb on faras Ins<:riptions." In KllIls/ //Ild GCR·hicJrle NlIbiclI.i ill christlicJlI.~r Zeit. ed. E. Dinkier. Recklinghausen. 1970. Junker, H. "Die chrilitlichen GI-absteine Nubiens." lei/schri// /lir Xgyptische Spruchc lind AflerlUm· skullde 60 {1925):1I1-48. Monnerct de Villard, U. Le iscrizjolli del cillli/ero di Sakillya (Nubia). Cairo, 1933. Shinnie, P. L, and H. N. Chilllck. "Ghazali-a Monastery in the Northern Sudan." SUI/all Alltiquiries Service, OccasiollQl Papers 5 (1961 ):95-111. WtWAM Y. ADAMS
NUBIAN LANGUAGES AND TURE. According to the system of
LITERAdas~ilicatjon
devised by Joseph Greenberg, the languagl's spoken by the Nubians belong to the Eastern SUd'Hlic family of the Nllv-S..haran stock. They are fairly closely related to severnl of the tribal languugcs of southern Sudan and Uganda, and are Illor'c distanlly TC· laled to many other ind!yenouli lllnglllll:\e~ of east· central Africa. nle Nubian languages are bellevcd to have evolved originally ill whnl today arc the provinces of Kordofan and Darfu.·, in WCSlern Sud:\II. Sllbsequendy most of the Nubian speakers migrated eastward to the Nile Valley, displacing or absorbing an older population of Meruitic speakers. In the Mid· die Ages the Nubian languageli were dominant in the Nile Valley al least from Asw,jn to the eonflu· ence of the Blue and While Niles. They were spo· ken and written in the medieval kingdoms of NORA· TIA, MAKOURIA. and 'ALW..l. Since that time the
1815
Nubians in their tum have been panly absorbed into the Arabic-speaking populalion of central Sudan, and Nubian languages survive in the Nile Vld· ley only in the f.u- northern Sudan and in southern Egypt. Thtre are also surviving pockets of Nubian speake", at ~veral places in Kordofan and Darfur, although th¢se languages are rapidly dying out. Today there arc diree Nubian--speaking groups in the Nile Valley: the Kanu7. (sing., Kenzi) in the north, between Aswan and Ma!;larraqah; the Mp~liS or Fad!j:\ in the middle, between Ma!;larraqah and Karma; and the Danaglah (sing., Dongolawi), south of K..u ma. Kenzi and Dongolawi al'e actually dia· lects of the same language, while Ma!;l.bT is distinct and not intelligiblc to speakers of lhe olher two. The KanOz apparently migratcd into their pl'esent, nonhern habitat in thc laIc Middle Ages, bUI the linguistic fron'!er between the Ma~d.~ and Danaglah was noted by the tenth.cenlury Egyptian traveler lIlN SII.!JM II.vAswANI. In addi,ion to ,he langu:tgcs that Stm survive, one or morc additional Nubian lall' guagcs were probably spoken in the kingdom of 'AI,"""" around the conlluenee of the Blue and White Niles. where only Arabic is spoken today. There are also at leas. six surviving Nubian languages in Kordoran and Darfur. They are Quile markedly distinct from the languages spoken along the Nile, and also from ont another, suggesting a long peliod of sepanne ellistence. Only one of the medieval Nubian languages was wrillCn down with any degree of regularity. It was the aneCSlOr of modem MaJ.tAsI, although the mt:dieval variant is usually designated M Old Nubian. It was wI'illen in a modified Coptic alphabet, with two added Icllers to represent sounds not found in eoplic. F. L GRtFFlTH believed that these characters were carried over from the old Meroitic alphabet, although no tellt in Old Nubian can be dated earlier th:m 795. Surviving le~lS in Old Nubian 3rt moslly of a religious nature. They includc gospels, prayer book~, livcs of saints, descriptive legend'l for wall paintings, and a great many mortuary texts. In addition, much of the administrative and commercial eOITespondenee found at QAl/R IBRIM is in Old Nubi· an. The same form of wrillen language appears to have been used both in the territory of Nobatia, where Ma~~T "''81> also the spoken language, and in Makouria, where die spoken language WoIS Dongolawi. Griffith believed thaI the few Old Nubian tellts recovered from the more southerly kingdom of 'Alwa might represent a different language or dia· lect.
1816
NUBIAN LITURGY
Old Nubian was not the only written language in medieval Nubia; both Creek and Coptic were also
in regular use. For obvious reasons Coptic was the preferred language of the numerous Egyptians who served in the Nubian priesthood and monastic or· ders. However. the liturgical language thai was originally introduced when Nubia was convened 10 Christianity was Greek, and even after they accepted the discipline of Alexandria. the Nubians were reluctant 10 abandon iI. In later centuries. when knowledge of Greek became increasingly imperfect. the tendency among the native clergy was to substi· lute Old Nubian rather than Coptic. Thus, according to Jakobiclskfs analysis. Coptic was the language only of the Egyptian clergy ~idenl within Nubia, while Greek, increasingly augmented by Old Nubian, was used by the indigenous population. The surviving IheratuTl~ in Coplic and in Greek is .Imost exclusively religious, while Old Nubian was also used for administration and commerce. In the later Middle Agcs there was much commercial cor"respondence in Arabic, since much of Nubia's trade was carried on by Egyptians. It is not certain when the usc of Coptic and Greek died out in Nubia; presumably it was when contact with Alexandria was broken in the fourteenlh century. The latest knowr' document in Coptic is the con.secralion scroll of Bishop Timothcos of Ibrfm and Faras, wrillen in 1372. It was buried beside him in his tomb at ~r Ibrlm. Old Nubian persisted for a century longer as the written language of the Christian splinter kingdom of OOTAWO. which came to an end late in the fifteenth century. The last known document in Old Nubian bears the dale 1484. Since their conversion to Islam. the Nubians have used Arabic cxclusivdy as an instnunent or written communication. though they continue to speak their indigenous language,.; as well as Arabic. [St!t! also: Nubian Church Organization; Nubian Inscriptions, Medieval.] BIBLIOGRAPHV
Adams, W. Y. Nubia, Co,.,.idor M Africa, pp. 47-48, 484-88. Princeton, N.J., 1977. Greenberg, J. H. The Languages of Africa, 2nd cd.. pp. 85-129. Bloomington, Ind., 1966. Griffith, F. L The Nubiall Texl.I of the Chris/iall Period. Abhandlungen der Ktlniglichen Preu.o;sisehen Akademie der Wissenschaften, PhilologiS(:h.His· torische Klassc 8. Berlin. 19 IJ. "Chrbtian Documents from Nubia." PrCJceedings of the Bri/ish ACQdemy 14 (1928): I 17-46.
Haycock, B. G. "Medieval Nubia in the Perspective of Sudanese History." Sudan Note$ and Records 53 (1972):18-35. Jakobielski. S. "Some Remarks on Faras Inscriptions." In Kun$t ulld Geschichte Nubiells ill christ· fichu lei!, ed. E. Dinkier. Reeklinghausen, 1970. Menger, B. M. "The Christianization of Nubia and the Old Nubian Version of the New Testament." TUle ulld Ulltersuchungen wr Geschichte der ailchris/lichen Lilera/ur 92 (1966):531-42. Shinnie, P. L "Multilingualism in Medieval Nubia." In Studies in Ancien/ Langllages of the SudQJ'l, ed. A. M. Abdalla. University of Khartoum, Institute of Amcan and Asian Studies, Sudanese Studies Ubrary 3. Khartoum, 1974. WIWAM Y. ADAMS
1\.'lJBIAN LITURGY. Even at present Nubian lit· urgy remains obscure. II is evident, however, that Byzantine-Creek, Coptic. and native Nubian tradi· tions all shared In the creation of a liturgical life of richness and intensity among the Nuhian Christians of thc Nile Valley between 500 and 1450. Evidence comes from two main sources. The !irst is the magnificenl frescoes from the cathederal at FARAS, excavated in the 196Os; the sccond is the manuscripts that may have formed part of a cathedrallibrary from the fortress town of OA$k lliklM. In addition, small liturgical fragments in the same style of handwriting as those from O~r Jbom have bl;'cn found in a church al Sunnarti; these appear to be from an amphora. The frcscoes from Faros indicate an intense reli· gious life centered on the cult of the Christ and the Virgin, the Archangel Michael, and martyrs, especially the miJitllry mllrtyrs Mercurius and Demetrius. Apart from thc frescoes tbemselves, grnffiti cut or painted on the plaster of the wall of Ihe nave and aisle of the cathedml bear witness to similar trends in popul1lf piety. Typical examples are "Lord Jesus [and) Mal)', guard, bless, protect, strengthen (and) help thy servant Marianne, daughter of Mariata. So be it. Amen," and "l..Qrd Jesus Christ [and] Michael, guard, bless, protect, strengthen [and] help thy scrvllnt ... " (Michalowski, 1974, p. 299). An in· scription by a deacon reads, "Lord Jesus Christ [and] Mary, guard, bless. protect, strengthen [and] help tby servant Joseph, the deacon, son of Marl.; [of thc church] of Mal)' [In) Pachora. So he it. Amen" (ibid., pp. 298-99). Oa:jr Ibrlm has no surviving frescoes, hut documents from the charred and tom remains of what is
NUBIAN MONASTERIES
assumed to ha ...e been the cathedral library scat· tered on the noar of the great church connnn the evidence from Faras. The liturgy was sung appar· ently in Creek or Nubian, with some texts of the church fathe!\:, 1Such liS John Chrysoslom's "Homily on the Four U ... ing Beasts." using Coptic. From insenions in some of thc praycl"5 and din:ctions to the celebrant. it seems deal' that Greek was as familiar as Nubian to the worshipeD. at least until about 1100. Fragments of a eucharistic sequence that included an offenory prayer From 3. service book, the opening pllSSllge of an anaphora of Atha· nasius and the transition From the Mass of the Cate· chumens to the Mass of the Faithful. and a large fragment of the prayer of dismissal indiQte that the Nubian liturgy was based on the liturgy of Saint Mark, although it was shoner and simpler. This suggests that the Nubians obscnoed older fonns of the litul'l)', .....hich underwent elaborations as time Wt:nt on in other areas where it was U5Cd The fenoent character of the cult of military mar· lyn also can be pro...ed from the fragments of the ACID S. Mercurii and Acta S. Georgii found in the cathl-dral of OaiFr Ibr1m. These confinn the e...i· dence from the frescoes at 'AlIDAUAII NINOI as well as at F3.ra.~. The liturgy of the Nubian churches would appear to ha...e been Monophysile, using a slightly modified form of the liturgy of S."int Mark throughout thc lifetime of the church there. In the ele...enth centu' ry, howc...er. the usc of Ihe Euehologion Mega indio cates Melchite inl1uence in the church of Fams. This de...e1opment. associated perhaps with the episcopate of Bishop MarianO!! (1005-1037). whose tomb wa.~ at Oa.~r Ibrim and not Faras. needs fur· ther research. Otherwise, the Nubian church reo mained true to its Monophysile origins throughout its history. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Frend. W. H. C. "A Fnlgrnent or the Acta S. Gcorgii from Nubia." Analec/tl Bollandiana 100 (1982):79-
86. Sequence from Qa~r (brim." Jahrbllch filr A'l/ike IHld Chris/enwm 30 (1987): 90-98. Frend, W. H. C.. and I. A. Muirhead. "Greek Manu· script from the Cathednll of Qa~r lbrlm. Le Mus· eon 89 (1976):43-49. Jakobiclski, S. A Hls/ory of the Bishopric of Pachoras 011 lhe Basis of Coptic [llscriptions, Vol. 3, Faras. Warsaw. 1972.
....,..,... "A
Euchal;~tic
1817
Michalowski. K. I'uras: Wall Pai'l/I,,~s ill Ihe Calleclion of Ihe Notionul Mllseum In Warsaw. Warsaw, 1974. MUlier, C. D. G. "Dcut1Schc TClItfunde in Nubicn:' In KUllst "tld Geschic1lte Nubiens in christliche.r Zeil. ed. E. DinkIer, pp. 245-59. Recklinghausen, 1970. Moorsel, P. van; J. Jacquel; and H. Schncidcr. The Central Chureh of Abdallah Nlrqi. Leiden, 1975. W. H. C. FllEND
NUBIAN MONASTERIES. ABO ~I,t
ruE ARME.
NtAN. in his Churches And Monast.riu of Em! alld SOllie Neighbouring Countries, spc:-aks of numenrus and imposing monasteries in Nubia. Archaeology suggests, ho.....e...er. that the monastic movement was nc...er as important in Nubia a5 it was in Ec,ypt. Fewer than a dozen Nubian monasteries have been identified archaeologically. and none of these can compare in size or splendor with Ihe great establishmenlS at SuhAj and in Ihe WAdi a]·Na!n.in. The largeS! of the Nubian monasteries mighl perhaps have accommodated 6fty or sixty monks, hut many were considenlbly smaller. Mosl of the known Nubian monasteries seem to date from the period between 900 and 1200. Only IWO of Ihem, lit ~r ai-Win near FloRAS lind in the Wadi Ghazall, ha...e been investigated with any Ihoroughness. In both places a centnll church wa.~ en· closed within a compact cluster of adjoining build· ings. and the whole was surrounded by a girdle wall. AI Oa~r al·Win It Is p0S51ble specifically to recogniz.c a cluster of monks' eells, II central kitch· en and refectory, and workshops. Some of the earli· er Nubian monasteries, like the one at Wadi Ghaz!ll. stood slightly removed !Tom ~eltled areas, but none was tndy isolated (as were many Egyptian monasteries). Nubian monasticism seems to ha...e declined nip· idly after the eleventh century, probably a.~ a re~uh of unsettled political conditions. Detaehcd scule· ments like those of Oll.\>r al-Wb.z and WAdi Ghlll'AII were abandoned, and colonies of monk$ apparently allached themsel ...es for protection to already exist· ing communities. In the late Middle Ages there was one such colony at MENARTI. where the monks shared the ...iIlage church with the lay inhabitants of the communily. Similar accommodatiOns may ha...e taken place at some of the Island ~ites in the BATN At..t:WAR region. All Nubian monastic communities seem to ha...e come 10 an end before the 6fteenth
1818
NUBIANS
century, though the Christi:m faith itself persisted for llOother hundred years. There are neither liurviving l-ecords nor firsthand descriptions to suggest how the Nubia" monasteries were organb.ed and governed. The abundance of Coptic tombstones at WAdi G~II, Fan'S, lind Qa:jr al-Wi7oZ Slls.gCSts Ihal many, perhaps e ....en mosl, of
the monks al these plaet::> "'"ere Egyptians rather than Nubinns.•iowcvcr. the style of church 3n:hilecture exhibited at all the Nubian mona.slcri~'S is distinclly indigenous and nOI Egyptian. In addition to cenobitic monks, there were isolatt-J hcrmilS liv· ing in caves and ancient lombs in v;,u;ous part of Nubia. One meh anchorite, a certain Theophilus, decorate(! the ....'811$ of his 10mb home with a reo marbblc series of Coptic liturgical antI magical inS(;riplions. dated 10 739 (5« NUBI"'... INSC'UnIONS, MEDIEVAL).
[Set also: Nubian Archaeology, Mooieval; Nubian ChriSlian Archileclure; Nubian Church Organixa· tion; Nubian languages and Litcratun·.J BIDUOCRAP}I¥
....Jams, W. Y. Nubia. Corridor 10 Africa. PI'. 478-87. Princeton, N. J., 1977. Griffilh, F. L "Ollford EIlcavations in Nubia." University of Liverpool Allllais of Archaeology alld At!· thropology 14 (1927);81-91. Michalowski, K. Faras, fOllilles p%l/aises 19611962, pp. 114-17. Warsaw, 1965. Monnerel de VillanI. U. La Nubiu medioevalC'. Vol. I, pp. 1]2-4]. Cairo, 19]5. Vol. 3, pp. 61-62. Cairo, 1957. Scanlon, G. T. "Excavations of Kasr el-Wizz: A Prl°liminary Report, I." JOllmal oj Egyptian Archaeo/· ogy 56 (1\170):29-57. _ _ . "IlxCllvalions lit Kasr e!·Wi7.7.: 1\ Prelimin::u)' Report, II." JU/lmul of E;:yptiun Ar,:haeology 58 (1972):7 -42. Shinnle, P. L., lind H. N. Chilliek. "Glmwli-a Mona~tel'Y in the Northern Sudlm:' SU(\;m Antiquities Service, Occasional Papel'1l, no. 5. Khartoum, 1961. WlLLlAM Y. ADAMS
NUBIANS, TIle ter'm "Nubillns" lms sorncthnCli been used to designate all of the inhabitanL~ of the region called NUlllA. Even more loosely, it sometimes designales ::Ill of Ihe dark·skinned neighboring !'Copies who dwt.:ll 10 the south of Egypt. To be lechnically ::Iccurate, however, the name should be applied only to speakers of the Nubian family of languages. Today Ihey ::In.' found prindpnlly in the
Nile Valley belween Asw::ln in Egypl ::Ind Debba in Sudan, but they on(;e o(;(;upit:d a much wider tel'ritOl)'.
The Nubian family of kmsutlgcs is believed to have o"iginated In western Sud;:m. In Ihe provinces tod..y dcsignaled as Koruof::an and Dlufur. From Ihis ancestral homel::lnd, Nubian speakers migrated eastward inlo the Nile Valley, although a few remm,nt groups are still fOtllld in western Sudan. Nubi· an grou~ sueh a.. the !'IOBA and M::Ikkourai are menlioned in classical ICltlS as occupying Ihe wes' hank of the Nile, but the main pan of Ihe river VOIlley at th::lt lime ....~.u slill in the power of Ihe empire of KUSH. The official language of the empire, called Meroitic, is not bclit.'VI:t1 to have been related to Nubi::ln. However, aftef the empi~'s coll::lp:sC' the Nubians continued to move both eastward and nonhwaru. eventually occupying all of the old terntori~ of Kush ::Ind absorbing the previously residenl population. In the Middle Ages, Nubi::lns were the main. and perhaps Ihe only, occupanlS of Ihe Nile Valley between Aswan and Ihe confluence of Ihe Bluc and White Niles. However, afler Ihe foul1eenth centu,)', grou~ of Arab norn::lds overran the more southerly Nubian-speaking lerrilorics, and political power passed 10 Ihe newcomeT!i. Under their influence the Nubian l:tnguagt."5 were gradually displaced by Ara· bic. Tod:iy they su,vlve only In the nonhern pan of what was once Nubian lerrilOry, between Aswan and Dcbba, as well as in a few surviving pockets in Kordof::ln and Darfur. The Arabic·speaking groups in the Nile Valley between Dcbba and Kh::lrtoulil lire descendants of formel' Nubian trihes, but they h::lve lost their (Ineestnll speech ami no longer Ole' knowledge ::I Nubian OIigin. When the Nubians fmit e:ulle to the NiJc Valley, they adopted the worship of the ::Incient Egyptian dellies, ptlrtlcularly of Isis. In the sixth centUl)' they were convened 10 Christianity and beC::Ime memo bers of the Egypt!"n Coptic ehun:h. Christianity eventu"lIy gave way to Islam aJier rhe Arab migra· tions and the breakup of the medieval Nubian king. doms in Ihe rourtcenlh centul)'. Although united in their f::lilh, lhe Nubian spcakel"ll were never unified either polilieat1y or linguistically. [n the Nile Valley they were divided into two principal kingdoms, MAIWURIA and 'ALWA, and they spoke at least twO sepanlle but 1'CI::Itcd l::Ingu::lgcs. For lhese l'Casons Ihe Nubian peoples ne\'er had" strung :ocnse of common identity ::Ind did not designale themselves by a common lerm. even Ihough their Ar
NUBIAN TEXTILES
inundations and popul!l1ion removals occasinned by the Aswan d.lms have only belatedly aroused in the Nubian·"peaking people" of Egypt and Sudan a sense of ethnic nationalislli. There has been virtually no archaeolugy in western Sudan, and nothing is known of the earliest cuhure of the Nubians. It is presumed that they were mostly paslOral nomads. After arriving in the Nile Valley, they soon adopted the euhure and the arlS, as well as the religion, of the already sellied population, remaining distinct only in language. As a result, the general lifestyle of Nubians in medieval and modem times has differed little from lhal of EiYPtian rellahin. The Nubians were alW3~ recognixed by their neighbon as being Egyptiani7.ed and therefore civilized, in contrast with most of the other dark·skinned peoples of Amc:L Because of the scanty agrarian resources of Nubia, many Nubians have always sought Ihe wider opporlunities offered in Egypt. In many ag~'5 they serv('d as mercenarl('S In the Egyptian armies, where they were especially bmed for their bow· manship. In dl(, earfi('St tim('S mllny of Ihe Nubians in Egypt were slaves, bUI in the Middle Ages they became instead primarily slave d~-alen. obtaining their supplie" from the more pl'imitive tlibal peoples farther to the south. In the seventeenth eentuf)' Nublans were !laid to domlmlle the guilds nf slave dealers, watchmen, and construction worken in Cairo, and they have lliso been employed '" large numbers as cart and carriage drivers and as domes· tic set"Yants. The process of labor migration, already well developed, was v...~dy accelerated when sue· cessively larger portions uf Nubia were inundated by the Aswan damll built between 1898 and 1968. Whole villages of Nuhians wcrc relocated (0 new settings both in Egypt and in Sudan, In Egypt the largest Ill'ea of Nubiall resculement, designated New Nubia, Is around KOIll Ombo in Upper EgypL. In SudAn the Nubinns were mainly rcseuled in an area called New l;Iolfa, along the 'Albara River east of Khartoum. Huwever, m.my individuals and fami· lies in both coun1ries preferred to migrale 10 urban centen; such .IS C"iI'o, Alexandria, Khal1oum, and 'A!bora rathel' than cultivate agriculturel allotments in the resettled Nubian colonies. A few graul'S have reestablished themselves within their old tnritof)', along the shores of the newly tilled Lake Nasser, Those Nuhians who renmin within the ancestral homeland continue to lead a life that has changed lillie since the Middle Ag"-os, and that is also Iiule different from that of Upper Egyptian fellahin. l'low· ever, those Nubians who have resettled in the
1819
townS and Cl1les arc much more likely to follow trades. In Egypt they nt'e heavily concentrated in service occupations and in local COmmerce. In Sudan, where they have always been the mOSt educated group. they play fl large role in the learned profession" lind in the govemment bureaucracy. Throughout Ihe Middle Ages the Nubians were devout Christians, and their $UPPOI1 was often helpful to their Coptic brelh"en in Egypt. Contact with Alellandria was broken after the foul1eenth centuf)', and the majority of Nublans gradually converted 10 Islam. As latc as the eighteenth century, however, there were still reporled to be some isolated pockets or profcssing Christians among the Nubians. Today there are no Christian Nubians, but traces or their earlier failh can be observed in many of the folk rituals Ihat survive in rural areas of Sudan (see Nubia, Christian survivals In), Th(' publicity gen('l'aled by the Campaian to Save the Monuments of Nubia, and more parlicularly by the discovef)' of the gr('at FloRAS MURALS, has givcn the current generation of Nubian youth a new appre<:iation for their medieval culture and faith, [See a/so: Nubian Archaeology, Medieval; Nubian languages :)Od Uterature.] BIBLIOCRAPHY
Adams, W. Y. Nubia, Corridor to Africa, Princeton, NJ., 1977. nafalla, H, Nllbiall Exodlls. London, 1975, Fernea, R. A" and Goorg Gerster. Nllbialls i/1 Egypt: Peaceful People. Austin, Tex., 1973. Henog, R. lJie NI/bier. Deutsche Aklldemie der Wissenschaflen zu Berlin, Vijlkerkundlichc Furschungen 2. Berlin, 1957, Vantini, G, Christianity {rl tlze Sudan, pp. 21-215. Bologna, 1981. WtLl-lAM Y, AlJAMS
NUBIAN TEXTILES. The f:mlOus Coptic tex· liks of Egypt, wilh their clabol'llte woven patterns taken from Christian and classical themes, were not made in Nubia, In the earliesl pal1 of the medieval period, when Egypt was still weaving with !lax and wool, the Nubians were using cotton almost exclu· sively, COllon made its appearance in Nubia some· time in the liNtI century of the Chrislian era, and lllOst probably came frum Meroi!. the Kushite capi· tal fa'1her llOmh in the Sudan. The Meroitcs were experl weavers who cOlltilllle
1820
NUMERICAL SYSTEM, COPTIC
most c1olhina. they produced very fine complex patterns in tapestry weave with geolJ'ClnC designs lind motifs from pharaonic Iconography. long and shaggy, and short and furlike pile we"ves also were made. Embroidery and applique were used to decorole garments. Shades of bluc, and vcry occasionally red. were the only colors used in addition 10 the
natural color of the undyed callan. The clothing style of the Kushiles was derived fTOm thai of the ancient Egyptians. Kilts with long, pendant aprons in front wen: worn by the men; women wore long or short skirts, and are shown on temple relieh wearing )ong. close-lilting dresses, lhouah none of these has been found by archaeologisu. In addition to tapcstry wcave. pile weaves,
and applied decoration, elaborate
borders of
wrapped openwork and fringe wen: made for the lower edges of skirts and other garments. These lattice borders are strictly Nubian and have not been found in J!&ypt. In the fifth and sixth centuries the use of Calion decreased markedly. and wool took it" place. There ....ere many reasons for the change. but one important factor must have been the collapse of Merot'. which interrupted well·established trade networks. Also. the coming of Christianity brought many changes. induding standards of personal dress. The new styles S(:em generally to have c01lered more of the body than did pharaonic clothing. The tunic, popular In Coptic and medieval Egypt. was worn by the elite Nubians, but most of the people wore a rectangular length of cloth dmpcd or fastened around the body. Much of the materi:,l had brighlly colOred stripes in red. green, yellow, blue, or purple, as welt as the natuml color of the white wool and many shades of brown and tan. The use of linen and colton grat!ually incrcasct!, so that by 1000, 40 percent of the Nubians' textiles were COIIOn, 20 percent were linen, and appro:d· mately 35 percent wel'e wool-only half as much wool a., had been uset! 200 years earlier. Colton f:lbrlcs were often embroldel'ed with geometric de· signs and Christian symbols in brightly colored wool yarn. silk was rare, but was imported by the wealthy. Goat hair wa.~ made inlO bags, rugs, tents, cort.ls, and strJps. The weaving techrdques for the laller were often complex, pl'Oducing different patterns on the two sides in several difr~,rent colors. By the late Middle Ages, Nubian textiles were numerous and varied. The ;allabiyyah seems to have been the basic garment. It was dark blue or white. made of linen or callan. In style. it W'oIS lillie different from the modem ;affabiyyah, which is an
Ilnkle-lenglh, shirtllke garment with long, wide sleeves and a f'rQnt nC(:k opening lhat closes with string ties. The neck opening was often decorated with small circles or nowers worked in silk embroi· del')', Checks and slripcs in blue and white were also used, Wall paintings found in Nubian churches provide dClailcd pictute$ of ecclesiastical and royal dress. The overall impression is one of great richn(:ssvoluminous ganncnts in several layers, elegant braids decorating hems and cuffs, a profusion of pearls sewn in rows of roselles on sumptuous fubrics. Although there is no way of identifying the m:uerial from which these luxury fabrics were made. it is reasonable 10 assume that some, at least, were of silk. Among the pauemed fabrics. stripes are most commonly seen, but small and laIKcr repeating patterns are also prcs.cnt. There are many ways In which these patterns could have been produced: by printing or painting. by applied decoration such as embroidery or applique, or by the weaving process iuelf. All of thcse teehniquC$ have been found archaeologically from lhe medieval per· iod, and It is clear that gannenls similar to those represented on the wall paintings did, in fact, exist. Much of this luxury fabric wa..~ imported from the great textile centers of lhe Middle East and s(:I"VCS as an eloquent indication of the wealth of medieval Chrislian Nubia. BIBLIOGRAPHV
Adams, W. Y. Oasr Ibrim: The Late Medieval Period. Egypt Exploration Society Excavation Memoirs. In preparation. Crowroot, E. G. "The Clothing of a Fourteenth-Century Nubian Bishop," In Studies in Textile History, ed. V. GerveOl. TOl'Onto. 1977. Eastwood, G. "Textiles," In OU~'eir aI-Qadim 1980, ed. D. S. Whitcomb and J. H. Johnson, pp. 285326. American Research Center in Egypt Reports. Malibu, Calif., 1982. Michalowski, K. Paras. Warsaw, 1974. Plumley, J. M.; W. Y. Adams: nod E. G. Crowfoot. "Qasr Ibrim 1976," Jrmmal uf Egyptian Archaeol· ogy 63 (1977):45-47. NETT1I.! K. ADAMS
NUMERICAL SYSTEM. COPTIC, When CoplS adopted, at an early dale, thc Grt:'Ck alphabel. they also abandoned the demotic numel'llis for the Greek system bascd on the principle of allaching a numerical value to leiters of the alphabel. Thus in
NUMERICAL SYSTEM, COPTIC
1821
Comparative table showing Coptic cardinal numbers and other standard systems of cardinal numbers. Subdivided from left to right. the three main columns show Coptic printed numbers. Coptic cursive numbers. Roman numerals. "Arabic" numerals as they appear in Arabic. and "Arabic" numerals as adapted by Europeans. Photo of a manuscript dated 1937. found among the papers of Aziz S. Atiya. Coptic, numbers could be represented by the ordinary Greek alphabet together with additional letters which the Greeks had already borrowed from the archaic Phoenician alphabet and inserted in their own namely. the digamma (from Semitic waw) for 6, the koppa (from Semitic qaf) for 90. and the san (from Semitic sad,,) for 900. These twenty-seven letters represented the three series of nine numerals, the units. the tens. and the hundreds. and enabled the scribe to write the numbers from I to 999. The Greek supralinear diacritical mark was rendered in the regular Coptic script by a horizontal supralinear stroke. The same letters marked with two parallel supralinear strokes were used as numerals for the thou-
sands. This laborious detail seems to have been the reason for other forms in which the two supralinear strokes were replaced by one sublinear stroke. and also why all strokes were abandoned in several other examples. Nonetheless. if these regular numerals suited quite a few Coptic manuscripts written in uncials. they were in fact less practical for rapid notations than the tailed Greek forms. This is why Greek numerals were often used in Coptic accounts rather than Coptic ones. These regular numerals underwent a process of graphic transformation, observed in other scripts and in particular in hieratic and in demotic, yielding many paleographical variations. which are yet
1822
NUN
to be studied. It seems that at a later si;'8c scribes tried to assimilate the tlll'ee Semilic Jellers to COf>"
tic characters, which were drnwn from demotic. The Iwppa was finally 5tandardi1:ed as a Ill)' (..). the sad/: as a shay (",) or a.~ the barred Greek leller rho {Pl. while the digalll"'u was never llS5imiJated by the demotic sign for 6. All these Coptic numCl1Ils were extensively used in Bohninc, less in Fayyumic, but rarely in Sahidic where numbers were nannally wnUl'n out in words. To express fraclions. multiplicatioll, and dis· tributive concepts. Coptic Icons were used in both Sahidic and Bohaine. f\lAD MECAlJ.Y
NUN, a member of a female rcligioWi order living
under vows of chastity and asceticism. With the diuemination of Chri5lian ideals in the apostolic age. many widows and virgins separall~d themselves from society to worship God, initially in seclusion and lalcr in communal groups (cr. I Tm. 5:9-10). Cenohilic conventual monasticism C3n therefore be said to antedate its male counterpan hy severnl genernllon!, as evidenced by sevcrnl inslanccs from the hi:i>lol)' of the Coptic church. For example, upon his consecration as patriareh in 199, DEMETRIUS I. twelfth patriarch of Alexandria, entrusled his wife, with whom he had lived in total abstinence, to the care of a community of devout women. Likewise, saint ANTONY (c. 251-356), rightly called the Father of MonOL~licism, consigncd his only siSler to the care of a pious sisterhood before he devoted his life 10 solitary wOl'Shlp In the desen. Again, after Saint PACfIOMtUS (c. 290-346) had established cenobitic Christian mnnasticism, his sister Mary is said to have visited him askinlj; for liuidance to lead a life of slmllill' Ilustenty Ilnd devotion. The cell that he built for her in the hills of Tabenn~s~ Intel' developed into II convent near Dandarah in Upper Egypt, of which his sister bet:amt: the sup{,rior. This was followed by Ilnothel' near Akhmim. When Pachomius died, Theodorus, his fuvorite disciple, esttlblished another convent ot Faw in the vicinity of modem Oent!. Besides beinW the spiritual father of thnusands of monks living under his supervision, ApOl SHENUTE the Archimandritc (343-425) founded a convent that accommodated about eighteen hundred nuns. When Palladius (c. 365-425) visited Egypt, twelve convents had already been eslablished in Anli· noopolis alone. He recorded lengthy aCCOOlllS of Ihe saintliness of inmates of these Con\'cnl\. One
such was Talidll, whose prudence in administering her community was proverbial. Sillty nuns lived with her in real Christian fellowship and devotion, without once thinking of dC5Cning the community, whose gale was nevcr lockcd. Another was Taor, who lived in absolute self.negation for thiny years, consecl'3ting all her time 10 prayer and worship. Menlion must also be made of Saint Theodora (295-412), an a,<;<:etic of Alexandria. who was initi· ated nun by saint Alhanasius. According 10 De Lacy O'Leary, "she i! !l3id to have been the aUlhor of !iCveral useful trcati5C$ on spiritual subjecrs" (1937, p.261). No candidate would be admitted to a convent until it was ascenained whether lihe had a real and unshakable desire to take the veil. Pachomius laid down strict regulations to organize the devotional activity of nuns, their fasting and prayc~. Thl,.")' were given thc task of making aniclC$ of clothing for monks in return for provlsioruo and C!i5Cntial food supplies. But he forbade visitalion between Ihem ellcept in the presence of the abbess or an aged monk. As to the minimuill age of admiuion, it appear.; thai no litandard rulC$ Wl,:re cnforced. While UAStl TIlE GREAT slipulaled sixteen or sevenleen yearli of age, Ambrose, bishop of Milan, n:gardcd maturity of chamcter as the basic consideration. Again while the third Council of Canhage (397) agn..'Cd upon Ihe age of twcnty·fivc, that o( Saragossa (381) raised It to (orly. According 10 Canon 3 of Ihe third Council of Canhage, the !'ite of Initiation was to be pelformed only by a bishop or a priest authorized by him. In his commentary on The Rlldder, Cummings (1908, p. 606) says of Ihis canon, "Note that some say that the consecration of their virgins by means of prayers can be performed only by a bishop. and not also by a priest. But as for sponsoring these girls with the monachal hahit, and reading to them the ritc of bestowing thc habil and tonsuring them, these things llIay be dOlle by a priest by pel'mi.~sion of the bishop. In fJ.ct some declare that even the consecl'ation of virgins may be periormed by a pricst with pennission of the bishop." BIDLIOGRAPlIY Cummings, D. The Rudder (Pl-daJion), Pl" 529, 606. Chicago, 1957. O'Leary, De L The S(li"t.f of Egypt, p. 261. London, 1937. Smith, I. G. "Nun." In A Dietio"ary of Christi(l" Amiquity, Vol. 2. Loudon, 1908. ARCHBISHOP BASIUOS
OBICINJ, THOMAS (1585-1632), Italian FrancOcan and Oricntalist. In 1616 and 1619 he took parl in the d~ussiorl5 with the NC'slorians (Chaldeans) at Ihe Synod of Oiarbekr as papal delegate and was a member of the committee Ihal produced Ihe Arabit; u'J.nslation of the Bible for the Congregalio de propapnda fide. He was the fil"";t Europcan scholar to study a scala (dictionary; Arabi!;, s"lJllm) brought from Egypl by Pietro della Valle. When he died, Ihe manuscript ",oa., published by A. Kircher. The resull of Obicini's studies (I'IS Borgiani lat. 769) was published by A. van lanl5chuot as Un precllrscllr d'Alhflna.fius Kirchcr: ThvmtB Obicini C'l fa $£"tlftl vatictlllQ cople 71 (Bibliotheque ,lu MUSCon 22, Louvain, 1948). BIBUOCRAPlIY Ciiambcrardini, G. "Father ThomliS Obicini: Pioneer of Copti\; Philology." Franciscun .'>Iudic_, 25 (1965):277-84. Lantschoot, A. vun. "LcllI"e inl!dite de Thomas Obi· cinl." Revlsta degli SIII"i orielltali 28 (1953): I 1829. MMlTIN KRAUSE
OBJECTS AND INSTRUMENTS. See Metalwork, Coptk.
OCTAGON·DOMED
CHURCH,
type of church building that first makes it., appt:arancc in the first half of the eleventh eenlUry. Outside of Egypt it Is to be found in Greece. and from the twclfth cenlury. in Islamic archileelure. In lhis type
of building the whole naos area is roofed over by a single dome. camed by eight supports amanged in Ihe shape of an octagon. In single-aisled designs of this building type, Ihe four side supporU are developed 3.' simple pilasters. Greece is Ihe original domain of the octagon-domed Churches. with exam· pies to be found especially in Ihe island of Chios and Cyprw;. If these churches are surrounded by an ambulalory and side chapels-as is Ihe ease in the examples I(;illlcred predominantly over Ihe Gn:ek mainland-the lipace belween the pillars canying the load is naturally left open. In Ihe development of the other elemenL', such as thc narthclt and the sanctuary. Ihese churches agree with the olher building Iypes of the samc period. The oldl.'Sl cXltmplcs of the octagon·domed church are found in Grcece. The churches of Nea Moni (on Chios), HOliQS Lukas, Dnphne, and the church of Saint Nicodemus in Athens, tway in Russian ownership, were particularly important. All the churt:hes mentioned wC'rC' erected before the mid· die of rhe eleventh century. The remaining exam· pies (Ire of I(lter date. They were built down to the fiftecmb century. Apart from rhl,l l,Ividence known only from the literature broughl together in P. Grossmann (1985, p. 348), six examples h(lve so far been identified in the Nile Vlllle)', three of them in close prOJlimit)' to Aswan: the churches of Dayr Anbll Hadnl, Dayr Ouhbat al-Hawa, lind l)ayr al·Shaykhah. All three eJlamples are providcd with an ambulatory. In the church of Dayr Anb! Hadn\ lWO octagonal domes are in addition liel one behind the Olher. The Ihree remaining cJlanlples lire single.alsled, and arc local' ed al BaY' al-W.:ili and Kulb (both in Nubia) and at Dayr al-~yr at Turah 10 Ihe south of Cairo.
1823
1824
OCTATEUCH OF CLEMENT
Moreover, Dayr al·Ou~yr is a monast!:ry that is in Greek (Melchhe) hands. and there is scarcely any doubt that knowledge of lhis type of building came to El}'pl lhrough Melchite circles. These octagon· domed churches are not, therefore, a type of build· ing indigenous to Egypt. However, it was so widely a.5.. . imllated that the remaining eleme"ts, such as, for example. Ihe development of the sanctuary. are typically Egyptian. An octagon-domed building belonging 10 Islamic architecture l'l Ihe Mashhad of Ya~yI al-5hablh in Cairo. denYing £rom the twelfth century. BI8I,.1OGRAPJIY
Grossmann, P. AliUdQlterliche ~nshQuskuppelkirch. ell .md verwQ"dle Type" ill Oberiigyplen, pp. 5464. 147-56. GlUckstadt, 1982. "Eln ncoer Ach15tu12enbau in, Raum \IOn Aswan." Me/QlIges G. MokJI/Qr. Vol. I. Cairo. 1985. Monncret de Villard. U. Jl mOtlus/era di S. Simeone presso ASWQII. Vol, I. Milan. 1927. Novello, A. A. Grecia 8i~QtltitlQ. pp. 511-60. Milan. 1969. Stika... E. I.'iglise bY~Qnlitle de Chrisli'mQu. Paris, 1951.
texts of the Octateueh of Clement were already transmillOO in other documents. The contents of the Octatcuch of Clement in the Coptic·Arabic recension are as follows: Book I: TeSla"'tmtmn Domitli. There are two Ara· bic recensions: the Syriac texl was edited and translated by I. E. R.a~mllnT (1899). Book 2: Canons 1-20 of the first book of the 127 Canons 01 the Apostles. Book 3: Canons 21-24, 26, 2S, 26b and d, 27-47 of the first book of the J27 Canons. Book 4: Canons 48-51 of the 127 Canons. Book 5: Canons Sib-56 of the 127 CQnons. Book 6: Canons 57-60 and 64-71 of the 127 CatiOllS. Book 7: Canons 61-63 of the /27 CQtlons. Book 8: 56 canons from the second book of the 127 Calloprs. The collection of the monk Macarius follows books 2-8 of the AI'OSTOUC CONSl'ITlJt10NS more ex· actly. The brothers P6rier (pO 8. pp. 557 -59) give the text with a translation of Canons 45-59. BIBlIOCRAPHY
PETElI GROSSMANN
OCTATEUCH OF CLEMENT, tille, signifying an arrangement into eight books. given to a canoni· cal composilion attributed to Clement. bishop of Rome, who Is supposed to have received it from the apostle Peter. The true author is unknown, and it is assumed that the work was first composed in Greek. It is said to have been transbtcd by one James, probllobly James of Eclessa, in 6117, but this date is without douht valid only for the first two books of the Syriac recension, which form what is custolnllrily called the 7'eSltmllmlum Domini. The content of the Coptie·Arabic recension is different from that of the Syriac, lind it is not known who its author' was. The text has been transmi1ted in two chronologi· cal colleclions (i.e., collections in which the canons are arranged chronologically rather thall Systemati· cally or thematically): that of the anonymous manu· script in East Berlin (MS Collection Diez quo 107) and that of the monk Maearius of DAYR ANDA MAOAR, preserved more or less completely by St:vcral man· uscripts (Graf, 1944, Vol. I, pp. 560-63). It is missing from lhe val'ious systematic eolleclions, proba. bly because their authors had pereeived that the
Ciproui, P.• cd. LQ vU'siOn syriaquit de I'Octaltmqult de Clbt'etll, trans. F. Nau. Milan, 1967. Nau, F., trans. /..a Version syriQque de tOc/Qleuque de C/~mltnl. Ancicnne Iltterature canonique syriaque 4. Pans, 1913. Pencr, A., and J. Pener. 127 CQtlons des Apotres. PO 8, rase. 4. Pans, 1912. RahmAni, I. E., cd. and trans. Testamentum Domitli J~su Cllri#i. Mainl, 1899: repro Hildesheim, 1968. Riedel, W. Die Kirchenrecllfsqueilen des pQtriarch· (lIS AlllxQlldn'tm, Leipzig, 1900; repro Aalen, 1968.
us
RENR·GEORGES COQUIN
OFFERTORY. In the early church, donations of bread and wine were made by the laity to be consecrated in thc eucharistic service, and the terlll "offcrtory" came also to mean the prayers said by the priest during this part of the Divine Lilurgy. In his epistle to the Corinthians, Saint Clement of Rome (n. e. 90-100) wrote, "It behoves us to do all things in (their proper] order, which the Lord has commanded us to perform at stated limes. He has enjoined offerings rio be presented] and 5elvice to be performed (to Him]. ... Those, therefore, who pre.'lent their offerings at the appointed times, are accepted and blessed."
OIKONOMOS
According to the APOSTOLIC TRADITION (Hippolytus, 1934, ZO.IO), those who were to be bapti7.ed and confirmed were required 10 bring !heir oblations to be offered at the Easter Communion following their baptism. AI·$AFI Illli A....ASSAL made reference to the preparation of obhuions either from the church's own provisions or from donations made by the bithful, with the proviso thai lhl.')' should not be acCepled fronl blasphemers, adulterers, or other wrongdoers and lawbreaken, quoting Solomon's proverb Ihat a wicked man's sacrifice is al)(lminable to the Lord. Although this practice has been discontinued in modem times, and churches now prepare their own eucharistic bread, Ihe Coptic liturgy still pre· serves this tradition in its prayers. Thus, in the morning offering of incense the priest says, "We 1'1'11)' and entreat Th)' aoodncss, 0 Thou, LoveroafMan. Remember, 0 Lord, the sacrifice:;, the oblations, and the thanksgiving of all those that have offered Ihem, unlO the honor and glory of Th)' holy name."
The deacon responch, "Pray for !hem who altend to Ihe sacrifices, Ihe oblations ... Ihat Chrisl our God may reward Ihem in the heavenly Jerusalem, and forgive us our sins."' Also, after choosing the most perfect of Ihe loaves offered to be !hI' Utmb in the Divine Lilurgy, the priest says, "Remember, 0 Lord, Ihose who offered UDIO Thee these oblations, Ihem for whom Ih!.')' were alTered and by whom they were olfered. Give them all their heavenly ree· ompense." The deacon responds, "Pray for these holy and honored offerings, our sacrifices and those who offered them." A similar prayer is sHid by the priest on two ftlr1her occasions: once, inaudibly, while the Arabic Go~pel i~ being read by the dea· con, and agl\in towl\rd the end of the minor inter· cessions. Furthermore, there is the Pmyer of Oblation, inaudibly s(lid by the priest following the Preyer of ThMksgivlng and prior to the Absolution of the Minister: "We pr.lY and entreat Thy goodness, 0 Lover-of-man, lpolntlng to the bread] cau~e Thy face to ~hine upon this bread, and [pointing to the chalice] upon this cup, whicb we have placed on this priestly table [pointing to the altHr], which is Thine." The offertory i~ a vehicle for a tOial shaling with Christ and a means of entering into full communion with Him. Such consummate union t:ould not find beller or more poignant expression than the word.~ of Saint Ignatius, bishop of Anlioch (c. 35107), when he was faced with Inlmineot martyrdom. "I beseech you not to show an uDlM:asonablc
1825
good·will towards me. Suffer me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain 10 God. I am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of Ihe wild beasts.... Enlreat Christ for me, that by these instruments I may be found a sacrifice to God" (1956, p. 75). BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jungmann, J. A. The EArly Liturgy. London. 1960. Mala!i, T. Y. Christ IN Ihe EuchArist, Vol. 5, pp. 268-75. Alexandria, 1973. ~n ibo al·'AssAI, al·. Kitdb al·Qawdnln. Repr. Cairo. 1927. ARCllHISIiOP BASIUOS
OIKONOMOS, a term of Greek origin denoting an ecclesiastical or monastic functionary who is involved in economic activity, a sieward. As a rule, although not necessarily. he was a presbyter or deacon. 10 churches the oiJcoNomos 15 ~II auested already by the four1h century. Mention is made of an oikol/o/1los in the episcopal church in Tentyr.l; such functionaries appear also in literary texts and do<:umenl, (Wipszycka, 1972). In the middle of the fifth century, the Council of CHALCEDON, sanCtioning an already existing practice, made It obligatory for the bishop to have an oikouomos. The existeoce of an oikonomos in lower-ranking churches depended upon Ihe local condition~-the composition of c1er· gy, the church proper1y that had to be administen~d, et cetelll. The oikotlomos was always nominated by a bishop also for the nonepiscopal churches. He was respoosible to the bishop, and his pefllonal belongings served as II ijuarantee for reo payinij eventual losses. The oikotlo/tlo.1 of episcopal churcbes was considerably independent; this was inevitable in view of the enormou~ scale of his functions and the .~ile of church proper1y. J. Gascou proved (sec MONASTeRII$. OCONOMIC ACTIVITY OP) that the 0l'ganl1.:l.tlon of tax collecting In a given area was somelimes par1 or Ihe tasks of the oikotlomos of the episcopal church. The church Wa5 able to retain some of the collected sums, althoui\h this was by no means the I"lJle. An oikotlomos of an cpiscopal church was helped by numerous personnel, whose functions and titles we know bUI scantily. The oikoJlomos is found in all monastic commu· nities r
1826
OKTOKAIDEKATON
by hOllding over 10 one particular monk all the
work ntocessary for the elCistence of the community lind demlwding (;Onlacts with the world. the other monks could withdraw from worldly maners. IleneI.' the very institution of the oikotlQmos, although nOl necessarily the title itself, dales back 10
upon the abillt)' 10 COIle<:1 (lppropriate SUIllS, and Ihis presented a problem fOI' the smallci' and poorer communilies. The new mertning of lhe term sur· I'ived laler on, as is shown, for example, by the colophons of manuscriplS daling from Ihe ninth and tenth ccnluries (van LanL~choot. 1929).
the beginnings of Egyptian monasticiSIIl.
The lille oiko/l()l/IOS (X;curs in the oldest Pachomian monasleri~ during the life of their founder, tOOl is. in the lirst half of the fourth century. [n monastic centers of a complex structure there were
usually oiA;o/lfmro; of various levels-one must also take into account the possibility of diffl'rcnt titles. TIli., was the &as<: in the Pachomian congregation. in Nitria, the Kellla, the Apa Apollo rnonastery in mwT!, and in Enalon. It is wtlnh nOling that lhe
small group of ascetics gathered around the Pambo mentioned by Palladius (lluloria la ..siu"a 10.1) had an oikoPlo"'O$ 51ilhtly befon: ]70. There were also oiJro/fo/1lui who orJIanized Ihe economic C.llu;lcnce of Ihe laura in Balay.wh and W.:idi Sarjah. Monasleries were able to have simultaneously mon: than one oik0l10m()$. Then: is no information on how Ihl' uikullumo$ was nominaled in the monasteries, with the exception of the Pachomian communities, where the decision WIlS made by the superior of Ihe whole congregalion. We mustlherefore presume Ihal this wa.<; one of the privileg..' S of the superior. We also do nOI know 10 what extent Ihe oiko/fomO$ had the righl to independenl d..'(:ision. The fact Ihal Ihere is a great number of documents signcd by him is not satisfactOI)' proof, since such signatures coul,1 have been the resuh of special delegation from lhe superior. In larKer communities, with well-devdopcd economic services, the oikummws headed Ihe DlACONIA. Another special case concerns a P••chomian mon° ustery in Tabcnn~s~, where the monks employed in the kitchen and r'efeclol)' were called "small uiko/l· omoi," in COlllf:1s1 to the oikollomo.~ whn adminis· tered the monastery, 01' "the gnl111 uihmumus," whose function~ were concerned with the whole congregll1ion. An ensemble of documents pertaining 10 IMYR APA l'ItOHlAMMON in Oayr lll-BlIhri reflects a shift in the meaning of the tel'lll. Oiko.romos is used here interchllngellbly with l'ROESl"OS. in order to cle~ribe the superior. Thi.~ process is attested (lIM) in othcr places, and indubitably proves the growing impor· tance of economic mailers in monastic life since Ihe inlroduclion of capitalion laxes for the monks al Ihe heginning of the eighlh Celllul)'. The existence of the monasleries began to depend primar'ily
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Darison, P. "Ricerche sui monasleri dell'Egillo bizanlino cd arabo:' Aegyp/ll$ 18 (1938):46-48. Godlewski, W. Deir cI·8ahari V. LA mUl/lISlere de SI. PhoibamlllOIl. Warsaw. 1986. LanL'lChOOI, A. \Illn. Recueil des colophons des man' lIserils ehr~liens d'E1JYple. Louvain. 1959. Wipsz~k.a, E. us ,eUlJllrces el In aClivil~S ~cml()' miqlU!S des tglues ell Egypl/!!. pp. 135-41. 13russcls, 1972. EWA
WIPSZYCKA
OKTOKAIDEKATON, one of Ihe monasteries of Ihe coaslal litrip lnal separatcs the s<::a from the western longue of Lake Marcotis to the west of AICJtandria. The Oklokaidekalon is so called from ilS location in the neighborhood of the eighteenth mileslone from Alexandria. lIS site has nol been located. but the 11fe of Saint THEODORA characleri7.C5 il piclUloc$Quely as ;1 desert place, Ihe hllunl of wild bea.<;ls, a lakeside harbor, with shepherds in Ihe neighborhood-probably nomads or 5eminomads like Ihme bedouin.~ who are still prcllcnt near the main Egyptian monasteries. These shcphcrds were sometimes the source of wool and of milk. Gardens painstakingly irrigated by wells or cisterns produced vegetables, bUI grain and oil were sometimes lacking. It was then neces· sary for thc monks to go to nearby Alexandria 10 look fot' these, tnking their camels. Thc two·way journey could be done in a day. Alter'llatively they could sleep, logelher' wilh lheir .tnimals, at the rest house of the I:!NATON, halfway 10 Alcxandria. The origins of the Oktoknidekaton are obscure, and its hiMOI)' is sparsel)' documenlcd. Thc monaslei)' makes ils first appearance in 457. AI that lime ilS monks were participating with those of the ENA· TON and the EJKOSTON in the election of Ihe "COil'" tic'· successor of Archbishop Oioscorus. TIMOTHY AE.WRUS (458-460 and 475-480). In the reign of leno (474-491) Ihe Oklukaidcbton was Ihe setting fm' Ihe edil'ying life of TheodOl'D of Alexandria. who disguised herself as It OIan (sec in addition to WcssclY'lI edilion, Met.aphrastes. cols. 665-89; nOle
OLD TESTAMENT, ARABIC VERSIONS OF THE
thai Nicephol1.1.~, col. 232, locates this life (II lhe Eon· ton). A little laler, P)uosial1os, who was a former ollicinl of the 11I'efeei of Egypt and who was a friend
of Zacharias the Schvlll$lic, became a monk at !.he Okiokaidekalon. Judging from a scholium of the Viae Dux of Anrol1asius the Sinailc, it is possible that Saini SI!Vl!KUS 01' ANTIOCIl withdl'C'w 10 !.he Oklokaid·
chinn in 518. in the company of Gaianus. BUI more dependable sources Slate lhal Ihis lIccurred at
1827
Guidi, I. "Vic et redts de I'abbe Daniel de Sc~le (VIe ~i~cle)." ReVIle de {'Orient chritie" 5 (1900):535-64; 6 (1901):51-53. Raabe, R. S. Pelflls dcr /m:rcr. Leipzig, 1895. WClisdy, K. "Die Vita s. Theodorae:' Funfuhmcr Jahresberichl des k. und k. SltJals!Omnasiurl'lS it! Hemafs. pp. 24-44. Vienna. 1889. JEAN GAscou
the Enuton. "ou in the company of Julian of Hali· cam~sus.
•
Andronicus, a goldsmith of Antioch. and
his wife were monastics al Ihe Oktokaidl'katon. The Ure of DANIEL OF scms tells in Ihis conncction of a dispute belwc::cn the Sceliotes and those from the Oktokaidekaton. the object of which was the p0ssession of the relics of Andronkus. Daniel settled the .wit in favor of the Oktokaidekaton. III the sallie collcction then: l;un be found the edifyiflg Story of Thoma'is, the wife of a fishennan from the Oktok· aidcbton. She was assasslnated by her father·in· law, sec.nhljly a monk from this establishment. and was buried subsequently in the m(mast..rys cemetery. The historical \'lllue of these tales is very slight: thcre an: other traditions rlacing the life of Andronicus in the reign of Thcodosius I, whereas Daniel of Scetis would have Iivl.-d unde,· JU~mNtAN (d. van Cauwenbergh, 1914, 1"1". 200.). The latest refercncC$ to the LAURA of tire Oktokai· deuton lire provided by John Moschus, at the cnd of the sixth 01' beginning of the seventh century. who there visited a huly mnn, and by Anastaslus of Sinai. The Jailer had a theological controversy at Alcxltndria .....ith twu Monophysites, onc of them John "of Zyga.s:' a motlk from the Oktokaidekaton. around 635-640. The org:ll1!\wtiotl of the laura must have been similar to that of the Enaton: an agglulllerdtion of autonomous koinubiu rJther than a single monastel)'. However, the Oktokaidckaton as dl'scribcd in Wcssely's life of Theodora does arrear rn he a single esrablishment (like the Enaton). The pluee is, it appeal"l\, enclosed, with a solid masonry entrance lind II doorman. I'enltcrlt mnnks lived outside in a hut. An ARCHIMANDRtTE or I1EGUM1!NOS pl't'ilided over the estllblishment; he tested vocational purity. The group of pdors would pass on to him till: wishes of the other brethren.
BI8UOGRAPHV
cau\\'Cnbergh, I'. van. Etude sur les moit/<JS d'EJ:Ypte dt:puis Ie cUIlI:ife de CJlalcedoille illsqu'lJ /"i". \!asiOIl I./r(llu. Paris and Louvain, 1914.
•
OLD COPTIC. StI! Appelldi.x.
OLD TESTMIENT, ARABIC VERSIONS OF THE. TIle earliest ArabIc translations of books of the Old Testament datc to the Middle Ages. There are extant medie\-al manuscripts of the books of Chronicles, Ezra. Joshua, Judges, Nehemi· ah, the Pcntuto::uch, and Ruth.
Books of Chronicles The Arabic versions of the two boob of Chronicles have oot been the object of special study. G. Gr..r docs not give a Itsl of the manuscripts, but simply mentions some of them in JXIS$ing when speaking of the books of Kings. At Ihe present stage of research, classification is provisional. In the sixlh chapter of the I,amp of thc Darkncss. composed by Abu al-Barakjt tBN !CASAR betwt:cn 1300 and 1320, there an: two Illentions of these books. They are called KillJb Fat/alilt al·Muluk, which renders the Greek paralipumena well, and they arc divided inlO IWO books. The hrief ducriptions given in the manuscript catalogs sUlUi:cst lhat the Copts were acquainted with at least six dlITerent Arabic versions of Chl1)ni· des. Ver.lon of the Polyglot BIbles. The olclest man· uscript of this version (Natiomll Library, Paris, Arabe 23) was copied in Egypt ai ihe beginning of the fourteenth century. Folios 168v-87v give the text of I Chronicles and 2 Chronicles I; 1-35: I I. The l"nd of the manuscript-2 Ch1'Onicle.~ 35:1236:23-was found at Copenhagen (Ambic 76, fols. 31'-41'). Three other Illanuscripts appear to contain this !>lime vel"l\ion. In chronological order, they are: (I) National Library, Part~. Arabe 1 (A.D. 1585). fals. 168v-195v; (2) Coptic Pauillrchate, Ciliro. Bible 38 (fols. 168r-218v. Gnf, no. 244; Simaykah. no. 49). In this manuscript, I Chronicle~ is entitled "Sixth Book of KingS:' and is divided into six chapters; 2
1828
OLD TESTAMENT, ARABIC VERSIONS OF THE
Chronick-s is entitled "Book of Solo,"on, Son of David, drawn from the Books of Kings," and is nOI divided inlo chapters: and (3) Bodleian Ubrary, Ox·
ford, 270, (fols. 183v-end; Nicoll, Christian Arabic 2, cnd of seventeenth century): the manuscript is
mutihued and stops at 2 Chronicles 17: 17: 1 Chroni· dl..'S in this manuscript is entitled "Sixth Book of Kings." Version Prior to the Fourteenth Century (per_ haps from the Syrlac). The oldest kllown manuscript of this version is Bodleian 493 (fols. 200r62\1; Nicoll, Christian Arabic S, A.n. 1321: mutilated text). The superscription 10 the first hook reads:
"First book of the Sifr d (sic] Yam'" [Deb,- yuman], which being translated is the son of the right hand, and it is the fifth part of the books of Kings." Two othel' manuscripts of the Coptic Patriarchate of Cairo probably belong to this version: (1) Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, Bible 32 (fols. IOU-125; Graf. no. 235; Simaykah, no. 23, A,I). 1585), t'alled "Book of Bar YUmln"; and (2) Coptic Patrian:hate, Cairo, Bible 37 (fols. 215v-86v; Gmf, no. 236; Simaykah, no. 94, A,I>. 1760); the first book In thi!; manuscript is entided "First pan of the book of Debr YamIn, which means Ihe son of the right hand, which is the relics of the Kings, which is the Chronicles which is the fifth book of the books of Kings." None of the catalogs lives an ineipit, and identifi· cation is therefore hypothetical, being based on eer· tain common elements. These manuscripts give the Hebrew lillc (dibrt ha)l)'~min), along wilh a wrong but identical translation of the title, "the son of the righl hand," which must have ItS origin in the Syri· ae sfar dbar yomin. Reworked VenlOR of Ver.lon Prior to the Fourteenth Century, A re<:ast version appears to be close to the pre.founeenth,century vel1iion. It givu the Syriac title dbr y6mfn with the translation "the son of the right hand." However, here the division is different. The two books of Chronicles lire considered as cnnstituting the thinl part of the boob of Kings, but the first book contains I Chronicles and chapters 1-5 of 2 Chronicles. The second book begins at chapter 6 of 2 Chronicle.~. NevertheleSli, the tellt of this version might be identical 10 the foregoing, for about a manuscl'ipt ill the Coptic Patriarchate (Bible 44), Graf writes (1934, p. %): '"The same books of the Old Testamelll as in 236 [Bible 37] with the same lellt, but a different division." Unfortunately, no catalog gives 1111 indpit. Three manuscriptS give this version: (I) Vatican Ubn.ry, Arabic 399 (fols. 181r-24Ov; fifteenth century according to Assenlani; 1523 according 10
(iraf); the last six chapters of 2 Chronicles are luck· ing through mutilation of the manUliCripl; (2) Coptic MUlieum, Cairo, Bible 102 (fols. 156v-209v; seventeenth century. GnU, no. 674; Simayltah, no. 29); the last folio, containing 2 Chronicles 36:9-23, U lackina; and (3) Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, Bible 44 (fols. 175v-237",; A.D. 1782; (iraf, no. 237; Simayltah, no. 107). Three Flfteenth.Century Manu.cripts Not Iden_ tified .. to Their Version•. A manuscript in the National Library, Paris (Arnbe 24, copied in Egypt in the fifteenth century), is a small manuscript of 68 folios that eontains only the two books of Chroni· cles. However, between folios 38 and 39 there is a lacuna corresponding 10 I Chronicles 29:3 to 2 Chronicles 16;2. We calculate thnt this corresponds to two quJniolls (twellty folios). This manuscript is not mentioned by Graf. A manuscript in Florence (Palatina Mediceac Orientatium 9 [olim 4], copied in Egypt in A,D. 1496) contains the two books of Chronicles, but the folios have been shuffled and should be reordered a.~ fol· lows: 93r-IOlv (1 Chronicles), 65v-79r (2 Chroni· c1es 1-9), and 102r-I09v (2 Chronicles 10-36). No indpit is given. In a manuscript in Ihe Coptie Patriarchate, Cairo (Bible 50; Gra!, no. 257; Simaykah, no. 44; fifteenth· century Egyptian) folios 252r-83r contain I and 2 Chronieles. The fonner is divided into five chapters, while Ihe laller is not divided. The 1671 Propaganda Edition. From the second half of the eighteenth century onward, probably under the influence of the European missionaries, the 1671 Roman translation became diffosed within the Coptic church. We know of seven ma.nu!;CriplS kept at Ihe Coptic Patriarchate of Cairo, and an eighth at the Coptic Museum. In chronological order, the manuscripts are: (I) Coptic Museum, Cairo, Bible 87 (fols. 157v-200v [mutilated m:muscript); eight. eenth century; Graf, no, 670; Simaykah, no. 4J); the te"t ends at 2 Chronicles 29: I; (2) Coptic Patriar· chalC, Cairo, Bible 31 (fols. 289v-335v; 1778: Oraf, no. 254; Simaykah. no. 101); (3) Coptic Patriar· chate, Cairo, Bible 35 (fols. l23v-72v; 1779; Graf, no. 231; Simaykah, no. 103); (4) Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, Bible 42 (fols, 177r-233v; 1782; Graf, no, 221; Simaykah, no. 106); (5) Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, Bible 48 (fols. 303v-47v: 1784; Graf, no. 218; Simaykah, no. 115); (6) Coptic Patriar· ehate, Cairo, Bible 43 (fols. 183r-252r; 1786; Grnf, no. 215; Simaykah, no, 117); (7) Coptic Patriar· chate, Cairo, Bible 33 (fols. 136r-20Iv; 1833; Graf, no. 223; Simaykah, no. 186); and (8) Coptic Patriar-
OLD TESTAMENT, ARABIC VERSIONS OF THE
chate, Cairo, Bible 36 (fols. 134v-9]v; nineteenth century; Graf, no. 224; Simaykah, no. 167); Gmf Slates (1934, p. 92), "following the te"t of the Roman edition [of 1671), but with several stylistic modifications. " Raphael Tukhl's Edition (1752). In 1752, Raf1'll al'Takhl, a Coptic Catholic who had setded in Rome, published an Arabic Bible which was influ· enced by the Latin Vulgate. It is not known to what elttent his version made its way into the Coptic Church of Egypt.
Ezra Ezra Illllong the Copts, Thirteenth and Four. teenth Centuries. In thl,: COptS' ArTlbic manuscript tradition, the book of Ezra Is always called the "Second Book of Esdras," :IS in the ~eJ'lLuagint. MOSI frequently, it also includes the book of Nehe· miah, as in Hebrew. The "First Book of Esdras" is, depending on the manuscripts. aile of two apocry· pha, either ] &drQS of the Vulgate or 4 Esdras (Apocalypse of Esdras). These tWO apocrypha are studied in the come:", of the Old TesUlmcnt apocry-
.....
Canon 55 of the 56 Canons of the Apo:;tles, the Arabic \'ersion of which could be from the tenth century, mentiOnS "lhe first and second book of Esdras, which fonn a single ixIok," after the book of Ruth the Moabite. This might correspond to Ezra and Nehemiah, or else to one of the apocrypha followed by Eua-Nehemiah. Around 1320, Abu al·Bamlmt Ibn Kabar complet. ed the redaction of his religious encyclopedia, M;~ba~ a/·?ulmoh (Lamp of Darkness). In chapter 6 he deals with Holy &ripture, and menlions EMIras twice. The first time is in the list of the books of the Old Testament (inspired by Canon 55). At no. 17 he writes: "The book of Esdras: two booh" (d. Samir, 1971, p. 210). The second time, in his analysis of the work, he mentions at no. 14 only thl' canonical book of 2 Esdras of the Septu:lgint or I Esdras of the Vulgate (Samir, 1971, p. 225). He docs not men· tion Nehemiah, which is probably illcluded in Esdras. An echo of the debate surrounding tht· canonical status of the two books of Esdras appears in a man· uscript in Ihc Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo (Theology 286; Graf, no. 338; Simaykah, no. 366). This theological manuscript is concluded by the Apocrl1ypse 01 Esdras (fols. 286r-32lv), here called Ihe "book of the scribe of the law 'Azr,i the prophet, called aI-'Utayr ... ; this is the fillit book." This is fol-
1829
lowed by the canonical book of Ezra (fols. 3221'54r), which begins with the following note: '"Translation of the book of 'Azrah, the scribe of the law, [writtcn] after the return from the captivity of Babylon, as is the belief of the Christians. However, according to the opinion of the Jews, this book was not wrillcn by him, as he is not mentioned in any way In Ihe first book. The church is not in agreement with this, since there is a consensus concern· ing these two books in the church: they belong to the books numbered by the church, but no others {i.e., books of Esdrns)" (Goo, 1934, p. 127). This manuscript, copied by a COpt in the eighteenth cen· tury, has In fuct a fur earlier origin: the text of Esdras it gives is vcry similar to that of a manu' scripi (Bodleian Library, Oxford, 251) copied in Egypt in 1335. Eliminating the modcrn versions of the Bible, it is possible 10 identify four separate Arabic versions of the book of Esdras translated by the Copts or well known to them. The Ancient Venlon. The first version, which is not only the earliest attested, but stylistically the most archaic, i5 found in two manu,"Cripts, onc copied in Cairo in 1335 (Bodleian Library, O,.:rord, 251); and the othcr, from Egypt at the end of the $"i"tcenth century (Vatican Library, Arabic 3), which S"Ct'ms to have been copied from the fanner manu' scriPI when it was still in Egypt. In these manuscripts the te"t is emltled: "This is the second ixIok of 'Azr.i, which contains thc IICcoum of the return of the children of Israel from the captivity of Babylon, the construction of the temple, lind the renewal of Jerusalem." A recasting of this version appears in two manu· scripts of the Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo (Bible 75, fols. 29r-55r, Gmf, 00. 219, Sim4ykah, no. 51, Egypt. 1691; and Theology 286, fols. 322r-354r, Gl'll.f, no. 338: Simaykah, no. ]66, Egypt, eighteenth century). AlLhough this is not stated in the catalogs, they most probably also cOnlain the book of Nehemiah. In Ihese four manuscripts, lhe first book of Esdras, which pre<:edes the canonical tcxt, is the Apoc4/ypse of Esdras (4 Eroro:; in the Vulgate), while in the manuscripts of the following version it i5 J E:;dros in the Vulgate. Furthcnnore, in these: four manuscripts, the "second book of Esdras" contains Ezra lind Nehemiah or 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras in the Vulgate, while in the olher version it contains only I Esdras in the Vulgate, without Nchcmiah. The Venlon of tbe Polyglot Bibles. A second Ambic version used among the Copts was the te"t
1830
OLD TESTAMENT, ARABIC VERSIONS OF THE
of the po[yglot Bib[es of Paris (1629-1645) and London (1657). This text is cOlll]lh,tcly different from the fir'!!l vcn;ion and its rcvisiorl. This version is considcr.lbly more litcmry than lhe preceding one. According to Emil Roedi!!:er, dted by Graf (1944, vul. I, p. 112, I. 26), this text s(."Cmli to have been transhltW from the Syriac of the Peshilla. It is uliually litated Ihat the two 1)<)lygJot Bibles were based On a manu!lCript (Paris, A..:abe I) copied in Egypt in 1585. Tbis information is not velificd. The same incipit occurs in a manuser'ipt copied in Cairo in 1585-1586 (British Librar)'. London, Or. 1326). In lhis manuscripl, lhc "fina hnok of Esdras" (fols. SOv-57r) corresponds 10 J c$df(u in the Vulgate, when:as the second (fols. 58,·-631') corresponds only to I Esdras. Two manuscripts of the Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, probably give the same Ambie text (Bible 34, fols. 2Ov-32v, copied e. 1518, Gl'Uf, no. 246, Simaykah, no. 36; and Bible 86, fols. 257r-(,7v, copied in 1741, Gmf, no. 245, Simaykah, 110. SO). In bOth these mal1useripts, the ellOonica[ texi is preceded by 3 E5df(u of the Vulgate. The 1611 Propaganda Version. A third Amble version, totally independent of the two foregoing ones, is found in the teJtt published by the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide at Rome in 1671. Although this text iii extraneous 10 the Coptic Irndi, tion, it was the mrnot widC!ipread among the Copts. According to Gl-af (1944, Vol. I, p. 112 sec.), there arc no [e~s than cleven mnnuscriplS of this texl kept at the Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, cOjlied between 1691 and ISJ3. Version by Raphllel Tllkhl. In 11:'12, the COpl R(lf;i'11 al-Tllkhl published the whole of Ihe Bible in two volumcs in Rome at the press of Angelo (Ma· lak) RUlili. This version was inlcnded for diffusion among Ihe Christians of Egypt; Graf IislS no manu· seripl.~ of this version, but it is pos~ible llmt some of the cleven manuscripts alll'ibuted to the I'l'Opag:mda version arc based 011 this one. [n point of facl, TOkhl's versiol1 is actually a revision "f the Propaganda version: he drew his inspir'UtiOll from it and improved il$ style (it iii also eUlitomari[y stated that he revised the text to bring it closer to lhe Vulgate). Joshua The medieval and later Coptic Il'lldilion was acquaintcd with al kllst foul' different Arabic versions of the book of Joshua. The principal source of the following information is the manuscript catalogs. The first version derives from the Syriae telit of
the l'cshiHa. When or how this version maue its appeardnce among the Copt~ Is uncertllin; the old· est known nmnuscript is dnlcd 1321. Strangely, lhis versiun is pl'acticlllly unknown among the Syrians or other Christian communitieli. By way of the Paris manu!lCript, this version was used for the two poly· glol Bible edilions of Paris and London, thereby acquiring a cenain official charactcr, at least in the West, The principal manuscripts in chronological order
un::: (I) Bodleian Llbl'nl)', Oxford, 493 (fols. Jr-3lv,
20 Blll'Umhllt A.M. [037/16 Safal' A.II. 721/ [7 March A.D. 1321): (2) Coptic Palri.-trchute, Caim, Bible 57 (fols. Ir-2OY, 4Ir-44v, fOUl1eenth or fifteenth een· tury; Glllf, no. 273; Simllykah, no. 61); (3) Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, Bible 50 (fols. Iv-JOY ([n 18 chapters]; a gloss adds: "It iii said that there exists a work in Coptic which complements and cOlllplet(.'S this work"; fifteenth ccnlury; Cl-af, no. 251; Simay· kah. no. 44); (4) Palatina Mediceae, Florence, Orient;lllum 9 (oHm 4: fols. Iv-12r: 1496-1497): (5) Nationa[ Libmry, Pari!l, Arabl,l [ (fols. 86v-\l6v; 1585); and (6) Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, Bible 21 (fol~. 147v~167v, 1587; Graf, no, 242; Simaykah, no. 25). A ~ond Arabic venion from the Syriac is altcsIcd in a manuscript in the Coptic Patriarchate (Bible 32; fols. 74vlf.; 1585; Graf, no. 2l5; Simaykllh, no. 23). A lhird Arabic vcrsion allested amol1g the Copts is to be found in the original purdon of a rnMuscript in the Vatican Library (Arabic 449; fols. 181'29,'; 1335) that gives the tcxt of chaps. 16-24 (numbered in the manuscripl as 12-17). This Arabic text iii lranslated from Ihoe Creek of the Septuagint. per· haps through the intenncdiary of a Coplie vel'liion (cr. Vaceari, p. 102, sec. 2, who studied a Kurd/n", (a special !;Clipt) copy of thi~ text contained in the m:Jnu5CI'ipt no. 2108 or the Biblioteca Cilsarwtense in Rome). A fourth Arabic version that \Y1I.~ gl'Catly diffused among the Copts from the eighteenth century on· ward W
OLD TESTAMENT, ARABIC VERSIONS OF THE
no. 218; Simaykah, no. 115; Bihle 43, fols. lr-27r, A.D. 1786, Gr'otf, no. 215, Simaykah, no. 117; Bible 41, fol5. 138vtr., 1872, Gr::lf. no. 233; Sil1l:l.ykah, no. 187). Once lnorc, il is sU'llrising Ihal the Arabic ver· sions of the Bible diffused among the Copts arc of vel)' diverse origins, and that those of Coplic origin are eXlremely rare if nOl nonexiSlent.
Judges The lines published by G. Graf (1944. Vol. I. p. liD, I J. 5-30) on lhe Arabic versions of lhe book of Judges have been superseded by the work of Bcngt KnulS$On. Cenain additional details are ~ontaioed in the anide by &amir (1981) on the date and espe· cially the origin of the manuscripts and also the connection between some of Ihem. These observa· tions an: imponant for the pres<::nl aniele. A correction mu.~t, however. be made to what i.~ slaled conccming Vatican Ubrary, Arabic 468 (Samir, pp. 91-92-MS e): it is of Melchile. not Coptic, origin. The Copu have been acquainted with at least .seven differenl ArabIc versions of Ihe book nf Judges. The Venlon or l.he PolyglOl BlbleJI. The firsl oC Ih('$e, which was certainly the more widely diffused, was translated from the Syriac lc;o;l of Ihe Peshilla with later influences deriving Crom lhe Septuagint. This version wa~ published in the two poly' alot Bibles. oC Paris (1645) ;md London (1657). A critkal edition of chapters I, 6, II, and 21 is gh'en by Knutsson (1974, pp. 238-68). The author of this version is unknown, a.'l is the date it was lII;lde. The oldest known O1;IIl11script WQuld appear to be fmm the end of the thirteenth century Rnd of Imqi provenance. Neither is the d;l(e known when it made it.. appearance in the Coptic church; the oldest Coptic manuscript is duted 1344, This version is auested today by at least fifteen manuscripts, twelve uf which arc uf Coptic provenance. These are listed below for the [ir'l;1 lime, in chronological order' :lIld with precise reference.'l: (1) Nation~11 Libmry, P~lris, Anlbe 22 (1344); (2) Cambridge Add. 3044 (1355; catalog by Browne, no. 1298); (3) National Ubmry, Paris, Arabe 23 (P) and Copenhaaen, Arabic 76 (C); a founeenlh·century manmcript, now divided, to be rea5.'lembled a.~ fol· lows (cC, Samir, 19J1I, p. 97): P 1-23, (; 1-2, P 24-187, C 3-20; (4) Coplic Patriardul.le, Caim, Bi· ble 57 (fOunccnlh.fiftccnlh centuries; Graf, no. 273; Simaykah, no. 61); (5) Coplic Patriarchate, Cairo, Bible 50 (fifleenth eenlury; GraC, no. 257; ~imaykah. no. 44); (6) Medicca LaurenlialUl.. Florence, Orielll-
1831
aliulll 9 (olim Or. 4; 1496); (7) Vatican Library, Arabc 399 (1523); (8) Nalional Ubr::u)'. Paris, Al'abe I (1584-1585); (9) Coptic P:ltrillrchate, Cairo. Bible 32 (1585. hy Ihe same-Muslim-copyist as the foregoing; ef. Samir pp. 99-101; Grnf, no. 235; Simaykah, no. 23); (IO) Coptic Palr'iarch:.le, C.... iro. Di· ble 38 (1686; Graf, no. 244; Simaykah. no, 49); (I I) Bodleian Ubrary, Ollford, 270 (end of sevenleenth century. cf. $amir, 1981, p. 92, no. 4; calalog: Ni· coli, no. 2); (12) Coplic Patriarchale, Cairo, Bible 44 (1782; GraC, no. 237; Simaykah, no. 107). Syro-Egyplltm Version. The second version i~ known from only 1W() manuscripts, bolh of Coptic origin. Herc, too, no information is available concerning the translator or Ihe date at which tllis version made ilS appcaram;:e in the Coptic church, other than that it was prior to 1321. the date at which the earlier of the two manuscripts wa~ copied. These! tWO manuscrirt, are (I) Bodleian Ubral)', O;o;ford, 493 (1321; catalog: Nicoll. no. 5) and (2) Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, Bible 37 (1760; GrotC, no. 236, Simaykah, no. 94). The lelll would appear 10 be (according to KnUIS' 5On, pp. 225-27) more failhful 10 the model of the Peshiua than that of lhe forcgoing version. However, Knutsson Siaies lhal lhe Oxford manuscr'ipt sho~ signs oC GfC('k influence (however. these may be Coptic influences). Knutsson (pp. 270-87) gives an edition of chaps. I, 6, II, and 22. Coptic Version. The lhird version is known only from a single manuscript of Coplic otigin (Valican Libloary. Ar.tbie 449, dalcd 1335). Conlnlry to Gmf (1944, Vol. I, p. 110, II. 24-26) and Knutsson (1974, d, pp. 5-6, 17-18), this text was nottranslat· ed directly from the Septuagint but from the Coptic (prob
1832
OLD TESTAMENT, ARABIC VERSIONS OF THE
from the Casanalcnsc manuscript and others based on lhe Latin Vulgate. This version was reedited, with correction of the typugrnphical errors, at Lon-
don in 1857. Knutsson gives (1974, pp. 302-313) chapters I, 6, II, and 22 according 10 the Roman edition. nOling the slight London variants. The Roman edilion was widely diffused in Egypt by utin missionaries, as can be seen from the numerous manuscripts of Coptic origin that derive from il. Or cleven idemified Arahil; manuscripts of this vC'l"fiion. one (Paris, Arabic 2) comes from h.m,
another is of unknown provenance (London. Or. 8745), and nine come from Egypt. The oldest of
these was copied in 1154. These manuscripts are: (1) Mingana. Birmingham. Christ. Arab. 5 [103] (1754); (2) Coptic Patriarchale, Cairo, Bible 31 (1778; GraJ, no. 254; Simaykah, no. 101); (3) Coptic Patriarduue, Cairo, Bible 42 (1782; Graf, no. 221; Sinlaykah, no. 106); (4) Coplic Patriar'Chate. Cairo. Bible 48 (1784; Gr.U, no. 218; Simaybh, no. 115); (5) Coplic Palri~n:hale, Cairo, Bible 43 (1786; Graf, nn. 215; Slmayknh, no. 117); (6) Coptic Museum, Cairo, Bible 87 (eighteenth century; Graf. no. 670; Simaykah, no. 41); (7) Coptic Patrian:h.ate, Cairo, Bible 41 (1872; Gra£. no. 233; Simaybh, no. 187); (8) Coptic: Patrinrchate, Cairo, Bible 36 (nineteenth century, Gmf, no. 224; Simaykah, no. 167); and (9) Coptic Patriarchale, Cairo, Bible 29 (nineteenth century; Gmf, no. 239; Simaykah, no. 35). Vention by Raphael ro,khl, The fifth version was made by R0f4'11 al·TOkhT. It is commonly stated that his translation was made from the latin Vulgate (sec, e.g., Gmf, 1944, Vul. I, pp. 97-98, :md the accompanying bibliogra. phy). However, a careful examination of his transla· tion shows thai it is a revision of the 1671 Roman edition; he Improved the language and style of this editiun and m;uJc slight modifications in order to bring the texl Into line with the Vulgate when diver· genees arose. Graf ;md Knutsson mention no manuscripts of this version. However, it is quite probable that some of the manuscripls mentioned "bove belong to this version on account of the reJ;emblance of the two texts. Motlern Vcr.lolIl, In the modem period, the 1864 venoion of the Americ:m Protestant Mission of Dcirnt, made by Comelius van Dyck and his collab· oratol'S, ha..~ been Widely diffused among the Coptic Orthodolt. The 1876 Beirut edition of the Jesuits was less widely diffuJ;ed, and wa..~ known primarily in Coptic Catholic drdt.'S. These two editions are tl'Dnslated from the Hebrew text. At present there is no edition proper to the Copts themselves.
Nehemiah The book of Nehemiah is nOI always found in the Arabic manuscripts of the Copts. What is more, when it is found, it is most frequently an integral part of the canonical book of Ezra (Esdrru;), to which it forms a kind of appendix introduced by the words: '·Discourse of Nehemiah son of l:Iala. qlyy.\," l\l( is also the case in Hebrew. Thus, manuscript catalogs often omit it. For the lOame rea..~on, it iJ; not mentioned eJtplicit· Iy in the list of the canon of the Bible found in the fifty.fifth of the fiftyoSlx CtUlO1tS 01 Ih~ Apostl~s, translated infO Ambic by lhe Copls around the tenth century, nor in chapter 6 of the 1.l1.mp 01 the Dan· HeSS by Ibn Kabar, composed around 1320. Ignoring the editions Ihat appeared after Ihe beginning of the nineteenth century, which werc dif· fused among the COptS, only three different ver· sions of this book are in use among the Copls. The Version of the PolYllol Blblea. The lext of the polyglot Bibles of Paris (1629-1645) and of london (1647) would appear to derive from a man· uscript in the Nalional Ubmry, Paris (Ambic I, fols. 205v-209v Egypt, 1585; Troupcau's catalog poses a problem here). Unllke the book of Ezra, the text here is identical with that of the manuscript in the Bodleian Llbmry, Oxford (251; fols. 82r-I05r copIed in Cairo in 1335). The twO manuscripts of the Coptic Patriarch:lIe, Cairo, already mentioned for the book of ura (Bi· ble 75, Egypt, 1691, and Theology 286, Egypt, eight. eenth century) also contain the text of Nehemiah, probably in the I.."\me version, unless here, too, we find a revision of this version. By contrast, a manu· script in the British Library, London (Or. 1326) does not seem to cont:lin the text of Nehemiah. According to Emil Roediger (1829, pp. 106-110), the text of Nehemiah was translated from two different sources: Nehemillh 1:1-9:27, or lhe Arabic ver'Sions, :lppear to have been tmnslated from the Hebrew by a Jew between the tenth and thirteenth cenlur'les, and subsequently interpolated by a ChliJ;· tian on the basis of the Syriac of the Peshilla; the translation of the sections from Nehemiah 9:28 to the end nppeal'S to come fmlll the Syriac around the fourteenth century. However, the existence or this text in the Oxford manuscript, a..~ copied in Cairo in 1335, suggests an earlier dale mainly be· cause of copyist errors. The 1671 Propaganda Edition. After Albert Vae· cari's study, il is generally accepted that the Arabic text of the Bible published at Rome in 1671 by the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide was based princi·
OLD TESTAMENT, ARABIC VERSIONS OF THE
pally (for the Old Testament) on Vatican Arabic 468. This manuscript was completed by the Metehite priest D:\WI1d, lIOn of'the pricst Tlidurus. son of the priesl Wahbah, of the village of Blumn in the province of Tripoli in Syria, in 1578-1579. The commission cume from Giambattisla Eliano, who wa.s plannillg the publication of an Arabic Bible (set: the colophons of fols. 489v-90r given on pI. V of Vaccari's aI1ic1e). When speaking of the text of E~r;1 and Nehemiah contained in this manuscript, Vaccnri (1925, p. 89, last sec.) states it is "identical to Ihe Polyglot ver· sion." In aClual fact, if the Propaganda telll follows the Vatican Arabic 468 lit this point. Vac;:cari's Slalement must be correctcd, since the text ditfl'rs considerably from the polyglot version. According 10 Graf (1944, Vol. I, p. 112, sec. 6), this text would appear 10 be found in ten manuscripts of Ihc Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, copied between 1691 and 1833. Version or Raphael rOkhl (1752). As concelllS this version and its use among the Copts, all thc remarks made concel"lling Ezra can also be applied to Nehemiah. Pentateuch It is vcry difficult to find out which Arabic versions of the PentalCuch were circulated among the Copts, becau-~e the calalogs almost never indicalc where the manuscripts came from, and bo.-cause studies on the versions of the Bible do not discuss this question. The present section is limited strictly 10 those manuscripls that are of Coptic proV\'nancc; they conslilule the lIOurce of infontl.alion here. The Coptic church has been eonversalll with :11 least eight diffcrent Arable translations of thc Pentatcuch. Almosl all of thcse came from other communhies. and havc received varying degrees of Coptic innuence. These versions are translations from He· brew, Greek, Coptic, Syriac. and Latin. Version from the Hebrew. The firsl version wa..~ made directly from Ihe Hebrew Masoretic text, by Sa'id ibn Yusur aJ.Fayyilffil, an Egypti;m Jcw (b. c. 892 and d. at 5orah, Iraq, in 942). He is con~iden.'d to be thc founder of medieval Jewish exegesis. He is sometimes referred to in the West as th\· Gaon
""'"-
His translation occasionally has the characler of a paraphrase, as he employed ceriain pcriphra.~1ic ex· pressions in order 10 clarify the tellt; he also rclranslated the geographical names, transposed cer· tain expres.~ions, and avoided anthropomorphisms. This permitted him to avoid composing a c;:ommen-
1833
tary on the text. He himself cxplained his method in the introduction to the Pentateuch, published in 1893 by J. oerenboul'l (Vol. I, pp. 1-4), translated into German and discussed by W. Engclkcmper in 1897 and 1901. This version was 1l1'S1 published in Hebrew chtlr· IIctel'S, as was IX:renbourg's edition, at ConSlantino· pIe in 1546. /t was republished in the two polyglot Bibles of Paris and London. In /867, P. de Lagarde puhllshed II new edition of the text of Genesis and Exodus, based on the oldest known manuscript, that of Warner, uiden, 377 (1239-1240). The COI'l Fa4lall:lh ibn Tlidrus ibn Yusuf ibn Fa4lall:lh revised the text in the sbneenth century in order to integrale it into the Coplic lradition; he al'iO composed a new introduction. Nevertheless, this versklll did not acquire a really official c;:haracter in the Coptic c;:hureh, although it was the most widely diffused. It is, however, to be found in the margins of certain Coptic-Arabic liturgical manu· scripts, as was shown by Joseph Francis Rhode (1921, Pl'. 94-97). Manuscripts of this vel'Sion are numerous and all of Coptic origin. They are listed unsystcmatically in Gmf (1944, Vol. I, pp. 102-103; here the manuscript of thc Coptic Patriarchate datcd 1332 should be deleted, as it is not of this version). The oldcst manuscripts (thirteenth to fourteenth century) are, in chronological order: (I) Warner, Lciden, 377 (Oriental 2365; 1239-1240; conl.ai"-~ only Genesis and EIIodus); (2) Laurentiana, Florence, Oriental 112 (1245-1246); (3) National Library, Paris, Arabc 4 (thirteenth century); (4) private collection, Cairo (1355; manuscript mcntioned by Louis Cheikbo, Mashriq 21 (1923]: 141-42); (5) Vatican Library. Borgia Arabic 129 (fourteenth century); (6) British Library, London, Christian Arabic I (fourteenth century); (7) Coptic Patritlrchate, Cairo, Biblc 22 (fourtccnth century: Gl'lIf, no. 234, Simaykah, no. 2): (8) Vatican Library, Artlbic 2 (fifteenth ecntury): (9) National Library, Paris, Ar.lbe I (1584-1585; by the Muslim 'Abd Rabbih ibn Mu~ammad al· Sha'r.!nI; this manuscript was tile ba.~is for the Paris polyglot Bible edition of the Arabic version [16291645»; and (10) Coptic Patriarchate, Cairo, Biblc 32 (1585, by the same Muslim copyist; Graf, no. 235; Simaykah. no. 23; concerning the identity of the copyist, see Samir. 1981. PI'. 99-101). Vertlons rrom the Septuagint. Several Arabic venions in use among Ihe Copts derive directly from the Sepluaginl. The first version was made on an ancienl parchment wrincn in characters called walPr, (grapM). This text is attested in the Coptic Patl"iarchlltc,
1834
OLD TESTAMENT, ARABIC VERSIONS OF THE
Q,iro (lJible 17; 1l'arISCI'ibed in 1381; Graf, no. 241; Simayknh, no. 17), A SCl,:ond vcrsion is contained in a manusclipt in the National Ub,':l')', Paris (Ambie 15; tmnscribccl in Egypt in Ih..: fourtccnth century laud not in the eleventh centuI)', a.~ in Slane, Rhod~·. Gmf, etc,]; Gmf. 1944. Vol. I. p. 103, no, 2a). A third version, also ba.~ed on the St-ptuagint. is allcsted from a manuscript in the )}(Idle!an Library, Oxford (Huntington 424; catalog: Uri, Chris/iilt! Aril' bic. no. 8) in its mon: n:cent part (f"ls. 1-14 amI 403-08; Gn, 1-5 and I>t. 32;43-34:12), This text of Genesis is reproduct'd in Rhode (pp. 50· -57-; Grat 1944, \'01. I, p. 103, no. 2b). A fourth vCBion from Ihe Gn.:ek, without an in· lennedi:lte \'cr'Sion, is .....idely altested in the manu· scripts of Coptic origin, including bilingual Coptic and Arabic manuscripts (Gmr 1944, vol. I, pp. 1031(4). Among them are the followin~; (I) Valican Library, Coptic I (Coptic, lenth-elc\'enlh century Ar...hie, thirteenth·fool'teenth century); (2) Bodleian Library, Oxford. Laud Oriental 272 (catalog; Uri, Chris/ill" Arilbic, no. I; copied by the monk TOMA t8~ A!..-$A'leH in 1347); (3) Nationallibl"3ry, Paris. Arabe 12 (1353); (4) Paris. Coplic I (bilingWlI: Bohairic :md Arabic; copied in 1356-1358); (5) British library, Lomloll. Or. 422 (Crum, Copfic, no. 712; 1393); (6) Vatican Library, Coptic 2-4 (bilingual; Bornlirie ,lIld Ambic; foul1eenth century; Arabic text revised on the ba.~is of the Coptic); and (7) Bodleian Libr-... ry, Ollford. Huntington 33 (Uri, Coplic, no. I; 1674, probably copied from thl,: PlIriS Coptic 1)_ Version from Ihe Dohlliric Coplle. Curiously cnough, lhi.~ vel'sion, the only one made from the Coptic (;IS far ;IS onl,: C;ln state with cer1(1inty), is unknown, and Is difficult to distinguish from thc fOUi1h \'crsion from the Greek. The oldest manu· script would appeal' to be in Ctlmbridge (Add. 3289, d;ucd 1337-1338; Grtlf, 1944, p. 104, sec. 2). Versions from the Syrlac. The mOSl diffused ver~ion of tllO~C ba~cd on the SyrhlC is bllscd on Ihe tcxt of the Pesllill;l. II was originally in use alllong the Melchlte~ of Egypt. It would scem Ihlll it WllS the philo·MckbilC MlII'quS ibn Qallbar, the blilld pdcsl of Damiella al the end of the twelfth century, who introduced it into Ihe usage ur Ihe Coplic church. This vel"!lion is genemlly connected witb his commentary on Ihc Penwteueh (Graf, 1947, PI'. 329-32). We know a large number 01" manuscripts of this version, including some in gurshCmf (special ~ripl). ,11e oldest of them are of Coptic origin. Thl' manuscripts of the thinl,.'Cnth ;Iud fourteenth cen·
turles (Gmf, 1944, pp. 105-106) in ehrunologi<.:al order "re; (I) Niltional Libl':")', l'aris, AI':Ihe In (1238); (2) Vatican Libl':lry. Ambic 33 (laIc tbir· tel'nth el,:ntury); (3) Paris, Arohc 10 (1330); (4) Pa· ris, AI':Ibe II (1331); (5) Vatican Libmry, Ambk 606 (1344); and (6) Bodleian Library. OxfonJ, Pococke 219 (Uri, Chris/iillr Arabic 4; foul1eemh century?). Another \'ersion of Syriac urigin, based on Ihe Icnth-(;entury Syro-Ilexaplll and tl':lnslated by Ihe Melchite al·!;Ii.'ililh ibn Sinan ibn Sunbal. "PolS wellknown among the Copl$. II made its appearance in Ihe Coptic church no later than the beginning of lbc thirteenlh century probably by way of the Mel· chites, AbU al·8araUt ibn Kaba.r (d. 1324) menlions it in chap, 6 of his Lilmp 0/ DA,kn~s. We know about ten manuscripts of this version (Gmf, 1944. Vol. I, pp. 107-108), including four uld manu' script~ copied by COplS:
OLD TESTAMENT, ARABIC VERSIONS OF THE
This allcllIpt to compile an inventory thrm....s into S{rong relief the characteristic features of translated Arabic literature of Ihe Copts: its considerahle rich· ness, owing princip;illy to the Copts' op<::nn~'ss to all the traditions of the Christi:m Easl (and e1len of the WeSI), and evidence of a certain eclectic lendency.
RUlh The small book of RUlh has nOI been much slud· ied, and Ihe len lines Graf UC1IOtCS to it (1944) arc teeming wilh errors. In the absence of a thorough study, at leasl a specimen of each of Ihe \'\:!rsions known should be published, by which the manu· scripts can be classified. The book uf Ruth apparently has not always been in use among the Cupts. A manuscript cupied in Egypl in 1584-1585 (Paris, Arabe I), the usual model of the polyglot Bibk-s. omits it, despitt: Grnfs affirmation 10 the contrary. He also states that a Coptic manusc;ript from the end of the sevemeemh cenlury (Bodleian Librnry, Oxford, 270; Nicole, Christian Arabic 2) contains RUlh; il does not. However, Ihe oldC1i1 known manuscriptS-'ho>c of the founeenlh cemury-do give the leXI. Abu al·Barakal ibn Kabar, in chapler 6 of lAmp vi Dark· ness, mentionlS it twice, once according to Ihe list in the fifty.fiflll of the fifty-six Cunons o/lhe Apostles (ed. Samir, 1971, p. 210), and on anOlher occasion (p. 226). The place of Ihe book of Ruth in the Bihle also varies. Sometimes it follows Judges, as in thl' Sl.l,tuagint, and sometimes 11 Is found after the books of Kings. This expillin~ wby the text i~ not found in some sources, such as in the National Ubrary, Paris, Arabe 22 (Egypl. 1344). the Cuptie Patriarchate, Cairo. Bible 57 (Egypt, fourleenlh·IHteenth centuries; Gruf, no. 273; Simllykllh, no. 61). or the Bodlei· an Library, Oxford, 270 (Egypt, end of lhe seven· teenth century). These lhree manuscripts end with the books of Kings. II is not known whether the text of RUlh puh· lished in lhe 1)Qlyglol Uibles is of Coplie origin. as is the ease for lhe other biblical books. The COptS were familiar with at least four differ· ent Arabic 1Icrsions of the hook of Ruth, apar1 from those made flrler the seeond half of thc nin~'teenth century. The fil'St 1Iel"llion appears to be translated from rhe SyriilC. TIle lIIost andent witness is in the Valican Ubl"3ry, Arabic 449 (fols. 57r-60v; Egypt; 1335). In this manuscript, Ruth follows Judg~'s. The second version appeal"ll to be translated fmm the SeplUagint, eilhcr directly from the Greek. or
1835
through a Coptic intel·medilllY. It is found in the National Library, Paris, Arabic 23 (fols. l32r-341'; Egypt, founeemh century), in which it follows the "Second Book of Kings." which cOlTesl)Qnds to the two book.~ of Kings. and precedes the book of Esth· er. The third version is that attested in the 1671 Roman edition. It gives II mixed text, based princi· pally on the Vatican UbralY, Arabic 468 (of Syrian provenance, tnlllslated from the Peshitta, with Greek influences, but revised on the basis of the Roman C.. sanat~·nsc 2108). AI this poim ROllla Casanatense 2108 was copied from the Vatican library, Arabic 449, the manUS(:ript of the finn version. and of the Latin Vulgate. Grnf gives 1I list of numerous manuscripts in Cairo that appear to ha\'e bei.-n copied from this edition. The fourth version is that made by RuB'l1 al-Titkhl and published in Rome in 1752. According to Graf. this is a recasting of the third venlon. However, tile Incipit shows it is considernbly different, and also that it diffel'5 from the texi of Ihe palyglol Bibles. Scholars do nOI know if it was used as a model for Coptic manu· 5Cript.~. The incipit reads: "lAmnril kalla! latawallii al'qlU!iit, 'u·klllla Ii ayylim Q~lad QI.qut!dl iIi' ulii ul· art!, la.it,!afaqQ mill BQYI I-al]m Yuhfldd rajJd ",u;mra'alUh w(l-ib"ayh (sic] fj'yalagl,arrab Ii balad M,,_ wab" (vol. I, p. 336). Finally. m:IllY manuscripts arc still completely unknown. Othel' versions may emerge, as was the case for the book of Judges. DtDUO(;kAI"HY Asscmani, G. S. Dellu 'lu;iu/ld I//li C()pli e della vali· dila del .~acrumc1l/Q eli Gilln.ppe Simmlio Assemall cm/lpoS/a /lell'ulltlu 1733 to CO/lservllta i,r un co· dice Vll/ie/mu. ScriplOnlm veterum nova eollectio e vaticllnus codicibus 5, pp. 171-237, cd. A. MaL ROme. 1825-1838. Aliy". A. S.. and Joseph Ne~~im Youssef. Catu/o/
1836
OLD TESTAMENT. COPTIC TRANSLATIONS OF
Graf. G. Cataloglfe de mQllllscrirs "r(lbes cllre.til'us cOIl.~e ..... es all Caire. S1udi c TeSii 134. Vali<:lln City, 1934. Knulsson, B. Studies in Ihe Text (md LAmguage uf Three Syriac.Arobic Vusio/U of tlte Bock of Jud· ie",,, with Special Reference /0 the Afiddll' Arabic Elemenu. L..cidcn. 1974. Uigarde, P. A. de. Der Pen/alcuch kupfisch. Leipzig, 1867. Rhode, J. F. The Arabic Versions of IhfJ Pen/alellch in the Church of l;.·gypl. Saini Louis, Mo., 1921. Rieu, C. Suppfemtml to Ihe C(J101ogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British MllseIUl._ London, 1894. Roediger, E. De ori&i"': et indole ortlbica libronlm Veteris Ttstamtll/; his/uncoTum i,,'e~,e/atiQnes. Halle, 1829. Sa'adia ben Joseph. DeulI,es complrles de r. Sacdia ben lou! a/.Fa1youmf, ed. J. Derenbourg. 5 'lois. Paris, 189]-1899. Samir, K. "Trois 'It:nions arabes du Uvre des luges. Relle:dons critiques sur Ull livre recent." OrieHs Christ/a,nu 65 (1981):87-101. Slane. W. McGuckin baron de. Ca/aiogl/e des nlam/· serits arabes de la Biblwth~que lIa/ionale. Paris, 1883-1895. Troupeau, G., ed. Calala/(ut des manuscnls arabes [de la BibHothcque nationale dt· Paris]. Manu· scritS chretiens, Vol. I. Paris, 1972; Vol. 2, Paris. 1974. -'-" Calalogut drs malluscrils ambes (de la BibIiotheque Nationalc de Paris), 2 vols. Paris, 19721974. Uri, J. Bibfi/Jlht,:cae Bodliallul codic"m malluscripl' arum arilnlel/ium, videlicel hlbralc/JnllI1, chalda· icorwn, Jyr/acorum, aethiopicorum, arabicorulI1, pers/cormlz, cOplicorum CD/Dlogus. Oxford, 1787. Vaccal'l, A. "Un codlce carsciunico della Casana· tense e la Uibbia arabn del 1071." BiblicQ 4 (192]):96-107. _ _ . "Una Bibbia araba per' il primo gesuita 'Ie· nuto in Libano." Melanges de /'Unlversite Suill/' Joseph 10 (1925):77-104. Walton, B. D/ssertll/{o i,r q/w de Iingui~' urientulibll~' hcbra/ca, cha/da/ca, samar/lana, syrlace, arabica. pflrslctl, all/In'opka, anllllnU, cop/a. e/ de lex/11m C{ ver~'i(mmll qlWe In po/yglollis Hibliis lubcll/llr ... all/horlla/e e/II~'u disseri/llr. Accessit J. Wo° weri syntagma de graec.. ct latina Bibliorum into erpretlltlone. Deventer, Holland, 1658.
K.HALIL SAMtR. S.J.
OLD TESTAMENT, COPTIC TRANSLA· TIONS OF. The earliest of the Coptic transla· tions of the Old Tcst..menl. like lhuse of the New Tesiamelll. l'emaln obscure. Christianity fint look rool in Alexandria. a cily predomin;mtly inhabited
by Greek.~. who had no need of a translation of the Greek Bible (Ihe Old Teslament in the form of lhe Septuagint). It was only when Ihe Christian mission elliended inland. and lhus to the lower levels of the population, outside the world of Greek language lind education. that the need arose for a translation of Ihe Holy Scriptures into the native Egyptian Ian· guage. No infonnation. and no manuscripl evidence, has survived from this period, which began at Ihe latcsi al the stan of the second century. The oldest indirect witness. Athanasius' Life of Antony, brings us to the period about 270. During the church service, the young Antony heard readings from the Gospel of Matthew, which caused him to give up his possessions and devote himself to the ascetic following of Jesus. Since Antony, as the Ufc frequently emphasizes, knew only Coptic and no Greek, we may conclude that by the second half of the third century the Gospels had been translated imo Coptic. There is nothing to suggest a merely oral Ir.ms[alion of the passages read (after the fash· ion of the Targums). It is legitimate 10 deduce from the Gospels the existence of the Old Tcstament in Coplic or 31 leasl pam of it (the Psalter and the Prophets), since the Coptic church from the beginning considered both Old and New Testaments as a unity and accordingly translated them for use in public worship. The oldest elltant Coptic Bible manuscripl, from the end of the third century, is an archaic translalion of Proverbs in the dialect designated a.~ Prolo·$;:lhidic (Papyrus Bodmer VI). The founh century saw the flowering of the Coptic Bible translations, first In Sahidic, the classical literary language of Coptic. The translation of the Old Testament was largely or even entirely com· pleted. Wc hllve to assume this process took several decades; so enOl'mOUS a Ulsk could not be accom· plished at onc strokc, especially sinCIl thllre were no forerunnel'S or convenient aid~. The following books of thc Old TCSlluncnt arc lItlested in rourthcentury manuscripts: Genesis (fragmenl~ in the boarding of Nag Hammadi Codex VII), Exodus (Papyrus Bodmer XVI), Deuteronomy (PapYlUS Bod· mer XVIlJ nnd British Library, Or. 7594, in the last-named PIiPYrus with Jonah lind Acts), Joshua (1'IlPYfllS BoOmer XXI), Jeremiah with Baruch (Pa· pyrus Bodmer XXll), Isaiah (Papyrus Bodmer XX Ill). Curiously, the oldest codex of the mostused book in the Coptic Bible, the Psalter, is no earlier than about 400 (Berlin Psalter. ed. A. Rahlfs). The manuscripl lradition is supplemenled by the Old Teslament dtalions in tht original Coptic Iiternture (Pac hom ius and his disciples), which exlend (wer praclically the whole Old TesUlment.
OLD TESTAMENT, COPTIC TRANSLATIONS OF
The increa.se in translation activity is closely can' nected with the development of the Cuplil: monas' tene!;, In accordance with the rul~ of PachomilL'i, a Imowlcdgc of reading (and presumably also of writ·
I
I
ing) as well as the learning by heart of portions of scripture was already obligatoI")' for candidatcs and novices, and all the more for the monks (Praeee.p/o. 49, 130. 139, 140). Thus the munaslcri,'s became places for the fostering of Coptic literature, includ· ing the biblical teXis, illS is shown by the remains of the once eJltensh'c monastery libraries (e.g., the White Monastery at Suhaj in Upper Egypt, the J:faml1lt monastery in the Fayyliffi, the monastery of Jer· emias at SaqQllI'1ll. and the mona:;tcry of Macarius in the Nitrian Desen). lhe Coptic ll"llrnilation of the Bible is no more unifonn than Coptic itself; it is characterittd by a variety of diah:cts, the examples of which vary in their age, and In origin in terms of both the place and the textual basis of the trnnslation, Among the literary dialects of CoptiJ.:-Akhmimic, LyJ.:opolitan (also called Subakhmimlc), Middle Egyptian, Fayyumic, sahidic, and Bohairic (we may here disregard the further spedfication that is gaining ground in the study of the Coptic dialects)-only the Lycopolitan dialect has (so far) yielded no Old Testamen! tl1lnslations. Only the Sahidic (or. simplified, the Upper Egyptian) and the Bohairic (simplified, the Lower Egyptian) auained more than regional diffu.~lon. In the regional or local dialects only indio vidual books arc alll,.-,;tcd (often only fragmentarily), but it is not known how mueh of the stock that onc/! existed has been lost, There was a complete Old Testament tronslatlon only in Sahidic, but it hilS not survived in its entirety. The tradition varies from book to book, and ranges from multiple attestation of the same document to mere fragments. There is no standard edition comparable with Hal" ncr's New TcMament, From the other lilerary dialects the following Old Testament books have survived: AkhmimicGenesis (frn~,), Exodus (Crag,), Proverbs (complete), Minor l'rophets (almost complete), Siral,h (fmg.), Daniel ([rag,), 2 Maccabees (frag.), Psalm~ (a frag. ment is extant thaI presents problems with regard to dialectal cJa.'i$lficatlon, reprtsenling perhaps a preliminary slage of Lycopolitan); Middle Egyptian -Genesis (frag.), Psalter (unpublished manuscript in the Coplic Museum in Old Cairo), Job (Crag.), Ecclesia.~tCll (fragmentary codex Papyrus Michigan 3520, unpublishl,.'d), indin.:ctly Hosea and Amos Ihrough a Greco-COptic glossary (ed. Thompson and Bell. JQurnal of Egyptiall A.rchaeofogy II (1925): 241-46): Fayyumic-Exodus. Nu,nbers, Psalms,
1837
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel with Susanna (all in frag· ments): Song of Solomon, Lamcntations, and Ecclesiastes in the bilingu/l.l PapyNs Hamburg I (Greek and Old Fayyumic). It should be noted that in the older Iileralure the dl,.'Signations for the Fayyumic and Middle Egyptian dlalecL~ (and Bible lrnnslations) were used indiscriminately; Ihcsc are, however, clearly distinct dialecls. Ahhough from the eleventh century on, Bohairic replaced sahidic as the literary language and the official langWlge of the church throughout Egypt, Ihe Old Testament was not completely translated into this dialect. The following books were completely tnonslated into Bohalric: the Pentateuch, Psalms, Job, the Minor Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah (including Lamentations, Bal'\lch, and Episde of Jeremiah), &eklel, and Daniel. Proverbs was panly tr.ll1lilated. Thc following are extant only in the fonn of liturgical pericopes: Joshua, Judges, 1-4 Kingdoms, 1-2 Chronieles, Wisdom of Solomon, and Sirach. NOI attested are Ruth, &ra, Nehemiah, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Eslher. Judith, Tobit, and 1-2 Maccabees. The ulili7.alion of Ihe Coplic versions for the tex· tual hislOry and teJttual criticism of the Old Testa· ment presenls two major problems: (I) the relalion to lhe Cred original: and (2) the relationships with· in the Coplic. Evaluation is considerably hindered by Ihe fact Ilmt there is no critical edition and no concordanc\! [or any dialect. There is agreement on three points, First, the Coptic Bible translation is not based on Ihe Hebrew Old Testament (like the Peshitta or the Vulgate) but on Greek models that largely reprcscnt the Septua· gint text (though not throughout). The range of the Coptic Old Testament follows the Alcxandrian canon, not the Masotetic Hebrew. Second, the Sahidic and Bohairie versions ;Ire Sep.u-.lte tmnsll\tiuns from the Greek, Independent of one another. Third, the Akhmimie t!"'•.Ulslation is a daughter ur interline· ar version of the Sllhidic, Inasmuch as it is based on a Coptic original, it ha5 only indirect te5timony vllluc for the Greek tcxt to be presupposed. The Middle Egyptian and Fayyumic Old Testa· ment frngments have not yet been investigatcd from the 5tandpolnt of text hlstOlj'. The Sahidic tCJtts, notwithstanding all the variants, .show a remarkable stability from the fourth to Ihc twclfth century. They were revisl.'d over time but never achieved a nOl'nlative standard version. The lwo main types arc represcnted by the texts of the White Monastery (IMYM AIIIM 511111100l\lt) in Upper Egypt and the l;IamOlf monastery in the FayyIlm. So far as there is agreement between these
1838
lwu m.. in
OLD TESTAMENT, COPTIC TRANSLATIONS OF
typc~,
we can speak of a S.'lhidic conscn·
~Uli,
The main lxx.Iy of the Bohairic 01,1 Testament manusclipts begins in the ninth century. hut there arc also some carller fragments. The origin of the Bohairic version is d
astery of Macarius as the seal of the Coptic plliriarch. Papyros Bodmer III (fOl1l1h cenlul)'). which in addition 10 the Gospel of John contaim.
lhe opening chapters of Genesis (I: 1-4:2), is a special case In terms both of !.he history of the text and of dial«lal history. At a series of places that deviate £rom the Bohairic standard, this text rcflccu Sahidie readings deriving from the Sahidk translation model. Papyru~ Bodmer III therefore cannot (at leasl for the Old Tc:stamenl) be assessed as a witn~ to the original 80hairic te:"" of the Bible (£00"tra M. K, Peter'S, 1984). The Upper Egyptian version ($ahidic and Akhmi, mic) of the Minor Prophets is more closely related to the Hebrew than to the Septuagint te",-t. This "hcbraizing" tendency is not, as earlier assumed, 10 be traced b..'"Ick to A revision accordinC 10 the Hebrew text but goes baek to a special Greek version, possihly the fifth column (Ouinla) of Ol'igen's lIe.ropia; Ihc oldest wilness uf this tcxtuallr.,Jition is the lealher sl;roll with the Greek Minor Prnphets from the WfidT Murabba'al (SO B.C.-A.D. 50). The dilK:ovcrit:s of lexls in rcc.:nt (kcades olrel' no ~upport to confirm the theory of Paul Kahle (1954, Vol. I) lhal in pre·Chrislian tiUIl-OS the Sahidic dialect hAd alreAdy spread throughout Egypt a.~ an "official language," and that its point of dcp."lrl\.lre was Alexnndr'ia. [n lhe beginning there were various dialects and a plurality of Bible translations, which rrom aooul Ihe sevenlh century were sup' planted or absorbed by lhe two main di;llects, Sahi· die lind l3ollUiric. The texts were It'nnSmilled in Bible Illanuscr'ipls, leetionaries or horologies. excerpts, and quotations. The I.lible rnlll1uscdpts contain, according to lheir sile, one or more book5 of the Old Testament, oc· casionally only pttrls of .. book (e.g.. P"pyrus Bod· mel' X VI, X VI [I), 01' even Old and New Testament writings in one and lhe same codex (t·.g., Papyrus Bodmer lll; Brilish Library. Or. 7594). There is no evidence for the whole Old Testament in a single codex (and likewise no "complete Uibl~"), Among the lcctionarics, mixed books (with pcricopes from the Old TeSUllllent and the New Testament) pre· dominate over those with only the Old Testamenl. 111l.' Coptic pel'icopl.' system has not been investigat-
ed, nor has the texlual hi.~lory or lhe lectionary pericopcs. For exccrpts, clay or limestOne shards were used, in addition to leaves of papyms or parchmenl (Ialer also of paper), These served for the most val'ied purposes. from writing exercises to amulets. The quotations. which arc found in all kinds of COptic literalure, form an impol'Ulnl supplement to the manuscript and k-ctionary lradition, bUl here varianls conditioned by lhe context must be carefully distinguished from genuine textual variants, In Bible quotations in the Coptic tr.mslation literature, we have to consider whelher the fonn of lext in lhe original has inOucnced the citation in queslion or whether the Coptic biblical text already in existence was in!>Cned. Thls relalcs both to lnans· lalions from Greek into COptic and 10 translations within Coptic (Bohairie transpositions of Sahidic oriKinllls), A special form of textual tradition is rcpn:scnll..-d by the bilinguals, which appear in all forms of the transmission except for quotations. In the first millennium this relates panitularly to Greco-sahidic bilinguals, and after about 1000 to Bohairic·Arabic texts. In general the editing and explication of the Coplie Old Testamenl (in alllhe diak-cls) lags behind in comparison with Ihe New Testament. The main lasks and problems for inv(.'Stigation are (I) collecllon, arrangement, and e1assilicalion of the textual wilnesses; (2) tritical editions of the texts and concordances based upon tllern; (3) lhe relalions of the Coptic versions to lhe Septuaginl; (4) lexlual rcla· tionships within Coptic; (5) collection and examina· lion of the citations in the Coplic original and translation literature. Investigalions inlo cornpahl' tive philology in Greek and Coplic, and into the objectivc evalulltion of the textual variants, are still in their beginning~; such qucMions can be brought nearer 10 H soluliun only wilhin Ihe context or the Greco·Coptic lranslation lilerature as a whole, in· cluding Ihe New Tcstamcnl. IUHUOGM,u'HY
The editions of lhe text aloe distrihuled over morc than 100 separdte public:ltions, muny of Ihem journals. The most complete list of these publiclltiuns is A. V:l.'lchalde, "Ce qui a etc public des versions coptes de la Bihle," ReVile IJibliqlle, new serics 16, 28 (1919):220-43. 513-31; 29 (1920):91-106,24158; 30 (1921):237-46; 31 (1922):81-8. 234-58 (Sa' hidit); Le MllseQn 43 (1930):409-31 (Dohairic), 46 (1933):299-306 (Fa}')'umic ;lOd Middle Egyptian). and 46 (1933):306-313 (AkhmimicjSubakhmimic).
Vaschalde's list Is updated in W. C, Till, "Coptic
OLD TESTAMENT, COPTIC TRANSLATIONS OF
Biblit;31 Tt;IIts After Vasclu.ldc's Lists," /llillet;" of the Joh" Rylallds Library 42 (1959-1960):220-40; and in P. Nagel. "Editiont;n koptischcr BibehCJ(lc sci! Till 1960," A.rclriv lilr Pllpyrus/orschung 35 (1990), The COI,tic Old Testament tCltts of th,' DoJmcr PapYI'i wel'C published completely by R. Kasscr. Papyru~' 8m/mer 11/. tlJllll¥i1e de Jtiall tit Gti/lesti 1lV,2. CSCQ 177-178. ProlO-Bohairic, Dialed B4. Papyrus Bodmer VI, livre dl!J Proverbe.f. eseo 194195. Proto·Sahldic::, Dialect P. Papyrus Bodmer XVI, Exode /,J-XV,21 en sahidiqlle. CoJogny/Gcneva, 1961. Papyrlls Bodmer XVIII, Deulbollol/le 1,/-X.7 etl sal,i· diqlle. Cologny/Gene\'3, 1962. Papyrus Bodmtr XXI, JOSIIC V/,16-25, VII,6-X/,23, XII,I-2, /9, XXIII,7.15-XX/V,2J t'n sahidique. coJogny/Geneva, 1963. Also in Kasscr's t:cvangile ulon uin, Jtan l!/ les versions copus d" la Bible, pp. 90-167 (Neudu\tel, 1966), togelher' with the Chester Dealty manuscript inv. no. 1389, belonging to the same COOCII. Papynu Bodmer XXII e/ Mississippi Coptic Codex 11. Urcm;l! XL,3_U/,J4. LAmt'nlations, epitre de Uri.· mil!, Baruch /,/_ V,S en sahidique. Cologny/ Geneva, 1964. Popyrus Om/mer XX1J1, Esoie chop. 47,9~66,24 ell sahidique. CoJogny/Gcneva. 1965. Editions of other Old Testament tellts in Coptic indude J. Drescher's handling of Codelt MS67 from the Pierpont MOI-aan Libl1Uy in New York in Thti Coptic (Suhidic) Versivns 01 Kingdvllls J, /J (Sumlle.l I, 11), CSCQ 313-314; P. Nagel, "Aufg:lben lind Probleme einer krlti!lchen Edition del' kopti'lCh·sa· hidischen Vel'Sion der Sepluaginta:' in Arts of Ihe Second IlltemuliOllo/ COl/gress lor Coptit· StmJills, pp. 215-24 (Romc 1985); M. K. H. Peters, A Crilical Edition ollhe Coplic (Oohuiric) Penlatcuch, Vol. 5, Deuterollomy (Chico, C:;lJif., 1983), Vol. I. Gellcsi.~ (Atlanta, Ga., 1985), Vol. 2, Exodus (Atlanta, Ga., 1986); Septuagint and Cognate Studies 15. 19, and 22; and I'. Nagel, "Griechisch.kOptische llilinguen des Allen Testnmcnts," in (,'rIH
1839
Lefort, L T. "Uttcrature bohnhique." I.e Museoll 44 (1931):115-135, S,..indorff, G. "Bem.....wngen i1ber die Anflinge Jer koptischen Sprtlche und Literntur." In Coptic Sludies in HOllor of IV. E. Cmm. Boston, 1950. For lilUdit.'li of the various manuscripl.'i, s~ A. Hcbbelynck, "Les manuserits eoptcs-sahidiques du Monastere Blanc: Recherches sur les fragments compl~menlaires de la Collection Dorgi..," Le MIIsion n.s. 12 (1911):91-153, and n.s. 13 (1912):275-362; and P. Nagel, "Sludien WI' Tellti1berlicferong dcs sahidisch..n Allen Testamenls. Teil I: Del' Stand der Wiederhentellung del' a1l1est· amenllichen Kodi7.en der Sammlung Borgia," Zei/· schrift li,r Al:Yptisclle Sprache 110 (1983):51-74. and '7eil ID," III (1984):137-64. The following works discuS$ the history of the lext and/or tClltual criticism (of individual books of the Old Tcstament): Banhe[emy, D. Les devQllciers d'AquiJa. Leiden, 1963. Imponant for the preliminary stages of Ihe Akhmimie version of the Minor P... ,phcts. BOhlig, A. U",ers/fclllmgell iiber die Jcopliscllfn PTO+ verbientextti. Berlin, 1936. Dicbncr, B. J. "Die biblischcn TeXle des Hamburger Papyrus BiHnguis I (Cant., Lam., Co., £Cd. Gr. et Co.) in ihrem Verhtiltnis 7.um Text del' Septuaginta, bcsonders des Kodex D (Vat. Gr. 12(9):' In Acts 01 the Second f"'emutiO"ll{ Congress of Coptic Silldics. Rome, 1985. Dieu, L. "U;s Mss. grccs dcs livrc.s de Samud, CMai dc classification:' Le Museol! 34 (1921):17-60. Diseussl..'S the relation of MS M567 to the Greek telttual Irndition. ___ "Le lex Ie eopte·sahidi.o;ena· tion, Univ..r.;ity of Halle, 1986. Till, W. "Die koptis<:hen Versionen der Sapienlia $alomonis." Diblicu 36 (1955):51-70.
1840
O'LEARY. DE LACY EVANS
Weyers. J. W, "The TeKtual AfJinllh::s or the Arabic Genesis or 8ib. Nat. Arab 9." In Sludi~s on Ih~ Ancien' Plll'Sfi"i(m World. Toronto Sl:mitic Tc;cts and Studies 2. Toromo. 1971. Includes !.he 8ohairic version. Ziegler. J. '·Beil.riigc lUI' koptischen Ilodo."lkaprophetonUberselZung:' Biblica 25 (1944):105-142. On comparative philology and translalion equiva·
Sirago, V. A. "Olimpiodoro di Tebe e la soa opera storica: Ricerche." In Ricerche sloriclre ed eco"omiene in mtmorill di Corrado Barbllgaf!o, Vol. 2. pp. 1-25. Naples, 1970.
lents. see H. J. Polouky. "Modes grccs en coptc?" in Coptic Studies ill lIonar 01 W. E. emm (BO!;!on
OLYMPIUS, SAINT, a physician of Nicomedia
1950), also in his Colluud Papus (Jerusalem. 1971); G. Mink, "Die koptischen VCl'sionen des
Neuen Testaments. Die sprachlichen Pl'obleme bei ihrer Bewenung fur die gricchischc Texlgeschichtc:' in Die ailM UberSellJwgen des Neue" TeslllmenlS, die Kirch,"vattrz]tate und uk!ionare, cd. K. Aland, Arbeiten 7.ur NeUle!it.:1mendichcn Texlfor'Khung 5 (Berlin and New Yori!:, 1972); and W.·P. Funk, "Bemerkungcn wm Sp.....chvergleich Grie<:hisch-Kopdsch," in Graeco-Coplic (Halle. 1984).
?na
NAGEl.
O'LEARY, DE LACY EVANS (1872-1957), Brilim Coplologi:st. He was a leclure,· at Bristol Universily and published a number of Coplic litur· gical manuscripts, including The COplic Theo/Qkia (London, 1923), Fragmemary Coptic Hymns from the Wadi n'Namm (London, 1924), and The Oifnar (An· liphOllurium) of Ine Coptic Cllllrch (2 vols., London, 1926-1928): The Arabic Life of St. Pisentills (PO 22, 1930); books aoout Christian and Coptk lilet3lUre, alllong them Swdies ill Ihe Apocryphal Gospels of Christ's lnfancy (londOn, 1912) and The Sainu of Egypl (London, 1937); and boo~ about Egypt in the Ambic period, such as Short Hislory of Ihe Fatimid KhaUfat/! (London and New York, 1923) and How Greek Science Pus~'ed 10 the Arabs (London, 1949). MARTIN KRAUSE
M"IlTIN KRAUSE
(modem l:unir, Turkey), who was martyred in Egypt under OIOCl-P.TI"N. His name is not found in the Copto·Arabic SYNAXARlON. and since the Coptic texts that menlion him are also fragmental)', lhe day he was commemorated is not known. Two Cop· tic texts concern him: his Passion, now in six frag. ments originating from the same codex, and an Encomium allrib\lted to Moses of Tkow, now in three fragments originating from the same codex. All tbese fragments have been published by L lefort (1950). A more or 1t.'SS complete reconstroction of the text of the Passion is possible because it is based on the text of the Passion of Saint with a sole, although important. change in the 6nal section. According to the PlISSion, Olympius was par· ticularly gifted at his studies in hi.~ youth: unlrnown to his mtber, he embraced Christianity at an early age. He became a physician and through the minlculous cure of a blind man he converted his father, who then diL't!. Olympius used all his inheritance to help the martyrs in tbe prisons. These charitable deeds led to his being reported by jealous colleagues to the emperor Dioc1etian, wbo summoned him. The customary scene follows of ahercation between the martyr and his persecutor, with vari· ous mirucles and tortures. At that point (here the text depa,·ts from that of Pantaleon), Olympius is sent to Egypt to be killed at the hands of the prefect
""N'T"LfON.
"1l1"NUS, Thi.~ i~
OLYMPIODORUS OF THEBES. tifth.century historian who wrOte a work comprising twenty·two books th;lt W;lS dedicated to Emperor Theodosius II. II deals with the years 407-435 and is based on his own expel'lences (e.g., witb tbe Blemmyes in Nubia). HllJI.IOCRAPIIY Baldwin, 11. "Olympiodotoli of Thebes:' L'antiquile classiqll/!. 49 (1980):212-31. MOnlvcsik. G. [Jyl,tmtino-Turcica, 2nd cd., Vol. I, pp. 468-70. Berlin, 1958.
certainly a late composition, which may be attributed 10 the period of the CYCI.F-S (seventh or eighth century). Although It cannot bc directly as· signed to any particular cycle, there are polnl~ of contact between it and the Antiochcne cycle of the General. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baumeister, T. Marlyr b"'iclus. Der Martyret (lIs Sinnbild der ErWslwg in der Lcgellde und im Kul/ der frillletr koptischell Kirche. MUnster. 1972. Lefort. L T. "Un mtlrtyr inconnu; S. Olympios:' I.e Musion 6) (1950):1-23. Trro ORLANDI
ONOPHRIUS, SAINT
OMAR TOUSSQUN (1872-1944), prince of the Egyptian royal family, scholar, and philanthropist. There wcre few aspects of Egyptian progress that did not benefit from his support and hb prdctical encouragement. He was particularly de\'ote
Ghali, Mirrit Boutros. Obituary in Bulletin de la Sodbi d'archiologie copte 10 (1944):v-vi. MtRRtT BotrrRO';; GliAL!
OMOPHORION. See liturgical Vestments.
ONOPHRIUS, SAINT, anchorite (feast day: 16 Ba'ilnahJ. The flgurc of Saint Onophrius (in Ambic Abo NOmr) enjoyed the widesl diffwlion among the Egyptian desert fathers both in religious litcrdture and in worship and art, both in Egypt and outside. I'lis life was rIOt transmitted independently, but inserted with other~ into a pilgrimage narrative de~· tined for edificalion, allribulcd to a certain Paphnutius. Sometimes hi.~ lext is pl'eceded hy a title presenting it a~ the life of Onophrius: thh was cer· tainly added later, The life of Onophrius occupies only half of the ~tory of Paphnutius. The Coplic recension is preserved in lhree com· plete manuscripts (Pierpont Morgan Libl-ary, New York, M580, pp. 1-36, from ar·I,llImOli in the Fay· yOm, dated to A.D. 889-890, unpublished; British Libl1lry, London. Oriental 7027, fols. 1-21v, from Idfo, 1004: and a Bohairic manuscript [the OIhers are in Sahidlc], Vatican Library, Coptic 65, fols. 99-120v, dated 978-979). Several fragments of co-
1841
dices have been preserved, among them two papyn1S leave~, one of Ihe seventh century, formerly at Louvain but destroyed in a fire in 1940 (cd. Lefort, 1945, pp. 97-1(0), the other of the sixth (?) century in Vienna (cd. Orlandi, 1974, pp. 158-61): the agreement in text between these IWO papyl'l.lS leaves and the other witnt..'SS(.'S provides assurance of the antiquily of Ihe story of Paphnutius. The While Monastery (DAYR ANS}, SHINODAII) at Suhaj possessed a codex eonta;ning this life: tWO leaves were pub· lished by Till (1935. Vol. I. pp. 14-19); and the National Ubl1ll)', Paris, preserves sevtral unpublished fragments of it. In Greek, the manuscripts are numerous bUI un· published except for the pal'1 of the Paphnutius SIOI)' concerning Onophrius (Acta sanctorum, 1969, pp. 527-]]). A reworking is found in some coUti:· tions of AI'OPIITIlE(;MATA PATIIUM. A summary is inscl'1ed in the Greek SYN.uA1UON al 12 June, sometimes at 10 or II June. In latin several edilions have been listed, of which three have been published. One makes Onophrius the son of a king of Persia, and adds several novclbtie episodes. A notice was inserted in Ihe Roman manyrology by Baronlus In 1584. Paphnulius' place of origin is not indicated, but he entered very young into a cenobillrn near Hermopolis. Onophrius is struck by the lalk of the elders of this monastery, which presents the hennit life as much luperior to the cenobitic. Desiring to follow this more pcrfcct way, he leavcs his cell by nighl and goes off Into the dcscl'1 where he is guided by an angel. At the cnd of six or $evcn milcs, he finds a cave occupied by a hermit, who retains him for some days to instruct him, then leads him, after four days walking, to a hut [lear a date palm. The hennit remains with him al this IIpot for a month to initiate him, lhen leaves him alOne. Every year, however, they meet again, until the day of the old man's dealh. Onophrius descrihes 10 Paphnutius his sufferings llnd his stnlggles, his sustenance miraculously brought by angels or supplied by the date palm, the communion that an angel give~ him ellch Saturday and Sunday, and his vIsions. The SlOry does nOI speak of any pal1icular combats with the demons. At lhe beginning of his meeling with Paphnutius, Onophrius describes his life "walking in the moun· tains like wild beasts and living from the plants and the lrees," In fact, Paphnulius first finds Onophrius tWO or three miles from his hut. They go there together, and afler a spiritual conversation. bread and water are mysteriously placed ncar Ihem. The
1842
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD
following morning. on 16 Sa'Clmln, Onopnrius c~· prcs.scs his Illsc wishes for his lxxIy and for his lInnual commemoralion Ihal is 10 be marked by an olTering in his name and an agape. Tu those who shallmke ca,'e of it he promises Chat the Lord "will le:ld them 10 the firsl hour of the thOUSllnd )'ears." Paphllullus exprCS5<''S Ihe desire 10 remain there after the dellth of Ollophrius. but the laller replies thaI his VQCalion is to make known the life of the desen hermits, Onophrius dies, and his soul is earried away by angels. Paphnutius lays his body in a cavity in the cliff lind covers it wilh stones. At Ihis moment the hut and the date palm Cnlmble away, thus shOWing Paphnutius lhal it wa.~ not the will of God for him 10 sUly in lhal place, At the end of his journey in the d<.'S('rt, he meets some monks, who transcrihc his story and send it to Sc<.·tis to be de· posited in the churc:h, This life is charncteristtc of a cenain 'wandering hermilism. the witncsscs to which are birly numer· ous In Middle Egypt. II is significOint that Onophrius should say to Paphnutius "return to Egypt:' for this indicates th:lt he considered himself in exile in the desert. probably near the oasis of Ollyrhynchus. Saim Onophrius was vcuerated from vcry early times in Egypt. for papyri of the sixth and seventh centuries allcst the existence: of churche!'> dedicOlt<.-d to his mllllC at "yeopoll!'>. It is very probably he who is represented on a fresco of DAYR A"A Jr.:IU'MIAIl at Saqqara, bcside a pall1l trce fllld clothed only in his lung hair and beard. although the nallle is obliternted, along with MACARIUS nil; CCVI"TIAN, Apollo of &iwi!, and proba· bly Phib. At nAn ANsA MAOAR he is also portrayed in the nonh side c1mpcl. Al Fams in the Sudan a fres· co from the end of the tenlh century presents him ncar an orulOry (lnd a palm trec, In Uyznntiul1l, two omtories wcre consecrated to him, .md his head was presel"Ved in the church of Saini Akindino!'>. He ;lppears in II jlitinting from around the yellr 1100 in Cyprus. Sever.1I pictures in Ilaly, 1wo uf Ihem n'('Jlll the fourteenth eentulY, tes· tify 10 hi!'> populari1Y, The icons representing him arc numerous Ihroughout the entire CI,ris1ian East. BIBLIOGR....... HY
Antonini, L. "Le Chiese eristiane ncll'Egillo dal IV~ IX secolo s<.'Condoi documenti dei papiri grcci.'· Aeg)'JlIIU 20 (1940): 129-208. nudge. E. A. W. Coptic Marlyn/ollls. Lundon. 1914, Coquin, K.·O. "Le Synaxalre dcs copt,os." Ana/ecta Bollanditma 96 (1978}:]51-65.
Kirschbaum. J. Lexikofl dcr chrisllie//tm 11«1110· gruT/llic, Vol. 8. ROl11e nnd Freiburg im Breisgau, 1976.
Lefol't, L T, "Fragments COpICS." U
Mu.~o!oll
58
(1945):97-120. Leroy. J. Lcs pcill/llrt:S des cOl/vcnlS du Quadi NutroWI. La pcinlurc murale chez leli Coptes 2. Cairo. 1982.
Michalowski, K. Fartu, cenlre orlis/iqlle de la Nllbie chrbicnne. Lelden. 1966, Muhammad Ram7.l. AI·Qbmiis ol·JllghriJ/f. Vol. 1. Cairo. 1954. Orlandi, T. Papiri copti di cOlllcnWo teologic/). Vien· na. 1974. Saugcl, G. M. "5, Onofrio, IIllacorela In Tebaide.'· Bibfio/eca Sanc/omm 9 (1987):1187-97. Till, W. Koplische Heiligell- lind MiJrt)'rcr/egtlldell, Vol. 1. Orientalia Christiana Analecla 102, Rome, 19]5. RENt-GEORGES
COOUlN
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD, GnUc';· tic !'>cripture. hand<.-d down in severol copies (Nag H:lmmac.li Codex 11,5; 97.24-127.17; NUC XIII, 2, 50. 25-]4 [fmgm,); British Library, Or. 4926 [11 (fragm.)) and by comparisoll with olhcr lell15 quile well preserved. In spitc of its parallels. ror instance. to lrenacus (Adverslls omlltS hoereses i.30). 10 testi· monies of the Sethian and Valcntinian glIOsis, as well a... to M:lnichaeism, It represenL.. none of these known liystems. Neither docs it olTcr its own !'>ys. tem. It i." a compcnc.lillrll of significant Gnostic thoughts, p3nieulnrly about cosmogony, anthropog· eny, and eschalology, based on various !'>ources and traditions and pM'tly presented in qU:lsi-scientific slyle with numerous etiologies and etymologies, making it :lppcar oUlright encyclopedic. In addition, with a view to appe:lling to the public, it em· ploy!'> lhe style of an apologetic trealise. Yet the slory of the e:1I1h as well as the representation or the upper world lind its developmenl tHe largely excluded. l.lased on the initially sial cd and then reali~.ed Intent of lhe aulhol', whose mIme is nOI noted or known, the title 0/1 the. Ori"irl of Ihe World was given to this wrilin!!, by its invcMigalOTS. Staning from Ihe aMumption that the work is a conscious (lnd lll:mned composition without extensive !iecondary ..hero1ions llnd is not a wor'k that grew from long tradition and the historical process, the IcnnillllS Q quo may be given as the beginning of the innuence of Manich..cism in Egypt, that is. al the end of the thin! cenlulY. As for Ihe tenllillus ad
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD
quem. the time belw<,:en the Greek pl'QtOI_ype of lhe document, its written tran~mi~~ion and translation into Coptic. and lhe tr.mSllliHal subsequ"nt to the copying of Codex II from Nag Hammadi suggcsts the middle of the fourth century. Thus tl,e time of its cOnlf)OSition is possibly the early pan of the founh century. The text joins Jewish notions of diJJerent chlll"actcr-nmong them clear parolJel~ to literary testimonil$ of the early Jewish aplx:alypseswith Manichaean clemenls, wilh Christian ideas, with Greek philosophical concepu, and with figures of Greek or Hell('nistic mythology. The pnacti<,:c of magic and astrology and a clearly a('('enl('d emphasis of an Egypti.", body of thought are inwrporated as well. All point to Alexandria as the pre:<.umed place of origin of the Gn:d. foml of the oJocumcnt. The aUlhor goes back in his wor\: to sources of varying character, bol~ Gnostic and non-Gnostic, withoot the reader being able to identify them pre' cisely, or even to reconstruct them in Ihe literary critietll sensc. In so doinll, the author at times cre· atC$ tellsion~, imhalances, and contradictions, because some of his sourcl'5 presupf)OSe " specific Dnd different viewpoint. The working method of thc writer shows cspedally in oJirect and indin.:et quolations. rderences, summaries, etymologies, explana. tions, and !>)':'ltemaliu."e prevailing narrative !>tyle. Employing this system, the author presents an objcotive ami convinciug argument and allempts to Slrengthen hi!> opinion by appealing 10 and referrinll to other works. Owing to a remarkable number of palUllcls and simit;.r style, even oJown to details, a relationship undoubtedly exlM~ betwecn the HYPOSTASIS OF THE ARCHONS (NHC II, 4) and 011 Ih~ Ori!;;u of Ih~ World. But hecllu~e of the unequal character of both oJOCllment~, their differing concepts of the world, and vD!'latlon~ In detail~, one can hardly prove direcl liter.lry conncelion~, However, buth documenlS mighl be ba~ed on the same ~()u!'ce mao terial. 011 Ihe Ori!;;" 01 Ihe World open~ wilh a philo· sophieal discussion about primcv31 chaos, but moves III ollce 10 ,I desCl'ipliOll of primeval even Is, reviewing at first the e~tahllshrnefll of the boundary between the upper "1ll1 lower world, as wcll as Ihe formation by Pl!>ti!> Sophia of Yaldahaoth. the finil erea1l'd and the m,lin prulallonist of Ihe upper wadd. The cosmogony, and later the anthropogeny, are p;.lrtly oriented to lhe early ehaptel'S vf Genesis. bUI al!;O 10 idea<; known from M:vcral writin~ of the
1843
pseudepigraphlc llterature of Judaism (e,g.• Jubi· Ices, I Enoch). InoJl·t:-d. Jewish influences and backgl'Ound also surface in the author's angc1ology, {Iemonology, lInoJ eschatology, liS well as in his etymologies, I-Iowever, the Gnonlc interpretlliion of the matelials at hand is different in that it ranges from a complete rellsscssmelll of the arrogance of Ihe demiurge or crealor god-integrating Isaiah 45:5 and 46:9-and events of Genesis 3, to a relatively unbroken integration of existing k'Wish Ihoughu and motifs, liS found in the description of par"disc:, The high point of primeval events is the cl-eation of earthly man, which must be seen in connection with lhc doctrine of the primeval man In Otl the Ori£in of Ih~ World. Thi!> teaching is difficult to understand because it utilizes different mOlifs and hetcrogeneous ioJcas. 8QlTOwing from Genesis 1:26 and 2:7, early man is said to be crealed by the archons or rulers lIccording to the image of lhe archons Dnd In the likeness of Ihe Light·Adanl. a hea\"cnly primeval m"n who correspond, in a eel" tain way 10 lhe "hird Mes.o;cngcr in Manichaeism or 10 thc "Anlhropos uf Pohnandres." In a counter· campaign in the light world. Ihe Sophia (Zon who funClion!> in our document as savior "noJ Wll0 1.lso complclcs the archons' unfinished creation of man, Fashions a "!!piritual" man who is manifcsted in different WOIYs ali the blinger of the gnosi!!: a<; the spiritual wife of Adam, :1.<; the M:fJlent ("Ihe bea!;t"). and il!i Ihe instructor in par"disc who is viewed favombly. Fundameilially, all of thc5C bl,'inll~ (lrc the Sophia (Zot') hcrsclr, In ~pile of the detailed account of primeval evenu, On the Or/gil! of Ihe World has overall an eschatulOllieal orientation that is unive~l in char· actel'. This i.~ sccn in frequent references to Ihe end of time liS well as in 0 bl'QDd de.~eriptlon of final evenl!>, along with a large number of thoughts, motifs. coneepls, and terms fl'ol11 arocalypses. The final stale, which Is hmughl about by lhe upper world with the redemption ()f Ihe GnOSlics-ln differing dCKrces-flnd Ihe de~tl'uction of the cn'alion of the archons. qualit'1tivc1y ~tlrpasses the primeval st:llc and 111l1kcs impossible a recurrence of events descl'lbed in tile text, even similar events. In many respl't:ts, 0" Ihe OriRill ol/he World is a significant Gno~tic wOI·k. Through tbis ralher c;lItensive writing, we llllin insight into nn educated au' thor's thinking, wol"ldng methods. and logi<,: reg"rd· ing n fundamental Iheme. This document also shows the high dcgrt:e of liberality and indepcn·
1844
ORANT
dellce wilh which II Gnostic writer as.similates (01·· cign. even non-Gnostic and heterogeneous bodi<..-~
of thought. in an elf01' to demonstrate the primacy of his position about cllistcncc and tile world, for example. in the face of its mydlOlogical fashioning. Moreover, it can help us understand why and how the Gnostic view of reality pcnoistcd. and frequently even prevailed. In 11$ interaction with other reli· gious and intellectual curn.:nUi. DIDLIOGRAPIIY
Bclhgc. H.-G. "Vom Urspnmg der lVefl" ... 111m llera'lsgegebell Imd ... erlcliirt. Theological diMer-
tallon, Humboldt University, Berlin, 1975. Belhge, H.-G., and O. Wintermute. "On the Origin of the World," In Tlte Nag Hammadi Library in ElIglish. cd. J. M. Robinson. New York, 1977. BOhlig, A., and P. Labib. Die kOplisch-gnosfisclle Schrifl olllle Tiu/lius Coda 11 V01l Nlig HlImlPllidi till Kopti.sclltPl M,lSeWPl llf Air KlIiro. Berlin, 1962. Fallon, F. Th. EPllhronePPlfml 01 SllbllQlh. Nag Ham· madi Studies 10. Lciden, 1978. Tardieu, M. Trois mylhu gll()sliqllU, Adam, Eros el Its QllimQltX d'Egyple. Paris, 1974. HANS-GE8HARD BETlfCE
ORANT, See Christian Subjects in Coptic An.
ORARION. Sett Liturgical Vestment<;.
ORDINATION, CLERICAL. The right of II hLdlOp to ordain Christians of his diocese a.<; deacons and priests is so Ilenernlly recognized that the ..:nnons of the Coplic church (see CANONS. F£CLEStA$· TtCAL) rcl;tle only to lIbuses: for ins!lIJlce, the ordi· naTion of Christians from another diocese or the acceptance of a gift fOl' the ordination. The bishop's right Is liumewhllt restricted through the prescrip· Tions of The canons regarding the ordination of persons as priests and deacons. For ordination to the derBY, the minimum age is twenty·five for a deacon, thiny for a priest. Before ordinal ion, the candidate is to be instructed (see CLERICAl. INSTRUCfION) and eltamim:d. Sinee the Council of CHAI.CI'DON (451), ordinations may be only for a definite church office or title, and therefore only at the same time as the Installation. The carrying OUi of the ordina· tion is also described in the canons.
Whether the prescriptions of the canons were fol· lowed to the kuer can be tesled from primary SOUI'ces, texts about ordination in the correspondence of bishop AIJItAIlAM of Hel'monthis in the peri· od around 600. In the texts about the ordination of deacons and priests, the petition for the ordination of a particular person for a panicular office i:; presented by a Ihird pany. In Coptic ostracon 36 the bishop is to ordait\ Isaac as priesl al the Church of Saini Mary in Piohe "becausc the placc m.>t.-ds him." AI Ihe same time the pelitioners (a pries!, a scribe, and a reader of the same village) offcr security that thc ordinand will fullill his office COJTeCtly, The texIS contain no slatemenlS as 10 whclhcr lhe eandi· datc satislies Ihc conditions contained in Ihe can· ons, for example, In regard to thc minimum age (Krause, 1956, Vol. I, pp. 42ff.). After the bishop has granted the petition and ordained the candi· date, the ordained man himself or other persons on his ~ha[r pledge 10 the bishop that he will fulfill the dUlies arising out of his office: the observance or fulfillment of the commandments, the church canons. and professional knowledge: care for the altar or the church; obediencc to Ihe bishop and superiors; the learning by heart of a particular Gos· pel within an appoinlcd time, with a corresponding examination by Ihe bishop. Among the funher obligalions of the ordained man are the observance of the rony-day faSt and of vigils at his sleeping place and on Communion days, the duty of residence, Ihe reciting of prayers, lind ref-raining from trade and Ihe taking of Interest. The number of pctSOns who pledge their security before the bishop for the or· clained man's observance of the obligations named varieJl between one and four, and is lhus smaller than lhe number pl'escribed in the canons. Clergy arc frequently punished fur offenses "gainst their official duties, accol'ding to the sources, by excommunication or expulsion frum the clergy. Two doculIIents Or appointment have survived from the foul1eenth century (Bilubcl tlnd Grohmann, 1935). Buth were drawn up by PhilOlheus, bishop of Pallopolis and Lycopolis. In the older, dated 2 May 1361, he urduins John, son of Phoibammon, as deacon of the Church of Saint Theadorus of Lycopolis; in the second, dated 12 May 1363, hc ordains Gabriel, lhe son of Misael, as deacon of the Church of Theodorus Strdtelatcs. The documents lire wrillen in the Bohairic dialect with an Arabic Il-:lnslalion, From Ihe year 1256 a eertilicatc of character has survived in Arabic lhat concerns a priest and monk named John, who was probably to be named as
ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES
titular of a church. A document of consclTation to the episcopale, dated 16 November 1311, was found in 1964 under the body of a bishop in O~r Ibrtm and published in 1915. In the document Ihe palriarch of Alexandria, CA8RU!,L IV. makes it known that he has consecraled Ihc fonner priesl Timolheus as bishop of Faras and Nubia. This documl:nt bc:ars Ihe naml:S of four bishops as wilnesses, lWO of whom, lhe bishops of Alrlb and Hennopoli.~, were presenl al Ihe ceremonial consecmlion in the "suspended" CHURCII OF AlA.IU'AUAOAIl in Old Cairo, and two (lhe bishops of Oil1 and 0Us) Wl:rc pn:scnt al the enlhronement. The enthronement look place on IS Febn!il')' 1372 in lhe Church of Saint Victor, west of Oamolah. The document was drawn up both in Bohairic and in Ambic. The Ambit- original text has often been circul:lted, for instance, by Abu al·Barakat (Coquin, J 977, p. 142, with references). BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bilabel. F., and A. Grohmann. "Zwei Urkunden :lUS dem bischoflichen Archiv von Panopolis ;n "gypl. en." Hciddbcf8. 1935. Coquin. R.-G. "A propos des rouleaux copIes arabe de.- l'h~que Timolhce." BibliolJiecQ OriI'U/Q!i5 34 (1977):142-41. Krause, M...A..... Abraham von Hermonlhis. Ein obertliYPlischer Bischof urn 600," 2 \'ols. Phil. diss., Berlin, 1956. Maspero, J. "Un diplome arabe·chrelien du XIlI' si~c1e." Ail/lilies dll Service de.s QlI/iqllifi5 II (1911): 111-85. Plumley, J. M. Tile Scrolls 01 Bislloll Tinmtlleos: Two Documcllts Irom Medievul Nubifl. LondO'l, 1915. Steinwcnter, A. "Die Onlinal;onsbiUen klJplischer Kleriker." Aegypllls \\ (\930-193\ ):29- 34. MARTIN KRAUSE
1845
with the first Christian misslun 10 the relevant countries; ralher, II invesligates the relationship be· tween Ihe pre-Chri5ti:ln :lnd Christian eras, paying special attention to continuity and discontinuity. The study also looks at the relalionship of the Chris· tian countries 10 one another. Although thi.c; discipline is represented so far at only a fcw uni\'crsities (e.g., in Germany in the Philosophical Faculties), its scope in tenns of both space and timc. as well as Ihc abundance of lhe extant sources, has led to increasing specialization. Some represenlativ(.'S of the subject teach only a few of Ihe languages and limit their research to cenain areas, such as philology and Iitcraturc. This leads 10 such designations of Ihe discipline as "Phi· lology of the Christian Oricnt" (Munich) and "Langu:lga; and Cultures of the Christian Orient" (TUbingen). Other scholars in the field, such as those at the Institut C8tholique in Paris, spedalb:e in only one of the seven languages and its corre· sponding culture. This specia1i:wtion has given rise 10 the formaiion of new scholarly dlscipllne.c;, such as Coptology :lnd Syriology. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Assfalg, J. Kleillcs Wlfrterblfch dcs chris/lichen Ori· ems. Wiesbaden, 1975. Ecole des IllllglIC5 oriell/Illes IltlciCml~S d~ /'IllslilUt cuthQlique de PllriS. Mimorilll d/I cinqullHlellair~ 1914-1964. TravaUlI de I'lnsliwt catholique d~ p::\. lis 10. Paris, 1964. Guillaumont, A. "l'Oricnt chretien." JOIln/ul flsiulique 261 (1973):69-81. MAlHIN KRAUSE
ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES, the ORIENS CHRISTIANUS, the lCchnkal Lalin lcrm for the sdlOlarly study of the Christian Orient. In its eKIl.!ninlllion nf the cultures of lhc Cbristian East this study encompasses seven languages: Georgian, Armenian, Syriac, Christi:ln Arabic, Elhiopie, Coptic, Ilnd Old Nubian. SdlOlars in lhis discipline study works of literature originally composed in these language.c; a~ well :l5 works transl;,tcd inlO them. The eKtant texts nrc combed for infonnation on such topics as palcogrnphy, codicology, chronol· ogy, church history, the histo')' of dogma, hi.c;torical geography, the science of liturgy. church law, church music, archaeology, and lhe hlslory of an. The sludy of the Christian Orient does 1101 begin
appellalion chosen for lhe 1965 Addis Ababa conference of the non·Chlllcedonian churche.c;, in order to di.<;tingui.c;h them from the Eastern Orthodox churches, which lire ChaJccdonian. The panicipat· ing chul'ches were lhe Coplic, the Elhiopian, lhe Syrian, lhe Armeni;!n, lind lhe Indian, the five churches lhal rejected the decisions of the Council of CHALCEOON in 451. They were reprcscnlcd by del· egations composed of ecclC5ia.~lics :lnd laymen, headed by their patri:lrchs, e~eept for lhe Armeni· ans, who were I'epresented by their IWO catholi· cases, thosc of Echmi:ldzin and CHida. The conference, which was held on the initi:ltivc, and :It Ihe invilalion, of Emperor HAIt.E SELASSIE, was an impol1alll event in church hi.c;lory. The
1846
ORIENTATION TOWARD THE EAST
hl.':ld~ of Ihc~c churchc~
had not
Ille!
in person
since lhe Council of "'I'HESUS in 431. over fifteen
centuries earlier. The conference, held on 15-21 January 1965. was pn.:<:cJcd by iI pl"Iiud of conliuJlation (9-14 January). The conference adopted decisions embodied in three resolUlions and a long
de<:lal'3tlon. compl'ising a pI-eamblc and sill chaplen;: "The Modem World and the Churches," '"eoopel'8lion on Church EduCillion." "Coopcrnlion on Ev.:mgeJism." "Relations Wilh Olher Churches:' "Machinery fur the MaintcOlIOCC of Permanent Relations Among the Churches," and "Statement on Peace anll Justice in Ihe World." A standing cum· milicI.', with an interim, ~cretariat, was appointed
by the conference and held sevenl.] •.,(:clings in the following years. MIRRIT BouTROS GHAU
ORIENTATION TOWARD THE EAST. Since the early days of Christianit,v. the cast has been the point designated to be faced during proy· en;, bolh by thc officiating pricst and by the eongrcaalion. This has 10 be laken into aeCOUnl in build· ing a chureh. so the altar must be placed in the castcn! end, wilh Ihe longer axis of the chureh running casl to wcst. The APOSTOUC CONSTtTt1TIO/l:.S pn.'SCribe th'l1 "all rise up with one consent and, looking IOw3rd the ea.~t.... proy 10 God ea.~t· ward." AI,~fl ibn al-'Assal. Ihe lhirtcenth-ccnlury compilel' of Coplic canon law, stated Ihat "the con' gregalion stand with Iheir hands lifted up IO""'
The liame subject has been treated by various church authorities throughout the ages. SainI UASIL THE GREAT Jinks il with the ancienl homeland of /111m in Paradise, "II is according to 1111 unwrillen Iradilion Ihal we lum to Ihe Ea.~1 10 pray. But lillie do we know thaI we lire Ihus Sl.'Cking Ihe ancient homeland, Ihe Pl:lI':1.di~ that God planted in Eden, lowards Ihe E.'lst" (De Spiriw Sallc/o, p. 27), Saini F.J'lIkAF.M the SYI'lan (306-373) wriles thai "'l11e Jews looked 10 Jerusalem in their proyen, for il was Iheir holy counlry. As for us, Ihe Paradise is our country which was in the Easl. Therefore we are ordered to look IOw.. rds Ihe East during our proyen.." Saini CIlECOIlV OF I'lYSSA (c. 330-395) con· siders the lIlaller from a particular angle: "Such motion of orientation helps the !iOU1 10 repent and srtk the kingdom of God in her worship." If the East stand$ for righteousness and light, the Wl."5'1 is associated with ungudlinl."SS and darkness. Consequently, al the moment of Ihe renunciation of Satan during baptism in the Coplic Church, the person to be baplized is required 10 look IOward the Wesl, and stretch out his righl hand and say, "I renounce thee, Satnll." Then he turns toward Ihe East and, strelching both hands, says, "I join myself 10 nIce, ChriSI." HIIU.IOGNAPHV Burmester, O. H. Ii The El:Yptiarl or Coptic Church. Cairu, 1967. Butler, A. J. The ,i/ld,ml Coptic Churches vI Egypt. 2 vols. Oxford, 1884. Danil!lou, J. Tlte Rible alld tile Liturgy. Notre Dame, Ind., 1956. ARCH1IISHOP BASII.IOS
ORIGEN, [This entry cO'lsists 01 three articles: General Hislory, Origen in the Copto·Arabic Trouilion, and Origen'~ Writings.]
General History Origen (185-255) WllS one of the grClltcst Chris· tians who ever lived, and cerillinly alllong the great· est of Egypthm Christians. Only ATHANASIUS can rival him in St"turc IHlIQng Ihc sons of Christian Egypl. He Wali horn of Christian parents at Alexandria lind probably died al Tyre. In 202 his father, Leonida.~, was mal1yred in Ihe persecution under Emperor Septimius Severns. Various delails and (In' ecdolCS of hi!' YOUlh have been recorded by Ihc ecclesiaslical historian WSIillIUS OF CIlIiSJIII.EA, not all of which may be authentic: but it is likely Ihal
ORIGEN: General History
about 204 Origen, in a fil of ascetical selfmortification, castrated himself, and that 3t 3 vel)' early age he was put in charge of Ihe CATI'.CHETtCAL SCHOOL 01' ALEXANDRIA (Ihough the exaCI nature of that school is Unl:elillin). He must have known the works of CU!MENT 01' "U:XANDRJA, though he never mentions him, His early poveny, which was at least in pan vol· unlal)', was relieved by a rich official called Ambrosius, whom Origcn had persuaded 10 aban· don CNOS'!'ICISt.t for Catholic Christianity and who subsidized Origen's publicatioos_ Origcn mentions his palron more than once and wrole olle of his works, Thl! E:J/Qrtuliol/ to MartyrtlQm, for his bene·
".
By 231 Origen hllU visited Rome, Arabia, and Pal· estine briefly, and Imc! begun collecting tr'llllsiations of the Old Testament, He had already made a name for himself a.~ a Christilln theologian and had pro· duced his first imponant wurk. In that year he found himself in conflict wilh l)E,MIoTRJllS I (189_ 231), the bishop of Alexandria, who apparently resented his growing fame as a teacher. He visited Athens and then, probably in 232, went to Antioch, where he was summoned, as a leading Christian philosopher, 10 an inteNiew with Julia Mll"'llea, the mother of Emperor Alexander Severus, He probably relUmed to Alexandria briefly bUI thl'n left it forever, pUl'$ucd by the enmity of Demetrius, who succeeded in haVing Origcn condemned by a synod at Rome Wi well a.~ one at Alexandria. The main charge mu.~t have been Ihat during his recenl trowels he had bt.-en ordained presbyter by a bishop in Pal~tine, without his own bishop being consulted and in spite of his self-mutilation. [kmetrius' sueces..c;or, 1IERACL\S (231- 247), continued the feud. The Eastern church, however, took no notice of these llynOw., and for the rest of his life Ongen remained a perSOUD grata among the churche!i of Asia, Palestine, Syria, and ArabiQ, He llettler! in Palestini:m Cllesarea, where he spent most of the rest of his life, making visits to Athens and At1Ibia and, during the reign of the perseeUling emperor Malciminus (235-238). remaining fur a considerable time in Cappadocian Caesarea with its bishop, Firmi1lian. In 249 he is said 10 have been imp rill' oned and tonured as a confessor during the persecution of Emperor l)OCIUS, He probably moved to Tyre about two years before his death. Though Origen started writing lale in his life, his output was enormous. Much of it survive,~ in the original Gn~ek, and even more in Latin translations made dudnll the two centuries after his death, some by Rulinus and Jerome. Though moM of his
1847
work look the form of commental)' or sermon on biblical lelltS, the firsl major woI'k, and the earlicst that has come down 10 us, is one thai he called Peri arc!l(m (Concerning First Principles), usually known by its I..atin title De pr/llc/piis. It is an ,lltempt to show the common ground possessed by Christianity lind certain forms of eontempt)l'aly Greek philosophy, notllbly Middle Platonism (thc eclectic, devdopt.-d form of platonism popular in the third cenIUry). It contains some of Origen's most daring thought, and is more concerned to push speculation beyond the limits of the Rule of Faith (though mostly withoul conlravening it) than to interpret Scripture. II exists in a Latin lranslatlon and in fragments of the Greek. some quite long. It should be dated aboul 225, But Origen had already begun an extremely long Commelllary C}II Sailll John's Gospel, of which nine books and several frngmenls survive in Greek. By the thirty-second nnd lasl book he had reached only John 13:33. This work contains a great deal of Origen's thought on the doctrine of the Trinity and on Christolegy; he wrote it gradually over II number of years. Next in order (between 232 and 234) we should probably place Commell/ories on Coril/thiOilS and 0" EphesiallS, and his homilies on $:lint Luke's Gospel, liS well a.~ his remarkablc book 011 Prayer, the firM Christian work to contain a commentary on the Lord's Prayer. [n 235 his ExhorMliQn /0 Martyrdom appeared, designed to support Ambrosius, who had been arn.'S"ted during the persecution of Maximinus (though he was later frud). He then wrote.ll longer Commentary on the Sol/g of SOllgs (he had wriuen a shorter one earlier), a Commentary OIl Romans. a va.~t Commenta')' on Saill/ Mal/hew's Gospel, Homilies on Leviticus, Homilies on the Psalms, and, his crowning work, Against Ce/sus, exlant in the original eight books. CELSUS, a philosopher. had written lln allack on the Christian religion about firty years before, At Ambrosius' requeSt. because it was troubling the mind of many Christians, Origen undenook to reo fule it, and did SO thoroughly, taking it paragraph by paragraph, so a..~ to make his book virtually an apology for Christianity; it can be dated to 248. We also have, in a manuscript discovered in the 19405 at Turah, near Cairo, a fragmental)' account by an anonymol.lS person of a conference between Origen and some clergy in a town in Ambia (modem Jordan) on poinL~ of controversy or uncenainty in doc· trine, known as Ihe DialQ/l:uc willi Heracleides, in which what might be called the sweet TCllsonable· ness of Origen in discussion is very evident. There also survive a large number of works by
1848
ORlGEN: General History
Oligen that cannot be so 3ccuralcly dated: Homilies all I Sumul'1 28 (Ihe witch of Endor), ,md on Judg. er;, Exodu.s. Genesi." Numbers, E1.eklel. and Joshua, soml: of them Sl:'rmons taken down in shorthand as h~ delivered them, llS well as severnl fragments other works and a rew letter'!;, Orilll'n also, after spending a large ,,;I.!1 of his life collect ing copiel; or the Old Testament in Greek, about 243 produced :I work known as the lIe:CQp/a, the Old TeSlamcm in parallel-the 11eb~w lext, lIS lI'anscription into Gr«k [ellen, the Septuagint, ,:and thn'e (and somt~ limes more) Olher Greek translat;onl. of the lext. II WIIS long pre5Crvt."d in the library of the bishop of Palestinian Caesarea; 50mc pans of it are extant. Educated in Alexandria, which was then the cui· tuml capiltlJ of the Roman cmpir'e. Odgen had lib· ~orbcd the inlellcctu;d heritage of Greek philosophy. which induded whm we would now call science in 1I1()l1.1 of lis brnnt:hes, hlstor..... and theology. Only in imaginative power is he kicking; when he comes 10 face Ihe lilerouy forllls, .<.omelimd poetic and dramatic. of Ihe Bible, he f;,ils to realize their signifit:ancc: shows no appreciation of poet!)' or drallla: rarely quotcs eilher; and writes a prose lhal seldom rises above the pedestlian. But his thQught "epresenls a grand and sophisticated syn· thesis of Chrblinn doclrine and Greek philnsophy. His pupil Gregory Thll<xlorus. whose Eulugy of Or!· ~el1 is extant. wr'Ote of him that he did not indis· crimimltdy accept all philosophy; that he owed Illost of all to Middle I'lalonism: Ihal Iris ethics and psycholqgy were largely SlOic; and that Arislolle supplied only his cosmology and his logic. But Origcn's thought. which can be reconslruclcd with confidence in its nulln lines and in most of its de· lails, ill; the nlost able. brillianl, and sophisticated produclion Ihc Chril'lian Church had hitherto seen or was yet to see unlil another grci'li African. Augu:>tine. lIIade his :JppC:U"dnce. For Origen. God Is One and Simple, pure. immutable Spirit. Ihe original source of all existence and 1111 goodness; he is One in eontrasl wilh the mani· fold. bUI Ihe One 10 whom the manifold is moving, striving 10 n:tum. To Ihis !lupc:resscntial Essence (so abslrncl lhal we can scarcely predicate being uf Him) Origen attributed sclf-eonsciousnCM and will: to Ongen, God W'"olli alwaY" living and l>ersonal; here Ihe biblical Ir:adilion made its impression on him. God is omniscient and omniputenl, l>ul he is not the prcdeslining God Qf Old TeSlament and New Testament. He fureknows and foresees but does not foreurdain. In Odgen's view God's guudness nrld His juslice ure nOI Contrasted ur evell kepI In bal· ance. bUl arc Idcnticul. God. of course, punishes
or
those who d1.'SCI"Ve punishmenl, bUI his punishmenl is never purely relnbuth'e: il is alwaY" rcmedi:ll. Origen rejecls altogethel' the nOlion of God's wrath; God is never angry. At one point he says that the wurSI thing that God can do 10 :Jnybody is simply to leave him :,lolle. In Ihis respect Origen t:urried the Iiberalthl.'Qlogy of Clement much funher. Origen's dOClrine of God is firmly Irinllarian. God's nalure is 10 communicate and reveal Himself: and bccau!le He cannot change, He must always have been communicaling Himself. from eternily. In order to communicate Himself. however, Ihe One and Simple must become manifold. and He I;an do Ihis only by amlll' doning I-lis absolute immunity 10 change or experi· ence (impassibility. apatheiCl) and assuming a form in which He can act find be an Orgllll for aCIing. This Is the WQrd (Logos) or Son. The Logos is the perfcel image of God. really and truly God: In faci. Origen ean call him "Sceond God" (not "0 second god"), echoing a Middle Platonist lerlll. The Logos/Son has a distinct existence, lin individual reality (Origcn uses both llypostosu and ollsia for this). from lhat of the Father, and Ihis, tOO, is divine: "The Savior," he says, "is God not merely by p.."lr1ieipation (melOlIsia) but in His Qwn right (klll·o".liall).'· The Logos/Son htls :I[ways been with the F:uhcr. and has :Jlways been distinct from Him. The gener:Jtion or production of the Son is an act lasting from eternity. "There never wa~ a lime when He did not exist," says Origen, and elsewhere, "The Savior is elernally generaloo by the Falher." In this doclrine of Ihe elemal general ion of the Son. Origen has broken lhrough the lrinitarian .scheme Ihal had held in Christian Iheology before his day and had taught lhal for purposes of ere· alion, revelation, and n."
ORIGEN: General HiSlOt)'
of the divine essence. I-Ie becomCli the Holy Spirit through the Son and is the fiBt cre:ltion of the Father through the Son. Origen uS<,.>s the word trias of the Trinity. All Persons are equal in divinity and dignity, and the subslance that they ~ is one. The evidence that Origen applied the wo.d homoollsios (consubstantial) tu the Son is unS:Hid'actol)' and cannot be IJusted. As the Soil cOllstilules a stuge of transition from the One to the manifold, so the Spirit represenlS a funhet· stage of this process. Origen's Trinity is therefore (like Kal'l &I1h's) a Trinity of eternal revelation, but it has dq;n:es in it; It is an internally gr.lded Trinity. Origell's doctrine of salvation (soteriology) is ingenious (lilt! unusual. God must always have had recipients of His clcrnlll self·tevchtlton. Therefore free rational spirits (souls) must have existed from etemity. All furms uf PIHtunism always insisted that the soul is eternal and indestructible; being spiritu· al (.we/oi) and rational (!ogikoi) is what .:onstitutes all snub, whether angelic or human. All souls have from eternity been created to be nbedicllt to God; and, to preserve God·s changelessness, they must all in the end return to free obedience, no Illaltet· what may have happened in the past, Consequently, on philOliOphical. not humanitarian, grounds, Ori· gen is an universalist; Ihat is, he bdievcs thai every· body must in the end be 5:lverl. His account of how any souls came to fall from obedience to God is nOI dear, but he apparently believed that l'1I created SplrilS must develop, and in the course of development sin; thus disobedience to God on:ulTL-d, It occurred ilmong souls before the world was creat· ed; Origen leaches, therefore, a prcmund:me Fall. The slory of Adam and Eve is ani)' an :,Ilegol)' or parabolic accounl of what happened before the world began. It was in ot'der 10 cope wilh the situation brnughl aboul by Ihe F:\ll that God created Ihe world. The physical univcrsc is Ihe 1l1~\ehincry for .~tal1:ing all men anu women on their journey back to God after the premundane Fall. Every soul is ultimatdy born into the world either as a hunuin being or (if very evil) as a devil. The world becomes a vast refOt'matory IUn by God. Note lhal Origem dlX'S not believe in rcinc..m'llion; in his Commell/ary Oil Milt/hew he explicitly rejects this doeuine lIIore than once. Note, too, that Origen's conception of tilt" world is not Gnostic. For him the world is good. a .state not of punishment bUI of purification. Physical Illaller, once it ha.~ served irs purpose of enabling fallen souls to pas.!i through this world, will di,uppear; it lacu ultimate reality. Evil, too, is unreal; it is the abseoce of good. Origen's anlhropology envisagcs
1849
human beings a.~ rational spirilS united with physi· cal bodies and poSS(:ssing "animal·' soulli (roughly speaking, nervou.~ systems). Whoever eOllquers the telllptations and passions Ihal reach him through hili "animal" soul gradually achievcs likeness to God (hultloi6sis). All men already possess, as free Immonnl souls, the indCSllUetiblc image (eikon) of God. lulO tbis ingeniously devio;ed framework Origen fiL~ a no less ingenious account of the Incarnation, The Logos/Son in His preexistent Slate had always been helping angels and human beings in their struggle loward purificalion and uniOt! wilh God. FOl' Ihis purposc he chuse his people Israel and sent the pmphets. But in order to lead people back to God, the Logos Himself had to llppcar and to become inclll'mlte. His activity when incarnate was complex (tnd varied, For the duller and rougher sOlll~ He had to demonstratc a real vielury over sin, to make :l sUl,;rifil,;c, to offer a ransom to lhe devil, to hring obvious and casily inlelli~ible salvation, For Ihe more cultured and intelligent souls, he had to impal1 In addition new depths of knowledge as teacher and hierophant, and thereby to Impart di· vine life and initiate the process of ltomoi6sis and dh'inization for men. Ongen aeeepled Ihat everyone must begin by be· Iieving in the historical Jesus. But for inlellct:tuals this was only a beginnin~ they were to transcend this Siage as quickly as pos.$iblc and reach a state of my-uical contemplation of the postincarnale Logos (the Logos no longer incarnate after the a.o;cension), and nourish themselves on the eternal Gospel. In facl, though, Origcn repmduces all lhe traditional language of atoneOlent-conqul.'Sl of deOlons, expililian of sin, mnsom paid to the devil, sacl'ilice. All Ihe!OC Ihing.~ were, in his VleW, subsidiOiry 10 lhe nmin purpose of God, which wa.~ tn educate men and womcn inlO salvation, E. Dc rll)'c rightly said lhat Orlgen's :tlonement doctrine was that of "Dieu educatcul"." Origen's Ilccount of how the Son of God becamc incarnate WIIS as carefully worked out a.~ the rest of his doctl'lne. The preexistent Logos/Son unilcd 1·limsclr with a pure, unfallen, created spirit who had always cleaved steadfastly to Him; 10 this spirit or soul the Logos wa.~ united more closely than to any other, because of the soul's unceasing dfon of will to cleave to Him; it was a fellowship, a union, but not a fusion. AI the Incarnation this spiril/soul took to itsclf a human body and an "animal'· soul. The l..ogos preserved His impassibility; all the hu· man experiences-hunger, sl«p, suffering, emolions-were endured by the spiril. The Logos ....-as
1850
ORIGEN: General History
the body to as.~llme all qualities necessary for His acti\·ily. varied and dilferenl as they were. Thai is why Jesus was not easy 10 n:cogniz.c and why Judas had 10 idcoMy him with a kiss. Even able to
(;aUliC
during the Incarnation the LogOli united with all
souls everywhere who would open Ihemselves to Him, and acted indcpcndclllly of the human Jesm;. At the death on the crm.~ the "animal" soul of Jesus went 10 the undel'WQrld, the body 10 the tomb, and the spirit 10 God. Mter the A5cension the human Jesus was lransfonncd into a spirit alld the human nature disappeared. complelely absorbed into the
godhead. The Incarntltion was therefore a closed incident. As the human spirit of Jesus united itself with the Logos, so the suul uf each of us can he united to Him, beginning necessarily with failll, first in lhe
human Jesus of Galikl,:, thl,:n in lhe CI'lJcif1ed, thcn in lhe ri:>cn and glodlied Chl;st, and so on up II scale of enlightenment, the Logos assisting at every Sll:p, until the "comelllplative life" is reached, the pure spilit clinging in lovl,: to the deity. Origen wa.~ ablc vinually to dispense with traditional eschatolo&y by allegorizing iI. Picturesque imagery is di$solved into morality; hell becomes the gnawing of conscience: the Second Coming can be anticipated in contemplation (llreoria). The resurrection of the nc:ih is rejected: "A cenain principle is inherent in the body; this is not corrupted and it is from this that the {nonphysical] body is raised in incorruption." But this is only the beginning of the progress of each soul beyond this life. We must ellperience a series of different purgative processes in a series of different spiritual or intellectual world:l or existenc· es (but never again as incarnate) before achieving our final desliny in l'etum to God. Even the devil must evenlually capitulate and freely obey. Such is a rough sketch of Origen's remarkable fusion of Christianity and Plalonism. lie wa.~ able to distill it from the Bible to his own satisfaction by tlUl use of alle-gm)'. This was ;I system of biblical interpl'etation that drew ilS thought partly from prl,:' Christian Judaism. l'eflected occasionally in the New Testament. but more from the ellegetical method of !'HtW 01' '\I.HXANDRIA. a Jewish theologian wl'iting in Greek and a contemporary of Saim Paul, who was dt:eply innueneed by Grel·k philosophy and comlibuted much 10 the Ihooght of both Clem' ent and Origen. A lIellible and uncritical use of Philo's allegorizing (Le., reading into the text a sec· ond meaning supposed to be latent within or beneath the ordinary surface meaning) enabled Origen to manipulate the tellt of the Bible so as 10 yield virtually whatever meaning he "eeded for hi~
argument. This technique meant that his thought could be, and to some CXlent undoubtedly was, in· dependent of scriptural control (or as independent as he chose). In consequence, Origen may be re· garded as a great theologian, but he can hardly be described as a great biblical scholar, in spite of his immense exegetical labors and his popularizing the commentary fonn. which in fact he borrowed (as he borrowed the practice of all¢ioli;dng eschatology) from the Gnoslics. Origen was a devout churchman all his life; he championed the Chl;stian church in his books, encouraged iL~ martyrs, instrut:ted its prayer, conduct· ed its servit:cs. preached to its congregations, and on more than one occasion was called in to reconcile heretics or to convert the misled. In his own day he was regarded by most of his friends and followers as ;1 grefll ChriSlilln leacher and philosopher, and Ihis deserved reputation lasted long after his death. It would be Quite wrong to call him a hl,:TClic. By lhe standard~ of his own day he was not only orthodox but a defender lind upholder of or· thodoxy. II was only long after his death that serious accusations of hcresy were broughl againsl him, culminating in his condemnation at the &''C' ond Council of Constantinople of (553). But the charges brought there against Origen were caused partly by misunderstanding and misrepresentalion, partly by complete lack of historical sense. and panly by the demand of contemporary prcs.sures. Origen'. influence upon the Creek.,spca.king theo-logians of the Eastern church elltended for well over a cenlury after his death. His contribution to Ihe development of the doctrine of the Trinity was a pt:nnanent gain and enabled the defenders of the Nicenc Creed to overcome Ihe influence of ARIAN· ISM. even Ihough certain othl,'r trJits in his thought lIlay have tended in the opposite direction. His tradition of iOleq)reting the Bible in the interests of the spiritual developmenl of the Individual lioul, especially displayed in his wOl'k on the Song of Sollgs and on the hook of Numbers, extended its influence well into the Middle Ages in both East and WCSI. Origen has always appealed to illdividu, ah of intcllect and jnsight through the agl,'s-roc instance, 10 John $cOIUS Engena and to Erasmusand probably always will. Indeed, inlemational scholarship has seen a greal revival in the study of Origen since the end of World War II. a!ld an international Colloquium Ongenianllm has bcen found· ed to rurther this interest. Perhaps Ori~n's greatest and most enduring achievement was to compel the church to recog· nlze the necessity of coming 10 tenns with contem'
ORlGEN: Origen
porary non-Christian thought. So thoroughly did he achieve this Ihat the church's auitude to I'hilOliOphy was pennanenlly altered by his work. Never again could it afford 10 ignore 15ecular thoughl. Dislanl though he is from us in time. and dislam in culture owing to his living in a late Greco-Rom..n civiliza· tion, and distant in thought becau15e of his preoccu· pation with late Platonism, we clIn salute this great Christian Egyptian and recogni:.:e in him a kindred sph'it as we in our generation struggle to express lhe Christian message in the language and thought of our day.
818L1OCRAPIIY
Bertrand, F. Myslique de Jesus chez
Origi~Ple.
Paris,
195 I.
Bigg. C. The Chris/iaPl Pia/on isIs 01 A!prmdria. Oxronl, 1913. BUllelWOrth. G. W.• lrans. Origen on Firsl Principles. London, 1936. Chadwick. 1,1., lrans. Orige" Cotl/ro Ce/~·um. Cambridge, 1953. Crouzel, 1·lenri. Theo/ogie de I'image de dieu chez Qrigenll. Paris, 1956. _ _ . OriglJ11e el Ia philosophie. Paris, 1962. Daniclou, J. Origen. London, 1955. Faye, E. de. On·genll. sa vie. SO/1 oelwre, .~a pensee, 3 vols. Paris, 1923-1928. Hanson, R. P. C. Allegory and Eve'll; A SllIdy 01 tlie $ourcn alld Signi/icance 01 Origell's Imerpl"ela· lion 01 &I"iptul"t. London. 1959. Har!, ~L Ol"ige/lt el ItJ lone/ion ri.vi.latl"icc du verbfl incaml!. Paris, 1958. Jay. E. G., tmns. Origen's Treatise on PrtJyu. Lon· don, 1954. Kelller. F. H. Drr ursprling/iche Sinn der Doglrlatik des Orige~les. Berlin, 1966. Koch, H. Pro/loia UIfJ Paideusis. Berlin and l.cip:.:ig, 1932.
Lubac, H. de. His/(Jil"c cr esprit: I. 'ill/ellil:ence de /'~crirrm! d'l/pres Origem-. Paris, 1950. Naulin, P. Origelle, sa vie et SOIl oe/lvre. Pari.~, 1977. Oulton, J. E. L., and H. Chadwick. Alaal/driem Christianity. London, 1954. Tollinglon, R. 8., lrans. Selections Irom Ihe COlli' mell/aries a"d Homilies 01 Origen. Londun. 1929. Trigg. J. W. Origen; The Bibft and Philosophy in Ihe Third Century Church. London, 1985. Vito~. A. Idetllidad entre el cuerpeJ mtlerto y res...,,· ilado en Origenes $l!gim el "De rrSlln·ectione." Jerusalem, 1981. VOgl, H. J. Vas Kirchenversliindnis des On"genes. Cologne and Vienna, 1974. Vtslker, W. Vas Vollkomlllelllidtsideal des Origellts. Tilbingen, 1931. R. P. C. IlANSON
In
the Coplo-Arabic Tradition
1851
Orlgen in the Copto.Arablc Tradition There can be no doubt lhat the condemmllion of Origen in 231 and again in 232. and his deposition from !he priesthood by Demelrius, the twelr1h patriarch or Alexandria (189-231). disqualilied Origen in the Coptic church. II is possible Ihat his condemna· Hun by Justinian in 543 as a heretic, as confirmed by Ihe Second Council of CONSTANTtNOPUl in 553, also was known to some medieval Copts, thus reinfnrcinQ: their rejection of him. No work by Origen was Irnnslmed lnw Amblc during the Middle Ages-or even in the modem period. Furthem1ore, no lmce of him can be found even in Ihe palrislic series on Ihe Dible. in Ihe dogmatic anthologies, or in !he original works COIll' posed by the Copts in the Middle Ages. The only mention of him Is made in the context of Ihe history or lhe church, when speaking or Demelrius or Dionysius of Alexandria. Even lhcn. Ori· gen always ligures among hcretiCl5. Two par1icular Ambic medieval works make mention of him, lhe HISTORV 01' TIm PATRIARCHS and the Coptic Allibic SVNAXARION. Tire Ifistory of the Patriarc!r.~ of Alexandria, CUIllposed by sAwlRUS IBN Al.oMUOAHA". bishop of al·Ash· m(ln/l.yn, in thc mid·umlh Century. speaks at some lcnglh of Origen in the biography of Demetrius: There was a man [Evens's correclion "among lhem was the mther of a man" cannOl be justilied) named Origen. who learned the sciences or Ihe heathen. and abandoned the books of God, and began to speak blasphemously of them. So when Ih~ Father Demetrius heanl or this man, and saw Ihat some of the people had gone aslray arter his lies, he removed him rrom the church. (History 01 the Patriarchs. Vol. I. part I) The account or the bailIe against Origen goes on for several pages and occupies the nl8jor part of the biotlraphy or Demelriu~. II is borrowed faithfully from book VI of the Ecclesiasficul His/ory of Euse· bius of Caesarea. The Ambic Synaxarion, composed during the first half of the thirteenth century. mentions Origen lwice. The til'!it mention is in !he biogrnphy of Saint Demetrius, on 12 BJ.bah, where the rollowing is wriltcn: "During his lime heretics appeared: here are the names of some or them: Clement. Origen, Arius and o!hers. They composed deceitful books, such that Demelrius cursed them and excommunicatt:d lhem." The second account is In the bibliography or Saint Dionysius (246-266), on 13 Baramhllt, where we read:
1852
ORIGEN: Origcn's Writings
During his lime, numerous heresies appeared in religion. Thus in lhe districts of Arabia people WCI"e seen smtinjf, in the error of thei,- spirit, that the soul dies wilh the body and th..t it rises again wilh il at the resurrection. He calkcl a synod ag....inst them and cllOcommunicated Utem. Othcl'l' followed the heresy of Origen and of Sabcllius. During the modem period, a timid rehabilitation of OTigen has been slowly under way ill the CopLic church. and certain of his .....orks have recently oc-en translated Into ArJ.bic. KllAl.U. SAMtR. S.J.
Orlgen's Writings Origen is dL,,<:idedly 1he most prolifiC lJuthor of all time. since he has been pccredlted by his pupil, Saint Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis in cypru.~, with the authorship of at least 6,000 worb, a number unsurpa.~d in the hislOl)' of literary 11l1na.ls. Saint Jerome cuntests 1his cstim••te and reduces it to 2,000, which is still II majestic figure. Sullie baflled commentators conjecture that Eusebius of Cacsarca, in whme Life of Pail/phillis this c.."Stilllate is revealed. cuuld hnve addcd iI zero to a more acceptable figure of 600, which is an unauthori7,.cd statement. Whatever 1he truth of that monumental figure IIlAy be, we must assu,ne that in those days. the totality of all scholars in the CATE.CHflTtCAl. SCl-tOOL OF ALI!.XANl.lll.lA pooled their literary products under the name of their great mentor who presided ovcr that instilution, llnd Origcn happened to be th;1\ leading personality. There is no authorized edition c)(tant of this giant's moltitudinous writing.... and it has been sugge~ted that an institution or leamed society should undertuke the task of asscmhling his works in II monument,,1 series. Though a grc;tt many of Origen'S wO"ks arc lost, and some arc fr'llgmentllry, the residue thereof, to· gether wllh such m;,jor items as the Hexuplu, could furnIsh the wodd of religious scholarship with one of its most extended collections. In 1882 Brooke Foss Westcotl, canon of Westminster and Regius professor of divinity .,t Cambridge UI,ivel'Sity, at· tempted to muke 01 chronological and topical survey of Origen'S works in II worthy .study published in It Dic/irma? 0/ C!lrjiJ!iall Biogruplty. Chronologically spcllking, the wurk" of Origen lire divisible into two groups. The first group belongs to the period of his presi(kncy of the C&techetical School before his night to Caesarea in 231. This lint catego!)' included the following titles:
Ile:wp/u bellun Commentaries un lhe Chronicles, Psalms. Gene· sis, and John, in severo! independent books Twu books on the Resurreetiun Five books of commentary on Lamentations 0" Prayer Ten books of a miscellancous character De prillcipiis 0" Fret Will
These arc mcntioned cxplieitly by Eusebius in his Jluturiu ecclesiaslica, the last two items belonging to the discipline of philosophy, Aller Origen's flight to C;ac.."S:lrellllnd his 1IC1lleIlIent in that city, his mind became free from the struggles in AICJt.llndrb, and his productivity multiplied. According to Eusebius. this order and content may be the consensus of this category starting in 231 and culminating in 249. II is known that PaOlphilUli collceled most of this category for the library of Caesarea, cven tran!lCribing a major part theT<.vf in his own hand. Falling inlo decay, this IIbroiry wa... again ~lOred by Eusinius, bishop of Caesarett, and later suffered dissip;ltion like all antiquc collections, This category, ba.sed on the work of Eusebius, mainly consisted of Lhe fol· lowing items: 231-238:
Commentaric..'S on I Corimhians, Luke, Deuteronomy. and John: probably more than eight book...
235-236:
Leiter to G.'cgory of Neo-eaesarea COmmenlaries on Genesis, books 912 Mystical homllies UI1 Gcnesi~ ExI,Qrtulitm 10 MOrlyrdom Nine homilies on Judges Nine homilies on l~aiah Thil1y hooks of com mental)' on Isai(\h
238-240:
Twenty.five books of commentaries on the prophets
240:
Letter to Julius Mric;,nus on the Greek additions to Dlmiel Five books of commentary on Chl'onides completed at Athens, and live morc completed at C"est.
241:
Homilies on Psalms 26-38 Commentaries on Eltodus, Leviticus, Is.... iah, the minor prophets, and Numbers Hotuilies and scparJ.te historical treatl~es
ORIGEN:
Completion of comment31ies on Psalms 244-;
Four books of homilies on the Pcnlaleuch, Joshua, Judges, Jel'ellliah, and E7.ekicl I'ifteen books of COll1ll1l'nlarie5 on the Episde of Paul to the Romans Hu:uplu COlllplch...d Commentalies on Mauhcw Epistles 10 Fabianus and others on mi§(:el1aneous items Three books of commentaries on I nlessalonians, Galatians, Ephesians, and Hebrews
249:
COllfra Ctlsllm
Topically, Origen's works may be classified into the following categories: ellegetical, dogmatic, apol· ogetic, practical. l'pistlCli, and philocalio (literally. pastoral and episcopal chronography). In his elttensive article, Westcoll meticulously records all dCl3ils connt:c;tl,."(1 with e
Orig~n's
Writings
1853
in twenty·nine books compnsmg twelve homilies. Jerome has preserved some of Origen's note!! on Daniel, and extensive commentaries on the minor prophets have survived in \wemy·five books cited by Euseblus. These homilies consisted largely of the intrinsic interpretation of each book. The cumulative studies of the Old Testament are ellemplified in Origen's monumental compilation the Ht.UJplu, the Gruk tcrm for "siltfold:' For the lil1it lime in the history of Ihe Bible. this fubulous edition of the Old Tt.'Stament comprised the 11ebrew text in Hebrew and Greek letters and the Greek tellts of Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint, and Theodolion reproduced In six parallel columns. In certain St.'Ctiuns lhree further Greek telllS were quoted in three additional columns, making the whole in nine columns. Saint Jerome states that he used the original of this enonnous work in Caesarea, though only fragments ha\'e survived to mod· em times. On the New Testament, it may be deduced from the fragmentary evidence available in Eusebiw. and elsewhere that much W·"'S accumplisht.'d by Origen, though concrelC remains are sparM:. 00 Matthew, Eusebills infonns us lhat Origen complctedtwentyfive books, probably around 245-246, '::llld this i~ confirmed by Solint Jerome. Fifteen books contain· ing thirty.nine homilies appear on Mark, fool' books on Luke, and thirty-two books on John. On Acts, seventeen homilies are known to have su,'Vived in Greek. and the COlllmenwries on the Epistk'S to the Roman.~ figured in fifteen books. On Corinthians I :mdll, Ongen'li commentaries arc recorded in c1ev· en homilies, Galatians in seven homilies of ftrtccll books, and Ephesians in three books. For the rest, one book appears On PhllippiHns, two on Colossians, onc on Titu.~, and one on Philemon. Thessalonians is l'epl'esented in threc books of two homilies. while Hebrews Is the subject of eighteen homilieS; btll tltl) tl'cutment on the CllthoJic Epistles as well as the Apocalypse is uncertain and nwy not h11\'e been fulfilled by Origcn as the end of his life appl'Oached. On the second category, Origen's dogmatic writings, he HealS the subject of the Rl,.'Surrection in two books and a dialogue in two othel· books pre· ceue,l by his philosophicHI trCHtisc On FirSI Pri"ci· pIes, which .","ems to have eltcited opposition from wrilcl'S such as MClhodius and Saint Jerome. Writ· ten while he was still in Aleundria, the firsl Princi· pIes represents lhe most complete of Origen·s philosophical opinion.~, inlended for scholars rather than simple believers, for those who were familiar with the doctrines of Gnosticism and the leachings emel·ge.~
1854
ORIGEN: Origen's Wrilings
of Platonism. This lrealise, intended as II system of Christian doctrine or a philosophy of Christian faith, consQls of four boob. The lint tn'alS the final dements of religioll5 philosophy, God, the world,
and rational creatures. In the second hook Origcn elaborates the view Ihat the visible wodd is a place of discipline and prcparalion. In the third book, he discusses thc moral basis of his system. The founh deals with it5 dogmatic basis. In the subsequent categories, before [clivinl: Alexandria, Origen wrote ten books of
II
miscellaneous
character in which he discussed a variety of subjcl:IS in the light of Holy Scripture: 811.1 of ancient philosophy. Included in its extant fr._gmenls are commentaries on the history of Susanna and Bel. Of Origen's epistles and letters, known 10 number more than 100, though most an: lost, the one ad· dressed to Julius Africanus, wrinen from Nieoo media around 240, appears to be of .some signifi· cance because iI contributes a reply tn Julius' objections to the authenticity of the 5tOry of Susanna. Most of his teuers, addressed to bishops, to schol· ars, and cvcn tu one emperor and his queen, ltll lost, would have enriched our knowlcdl:e of his life and his defense of orthodoxy. Perhaps Ihe lllOSt important of this lIlisceliany is a serie.~ of eight books wrillen againM Celsus. In his opposition to Christianity, Celsus puts his argument in the mouth of a Jew. Origen simply follows the argumcnu of Ce!sus systematically, in three parts: the controversy of the history of Christianity (books I and II), the controversy on the genentJ character as well ali the idea of Christianity (books Ill-V), and the controversy of the relalions 01 Christianity to philosophy, popular religion, and nalional life (books VI-VIII). Origen refutes Cel5us's thesis point by poiOl, working his way toward the eSlab· lishment of the mornl power of Christianity, its uni· versality, and its fitness for mankind. In the category of Origen's practical writings, his prayer addressed to Ambrosius and Tatiana speaks of the efficacy of prnying. Here his statemenu abound in bcautiful thoughts. Prayers arc to be rendered only to the Father and through Jesus to the Father. Of Origen's mi5Cellancous works, his book Exhor. tation to Mllrtyrdom is the most pathetic. Addressing Ambrosius and Theoctitus, a presbyter of Caesarea, incarcerated during the persecution of Maximinus (235-238), Origen reminisces on his experiences as a boy with hi!> father'5 martyrdom and as a man with the multitude of Christinn5 led to the gallows. His agonizing stntements are mcant til strengthen
the believers who pledged to endurance, The blood of thc martyrs is not !>piJled in vain; it ~ destined to gain others for the troc faith. Finnily there is the Philocillill, a book of extracts of "choice thoughts" of Origen, compiled by CREGORY OF NAZIANZ!JS and Basil and addreli5ed to Theodosius, bishop of Tyrnna. around 382, The interest of thi!> work, apart from the intrinsic excellence of its quotalions, lies in the exposition of the place of the Catholic saints in Origen's teaching, Moreover, the Philcx:alia deals with subjccts such as the inspirntion of divine Scripture, Scripture as a pcrfoci in· stroment of God, the special character of the persons in Scripture, Ihe c1arificntion of inaeeul'ilcies or obs.curities in $Orne scriptural phr1lSCS, the passages of Scripture that trouble heretics with ill· advised difficulties, the dark riddles and parables of the Scriptures, a reply 10 the Greek philosophers who di5par.1gc the poverty of style in the Scriptures, free will and fate, and a host of other questions and selections from Origen's vast heritage. It is not easy to make a full evaluation of Origen's writiogs, for the simple reason that what survives from them is an infinltesimal frdction of Ihe total. Nevertheless, evcn from Ih~ fragmental)' remains uf his works, in addition to the surviving transla1ioos of a limited number of his lost 1l'ea1i.'lC1I by great and historic personalities 5ueh as Rufinus, Saint le· rome, and others, the modem scholar stanek in awe and bewilderment at Origen's accomplishments. In the field of biblical studies alone, he is accredited with more contributions than any other man in history, Among olher major contributions, he is known to have been the founder of a school of interpretation as well as the textual editor of the Old Testament in Hebrew and Greek. Hi5 many books on the New Testament, in the form of commentaries or homiletics, are beyond all recognition. This article gives a mere bird's·eye view uf what is lraceable from his monumental writings, It is casy for any scholar to apply the canons of modern research to minor poinu of his work and to i.ssue a critique of some of his detailed pronouncements. Whereas this is 10 be expected in the incalculable mass of writing left by him, the fact remains that he has done more than any other person for practically all depart menu of religious studies. Controversies have arisen from his writings, as have numerous schools of thought for and against his thought. Even in hi5 lifetime, he was a55ailed by ecclesiasti· cal authorities for !iOme of his doctrines that the church repudiated. But this should not minimize the immensity of his contributions or reduce his
ORIGENIST CONTROVERSIES
place as the grealeSt mCntor of lhc Christian faith in classical anliquity. We must remember that Origen the theologian IiVl."<.I in a tl"ll.nJ,ilional age. in the fOnnative cenluri~ of theological science. Thus it would be a grave error to judge his lahors on the basis of developed theological systems of the mod· em age. The reader has 10 remember thai Origero was Ihe great~t builder of Christian letters at a lime when religious scholarship was still in its in· fancy. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allancr, B. Patr%c, trans. H. C. Graef. London. 1958. Cadiou, R./mrodue/ion all systeme d·Origenc..Paris, 1932. -:c-' LA jeunesse d'Origimt-Hi$10irc de !'teole d'A./eundrit llU d~bllt du /Ir si~c1e. Paris, 1935. Dani~lou, J. Orig~ne. Paris, 1948. Denis, J. J. Dt fa phi/orop/lie d'Origene. Paris, 1884. Faye, E. de. Orighre, Sll vit, son o.euvre, sa ptnsi:e. 3 YOIs. Paris, 1923-1928. Trans. E. Rothwell as Ori· Ben Qnd His Work. london, 1926. Hanson, R. P. C. Origen's DQC/rine of Trlldilion. london, 1954. Harnack, A. von. I-/is/ury of Dogma, lrans. N. Bu· chanan, 7 vols. BOSton. 1895-1900. _--:-. Dcr kirchellgeschicht!ichc Erlrag ,fer ezegeti.s" 3 vols. Utrecht anti Antwerp, 1975. Tixcront, J. His/Dry of Dogmus, 3 vols" trans. H. L. B. SI. louis, 1910-1916. Westcott, B. F. "Origenes." In DCB 4, pp. 96-142. Repr. New York, 1974. AzII. S. ATlYA
ORIGENIST CONTROVERSIES.
The can· troversies thol lIored up ar'ound cerlain dOClrines propagated by, or allributed to, ORIGEN in his va~t wriuen heritage-mosl of which survivl.'S only in fra8mentary fonn-mu~t he studied as a minor as· peCl of his work ralher than as cenlral to the whole of iI. Even though condemned by cerlain synods and general councils, his crrors constilute but an infinitesimal pal1 of the life and wort. of the greatest religious mentor of all time. It is surprising to read mEOPHtLus. patriarch of Alexandria from 385 to 412, who WOolS originally a finn adherent of Ori·
1855
gen bUl later wrote in one of his feslal letters that Origen was the "hydra of heresies." This occurred after the condemmltion of Origenism by the Council of Alexandria in 400. Notwithstanding the opposition of his erstwhile suppol1ers and pupils, such as Jerome and Theophilus, Origen was rlOl repudiated by many in the Coptic hierarchy, such as the Tall Brothers, who took refuge in Constantinople with $0 eminent a personality as Saint JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. Among his other fonnidable $upponefS were SainlS Pamphylius, AnIANAStUS. 8ASll~ and GREGORY Of NAZIANZUS. as well as the great DIDYMUS ruE BUND. who attempted to show that Origen was an orlhodox trinitarian. If mUSl be noted, however, lhal the hoslility of the reigning pope at Aleundria, DEM£1lUUS I (189231), was incurred by Origen's acquisition of priesthood from the Palestinian bishops in a manner contl'1!.ry to the established lradition of A1cundria. An· other reason was his doctrinal differences with the church authorities. He suffered exile from Egypt to Palesline, where he established his own school arod concentrated on the writing of his monumental literary output. The points raised by his opponents camc into focus in the latin translation of his De principiis, tl'1!.oslated by Rufinus. One of the firsl points raised by the anti.QrigenislS was Origen's teaching that lhe scriptures should be interpreled only allegorically. His trinitarian doclrine also aroused opposilion by its apparent subordinalionism. In his Trl!{lti$e Ott Prayer, he preached that prayer should be addressed only 10 the Father. who is Ihe total and absolute truth, whereas Ihe Son and the Holy GhOlit arc only relative truths. He also contended thaI all spirilS are created equal and lhal, through the exercise of lheir free will, they become Incarceraled in the human body, which, by falling into sin, may turn into a demon. Neverthe· less, all will be myslically saved in tile end. Origen's philosophical speculalions and theological concept~ appear 10 be in II continuous slale of flux, and his mystical thinking i~ often obscured by the fragmen. lary Olilure of his pronouncemenls. His doctrine of the preexistence nf the soul and the dual nature (corporal and spiritual) of all beings aroused much controversy. Much of Orlgen's mystici$m and theological spec· ulation became lhe subject of controversy in a number of fonnal councils held in his lifetime, bUI lhe Origenist controversies outlived his lime, and in 542 Ihe Council of CONSTANTlNOPU! enumerated what the bishops regarded as Origen's aberrations. His opponenl.~ succeeded in obtaining an imperial
1856
OSTRACINE
edict from JUlllini::ln, commanding the convening of a liCcond Coundl of Constantinople ill 543, where again an impelial leiter af refutation of Origcnist errors was condom.'
Dickamp, F. Die origenis/jS4:1I1m Sm~iligkci/en j/ll sechsull )allrhlllldt/rf umJ lias fjlnfto: allgemeine Kcmtil. Ml.Imiter, 1899. Radford, 1_ B. Three Teachers of Afrxundria-The· uglloSlllS, Pierills alld Peler: A Swdy j/l lire Early History of Oril:euism Qlld Ami-Origt.'llism, c..m· bridge, 1980, A717. S. Ann
OSTRACINE. See Khlrhat al.Fihlsiyyah.
OSTRACON. In the Hellenic peliod :l shard or an animal's shoulder blade. It w:l.~ cmploYl.-d in a city· state's a:'>.o;embly when a vote of ostracism was tak· en. :md was customarily the writing material for nonliterary documents, pnrticularly those of an l,.-CO· nomic ch;ln~cter. In the later Roman and BYl:antinc erllS, in Egypt the o.~trncon came to be utilized in a far wider runge of rccon!in8 functions. The types of substances used became more numerous, including smooth Iimestonc chips (especially in Upper Egypt, when: they were abundant). Most published and known Coptic ostnlc,l d'lte from 500 t" 800. The wide vnl'iety of functions th,1I ostraca served, as well as Iheir significance, Clln be amply documented by citing II few hl'icf examples. Of the bibli· cal leXlS on OSIl'aCU, more than half of the puhlishcd pieces lire (luotcd from the Psalter, a dear illustra· tion of the imp0l1anee of worship, "nriched hy song, among CoptS in the late B)7.antint' ern, Homl' lies and sel'moos, whose most frequent form of ad· dress was hol1atory, concel'lled social and thl,.'Ological SUbjectli. FOI' example, one ostl1lc"n exhorted unity in a congregation riven with Khism (Crum. 1902, no. 14). The lists and accounts Inventory a broad variety of items: nlolley paid, goods sold or
delivered, names of pel'S()ns and places, hooks, churches, months, names of animills, and glossaries of Grcek and Coptic tcnllS (c.g., Crum, 1902, nos. 434,469; Gallillg, 1966). Personal letters, frequently in almost illegible handwriting, discuss anylhing from marriage, di\'orce, and family-related issues to situations thai involved civil nmgistrates, ecclesiastical officials, and others. A comman focus of such leiters was concern for the welfare of the poor (e.g., Crum and Evelyn·White, 1926, no. 165). Since the SCriptureli wcre oflen cited in such works urging the recipient to action, one can vi.sual· i:<:e how the Bible and religious sentiment were employed in conlilcts between people, whether of high Of" low station, Legal and commerciill texts, distinguished by the appearance of the names of witnesses at the boclom, include tax n:ccipls, acknowledgment.~ of loans, wilb, rental agreemeots, and cn:n guanmlco.:s of local safety far trnvc1crs (e,g.. Crom, 1902, nos. 108, 145, 147, 160-63, 166, 206; Crum and Evelyn.White, 1926, nO$. 87, 93), Ecclesiastical documentS, encompas.~ing fioes levied by clerics, liturgical c:'Ilencbrs, episcopal edicts, homilies, and circular lellers. portray the relatiOlUhips of ecclesiastical officials with others and serve la underscore the significant influence of church officials in Egyptian society. Shards also were utili7.ed as sketch pads On which 11l1isans drew designs to be employed on the walls and Ooors of ecclesiastical buildings. IUI:U.IOCRAPIIY
Cmm, W. E, Coptic OS/raca 11'0'11 Ihe CfJ/le"lir,,I/l 01 the Egyptian Exp/orlU/Otl Fund, tilt Cairo MuseulIl, mId Dlhers. Londorl, 1902. Crulll, W. E., and H. G, Evelyn-White, ecL~. The MOil' (l$lery 01 Ep/phallilts til Thebes, 1'(. 2, Coptic alld Greek OSlriKa and flap)'ri. New York, 1926. Calling, K. "O,t\um und Slon del' gr:leco-koptischcn MiJhlcnostr(lk;1 illl L1chtc ncuer Bc1cIlC aus Jenlsalem." Zdlscllrifl des {Jell/sclren I'IJ!iislill(lVereb,s 82 (1966):46-56, Stefanski. E" and M. Lichthdm. Coplic OItraea from Medinel Habu. Univeniity of Chicago Oliental Jnslitule Publicalions 71. Chicago, 1952. S. KENT BROWN
OTTOMANS, COPTS UNDER THE. With the lup~e of Mnmluk nJle in ~t and the conquest of the country by the Turks under Sultan Sellm I in 1517, the Copts entered a new chapter in their his-
OXYRHYNCHUS PAPYRI
tory of painful survival. Their community had bel'n depleled by recurrent persecutions, during which a conside''ablc number perished. Many others converted 10 [slum because of great pressure frolll the nUlholities and Ihe desire 10 continue enming a respeetllble Ii\-elihuud. It is said that Iheir 10Iai numher amund Ihe elld of the eighteenlh cemury sank 10 a mere 150.000 uut uf a total Egyptian populnllon of 3 million. While 6OO.00U Imd p:lid their tilhe to Ihe COplic p:llri;trch immediately after Ihe ARA" CONOUF$T O~' F.GVPT. at thi~ period only 15,000 arc known to have done this. Al'conling to Ihe Eurol~an lr:3.velers visiting the coonlry in the seventeenth centul)' (Tfijir, 1951. pp. 20Z-20J), the number of bishops had dropped from sc\'enly in the 5Cventh centul)' to twelve. mainly posted in Uppcr Egypt. in 1671. wptic monks wen: limited 10 four mona.~teries. of which Ihe mOISI imponam .....ere DAYR ANsA MAOAR in WadI al-Na!nm and DAYR ANBA AH'fONtYOS in the E.a.~tern Desert. Though extremely pious. thdr religion was restricted to thl' reiteration of the liturgies: the high theological scholarship or the mthen of the church had disappean.·d. NonetheleM, in general, the Copt.~ relained their scribal skills and their acumen in mallen> of finanl:e and taxation. which rendered their services neces, 531)' for Ihe Mamluk bl-)'s remaining untler:m OUaman governor. whose title was pasha. II is doubtful whelher the sult:tn's eOllrt at Conslantinoplc was even aware of Ihe o:xlStence or the Coplic minority in so dislant a colony as Egypt. All the governors of the count.)' canw nbout was sending the land lind poll taxes to COnJltantinople and lilling their own pockets with subsl:mliul l\dditiOlml taxes forcibly levied Oil thc helple~~ ~uhjeclS. of whom the Chris· tians were an easy prey. On the .....hole. however. the neglect of Ihe I'educed Coptic community hnd n positive HSpeet. for it ellubled the Copts to lel'([ U relatively pencefl.ll life within thcir churches. unob· served lllH.I unimpaired in the period extending f!'Om 1517 to 1798-tl1at is.l'rom the Ottmnan inva· sion to the advent of the French cxpedition under Na(XIlcon. It should be noted dUll the Copt~ were deeply rooted In their native country and hatcd crnigl1ltlon or even temporary Ilhsence fmm their hlnhplaces. Thus. whcn, In September 1699, the consul general of France. M. de Maillet. offered ~chol:u"Ships for three Coptic youngsters to go to fr-.mce for their education. he round it mO!:t difficult to lind candi· dates. even among the puorcst families. l)uring this period, the ''elations of the COrL.. with
1857
Europe cente"cd on the advent of Catholic missions to work on allr:letinK the Coptic church to Koman obedience. Though it looked at times as if the projl-'Ct of reunion could slll:l:ccd, in the end it failed. Perhaps the only positive outcome fmm Ihi~ movement U'3..~ the establishment of miliSion schools. which olTered young Copts European eduC::llion long before the reform mOVCment of CYRil IV (18541861). hi the early ycllrs of Onnman mle. one finds no iIIl15trious names of COplS who occupil-'d significant posilions in Ihe adminlSlralion. Neverthelc!i&. prior to the French expedition. a few names of great eminence emerged II1l10ng the Copt.~ and were reponed by Muslim chroniclers. Most signifiellnl 1I1110ng these was JllRAltt", AL-JAWIlARI. who became head of the administration of the offices or the powerful Mamluk amir Ibrjhtm Bey, who depended on Jawhar1 In upeditlng all his finances and grieved for his death; al-JabartI (1941. Vol. 2. p. 262) said that the amir condescended to attend his funeral at Oa.~r al·'AynI in 1797. In fact. the Copts, who were restricted to the routine scribal functions in thc sl-'Condary offices of the surviVing Mamluk beys. began once more to shine under the French occupation on account of their educulion and proficiency in Ihe French Ian· £Oage. B18L1OCRAPIIY
JabanI {'Abd at-Ra~man). al-. A/-Tdrlfelt u/-Milsammi' 'Ajll'ib a/,A/Mr " a/·1arlll/m wa·llf.Afelrbllr. 4 vols. Cairo. 1941. Th(:vcnot, J. tic. RcllJlic,m d'wl voyage fail au Levan/. Paris. 1665. V,msleb. J. M. Nouvelle. Relul;on eu lonne ele j()l,r. Illl! d'lln voyage fait ell Egypte ell 1672 e/ /673. Pllri.~. 1677. TransJllted liS rhe l'res,ml SIIlIe. 01 /.igypl. London. 1678. AZtZ S. AnYA
OXYRHYNCHITE DIALECT. See Appendix.
OXYRHYNCHUS. See Monasleril-'s of the Lower !?a'Id.
OXYRHVNCHUS PAPYRI. Ox.yrhynclms is the name of the chief town of an ancient district in
1858
OXYRHYNCHUS PAPYRI
Middle Egypt, on lhe west bank of the BaJ:!r Yiisuf weSt of the Nile, at modem Bahna.~. So called by the Greeks after a fish worshiped there, it became famous panicularly through the excavations for papyri canie
is first in Egypt for its yields of papyrus. The papyri are chielly Greek documents and literary texIS from the time of Augustus down 10 the eighth century. which arc currently being published in the ~riC'5 OxyrhynchllS Papyri. The literary finds are of panicular importance. In addhion 10 the Greek lexts, there are le"lS in Hebrew and Syriac. but only a few in Coptic have become known (Crum, 1927; Kahle, 1954; Ouccke, 1974).
•
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bell, H. J. Egypt from Afexufldu fhe Creal to the Arab Conquest. Oxford, 1948. Crum, W. E. "Some Furthcr Mclclian Documents." Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 13 (1927):25f. Fikhman, I. F. OJuirinkh. Moscow, 1976. Kahle, P. E. Bafa'it,D.h I, p. 236, n. 2. London, 1954. O~yrhynchus Papyri. London, 1898~; 5S vols. 10 dale. Preisendanl;. K. Papyrusjunde und Papyruslor· Sf:hUnR, esp. pp. 137-41. leipZig, 1933. Oueckc, H. In Papiri della U,liversila degfi Sludi di Milano. Vol. 5, pp. 87ff. Mila.n. 1974. Turner. E. G. "RomAn Oxyrhynchus." Journal 01 Egyptian Archaeolog)' 38 (1952);78~93. GUNTER. POErnKE
PACHOMIUS, SAINT (292-346), founder of ceo nobitic monasticism (feast day; 14 Ba.~harul). He was hom of pagan parents in Upper Egypt. His fint COntact with Christianity occurred in 312. when he was a conscript in the Roman anny. As it soldicr, he experienced great aclS of charity from a local community of Christians whose members brought him I'Clicf whilc he was taken prisoner during that time. This forever marked his uodcl"Standing of Christianity. From thm time he commiued himself to serve mankind. The notion of scrvicc 10 God and to all his brother.; wa... a capital feature of his spirit· uality for the rest of his life. As soon :I... he was released from the army, Pa· chomius settlcd in a small vmtlgC called Sheneset (Chenobookion). where there was a Chri~tian com' munity into which he was baptized. He devoted himself 10 the service of otheI"5 in severol ways. He was a born community builder, and every time he SCllled somewhere, his pCTliOnalily altrneted people who availed them~elves of his goodness and came closer to him. After three years of this life of setvice. I'achomius became one of the disciplcs of PAIAMON. an old man who lived as an ascelic some distnnce fr"m Shenesl':t. From him he learned the forms of asceticism thaI Palamon himself had inherited fro/1l an older tndition: the practice of fasting. vigils, continuous prayer, manuAl work, and alms. Seven years later I'achomius felt called to sellle in an abandoned village called Tabenn(':SC. a call that was recogni7.ed :I." authentic by Palamon. Nothing in the Ufe of Pachomius causes us to think that Pachomius then thought of founding a new form of mOntlstlcism, and still less that he had perceived the dangers of eremitism that could be ~voided by the new rule of cenobitic life. He went to Ta·
1859
bennest simply to pursue his ascetic way of life. But. as in Shenesl!:t. several men and women con· grcgated around him in the village that had been abandoned when Pachomius arrived. The idea of elaborating a new fonn of spiritual fatherhood did not occur to Pachomius. He simply pUI him~lf at the ~rvice of all his companions. taking care of their needs until he found it m:cessary 10 organize the emerging community into a son of cooperative brotherhood. Afler sevcral year.; Pachomius stal1ed laying down roles of common wo.-k, common meals, and common prayer.; in the image of the primitive church in Jel1.lsalem. These rules were unpopular with his followers, so they rebelled against him and were expelled. This represented a failure. and Pachomius thus learned ales· son. Conscquently, when other disciples came, he did not hecome their servant. but decided to organize them into a community of service in which each would he re~pon~lble for all the olhers. That ide"l of mutual service is at lhe root of the nascent Pachomian koinO'lia (community) and constitutes lhe essence of his spirituality. When he set ul" his new koittmlia. I'achomius was not aware that he was founding a new fonn of monastic life. Nevertheless, it was clear to his con· temporaries, as well as to his bIographer.;. that he gave to the monastic phenomenon an absolutely original expression lhat would be a resounding success, and that was destined to innuencc the evolu· lion of monaslic religious life until modern limes. Gradually. without Pachomius' planning ii, a slyle of life, a pori/eill. emerged. It was inspired to a great extent, especially from the point of view of the matenal setup of the community, by the organi· zation of the cOlltemporary COptic villages. Gradu· ally a distinction was made bctwt:cn those who ae-
1860
PACHQMI US, SAINT
ecpled lhe life of Integral sharing and mulual sen.'ice under :1 munastic l'\lle, and the other men and women who had come to live in the villl'lge of 5henestt and now eunstituted a se<:ular Chrislian l:ummunily. Such a Christian community probably had not e:dsled al Tabennesc before, and Pacho, mius buill II church that served both segmenls of the whole Chrislian populalion, as long as the monu were not $0 numerous as to require a liepamle church within the precincts of Ihl' monaslery. A ~p;:trale church came at II. later stage in the evo· IUlion of the communily, and then another had to be constructed for lhe convent of nuns assembled in the SlIme village around the sister of Paehomius. After these difficult beginnings, Ihe growth and Ihe evOlUlion of Ihe koimmia accelerated. Soon the Illonks were !lO numcrous that a new foundalion had to be made at roow. The new system had !lO much appeal that !lOme spiritual fathns who had diKiplcs living around them begotn to ask Pachamius to organl:l:e their communilies ael:onling to the form of life taughl him by lhe Lont Some bish· ops askl..-d Pachomius to introduce this way of life into their diocl..'Sl.:s. Pacholllius fell a pa.~toral responsibility IowaI'd all these communities. a responsibility he decided to sluue with several assiStanL<;, on both the lipiritual and the material le\·el. In 346, when Pachom ius died, then: were some 5,000 monks in nine monasteril..'S (plu:; the nUlls in their two convents) 10 moum him and to cominue the lire of the knillflllia. He was a man of pmyer who knew scriplure pr.lclically by hC.u1 and com· mcnted on it indefaligably 10 his disciples, Though very demanding in his way of life, he had a greal undel'~landinll of human weakness and a very keen pastoral sense. He w,-,s not a theoretici:,n of mona.~· tic life but l' mun of praxis. The living community lhal he left behind him latll!:ht many s"neratlons of monks lind nuns much morc thun all thc books of sl,lr'ltUllllty he could have written. His disciples left a vel')' dClailed description of his spiritual journey and of his activity as a founder.
Biographies of Saint Pachomlus ShOl1ly after the death of Paehomius. his Life was wrilten by bl"Others who had known him and had learned about the beginnings of the ktlimitl;Q through the llccounts of nU!Ol)()II,US 01' TABENNESE and of the founUer'.'l olher early disciples. Collections of his instructions 10 the brothers and valious sbort narratives probably had been assembled even earlier.
ThaI Ufe of Pachomiu:; was oflen copied, translated, rearranged, and comhlned with other sources In various types of eompihtlions. It ha.~ been transmitted in Illany forms, in 5ahidic, Bohairic, Greek, and Arabic. We must alsu include in the corpus of the Life a dOCUlllent called Ihe l'araUpomella, which was composed in Greek and is known 10 exist in a Syriac version as well. The Copllc Lives. The whole Coptic corpus was published by L. T, U!J'OIIT, who al!lO made a French lranslation of it, It comprises fragments of several vl:nions or copiC!> of the 5ahidic Ufe and an almost complete 80hairic Life (80). The Coptic Ufe of Pachomius was evidently wrillen in Sahidic. the di· Illrtl or Uppo!r Egypt, but it is in the Dohairic vel" sion lhal lhe most popular and "standard" Coptic Ufe has been preserved in its most complete fonn. This Is a rendering of the reecnsion represented by the fragments ~, 5', and 5" (580). The Arabic Ufe in Ihe Vadcan (Av) is an acceptable lranslation of lhal original Coplle recension. The fragmentli S... 5', and S' belong to the SOIme gl"Ollp, allhough they have their own charnctc:ristics. Fragments of a few other Coptic Lives are extant in the 5ahidic diak'Ct, some of which appear 10 be ...ery old. Through the linn Sahidic Life (5') we probably ha\'e lhe most primitive Pachomian tradition. It contains mOI"e vivid and original data than the corresponding narratives in other recensions. In particular, il tells in detail about ~Ichomius' initial project of founding a cenobilie community with the people who hild joined him al TabcnncsC:. and about lhe failure of his first attempt. The third Sahidic Life (5') seems to have been a large eompihuion integraling sections of 51 along wilh sections of SBo, and il i~ possihle to use it to restore some missing paSSUllcs of 51. Thc two other fmgmentaty Lives, 51 and 5 11 , lire too Illutilnted 10 incorporate inlo the Pachomian COI'PUS. The Greek Live., Of the eight Greek Uve.~ extant, the mosl ImponMt is obviously the first Greek Lire (G I ), which hll.~ a great deal in common with the Coplic Life of the SOu recension. Of greal Importance is another document called the Paralipumel1u, compl'islng a c01leC:llon of s10t'ies about Pachomius and Thcodoru~. All the olhe" Greek Lives are in olle way or anOlher a fresh clabor..llon of lhe matedal found in G' and the ParaUpolllclIll. In 1932 Halkin published the six Live~ known at that lime. In 1982 he publishl..-d Iwv more Lives, which complete the Greek COI'PU.~ although they add lillie substance to the others. In 1932, fOl' his publicalion of GI and P(ll'(llipomcl1a, he UJK.-d bolh the Florence manu· liClipt and a few fragments exisllng at the BiblioKoql
,
PACHOMIUS. SAINT
Amhrmiana, He was unable to use Ihe Athens manuscript ,hal gives the full le;o;l of G', Partllipomena, and Epi.u..la A."lIU1mi.~. Halkin later produced a
splendid edition of the Athens manuscript. the [cxt of which sliglllly modjlies lhal of the ,"'orence man· uscript from a stylistic point of view, wi_houl alter-
ing ilS contcnl. The latin Life of Pachomlus translated by Dionysius ElIiguus al the beginning of the sixth century must be mentioned in connection with the Greek
corpus because of its dose relationship 10 G", II is still diSputed among scholal"!l whether the Greek lext used by him "'ll5 a source of Gr or a lex. having er Il5 its source. The Arabic Lhres. There arc 5CVCrnl manuscripts of the Life of Pachornius in Arabic, but none of them has yet been the object of a critical edition. It is obvious thaI 1111 the Lives of Pachomius in Arabic are late tran.\I01tlons, but somf' of thf'm may haVf' preserved tcx.ts lust in the original Coptic. They may bf' e1assifif'd in Ihrf'f' categories: 1. Tran.\lation from Coptic. ThiJ; applif'li to AV (Vatican Librnry, Ardbie codcx. no. 172), which appears 10 bf' Ihf' lrue version of a Sahidic Life of Ihe sao recension, anotO Ag (GUllingen, University library, MS no. 116). 2, Translation from C ....-ck. 11lefC ,lfC many such manu~ript.<;, Ihe mOSt lmponanl being Paris, Na· lional Libr;lry, MS 261 (Ap), An euilion prinled at Cairo in 1891 (Ac) was probably based on a very similar manu~ript, This Ambie eategol), was de· rived from the third Greek lire, 3, Arabic compilation, One of Ihese compilations, published by E, Amclineau in 1889, consists of an Ambic Life similar to Ag, complemented by an Ara· bie rendering of parts of GI . For well nigh hllif II century, the scholarly dialogue concentmted on the argument OVlT whether the pdorily in Ihese Lives belongs to the Coptic orlgin:lls or the Greek recensions, Comparing Bo and G', II WIlS casy for thc editors of Glto find good reasons to believe In it.<; priority over the Coptic Lives, .mu vice verlUl. Nowadays it is :lcn~pted lhal sao cannot be considered a translation of G', :lnd vice versa, In filet, bolh Ihese uocunll'nts retain their PIHticulfll' value and importance, However, it is obvious that they havc many points in (·ommon. a fact Ihat indicates thal probably they were derived from a common source, On the other hand, each retaim,'lI its own ehal1lcteristic 1II0de of using the same material. It is our belief that a close compal'ison of 580, l G , and Ag could throw new light on the exi~ling problem. Ag has praclically :Ill the :otories found in
1861
580 and G', up to the time of the death of Pach..... miu:o, where it stops, But these :olol'ies aroe presellled in different order'S. The point.<; of contaci arc such (somelimes SBo agreeing with Ag agaillst G' and sometimes G l agreeing with Ag against SBo) lhat Ag cannot be considered a translation or a fresh elaboration of either 580 or Gl, Our convic· tlon is lhal when the definitive critical edilion of Ag has been cOllipiled, it will be easy to demonslrale that Ag is pos.~ibly the translalion of a Sahidic origi· nOli tL"Xl lhal could have served as a common source for bolh sao and GI, That source probably stopped :It the dealh of Pachomius, In the long p311 Ihal follows Ihe dealh of Paehorniu~, covering the developmenl of the koinoll;a up to the death of TIleodorus, the parallelism of lhe data offt'red by SBo and G' begins to dlsappt'ar and the various C<:Iptic versions become much less homogeneous. Despite the eomplt'x.ity of the documents, which mWit be taken into account, the Life of Pachomius remains tht' main source of infonnalion not only for the earty evolution of Pachomian eenobitlslII but also for Pachomian spirilllality. Even from Ihis poim of view il is more reliable than the Rules we possess in a form lhal w1tnessf'li to a laler evolution of Ihe koi1l0llia, which arc simply lists of practical regulations rather Ihan a spirilual pmgrnm,
Rules or Saint Pachomlus When Pachomlus wanted 10 ImnsfOl"l1l inlO a COnllllUllity the group of mcn who had comc 10 livc with him lit Tabenl1~ and whom he had served for a few years, he drew up a series of rules that he look from Ihe scriptures (SI, II and 17). Later, when his sister decided to live the mona~tic life and was joined by othcr WIlIllCI1, lie senl thert! the rules he had w1'ltten for the bl'Other~ (58n, 27; G', 32). whcn he founded new monasteries or "dopted existing communities into the koi'IOII;O, Pachomius established in Ihe new foundations the same rules as in the monasiery of Tabcnn~se (580, 491r.; G', 54.81), These rules were certainly nOI a .~et tex.l. They constantly evolved with the evolution of Ihe koinu";a, during Ihe lifetirlll':: Paehomius as well as under his successors. In 404 Saint JEROME trdnsla1cu into La1in four sel'ies of Iwecept.s that he ca.lled (he "Rule of Paehomiu:o" and that, along with other documents at· tributed to I'achomius and his disciplf'li Theodoruli and HORSIES1OS, came from the monastery of MI:.T"N· 01" (Canopus) near Alexa.ndria, where Pachommn monks had been brought by Palriarch TIlOOPIUWS, The books were in Coptic, bUI Jerome manslated
or
1862
PACHOMIUS. SAINT
them from Ii Greek translation made for him. Very important sections of lhe Coptic texts of these rules have been di.s<:overed lind published during the twentieth century. A Greek ven;ion probably existed vcI)' dirl)' for the usc of the Gn:ck.spcaking monks who did not know Coptic. Unfortunately, no manu· script of lhal version has survived, but we have a collection of Greek excerpts that, like the short re. tension of Jerome's Ullin version, represents an adaptation of the Pachomian Rule to a monastic organl:rotlon different from that of the Pachomian monasteries. The Rule.: of Pachomhu is also found in several Elhiopian manuscripts, bUI these usually give three distinct documents: II translation of the famous "Rule of the Angel" from the IAusiac Hislory, • translation of the Greek excerpts, and II latc Ethiopian compilation devoid of real value. The "Rule of the Angel" given by PAlllOIUS in his umsiac /IistQry. perhaps the best·known "Pachomian" documenl in the manuscript tradition, has nothing in common with the authentic Pachomian role, and cannot be C01lllidered a reliable source for the knowledgc of Pachomian practicClli. In the complete texi found in Jemme's transla· tion, the Rule of Pachomius is composed of four distinct collections called Prauepla. Praecepta et insli/ma. Praecepta atque judicia• .. nd Praecepta ac leges. The PraeCtpla aUjlll!: ;lIdicia is a kind of penitcntial. measuring out lhe penances for variou.~ types of offensl,.-S. The Praecepla ac leges rcgulatClli the llChedules in the individual houses or wards for every evening and deal:> with the responsibililk'S of the hou.semaster. The PTaecepta et il/s/ituta is addrL'5sed to the housemastcr, who, with the monks of his house, was in charge of the weekly service in the gcneral assembly of all the brothers. Thc Prato cepla is by far the longest of these rexts and the most composite in character. The repetitions and the var'lous conclusions indicating ditferent blocks of n.tlcs show that the series was periodically com· plemented llnd expanded according to the new circumstances of the koillollia. Allempts hllvc been made to establish a chronological order for the four sections of the Rule, and it has been claimed that the Praecepla 1'.1 inslilUfa is the IllOSt allcient collection and the Prfleceplfl the latest. The whole argument, which remains uncon· vincing. startS from the postulate that one of these four colJe<:tions must have been composed before the others, and that each should represent thc state of Pachoillian legislation at some specific point in history. Since they have different purposes, it seems much more nalUral to assume thaI they were parallel lelltli that evolved at onc and the same time in
different cOlltexu. along with the development of the koinonia. Against the theory that the Praec:epla ~I il1Sliwla was the first collection l~ the very strong argument that it refers very explicitly to existing sets of rules. one or them being In all probability the Praecepta-although perhaps an earlier and shorter version or it. Concerning the authenticity of these Rules this much can be said: Pachomius and Horsiesios wrote liUme groups of rules. and probably Theocloros did the same. In 404. about sixty years after the death or Pachomius, and probably more than ten to rlf· teen yean; after thaI of Horsiesios, Jerome received the lext of a Pachomlan "Rule" to be transl..ted into Latin. The text camc from a monastery near Alexandria where some Tabennesiotes (Pachomian monks) had lived since about 390. These texIS are therefore Pachomian in a broad sense of the word. How mueh and what part of them can claim Pachomius as their author, we do not know for certain. and none of the recent studies have brought any decisive light to the problem. We can assume that a small group of precepts was composed by Paehomius him.o;elf and that this core has 1>l:en supplemented by others over the years. But we have no means of knowing for sure which precepts are the most original. We also cannot rule out the possibility that the text transmitted to Jcrome from the Monastery of the Metanoia had undergone ,Somc modifications under the influence of the li\IITOund· ing monastic communitk'S or Lower Egypt. As a whole these rules seem to 'supposc .. state of evolution later and more complex than that descdbed in the lire of Pachomius in its early Coptic and cven Greek versions.
Instructions of Saint Pachomlus C..techesili, Instruction on the Holy Scriptures, was a vel)' Importanl Feature or Pllcholl\iall cenoh· itism. The houscmaster delivered It to the monks of his houlie or ward twice It week, on the days of f-.tlit. lind to the superior of the local monastery three times a week, on Saturday evening and twice on Sunday. Pachomius and his successors llt the head of the koinDtlia al~o gave other instructions, either when they were visiting the brothers of the various monasteries or on special occasiom like the cele· bration of the Passover at ?bow, or the general gathering of all the brothers at the end of the year. Several or the instructions of Pachomius have been inserted into lhe Life by lhe biographe"'. The manuscript tradition also has preservcd some of them as separate documents. In his Oeuvres de Pach6me
PACHOMIUS, SAINT
e, de ses premiers successeurs, L T. Lefort pub· lished a complele text of one of these instructions and lhe fragments or anolher. The laner was given to the brothers on the occasioll of the Pnssover cdcbr-ation. The fiBt is a very long tellt illlo which a large quotation from a homily by SAINT ATHANASIUS has been lntegr:ued. The.o;e two documents, as well as all the catet;heSClii found in the urc, dl·moOlitlOite a very great knowledge of scriplure 011 the paJ1 of Pachomius and III greal pastor-al experience. Letters or Saini Pachomlus The corpus of Pnchomian malerialtran:>lat...-d inlo Latin by Jerome in 404 contained eleven letteB, some of them making a cryptic or "spirilual" use of the symbols of the Coptic alphabet. Until very recently IhCK lettcr.l were known only in the Latin version, but now the Greek and Coptic originals of the majority of them have been discovercll and published. We possess the Coptic text of lellen 8, 9a and 9b, 10, and I la and II b (leiters 9 and 11 in the translation of Jerome correspond 10 two different lellers in the Coptic manuscripts). We also have a very old Greek translalion of lellers I, Z, 3, 7, and 10 from a manuscript of the Chester Beany UblOiry. After sever..1preliminary studies, Hans QUl.'(;ke published all these Coptic and Greek dOCumenL'i in 1975, with a long technical ililroduction. One of the impor1ant qUl.'Stions concerning these lellers is theil' Pachomian aUlhenticity. They cer· tainly elCisted in Coplic at a very early stage, since we have a GI'Cek translalion preserved on tI four1h· eentul)' parchment. From a comparison of Je· rome's versIon and the Coptic and Greek lelCts, it appears thaI Jerome had before him a Greek telCl very similar 10 tht: one prt:scrved in lh~, Chesler Bcally Library. Jerome aurihuted the letters explic· itly 10 Pachomius, lind Queekc docs nol find any positive rca.~on to doubl thaI audhution. However, nOne of the Il,:ltel'll, either in Greek or in Coptic, bears a litle allr'ibuting it 10 Pachomius. A few passages from Ihese lellen are quoted by Horsiesios and SttF.NUTE withoul My elCp1icit referenl:e to Pa· chomius. This seems to leave a cel1ain margin of doubt concerning the allribution of the corpus 10 Pachomius himself, although there is no question conccrning lheir provenance from a Paehomian mi· lieu. Onc of thc ICllers (no. 5) is about the annual meeting of all the brolhers for the Easter l:c1cbra· tion, and another (no. 7) about the other annual meeting in the month of Mis!"!. nle lasl three let· ters (9, 10, and 11) are about the things 10 come,
1863
lind hence have a PI'Ophelic chal'acter. The reSl seem 10 be spirhual elChonations. BUI nonc of them is easy to inlell'l'Cl. least of all those (nos. 1,2,3,6, 8,9, and 11) that use a cryptic type of language. No satisfactory elCplsnation has yet been given, and e1len Ouecke, who has studied the question 1Iery thoroughly, was unable to find a de-'u answer. No demonstrable connection can be established wilh a similar use of thc alphabet in various documents of lhe NAG ItAMMAOl Ul.lIlAItY. The Pachomian practice probably has somelhing to do with the traditional love of the Egyptians for cryptograms, to which old Egyptian hieroglyphs len! themsel1les so well. 8IOUOCRAPitY
Ami-lineau, E. MOllImlellts ,xmr urvir it l'histoire de t'Egyple chretien/Ie lUI /Vr sitdr-Histoirc de StJim PalcJr.Omr el de su commWlautts. D/Xu· mell/S l,:ople$ el uruhu jnl-dits, publiis el traduits pllr E. Al1ll.lilfellU, 2 vals. Annales du Muste Gui· met 17. Paris, 1889. Bacht, H. "Antonius und Pachomius. Von der Ana· chores!: zum Ctsnobitentum." In An/onills maglllls erelf/ita, ed_ Basilius Steidle; pp. 66-107. Studia Anselmiana 38. Rome, 1956. "Palt.home-der grosse 'Adler:" Geisl WId Leben. Zeilschrifi /lir Asuse Imd Mysiik ZZ (1949):367-82. "Ein verkanntes Fragment des koptischen Paehomiusregel."/.e Mllseon 75 (1962):5-18. _ _ . "Pach6me el ses disciples." Th~ologie de lu vie monas/iqlle 49 (1961 ):39-71. Biedermann, H. M. "Die Rell:el des Pachomius und die evangelischen RalC." DSlkirchliche SmdielJ 9 (1960):241-53. Boon, A. Pachomiaml I,atina. Ri!g/e el ~pilres de $. Puch6ml!, Apitrl! dl! $. '{'Modorl! I!t "libl!r" de $. Orsil!$iljs. Te",tl! IUlill Ill! $. JArUlf/tl. l3ibliolheque de la Revue cl'Hisluiri: Eccll:siRsliquc 7. Louvain, 1932. Chilly, Denvas J. "Pachomkm Sources Reconsidered." The JOimlal of Eccle.~/aSlical Hislory 5 (1954):38-77. _--;. "Some nOles, Mainly LelCical, 011 the Sourc· es for lhe Life of Paehomius." In SII/dia pUlrislieu, Vol. 5. pp. 266-269. Tcxlc und Unlersuchungen ZUI' Geschichle dCI' altehristlichen UlelOi!Ur 80. Berlin, 1962. ___. "Pachomian Sources Once More." In Siudia paIr/Mica, Vol. 10, pp. 54-64. Berlin. 1970. Crnnenburg, H. van. Ul Vie lalilll!! de sainI Pacllome Iradl/i1e dll grec par Deny$ Ie Petit, ediliQtI cntiqllc. Subsidia Hagiographies 46. IJrusscls, 1969. De Clerq, D. 'oL'innuence de la Regie de sainI Pa· ch6me en Occident." In Milallges d'nis/oire du moyen dge didiis Q fa mblloire de Lollis Halphen, pp. 169-76. Paris, 1951.
1864
PACHOMIUS BASILICA
Oes<::il1c, P. L'esprit du mOllnellLml1! padHimiell. suiv; II/;! In Irl/(lru;:lioll (rallfa/se des Pac/lOm;alla larina par Ie:; /l/uines d, Solesmes. Spi"ituaJite Or-
ientale 2. Bcllefont"inc, 1%8. Dragu~t. R. "Le choJpitrc de HL sur Ics Tabennesioles d~l'ive+i1 d'une source copter' u Museoll 57 (1944):53-145; 58 (1945): I5-95. Fl"SWgitrc. A.-J. us moines d'Orielll, Vol. 4, pl. 2,
La Premiere vie grecqllt!- de sa;,,' Pa,-h6me. In/rodlletiol/ critique el trad"ctioll. Paris. 1965. Gribomont, J. "Pachomios der Altere." In Lui/wn liir ThtlO/uJ:itl ,Old Kirche, Vol. 7 (1962), mls. 1330-31.
Halkin,
Frnn~ois.
Sallcfi PachQmii vilae Grat!-cae.
Subsidia Hagiographica 19. Brussels. 1932. u corpus alil/iniell de sainI Pachume Qvec Ime /fadllctiol/ fr(ln((l;se par A.-I. Festugiere. Ca-
hiers d'Orienta1ismr 2. Geneva, 1982. Heussi, K. "Pachomios." In Pauly·Wi!1Lc;owa, R~a/. ~Nc)'klvpildie der c/"ssischen. Alte'll/,"swiss~N' schall. Vol. 18 (1942), col5. 20700. Leclercq, H. "fachome," In Diclionnaire d'tm::heologi, c/rrttierme el dt lillirgie, Vol. 13, pt. I (1937), cols. 499-510, Lefort, L. T, Oellvrts de s. Pach!)",e et d~ ses disci· pies, cseQ 159, LoOl/ain, 1956. - , _ . S. Pachomii vila bohairict scrip/a. CSCO 89. Lool/ain, 1925. S. Pac/rom;; vitae saliidice scriplae. cseQ 99-100. Loul/ain, 1933-1934. ___ us "i,s cOplts de saiNI Pachome el de ses prellli~rs sllccessellrs. Bibliotheqoe du Museon 16. Louvain, 1953; repro 1966. Lefpold, J. "!'achom," Bullelin de la Sociile d'arc"· iologie coP/I! 16 (1961-1962):191-229. _"'-' "Pllchom." In KoplO/ogische S/Ildien in der DDR, Wi~'senst'hultlkhe leitschn"l der Martin· LlIIlrcr,Ulli"ersi/iJi HilI/e· Willenberl:' Svnderheft 1965, pp. 236-49. Monachino, V. "Paeomio." In Ende/opedia callo/· ita, Vol. 9, col~, 511-14. Mosclltelll, F., and J. Grihomont, Vila cop/a di s. PrtCQmio, A cura dl Jean Gr/howmtf. Traduzivne, illlroduzlo118 U 'IOte tii Pral/cesca Mosca/elli. Prague, 1981. PecteN;, P. "A propos de la \lie sahidiqu~, de s. PaeO· me." Atla/ec/a Bolland/ana 52 (1934):286-320. ___ "Le Dossier copte de S. Pac6mc et ses rapports lI\lCC la lradilion grecque." Alla/l!c/a BDl· Irwd/ana 64 (1946):258-77. Duecke, H. Die Brie/e Pac/roms. Griechisclrer Tal der I/(md,~ehril/ W. 145 der Chester B~ally Library einge/eirel lmd herallsgegebm VON Hatls Oueeke. AII/lUllg: Die IWPfisclll!.N FragmeN/e Wid Zilate des Paehombrie/e.. Tcxtus Patrislici et Uturgici II. Re· gcnsburg, 1975. Van Molle, M, N. "E.ss.ai de dasscmelll chronologique des pff'mie~ regles de vic commune en
chrctienlc." Vie. spiriluelle, llupplement 84 (1968): 108-27. ___ "Confrontalion enln: k'S regles ella !litera' lure pachOmienne pasleneure." Vie spirituelle, supplemenl 86 (1968):394-424. Veilleux. A, "Le Probleme de1i vies de Saini Pa· ch6mc." ReVile d'~scbiqlle e/ de mystique 42 (1966):287 -305. _,,-~' "5tln Pacomio, 3b3le di Tabenncsi." hi Biblio/hec~ SaNelorum, Vol. 10 (1968), eols. 10-20, Pocholllian Koillou/a, Vol. I, The Lile. 01 Soitll Pocholllius and lfis lJisdp/es. Cistercian Studies Serics 45, Kalamazoo, Mich., 1980, PachomiaN KoillOllia, Vol. 2, Pochomiall Chronicles aNd Rules. Cistercian Studie1i Series 46. Kalamazoo, Mich., 1981. _,,-_. PachOlllitm Koillor/la, Voi. 3, brslmClirfl/s, Lel/ers, twd Olher Wn'/illgs 01 Sablt Pachomills o,ld his Disciples. Cistercian Studies Series 47, Kalamazoo, Mich., 1982. VefKo1e, J. "La Valeur des vies grccque.s et copte1i de s, PakhOme." OrieNlolio uHlafllellsia Peri(Jdic~ 8 (1971):175-86. ARMAND VEIlLEUX
PACHOMIUS BASILICA. See Pbow.
PACHOMIUS THE YOUNGER, one of the second group of live bl'othel'S who came 10 Paehomius at Tabennese about A.D, 324 (SBo, 24; GI, 26-the life or PAchomlus known through the Bohnil"ic vel'sion and several Sahidic fragments. and the first Greek life of Paehomius, respectively). He is memioned among the ancient brothcrs at Ihe time of Pachomius' appointment of Theodorus as steward of Tabenn
Bacht, H, "Pachomius der }ungere." In l..exikon fur Tlle%gie Imd Kirche, Vol. 7, col. 1331. Freiburg, 1962.
PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT
Veilleux, A. "Pacomio il Giovanc." In Bibfiolhcca salle/amm, Vol. 10, cok 9-10 (1968). ARMANII VF.tlJ.F-UX
PAESE AND TECLA, SAINTS. brother and siSler who were martyrs under Dioclcth.... (fcast day: 8 Kiyahk). The text of their P:lS.~ion has sur· 'lived in one complete m.mu5(:ript in Silhidie and in OIher fragmenlS (Reymond.Barnes. 1973: cr. Browne, 1974). Paese was a rich property owner from "ousire, IIcar Shmun; Tecla was hi... widowed sister. When the persecutions begin, they both visit the prisons to help the martyrs, On the invitation of Paul, a merchant friend, Paesc goes to Alexllndrin, where he "Iso helps the martyr.~ in prison. During thi.~ period Victor is brought 11) Alexandria. Seeing Viclor's tOl1ure, Paese confes.~cs In the prefect ,\rmcni·
u.s lhal he too is a Christian and he is imprisoned. There follow scenes of courtroom argument, tor· ture, and miracll:s. Receiving no news of Paese, Tecla goes 10 Alelt· andria to look for him. She is lIIir~culousl)' accompanied on her joumey by the Virgin Mal)' and an· gels. Whcn she reaches Alexandria, she finds Paesc in prison and comfol1S him and the Other martyrs. Then she eonfesses her fuith in court. After various other fonns of torture, the two saints are handed O\'er to Eutichian and taken to suffer martyrdom In Tcpol. In the conclusion Julius of Aqfahs claims authorship of the text. This is a typical fictitious accounl from Ihe late period of the Cycles, particularly of the type construcled around Ihe figure of Julius of Aqfahs. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baumeister. T. Marlyr [/Ivie/us. Der Mllrlyrer o.ls 5i/l· IIbild der Er/iisllllg ill der Legellde ulld im Kul/ der frl.Jhcrl kOllli.lchrm Kirche, PI" 123-24. MUnster, 1972.
I
Bl'owne, G. M. The MIIYlyrdum uf Puese o.nd Theda W. MidI. lnv. 548). Das ehristliehe Deutschland, Evangelische Reihe 49. Frciburg, 1974. Rl.'Ymond, E. A. W., and 1. W. B. Barnes. Four Mar· Iyrdoms from fhe Pierpotl/ Morga" Cop/ie Codices. Oxford, 1973. TITO
I •
ORlANDI
PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT. During lhe Roman era Ihe religious life of Egypt was characterized by great diversity. First,
1865
there was the traditional religion Inherited from the pharaonic age. The theology and the rituals of the past .....ere pre5elVed by the priests in a number of pharaoniC'Jtyle lemples, such ;lS thoJC in Dandanth, Isnl, Idfo., Kom Ombo, Philae, and Nubia, which had been reconstructed under the Ptolemies. Kar· nak and wor substantially retained their original form. Besides reliefs, the lemples were decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions written in a Jystem that varied from temple to temple. These teltlS ap· peared to the ordinal)' Egyptians and Greek5 to contain a myslerious wisdom. since for a long time only prles15 could read hieroglyphs. Indeed, it was in Ihese temples Ihal traditional theology found n last refuge. Astronomy, cheml5tl)', alchemy, medi· cine, philology, and histol)' also were pUfSued in the temples. While these temples were respected by the state authorities and Ihe people, Ihey had a limited elfect on the development of beliefs during Ihe Roman rule. They repn:scnted isolated fortresses of the past in a 1I1lnsrormed world. Second, the original fonn of Greek religion was in decline. Outside Alexandria the cult of Homeric gods retained importance in Naucratis, Oll.yrhynchus, the FayyOm, and Ptolemais. The cult of the Dioscuri constituted a remarkable element. Since they did not have Egyptian counlerparts, they reo mained untouched by any local inlluenee. One of thc IMt pnxlUC15 of Greek epic, Ihc Dionysiaca, a compendium of mythology, was composed by NO. NNOS OF PANOI'OU5.
Third, shlee Herodotus, Ihe Greeks had discovered common features in Greek and Egyptian dci· ties and had linked them wilh each other, for inJlance, Oslris.Dionysus, Isis-Demetcr, IsiJ·Aphrodill,', Horus·Apollo, Ammon·Zeus, Mut-!'lera, Chon· su-Heraeles, Thoth·Hennes. After Alexander Ihe Great, the long coexistence of Ihe two ethnic eommunltle5 made these equations popular with the masses and led to the fonnation of numerous syncrelistic Grcco·Egyptian cults. II was Serapls (Osir· is.Apis) amaJg:l.lnated with Zeus, Helius, Hades, Po· scidon, and other deities, as well as Isis, who had the greatest appeal to the Greco·Roman world. Greeks living in Egypt were allractcd 10 Egyptian funeral)' culls and gradually adopted nlllmlnifica· tion. Fourth, the Jewish communities In Alexandria and in other places constitUled an important rdiiious factor. The Sepluagint and the religious trea· tises of Philo rendered their faith accessible to members of other ethnic groups. They had a temple
1866
PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT
Enmity between them llnd the Greeks in Alexandria was a recurring element. Ii grotYC cOlllllct hetween
Christians and Jews in the time of Cyril ended with the sacking of the Jewish quarter. Fihh, lhe re!'I of the cults did nOI play any pmmi· nent pan. Among them the eullS of Jupiter Capitol· inus in Arsinol, of the goddess Roma, and of the empeml"l received support from the state, though some pagan monumenrs were dedicated by soldiers Stationed In Egypt. Oriental deitics were worshiped in smaller cir· cles. We have a vivid early Ptolemaic description of the Adonis festival in Alellandrla In the AdolliQl}fS(li of Thel)(:rituS, and Ihere is evidence for Ihis cull also from Ihe Roman period, when Adonis was identified with Osiris and Aion. Astarte had her cult in Egypt from the time of the New Kingdom. Atar· galls also was adopted in Egypt. Mithra had a sane· tuary in Alemndria and WOolS venerated in other places. There was a Nanalon in Alexandria built in honor of the semitic goddCS!l Nanaia. Christianity
Follower of the:: t10ddess Isill. Sheikh Ibada (Upper Egypt), ca. 325 A,J), Limestone with traces of paint. Height 17 In. COllftcSy D. & J. de Mellil Col/ectiml.
in Leonlopolls from the time of Plolemay VI Philomelar (180-145 H.C.). It was erected by the high priest Oolas (Josephus Flavius AN/iql/i/utes 13.3) within the building of a desel1cd temple of the goddess Basi. After the capture of JCnJSlllem by Titus (A.D. 70), it was dosed.
The suppression of the Jewish revolt in A.D. liS lempol"llrily broke the power of the Jews in Egypt.
According to Euscbius, Christianity was introduced into Alexandria by $alnt Mark, though earlier sources do not mention this mission. $canty evi· dence hinders the reconstruction of the history of early Christianity in Egypt. The earliest record is a fragmentary papyrus of the Gospel according to Saint John. It is a mailer of debate how strongly the early Christian communitit:s were conne<:ted with the Jews, ;lnd it is fllr from clear how they were influenced by gnosticism. At any r-lte, the str'Ong pl'esence of gnosticism in seeond·century Alexan' dria is evident in the workJI of Basilides and Valen· linus. Also, the heritage of Hellenism w",s :11\ imponanl element In the development of Alexandrian Iheolo· gy. The history of the Alexandrian church can be tl'lleed ITom Patrl:lreh Dl.!Ml.!T1I.1US J (189-231) on. During the third cenlury, the church m:lde consld· crable progress throughout the country. There were bishops in Alexandria and In Nilopolis and Henno· polis (Eusebius l1iSloria ecclesiasliea, 6.42, 6.46). By the end of the third century the church achieved respectability among dilfcrent clasi'CS and ethnic groups. In some districts a consldemble pan of the population may hllve belonged 10 the Christian community. Confllcl with Other Religions From Irs very beginning Christianity was in oppo· sition to all other contemporary religions. The refu-
PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT
sal to take part in the cull of the emperors and in other religious rites was a source of conflict with the authorities. Until the time of CONSTANTINE the church had no choice but to slruggle against pagan· ism on the ideological plane, in preaching, and in literature. The ellistenee of heathen gods was not explicitly denied; rather, they were declared to be evil spirits or demons: "... all the gods of the na· !lom are demons" (Psalms 96:5). This mc;:ming was given to the lOentenCe in the Septuagint, while the Hebrew original has a somewhat diffcrent sense. The New Tl'!'itament (I Cor. 10:20) and the fathers of Ihe church (e.g.. Lactanlius Divinae in5/ituliones, 4.27) also regarded the gods as demons. Two passages or the Old Testamcnt were inler· preted as prophecies predicting the triumph of Christianity in Egypt: Isaiah 19:19, "In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in th\, midst of the land of qypt ..."; baiah 19: I, " ... Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift doud, and shall I:ome into Egypt; the Idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, lind thc heart of Egypt shall be melted in the midst of it." In Coptic and Greek hagiography many legends about the destruction of idols by saints and martyn were based on Matthew 8:29, in which Ihe dcmon5 cry oul, "What have we to do with thee, ksus. thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before time?" The negative altilude of the Old Test;,rnent 10ward Egypt wa, accepted by the church. Ncvcnhll' less, the words of Paul (Romans 1:19-23) were interpreted to mean Ihat God revealed His qualities to the Gentilcs-induding Ihe Egyptians-through His created works, but the Gentiles raile,l to offer the right kind of worship to him. The passage in· duccd AUl:lustlnc to form a more ra~orabl(, opinion: There may be othef5 to be found who per' ceivcd and taught this truth among those who were esteemed as sages or philosophcrs in the othel' nations: Libyans of Atlas, Egyptians, Indi· ans, Chaldeans, Scythians, Gauls, Spanial·ds. Who· ever they may havc been, we rank such thinkers above all othcrs and acknowledge them as repre· sentlng the closest approximation to our Chris· tian position (Saini Augustine De dvi/rm Dei 8.9, trans. H. BCllensen, HarmondswOl1h, 1~72J. Animal worship, mentioned in Romans I:23, was an object of ridicule in the works of the fathers of the church. One of the first to speak or it is Justinus (Apology 1.24). The Cateehetlcal School of Alexandria was interested in bolh Greek and Egyptian reli· gion. It was CLEMENT OF ALBXANDRtA who first di.s· cussed some aspects uf Egyptian religion. He
1867
appears deeply impressed by the splendor of the temples but finds it :Jbsurd th:Jt animal god.~ wefC worshiped Ihere (PDedaJ:QgIlS 2.4.21f.). Nevcl1heless, when making :J comparison with the gods of the Greeks, he shows. remarkably, more indulgence for the animal worship than for the "adulterous" Greek gods (Pro/rep/ieIlS 2.39.4[.). Origen, tOO, condemned Ihe religion of Ihe egyptians. He learned, however, from the work of Cel.sus and probably from olher sources that there was a deeper meaning behind the eult of the sacred animals. Euhemerlsm wa., one of the weapon.s used against ancient mYthology. Athenagoras used the testimony of Egyptian priesu and sages in claiming thai originally Ihe gods had been men who came to be deified later. By the words of inspired nonbiblieal pocu :Jnd prophets, Ihe Christian authors endeavored to suppan their claim that the victory of Christianity WllS inevitable. This COnStituted a remarkable element in the religioU.!i conflict. Besides Virgil's Fourfh Ec· logue, supposedly predicting Ihe bil1h of Jesus. Ihe Sibyfli"e Oracles, in reality reflecting Christian and Jewish ideas, were also in high esteem as pagan prophecies. They contain several pa.~'lages relating 10 Ihe decline of the gods in Egypt. Clemcnl of Alexandria quoted the Sibylli"e Oracu/e.~' prophecy that the lemple or Isis and Scmpis would be over· thrown (Pro/repticlI$ 4.50.3). In another passage, a priest clad in linen cloth summons his comp:Jtriots, the Egypliarls, 10 build a splendid snnctuary 10 the true God and to repudiate the idolatry of the am:es· tors (5.493-96). Sibylla enjoyed a high repulation with the Copt~ as the sister of Henoch, her position being somclhing like that of a sllint. Saint Augustine wanted to make HERMES TRrSMEGT$TU$·Thoth into the prophet or the dcdinc of Egyp· tian religion. In :J Hermctic literary work of un· known authorship, the highly emotional description of the plagues predicted to befall Egypt (Asclepills 24-26) was considered by Augustine (Dc civi/a/e Dei 8.23) to bc il prophecy lamenting the destruc· tion of Egyptian religion by Christianity. In actual fact, it belongs to an ancient Egyptian literary genre of apocalyptic predictions. The prophecy also survived in a Coptic version (Nag Hammadi Codex VI; Krause and Labib, 1971). The widespread interest in such predictionJ; is also demonstratcd by a Cop" tic manuscript containing three pseudo prophecies attribuled to Ulysses, Pythagoras, and Porphyrius. Their originttllanguage was probably Greek. Ulysses and Porphyrius foretell the destruction of the tern· pies, while Pythagoras speaks of the produclion of
1868
idols
PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT
a.~
foolishness. According to Rufinus (//is/Qriu
eccluiu~'lica
11.29), when the Sernpeum in Alexandria. wa.~ Qccupied by the Christiluos. the IXIgan priests recalled a tradition thaI their religion would flourish unItt the sign of lire-the cnlSS, identified wilh Ihe hicroglyph "nkh-nppcared.
The lone of Christian polemic literature grew more :md mort harsh in the COllrse of Lime. Apolo. geli!; and philosophical deoote galle way to lriumphanl and scornful invectives against polytheism and idolall)'. The last twO eminent personalities of
Ihe Egyptian church who had to deal seriously with paganism wcrc CYRil. TIlE GREAT and Ill-lEHtrrE.
Aftcr the second century. those who adhered 10 ancient cults came
Christian
10
realize' the need 10 reject
doctrine~
through philosophical and religious arguments. Of the three most impol1ant au-
thol'5-celsus, Porphyrius, and the emperor JUUAN -Celsus wrote significant passages Otl the religious silUation in Roman Egypt, although he wa5 unable to make a clear distinction between orthodox Christianity and gnosticism. The person of Je:oous Christ was variously valued in pagan liter-ltun:, for in· stance, he was held to have ~n a magician who accomplished hi! mirndcs by st."Cret lIIagical altS of Egyptian sanctuaries alld by powelful names of :m· gels (Arnobiu~ AdvUStlS /latio/l~s 1.43). On the other hand, his exceptional piety was acknowl· edged, and it W:L~ his followers who wcre blamed for making him into God (Augustine /)e civilale Dei 19.23). The polytheistic religions in antiquity were gener· ally tolemnt of one another, so it i~ no wonder pagans were ready to (;ompromise with Judaism :md Christianity. This tendency fined in well with Jewish intention.~ to present heathen deities as bib· Iical person,llities, Hcrmes-Thoth wa.~ said to havc been Identical with Moses. An cquation was made betwccn Isis and Eve, though more importance wru; IIttllched to the derivlltion of Sewpis from lhe biblj· cal history of Joseph. This also was favorably accepted in llnciC1l1 Christian literature (Melilo Sardianu~ Apology 5). Since Joseph was the g,·ellt· grandson of Sllrnh, Finnicu.~ Maternus ~w her name in thllt of Sel"olpis (D~ errore pru{ullUTilm reli/:;CJIlIlIn, 13): the r.:lllalhus of Sel'llpis wa.~ regarded ru; an allusion to the granaries of Juscph. By mcans of these identifications, Christians thought to unmask the gods. In pagan circles they wcre not IX=r(;cived lIS insulling, since the apotheosis of prominent men was widcspread. Numenius, a Syrian foreronnr.:r of Neoplatonism in the second century, placed the religions of thl' Gn:eks, the
Brahmins, the Jcws, the Persian magi, and tllr.: Egyptians on the same level (frag. 9; Eu5Cbius Prtle· ptlrtll;O evatlcelica 9.7). In another passage, Genesis 1:2 is parolllcled with the Egyptian cosmOgOniclll notion of the Primeval Water (fmg. 46; Porphyrius Ve amro IIymphamlll 10) lhal has been a pan of the great religions. In the larariwll of Emperor Alexander Scl'eruS the images of Christ, Abraham, orpheus, and Apollonius of Tyana were admilted. We find a similar altitude held by the Gnostic Carpocrntians (Ircnaeus Adversus OImIC.f hatreses 1.25.6). While the masses adopted the Chrislian faith, many pagan intelleetuals, mainly Greeks, converted to philosophy, fil"5t of all to Nwplatonism. The chief representatives of Neoplatonism had a keen interest in the sacred wisdom of the Egyptians. It wa5 an Egyptian priest who evoked the spirit of Plotinus in the Iseum in Rome and demonstrated its divine nature (Porphyrius Vila Plalilli 10). The last compendium of Greco-Oricntal mysticism with many Egyptian c1cmcn15 was composed by lambli· chus in the fourth century. However, the end of the gods was ililminent. One of them, Antoninus, who devoted himself to the cult of the gods in KanoOOs, prediCted to his disciples that the temple then:! and also the Sernpcum would cease to exist (Eunapius Vitae $lJphislarum, p. 471c). What he feared soon came true, but the phi· losophel'S did not give up the (;ult of the Egyptian god~. Even as latr.: as the fifth century Praclus 1:'001poM:d hymns in honor of I~is at Philae (M;ll'inus Vila Prodi 19), and HI!RAISCUS was buried according to the Osiritl.r1 ritual (sec MUMMIFICATION).
The Pollilcal Struggle Political conflict with the stale W;lS imminenl af· tel' the rise ofChriSlinnity. In Egypt, ifwc disrcg;ml 3nli·Chrlsllan rlot~ of smaller dimensions, Eusebius rr.:r.:ordr.:d lhree greal perseCUlions. DUling Lhe firsl onc, about A,j). 200 under Scptimius Sevcrus (lIis· loria ecclesiaslica 6.1-6), lhe Alexandrian commu' nity in particular was gravely aftlicted. While con· temporary data for the oppression under Scptimiu.~ Severns are missing, lhere is ample cvidcncr.: for the lfll'ge-scillc systematic pcrsecution undr.:r Decius betwecn 249 and 251. An imperial decree ordercd sacrifice and libation to the gods, and r.:ertificatCS (libe//i) that thl.'SC had bl.'Cli performed were requin:d. Many of these documents arc known from Egypt. Dedus' death did not put an end to thc pcrs<:cutiOIlS, which continued intennillcntly until 260.
PAGANISM AND CHRISTlAN1TY IN EGYPT
A change came afl e ... Ihe caplul'"C of Vlllcrillnus by the PCr'Sians. Then the religious polilics of GaJlienus broughl about a change. and lhe chul'"Ch lived under I'dalively p.!aeeful cin;:umstances until 303, when the cruek-st of persecutions beg;ln under DlOCl.ETt"N (284-305). The oppression was especially bloody in the Orient, and many Egyptian Christians were victimized fOl' their faith. In the Coptic calendar, the Era of Ihe Martyn; has as ils slarting point Diocletian's yC'"dr of accession, 284, TIle persecution continued under Galerius (305-313). The patriarch of Alexandria, Pele... I. was beheaded al the end of Galerlus' reign, ahhough accounts elTO' neously name Diodetian :u empero.... A Christian lradition llllribuled II baneful role 10 Egyptian magicians, who allegedly instigaled the perM'culions. Also Ueinius (311-324), who again became a sup· poner of paganism in his last ycal"$, is said to have had Egyplwn soolhsayers and magicians in his enlourage (Eusebius Vila Consr/lll/b'i 2.4). A ncw chapter commenced in the history of the Egyptian church when Conslantine won conlrol of Egypt in 324. The haIred stemming from the bloodshed under Dioctetlllll made a peaeeful coexistence between the Chrislian and lXllj:an parties virtually impossible, Constantine gl'adual1y went m'cr to the side of the Christians and lx:gan to take m\'asurcs to reduce the power of the andent CUll". II wa.. ce...tainly a heavy blow to the worshipers of Scrapis. the supreme god ill Alellandria, thaI Constantine ordered the Nile cubit, the ~ymbol of the god as lord of thl,: flood. to bl,: 1.....lOskrn::d from the SCI"apeum into a CIlUl'ch (Socrates Schola.~ticus Hi)'/lJrill n·desillslic;t( t. 18). The JXlrl icip:.ll iun of :.n. drogynous, or eunuch, pdCSl~ in the cult the Nile was forbkkkn, Allhou~h Ihe ueeree of 33 I was nOl enf01'ced-th:ll I~, the u:mples were no: destroyed -lhe cull of lbe gods rellehed H erilic,ll ~iluHtiuo. In spite of thc hoSllie religious policies of lhe state, lhe (lIlcient religions actually sun-ivcd lhe reign of COllSlanline, The al1lipagan auilude of the emperor was somcwhal e:rtaggcrated in lhe late... tradition: a Coplic l(::rtl prcsCnlS him as a !'Ukr who ordered lhe destruct inn nf the image~ of the gnd~ and the cxe· cutiun of tbe pagan pricsls, Also, Coplic lileralul'e adapted lhe legend of the emperor's conventon before Ihe battle of Ihe Milvian Bridge in 312. 11 says lhat during lhe night be· fo...e the bailie, Conslantine saw the slars lined up ill lhe form of a cross. which was identified by a Christian soldier as the sign of Christ, The situation SI'CW even worse under Constanlius II (337-361), While the decree of 341 pmhibiting
0"
1869
sacrifices 10 lhe gods was cenalnly nOI enforced, it was a sign of the general tendency. Two events in Egypt made it c1eal' lhat the state was . .eady to re'iOn to the most brutal measures. In Abydos an o ....~de of Iks Ix:came a fashionable cult center con· suited e\'en hy men of rank living oUlside Egypt in the latc Roman period (Ammwnus Marcellinus 19.12.311'.). Some of the an5Wel1i of the god we...e scnt to the emperor. Since Ihe god obviously was consulted occasionally on the question of succcs.'lion to the imperi:tl powe..., the denunciation led to a wave of persecutions of hysterical severity. Any magical practices and divination werc considered by the emperors of the foul1h eenlury as monal Ihreats 10 their safely. The target of another auack was the SCrapeum in Alexandria. Anemius, the Jlrlltegas of Egypt, stonned lhe lemple with his soldier'S and plundered it, laking away statues of the gods and offcrings (Julwnus Epistle 10). There was obviously no mo...e effeclive legal protection available to the lemples. Then, a sudden change in the political situation gave a new lease on life to the pagan cults. The accession of JUlIAN THe APOSTATe (361-363) broughl about a new religious policy favoring paganism. The temporary victory of the pagan IXlny led to the uprising of the mob in Ale:rtandria against the Arian bi$ho1' Georgius, tlnd he was killed by lhe pagans. Anemius Wall condemned to death by the emperor. Julian redressed an old grievance of lhe pagans by restoring Ihe Nile cubit to the Scrapcum (Sozomen Ecde#aslica his/Qria 5.3). The discovery of a new Apis bull may have been taken as a good omen for II religious renaissance. In lhe Egyplian pantheon it wa.~ Serapis, Wilh his rich syncretistic associations, who malched lhe best of tile abslrnct philosophical religion of Julian (d, Juli:m Oruliu'les 4,35 S.). Wilh the dealh or Julian the pagan pal1y lost il~ dominance. While the attcmpl 10 revitalize the mor· ibund ancient religions failed, II appears that the pagan cults survived in Egypi in relative peace until the reign of Theodosius (379-395), The conflicl grew inlense again in 391, when a full·scale civil war broke out in Ale:rtandria, Althuugh it is hllrd, because of controversial sources, to obtain a clear piClure of the cour'Se of evenl", it emerges unequivocally that the pagans rose up in arms against the patriar'Ch TIlF.oPUll.US (385-412) and used the Scrapcum as II stronghold from which to launch at· tacks against lhe Christians, The crisis wa... caused by the desecration of the cultic objecls of a pagan temple by Theo1'hi1us. In SOZOMItN'S narrative it was a temple of Dionysus. Socratcs speaks of Methra·
1870
PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANlTY IN EGYPT
cum (Ecclesiru/ica his/orin 17.15ff.). In the same year I;mpcror Thcodosius issued a decree prohibit· ing saclifices and visits to the tcmples in Rome. When informed of the situation in Alexandria, he promulgated a similar decree for thai city. The reo bels were given amnesty, but the Sel':lpeum had to be abandO'led 10 the Christians, who destroyed the statue of Ihc god. The temple was converted into the Church of Arcadius (Calderini, 1935. p. 145). There is also evidence for a. Church of Saini John Ihe Baptist there. With the abolition of the cult of Scrapis-in an open religious dcbate thc name of Serapis was not mentioned at all-there was an end to the institutional form of ancicnt religion in Alexandria., though the teaching of philosophy and sciences continued for a long time with papn masteN. A new outbreak of rdigious fanaticism. culminating in the murder of the philosopher Ilypatia by a. mob in 415, did nOI alter the situation. The cult of the gods continued. more or less in secrct. even in the neighborhood of Alexandria. Patriarch Cyril had to tran.~port the relics of two martyrs, Cyrus and John, to Menuthis in ordcr to counteract the influence of Isis as a healing goddess. In spite of Ihis. paganism lingered on in Menuthis, and in 484 a great number of images representing gods and St of Amon in A.D. ISO (Ouaegebeur, 1914, p. 43). Aboul 300 a Roman camp was built In the temple of Lullor. The sactlluffl, the sanctuary of the camp. was the place of the imperial cult under the Tetrarchy. A number of Coptic churches were ereetcd beside the temple, one in the court iL~elf (now beneath lhe Abu al-
J:laijAj mosque). In Kamtlk, the Festival Hall of Thutmosis III was transformcd into a church, and the remains of monasteries have been found in vari· ous places. On the west side of Thebes numerous ancient tombs were converted into dwellings or used for cultic purposes by the Christians. There were Christian buildings in a number of temples, and temples were used for the Christian cult. The last of the temples where me cub survived until lhe reign of Emperor JUST1NIAN (527-565) was the tcmple of Isis at Philae. This was tolerated for political reasons, since the majority of Ihe Nobadae and Blemmya accepted Christianity as late as the sixth centul)'. They were pennitted 10 visit the is· land regularly. Abhough it was a pagan religious center, a Christian community lived there from the fourth century. The exact date of the closing of the temple cannot be established beyond 535/531. 11 was pari of the religious policy thaI put an end to Ihe Academy in Athens in 529. The prit1Sts were arrested and the Images of Ihe gods sent to Con· slantinople (Procopiu$ De bello Persico, 1.19-37). The ttlmple was convened into the Church of Saint Stephen.
BIDUOCIlAPIlY
&mes, T. D. Cons/rmtine and Eusebius. London, 1981. Bell, H. J. JtWS and Chrutians in Egypt. London, 1924.
:-:---,=
"Popular Religion in Grdeeo-Roman Egypt; I: The Pagan Period," Journal of Egyptian Arche· ology 34 (1948):82-97. _ _ . Cults and Creeds in Graeco-Rom(ln Egypt, reprint cd. Uverpool, 1951. Burckhardt. J. The Aile of Const(ln/ine Ihe Great. London. 1949. Dodds, E. R. Pagan and Christian In an Age of Anxl· ely. Cambddgc, 1965. Fowden, G. "The Pagan Holy Man in Late Antique Socicty." Journal of Hellel1ic Studies 102 (1982):3359. Fr3.'lcr, P. M. Ptolemaic Alexandria. 3 vols. Ollford. 1972. ~I:lbachi,
L "The Destruction of Temples in Egypt."
In Medlel'al and Middle Eas/ern Studies in Honor of Alit Sltf)'al ~/iya, ed. Sami A. Hanna. Ldden, 1912. KJl.ko.~y,
L "Der GOII &"!l in dner koptlschen Le· gende." ~cta Antiqua Hungarica 14 (1966):1851£. Repr. in Smdia AelO'ptiaca 1 (1981):119ff. "Probleme der ligyptischen Jenseitsvor.;tellungcn in der Ptolemlier· und Kaiserzeit:' In Reli· gions en EDPte ht/liPlistique tl romaine. Paris, 1969. Repr. in S/udia Aegyptiaca 7 (I981):195ff.
PAGARCH
Kalavrewu·Maxeiner, J. "The Imperial Chamber at Luxor." Dumbarf<m Oaks Pape-rs 29 (1975);22551. Milne, J. G. A Histary of Egypi Unde-r Roman Rule. London, 1924. Momlgliano, A. ed. The COrlfliel Belwurl Paganism and Chris/ianilY irl Ihe Fourth Celliury. Oxford, 1963. Monnercl de Villard. U. "The Temple of the Imperi' al Cult at Luxor." Archaeo/ollia 95 (1953):85ff. Mussies, G. ''The InlerpreUltio Judaica of Sarapis." In Siudies in I{ellerlislic Religion, ed. M. J. Vermaseren. Eludes prtliminaires aux religions or· ientales dans I'empire romain 78. [.eiden, 1979. "The Interprelatio Judaiea of Thot-Herme5." In Siudies in Egyptian Religion, pp. 89120. Studies in the History of Religion.<; 4]. Lei· den, 19112. Nod:, A. D. Conversion. Oxford, 1933. O'leary, De L 'The SainlS of Egypl. London, 1937. _:-~ ''The DnlnJction of the Temples in Egypt." Bldlerin de la Sod~t~ d'arch~0108~ copte 4 (1938);51-57. Pianlr.olf, A. '''The Osircion of Seti I at Ab)"dos During the Gre<:o·Roman Period and Ihe Christian Occupation." Bullelit! de la Sociele d'archbJlogie COptt 15 (1960):125-49. Rees, B. R. "Popular Religion in Graeco-Roman Egypt: II, 'l11e Transition to Christianity." Journal of Egypliull Archeology 36 (1950):116-100. Roberts, C. H. Manuscript, SocielY arid 8elie-f in Early Christian Egypl. London, 1979. Scoll·Moncrielf, P. D. Paganism and Christianity in Egypt. Cambridge, 1913. Stambaugh, J. E. 51lrapis Untler Ihe Early PlOlemies. Etudes prcliminaircs aux religions orienlales dans I'empire romain 25. Lciden, 1972. Wilt, R. E. /ods /11 Ihe Greco-Roman World. London, 1971.
L. KAKOSY
PAGARCH (Greek, pagarehos or pagarches), word of obscure origin because of the comparative lack of papyri from the fifth century. G. Rouillard (1928) dates it to 460/470, while W. Uebeschuell. (1973) connects the rise of Ihe pagarch with the reforms of Emperor Anastasius J (491-518), whose aim was to revive civic institutions. By the si~th century the pagarc:h was the most powerful rcpn..-senlative of the principle of local autonomy in the civil admin· istration of Egypt. Undcr Arab administration, arrer 642, Ihe pagarch (also known as epikcimcnos, amiras. dioiktlts. archlm) fonned the main link between the Arab go\'el'l1or and the subject popula· tion. From the end of Ihe seventh century, the office was increasingly held by Muslims.
1871
TIle pagarch was chosen, probably by provincial authorities, from among weallhy ex-officials and majOr landowners: an eKample is the Apion family, who held the post for several generations at Oxyrhynchus (Gascou, 19115, pp. 61-75). His appoinlmenl by the pretori:m prefect was subject to ralifi· cation by the emperor. Rathcr than being an office in Ihe strict sense, Ihe Funclion of the pagarc:h seems to have been a munl4s palrimonU (palrimoni· al office): it also could be held by women (Gascou, 1972, pp. 68-70). Though the pagarch reccived his instruclions from lhe provincial governor, he was directly responsible 10, and could only be dismissed by, the emperor (see the regulations of JUSlinian's Edict, X111.12; 25). From the end of the siKth century, Ihe district administered by a paga.rt:h was called a pagarchia. The same word is allested in the fourth cenlury with the meaning "office of the praeposiIus pagi" (p. Oxyrhynchus 17.2110, A.D. 370), Hence the as· sumplion that the pagarch supplanted lhe praepositlls pagi. who is allested from 307/]011 until Ihc liC(;ond half of Ihe fiflh century, as chief officer of a pagus. The pagarchy has accordingly been considcred 10 be a conglomerate of pagi: the pagus (created in 307/308 to replace the toparchy) being the ruml area liurTUunding a city, the administrative districi of Ihe pagarch would have bct:n equivalent to the nome wilh the exceplion of the melropolis (Geb:er, 1909). This suggClition h35 been convinc· ingly rejected in favor of the assumption Ihal the pagarchy was cocKtenslve with the nome in ils en· tirety (e.g., Bell, 1908, pp. 10 1-103). A single pagarchy could be headed by two, sometimes three, pagarchli. Thi): did not imply a topographical division, at least flO! in the IJpJ1ntine period, but a diviliion of reliponsihilities (Gascou, 1972; Wip' szycka, 1971). A.~ "direClot' of taxation," the pagarch probably suppJ.mted the exaclor eiv/lalis, himself II successor of the slratCf,Os of the nome, whose office wali reo duced to that of a tux collector after ]07/308. The pagllrch, however, e~erted greater coercive power and enjoyed more autonomy toward the city council than the t.XuClor ever did. He was responsible for fOlwarding and enforcing the financial orders of the cenlnd and the provincial governments on the local level, a delicate ta~k because it involved direct contact with the often unruly taxpayel'S. In rural areas, the pagal'ch's authority to make alIlicssments and collcel imperial tribule was con lined 10 Ihe villages and CliUlles Ihal were nOI granlcd the privilege of autopragia (Ihe right 10 colleci Iheir own taKes and to deliver them directly 301 the provincial
1872
PAINTING, COPTIC MURAL
bureau, the epic/rOrios tllxis). Besides his financial dulies, the pagarch exer1ed some judicial functions, for insltmce, ensuring that the decisions of the provincial couns were cxecutr..-d. The pagarch held his otlicc for sc\'erol years, perhaps for life. Some pagarehs combined meir office with that of a IUPQ/irifis, a provincilll governor's deputy, or of a tribwlIIs (stra/~/a/~s), a garrison commander, thus increasing their authorily to a degree rarely conceded to local functionaries in earlier Roman provincial administration (Liebe5Chuell. 1974). OIBUOCIlA.PHY
Bell. H. I. "The Aphrodilo Papyri." JOlirHll/ 01 Hd· lenutic 5wdies 28 (1908):97 -106. Gascou, J. "La oelenlion collegiale de I'autorite pagarehiqu~ dans l'Egypte bYlantine." Byumlioll 42 (1972):60-72. "Lc:s Grands domaincs, la chi: ct I'etat en Egyple byzantine (recherches d'hiMoire agraire, fiscale el adminislrative)." TrtUtau.( el mimoires 9 (1985):1-90. GcI:ter, M. Sllidiell VIr b)'<.ll/llillisdrell Venl'D{llfllg XgyptetlS, pp. 84-92. Lcipziger HililOrisehc A~ handlungen 13. Lc:ipzig, 1909. Gmhmann, A. "Ocr Bcamtenslab der arabilichen Fimmlverwahung in Xgypten in fri.iharabischel· 7.eil." III SIll/lie" l.Ifr Popyrologie Imd tmliken lVir/schal/sgeschichle Friedrich Oerlel ~lfm ach/zjgSletl GehlUlS/ag gewidmel. Bonn, 1964. Johnson, A. C.. and L. C. WClit. B)7.amille Egypl. ECOllomic 5/udics, pp. 102-06, 174,219,322-27. Alllsterdnm, 1967. Reprint of the 1949 edition. Liebcschuelz, W. "The Oritcin of Ihe Ollice of Ihe P:ltcareh." 8)'~lItrtitli5dle Zei/l'chrifl 36 (1973):3846. ___. "The P:Igarch: City and Imperial Adminislration in By/.antinc Egypt." JOlln/al of Juri.llie P(lpymlngy 18 (1974): 163-68. Rouillard, G. 1:lJdmj,li.~lr(j/i(l1l civile de I'EgypfC by~· (lIllllle, 2nd cd., pp. 52-62. Par'is, 1928. Wipszycka, E. "Lcs l'e~alS d'imputs ct Ie bureau des comptes des pagarchies aux VI'-VJI' sieeles." Jnumal of Jilrl.~/ic I'apyrology 16-17 (1971): I05I 16. B£NcDlt:TE VERIlEECK
PAINTING, COPTIC MURAL. Tllili article dis· cusses painting on the walls of houses, Roman Cflmps, wmbs and funerary chapels, monasterieli, and churcheli in Egypt fTOm the third cClilUry to the thirteenth. For painling on panelli sec ICONS: POR· TRAlTURF_
Mural painting had a long trndilion ill the pharaonic period. It continued in Ihe Coplic period, gcnCl1IlIy in thc 811111<:: techniquC:!l. I.n subject Inalle,' and slyle, murnlli in houliC'5 and palaces, 11.~ fur a." Ihey a,'C known, followr..-d Greco-Roman ll"dditions. Funeral)' mUI..ls displnyed lhe iconogrnphy com· mon to early Christianity evel')'Where. In the churches llnd grellt monaslic C:!Ilablishments, the originality or Coptic painting was clearly evidenl. Techniques Twentleth-century exca\'l1tions at Ismi and Kellia have provided a more precise idca of the muralpainting techniques of Coptic artists, professional and nonprofessional, than """alii hitheno available. In most instances lhe paint consisted or pigment mixed in whhewa.~h (lime and watel") or with a binder such as egg or cascin. It wali app!it:d to dry or slightly moistened plasler (a mixture of lime, watcr, and sand), which partially fused with the painl. In extremely rare instances the paint was applied while Ihe plaster was slill wei, in accord· ance with the true fresco tcchnique described by me Roman architeci Vitruvius. Wilh the information ttvllilttble at present, it is not possible to delermine whelher thelie painlings were true frescos on intenlionally wei plasler or whether thr..'Y were lhe result of Ihe painter's Impalience for Ihe plaster to dry. The plaster surfllce supporting the p
PAINTING, COPTIC MURAL
placement of the pl'ineipa.1 elements in the <.;01111'0' sitioll, In mmt cases the strokes ar'e clear, swift, and sure, wilh no sign of the artist ch..nging his mind. In !iOme nonlil!lunll murals the preparatory design wa.s incised wilh II pointed instrument, as for c,'(am· pie al Kellia, where cin:lcs were mal'lted by a lighl groove and a center dot, suggesling th~' use of a compass, Olher murals at Kelli:1 are friezcs consisting of simple molifs repealed along Ihe whole length of the wall, suggesling the use of a slencil. In the Roman period, murolls of impol1ant subjecls and in importanl places were carefully lin· ished. According 10 Pliny lhey were smoulhed with a f1a.1 instrument to hide the dividing lint'S bet.....een sections of pla.~ler a.nd to remove all roughness. This technique WOolS no longer used in the Byzantine period, when, for the most part, thc plaster was quickly smoolht.'
or
1873
Funerary Mura.ls Lillie 0l0l'e is known llboul funerary murals. Knowledge of the Chr'istlan catacombs and chapels of Alexandria. now destroyed, has been tr:lOsmiucd only through ancient descriptions. In the C
Murals In Monasteries The decoration of mona.sterics is an eillil'ely different malter, At KcJlia, Abt1 Jirjllh 'Alam ShaltOt, Wadi al.Nap'un, SlIqqara, B~wT!, and Isna, it may be noted that the monks' oralories were decoraled with particular eare and housed the greatest num· bel' of rmlnlings, In each ora.tory the vestibule, its walls covered wilh inscriptions, introduces this 01";1' Janche of decor.lIlon, Whereas in olher monastic buildings Ihe lower level of the walls is uniformly covered with Pompeia.n red, occasionally inlerrupt· cd by a dl'Cor.lIet.l panel. in Ihe omlory the lower level is a succe5.~ion of panels decontled with gea-
1874
PAINTING, COPTIC MURAL
metric and Ooral motifs and shapes evuking shafts 0'" pillaB of pri7.ed Slonc. such as mamle. pmphyl)'. or alabastc.... Above this level there is II succession of monks. local saints, and. mon: ra...e1y. biblical scenes such as the th~ children in the furnace, the sacrifice of Isaac. episodes from the IivC.$ of the Virgin and of Christ. and at Wwl!. various episodes of lhe stOI)' of David. The eastern wall of the oratory is the most impor_ tant from a religious poinl of view. and as a conscquence its deco... is amplilied. Two small nichesusually undecoraled and meant to hold liturgical ob.iect.~-frallle the I
Murals in Churches Very little is known today about murals in the most ancient Coptic chu...ches because few exam· pies survive. Many evidences of Egyptian Christianity disappeared in the thiricemh and fourteenth cen· turies. Informntion from secondal)' soun:es i:;; often uncertain. The Arabic writeB al·M:lqri71 :lnd AbO ~lil? the Armeni:lO menliOll an impressive numbe... of churches and monasleries eonlaining murals and icons, but they do not nanle the subjects depicted. Ukewise. most of the descriptions by European travclcB from Ihe fift~nth 10 the ninetel'nth centu·
ry are brief and give little uscful inform:ltion. Doubtless. as in other Christian areas. Ihere wen: scenes ilIuslraling the life of Christ and ...ep...esenta· tions of local sainl5. but whelher they were on walls or apses is unknown. The most that can be said is that the iconogmphy fonowed Ihe plans of Ihe mu· mls in oratories of the monks' cells and prepared the way fo... the vast iconographic programs of the churches in the Middle Ages. Mural. In Early Chun:.he•. Only a few murals of saints ...emain in Ihe churches at Philac buill in the lemples of Imholep. Isis, and Hatho.... where they overlaid pharoonic decol-atioll. Then: are also a few such murals in the churches constructed in the temples of Seli I at Abydos, Hatshepsut
rAINTING, COPTIC MURAL
,
)
the Church ofShenute in Cairo, with a more unusu· aI sccne depicted in the right apse: a dr.:.lped cross within a mandorla, bctwe<:n 5lIinlS on foot. A simi· Iar motif is found in Dayr Anb~ Bishoi at SuhAoj. Murals from the Tenth CenllJry or Later. Where the churches have been continuously occupied, only the most recent paintings are visible. Therefore, the churches of cairo have kept but meager tracCi5 of any decoration prc~:eding the tenth century. It is known, for example, that painting., of saints adorned lhe columns and pillar.; of Ihe Church of Saints Sergiu5 and Bacchus (Church of the Nativity) dating from the fotlr1h and fifth centuries, but the painting., were destruyed when the church wa, plll"gcd in the twelfth century. II was subsequently covered with a new series of paintings that were alsu destroyed in tum, and then later redone. The same may be said for the churches in the mona~teries of WAdi al.Napiin, I)ayr Anba An· lliniy05 and Dayr Anbfi BClld In the desert by the Red Sea, as well as Dayr Anb!i Shimldllh and DayI' Anb:i Bishoi at Suhllj, and Oayr al·Shuhada' and Dayr al.Fakhtiri at !sna:. Most of the murals pre· served scarcely date t>t-fore the tenth century. Thl,.."Y present a vast iconographical array lhal unfolds all along the walls, apses, and columns. Scenes born the: Old Testament such a., 030iel in the lions' den, the sacrifice of Isaac, and the three children in the furnace deconltc the walls. The walls also show scenC$ from the life of Mary, sueh as the Annundalion, Nativity, Durmition, and A.'I.,umptiun. and of Christ, in lhe Adoration of the Magi and mirades, llotably the wedding at Cana. Prophets, saints, espe· cially mounted ones, mOllks, and founders of mono asteries appeal' on the walls, and male flOd female saints decorate the columns. The cross is less frequent 0 the trio umphal areh leading to the
1875
All of them ineluded the tetramorph plac....d around the mandoria. At DayI' Anbll Shinlidah the four ewngclists arc depicted seated and writing, each one beside his symbolic animal. The unusual por· trayal of these animals must also be noted at 03yr Anbi AntilniyOs in the Chapel of the Four Animals, where the Wdia (small animals) have the bodies of cherubim. Often in monastic churches the Virgin is pictured beneath the Christ in Majesty, where she is frnmed by Michael and Gabriel, at Dayr al-$huhndl', or the apostles, at Dayr Abu Sayfayn. The a.,sociation of these.' two themes of Mary and the apostles wa.., alrcady found in the oratory niches of the mon:lstic eells, for example, at DayI' Ap" 111 was covered with mosaics: on the columns there were saints afoot, dnlperies, and friezes, but no painted wall decoraiion has yet bc<:n discovered, the other great structures being ornamented with slabs of marble. The painting.' of the two churches at Dnyr Apa Apollo arc somewhat beller knowo. 10 the northern church. there were numerous personag(."S pol1rayed on the columns, among whom were Saint George as a w;,rrior, the al'changels Michael and Gllbriel, King David, plus a Virgin and Child, as well as Chds!. The walls wer'C covered with panels of persunages, but their identities are unknown. In the southern church, at the boek 01' the llllnctuary thclre is a Cluist enthroned in the midst of the apostles: elsewhere there are a cross carded by angels, a Virgin and Child, and numel'Qus unidentifiable fragments. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Butler, A. J. The Anc:iem Coplic: ChI/rel,es of Egypl. 2 vols. Oxford, 1884: repro 1970. Mekhitarian, A. La Peinture ityptiemle. Gencva. 1954. Ras.san.Oebergh, M. "La pcinture copte avant Ie XIII.' si~c1e. Une approche:' In Acta ad Arc:hlulo-
1876
PALAEMON, SAINT
glom el Arli/lm IHs(Oriall! penille,niu 9. Rome.
1981. _.,-_. "Pcinturcs dt'S Kdli..." ACles du colloque de Gell~"t! IJ all 15 aQut 1984: W sile /IIolla$lique COpft! de.f Kdlia. Gcncva. 1986. _ _~. "Peintul'e copte. Premieres observations techniques." ACles du Jltle colloql/e illlema/iot/afe sur fa ~itl/ure /III/rille Romaine. Al'ellches 28-JI aOlil 1986. Avcncht'S. 1987. MARCUERITE RAssART-DEB£B.CH
Although he did not try to set up some form of community. he neveI1helC!l.~ acceptcd thc task of leading in Ihe paths of ascelic life all those who were disposed 10 take upon themselvcs thc cross of Christ. "Abrupt in speech." he could also love his disdples with great tenderness, and was vcry sad when Pachomlus lefl him to follow his own calling. NeverthelC!l.~. he said, "May the will of God be done." AR..\.tAND VfJlJ.F.uX
PALAEMON, SAINT, hennit. Palacmon must be C8n!!futly distinguished from his namesake, the moutcr of 'ACllOMtUS. The SYN.\XARION says only that he was a hermit in the eastern mountains. Since all the notlees peculiar 10 this reccnsion were compiled in the rcgKIn of Qif!. it is more th;IO probable that he lived in that region: ho.....-cvcr. the time at which he lived cannot be specified. Palaemon wished 111 first to go 1(1 the counlryside of Egypt. but il is not known if the countryside w.as lhe Dth.. ur the Nile Valley. ~Ie met Apa Tala.~iin/L\TSON. be· came his friend, and confessed his sins to him. Palaemon relatcs tlmt, having wished to sell the work of his hands at a place ncar Mi~r. he was tempted by the devil in the guise of a woman, who proposed that he should marry hcr. Finally he recognized that Ihis WJ.S a temptation. an,t at last reo ceived the girt of healing. His feasl day is 30 Tubah. RllNll·G£ORCI·:S
PALANQUE, (HENRI AMEotE) CHARLES (1865-1909). French Egypto!OlPst. He was born at Auch and studied at the Ecole des lIautes ElUdes (Paris). He was allachcd tu thc In· stitut fntnl;'ais d'Arch£:ologic uricntale in Cairo from November 1900 to November 1902, during which lime he clt:cavaled Coptic ruins ncar Abo Rawash at Bawl! and lit Asytil. On hl.s relurn 10 France, hc became an archivist al Auch. BIDLIOCRAPJlY
Kammerer, W., compo A Coptic Bibliography. Ann Arbor, Mich.. 1950; repro New York. 1969. M. L.. BIERBRIER
PALEOGRAPHY. See
Appel/dix.
COOUIN
PALLADIUS (363-431). author of thc
His/orill
PALAMON, SAINT, fourth·century hermit who
hmsiac/I. one of Ihe principal documents that in-
was the teRcher of $;:lInt PACHOMIUS. He is known nnly through the Life uf Paehomius. He is impor· l:mt for huving lrllnsmilled to young Pa"homius the ascetic IraditionR of early Christian mo"asticism. When Pachomlus decided 10 become a monk, he went to Ihe anchorite Palamon, who htld become a model for many monks ncar the village of Sheneset (Chenoboskion). and asked him for thc grace to become :1 monk in his cumpany. Palamon elt:plaincd to Puchomius "the rule of monastic life. accol'dlng to what we have lcarned fro", those who went bcfore us." Puehomius lived for seven years with him, until he senled at Tabcnncsc. Palamon died shortly aftcrward. Pafamon ","'US a typical charismatic f«ther of the Egyptian dCl;er1; A man of frightfully ~\lere asceticism, dedicated to vigils, fasting. and m;onual work, he wa$ first of all a lIlan of cominuous prayer.
fonn us about E!o'ptlan monasllclsm in the fourlh century. Born in Galatia, he became a monk. Aftcr spending some time in Palestine at the Mount of Olives, when Rulinu.~ and Melania the Elder were living there, he ClllTle to Egypt. He stayed for :lboul three year'S nelll' AlexlIndria, where he lIssocillted Wilh Ihe priest Tsidorus, xtmQC/ochos of the church of AleJl:Rndria, and the learned DIDYMUS. TilE BLIND. then moved 10 NITR1A. whcrc thefe were still some monks who had lived during the period of ANTONY llOd Ar.WN. A year later, in 390, he reached the des· ert of thc KELUA, when!! he came to know MACARIUS Al.f.x~NORINUS. then pliest of this dcsel1. and becamc a disciple of EVAOR1US POKTICUS. in thc heart of the community of the monk5 whom their adversaries called Orlgcnists. He remained at the Kellia for nine yeal'S. From Ihere hc wcnt 10 visil the celebraled rcclllSC JOHN Of I.YCOl'Ous.
PAMBO, SAINT
PaJJadius probably left Egypt in 399 or at the beginning of 400, shol11y after the death of Evagrius and about the time the attack of the patriarch moo· PHIUIS against the Origenist monks was raging. Can· secrated bi.~hop of Hdenopolis in Bithynia, he took up the defense of saint JOHN CHRYSOSTOM at the Synod of the Oak in 403, and was exiled hy Emper· or Arcadius 10 Syene in Upper Egypt, Ihen to Anli· noopolis, at which lime he visited the monasteries of this region. On his return from exile. after the death of Theophilus (412), he went back to Galatia, and was then, according 10 Ihe hislorian Socrates (PG 67, 821A) tra.nslated from Ihe see of Ilelenopolis to that of ,\spona. It was there iliat. about 419/ 420, a oo;f,m years before his death, he wrote the I/i$torin Inusincn, so called because it was dcilica.ted to u.usus, the chamberlain of Patriarch TllEODOSl· US II.
The work takes the fonn of a. Kries of mono' graphs devoted 10 the principal monks of this period, especially Ihose of Egypt. Iu historical value seems IISSUred. Palladius speaks for the mnst part of monk$ he knew personally, or about whom he was able to collect the testimony of people who had known them, particularly in the deserts of Nitria, the Kcllia, or SCSTtS; for his Informalion about Ihe Paehomian nlOnaslcries of Upper Egypt, according to R. Dr,lguet, he used a documenl of Coptic origin. However, with the information thai he g..-uhered at lint hand, he mixed some stories of more or less marvelous charactcr Ihal were circulaling in 010na.~tic circk'li or were drawn, according to R. Reil' zenstcin, from imaginative literary sources. These clements, according to $Orne modern critics (lkJus· ~et, Rcit~eIlSlCin), have wmctimes damagcd the hi~· todcal value of his work. It early enjoyed a very wide dilIusion, in the course of which the text wa.~ modified, ~o that it h:.s come down to u~ in several recensions. E. C. Butler's edition reprodllces one of them, pl'ohably the closest 10 the original text. Nu· merou~ transhltions were made into wlin, Syr'lac, Armenian. Ambic, and Ethiopie. SOme fmglllent~ of a long reccn~ion have been preserved in Coptic, ami were published by E. Amclineau and by M. Clmtne. The relations belween this long recension and the originlll text of Palladius-and in conse· quence Ihc value to be allributed to t.hi~ Coptic text-remain obscure. In its vocabulary ;meJ in eel" tain ideas used In It, the work bears evidence of the influence of EVllgrius, but thl~ evidence of the influence of a rna~ter whose onhodoxy was in dispute docs not seem to have been detrimental to it~ 50Cces.~.
1877
There arc numerous tr,lnslations of the His/orr" lausraca into modern Illnguagl$. Special attention is called to the English translation by R. T. Meyer (1965). In IIddition 10 the HislOria fmuillca, two other works have been preserved under the name of Pal· ladius, onc conccTlling the defense of Saini John Chl)'SOSlom, The Dialoglle of Palfadius of Ihe Life of St. John Chrysos/om, Ihe olher a curious work entilied 0" the PMpiu of {"din ond Ihe Brnhmins, the second pan of which is drawn from a losl work of Arnan. OIBUOGRAPHY
E. De HistQria umsiaca qunellam sit h"jus ad mOllnchol'llm AelO'P/iorwn his/orinm scribendum uti/itas. Paris, 1887. BarteJink, G. J. M. PlJlladio, La S/oria lallsiaca, /uto uitico e COnutlenlO, intTO. C. Mohnnann. trans. M. Barchiesi. Milan, 1975. Bousset, W. "Komposhion und Charakter der Historia LQllsiaca." Nnchridrtell 110/1 del' KiJlliglichc" Gesellschaf/ del' Wissenschaf/en Vel Gottingen, Phil.-hisl. Klassc (1917):173-217. Chaine, M. "La double recension de I'His/uire lallsiaque dan.~ la vcrsion copte." Rel'"e de rOrietl/ chrltietl, ser. 3, 5 [25] (1925-1926):232-75. Dntguet, R. "Le chapilre de I'H;s/oirfl fausiaquc- sur les tabennesioteli dcrivc+il d'une source copter' Le Museun 57 (1944):53-146; 58 (1945): 15-96. "L"H;s/oire luusiuque,' une oeuvre ccrite dans I'esprit d'Ewgn::." Rel'ue d'/iislu;re eccltsia· $Iique 41 {1946):321-64: 42 (1947):5-49. ___.. us formes syrinq/les de lu ma/i~re de {'His/· oire /ausiuque, 4 vols. cseQ 389-390. Louvain. 1978. Reit7.cnstein, R. Helltmis/i)'che Wunde17./ihlulI1(/m. Leiplig, 1906. ___. fliSlOria lIIollac1wrum wrd lliswria Lallsiu· Cll. GUltingen, 1916. ANTOINE Gun.L\UMQNi Am~lineau,
PALM SUNDAY. See Fellsts, Major.
PAMBO, SAINT, or PaOlO, fOUr1h.century anchorite who was one of the first settlers in NTTlI.I
1878
PAMIN. SAINT
Nini... When he was ordained a priest, Saint MACA· RIllS TIlE £Gym"", came from sc::e-Tl.S [0 take part In his celebration of the Eucharist. Saint ATllANA,SIlJS held him in high regard and invited him to Alexandria.. tie wa.~ also in conlnct wilh SainI ""TONY, who pr.t.iscd him highly. II wa.<; ~id th... he was unlet· teredo but, according to Patladius, he was master of the Iralres /(mgi (lall bl'olhen), renowned Origenlst monks who were persecuted by Saint THF.OPHILUS. paUiill'ch of Alexandria. lolls posthumous fame suf· fered no harm from Ihis, and the tradition of the APOPHTHEGMAT" I'ATRUM Surrounded him with a glory all his own. Particular nOle was made of the strictnC!is of Pambo's daily fast, hi<; silence, his zeal for manual work, and the poverty of his prb. When he was 3.<;ked qucstions, he often reAecled for days and weeks before replying, and iKI was able to say that he had never regretted a word he had spoken. He dk-d while weaving a basket that he bequeathed to Melania. Several apothegms inserted in the alphabetical collection are extracts from the Lu"sifle lIis. lOry. He doe!'; nOl appear in the Copto-Arabic SYNAX· ARION. BIBLIOGRA.PHY
Chitty, 0, J. The Desert a City, Oxford, 1966. COIelicr, J. B., ed. ApophlhegmQla Pfllrum. PC 65, eols. 368-]12. Evelyn-White, H. G. The MonaSteries of the WQdr" NalrlJl1. PI. 2, The History 01 th.~ MOtlQSUries of Nitn"a Qnd of Setlis. New York, 1932. Guy, J. C. RC'cllerehes s"r la tradilion greC'Ille des Af1l'phthcgmQla palmm. Rrussel1i, 1962. LUCtEN RECNAULT
imprisoned as martyrs, and to call them confeuors. Constantine ordered seventy-two to be bfO\.l8ht to him. among whom was Apa NOB. the confessor. Saint Pa.min, endowed by God with the gift of healing, withdrew to a monastel)' oUlliidc the lown of al.Ashmiinayn. In panicular he cured :I noble matron, wife of the Roman prefect. Hc refused her prescnts cxcept for the vessels to be used in the church, a paten, Ii chalice, and a cro~~ of gold. The SVNAXAlUON speaks of Arians, who had their pseudo·bi.~hops a.nd their pseudo-martyrs, and se· duccd many of the faithful, but the Coptic fragments speak of the Melitians, The a...~imilation of the laUer with the ArialU goes back 10 ATIIANASIUS himself (Barnard, pp. 181-89). It should be noted that the chureh of the Melitians called itself the church of the manyrs, which explains the expression "these pseudo-martyrs." Pamin drovt: them OUl, and they did nm return. P:lmin's 10mb was the site of a cult and of heal· ing. Numerous inscriptions prove that Pamin was celebrated In Egypt. He was honored at the White Monastcl)' (DAVIl. ANUA SIllNOOAII), a~ is shuwn by foul' typika (Institut 1i1l11 yais d'Archcologie orientale, Coptic, no pagina· tion; Leiden, [nslnger 33, in PleYle and Boeser, 1897, p. 445; Wessely, 1917, no. 265; Vienna, Na· lionalbibliothek. K9737). The majority of the fmg. ments of P:lmin's Life have been editi.-d by E. Ameli, nrou. The recension of the SynllJl.arion of the Copts from Upper Egypt gives an ample summary at 9 Kiyahk. His Ufe is also in an Arabic mano.-.cript from the Coptic MlaCum (Hist. 475, fols. 87r-109). BtBLIOCRAJ"IIY Am~lineau,
PAMIN, SAINT, anchorite (also known as Bim!n; feaSt day: 9 Kiyahk). Pamin IIPPCW'S to have been (\ native of Minyal Khil~lb, near Til'S:". in the nome of al-Ashmonayn. However, the Coplic rrogmems and the Arabic version say that he wa.~ a native of Ibsu· nah, to the west of Akhmrm. He was in the selVice of a noble, whom he left to become a monk. [)e. siring martyrdom, he went to AIorrtNOOPOUS, where he saw some Christians enduring torture and confessing Christ. He ....'as himself subjl..'{:ted to numerous torments, but an edict came from Constantine that ordcred the liberation of all those who were in prison. Christ appeared to Constantine and comm:lnded him to reckon all tholM.' who had bUll
E. Monumctl/s pour servir iJ '/tistoire de /'Egyple chretietme aux IV", V", VI', et vIr siee/es. Memoires Publi~s par les membres de la Mission ArcMologique Francaise du Caire 4. Paris, 1888. Barnard, L. W. "Alhan(lsius anJ the Melitian Schism in Egyp!." Journa/ of Egyplilm Archae%· gy 59 (1969):181-89. Graf, G. COlalugue de mOtlllscriu orabes ehretiells cOllserves all Caire. Studi e TCSli 63. Vatican City, 1934. Plcyte, W., and P. A. A. Boeser. Manllseril$ copus du MuseC' d'rmtiqui/b des Po),soBru ii Leide. Leiden, 1897. Wesscly, K. GrieclriJch~ lind koplisclre TutC' theologischUl !tIna/IS, Vol. 5, Studien l,ur Pal:iagraphic und P:lpyruskundc 18. Leipzig, 1917. RENt.GEORGES COOUIN
PAMPREPIOS OF PANOPOLIS
PAMPHJLUS, SAINT (c. 240-310), philosopher, tea..h..r, and ~uppol1er of ORIGcN. who was manyrcd in PaleSline (fcasl day; 16 Februal)' in lhe East, I lune in the West). He was a friend of EUSEBIUS OF CAESARP.A, who wrote a biography of him, now lost. Pamphllos is known through I'"!'fel'"!'nces in surviving works of EUSEBIUS. Jf.ROMB, and phOlius. Born in Beirut, he sludit.-d in Alexandria and thell wcnl to Cacsarea, Palesline, wh..n: he was ordained presbyter. He established a gl'"!'at library Ihen: and reo opened Ihe school lhal Origcn had founded. He gathered IC)[ts and commentaries of Scripture: Origen's Hutlpla, Te/rop/a, and commentaries on the minor prophets are mentioned by Jerome. After two years' imprisonment, he died as a manyr in February 310. With the help of Euscbius, he had written a defense: of Origcn in live books. Euscbius added a sixlh book after Pamphi]us' death. adopted hi~ name as a surname, and spoke of him as a holy manyr (His/ariD ecdesiuslica 6.32), a most eloquenl man, II true philosopher (llisiorio ecd~iasrica 7.32), and "the mOSI wonderful man of our tilne" (llis/oriu ecc/esiaslicu 8.13). A brief account of his life and dealh is given by Euscbius in 0" Ihe Mar· Iyrs of Pa/es/ittc. An oUlline of Ihe chaplen of the Acts of Ihe Aposlies was conlidently attributed 10 Pamphilus aod publi~hed by Montfaueon. Pamphilus' Apology for Origell wa.~ directed to an innllenlial group of Ori· genisl COnfessors, condemned to the copper min~ at Phaeno in southern Palc:lline, who were critical or any philosophical tendencies and of those who avoided martyrdom. Tile lil'llt book nf tile Apology survives in the l.:ltin translation of kUI'INUS, However, it has been argued that the work is described anonymously by Photius in sufficient detail for reconstruction. FiFteen obj....· tiuns include Oligcl1's claim tll"t one should 110t pray to the Son, that thl) Son does not know the father as the "lither knows Himself, that souls transmigrate into other hodies, thllt then: b no etcI" nal punishment or resurrc..tion of the flesh. Pam. phllus al1aeks the critics of Origen: some have nOI read him, some h:we read selectively, some have received sU'ength from him and then tumed against him; all have dune great harm. Odgen's own words mUSI be the ha.~is of understanding and judgment. He is shOwn to profess all es.~enlial dOCtrines, Fur· ther, man)' Egyptian bishops did not agree with Demetrius' condcmnalion of Ol'igen. PlImphiJus lists the achievements of Origl'n for the wonl of
1879
God. drawing on the tradilions he had learned in Alexandria. Origen Is defended by showing either lhat the doubtful doctrine was hypothetical or thai other respecled leachers had held the same beliefs. The final book rcpol1S the mal1yrdom of Pamphilus and of the principal confessors 10 whom the apology had been addressed. BIOLIOGRAPHV
Nalilin, P. Origelle: Sa ..Ie el SOtl aeuvrt. Paris, 1977. ERIc fRANCIS OsBORN
PAMPREPJOS OF PANOPOLIS (440-484), poel. He was born in Panopolis (AKHMIM), and stud_ ied philosophy in Alexandria and Athens with the avo.....edly pagan disciples who gathered around Ihe philosophen of the day (R~mondon. 1952). Afler a stay in By.rontium, where he pemaps rose as high as consul (Asmus, 1913; von Haehling. 1980), he went in 483-484 10 Egypl. to win the heathen for the rebel lIlus. Al the end or November or beginning of Decemhcr 484 he died with Ihe rebel. He ranks as the 1a.~1 pagan poet. inllueneed by NONNOS OF PANOPOLIS, According to the Suda (Adler. 1967-1971, 4.13.26f.), he wrole Elymo/agioll apodosls and Isaur. iku Kfllu/agfldell. BOlh works are losl. Fragmcnts have sUlvived of n description of a lale autumn day lind of an Encomium on (he patrician Theagenc:l (Livre:., in Kn,usc, 1979) in heltameters modeled on those of Nonnos. U1DLlOGMAI'HV
Adler, A" ed, Sl.idfle lex;cou [the SUdll), 5 vols. Stuttgart, 1928-1938: repl'. 1967-1971. Asmus, R. "Pnmpl'cpioS, cin byz.antiniseher GelehrIeI' und StaalSlllllnn des 5, JlIhl'hunderts." Byumti· /1i5~'he Zei/sellrif/ 22 (1913):320-47. Haehling, R. von. "Damascius und die hcidnis..he Opposition 1m 5. Jnhl'hundert Ollch Christus," Jahrbueh jllr All/ike mill Chris/ettlum 23 (1980): 82-95, 92-94. Keydell, R. "Pamprcpio5." In Pflulys Real eIleyc/opiidie. Vol. 36, pp, 409-415. Stuttgart. 1949. Kr.luliC, M, "Agyplcn II." In Reaffexlkolt fUr Au/ike und Chris/ctt/wlt. Suppl. Vol. I, pp. 14-51, 6B-88, StUllgal1. 1985. l'amprepii Ptl/topolifoni CanltiuQ (P, Gr. Vindob. 19788 A-C), ed. H. Livtcl:l. Leipzig. 1979.
1880
PANELS
R~mondon.
R. "L'Egypte el III supr~me resistance au chriSlianisme (S·/7's)." lJulleliP1 de /'brsliluf Iranfais d'A.rchtQIQgie Qrietltale 51 (1952):63-78. MARTIN KRAUSE
PANELS. See Woodwork, Coptic.
PANEPHYSIS. See Monasle,;es in the Daqahliyyah Province.
PANINE AND PANEU, legendary saints and objects of a ninth-century cult. The surviving porlions of this altrnctive legend were edited from the remains of two codices of the White Monastery (OAYR ANBA SHINOOAH) by C. Zoega (1810), C. Wessely (1917), W. Till (1935), and T. Orlandi (I978). To his edition Till added a Gelman translation, in which he also translale5 Ihe folios edited by Wessely. Orlandi provides a complete edition of the items already published and those initially edited by him with an Italian translation. To an extent, the lacu· nae can be 611(:<1 in from the Arabic SynlL'CQrium Aluall4rinum (Forget, 1953, pp. 183-86; 1954, pp. ]16-19).
PANESNEU, SAINT,
martyr whose story is typical of the legends of the martyrs that predomi. nated in ~. The surviving lexl begins with the trial before Cl.llcl:lnus in which Panesneu presents himself as II deacon from Pakicrkic near Pcmchc (Oxyn,ynchus). A folio (now in Vienna) ends with II
the manyr declaring his readiness
10
make
II
sacri·
fice to the gods; this declaration is pllrt of II simulated sacrifice in which a martyr behaves as if he were Kolna: to sacrifice but in reality is acting 10 the detriment of paganism. After II lacuna, the texl reCOunlS II rescue by Michael [r(wl the furnace of the bath. Thcre follow two mirnculous healings in pris· on. using oil that Pancsneu consecrates wilh prnyers and with which he heal~ the prison overse· er, UI!.$AMON. lind Diony5iu5, thc brothcr of Julius of Aqfuhs, the friend of martyrs, who is well known from many legends, W. Till (1936) has reprinled an improved version of the tClCt initially publishcd by fl. fl. Giorgi and has augmenled it by a Vienna folio. IJIULlOGRAPHY
Baumeister, T. Martyr invictus, p. 124; see also pp. 94ff. (on Julius of Aqfah~). MUnster, 1972. Delehaye, H. "Les Martyrs d'Egyplc." Arla/eeta Bol· IUIIJimru 40 (1922):5-154, 299-364. Giorgi, fl. A. De miraclilis Saneti Colli/hi /u reliqlliis aetorllm Sancr! Panes/liv marryrllm thebaica frago mellta dr/o .... Bibliolheca Hagiographica Orien· talis 834, pp. 178-93. Rome, 1793. Suuget, J, M. "Pancsncu Pant'.Sncw." Bibliothcea SallclOrlim 10 (1968):90-92. Till, W. Koplischc Heiligen lind Manyrerlegclldcu, Vol. l. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 102, pp. 94-106. Rome, 1935. nlEO~"RlED
BAUMEISTER
Accordlna to Orlandi, we can divide Ihe legend into three parts. The lirst deals with the school day.! olthe two sainlS and contains an episode thaI may well have been developed from the name Panine (W. E. Crom, 1939, p. 81). Alexander, the eldcr contemporary of Symphronius at school and a relation of the HEGUMENOS ArianWi, sm3lihes the young Symphronius' thumbs in annoyance at thc latter's progr'e5$ in writing. Aner they are mirnculously healed, the teacher asks. "Are you not the boy with Ihe broken thumbs?" Thereafter Symphronius is called Paninc (the person with Ihe "broken" thumbs). The second part deals with the monastic lire of the two friends in Ihe valley of al·Qalam(m (southeast of the Fayyiim) and then on Mount Ebot near Psoi (AL-MINSHAIl). This brings thcm into conlact with the famous marlyr bishop, l'SOTE OF PSOI. who consecrntcs a newly constructed church. From the SYNAXAIUON we learn that at the same time he ordains Panine a.~ a priest and Paneu as a deacon. The bishop predicts manyrdum for both the saints. From this section It 15 clear that the legend of the martyrdom of Arillnus was 1I1ready known (0 Ihe author (see the articles APQl.l.ONrlJS AND PlIIlEMDN and ARJANUS). The third pan conlains the martyr· dom descl'ihed in simple terms in which we do not find the scenes of rcstorntion that arc so popular elsewhere. The founding of the cult i.~, however, important for lhis legend. According 10 Ihe Synaxarion an angel appears to both the saints before their death and promises II blessing to those who venerate them. They are beheaded III a lake near Idfu. After the soldiers wash lheir swords in the laKe. its waler gains salutary powers. When the persecution ha~ ended, a church is built in the neighborhood of thc lake above their gl'llves, where according 10 the Synaxarion. miracles and healings continue to oc·
PANTALEON, SAINT
cur. The many placcnames suggest that the legend Wa!i written by someone whh a good knowledge of the geography of Upper Egypt. The writer is fpmHlar with AI'.'TINOOPOlJS and its tr.tditions (the 5<:hool days of both martyl'll are there; there are plso conneclions 10 Alexander. a relative of Arianus. and to the mllnyrdom of Arianus). As Ihe story of the maTtyrdom of Arianus is presupposed, the legend of Panine tlnd Ptlneu mighl well belong to the fintll layer of Coplic literature on martyrs. The lennillllS Qllle quem is Ihe ninth cc:nlury, from whic:h both manuscripts probably come. The association of mo· nasticl~m, ecclesiastic:al office, and martyrdom is intended to emphasiu the imponance of the saints as the object of a cull (On the monastic: martyrs. cf. T. Baumeister. 1979, pp. 2IS-20). BIBUOGRAPHV
Baumeister. T. Murtyr invicflu. pp. 67. 92. 143. MUnster, 1972. "Heinrich Brtkker." JrlJrrouch Iii" Amike und Chrislcrlluttl 22 (1979}:218-20. Crum. W. Eo A Coptic DictionD.ry. Oxford. 1939. Delehaye. H. "l...es martyrs d'Egypte. AIlQlcctD. Bal· ID.I,diQlla 40 (1922):5-154; 299-]64. Orlandi, T. "II dossier eopto dd manire Psote." Test; e Jl)cmnen/i per 10 siudio de/l'D.lllichi/A 61 (1978):93-IIS. Sauget, J. M. "Panine e Panew." 8iblio/hec/I Sancia. rum 10 (1968):IOI_I04. Till, W. "Koptische ~Ieiligen- und Miirtyrerlegenden I:' O'ie"folia Chris/iuna Analccla 102 (1935): 35-71. Wesscly. C. "Grieehi.~che und koplische Te.\te theol· ogisehen Inhall.$ V." Stlldien lU' Pula,'ogruphie WId Popymsklll1de 18 (1917):34-39, no. 271. Zoega. G. Cu/tJiogus t'odicum Cop/leorwn mD.nu scrip/orwlI qui itl Museo BorgiQl1O Vcill,is adser· IIrltllllr, pp. 548-51. nos. CCXXIV-CCXXV. Rome, 1810. Reprinted, Leipzig 1903. TIIIJOFRlI!D BAUMEISTER
PANOPOLIS. Site Akhrnim. PANTAENUS, according to Eosebius
(Hi.~loria
ecclesias/leD. V.IO.4), master of;) school in Ale1tandna (e. A.D. 180). PanUlenus had been a Stoic phi. losopher who displayed luve and zeal for the divine word. He took the gospel to the nations of the East, traveling even to India. In his day there were many apostolic evangeli.~ts, and in India he fuund !he
1881
Gospel of Mauhew already existing in Hebrew (Ara. maic), laken there by Bartholomew. Eusebius citcs a leuer of Alexander of Jerusalem in which {he wnler claims that both he and ORlGF.N were pupils of Ptlntaenus. This is dillicult to accept because of the relalive ages of the three concerned. More certain is his innuence on CLEMENT OF Al.I'.XANDRIA (StromD.ltis 1.11.2). Jerome (De viris iIIuslfibus 36) claims that Panlaenus was sent to India by Bishop DEMETRIUS I of Alexandria (189-231). and thai he broughl bad< a copy of Matthew in Hebrew. However. since Pantaenus became head of lhc school in Alexandria around 180 after returning from his trip 10 India, but Demetrius was not ordained bishop until 189. it is unlikely thaI il was Demetrius who sent Pantaenus on this expedition. Two passages from Panlaenus are preserved. The first claims Ihal God knows existing things as aeU! of His will and not by sense or reason (Maximus the Confessor. Schofia 10 Srlinl C'esory of Nazja"'lPI). The second declares that in prophecy tenses an: indefinite; a prncnt tense may refer 10 any time. Pantaenus has bec:n considered a possible author of To Diognetus. BIBLIOGRAPHV
Bardy, G. "Aux origines de I'ecole d'A!eJtandrie." Recherches des scienceS ,eligieuscs 27 (1931):6590.
Cose, P. Biog,aphy ill Lafe Anfiquit)': A Quest '0' Ihe Holy Man. Berkeley, Calif., 1983. Lilla, S. "Panteno." Ditiollario po/,is/ico e di unti· chifa erislia/la, Vol. 2. Rome. 1984. Marrou. H. I. "A Oi08n~te." Scicmia]3 (1951):26668. ERIC FRANCIS OSBORN
PANTALEON, SAINT,
n fourth·eenlUry martyr
of Nicomedia under Ma1timinus (feast day: 15 Babah) (d. Forget, 1954, p. 69). His Passion is pre· sen'ed in a Greek vendon tlnd a Coptic version. The latter exisls in IWO manuscripts, one in the Egyptian Museum. Turin (elll. 6]000, 15; ed. Rossi, 18871892) and one at Utrecht University (only fragmenb> of two sheets. cd. Ouispel and Zandee, 1962). There tire eertaln discrepancies between the two Coptic manuscripts. but on Ihe whole thei, version is dosc: to the Greek. Pantaleon is the son of EustOrgius, a magistrate of Nicomedia. He learns the art of medicine from Eophrosinus. and the emperor wants him to be the
1882
PAPHNUTIUS
successor to Euphrosinus. In the meantime, Pantaleon is convel1ed by the old llIan Hermolaus, who teaches him to l:ure the sick by invoking Chrisl. tie revives a boy who has been biuen by a viper. He tries to convcn his fUlher and heals a blind man in his presence. However, enviow; colleagues bring accusationli againsl him to Maximinus. Pantalt..'On's trial lakes place with the usual account of arguments, miracles, visions, and tOl1ures. After a last vision of Christ. he is manyred, and an ensuing convcr.oiun of the inhabilants of Nicomedia takes place. The tCltt S(''eIllS to be a mmslatiun (rom the Greek and would have been made in the "classical" peri· od (cr. IIAGIOGltArlty). It shouhl be noted that it is the source of the text of the Pa.'\Sion of a manyr named OLY/l4PIUS unknown in other traditions. IJI8L1OCRAf"JO'
Lefon, '- T. "Un Manyr inconl1\i: Olympio'!." U Museoll 63 (1950):1-23. Ouispcl, G., and J. bndee. "Some Coptic Frag· ments from the Martyrdom of 51. Pantaleon." Verbum Caro 16 (1962):42-52. Rossi, F. "Un nuovo l:ooice coptO del Musco Egizio di Torino." Aui Accadcmia dell-itlcei, ser. 5, no. 1 ( 1893):3-136. _-..,._ I Papyri cf)pli del Museo £gi~if) di ToriI/O. 2 vols., 10 fase. Turin, 1887 _1892. Trro ORLANDI
PAPHNUTJUS, firth·century archimandrite of Tabcnnl!sl!. Paphnulius suco.:ceded Victor as abbot general of the T(lbcnnesiote.~ (van Lantschoot, p. 20, n.24), and precedo.:d Martyrius. He visited Patri· aJ'ch OiOSo.:~InIS, exiled in Gangm (Nau, 1903, p. 297), and ohlained a miracle from the patriuro.:h, who heuled a paralytic. Paphnutius' t(:llure of office must have been fairly short. The community of the I'achomian~ ;lppo.:MS to have heen un~eltlcd during the reign of Mal'cian (450-457). and the gre;lt church of Pao.:homius al PBOW. begun under Victor, was coropleled only under Martyr·ius. "lIphnutius was o.:debrated at the White MOMS' tery (OAYIl ANIIA SHINOOAII), as the extant typika show (London, British Library. Or. 3580A-3, frug. A, cd. erum, 1905, no. 146: ViennA, Nationalbiblio· lhek, K9726~. cd. Wessely, 1917, vol. 18. no. 266'; Vienna, NutiomllbibliOlhek, K9734). He also is men· tioned in the Hislory of Dioscorus, preserved in Syr· iac and in Coptic (see Crum, 1903; and Nau, 1903).
Thcro.: is rcfer-enee to Paphnulius in the panegyr· io.:, allr'ibuted 10 the patriarch 1lI0SCORUS. on MACAIlU)S OF TKOW (edited from Ihe Bohairil: version by Am· clineau, 1888. pp, 92-164, and from Ihe Sahidic by Johnson, 1980). ~Iis feast day is 6 Ba'unah. BllJlIOCRAPIIY
Amelincau, E. Mf)llllmenlS pOllr servir a t/liSlOirt! dt! I'Egypt/! cJtrilienne l/U.r IV', 11'", vr, el vir siecles. Memoires PubliCs par les Membres de Ill. ~'lission Archeologique Fram,aisc au Caire 4. Paris, 1888. Crum, W. E. "Coptic Texts Relating to Diosconas of Alexandria." Sm:ielY 01 Biblical Archeology Pro· c/!/!dings 25 (1903):267-76. ___ Ca/a/ogue ollhe Coptic Manuscripts ill /llI.' Bri/ish Muse."n. L.ondon, 1905. Johnson, D. W. A Pa/!/!gyrjc 011 MacaritlS, 2 vols. CSCO 415-416. Louvain, 1980. Lantschoot, A. van. "Allocution de Timothee d'Alcx· andric." lA Afllsion 47 (1924):13-56. Nau, F. "Histoirc de Dioscore. patriarche d'Alexandrie. knit par son disciple Theopistc." }Q1lOI01 tJSialique ser. 10, I (1903):5-108,241-310. Wc.sscly, K. Gri4!cJtisclle lind koplisehe Text/! Iheologiselle/! falhalls. Studien zur PaHiographie und 1'-,.1pyruskundc 18. Leip7.ig. 1917. . REN~·GEORGIlS COOlitN
PAPHNUTIUS, SAINT, tenth·century monk and bishop (fo.:ast day: II Bashans). From his youth Paphnutius was a monk in the Mona~tery of Mal:al·i· us (Wftdt al·Nap·un), wherc he rem;,ined for thinyfive years. The patriarl:h 1'llILOTHEUS (979-1003) con~ecratcd him bishop (the SYNAXARION does not mention the see). Hc continued to wear monk's clothing except whcn celebrating the holy liturgy. He was bishop ror thirty·two years. The IIISTORY 01' Till! PATRIARCIiS makes no referenco.: to Paphnutiu.~ in the notice devoted to Patriarch Philothcus. I{F.NlI.-GEORGES CUQUtN
PAPHNUTIUS THE HERMIT, SAINT, or the Ascetic or Bub Nuda, an anchorite in the Westem Desert (feasl day: 15 AmshTr). The Copto·Anlbic SYNMtAKION blietly summuriles a Coptic text in which one Puphnul;us tells of a ,ioumcy he made in the inner de1len, that is, the dcs¢n fanhest from tbe Nile. in search of hel'llliL~ living in this perfect solitude. The narration is preserved in Coptic, Greek, and Lalin, us well as various Eastern langUllges (see Saint ONOPURIUS for details of InanUSCI;pts and edi· tions).
PAPHNUTIUS OF PBOW, SAINT
After a joul'lley of four dlly:> llnd flJur nights, Paphnulius fQ~md a cave, the occupam of which had been dead fOl' sollle lime. ~Ie saw to his burial and then, a little farthel' on, met a hermit called Timotheus, who was living among the antelopes but had a box at hi~ di~posal and was close to a spring and a date palm. This man, a monk from a monas· tery in the Thebaid. had become a hermit ncar his monastery, and after cohabiting for six months with a nun, weill Into the hc:art of the desert to expiate his sin. After leaving him, Paphnutius went "into the inner desert of the Oasis," "when: the Maziecs live," says a Greek text (ed, F, N, Nau, in Revue de I'OrlCnI ch~bjell 10 11905 J:412), which may indicate the oasis of OXYkHYNCHUS, today called al·Bahnas1, for the Ma7.ices lived in lhe desert SO\lthwcsl of Seetis, This passage in the text could con'espond LO a second journey by Paphnutius. He took bread and water for four days, but h.ad to walk for another four days without food or drink. He thought he wa.~ going to die, but a man of light came to rescue him. Four more days passed, and he was still a.'i5isted by the man of light. Finally, at the end of seventeen days, he observed a man of fire, covered by long hair and rrsembling a leopard. This was Onophrius, who recounted his life to Paphnutius and died after dictating his last wish...-s. P.Jphnutius buried him, then had to cOlltinue his joumey, for the d'lte palm and the hut of Onophrius crumbled immediately after he died, After three days and three nights, he came acros.~ a ~mall cell and a hermit clothed in palm leaves. The hermit hall lived with three other brothe~ in this part of the desel'! fol' sixty YCllr, like Onophrius. but they lived on [<XlVes mirnculou~ly brought to them. They refu~ed tn tell him Lheil' namcs-in contrast with the other hermits he met-but asked him to make their way of life known in E~ypl. Paphnutius stayed with Lhem for one day, then went on his way. He came to n spl'ing wilh d'lte p:llms and all kinds uf fruit trees, and thought he hlHI ;.rrived ill Paradise, Fuur youn~ men clothed in sheepskins in the form of aprons came \0 him. These were son~ of councillors from Oxyrhynchus who, after allend· ing the schools in lhe l()wn, had decided tugether to embr.u;e the h('rmit life, After four days' walking. they had been led to this place by a man of light. There they found an old man who taught them the rule!! of the hermit life lind died a )~ar later. They had been living there for six years a.~ semianchol;t(!'l;, meeting on Satunlay and Sunday for Di· vine Liturgy; an angel broughl the Eucharist to them. Paphnutius remained wilh them for seven
1883
days, and on Sllturday p.'ll'ticipated with them in the miraculous Communion brought by the angel, whieh was repc:atoo on Sunday momin~, The names of these hermll~ were John, Andrew, Hera· damon, and Th...'Ophiluli. After Iheir refusal to k...'Cp him with them, Paphnutius left, and at the end of seven days' walking, mel some monks from Sceti~, who tranSCI;bed his story and took it to their mona!itl.'ry, to depo~it it in the church. The work allributed to ABO $AUI:I ruE ARMENtAN 1985 relates that Paphnutius, the one who visit...-d Onophrius, lived at DAYR AL-SHAM', also called Dayr al.Shayyll!ln, situated on the left bank of the Nile in the district of Giza. After his joumey into the desert. he is Silid to have become a disciple of Saint MACARIUS ruE GRF.AT at $cetis, then to have lived at Dayr al-5ham', where he died and where his body was buried. The author of the text adds that, "",cording to his biography," he died on IS Amshir, which presupposes It source different from that for the joumey in the de.~rt, Should we identify the author of the narrative about Timolheus, Onophrlus, and the other hermits with saint I'Al'lINltTtUS ot' SCtrrtS. the disciple and successor of Maea.rius the Great, as is done by the document attributcd to Abo ~Ii~? That PaphnUlius, sUl'l1amed Kephalas, was bo~n between 301 and 311. and had the reputation of loving solitude. Some authors, such as De Lacy O'leary (pp. 21920), do not hesitate to make this identification, 110wever Ihut !IIay be, nl) other document, ll) our knowledge, affinn~ that the disciple of Macarius died at DayI' ai-Sham', Curiously, the Synaxarion ha.~ no notice about Paphnutius or Scetis, alluding to him only tiS a disciple of Macarius in the pa.~sage devoted to the laller at 27 BaramhAl. A History of Ihe MOllks of the Desert, in fact of the hermits living in Upper Ellypt and on the islands or the Fir:st Cataract, i~ attributed to a certain Paph. nut Ius, It seems that this is anoLher per:son, BIBLIOGRA.PHY O'Leal'Y, De I., The $1I;nl$ of Egypl. London, \937. RENE·GOORCES COOUIN
PAPHNUTJUS OF PROW, SAINT, a fourthcentury monk who wa.~ ~leward of the koilwnia (community) eslablished by Saint PACHOMtUS, A younger brother of Saint rueODQRUS 01' TA8F..NNIlSP~ Paphnutius came to the monastery of Tabcnne:sc a few years aftcr hl~ brother. When Paehomius estab-
1884
PAPHNUTIUS OF SCETIS, SAINT
1ished the general IIdministration of the koinQnia al PDOW. he appointed Pilphnutius as the first great steward of the koinonia, with the responsibility of receiving the fruits of lhe labor of all the brothers and providing for all their needs. Paphnutius died during the plague of 346, as did Pachomius and many of the older brOlhers. ARMAND Vau..ElJX
PAPHNUTIUS OF SCETIS. SAINT. "the one who belongs to God," mimE borne, par1icularly in the tounh century. by several monks among whom il is sometimu difficuh to distinguish. John CASSIAN. during his sojoum in Egypt between J8S and 400, knew an Abba. Paphnutius who \IrI;U then priest of SCETIS and to Wholll he ascribes his third conference, "On the Three Renunciations." Paphnutius was renowned for his taste for seclusion. He had established his cell several miles fTom the church, where he was seen only on Salurda)'5 and Sundays; on the olher da~ il \'1M very difficuh to see him. For this reason he was nicknamed "Bubal:' from the name of the desert antelope. According 10 John Cassian, Paphnutius was Ihen over ninety years old. He was ~iJJ alive in 399, since, according to Cassian (X, 2-3), in that year he was the only prie~t of Seetis to welCOnle the letter of Patriarch TIlEOrlllLUS denouncing amluopomorphlte elTon. In the Ufe of Saints Maximus and Domitius (Aml:lincau, 1894, p. 312) he is called "a disciple of Macarius" (the Egyptian) and "father of Seeds" after him. However, according to Casslan (XVIII, 15) he succeeded Isidorus In Ihis function. On the other hand, in chapter 47 or his His/oria lausillCIl, PAWnlUS speaks of a Paphnutius surnamed Kephahls and rcpOt1S a long discourse that he delivered before Palladius himself-hence after 390-on tho rellsons virtuous monks f:'lll
respondences that he has nOh..'
E. C. "Voyage d'un moine egyptlen dans Ie d~scrt." Recueil de travlllIX 6 (1885):16694. _ _ . "Vie de Ma~ime et Oomece:' In Monllmenf5 pOllr 5ervir lJ this/oire de /'Egyptt ehretitrlne. His· toire des monas/eres de /a 8(J,sse-Egyptt, p. 312. Leroux. 1894. Bell, H. I. Jews and Chris/ialls irr Egyp/, pp. 103120. London. 1924. Budge, E. A. Coptic Mar/yrdoms. pp. 205-224. Loo· Jon. 1914. Cassino, Juhn. Cunferlmces. ed. E. Pichel)'. Sources chreticnncs 42. pp. 138-165. Paris, 1955.54, pp. 75-77. Paris, 1958. 64. pp. 28-31. Paris. 1959. Evelyn.Whlte. H. G. The Monasteries of/he Wadi'.. NafrllM, PI. 2, The History of the MOllas/erie5 of Nitria and uf See/is. New York. 1932. ANTOINE GUtUAUMONT
PAPOH£' OF BAWIT. See Phib, Saint.
PAPYRI, COPTIC LITERARY. The Coptic litC't
PAPYRI, COPTIC UTERARY
papyrus, parchment, or paper. P. E. Kahle (1954, pp. 269-78) has published a list of earlier Coptic literary manuscripts, known down to 1954, with information on the writing material (papyrus or parehmelll) and the writing format (one or two eolumn$). It compli.~e1l manuscripts from the third to the fifth century, arrangcd according to the Coplie dialects. To these must be added the early papyrus codicC$ published since 1954, above all the Sa· hidic manuscripts of books of the Old Teslament and New Tcstamcnt lTom the Bodmer collection, edited by R. Kas.~r (see BOI>MER PAPYRI). From the Ch~tcr Beatty collection the manu· script of Joshua, dated to the fourth centul')' and edited by A. F. Shore, mould be mentioned. The Kcond pan of it is in the Bodmer colltttion (Bodmer XXI). Among Ncw Testament manuscripts, ref· erence should be made to Ihc three parchment manuscripu of the Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John, written in the first half of the fifth century (P. Palau Rib. 181-83, published by H. OuecKc), as wdl as the Berlin Aets published by F. Hin17.e and H. M. Schenke. Papyrus Bodmcr VI, a manuscript of Proverbs wriucn in the Proto-Sahidic dialect and published In 1960 by Kasser, also belongs with the ~hidic.
In the Middle Egyptian dialcct four Bible manu~ scripts have bcc:n found; three of the New Testa· ment (Mauhew, Acts, and letters of podull and one of the Old Tcstament (Psalter). Of these, two have been published: the Gospel of Mauhcw (Schenke) ant! the lelten of Paul (Quecke and Orlandi). An early Bohairic rn!lnuscript is Papyrus Bodmer m, published by Kasser in 1971. Not mentioned by Kahle is a manuscript of the Gospel of John from thc UniveT!\ity of Michigan collection (P. Mich 3521), which was published in 1962 by Husselman. So fur there Is no such list of the manuscripts from the 9i~th century on. Only some of the Sahidic manuscripts of this period arc included in van Lantschoot's work (1929) on the colophons of Coptic manuscripts. While thc early manuscripts have fo!' the most pan preserved wrilings of the Old and New Testa· ments, intenestllmental Iitemture, apoclyphal writings of the Old Testament and the New Testament, the apostolic fathel's, apologists, and original writings of the Gnostics lind Manichaeans. the later manuscripts contain, in addition to the biblical lit· ennure, especially hagiographical and homiletic works (see UTERATURE. comc), as well as profane IiteralUre (see PArYRI. comc MEDICAL). The state of pTe$ervation of the manuscripts is varied. The dry climate of Egypt is favorable to
1885
their preservation, so far as the manuscripts were found in the dry desert soil, whelher in the ruins of Coptic monasleries or In graves. Actually, llIany manuscripts have survived in very good condition, sueh as the Papyrus Palau biblical manuscripts mentioned ahove. Othen, such as the Manichaean papyri (see PAPYRUS DISCQV!l.RIES), are more poorly preserved. Despite thc large number of extant manuscripts from Egypt In comparison with those from other countries, the number Is small In comparison with the number of the literary manuscripts written in Egypt. Many Christian manuscripts were destroyed in the PI!.RS6CtJTIONS, or in the attacks by nomads on the Coptic momuterie5 situated on the edge of the desen (e.g., In the WAdt al-Na!rUn). The Egyptian state church attempted 10 destroy manu· scripts of Christian sccu or non·Christian religious communities (e.g" Manichaeans and Gnostics), or those of Christian authors whose orthodoxy came under wspicion (e.g., ORleEN and D1DYMlIS THE DUND).
Even lifter their discovery In modem times the manuscripts-so far as they were not found in a scientific undertaking-were threatened by further danger. Finders, who generally did not know the value of their discovery, 10 some elltent heedlessly destroyed Ihem, or destroyed pans in the division of the find into several lots. Through the antiquities trade these passed into various collections. Rela· tively few of Ihe manuscripts recognized as belong. ing together have been reassembled through ell' change between the collections (see PAPYRUS COLlECTtONS). In most cascs It rcmains a maHer of knowing which p:iges in different collections once belonged to a slnglc codcll. This work, which be· longs to the realm of codlcology, is the presupposi· tion for the publication of litcrary manuscripts. In the case of biblical manusedpts (Schmitz and Mink, 1986, Pl'. 29fT.), such rcconstruction of codices is still relatively easy but tlme·consuming; and since there are concordances for these tellIS, it demands good knowledge of the literature for other groups of tellts. Inde~cs of works of literature prese",ed complete are also lmpottant.
BI8L10GRAPIIY
Hintze, F., and H.·M. Schenke. Die Berliner Hand· schrift der sahidischen Apostelgeschichte. Berlin, 1970. Husselman, E. M. The Gos,nl of John in Fayumic Coptic. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1962. Kahle, P. E. Bala'itJJh. Coptic TexiS from Deir e/Bala'iljlh in Upptr Egypt, Vol. I. London, 1954.
1886
PAPYRI, COPTIC MEDICAL
UlO1SChoot, A. 'Ian. Reclui/ des colop/lorlS de.• ilion' userils chretien d'!3gyptt. BibliOlheque du Muston I. Louvain, 1929. O'wry, Dc I... E. Primary Guide 10 Cop/ie Literary lola/erial. London, 1938. Ouecke, H. Dos Markllscllollgelillll/ sardisch. Papy·
lin. 1964]). A gl'OliP of Coptic ductors is known to us by name (K. S. Kolla, "Namen christlicher Ante der koptischen Zeit in Agypten," Die Well des Ori· ellts 14 [1983]:189-95).
rologicll Castroclaviana 4. Barcelona. 1972. --::-' Da.s Lukasevotlreliulfl sa/dueh. Papyrologica CasltoClaviana 6. Barcelona, 1977. _-;-_ Das )oJllmnesevange!ium SlJidi,'I(;h. PapyroJo· gicll Caslroctaviana II. Barcelona. 1984. Ouecke, H., and T. Orlandi. Ullere di Sail Paolo ill copto-ossirinchita. Papiri della Universitil degli Studi di Milano. Milan, 1974. Schenke, II.·M. Das Matthaus·EvlllIge!ium im mit/t!iJBYPtiu;hen Dirddl des Koplischtn (Codex Schei. dt). Berlin, 1981. Schmitt, F.-I., and G. Mink. Lisle der koptischen lIandschrilfttl des Newm TeslamenlS, Vol. I, Dir. $UhidischePl lIanrLu:hri/len der EVllIIgelir.II, pt. 1. Arbeiten zur Neutcstamcntlichcn Textfol"5Chung 8. Berlin and New York, 1986. Shorc, A. F. JosJllIa I-VI and Olhu Passages ill Coplie. Dublin, 196].
Remains or Parchment ManuscrlplS
MARTIN KRAUSE
PAPYRI, COPTIC MEDICAL. Of the volumi· I'lOUS Coptic medical IitCl"lllllrc, ol'lly remnaolS have survived, as is shown by the high I'lumbers of the elllant numbered pages. These remnanlS have come down 10 us on parchment, on papyn's, on ostmea, on paper, and on walls (as gmffiti). beept for the second JXlrchment manuscript (sec bdow) the tCAIS have been tmnslated and editcd by W. Till in Die Annefkimde de' Kopten (Berlin, 1951). Only a part is dated. The copies range from tilt, sixth to the twelfth century. From the Iibmry catalog of the monastery of Elii,ls in West Thebe~ (sec below, ostl"i1con 7), as well M from the graffiti (scc bclow, graffiti I and 2) and the ostrl1ca deriving from man· Mteries {see below, (lSllnca 4 and 5), it is clear that al least these texts came from Coptk mOllllsterics, In Ilddition, the seventh·cenlory document from Jd· fil (British Museum, Orient:d 8903, published by W. E. en/m, in "Koplischc ZUnfte und das Pfefferlllonopol," Zeilschri/I fii' Agyplischr. Sprache rmd Allerlul1lskimde 60 [1925]:103-111) shows that Ihel'e was a guild of doctoT:!l there (II. 107ff.). In the middle uf the fifth century SIU!.NIJI'E appointed seven dQctors 10 give medical treatment to men wounded in the invasiun by the Kushites (1. l.eipoldt, "Ein Klosler lindert Kriegsnot. Schenlltcs Bericht Uber die Tliligkeil des Weissen KIQSters bei SQhag wah... end ell'les Elnfalls der Kuschiten," in Festschrift Ii,r Enrst Barnikol Vlm 70. CebU"S!ag, pp. 52-56 [Ber·
I. A parchment leaf with the page numbers 2:14-
15 (sigilim SA): published by U. Doonant, "Frag· ment d'lln Iivne de medceine en copte thcbain." Acadimir. dr.s inscriptiolls e.I belles·ltllrt's. CDmptes relldus ser. 4, IS (1887):]19-20, 374-79; Gcnnan trans. in W. C. Till, Dit AfUlejJumde de' KDptell, p. 112 (Benin, 1951). To this 5aJTlC manuscripl belong two pan::hmcnl kaves with the page numbel'!l 24144 (siglum ZB), published by G. Zocga in Cll/Illogus cooko'um cop/korl/In nlllrlllScriptontm qui ill Musco Borgiallo Ve.1ilris lldUrYllntu', pp. 626-30 (Leipzig. 190]: reprint of Rome. 1810); sec also J. F. Champollion. "Recellcs mCdicales pour les maladies cu· tanees. traduhes d'un fragment egyplicn, en dia· lcete theb.:J.in:' Revue llrchio/ogique II (1854): 3]]42 (ediled by E. Pollevin after the dcalh of Cham' polliol'l): E. Delaurier, "Fragment d'lln tmite de mCdc::cine cople faisant pal,ie de la collection des manuscrilS du cardinal Burgia publiee par Zoega:' Journlll asillfiqlle 4 (1843):433-52 (translalion with notC5), German tmns. in Till. AfUltikunde, pp_ 135-37. 2. Six pan::hment leaves frum the si...th cen\llry with the page numbers 103-106, 111-14, and 13536 in the Egyptological Institute uf the University of Copenhagen, bought in Cairo at the beginning of the 19305 by C. Schmidt and perhaps deriving from Ihe Jeremiah moni,lslery 011 Sllqqara: published by W. Erichsen, "Aus einem koptischen AnneibU<.:h:' in Acta Oden/alia 27 (1963):23-45. 3. Beginning (If a pal'ehment codex with magical and medical tellts of the fifth-sixth centuries in Micbigan (M$ 136), with the page numhers 2-14 (.'liglul1l WM): published by W. H. Worrell, "Coplic Magical and Medical Texts:' Oricn/alia n ..~. 4 (1935):17-37: German trans. in Till, Anneiklmde. pr. 132-34. 4. RClllllins of a codcll with the page numbers 167 and 168 in the University ur Michigan. Ann Arbor', illv. no. 593b, probably from the fifth·siuh centuries; published by Worrell, "Coptic Magical and Medical Texts," Oriell/alia n.S. 4 (1935):187-92; German tmns. in Till, Aroteikmrde, p. 134. 5. Two parchment fragments in lhe Rylands lJ· br.lry, Manehcsler (siglum Ryl); publishc..-d by W. E. Cmm, Caln/ogue oJ/he. Coptic Malluscripts ill Ihe John R)'/allds Lib,o.ry, nos. 107 and 108 (p. 59)
PAPYRI, COPTIC MEDICAL
(Manchester, 1909): Gennan trans. in Till, Arv,eiklmde, p, 132. 6. Leaf of II J)llI'Chmem manuscript in rhe papyrus collection in East Berlin, iny. no. P 8109 (siglum BKU): published in 8erliner Koptische VrkunJen. Xgyplischc Urklf/ldell ails dell KoniglicJlcn M"seclI VI 8erlill. KQptische Urk""dell I. 8(md, no. 25 (Bcr· lin, 1904): German traM. in Till, AI"Vfeikullde, pp. 112-13.
Papyri 1. A papyrus roll of the ninth century, now in the
French Archaeolngical InMilute in Cairo, found at Meshaikh (siglum Ch): published by E. Chassinat, VII po.pyrlU mldical cople, Memolres PuhHk par Ie,.; Membrc.s de l'Institut Fram.ais d'Archc-ologic Ori· entale 32 (Cairo, 1921); see also A. Deiber, "I.e papyrus medical coptc de Mcschaich," ReVile ~gypr· o{ogiqlle 14 (1914):117-21; Gennan trans. in Till, Arv,eiklwde, pp. 113-29. 2. Remains of a COplic papyrus from Wildl Sarga (siglum \liS); published by W. E. Crum and H. I. Bell, Wadi Sa.-ga. Coptic and Gruk TtxlS from lire ExcavaliDII UtldcrlQkctl by Ihe Bytalltille Research ACCOllllt (Coptica Ill), pp. 51-52 (no. 20) (Copenhagen, 1922); German trans. in Till, Arvleikunde, p. 134. 3. Remains of a Coplic papyrus ITom the antiqui· tics Inlde, now in the Uniycnity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, iny. no. 593a (siglum WM); puhlished by Worn.:Il, "Coplic Magkat :mll Medical Te...ls." Ori· enlalia n.S. 4 (193.5):192-94; German trailS. in Till, Arv'cikulldc, p. 134. 4. Remains of n Coptic pnpyt'Us in lh(' John Rylands Libmry, no. 109 (siglum Ryl); published by \II. E. C''lIm, Cura!ol;IIe of Ihe Coplit' Ma"'lSl:ripl$ in Ihe CaUcelioll of Ille Johll Ry/ands Library, p. 59 (MancheSlcr', 11)09); GCI'nIM trans. m Till, Al(.lleikrmde, p. 132. :'1. Two papyrus I'ragments in tire Vienlln pnpyr11S collection, illv. no~. KSS04 and K5506 (.~igllJm KW); published by Till, "Koptisehe Rezeple," Bullelin de la SOci~l~ d'arcl!~o{ogie COple 12 (1949):4349; Germ:tn tr::ln~. in Till, Arl,llcikimde, pp. 129-30 (nos. 1-3; lhe Cop1lc lex1 of nos. 4-21 is so far unpublished).
Oslraca (ScYCnlh Ccnlury) I. Lime:>lonc O~"llcon in lhe papyrus collection in East Bel'lln, lny. no. P4984 (siglum BKU 27): published in Buliller kopiische Urkundm, no. 27 (Berlin, 1904); German trans. in Till, ArJ/eiku"de, p.113.
1887
2. LimCSlone ostracon in the British Museum, from the excavation of the Egypt Explorayr al.lJai)r1 (siglum CO 487): published by W. E. Crum, Coptic OstrQca frolll Ihe Collections 0/ the Egypt Exp/orali(JII Fund, the Cairo Muscum and Otller.~, no. 487 (London, 1902); English trans., p. 82b: German lruns. in Till, Arvle/kunde. p. 129. J. LimeslOne ostracon in the East Berlin papyrus collcction, inv. no. P 880, boughl in Thebes in 1859 (siglom BKU 28); published in Berliner Koptisclle Urkurldcn, no. 28 (Berlin, 1904); German trans. in Till, Arule/kunde, p. 113. 4. POlSherd in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. iny. no. 12,180.79, round among the heaps or sherds at the monastcry of Epiphanius in Wcst Thcbes (sig· lum Ep 574); published by W. E. Crum, The MonQ.Stery of Ep/pJlIlI1i"s al Thebes, Pt. 2, p. 177, no. 574 (New York 1926); English trans. p. 298; Gennan lrans. in Till, Arl,neikundt, p. 129. .5. Potsherd in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, iny. no. 44674.1]0, now In Ihe Coplic MLL'ieum in Cairo. found in the monastcry of Epiphanius in West Thebes (siglum Ep 574); published by W. E. Crum. The MotlQslery 0/ Epipha1l/lis at Thebes, Pt. 2, p. 117, no. .575; E.nglish lralls., p. 298; German lrans. in Till, Arz1leikllnde, p. 129. 6. Ulllestone ostracon in the Dlitish Museum, iny. no. 27422, from Thebt:s (siglum Hall); published by ~I. R. 1·lall, Coplic and Greek Text$ a/the ClJri.uian Period frOIll OSlraca, Slc/ae, ctc. ill tlrc Brilish Museum, pp. 64-66, p. 49 (London. I 90S): German lran~. In Till, Arvlcikllnde, p. 129. 7. Limeslone ostr'llcon in the InSlitut Fran..ais D'archl!ologle Orientale In Cairo, lny. no. 13315, from the EJi:lS monastery in West Thebe:>. This is a catalog of lhe library of thi~ mona,'lery, in which a "medicine book" is mentioned in line 36 of the Yerro. Of thl~ book only remnants are extant; published by R. G. COlluin, "Le catalogue de la biblio· theque du Couyent de St. Elie 'du Rocher' (Ostrakon 1FAO 13315)," Bullel/II de {'[lIslilul frallruis (/'Ar"lIeu!ug/e orierrlu/e 75 (1975):207-239.
Paper I. Relllains of II llllllluSCript in book foml in lhe East Berlin papyrus collection, iny. no. P 8116/7 (siglum BKU 26); published in Berliner KQptiscne UrkwldcII, no. 26 (Berlin, 1904); German trans. in Till, Aru,eikwllle, p. 113. 2. Paper strip wilh medicinnl te...lS (siglum MK); published by H. Munier, "Deux receliCS ml!dicales copies," A/lIlales dll Service des alltiqllitis 18 (1918}:284-86: E. ChllSsinat, "Dcu... ronnules phar-
1888
PAPYROLOGY
maceutiquc:!i copICS:' Bulle/in de /'Inslilu/ fram;ais d'Archtologie orientale 49 (1949):9-22; German traM. in Till, Al'Vleikunde. p. 130. 3. Paper manuscript in the John Rylands Ubrary. no. 104. sec. 3 ($"iglum Ryl); published by W. E. Crum. Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library. no. 104.3 (Mlinchester, 1909): Gc:nnan trans. in Till, Al'Vleikunde, p. 131. 4. Leaf of a manuscript (siglum Ryl 106); published by W. E. Crum. C"/"logue of the Coptic Man. uscripts in Ihe John Ryl"nds Library. no. 106 (Manchester, 1909); German lrans. in Till, AlVleikunde, pp. 131-32. s. Paper leaf (siglum TM); published by B. A. Turajew, Material)' po arche%gii christiun$kuvQ Egipta, no. 9 (Moscow, 1902): W. Till, "Koptische Rezcpte," Bulletill de la Societc d'(lrcheo!ogie cop/I! 12 (1949):49-54; German lrans. in Tll1, Al'Vld· kunde, p. 132.
Graffill During ellOcavation. Ii graffito with a medicinal text was found on the plaster of the walls in each of two monasleries: I. In Wadi Sarga no. 21 (siglum WS); published by W. E. Crum and H. I. Bell. Wlldi Sllrga, no. 21 (Copenhagen, 1922): Gennan trans. in Till, Al'Vlei· kunde, p. 134. 2. In the Jeremiah monastery at Saqq.ara on wall 700 0 (siglum Saq); published by H. Thompson, '~e Coptic Inscriptions:' in J. E. Ouibcll, cd.• ~ COWl/ions at Soqqara (/907-/908), p. 57, no. 10] (Cairo, 1909): German trans. in Till. Al'Vleikunde, p. 132.
On the content of the Coptic medical papyri, sec MEDtCINE. COPTIC. MARTIN KAAUSE
PAPYROLOGY, the study of papyri chielly fl'OOl Egypt. This relatively new discipline is called Greek papyrology for the sake of c!luity, although it tacitly includes the small number of latin papyri also. The (exlS derive from the period from the second half of the founh century B.C. 10 aboUl the ninlh century A.D. Because they essentially belong (ogether. texiS from (his period on other writing malerials, except for inscriptions on stone, fall within the field of papyrology. Since the papyri fonn the largest pa~ of the sources, they have given the name to the discipline, although the papyri in olher languages arc excluded because they fall 10 the province of
Egyptology or of Oriental studies. Naturally we should not think of this dclimilalion. which has grown up in practical work, as rigid. On the con(f'3f)', the papyrologist who SCIS OUt from knowl· edge of the Greek language must take the history of EiYPt into consideration and seck the collaboration of specialists in contemporary demotic: and Coptic $Ources. A small group of Greek and latin papyri and parchments of non·Egyptian origin, pa~icularly from Dura·Europos and Palestine, belongs to the field of papyrology. On the other hand, the literary papyri from Herculaneum have not become Ihc concern of papyrology proper. Texts arc divided according to form and content into literary and documentary categories. Composi· tions in verse and prosc as well as the works of the special sciences count among the liter-dry tellts. To the documcnts arc assigned lhe private letters, extant in large number. which do not pursue any literary aim. One problem is the classification of school ellOercises, although a limited literary intereSI is not lacking in these. Along with the magical teKts thcy are assigned to a subliterary area. If a liter-dry teJU Is published, it is more a subject for philologi· cal research. The survival of the wriUcn evidence in Egypt is due to the dry climate, which is favorable to it. The great mas.s of the papyri derives from rubbish heaps in towns, from burial grounds. and from papyrus boards. which are separated out to recover the lellOts. For memoranda. receipts. aCCounts, or information, and $Ometimes also for Iilcrary texIS, potsherds (ostraca) and limestone splinters were used, indeed practically anything smooth and suitable for writing. Lead tablets were in Ihe main reserved for magical texiS. Other writing materials were animal skin, lealher, parchment, wood and wax tablelS, and finally paper, which the Arabs introduced into the Mediterranean world in the eighth century. The earliest find of papyri in Egypt with conse· quences for scientific rcscareh occurred in 1778. About 100 years later villagers found papyri in hitherto unsuspected quantity in rubbish heaps, so 11lat plans were made for a systemalic search. Archaeologists from different nations began ellOlcnsive exca· valions. The imparlance of the papyri as historical sources lies in their immediacy. Our knowledge of antiq· uity is basl.-d for the most pari on presentations founded on the choice and thc selective view of lheir authon. Since the papyri embrace the whole of cultural life, papyrology fumishes source materi· al for numerous special disciplines. From the docu-
PAPYROLOGY
menls historians have obtained archival material 10 an elittent that was previously available only to me· dievalists and modern historians. A cultural and economic history and a history of law in the Hellenistic and imperial period havc become possiblc only through thcm. Thc documents have made an essential contribution to the expansion of our knowledge of the Greek language and of paleography, and to the investigation of theology and of the history of book production. Among the published Iherary texts the greater part consists of works already known [rom medi· eval codices, for which the papyri in >;orne cases. offer older readings. Howcver. the significance of the literary papyri lies in the fact that the number of the tuU that have become known ror the first time through them is considerable. So far as the exteill of the Hterary tr:u:lition u concerned, Homer with the Iliad stands first. Then follow Demosthenes and Euripides. While the worb of many authors experienced enlargement, Bacchylides. for example, only comes alive for us through the papyri, and only they convey to u.s a comprehensive insight into Menander's dramadc art. The Acts of th~ Ale.xrmdri· an Martyrs shows the aversion of the Gn:eks against imperial despotism and its anti-Semitic attitude. Greek professional liter.llIun; U represented just as much as papn religious or Christian literature. The content of the documents provides evidence for political. public, and legal relalion..hips, and fnr economic and ~ial conditions. The st"te authorities arc the originators of many documents. Edicts. ofliclal journals. Judicial records. and petitions by private perwns to oflicials are numer"us; private contracts. accounts. and letters have survived in great quantity. Greek remained the langua8e of commerce cvcn after the incorporlllion or Egypt into the Roman empire. Apart from a few high administrative officillls. it was lIlmost only the Roman legionaries who spoke Latin. Thu~ dncument~ from the army. the administration. and the law lIml private lellers form the bulk of the Latin papyri from Egypt. Among literary woro, we find te"ts of dassinll authors (Cicero. Sallust. Livy, Vil'gil). aillong juridical text.. pans of the WOI'k.~ of Ulpian and Papinian. the CODEX THt!ODOSIANUS. and lhe CODEX JUSTINIANliS. After pfe"CI'Vative treatment of the m:lterial. two tasks present Ihemselves to the spe<:iali.~t: the edit· ing of unpublished te"ts llOd the evaluation of those already published. according to appoimed criteria_ Here the main concern is to understand the docuOlenlS in terms of where they belong, geographical-
1889
Iy and factually. Something similar holds for the literary field. 10 make more preeise statements. for e"ample, about conlent, manufacture, writing, book ornamentation, and chronological questions.
BIOLiOCRAPIIY Aland, K. Rc,urlOriwn der griechiR:hen chris/lichen Papyri. Berlin and New York, 1976-. Barbour, R. Gruk Literary 1/ands A.D. 400-1600. Oxford Paleoiraphic Handbooks. Oxford, 1981. Batai1lc. A. "w Papyrus." In Trai/I d'l/udc$ bYl.Jlntines. Paris. 1955. Biedenkopf-Ziehner. A. "Koptologischc Literaturtibersicht I." Enchoria 2 (1972):103-136 to 7 (1977-1979). E"choria 10(1980):151-83. Bruckner. A., and R. Maricha!. Charrae Ullinae A"tiquiores. Dietikon and Zurich. 1954-. Cavallo. G.. and H. Maehler. Gnelr. BooIr.ha"ds 01 the Early Byumtine Period A.D. Joo-8oo. Universi· ty of London. Institute of Classical Studies. Bullctin Supplement, no. 47. London, 1987. CaveoailJe, R. Corpus Papyrorum Latinanml. Wiesbaden, 1958. Fichman, I. F. VI'edenie I' dokumen/al 'nuiu papirologiiu. Moscow, 1987 (with French summary). Gallo, I. Avviamemo alia papirologia greco·lalit/a. Naples, 1983. I!nglish lr.lnS. Greek and Lalin Papyrology. Classical Handbook I. London, 1986. Haclst, J. van. Ca/alogue des papyrus lil/lraires iuifs rl cllril/rns. Paris, 1976. Hunger, H. "Antike~ und miuelalterliches Buehund Schriftwesen." In Gesch/cltlc du Te:tliibrr/· ie/trung det 1.lI'l/ikl!ll Imd miue1al/erlichen Litera. tur, Vol. I. Zurich, 1961. Met~gcr. B. M. Mrltluscripls of the Greek Bible. New York and OlCford. 198!. Meyer. P. M. hlriSlische Panri. Berlin. 1920. Mitteis, L.. and U. Wilcken. Crulldzllge und Chrestoma/hie der Papyruskuttde. Leipzig and Berlin, 19 [2.
Monlevecchi. O. Lu pupirologia. Turin. 1973. Nagel, P. BibliolJraphie wr russi)'chen und sow;e· li.~chell KOJltologie. Arbeiten aus der Universitlits· und Landesbibliothek Sachsen. Vol. 2]. Halle, 1978. Oates, J. F.; R. S. Bflgnall: W. H. Willis; and K. A. Worp. Checklist of Editions of Creek Papyri and OSlraca. 3rd cd. Bulletin of the American Society nf Papyrologists. Supplement no. 4. Durham. N.C.• 1985. Pack. R. A. The Greek a"d La/i" Literary Texts from Creco-Roman Egypt, 2nd ed., Ann Arbor. Mich., 1965. Preisendanz, K.. Papyrusfunde u"d Papyrusfor. schullg. Lciprig, 193J.
1890
PAPYRUS
Schiller, A. A. "1\ Checklist of Coptic Documents lind l..ellers," Bulletin of Ihe Am<'ricon Society of Papyro{ugisfs 13 (1976):101-123.
Schuban. W. Papyri Graecae Berulincnses. Bonn, 191 J.
Einlil1mmg
i/I
die Papynukllude. Berlin,
1918. _-;-_ DOl> Bm;1I bei dIn Grier:hcn lind Ri1mem. 3rd cd., cd. E. Paul. LciiWg. 1961. ___ Griechisclre Paliiographie. Handbuch der AI· tenumswls5elUc:hah I, pl. 4.1. Munich, 1925. Seider, R. PoliJographie der griechischen Papyri, Vol. I. Urkunde..; Vol. 2. Literarisc1zc Papyri, Stultgart,
1961, 1970. _::-~. Pa1UugrQpMe de,. /Qltini.~ch"'l Papyri, Vol. I, U,kunden; Vol. 2. l.iJuarische Papyri. pL I, TUIe J:/Qssischu !til/oren; pI. 2. Juris/ische und christlidlft TUle. Stuttgart, 1972, 1978. 1981. Thissen, H.·J. "Dernotistische Literaturiibcl"!iicht 1968/9," £nchoria I (1971):57-71 and following volumes. Turner, E. G. Greek PAPyri: All Inm.,Juc/ion. Oxford, 1968. _-,.,_ TJr~ Typology o/lh~ Early Codex. Philadel· phia, 1977. -,;-C. Gruk MOlIIl.ScriplS o/lhe A"cient World. Ox· ford, 1971; 2nd ed. by P. J. Parson5. Univerliilyof London, InSlilllle of Classical :->Iudies, Bulletin Supplcmcnl no. 46. London, 19t17. Wolff, H. J. DAS Reehl der grieelii!ldllm Papyri Agyplell5 ill der leil der Plolemiie.r I/Ild dl!!l PriuVpolS, Vol. 2, Orgollisotioll Imd KOlllrolle des privalell Reehfsverkellrs. Rechlsgeschichll.' de5 Ahcrtum5 im Rahmen des l'landbuchs der Ahel1um· 5wi~n~h:lften, Vol. 10, pI. 5.2. Munich, 1978. lauzich, K.·T. "Papyri, DCl11olische." In Le:tikull der Agyplolugie., Vol. 4, eols. 750-899. Wicsbadcn, 1982. GUNTIiI< POETHKE
PAPYRUS.
5(lIt
Bookbinding.
PAPYRUS COLLECTIONS. [The !leelioll of lliis Imlry 011 Ihe NaliOllal Ubrary ill Vielllla W<.lS written by H. LoebeIlJlei". The introductioll alld /llI.l remuillil1l; sec/iul1)' were prepared by Marlill Krause.] Since (he ~eventeen(h century ~cholan; and tl';:Welers 10 Eto'Pt have brought manusnipts to Europe. The papyri, whelhcr they came to liShl in speclaeu· hlr linds or as individual discoveries, whether they were uncovered in ~cienlific excavation~ or Ihrough Ihe diggings of Ihicves, went into papyrus collee·
lions. eilher direclly or through dealers (!lee PAPVRUS DISCOVERIES). Nol only papyrus but also parrhment, limestone, pollery shards (!lee OSTRAOON), and orner materials. ~uch as lealher and wood. served as wriling surfaces. The liOurce~ for Ihe Coplic pcriod are in Greek. COplie, Arabic, and. IU a lesser Clllcnt, Latin. They are hou..~ed In papyru~ colleclions all over the world. It is Ihe funclion of Ihcse eoUcelions not only 10 reslore and preserve Ihe wrilinS mall.'rials bUI also 10 disclose Iheir contenls sclenlifically. While Ihe conservation of papyri has kept pace wilh thc ncw finds-thanks to the tt.'Chniques developed by resloren such as H. Il.>scher, R. Ibscher, and A. Fackclmann-thc scientific disclosure of most papyrus collections in calalogs and publicalions 15 stlJl deficienl. ProCrcss has been grealesl on lhe Greek and Lat· In papyri be<:ause there Ui a large number of c!;w;i("al philologisls lraint.'tf in papyrology to work on Ihe teltlS in these languages (for an overview. see Mahler, 1965). NOI as much headway has been made on Ihe Arabic papyri. Uowever, beeaU5e Iheir number is smallcr Ilnd because of Ihe elfons of A. Grohmann, N. Abbol, G. Frantz.Murphy, and othen;, their slale of publication is relulivcly good. The leasl progress ha.~ been achieved with Ihe Coptic papyri in the collections. The problem in this area is lwofold: (I) Ihere Is only a ~mall number of CoptologislS wilh papyrologieal trdining; and (2) Ihere is Il deanh of POSIS in papyrus collections for Ihose Copiologisis who arc capable of celiling papy· rio BcCliuse Greek papyri a,'e the mOSI numerous, the academic Maff of most papyrus collcclions is comprised almost ellclusively of G"eek papyrologi~15. Thcrefore, cvcn calalogs that merely Jist the Coplil: holdings of the papyrus collections are lack· ing for the mo~t part. Old catalogs, where available, lire no Jonger up to dale. The same situation ob· taln~ for puhlicalion~ of Coplic papyri. The publica' lions thlll appellred prior 10 the beginning of the twentielh cenlul)' Ileed 10 be redone. In many cases they include only a small ponion of a collection's holdings, usually only those pieces best prescn'ed. The biggest task, thcreforc, is 10 record lhe Coptic holdings or lite papynlll collections. The Intel'lla· tional A~sociation for Coptie Studies Itas sct litis lask for ilself. The second priority is to publish the lexlS. The Coplic holdings of the colleclions are divided inlo lilerary (see PAPYRI. COPTIC UTERAII.Y) and non· lilentry lexls. While lhere is slill no lisl of the pub-
PAPYRUS COLLECTIONS
Hshed Htemry lexts, A. Schiller (1975) h;.s prclX'red a checkliSl of lhe nonlilerlll)' pieces. This liSl, however, is now in need of supplememation. A preliminary. incomplelc lisl, al'ranged according 10 nalion, of Ihe colleclions wilh Coplic lexL~, literary and nonlilerary, follows below. Austria Graz, Universlly Library The colk-Clion conlliins some Coplic Pllpyri. Vienna, Art History Museum The Coplic holdings ha,·c been publlsht..od by H. Sattinger. Vienna, NaUonal Library In addition 10 tens of lhousands of lellts in Greek, Latin, Arabic, Syriac, Egyplian, and Hebrew, lhe Iibr.uy has aboul 26,000 Coptic object$, lhe grCllt majorily of which are pa· pyri. There are also parchments, paper manu· scripts. textik-s. 768 ostraca, and a telit inscribed on leather. More than 2,300 of lhe telits M\'C been edited This is a considerablc number, given lhe fact lhat many of the pieces are nOi wonhy of publi· cation. Most of the papyri come from the Fan'Om. The group from a)·Ashmunayn, though Smaller in num· b
1891
holdings were Iltrlldy ignored unlil Walter Till be· gan hl.~ work on the colleclion in 1930. Doring the nelll lwcnly years Till organiwd the material in generic gl'OOPS and keyed the objeclS in Ihe collec· tion 10 an invenlory Jist. He produced a calalog of Ihe publicalions and he J'lOblished a number of Ihe pieces himself. Belgium Louv.ln, Unlverslly L1bn&ry The Coplic manuscripts of the University Ubrnry were losl 10 fire in World War II. Therefore their publicalion by L T. l..tfort is of irreplaceable value. Canada ToronlO. Royal Ontario Muuum of A!"Chaeology The COpttc ostraca from the area of Thebes have b<en published by H. lbompson. Cz:echoslo\lakla Prague, Collection of Professor T. Hopfner The earlier papyru$ colleclion of Carl Wesscly conlains among il~ 8.182 pieces-mosl of which are Greek tCliUl from Soknopalou Ncsos-56 wcll~prcserved Coplic lexlS and 71 smaller Coptic pieces. as well a.~ a number of fragments.
Egypt AlellllnlJrla, Graeco-Roman MuSC'um The collection of the Gracco-Roman Museum contains Coptic papyri and ostraca. Cairo. Collection of Ihe Society of Copllc AI" chaeology The CQlleCllon contains, in addition to papyri from the excavation of the DAYR AI'A 1'1101' !lAMMON, a number of COPltc document.~, which h:we been published by L. S. B. MacCouJl. Amon!! lhe literdry papyr'i ure IWO codex pagc~ of the Sahidic version of Job, l.molher with lhe only known Sllhidic lranslalion of E7.ekiel 45, and yet llnOlher wilh lin unusual tran~lation of u portion of Psalms. These lexts will be published by Randall Slewarl. Cairo, Egypllan Museum The Egyptian Museum contains one of Ihe largesl papynJS colleclions, and in particular one of the largest eolleclions of Greek manuscripts and papyri, lllllong which are the Byz· amine papyri edited by J. MASPERO (bibliognlphy in Prciscndam;), NOI all or'the Coptic papyri were lran~rel'rcd 10 lhe COPTIC MUSEUM after its establish· mem. Some Coptic lilemry tellts and documents
1892
PAPYRUS COLLECTIONS
(e.g., Koptische Rechtsurkunden 75, 93, 89, and 99) remlloincd in the Egyptian Museum. Cairo, In.llIut fran~lIIll d'Archeolngle orientale The Institute contains a papyrus collection thai includes impolUlnt Greek and Coptic (('Xis. The catalog of the Coptic manuscripts is the work of R.·(j. Coquin. who h~d already published a series of the texIS of this collection. Cairo. Coptic Museum The Coptic Museum, founded in 1910 by Murqus Simaykah (Pasha). houses III papyrus collection in addition to other anlfuclS. Murqus Simaykah had collecled manuscript!> from old churches and monaslcne:s and had described them In a catalog. In the 19405 additional papyri, manuscripts, and oslrnca, which W. E.
erum and H. Munier had described. were transferred 10 the Coptic Museum from the Egyptian MUSC\lm. In addilion, the codices of gnostic writings found near Nag Hammadi, which an intema· tional commillee published in facsimile volumes. came to the museum. The holdin~ continue to grow as a rcsult of ncw excavalion (mds, such as Ihe p;lpyri unearthed at O~r Ibrlm and Nakhlah. CaIro, Copllc Patriarchate In addition to Christ· ian·Arabie manuscripts, the library of me Copdc patriarchate has a number of Coptie-Arabic manuscripts, only a portion of whieh have been listed in clltalogs. Copllc Churchu and Monatlerle. In Egypl The Coptic, Copto·Arabic, and Christian-Arabic manu' scripts houlled in Coptic churches and monasteries have only recently begun to be listed in catalogs. This work must be furthered. Worthy of mention are the catalogs being prepared by the Societe d'arcMologic copte in Cairo. four of which have appeared since 1967, as well a~ the catalogs of the monasteries or Saint Antony (OAYk ANUA ANTONIYOS) and Saint Paul (OAYk ANBA BOUr.) being prepared by R.·G. Coquin and the calalog of the Monastery of Saint Maearius (DAYk ANBA MAQAR). SInaI. SL Catherine's Monastery In addition to the famous conax SINAlTlCUS. which was discovered by K. von TlSCHllNDORP and made its way via Russia to the British Museum in London. tIle monastery library possesses other valuable manuscripts. which al'e listed in catalogs. Additional manuscripts were discovered in the mona~tery in 1975.
France Pari" Nallonal 1.lbrary The manuscripts that J. M. Vansleb purchased in Egypt for the French
Royal Library constitute the foundation of the Coptic holdings of the National Library. After the royal library became the National Library, an additional 1,883 fragments of manuscripts from the library of the White Monastery (O,>,YR ANIJA SIIlNCrt>AH) in Suhiij were acquired. Other fragments of these manu· scripls have come to the library from Cairo, Leidcn, and London. The manuscriplS (i.e., the manuscript fragmems) ron the gamut of Coptic literature: Old Testament, New Teslament, lives of monks, councils and church hislory, acts of martyn, apocrypha, liturgical manuscripts, large katameros, Shenute, homilies, miscellaneous, unidentified fragments, and medicine and astronomy. Chabot's shan summary of the library's holdings was followed by the detailed but incomplete sum· maries of J. Delapone and E. Porcher. The m0i51 eXlerlSive catalog of the Sahidic manuscripts, which lists the publicatioru of Ihe texts, was prepared by E. Lucchesi. Paris, lAuvre Museum Among the Ilonliterary texis the dialysis document from Djemc (£.5134) and the conupondence of Bishop PISENTIUS 01' cop· TOS are worthy of menlion. The publications of E. Revilloul need to be redone. W. E. Cronl published some of the documents in 1912 (KRU 40 and 43) and others in 1921. Slrasbourg, Unlvcnlly Library Among the copi· ous holdings are some Coplic and Coplic-Ambic tellts. Germany, Federal Republic of Berlin, Stllte Library The manuscript collection contains eighty-four Coptic manuscripts. Berlin, Egyptian Museum The Egyptian Museum has 2 papyrus, I parchment, lind 2 paper manu' scripts, 220 papyri, innumerable unidentified frag· ments, and 2 ostrnca. Cologne, Papyrus collection lit Institute for AnIlqully, Unlverslly der Rhelnlsch.Westfll.lIsehen Akademle of Cologne The collection has about 100 Coptic papyri. Cologne, Department of Egyptology, University of Cologne The depanment houses Coptic papyri. Frelburg 1m Drelsgau, University Library The collection contains twenty-five Coptic papyri (some very small) and two Coptic manuscripts: Manu$tript 615 (fragment of a G~k·Sahidic text of the Gospels, which is from Manuscripl M61S of the Pierpom Morgan Library, New York) and Manu· script 699 (from Manuscript M587 of lhe Pierponl Morgan Library, New York).
PAPYRUS COLLECTIONS
Glelllen, Unlve...lt)' Library The collection conlalns aboul sevenly-five Coptic papyri, G6tllngen, State and Unlverslt)' Library of Lower Saxony In Ig77, Ihc Gtlllingcn Univcrsity Ubrory acquired thirty.four Coplic manuscripts from H. Brngsch. These texts have been described by F. W(lSlen(eld and P. de Lagarde. Hllmburz, State and University Library The col· lection COntains len Coptic papyri and onc CoplieGrcek bilingual papyrus of Ihe Old Testament (see lIAMlIl)RC PAI'YRUS). Heidelberg, Unlverllty Library Thc collection contains threc Coptic manuscripts: Cod. Heid. Or. 63,97, and 113. Heidelberg, Institute for Papyrology The Institute has 390 Coptic papyri, 51 parchml'nt manu5Cripts, 68 paper manU!;cripts, and 33 OSlrau. Munich, Bavarian State Library The collection contains Coptic and Greek papyri as well as t~nty· two Coptic and Gn:ck·Arabic papyri. WUmurr, University Library The collection has three Coptic papyri. German Democratic Republic Berlin, State Museums of Berlin The holding:; of thc papyrus colleclion, built up over a period of more Ihan 150 years, exceed 20.000 in number. of which about 2,500 are Coptic texts. Of these Coptic pieces about 681 arc papyri, 153 arc parchmcnt. 69 are paper, and 1,.549 al·e ostraca. As part of a rescarch effon of thc Oriental and Ancient Studies Section o( Martin Luther University in Halle· Wittenberg, W. Beltz has divided the Coptic texts into the rollowing cleven groups; (a) kllers; (b) documents. contracts. lists, accounts; (c} natural science nnd medicine; (d) magic lexts; (e) liter.uy texts; (f) bibBcnltexts; (g) homiletic texL~; (h) apoc· rypha; (j) Gnostic texts; (k) school exercises and analecta. Among the best·known texts nre the Gnos· lie manuscript P. 8502, which contains tl'xts parallel to lhose in Ihe Nag Hamrnadi Librar)'. and the papyrus (P. IS. 926) of the Acts of the Apostles. At the beginning or the twenlieth century. A. Erman. J. Leipoldt, nnd others started to publish the Coptic documents. After a lifly·year interlude. F. Hintzc has taken up the task of publishing thcse documents. Berlin, German State Library A5 a reroult o( the division of the holdings for prol(''<:livc storage duro ing World War II. some of the Coplic manuscripts and papyri from this Coll(,'<:lion are slill in West
1893
Berlin at the State Ubrary of Prussian Art. Among the Coptic texts in East Berlin is an important Akhmimic manuscript of Proverbs (MS Or. 987). Jena, Friedrich Schiller Unlvertlty The collection contains a number of Coptic papyri and os· traca. Leipzig, Library or Karl Man! UnlveTIIlty The collection conlains Coptic papyri and ostmca. in· c1uding Bohairic manuscripts and manuscript fragmenls from wadi al-Na!nln. The fragments, which were brought to Leipzig by K. won Tischendorf, belong to manuscripts now presenrcd in the Vali· can Library and in the Coptic Muscum. Cairo.
Greal Brtlatn Cambridge, Cambridge University, Gonvllle and Calus College The college houses fragmenlS of Bohairic Coptic liturgical manuscripts. Cheltenham, Philippi Library Among the hold· ings is a sixth· or seventh-eentury papyrus codex published by w. E. Crom. London, Brltllh Library The British Museum houses one of the largest and mOSI important collections of papyri and Coptic tellts. Inasmuch as W. E. Crum's catalog edits and dcscribe:s only those telllS acquired prior to the tum of the century and B. Layton's calalog is limited to liter-,u')' texts, there is need for a new, comprehensive catalog of the documents. In addition to Ihe documents from Djeme published by Crom, there are large holdings from Hermopolis that havc not yet been published. London, Brlll.h Museum, Egyptian Department Among the many texts housed in the Egyptian department of the British Museum is a large collection or Coplic ostl'llCa (rom the excavations of the Egypt Exploration Society. W. E. Crum has pub· lished lhe majority of the lexlS from the area of Thebes (Djeme), but many of the~e texts, especially those in Cup/it O~trucu. must be edited anew. London, University College The collection con· lains. IImong olher texts, some Coptic ostrolca, most of which have been published by W. E. Crum. Manchelller, John RyltmdB Library The tellts purchased by the earl of Crawford in 190 I form lhe basis of the collection. Other purcha.\Cs, such as Ihose of H, Tallam. R, Lieder. and J. Lee, as well as those made from dealers In Giza, have enhanced the holdings. Some of the Sahidic texts come from the White Monastery (OAVR ANRA SHINOOAH). Many of the Bohairic tcxts on parchmcnt and paper are from the mona.~teries of Nitria. The collection, 467
1894
PAPYRUS COLLECTIONS
pieces in all. encompasses biblical manUlicripts, lee· lion.ari~. lilUrgicai texis. humilies. acts of manyr.;. lives of saints. magic and medical tClltS. gramllllll'S. scales, letters. and a large number of documents. The holdings have been well cataloged by W. E. Crum and W. C. TIll. Oxford, Bodlehan Library The first Coptic texts acquired by the Bodleian Ubl'lll')' were purcha.~ by Huntington. Later. pages of manuscripts from the White MonllStery. purchasL-d by C. G. Woide. were added to the colleelion. Among the signilicanl nonliter-,1ry lexls are the sales documents (MS Copt. e, 81') published by W. E. Crurn in 1912. the ostraca and papyri published by Crom in 1911 lond 1939, and the documents frum Bala'i7,ah published by P. E. K.1h1e. Ireland Dublln, Chester Ueatty Library This collection, which next to the DOD.\1I!R PAl'YRt is the largest and most impoJ1anl priv
Italy Many of the Coptic manuscriptS in various Italian collections arc lisled by G. Gabrieli in an appendix.
Florence. Papyrus (nstUute of the University and Blbllolecll Medlcea Laurentlana The.~e collections have a number of Coptic pieces among lheir rich papyrological holdings. In 1984, G. M. Browne edited poJ1iuns of a collection of documents ami lellers purchased by G. Vitclli in 1904. Naplet, National Library The Coptic manu· scriplS in Ihe collection of Cardinal Borgia (de· scribed in Zol'ga's catalog) were divided into t....'U pans after his dt:ath in 1804. One eventually "~dS llcquired by the Vatican Ubmry in 1902. The other went to Ihe Bibliotheca Reale Borbunica. now known as the Naples Naliun.. 1 Library. We are in· debted to J.·M. Saugel [01' an importtlnl catalog thai gives Ihe current location of thc manuscl'ipts a~ well as a bibliugmphy cxlcnding to the 1970s. PIStt, NatIonal Museum The Nlollionloll Museum collection contains, among (lther things, fragments of II Cupto·Ambic manuscripl. which tms been pub· lished by S. Pemigotti and D. Am3ldl. Turin, EgyptIan Museum, Papyrus Collection The papynlli collecliun contnin! fru8menL~ of M'ven· tcen IXIPYros codices in a good fitale of prCliervalion and some individual manuscripl pages. These tcxts \\Icrc acquired by the mUM'um in 1820 IIlong with other antiquities that B. Drovcui had purcha.c;cd. F. Rossi has published the majority of the lexlS. bUI lhesoe worb must be edited anew. The codices con· tain primarily apoocryphal leXL~, acts of martyrs, lives of saints. and homilies. but lhey also preserve the Canons of Basil and fraglllents of the book of Job (fur a delailed list. M'e Orlandi. 1974. pp. 12027). Turin. University Library A lire destroyed thc Coplic mllnu$Criplli and papyri in this collection on 25-26 January 1904. Vatican Clly, Vatican LIbrary The Coptic manuscripts were purchased from Pietro della Valle and Ihe Assemani, who had tnlVcled and acquIred antiqullies in Bgypt. A portion of the collection of lhe Assemanl came directly to lhe Vatican Libmry. The other paJ1 wenl 10 the private lHll'ary of Cardinal Borgia, who in large part hlld Iinunced Ihe Asse· mani's journeys. In 1805, one ye3r after the de:lth of Cardinal Borgia. hili Coptic m:muS(;ripts were divided between the Cullcgium de Propagand3 Fide and the Bibliotheca Reale Borbonica (Ioday Ihe Nalionnl Ubrary) in Naples. Afler <:ardinal Ci.a.o;ca's dcath in 1902. the manuscripts in the Collegium de Propaganda Fide were transferred to the Vatican Library. The manuscripts of the Old and New TL-sta· ments: of the apocrypha; of patristic, hagiographic, and liturgical texts; as well as thme of grammars
PAPYRUS COLLECTIONS
and scales Il(Ive been described in the deUliled cam· IOgll of A. Hebbelynck and A. van Lantschoot. The librury also has n collection of nonliterary papyri, which were acquin.'
The Netherlands
,
Lelden, Nadonal AntlqultJu Muaeum An impressivc collection of Coptic literary and nonlite· rary papyri and mtmcD is preserved in this mw.c· urn. In addition to the catalog of w. rleyte and P. A. A. Boesel', the puhlication by M. Green of a private archive dated to thc deventh cenlury frolll the region of HCllllOlllhis, which also contains an Arabic leller, Is worthy of mention.
Soviet Union Leningrad, lIennttage TIle Coptic papyri and OSlraca of Ihis colleClion have been n.:cdited by P. v. JcmSlcdl. Moscow, Pushkln MUleum The Coplic papyri and ostroea of this collection have been r~ediled by P. V. Jemstedl.
Spain Barcelona, Palau.Klbel Collection Through its purchase of enl'ly Coptic manusclipl~ or the New Test:Jmcnt (Gospels of Mark. Luke. and John). which havc bllcn published by 1-1. Queek", this col· lection, which aim contains other Coptic p:Jpyri and ostl'llCa, Ims moved into the ranks of impOltalll Coptic manuscript colkctions.
Swllzerland GenevlI, Bodmer Collection See the Sl'parate en· Iry on BOUMEIt l'AI'YIU in Ihe Appendix. Unlled Siaies Ann Arhor, Unlveralty of Michigan Library Af· tel' B. P. Gn·nfell 'lnd F. W. Kelsey boughl the first papyri for this collection in 1920, W. H. Worrell purchased in the following yeafll (unlH 1935) othcr pieces, among which were :J number of well· preserved documents and letters. The Coplie eollee· tion, which consists almost entirely of pieces bought from antiquities clcalel'S, had in 1942 aboul 750 piect$ calaloged under 460 inventory numbers.
1895
In addition to 150 liter-try lexlS (not including Mlmc 200 fr,tgmcnts), thel'e al'e 400 documents and lct· ters. Among the liter.. I)' tellts urc mnnuscripl~ of the Old and New Testaments in several dialects, .\pocryphnl writingll, liturgical works, homilies, and ac· counts of mal1yrs. The documenl~ come in pal1 from iicrmopolis, Thebe:>, and Ihe FayyOm. A poI'· lion of the collection has been published. Durham, Duke University Collection L S. 8. MacCoull ha.~ published Ihree Cl,Iptic papyri from Ihe holdings I,If Doke University. New Haven, Vale University, Heinecke Library Among the holdings of the Beineckr Ubrnry are Coptic documents and letters. A. E. S,'unuel ha.~ dloscribt.-d these texts, llnd L. S. B. MacCoull has published many of the documents. New York, Brooklyn MUlrum, Departmenl or Egyptian and Clanlcal Art Since 1937 the collec· tion of the New-York Historical Society has been in the Brooklyn MlaCum. Among the papyrus holdings are thiny-six Coptic ostraca, three inscribed wood lablelS, one parchment, and twenty·twu papyri. With the exceplion of nine texts (W. l\.l. MUller and A. A. Schiller) the hoidinp an: unpublished. New York, Columbia University The collection (Schiller, 1959, pp. 21-23) was significanliy enlarged in 1959-1960 by Ihe purchase of SOIllC 3,500 Coplic ostrolca from the Metropolitan Mu.~cum. Most of these ostraca, which are mainly from the Melropolitan Muscum's eltC:IV
1896
PAPYRUS COLLECTIONS
lishcd these textS (bibliography in Preisendanz). The nonlilenu)' 'exls (Greek and Coptic) were published in 197] by L $, B. MacCouJl. Wuhlnilion. D.C., Library of the Institute of
Chrlatlan Oriental Research The Institute of Christian Oriental Research, which was founded by H. Hyvemal, houses a number of Coptic papyri. L S. B. MacCoull has published Iifty-seyen fragments
of these texIS dating for the mO$1 part from the sill.h or seventh century.
Dclaporte, L J. "Calalogue sommAire des manu' scrit5 COplC5 de la BibHoth~que nlltionale:' ReVll1l de /'Oriet// cllritie" 2, set. 4 (1909):417-23; 5 (1910):85-96, 133-56, 392-97; 6 (1911):85-99, 155-60, 239-48, 368-95; 7 (1912):390-94; 8 (1913):84-91.390-95.
Devtria, T. Calalogue du malluseri/s egypliells ecrits sur pupyms, toile, /ub/,fles et ustracu ell CaraCltrt.f hilroS;lyphiques, hiiraliques, demot· iqut.f, IrtCs, coptes. arabes tl la/ins qui SCIII eonservi$ au Musie igyplien dll Louvre. Paris, 1874.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aland, K. K"r't&cfrlSsle Li5u der g,'iuhischen Hund. Khri/len des Hellen TesulmenlS, Vol. 1, p. 294. Berlin, 196)-,
Beltz, W. "Kataloa der koptischl'n Handschrihen der P:lpyrus·Sammlung der StaatJichen Museen zu Berlin:' Archiv fUr PaT'Yn,sforschung 26 (1978):57-117; 27 (1980):121-222. OOhlig, A. Otr achmimische Prove,bienl=t nach Ms. Sero/. orienl. OCI. 987. Sludicn zu... Erfmschung dn ehristliehen A&yptens 3. Munich, 1958. Browne, C. M. Papiri LlummziaHa repli (P. Laur. V). f1orence, 1984. Chabot, J. B. "Inventairc des manuscrilS coptes de In Bibliothcque nationale." ReVile des bib/ilJtlleques 16 (1906):351-67. CQCjuin, R.·G. "Un complemenl au/( vies sahidiques de Paehollle: Lc manusc...it IFAO. Cople 3." Bulfe/i/1 de I'IHSlitut Iru/1fuis d.'arche%gie orietl/ale 79 ( 1979):209-247.
_.,.,-' "Le fonds copte de I'lnstilut franl;ais d'a ...ehtologie orientale du Caire." III Ecri/ures eI tra_ di/iolls dans /a Iilf~ralure Cup/I', pp. 9-18. CaMen; de 101 Bihliolh~que COplC l. Louvain, 1983. -,.,.,-' "Lcs Leurcs festales d'Alhanase (CPG 2102). Un nouveau/( complement: Le manUllcrit IFAO, COPIC 25:' Orilmlalia Lovat1i,.n~ia periodka 15 (1984}:133-58.
Cmm, W. E. Coptic O.~lraca. Loralon, 1902. _-=-~. COJllic MOllumen/s irl Ihe Cairo MuseulIJ. Calr'O, 1902. Nos. 8728-4 J arc manuscripts. _:-;-_. CII/a/ogue oj Coptic Manusaip/s in Ihe Dril' ish Mw·eum. London, 1905. -::-C. Cawlogue of Copric Manuscripls in Ihe John RY/lmds Lihrary. Manchester, 1909. _,-_. Kop/ischl' Rechtsurkul1den des ach/en Jahrhllnder/s IlI/S Dieme (Thebe,,). Leipzig, 1912. --,--,~. "New Coptic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Ulll'ary." Dullethl 01 the John Ry/auds Li· brary 5 (1919-1920):497-503. -:-0' SIIorl TexIS jrom Coptic OSlrucu and Papyn·. Oxford. 1921. Varia Coptica. Aberdeen, 1939.
Gabrieli, G. Malloscritti e C'lne orient'lfj lie/Ie biblioleche e negli 'lrchivi d·l/alia. Biblioteca di Bibliografia Italiana 10. f1Ol'C'nce, 1930. Grttk Papyri it/ Ihe British Museum, Vol. 4. The Aphrodi/o Papyri, cd. H. I. Bell, with an appendix of Coptic papyri, cd. W. E. Crum. London, 1910. Green, M. "A Private Archive of Coplic Lellen; and Documents from Teshlol." Olldheidku"dige mededeelinle" ui/ hel Riilumu.uum VU" Oudheden Ie Leide" 64 (1983):61-122. Grohmann, A. Einjilhrung und Chreslomathie zur urubische>l Papyrusk.unde, pp. 36~62. Prague, 1954. Ha.a.~e.
F. A. J. Chrisllich-orientulischt Handschrillen.kota/oge. Frc'iburg im Breisgau, 1920. Heer, H. M. "NI,."Uc griechisch-sal"dische Evangelicnfragmente:' Oriens ChrislianllS n.S. 3 (1912);1-47 (with lWO pl"tes) and 3 (1913):141r. Hebbelynck, A. /Ilventaire sommuire des manuserits COpieS de lu Dibliotheque vatica",.. Rome, 1924, PI'. 35-82.
Hebbelym;;k, A" and A. van Lantsehoot. Codices coptici va/ica"i Barbllriniani Borgialli Rossiuni, Vol. 1, Codices coptic; Vaticuni. Vatican City, 1937.
Hint1.e, F. "Ein kiplisches GlOMar judischer MonalS' namen." Millei/wlgen des Ilrs/i/ws lur Orien/jorSChllng 3 (1955):149-52. Hyvcrnat, H. A Checklist of Coplic ManuSt'ripls in lite Pierponl Morgan Ubrary. New York, 1919. Jcrnstcdt, P. V., cd. J(oplskije leksly Cosudarslven· nogo Ermilageu. Moscow and Leningrad, 1959. JernSledl, P. V., cd. Kopl~'ki;e {eksly CO.~ljdors/ve/l /logo mllzeyll isobraz/lelnyklr iskrus/vimcni A. S. PI/slrkina. Moscow and Leningrad, 1959. Kahle, P. E. Bala'izah. Coptic TeXIs from Deir e/. Balo'izalt in Upper Egypl, 2 vots. Oxford and Lon· don, 1954. Kalllbacek, J. Del' Papyrlj#lIt1d von 81·Fuijum. Vien· ml, 1882.
Khale.... A.• and O. H. 11 Burmester. Calalogue of the Coplie a"d Christian Arabic MSS. Preserved ill the CloiSler 01 Saitlt Met/as ut Cairo. Cairo, 1967. _:-::~ Cutufogue of the Coptic alld Christian Arabic MSS. Preserved in the Library ollhl' Church oj the
PAPYRUS COLLECTIONS
f
AII.llu!1 Virs:;" Mary Know" aJ Ousr!. Ei" lopfischer Gebetstext Q/f.{ de" giessenu PapynlS~m· mhmg,m. Berichlc und Arbeiten aus der Universi· tlitsbibliolhek (jicsscn 7. Giessen. 1965. Lagarde, P. dc. "Die koplischen Handschrirten der goeuinger Bibliothck:' In Drienlalia, pp. 3-62. OsnabrUck, 1973. Reprint of GOttingen, 1879. uyton. IJ. COlologll1! of Coptic Utrrary Manu!>CriplS il1 thl! Orilish Library Acquired Sil1cl! /hl! Yl!ar 1906. 1,.Qndon, 1987. Lefort, L T. Ll!s manuscrits COplU de /'Ulliversili de Louvoin. Louva.in, 1940. Lucchesi, E. Repenoirl! drs lI1amucrits coptl!S (sah· idiquesJ pllhli~s de la Blbliolhequl! 1/{l/icmale de Paris. Cahiers d'orienlali5me I. Geneva. 1981. MacCoull. L. S. B. "Coptic Documentary Papyri in the Collection of the Society of Coptic Archaeology, Cairo." In Alii dd XVlI Congresso il/ll!rnaVon· ale de papirologia, Vol. 2, pp. 777-85. Naples, 1984. Macomber, W. F. Cataloglle O/Ihe Christian Arabic Manuscripts o/Ihe Frunciu'ull Cenler 0/ Christian Orienlal Swdies, Muski. Cairo, 1984. Contains, among other items, $Cventeen Coptic manuscripts llnd sixty Arl1bic-Coptic manuscripu. MlIhler, H. "Sll.mmlungen griechi.'lCher I'apyri." In uxikoll der alltm We/I, cols. 3389-3402. Zurich and Stuttll'lrt, 1965. Milne, H. J. M. Caw/ogue o/Ihe Lilerury Pupyn' in lhe Brilish Ml/Seum. London, 1927. MingareJli, A. AegypliorwIl codicum reliqldae ill bib· Iiolheco Nallialla osservaloe. Bologna, 1785. MunIer, H. MOlluSCrilS copies. Cairo, 1916. Orlandi, T. Koplisdre Pupyri Ilre%gise/wll ItlhallS. Mitteilungen aus del' PapyrusSllrllllllung del' 6stcrrcichisehen Nationalbibliolhek, n.$. 9. Vien· na, 1974. "U:$ Pnpyru$ coptes du MU$ee cgyplien de Turin," Le MI/5COn 87 (1974):115-27. ___ "l..es manuscrits de Dublin, du British MU$e· um et de Vienne." L.e Mrucoll 89 (1976):323-38. Pemigotti, S.. and D. Amaldi. Pagi"e di 11M codice coplo-arabo /leI Museo naliol/ale di S. MaileD a Pisa. £gino e Vicino Oriente, Studi e Ricen:hc 3. Pisa, 1982.
1897
Pleyte, W., and P. A. A. Boesel'. Malwscrils caples du Mllsee d'amiquiles des Pays-Bas iJ Leide. u:iden, 1897. Porcher, E. "Analyse des manuscrits coptes 131 1- 1 de la BibliolhCque nationale awe indications des leXleli bibliqucs," ReVile d'Egyplologie 1 (1933): 105-160. Preisendan7., K. Papyrus/undl! mId Papyrus/orS€hung. l..eipl.ig, 1933. Ouecke, H. Die Briefe Pachollls. Griechischer TUI der Handschrl/I W. 145 der Chuler Oeally Ubrary. Regen.sburg, 1975. RevilloUl, Eo Actes el contrals des "lIlsces egyptiells de Bo"laq el du Louvre. Paris, 1876. ___ "Huh papyrus coptes du Muste tgyptien du 1,.Quvre provenant du Monast~re de Sainl-Jere-mie de Memphis, el rdatifs ilUX impOlS de l'empire byuntin." In FirSllnlernalional COllgress o/OriI!nlalistJ. Paris 1813. Comp/t.rendu, Vol. 2, PI" 471-524, and Vol. 3, pp. .5.5-68. "TexlC$ COplC$ extraits de la correspon· dence de 51. Pcsunthiu$, t:v&jue de COplOS, et de plu.sieurs documenl!l analogues (juridiqucs et economiquf!$)," ReVill! igyptologique 9 (1900): 133-77; 10 (1902):34-47. Samuel, A. £. "The Beinecke Papyri (of Yale UniversiIY)." Bld/etin of the Amerlcon Scx;iely of Popyrologists I (1963-1964):31. Salzingcr, H. "Koplische Papynls·Frngmenle des Wiener Kunsthistorischen Museums." Chronique d'Egypte 47 (1972):343-.50. Saugel, J.-M. "Inlroductlon hlslorique el nOles bib· liogrnphiques au catalogue de Zoega." Le Musco" 85 (1972):25-63. Schiller, A. A. "Coplic O$trac,,:' Columbia Library CO/WtlllS 8 (1959):24-27. _ _ . "Coptic P;1pyri." CO/llmbia Library Columlls 8 (1959):21-23. _ _ . "The Budge Papyrus of Columbia Universi· ly," loumal o/Ihe Americmr Research Ce'ller ill Egypt 7 (1968):79-118. ___. "A Checklist of Coptic Documents nod letters." Rlllletin 01 lire American Society 0/ Papyrol· ogi)'IS 13 (1975):99-123. StOrk, L. Koplisdre Hundsclzri/len, Tei! 3: Die Han.d· schri/lell der Staal)'bibliollrek Prell)')'isdrer Ku/lurbesilZ. VCI''l.eichnis del' orientalisl:hen Handschrif· ten in Deutschland 21,3. In preparation. Till, W. KQplische Pergamellle theologischclI btlzalts I. Mitteilungen llll$ del' Papyrnssammlung del' Osterrciehischen Nationlllbibliothek, n.S. 2. Vien· na, 1934. ___ "Die Coptica del' Wiener PapyrusSllmmlung. Sachliche Obersichl. Verzeichnis del' venslfcnl' lichlcn StUcke," Zeitschrifl dcr Dculschen morgen· liiudischen Geselfschaft 95 (1941):165-218. "Coptic Biblical Fragments in the John Ry-
1898
PAPYRUS DISCOVERIES
lands Library," 81111el'" uf lire 101", Ryltmds 1-1iJrary 34 {I952):432-58. _ _ . Die k(l/ulschcII RcclllslIrkEmdclI de,. Papyrw.· $UIIIIIIIIIIII: der OsterrcichischcII NUliollalbiblicr
flick. CorpuS Papyrorum Raineri 4. Vienna. 1958. lVadi Sarga, Coptic Qnd Creek Tats IrQIII Ille Exca"utlOtls Undertakell by the BrlU"fi,,/' Research AccnWlI, ed. W. E. Crum and H. I. Bell. Coplica J. Copenhagen, 1922. Williams, R. J., ed. "The Giessen COplit: TexL~:' KIlT7.bericll/c Il1lS dell Gittssencr l'Up)'OI$Samlll' Ill/Igct! 23 (1966):9.
Worrell, W. H. TIll,' Coplic MSS. ill Ilrt' Freer Coflec';011. Unl"enlly of Michigan Studies, Humanistic Series 10. New York and London, 1923. :-::-:c Cop/ie Tur.f ill the U"iversl(I' of Michigall Collec/iOll. Ann Mbor. Mich., 1942. WustcnfclrJ, F. "Coplisch.arabische Iland$chriften der kBniglichen Unive~itlilsbibliolhdt." Nach· n'chum der kjjtliglic"~tI Gudlschafl I/nd der Georg.AlIgu.UIt.f UI/iversilill Z11 Gjjlling~tI (1878): 285-325. Zanetli, U. us 1J//l.ruiSCriIS de Dair AMi M/lqlJr. Invell/aire. Cahicrs d'Orientalisnlc II. Geneva, 1986. Zoe-ga, G. Cala/oglls codicum cop/ii'urum matll/scriplOrwlI qlli ill Musea B0'8iallo I'elitris adservalllllf. Rome, 1810, H. I..oEBENSTEIN MA~TIN
KRAUS"
PAPYRUS DISCOVERIES. The dry climate of Egypt is responsible for the preservalion of lhe many lilel'D')' mcmol'ial,~ of the country, the OSlmca as well as lhe suurces wrillen on JJHpyruS, p'-\n;hment, and (Ialer) paper, which may be subdivided into litenll)' (lnd nonliterary, They were and arc found cHhcr by chance, mostly by fellahin digging for m(lmll'l: in the I'enmins of old sell Ie men IS, bUI illsa Ihrough syMcnlillic licensed exc;wations by archueologlsts since the end of the nim'(eenth cenlu' ry. An example or such scientific excaviltions for papyri is thosc of OXYRHYNCHUS, which wcrc undertaken between 1896 and 1907 by Ilw Englishmen Gl'enfell and Hunt, and thereafter by Ihe Italians Pistclli (1910, 1913-(914) (lnd Drc<;chia (19271')28), The publication of the rich finds of papyrus is not yet complete. Chance discoveries made by local inhahit.anu gn:'ally OUlnumlx.·r papyrus discoveries 1II:,dl:: by scientific excavlllOrs. Deniers who have sold papy.; 10 libraries and museums ha\'e rclatL-d slOrics aboul the eircumslanees surrounding theil' discoveries
Ihal have led scholars to discern the following p:,t· tern. The fellahin sold their linds to dealers in Ihe neighhorhood. From Ihere the p3pyri callie to deal· ers in Cairo who had conneclions with the inlernalional anllquhies trade, Because of the risk, lhe dealers oflcn divided large finds Jnlo several 10l~. Scholars are inlereSlcd in Ihe circumSlanecs of a discO\'ery, since Ihese may be of imponanee for a number of reasons. The "llac:e of discovery (10mb, hiding place, or building) shows whelher the papy· rus was the propeny of an individual, .....ho in accordance wilh a custom thaI can be lraced back to early Egyptian limes, had Holy ScriplUr= laid beside him in Ih" gnn'c (in "arlkr agcs it was bvoks of the dt"ad). Thus, for example, Ihe ApocalypM! of Pt,ler is said to ha\'e been found along with the Gospel of Peter and the Greek 8QQ,I; Q{ Elloch at Akhmlm in Ihe grave of a monk (Henn"cKc and Schneemelcher, 1964, p. 468). In II scientirlc e)lca· vation at the Coplic cemelery of aJ·Mu(;iiJl, about 28 miles (45 km) from al·BahnasA, a Coptic Psalter in Ihe dialcci uf Ollyrhynchus was found in a grave under Ihe head of a 1,,"'Clvc'ycar-old girl (Gabra, 1986). Discovery in II hidirig place al a spot of difficull acca" shows Ihal some danger thrcalened lhe manuscriplS, which had 10 be broughl 10 a place of .$llfety. This d.mger may have come from external 01' inlernal enemies, from hostile troops, from the Slale (when Chrislianity was not yel n:cugnil.ed as a religio lid/a). or. in the case of a library containing wrilinas thnt did not confonn 10 Ihe doclrinal vie.....s of Ihe church. from the st:lle church. Papyri discov· ered in the ruins of a building may have belonged to Ihe libl1:u)' of a community that W:IS not endan· gered, It must be m:I(Je clear' how large the library wa~, and whether it was divided. The pluee of dis· covery uf Cuplic manuscripts is of further impor· lance for th" locali7.ing of Coptic di:.lccts, Thc inlereSlS or the finders Ilnd dealer.-; are at variance with those of the sehulan>. The former have lu reckon wilh penalties fol' failure to report Ihe discover)', nnd with subsequenl excavation by archaeologists, which wuuld mean Ihe loss of their "llold mine." Hence caution i~ :advisable with regard to their statements, nut so lIluch about the tillle of the disco vel)' as about Its pred!;/! location. Their informatin\l must be checked, preferably by an excavatiun III Ihe site \lamed. If an excavation is nOI possible, as happens in most cases, the stale· menlS of the 1l1tlnuscripls lhemselves mUSI be SCi againsl lhose of Ihe finders regarding Ihe place uf discO\·ery. Among Ihese statements ill Coptic manu· scripts are, fol' one IMng, the diaieci. It allows an
PAPYRUS DISCOVERIES
I
approximale localization by inclicaling Ihe pal1 of the coumry in which Ihe dialecl ....'a.~ ~pokcn. In lhe case of mant.t"CripLl; with covers, ont must invesli· gate whether old papyri, especially documenLl;, were pasted into Ihe binding. They often name per· sons and places that may have been eonnecled with the codex. The checking of Ihe Infonml.lion from lhe finders is simpler with Ialer manl.lscriplS, which contain a COWPHON wilh information about lhc ICribe and the place of writing. Let us now deal wilh Ihe mOSI impOl,nnt discov· eries, first of Greek, then of Coplie m;lIluscriplS. The place of discovcl)' of lhe great lind aI Turuh is ecrlllin, since it wa.~ found In AUlj:usl 1"'41 in the caves under the monastery of Al'seniu~, by Egyptian workcl's who were c1earinlj: rubbish from a Clive. The majority of the II1tllltlseripls wcre put in a place of safety "fttr the di.(Cnvel)' and brought 10 lhe Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The pnges lhM were not handed over by lhe workers, but came to lhe antiq· uilies dealer~, arc today scallel"ed ov"r scveral counlrics and several colleclionll (Aulltrnlia. Soulh Africa, Swil7.erland, France, England, Ge"many, and the Uniled Siales; cf. Mackay and Griggs, 1985). Found were writings of ORIGEN and lIJnYtolUS THE BUND. in Greek. eXlending to eight codices and at least 2,016 papyl1lS pages (Koenen aud MullerWiener. 1968; Koenen arId OOutreleau. 1967). The copying is dolled to the sixth century. On Ihe olher hand, Ihe place of disco\'ery of the Cologne Mani Codex with a blogmphy of Mani in Greek is not ccrl..in. II was wrillen on l>archment in the lifth century in pockel·size fonnal {I.67 inch· es [4.25 cnl] high, U5 inches (3.5 COIl wide) and is so far lhe smallest known codelt. From informarion given by Ihe dealer, ils pl"f;:e of o.-iilin hOld been assumed to be a grave in Oltyrhynchus, bUl further invelltigntion by lhe editors proved lhal this state· lI1ent WtlS false. Rather, the codelt had been for many year.; (suppos{'dly flfly yc:mi) in the posses· sion of a privale ownel' in Luxor, nnd pt.'rhaps de· rives from the center of MANlCIlAelSM in Egypt, the region of AsyU! (Koenen, 1973). The origin of two Coptic manuscript discoveries is ll.(sured lhrough Ihe colophons eonlained in the m:muscripls; firsl, the fifly·silt codicet; from the monaslery of the archangel Michael al Sopehes in the FayyUm, which arc for the mosl p;'11 in Ihe Pierponl Morgan Ubra')' in New York, and Ihc codices bought in 1907 by Ruslafjaell, which came from monasteries of Hajir Idfil and are preserved in lhe British Libraf)'. The place of discovery of the lihmry found in
1899
1945 near Nag Hammadi. consi~ling of lhirleen co· dices wilh mainly Gnoslic wrilings, is assumed 10 be ~Iamra Dum. below lhe cliffs of the Jabal al·TlIorif (sec NAG IlAMMADr UBRARV). The statements of lhe tinder about the exact place of discovery wen: test· ed through ellcavalions in 1975 by the Claremont lnSlitule for Antiquity and Chrislianily, but at the places indicalcd no archaeological evidence for Ihe origin of lhe librnry could be found (Elderen. 1979, p. 226). We therefore do nOI know whelher the manuscripls were found in an e"rlhenware jar, 8.<; Ihe finders affirmed, and as is frequently lhe easc (d. Prcisendam:, 1933, p. 113), 01" what the ellact place of dIscovery WdS, a cemetery or a hiding pi.,ee. On the other hand, the story after the discov· ery of lhe library down to the nlilkinll of an inventory in the Coplie Museum has been investigated by J. M. Robinson. I'apyri pasted into the binJings of ~ingle volume~ to strengthen the covel'~ nallle per· sons llnd places in the region of the ancient Diospo· lis 3.( well as dates. They are in agl'eement with the place of linding, ascertained in 1950 by J. Don.-ssc (p. 133), who, like Robinson, relics on lhe repo,1.~ of local inhabitants. According 10 the slatemenlS of dealers, Ihe place of di5Covery of lhe nine Manichacan codif;:C!l in Subakhmlmie, found in 1930. was Madinal Mal;U in thc Fa)'Yfim. The dia.lecl of the manuscripls indio cales a location fanh{'r to the soulh, in Ihe region of AsyU!. C. Schmidt (Schmidt and PoloLl;ky. 1933, pp. 6lf.), who for decades boughl papyri for Europe· an collections and was regarded by Ihe dealers as a reliable partner. instiluled his own inquiries, as a rewh of which Madinat M1Io4i was a.s.~umed 10 be the place. The place of discovery is probably nOl the place where Ihe codices we,'c copied. Three deMI'R PAPYRI). the CheSler Beatty Li· bl1lry (see Clll'STER BEATTY BlBUCAL PAPYRI. COPTIC PAPYRI). and lhe Universily of Mississippi. Thill dis· co\'el)' contains nol only documenLl; in Greek and Coplie bUI also Greco-Latin writings from lhe pre· Chrilliian period (e.g., works of Menandcr. Thucydi. dt'S, Cicero) and Christian writings from lhe Old and New Testamenls, a.pocrypha, and carly Christian literalure in Greek and Coplie. The early bibli-
1900
PARADISE
clli manuscripts found arc especially important for
thc lex\ of the Bible. The combination in this disCOIlCry of pagan lind Christian writings presents problcm.~ in deciding ahout !.he character of the carlier library or libraries. Finally, reference should be made ;llso to thc old manuscripts found in monasteries in Egypt by Eu-
ropean tn:lVelers lind scholars. For Ihe Old Testament only Ihe CODIlX SINAITIC\1S found by K. von TlSCIlI'.NI)(,)RI' in the monastery of Saini Catherine on
Mount Sinai need be named; for Coptic Ii!eralllre, there is the library found by G. M:ospero in SheoUle's White 1.1oo:;l.5lc1')' (see DAYR AHB" SHINODAH) at
SuhAj ilnd the books found in the JIlonasteries of the Wadi al·Nll!nln, most of which were brought to
European libraries. In most cases lhe colophons give lU information about their origin. BIBLIOGRAPHY
&ms. J. W. 8.; G. M. Browne; and J. C. Shelton. Gred lind Coplic Papyri from Ihe Canan,wge o{ lire CoverJ. Nag Hammadi Studies 16. I..c:iden, 1981. Dorcue, J. The SeCUI Boob o{ Ihe F.gyptilln Gnw· lics. All Imroduction to the Gnoslic Coptic Mallu, scripls Discovered al Chelloboskiall. pp. 116-.36. London, 1%0. Elderen, O. van. ''The Nag Hammadi Exeavalion." Biblical A.rchaeoiogisl 42 (1979):225-31. Gabra, Gawdat. "Zur Bedeutung des Gebietes von l;I:\gir Edfu fUr die Koplologie und Nubiologic." Miueilungen des deutschen art'haolugischen !tlSli· lUIS Kairo 45 (1985):9-14. - , _ . "Zur Bedculung des koptischen Psalrnen· buche~ 1m oxyrhynchltischen Dialekl." GOl/inger Mis:dlcII 93 (1986):37-42. Gul!inlud, O. "Lc p(lpyrus de Tour;,),: I. Sa decouverte and son ~tllt de conselVation." In Sur la piiqllc: Orlg~ne . lraili iw!dit pllblie d'apres Ifn papyrllS de T<)IIr(I, cd, O. Gueraud and P. Nautin. Christian. Ismc Antique 2. Paris, 1!l7!l. Hcnnccke, E., and W. Schneemclcher. Nelltesla. me,ullehc Apokryphell 111 dell/sehcl Vbersetzwrg. 31'd ed.. pp. 468ff. Tilbingen, 1964. Kleine Texle ails dem Tura·Pund ill ZII5almnellarhcit mil den! Xgyptischen Muscum Zll Kairo, ed., trans., Olnd eummentary by O. Kriimcr with a contribution from M. Gl'onewald. Palristisclu:: Texte und Arbeiten 34. IJonn, 1985. Koenell, L "Zl,lr Herkunft des Kainer Mani·Codex." Zeitschrifl fill' Papyrologie rmd Epigraphik 11 (1973):240-41. Koenen, L, 3.nd L Doutreleau. "Nouvel invenlilire des papyrus de Toura." Recherches de science religieuse SS (1967):547-64.
Koenen, L, and W. MUller·Wiener. "Zu den Papyri aus dem Arsenioskloster bci Tura." ZeilSchrift fijI' Papyrologie lind Epigraplrik 2 (1968):42-63. Krause, M. "Schlil~e nus dem ~weiten grossen Fund kOPlischer Hnndschriflen." Orienlalislische Utero· lurteitung 62 (1967):437-45. Mackay, T. W., and G. W. Griggs. ''The RL"Cenlly Rediscovered Papyrus Leaves of Didymu..s the Blind." Bul/etin of tile American Society a{ Papyra/ogists 20 (1985):59-60. Orlandi, T. "Les manu..scril5 coptes de Dublin, du Brit~h Museum el de Vienne." Le Musion 89 (1976}:323-38. Prelsendanz, K. Papyrusfunde und Papyrusfor. schulzg. Leipzig, 1933. RobinSQn, J. M. ''The Discovery of Ihe Nag Hamma· di Codices." Biblical Archaeologist 42 (1979):206224. '"The Discovering and Marketing of Coptic Manuscripts: The Nag Hammndi Codices and the Bodmcr Papyri:' In The Roots of EDplian Ch,uti. anity, cd B. A. Pearson and J. E. Goehring. Philadelphia. 1986. Schmidl, C., and H. J. Pololsky. Ein Manifu/ld in Atyplen. Orittinilischri/len des Mani und seiner SchUler. Siltungsberichle der preussischen Aka· demie der WissenschaCten, Philosophisch.hislorische Klasse 1933. Berlin, 1933. Turner, E. G. "Oxyrhynchos and Its Papyri:' Greece alld Rame 21 (1952):127-44. MARTIN KIl.AUSE;
PARADISE, IeI'm used in the Septuagint
describe the Garden of Eden and the abode of Adam and Eve (Gn. 2-3). It also occurs in Nehemiah 2:8, Ecclesiastes 2:5, and Ihe Song of Solomon 4:13. In the New Testament it occurs in Luke 23:43, 2 Co· rinthians 12:4, and the Revelation to John 2:7. In Orthodux eSChatological teaching, parndisc is an intermediate place where Ihe souls of the dgh. teous who die in Christ await In expectation of rcsurreclion and the Last Judgment. Prior to Christ's redemption of humanity, the abode of aIt the dead, righteous and unrighteous alike, was in HADl'.S, the lower world. At the death of Chlist on the cross, He descended into Hades, from which He conveyed the ~ul~ of the righteous to paradise. "For Christ also died for sins ooce for all, the right. eous fol' the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in Ihe flesh, but made alive in Ihe spirit; in which he went and preached 10 the spirils in prison" (I Pt. 3:18-19). II is \OIonhy of nOle Ihal Ihe firsl human being to 10
PARAPHRASE OF SHEM
obtain the promise of admission into pamdise was the thief who hung on the cross at thl' right of Christ, His faith and fearless confession made him the lirst to inherit the glorious destiny of all who acknowledged Jesus as their Lord: "And he said to him, 'Truly, 1 say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise'" (Lk. 23:43). In the Second Lener of Paul to the Corinthians, Saint Paul spoke of paradise: "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years aao was caught up to the third heaven-whether in the body or out of the body I do nOt know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise-whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows-and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not uller" (2 Cor. 12:2-4). Part of the funerary rite of Ihe Coptic ehureh includes the following prayer, which is s."lid by Ihe priest over the departed: "Give I'!$t, 0 Lord, in the Kingdom of heaven, to this soul on whose account we are gathered here. Open unto it, 0 Lord, the gate of Paradise, as Thou opened it for the failhful thief." BI8L1OGRAPIIY Mlkha'U Min!. '/fm al-LAhlit (fhe Study of ThcoloiY), Vol, 3, Cairo, 1938. ~mu'll Tadrus. AI-Jawhl.lr /I Bu{lan al-MCl!har (Refu· tation of the Idea of Purgatory). Cairo, 1949. Iql3.dyits Yii~annft Lablb. Kifllb al·TujnlZ ay !jallJl al·MawllJ (Funernl Service). Cairo, 1905. ARCHBISHOP BASIUOS
PARALLOS. See Burullus, al·,
PARAMONE,
Greek term meaning watch, vigil, especially on the eve of a festivlll. Its Arabic equiva· lent, burbmfln, is a IeI'm genel'ally used for the vig· ils of lhe Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ and uf the Epiphany, It is a fast requiring abstenlion f1'OO1 the eating of fish, O1eat, eggs, milk, butler, and cheese, If the day before the feasl happens to be SATURDAY or SUNI.lAY. then' the parammu begins on Friday because it i~ not pcnnittcd to fast on S<'llur· day or Sunday, However, the eating of foods listed is prohibited on the two or three days of the paramone. AI50 Ihe readings of the paramo"!: day are repealed if the para/llolle occurs on lTlore than one day, II.
1901
BtBLIOGRAPIIY Ibn Sib!'
YO~annA
ibn "bi Zakarly:i. Kifllb al·Jaw· harah a!·Na{isah If 'U!flm a!·Ka"lsah, cd. Viktur Man~Or. Cairo, 1902. Trans. into Latin as PreliQ$a Margarila de Scienfiis EcclesiaSlicis by Vincentio Mistri~. Cairo, 1966. EMIL MAHER ISHAQ
PARAPHRASE OF SHEM (NHC VII, I), one of the longer and best preserved tractates of the NAG HAMMADt UBRARV. This tcxl is part of a small, selec· tive group of Gnostic texts that show no evidence of having been influenced by Christianity (ef. APOCALYPSE 01' ADAM, THREE STEl.F,S Of SETH. and EUCNOSTOS). Attributed pseudonymously to Shem, the son of Noah and lhe ancestor of Abraham (Gn. 10:1, 21-3 I; II: 10-26), the Parnphrasc of Shcm is a revelation delivered by the Gnostic redeemer Derdekea~ (Arnmaic for child, boy) to Shem, The revelation begins with Shem being elevated "to the top of the world close 10 the Light," Ihal is, to the Supreme Being (1.10-11). Shem's mind is separated from his body, and he learns about cos· mogony, soleriology, and eschatology. l1Jree princi· pies, "Ught, Darkness and Spirit {pneuma} betwl:en them" arc introduced (1.26-29). The Ught knows of "the abasenlent of the Darkness" (2.11-13), but the Darkness is ignorant of the Ught (2.16-18). So begins the cosmic drnma. Darkness frightens Spirit (2.21) and becomes aware thllt "his likeness is dark compared with the Spirit" (3.6-7). Ignorant of the Ught, Darkne:;..~ directs his attention to Spiril to claim equality, From the mind of Oar'kness, evil is born; and from "the likeness of the Light" a son, Derdckcas, lIppcars, whO$e task it is to carry up to the Light, the light of the Spirit shut up in Dlirkness (3.35-4.19). The bulk of the lraetate hereafter describes a cos· mogony involving the struggle among the different powers, lJerdekeas' effort to liberate Light, and the events leading up III the lime of consummation whlln "lhe forms of Nature will be destroyed" (45.16-17). Similar to other Gnostic esehfllological writings, world hislory alld evolution terminate with the consumm::r.tion, a.nd the particles of light return 10 the Supreme Being and no longer posses.~ a (material) ronn. Del'dekeas ends the Paraphrase of Shem by telling Shem of hi:;; role; he also tells him that .salvation will only be given "to wonhy ones" (49.6).
1902
PARCHMENT
The Pal'tlphm.c;e of Shem is of panicular impor· !;mec for the religious history of late ,II1liquity, postbiblical Jud:lislll. :md early Christianity. Its allusions
and the biblical exegesis of the cl"C"tion story of Genesls lwcsem no interesting comparison to other Jewish pscudcpigrnphic and apocryphal litemturc of the period of postbiblical Judaism. For example.
Ihe destruction of Sudum (28.34-29.34). the nood (25.13; 28.6), and the Tower or Babel (25.18 and 26; 28.10) show dear dependence on the Old Testament. The lack of Christian influence in the Para· phrase of Shem and evidence of a pn.--<:hrislian Gnostic redeemer also draws attention to the myth· ological and historical background of the New Teslament. This combination of a heterodox Jewish
background wilh an absence of Christology has led Wissc (1970) t(,l sullgcst thaI Ihe polemic against bapllsm by water in this Ir.l.Ctate is addressed 10 some Jcwish baptismal st:d and nOI againsl Chris· tians. Othel'$ view this ritual a..~ unveiling Chri.~lian tmcn and Elchasahc involvemcnl (Scvrin. 1975). Affinilies 10 Ihe Paraphrase of Selh "f Hippolytus are also a 10pic of dcbalc (R../lIfalio, 19-22). The Paraphrase of Shem has been viewed as a source for Ihc Paraphr.ISC of Selh and the basi:; for Ihe dOClrine of the Selhians of ~Iippolytus. Finally, the lisl or names (JI.4-32.6 and 46.447.6) in Ihc l"lClatc indicale wme fonn of ritual 10 be recited at one's final ascenl. It al.~o suppa,'1S a proccss where noviel,.'$ arc socialized and instrucled Ihrough differenl Slages of Gnoslic tC:lching. The lemlillllS ad quem is the first pal1 of the third century with Ihe middle of the s;..'COII(/ t:o.:ntury or earlier, as plausihle for the finall'cdaction in Egypt. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ahllld, B. "Die Pltmphmse als Form gnostischer VcrkUndigung," In Nag Hammadi mid Gnosis, cd. R. MeL. Wilson. Nag Hammadi Studies 14. Lei· den, 1978. Bertn:md, D. A. "I'llraph/Use de Sem \:1 PO/"Ilphrase de Seth," In Les Texles de Nag Hmmlladi: Col· loqlle dll Celll,e d'Hisloi,e des Religions, I'd. J.-E. Mcntlrd. Nag Hammadi Studies 7. Leiden, 1975. Fis.cher, K.·M. "DIe t>araphrase des Seem." In Es· says ml Ihe NIlK Hlmmwcli Texis: ,,, HOllO, 01 Pilirur Labib, cu. M. Kr
Rudolph, K. Cllosis. T1'flus. and ed. R. McL. Wilson, pp. 85-86. ~m Francisco, 19113. Sevrin, J.·M. "A propos de la 'PiI"lphr
or
PARCHMENT, a writing surface made from Ihe skin of shl.'Cp or goats. Lexicographically the term is diSlinCI from vellum, which. by convention, denotes pages made from the skin of calves or kids. In the manufacture of both vellum and parchment the skins were soaked for seveml da)'$ in a lime solulion, cleansed of flesh and hair. limed, dried, stretched. polished wilh pumice, and dusled with si"ing chalk. Like papyrus. individual shccts of parchment were bound together al Ihe sides to fonn mils, or folded and stilched inlo couicl.'S (liCe UOOKBINOING). Pliny lhe Eluer (Nalural HistQry xiii.II). Quoling Ihe Latin scholar Varro, maintained Ihal parchment was invcnled in PeTianlllm (modern IJergama, in western TUI'key) by a cenain Eumenes of the Attalid dynasly (presumably Eumenl,.'$ II. 197-159 D.C.) when an embargo was phtccd on Ihe export of papyrus by the king of Egypl. Although Ihis tradition appears 10 llllin credence from Ihe fact Ihal 1111.' word "parchment" comes from a Greek adjectival form of PCll\llmUm (pergclIlIl!nl! or perglllll/::1IOIl), there Is nn alleSlatlnn of this adjective applied to lhe writing malerial until A.I). 301. COIISel.lucnl[y, many believe lis appllcation to parchment argues only for Ihc widesprcad aCl:cplance of the accounl rl'e.~el'Ved ill f'lIny, nnt for the actual Invention of pOirchment in Pergllmum. The earlier Greck word for parchmenl Is diphlheru. The carlier Latin term is membrana. The oldeSI extanl pllrchments al"e fl'Onl ])ura· Eul'Opos :md date to the second century B.C. About A.D. )00 part:hll1cnt bella" 10 supplanl papyrus as the preferred writing matedal of the anelent world, though papyrus continued to be us.cd for centuries thereafter. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Santifaller, Leo. 8,it,a/:e lit' Geschicht, dc, 8e$(:/'· reibs/olfe illl Atiudal/er, pp. 77-87. Graz, 1953.
PASCHA
Turner, E. G. Greek P(lpyri, pp. 7-J6. PrincclOn, NJ., 1968. RANDAll STEWART
PAREKKLESIA. a description in use especially in Greek-speaking areas for a subsidiary {'hurch atI!lched 10 a larger church and closely ,~onneeled wilh it. Exampk"S of such subsidiary churches arc, howe"cr, ju.~1 as frequcnl in Egyplian <::hl,,-.;:h build· ing_ The parcltklcsia could hal/e been erecled al the same lime a~ Ihe main church or al a later date. To be n~ogniu.-d as ~ parekklesia, it must pfl::§Cnl a dosed church area, be exclusively intended lor liturgical usc, and also contain all the furnishings )
I
necessary for the liturgy. In particular to the laller belong an altar and an apse, or al le3..<;1 a niche representing il. The parekldesia. accordingly, is fundamenlally distinct frum all other side rooms in the church. An oratories. which serve!> only for prayer or personal devotions, is not II parekklesia, even if il is equippt--d with II large pr:ayu niche. The church of Ihe MOUNT SINAI ",OJllAS'rEKV OF SAINT CATHERINE originally possessed only two parckklC!iia on the tWO $;idell of the apse. The Cha"el of the Burning BU5h IU the cast of the main aP"C' is later. Al a later date, Ihe side rooms un the 5ide aisles were alro given a new function as parekklesia (Forsyth, 1968, pp. 11-14). In the same way ;I p."lrekkk· sia wa~ suhM'quenlly added lu Ihe north hasilica of Aoet MIN'\'. This aClIlally pre5ent.~ threc :lltar.>, ami was chiefly intended for the carrying uut of the baptismal ceremony (Juritl, 1970. p. 74). Further, all lhe larger' churches at SCETIS ;lrc equipped with parekklesia. The Im'ger secondary churches, which as a rule arc aClIlally sputiully 5cpurate, mUSl be considered independenl churches. From the late Flitimid period, with a view tu inereltsir,g lhe fre· queney of mllsses, snwll plll'ekkiesia were set up in muny Cairo churches in lhc side ruonrs :.nd the gallel'le.~. They were in eltch cllse provided with an altar and an iCOnOSlasis shutting off the altar area. 11 was only after ilanctuarics wilh sever'lll altars were introduced, well inlo the Mamluk period, that the designation parekklcsia for the 5ide allars 10SI it.~ justification. UIDUOGRAPIIY
Descoeudres, G. Dic PQslophoriel1 im syro-bYYll1lil1' ischel1 OSI/!!n, pp. 21-22. Wiesbaden, 1983. Forsyth, G. 1·1. "·I1t.e Mnnll.'acry of 51. Calherinc at
1903
Moum Sinai." DrllllbllrlOIl Dllks Pllpcrs 22 (1968): 3-19. Grossmann, P. MiUdQllerliJ:lle Llltlgllllliskuppelkir. dum uud venva"dte Typell ill Oberiig)'ple.II. pp. 222-24. GlUcksladl, 1982. Jarilz, H. "Die Nonlba5ilib." Mifleililllgen des dellischeu arcllQologische/l l/lsfifuls-Aobleilul1g Kairo 26 (1970):69-74. PJrr1SR GROSSMANN
PARTHEY, GUSTAV FRIEDRICH CON· STANTIN (1798-1872), German Coptologisl and classical Kholar. He was educaled at Berlin and Heidelberg. He published a number of Greek and Coptic texts and several books. BIDUOGRAPIIY
Dawson, W. R., Egyptology, p. Kammerer, W., Arbo~, Mich.,
and E. P. Uphill, Who Was Who in 222. London, 1972, comp, Ao Coptic Bibliography, Ann 1950; repr, New York, 1969. AZIZ S. ATIVA
PARTHIAN HORSEMAN. StU Chri~tian Subjects in Coplic An.
PASCHA, it Jewish feaSl 1'QOled in lhe seminoma· dic religious pr:actice~ of the ancient Near East, allached 10 memories of lhe Israelitcs' exodus (rom Egypt by the histori(:i7,ing imellll'eunion of E.xodu~ 12:12-13, 23-27, and Deuteronomy 16:1-6, and adapled to lhe celebralion of the Christian mySlery of ~alvation by lhe early Christians, Despile modern philological pr'Oposals, the etymology and original meaning of the Hebrew word pe~(/I.r, from which lhe Greek puscha is derived, r'emain obscur'e. Exodus 12:13, 23, :md 27 provide (\ popular etymology by relalinll: pe~(lll to lhe Hebrew verb p(Jsa~, 10 lImf', 10 skip or Jump over. God, prepared to strike down the firslborn in Egypt, would limp past, or skip over, lhe houses of the Israelite~ who had pcriormcd the paschal rite, In Hellenistic JUdllislll, the word pllscllO was explained either as hypcrbllsia or llyperbasis, a passing-<Jver, with reference to God's passing over the houses of lhe Israeliles in Egypl, or a$ diobosis or diobllleria, a passing·through, wilh reference 10 Ihe Israeliles passing lhrough Ihe Red Sea. Of Ihese two Hellenislie Jewish explanalions, Ihe
1904
PASCHA
not easily transferable to Ihe Christian paschQ, hut Christians used the second by laking the p.'\ssagc Ihrough the Red Sea a.~ a type of Christ's passage from death to life or of the Christian's passage to new life in baptism (ideally 8t the time of Ihe puehal celebration), or even by laking the passage through the Red Sea as an allegory of Ihe Christian's pas.~se from sin, ignorance, and false· hood 10 virtue, knowledge. and truth. I.n a specififirst
Wall
cally Christian etymology popular in early ChMslian ccnlUrics but infrequently used by learned writers. pasc:ha was taken as a word related to p4S(;hrin, 10
suffer, and thus referred to christ's suffering and death. In the earlicst years of Christianity, Jt"WS, in celebr.l!ing Passover on the night of Ihe full moon. the fourteenth-fifteenth of the IUnllT month of Nisan, joyfully and thankfully commemorated the past de· Iiver-mce of their people from bondage in Egypt, looked upon that deliverance as repreSl.:nted in the present, and to some extent looked forward to a new liberation in a future age. Unlil the Temple in Jeru."lliem was deslroyed in A.D. 70, the killing and eating of the paschal lamb and thc blood rites per· fonned with the hllllb's blood were important parts of the celcbration, as they are to this day in the paschal observance of the Samaritans. In nascent Christianity, the passion and resurreclion of Jesus at the time of the' Jewish pasch (Passover) delennined the nature of the Christian Pasch. The paschal lamb was taken as a type of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7; In. 1:29,36; 19:33,36; 1 Pt. 1:19; Rev. 5:6. 9. 12; 12:11), although its killing and eating were quickly replaced by the Christian o.g<Jpe and Eucharist in the early morning, after a vigil and a fast. The earliest Christians observed their P"'sch on the date of the Jewish Passover, in the night of 14-15 Ntsan, a pl'llctice continued in the Qu.Jt1odeciman observance in Asia Minor into the late sccond cen· lUI)' and among heterodox Christian groups as late a~ the founh. Their intelllretation depended above all on the dating of the Passion and dC;lth of Jcsus on t4 NiSlln, evident in the clll'onology of the Gos· pel According to John (In. 19:14). The passion and death of Jesus were at the center of the earliest Christians' understanding of their Pasch. This by no means necess&I'ily excluded His Resurrection as motive for the joy and hope that characterized the paschal celebration, but from the extant sources, it i.~ impossible to reconstruct with cenitude a com· plete and authcmic Ouanodeciman inlcrprelation of Ihe early Christian Pasch.
The practice of celebrating the Christian Pasch not in the night of 14-15 Nisan but in the vigil leading into the Sunday follOWing 14-15 Nisan arose early, perhaps in the church or Jerusalem, and spread rapidly, so that by the end of the second ccnlUry it was the common practice throughout Christendom. The choice was made in view of Christ's ResulTCCtion on the Sunday following the Jewish Pasch, and it entailed a shift of emphasis from his passion and death to his Resurrection in Christians' interpretation of their Pasch. In the early centuries of the Christian cra, howcver, Christ's passion. death, Resurreclion, and Ascension were seen as integral moments of a single paschal mys' tery. Christian use of typology and allegory 10 adapt elementll inherited from the Jewish Pasch (the killing and ealing of the paschal lamb, the propilialory value o( its blood, commemoration of the deliverance of the fintbom in a ncw age) to those various moments of Christ'S saving aClion, in a single pas' chal celebration, satisfied the needs of the occasion. Roughly in the course of the founh century, as the development of the Christian calendar reflected an increasing concern wilh temporal distinctions, Ihe sense of unity In the aspects of the Christian Pasch was weakened. The commemoration o( Christ's pas. sion and death wa.~ concentrated on Good Friday. that of His Ascensioll was moved to a new feasl fony days after Easler, in accordance with the chronology of Acts I :3, and EaSler Sunday b...-camc more exclusively the commemol'lltlon of His Resurrection. It W".IS Easter Sunday, not Good Friday, that retailled the name po.scho. in Greek·speaking Chris· tendom, but the concept of Holy Thursday and Good Friduy as days of the Christilll1 paschal meal and of the Immolation of the "Paschal Lamb" was not lost. The East and West Syrian and Maronite churches continue to use the Syriac form of pascha to designate Holy Thursday, and the East Syrian church, 10 designale Good Friday as well. In thc Coptic church all of Holy Week is often called the Week of pascn<J. DIOLIOCRAPIIY Batte, B. "Pascha." L 'Orient syrien 8 (1963):213-26. Cascl, O. "An und Sinn der «Itesten christlichen Ostcrfeier." Jo.hrbllcn fllr Lilurgicwisscrlschaft 14 (193g): 1-78. Dani~lou, J. "Le Symbolisme du jour de Paques." DicII "i"o."l 18 (1951):43-56. Goudocvcr, J. van, Biblical Co./cndars, 2nd ed., pp. 7-14, 155-75. Leiden, 1961.
PASCHAL CONTROVERSY
J
,
Huber, W, Passa lind Os/em. Beil,dle ZUI" Zeilschrift Rlr die ncutcslamcnllichc Wissenschaft 35. Berlin, 1969, Jeremias, J. "nmrxQ'," In Theofogisches WoNerbuch ZUlli Nellen Tes/amen/, Vol. 5, pp. 895-903. Stungart. 1954. Lanne, E.. "Texles el rites de la liturgic pascale dans I'ancienne eglise cople," L'Oritllll !iyrien 6 (1961):81-94. lnhse, B. DDS Passofesf der QUQrladuimlJner. BeiIrlige zur Fordcrung chrisllicher Theologie 2. Series 54. Ciltersloh, 1953. Mohrmann, C. "Pascha, Passio, Transitus." Ephemerides Liturgicat 66 (1952):37-52. Emdu S14, Ill: flltin des chretiens, vol. I, pp. 205-222. Rome, 1958. Rordon, W. "Zum Ursprung des OstcrfcslCS am SOnntag." TheololiKlle Zei/unrilt 18 (1962):16789. SchUnnann, H. "Die An~nge der chrisllichen 051erfeier," Theologi.u:he DuaNa/Kllri'l 13\ (1951):414-25. Schwanz, E. "Ostcrbctrachtungen." h;m:hrift f«r dis "tut,stamstlfliehe Wiue"schafl 7 (1'J06):I-JJ. _::-_ Guammslls Sehriften, Vol. 5, pp. 1-41. Berlin, 1963. Sidarous, A. "La paque salmI' 01.1 la semaine sainte scion la litursie caple." Proche·Orie"t chrilie.., 17 (1967):3-43. Vau_, R. de. us Sacrificu d, tAncien restQ",enl, pp. 7-27, Cahiers de la Revue blbliqul' I. Paris, 1964, AF.JJIED CODY. O.5.B.
PASCHAL CONTROVERSY, any controvcrsy arising fyom differences in the way of establishing the date of Easter. By the second century. the prae· tice of celebrating the majot' day of the Christian Pascha on the Sunday nfter the fourteenlh day of the Jewish lunnr month of Nisan, the dnte of the Jewish P3SS0VCI', became the established praclice throughout Christendom, except in the dllll'ches of western Asia Minor, where the practice of ending the fast and celebrating the Pascha every year on t4 Nisan iuelf (Ouartodeeilllanism) continued. Disagreement on Ihis point was noticed in Rome around 120, when POLYCARP, bishop of Smyrna, vis· ited there in the reign of AnicetlL~, but no issue was made of the matter unlil around 190, when Victor of Rome tri(:d to persuade PolyerlllCli of Ephesus and other blshops of his region 10 adopt the common prnclice as the one required by apostolic tradi· lion. When Po1ycrates consulted his fellow bishops
1905
lind sent 10 Vietor their ,'efu.'lal 10 abandon the Ouanodedm.1.l1 pr.Il;:ticc, which he defended a~ equally apostolic and traditional, Victor cxcommu· nicated the churehes of the Province of Asia and adjacent areas, a step that led lrenaeu~ of Lyons and other bishops to write to Victor, urging him 10 prefer Ihe cause of peIlCC, unity, and charily 10 Ihal of uniformity. In reporting this controversy, Eusebius (HistoriQ eccfesiaslicu 5.23-25) did not mention Ihe Church of Alexandria in his list of regional councils that III that lime insisted Ihat Easter should be: obsen'ed on Sunday alone; but he did report a document in which the Palestinian bishops, who did hold such a council, said thai they exchanged leltcn with Ihc Alexandrians, so that the I:hurches in both regions obsen'cd the holy day together. &sic agreement on the requirement of celebrat· ing Easter on Sunday did litde, howevcr, to settle the dctcnnination of the precise date from year to year. Easter tables showing the date in consecutive: years differed, mainly because of the different lunar cycles used in reconciling synodical twelve-month lunar years of 354.3672 days with the civil calendar's solar years of 365.2422 days and because of Ihe different Eastl;'r limits set. When controversy arose, the issue was one of Easter limit.~, which were of two kinds: lunar days, on one of which Easter had to be obscn'ed, and dates in the civil calendar, with or without specific solar reference, In Alexandria, lit least by the time of Bishop IlIO· NYSIUS (c. 248-265), Easler wa.~ nOI to be celebrnt· ed until after the vernal equino_, whose Ale_andr;· an date was prohably the Ptolemaic 26 Phamenoth/ Julian 22 March, until the beginning of the fourth century, when it was fixed on the Julian 2\ March. The 14 Nisan could not be observed on a il/na xiv (the fourteenth, cnlendar full-moon, day of any lunar month) occurring earlier than the equinoctial day itself. In thh'd-century Syria, Palestine, Mesopo' lamia, and Ctllda, Christians. in detcrmining their own E3ster date. depended on the date of 14 Nisan, as it was established by Jewish computists, who at that time were taking nO account of the equinox. The Alc.l:andrian pr'inciple that 14 Nisan should be no earlier than the equino_ was in\J"O(]uced, but as late as during the time of Saint ATIIAN"StUS. MJme Christians of those regions were still follOWing the Jewish calcuhuion. One cannot be sure thai Ale_an· dria and the resl of the East before Ihe Council of Nicaca (sec NICAIlA, COUNCIL OF) avoided Easter on luna xiv itself when the day was a Sunday, After the
1906
PASCHAL CONTROVERSY
council, Ihey
con~istcnlly
obscrvl.-d as lunar
lillliL~
IIII/tle xv-xxi. Rome llnd the West nuctuall.-d. AI times the Roman lunar limits .seem 10 have been {mIlle xiv-:u,
bUI JIII/Ut! xvi-uii, appearing alread,. in Hippolylus' table In the early third l:Cnlury. remained the usual Roman lunar limils until the sbuh century. In the
third century. Rome look nu aCCOIIIl1 of the equi· nox. Even when Romans had accepted an equinoctial limit. they long look the L"quinox as the earliest day for Easler illl'c1r. while the AlcJt:}ndrians took it as the earliest day for 14 Nisan. In the Iirs! half of the founh century. funhcr confusion resuhed from the conflict between the naditional ROlllan equi-
noctial dale (25 March) and the Alexandrian one, by then 21 March. Peculiar to Rome was 21 April as limit ad quem, evident already in the third century and n,:taincd in Ihe foul1h and fifth. That is lhe anniversary of Ihe founding of Ronu" whose world· ly festivities, moved into lIoly Week if Easter was celebrated later, '"'>'Quid be unsec.:mly. In the early fool1h century, conciliar efforts were made to promote unifonnity of Easter date. The Council of ArICll (]14) prescribed that the bishop of Rome should $Cnd out pa..~hallellcn; liD lmol Easter would be observed on Ihe same day everywhere in the WQrld. The Western world mll5t have been meant, for Ihat council was enlirely Western, and there is no cvidellce lhat Ihe bishop of Rome ever .sent paschal leuel"5 10 Eastern churches. At the Council of Nieaea (]25), Ihe OUill1odecim:l.Os were anathernali1.ed, and unifonnity of lhe Easlcl' date was prellCribed for all.of ChriSlendom. The text of the decree lias been 10Sl, but it is clt'ar from II letter 01' Constantine in Eusebius (]. 18-19) Ihal Easter was prohibited on 14 Nisan, even if the day was Sunday; that It should never be celebrated twice in the same yelll' (Ille reason for Akxandrian insis· tence on the equinocti.ll limit); and Ihat all church· es should observe It on the same day, How such uniformity wa~ 10 be achieved is not clear, After Ihe Council of Nicaca, paschal nonconfol'm· ity in Ihe Easl was almost entirely lirniled 10 hetero· dnx gl'OUpS, Rome seems generally to have followed Ihe Alexandrian Easter dates, even when they ex· ceeded Roman lunar limils, but to have been un· willing to do so when they exceeded Roman calen· dar limits. In such YC:In; Alexandria wa~ at first willing 10 avoid controversy by yielding to Rome. In ]]] the Alellandrian tables prescribed 22 April (too laiC for Ihe Roman limit of 21 April), but a Syriac chrnnicle now in lhe Bl'ilish Library shows
that thl!! Alexandrians Ihal year actually observed 15 April, which the Roman chronogmph of ]54 shows to have bC
PATAPE Crume!. V. "Lc ProblemI' de la date pascale ;lUX Ille et IVc 5ieck'))." Rel'ue des etudes b,'Ul/1/il1cS
)
18 (1960):163-78. ~Ierele, C. J. von. His/ory of Ihe Councils, Vol. 1, pp. 328rr. Edinburgh, 1876, Krusch, B. SI/ldiel/ ZJlr cllri.ulic1H/li/le/aflerfichcl/ Chrotlologie: der 84·jiillrige OMercycflls /Iud seille QueUell. Leipzig, 1880.
___ "Die EinRlhrung Jl')) grieehischen Paschalri· tus im Abendlnnde:' Neues Archil' Jer Gesellschaft {ilr iillim/. Jeuische Geschicll/skulIJe 9 ( 1884):101-169.
I
Larenttakis, G. "D-dS Oslenestdatum nach dem I. tskumeni~hen Kom:i1 vun Nikaia (325): die Rolle von Alellandrien und Rom." Zeit.u:hrif/ fur kathol· ische The%g;" 101 (1979):67-78. Lohse:, B. Vas Passafesl du QlIar1adecima",·r. Beitrage :rur FurdenJng chri51licher Theolugie 2, 54. GUtenloh, 1953. Mohl"fl'lann, C. "Le Cunnil pascal au 111' sicdc." VigiliaI' Clrristialloe 16 {I 962): 154-71. Richard, M. "La Question pascale au Ill' sU~de.'· L'OrieFlt syrien 6 (1%1):179-212. ---:,-_ "La LcUre de lM.int Ir~n~e au papc Victor."
Zeiuchrif/ filr die "elltes/amell/liche Wisse/lScllof/ 56 (1965). ---:.,--_ "I.e Comput pascal par OCla~teris." Muscoll 87 (1974):307-329. Schmid, J. Die OSlu/fls/lruge auf de", erSlell aUge",dFlCII KOllvl 1'(111 NiciJa. Theologischc Studien del' Leo-Gc5ellschaft 13. Vienna, 1905. SChwan:!:, E. Chris/lidlt/. "lid jiidisclle Os/erlllfelti.
Abhilndlungen der kfinlglichen Gesellsehafl dl.'r Wisscnschaften '1.U Q;t1ingen. phi1ologisch. historischc Klasse, Neue Fo[gc VllI/6. Berlin, 1905.
___. "O,~terhetrachtungen." lei/sellrift filr die "ellleSIUIIIII.Il//ic!lc Wissnuchuf/ 7 (l90li): I -33. -,,-_. Gesculllllclu Schriftt:m, Vul. 5. pp. 1-41. Berlin, 1~63. Strobel, A. Vrsprwl~ Hlld Ge.lchichtc de)' friih,'hriSI/icJlell OsterkulemJers, Texte und Untersuchungen 1.ur Geschichte der ;lhchriSllichen Lltcratur 121. Berlin, 1977. AELlum COlJv. O.S.B.
PASTOPHORJON. See Arehilcl:lur..1 Elemcnts of Chul'ches. j
PASTORAL SCENES, See Mythological Sub· jecl~
in Coptic Arl.
PATAPE or 8idaba (c. 244-312), nn anchorite who became bishop of
COplo.~
(Oif!) and \OllIS manyred
1907
(feast day: 19 Ablb), Hc was born to Christi;m par" ents from Herrnonlhls {i\l'mantl and was hmughl up by Andrew, his l:ousin. When, at the age of fifteen, he becallle an anchorite, he and Andrew went to the same district where PACIIOMIUS founded his mon;lSterics some deeade!l lateL The Ambic tcxt tdl5 us that PaUlpc' was an andiorite for fony-nine lind a half years. He was ordained a priest and wem to church wit,h his cousin Andrew every fony days 10 receive Holy Comlllunion. Patape wa.~ COnS(:erated bishop of CoplUS about 309, in the tenlll year of PETE.lt SC\'enteenth patriarch of Alexandria. Under the gon'rnor Arillnus, operating in the name of Dtocum........ he W;lS mar· Iyred about 312 at CaplUS, where he had been bish· op for thre<: and a half yean. The Ufc of Patare, attributed to Theophilus, who probably was his immediale successor as bishop of Coptm, ili imponant because it represenl~ a biogrnphy or Encomium whose origin likely SOCIi b."lck to a Coptic lext written before 325 in the southern pan of Upper Egypt, dt."Clldes before ATlIANASIUS of Alexandria wrole hili Life of Antony. The texts on Pat;lpI.' indude iIIumimlting infOl"fl'lation about the state of the chureh, life among anchorites, and the relationship between the church nnd the anchorites in the di51rict where Pnchomiu5 was soon to liell1e. The aecOUlll of Patapc also refers to many pcrsons honored by the Coptic church, among them bishops from that relalively endy time (Gabl'tl, 1986). Many monuments indicate Ihat POltapc was an important man. A rnonasl...l)' situated ncar Bahjurah (near Hiw) that bean his name (Lefon, 1939; Adli, 1980) i.~ menlioncd on the day of its dc,lication, 13 Kiyahk, by the Luxor m:tnuSCdpl (Coquin, 1978). One of the churches of the monastery uf Mcrcudus in l:Iij:1:t.ah bears his name (Mdnar'dus, 1965), His /lame is preserved with that of his companion An· drew on a diptych (Crum and Winlock, 1926), According to Cnml and Winlock (p. 117), this P;llape, bishop of Coptos, should nOI be confused with his rHllllesake who wus a native and aSl:etie in Thehes (Upper JJ.iypl), cclebr.,llcd by Ihe SYNAXAR· ION of Constantinople on 8 Decemher (Dcldmye, col. 287). The fellst of Patape (19 Abib) is mentioned unly by a single manUSCI'ipt in Paris (National Libl'tl!)', Arab..., no. 4780; CSCO 67, p. 232, and 90. p. Z21 [Iransl.]) and by lll<: Coplo.Arabic SYN.uAKtON. His Ufc is pre5crved in lWO A.'tlbic manuscripts. One, in the Coptic Museum, dates from the lifleenth
1908
PATAsIUS, SAINT
century (Gmf. no. 138; Silllaykah. 1939). The other belongs 10 the library of the monastery of Saini Amony. This le~t is a homily of Theophilus, bishop of COptOS, in honor of the holy bishop and manyr Anb1 Bidabd (Palape). BIBLIOGRAPIIV
AdU. S. "Several Churches in Upper Eg)'P1." Millei. IUIIgen des Delllschell fJrchiJoJogischcl1 Jl1sliluts_ Ableilwlg Koiro 36 (1980): 12. erum, W. E., and H. E. Winlock. The MumWery of EpiphclIIills QI TheblS, Vol. 1, p. 117, nus. 7 and 8. New York, 1926. Delehayc, H. SYIIQJtorium ecciniDt! COPlsultllinopoJ_
Iy afterward with Anbli Joseph for the region of Olf!. PalA.sius wroughl stilt funher miracles. He proph· esied 10 Anba Joseph thai hi$ death wa.~ near, ask· ing him to remember him unrenlillingly in his pntyel"5, "Ihal I may cross the river of lire which flows before Ihe throne of Ihc Judge, and pas$ by the demon$ of variOU$ countenance who are on Ihe road." Anba Joseph asked, "What will happen after )'QUI' death?" Pawlus replied, "When I go 10 find Ihe Lord. I mall :uk Him not to give the Bemel"5 Ihe mean$ to come as far as this monastery:' R£N£-GF.ORGES CoouIN
iltmae. Brussels. 1902. Graf, C, Cflla/agllt! de mQllllscrilS araM.~ chretien.s
conserves all Caire. Cairo, 1934. tefon, L T. "Les premiers monaslcrc:s pach6miens." I.e Muslqn 52 (1939);400-401. Melnardus, O. Christi"" Egypt, Ancient ond Modem, pp. 306-307. Cairo, 1965.
PATEN. See
Eucharistic V~ls.
PATEN VEIL. Sec
Eucharistic Veils.
RF..'IlF:-GOORGe> COOUIN GAwooU GASItA
PATERAE. See PATAsrus, SAINT.
a hermit credited with many miracles (feasl day: 23 Ttibah). He is men· tloned in the reccn,ion of the Corto-Arabic SYNAX· ARION from Upper Egypl. The parenu of PalAsiu5 were nalives of Fiiw. The fnmily livL-d wilh a devout Christian called Pcg6sh and his only son, Joseph. The Iwo children were brought up logether. They often went to Ihe monas· lery of Suinl PACIIOMIUS and admired lhe monks who lived lhere. When they grew up, they asked to be admitted 10 the community. One day Patii.~ius asked the renowned monk Anbi1 Paul how he could be savcd. Anbl\ Puul '\IIswered: "Know Ihat there arc IWO commandments which our SavioI' has givcn In lhe Gospel: You shall love Ihc Lord yoor God with all your hearl and all your soul, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Patl\slus lived liS 0 recluse ncar Fiiw. After some lime he hellied a lame man and a blind mono Be· cause of these cures he was much sought after by the monb, 50 he took refuge in the house of a widow al Ftiw whose name WM Ba.~idiyyah. On the third day of Easter, he left lhe widow and returned to his hermitage. The monks wished to clothe him in the monllStic cowl, but he Wll$ unwilling. out of humility. He also heated ArsinoC!!, the wife of the chief magisll'ale of Faw. He left his hermilage shon·
Melalwork, Coptic.
or Dermatawu.~, a desert falher (feast day: 7 Kiyahk). Patcrmulhius was a native of Ollyrhynehu$ (Pemdje, or a1Bahna...:i). It i5 not known where he lived as 11 monk. He had a group of disciples, whom he ex· honed to pul'lty. fear of God. abstenlion from jealousy, and love of one another. Because of the simi· larity belween the first syllable of Pathermuthius' name and the title Apa, his name has been abridged to Termoule in the recension of the Copl{}-Arnbic sy· NAXARtON from Upper Egypl. He was celebrated at DAYII. AN"" StiINOOAlI), as several typikll show (Insthut fram;ais t.l'Archcologie orientale, Coplic, n.p.; Paris, National Library, COpl. 12911I• fols. 166r and 171 v). He also was cclebmled by the monks of DayI' Apa Apollo III uAwlr, al Saqqara, and in the hel'mitages of Isnd.
PATERMUTHIUS, SAINT.
DllJLlOCRAPIIY
SaUnel'On, S. i.es erlllilages chr~lifms dll desert d'Es"u, Vol. 4. Foui1les de I'lnstitut fram;ais d'Areh(:ologie orientale 29{4. Thompson, H. ''The Coplic Inscriptions." In £Xcavalia"l at Saqqara (1908-1909). ed. J. E. Ouibelt. Cairo, 1912. R£N£.GEDRGES COOU1N
PATRIARCH, CONSECRATION OF
wor d is a com posi te lcnn orig inal ing f!'om Lati n
Zuu -k, I. el al. 1 paln'area,; orie mali nel primo mi/. lenio. Rom e, 1968. AZII S. ATin.
rolce. peop le, nati on) and arch/)$ (IcOldcl' or chie f). In Ihe Cop lic chu rch the lenn signifie:oo Ihe head of Ihe enti re chu rch orga niza tion with arch bish ops, bishops, and priests uncleI' his eccl esia stica l auth ori.
PA TR IAR CH , CO NS EC RA TIO N OF . The
PAT RIA RC H, head of Ihe Coptic chun:h. The and Greek words: pule r (falher) or palr ill (lineage.
•
1909
Iy. In the earl iest lime s the head of lhe l:hurch was
the bish op of Alu and ria, who cam e to be identified IlS pappas, or POPE, in lhe thi.'d cen tury duri ng the episcopate of liem clas . Grad uall y bOlh "pat riar ch" and "pop e" were used ime rcha ngea bly II) desc ribe the head of the Egyptian chur ch. The term then spre ad 10 olhe r Easl cm chur che: oo-A rmc nian . Jaco bite, Nes toria n. In the Ann cnhm chun ;h the term appe ars as "pat riarc h·ca thol icos ." In the Rom an Cath olic chur ch, the patr iarc h is a /"lInk abov e bi5h.
op but und er the ecclCliiasliclll auth ority of the Roman pope . Hen ce It has severnl patriarch~, each the head of a regi on of Ihe gene/"lll chur ch. In Ethi opia , from the time of FRU Mem US in the fourth cent ury, the chu rch was head ed by a bish op or arch bish op chOllen from amo ng the Cop tic c1er. gy unli l 1959 . whe n Emp eror llAILE SEL\SSIF. plea d. ed for the elev atio n of a nativ e to head hil chu rch betw een !IS patr iarc h. An agrr eme nt was reac hed the Ethi opia n and Egyptian dele gati ons und er CYRiL . VI. II WllS sugg este d in the deli berl llion s ..,£ Ihe Cl'm fere nce that the Wc~tern met hod of mul tiple patr i. arch s und er the pope of Alex andr ia mig ht be applied. But Ihe Egyptian dclcg.1tion coul d nOt acce pt that s)'!ltem owin g to the long 'stan ding conn Olal ion of the terlll "pat riarc h" in Egyptian histo ry, whi ch has always signified Ihe sole head of the chu rch and the equi vale nt of pope . Thu s thc Ethi opia n prel ate beca me the only patr iarc h or patr iarc h.c.u holi c05 brun chin g from the Cop tic patr iarc hale . [See a/so: Ethi opia n Chu rch Auto ceph aly.] BIBL IOG RAP HY
Bird, T., and E. Pidd ubch eshe n, ed~. Arch iepis copa l and Patriarchal All/a nom y. New York, 1972. Ed, E. La Figure /llridiqlle du fHltriaN:he. Rom e ' 1962. Kan e, T. A. The Jllri sdkl iml of Ihe PalrillYchs of Ihe Major Sees ill Antiquily and fhe Middle Ages: A llislQrical Com men tary . Was hing ton, D.C., 1949. Vcrg hese , P. Koplisches Christenfllm: Die orlho. duxe n Kirc hen ifgyplt'-IIS mrd Allriopiens. StulIgaM ' 1973. Vries, W. de. Rom Iwd die Palriarchale des OSIens. Frei burg and Mun ich, 1963.
cons ecra tion of a POPE of Alex andr ia and patr iarc h of Ihe See of Sain t MAR K lake s plac e on a SUNDAY in the cou rse of the cele brat ion of Divinc Litu rgy at $ain t Mar k's Cath edra l in Cair o. Afler Ihe appo inl' ed lecti ons from the Acts of the Apostles anu the dea. SYNA XAR1 0N have been read , the pres byte rs and cons , carr ying cros ses, cens ers, and cand les, leav e in a proc essi on to brin g the pope-ciCCI from Ihc near by pnpa l resid ence . The doo r of the cath edra l is then locked, and Ihe key is held by an ARCIIDF..ACQN who slan ds ther e awa iling the relu rn of the proc es. sion . The proc essi on star ts from Ihe papa l resi dcnc e tow ard the ealh cdro l: first Ihe DEACONS, Ihen the pres byte rs, the 81SHOPS in orde r of seni orily , fol. lowe d by the pope ·clec t. An arch deac on carr ies the Book of the Gospel in from of the seni or bish op. and the following hym n is chan ted in Coptic: "Th e Onl y·be gon en Son . the Etel'nal Logos, Who for our salv ation was inca rnat e from the nlEO TOK OS, the ever · Virgin Mary, and beca me man , and was cruc i. fied .... " Upon reac hing the cath edra l duo r, Ihe arch deacon presenlS the key to the pope -elec t, who open s the doo r, reci ting words from the Psalms: "Op en to me the gate s or righteousnt."SS, that I may ente r thro ugh them and give than ks to the Lord . This i.~ the gale of the Lord: the righ teou s shal l enle r thro ugh it. 1 than k thee thaI thou ha.~t answ ered me and hast bt."Corne my salv alio n" CPs. 118: 19-2 1). Hcr e the cath edra l bells ring to proc laim the arriv al of the new pope . Insi de the cath edra l at the .sanctuary steps, all mak e an obei sanc e, and the popc -ele ct stan ds betwee n two bish ops, while Ihe seni or bish op read s the seco nd pray er to the Gospel and then hand s thc deed of c1et;:lion to an arch deac on or a priu t to read it from Ihe pulp it. While Ihc pope ·elec t knee ls jn front of the hay/ wI (sanctual')'), the seni or bish op offers INCENSE and says the Pray er of Ince nse, followed by ano ther pray er 10 the Almighty to pou r forth Ihe grac e of high pri~thooJ on the pope ·clec l. The arch deac on says the following peti tion s, 10 each of whi ch Ihe: deac ons resp ond by saying KYR.lE EIFIS ON:
1910
PATRIARCH, CONSECRATION OF
lei U~ all ~y, Us!en to us, 0 God, and
1I3vI.'
me,'cy upon us. I'r'll)' fOl- the peace of the 00\' Holy Calholic
Apostolic Church and the salvation of God's people. P~y for
the forgh'cncss of our sins and deliver·
ance from all tribul:l.lion, all uprising of enemies. 1"'3)' 10 Cod 10 bless UL~ inheritance, have mer-
cy upon all people. gi\'e help [0 all Christians through the power of the lift..--giving Cross, 10 blot our transgo.'S5ions through the inl~'rcession of the ThcQtokO$, of Saint Mark the Evangelisl, and all the Saints. We b6eech Tlu~e. lnrd, send TI,ine Holy Spirit
upon Thy servant Lllame]. whom Thou hast chosen 10 be the High Priest of Thy people. The senior bishop invokes the Holy Spirit to 611 the pope.elecl wilh grace and wisd,)m 10 shepherd the church nock in purity and justice.
Next. the senior bishop says the p,ayer of in\lestitune. This prayer is OIccumpanied by the LAYISG ON Of HANDS only when the pope-elect is a monk who has not been consecrdted bishop befort'. Tuming his f;:ace toward the pope·dect, the senior bishop then $01)'11 tu him, "Wc pronounce thee Anba [n.:unc], Pope ;:and l';miarch, Master and Archbishop of the SCe of S::.int Mark, In the Nnme of the Fnlher and of the Son nnd of the Holy Spi,;t:' 1·lere the new pope ill clothed Wilh a stieharion (llee UTtJRGICAI_ VE:,iTMans) while the choir lIing.~ Saint Mark's Doxology. The senior bishop hOlnds him the deed of investiture as the choir sings, "May thou be granted the grace of Moses. the priesthood or Mckhi~edek, the old age of Jacoh, the longevity of Melhu!\Clah, the sagacity of D:wid. Ihe wisdom of Solomon, lind the Paraclctc who descended upon the Apostles." Some petitions are then .'wid by Ihe arcl,de;".;on, e"eh followed by the Kyri~ ~l~is,m respunse from the dencons. Tile rUfUS (worthy) hymn is then chnnled, and the senior bishop holds the Book 01" the Gospels over Ihe new pope's hL'ad, while the deacons ll~aln sing Qxios. At this point, II" he has nOI previously been conseel'llled to Ihe episcopacy, all Ihe bishops I"y theil' hands upon his hend, while the scnlor bishop says, "We lay our hands upon [or "pr
versicles from the Psalms of Isaiah and is followed by this response from the dc;:acons: "Now and forever, and to the ages of ages, Amen." Fil"$t comes the m"ill apparel (Ps. 132:9); then the $lIdrllh, or epitrd' chelion (Pli. 133:2-3); then the girdle (1.'1.11:5); thell the right ~Ieeve (Ps. 118:15): then the left slt:eve (Ps. 119:73); then the kerchiefs (Ps. 45:3-4); then the hl/rll/IS, or phelonion (Is. 61:10): and lastly thc miter (Ps. 92: 1: 21 :3-4; see unJRCICAL VFSTMEH'I'S). He is then led to the sanctuary, whcI"C the cross and pastoral staff have been l;:aid on the altar. The senior bishop calls upon him to "reeei\le the Pasto· I'lll Staff from the hand of the Shepherd of shep. herds, Jesus Chrillt, Ihe Son of lhe Uving God:' Here apin thc dt'acons sing the arios hymn. The incense box is then presented to him. He makes the sign of the Cl"OJS over it and puts some incense into the.: censer. The other bishops do the same. and the senior bishop, looking toward the east, says a prayer of thanksgiving to God: "We glorify Thy I'Ioly Name, for Thou hast done greal things to us, and poured Thy rich gifts over thy serv;:ant the Pope tllld Patriarch Anba [name] by Ihe desccnt of Thy Holy Spirit upon him." Here the new pope is uken to the patriarchal seat, the S}'whrono$, for his formal enthronement. At the first stair the senior bishop proclaims, "We scat An~ [name) Archbishop upon lhe Apo:>tolie Throne of Saint M;:ark the Evangelist, in the Name of the Falher IIn,1 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen:' At the second Slair he proclaims, "We enthrone the chief shepherd, chosen by God, An~ [name) Patriarch upon the Throne of Saint Mark.... " The deacons then sing the uxiQS hymn, and the new pope is presented with the Gospel of Saint M;lrk, which he kisses. The deacons here sing the Coptic hymn of the Golden Censer, followed by the hymn of the lrfltlillOl1ltl honorifics of lhe pope of Alex:llldria. Then follow II number of lecllons all relevant 10 the occasion of the choice of lhe high priest (Heb. 4:14, 5:1-6; Ps. 73:23-24, 28, 107:32, 41-42, 110:4-5). Afler the lnlcrcessioll of lhe Gospel, the pope reads John 10: 1-16, in which Christ speaks of Ihe Good Shepherd. Every time these two words are menlioned, the deacons sing Ihe axios hymn. Final· ly, they sing the hymn of Ihe Descent of the Holy Spirit. The celebl'lltlon of the Ilivine Uturgy is resumed. Al lhe conclusion, the new pope is taken to the cathedral crypt, where he prays for' Ihe blessing of Saint Mark's relics. He is then led in a procession back to the pap:al rt:sidcnce.
PATRIARCHAL ELECTION
BlBLiOGRAPIIY
Bunnester, O. 1·1. 11 Tile ElD'ptian or Coptic Church, pp. 177-87. Cairo, 1967, AIl.CIlUlSHOP BASllJOS
PATRIARCHAL DEPUTY, known ill Arabic as wdl/ a/·/xwi,llrl:iyyalr, a posilion similar to lhal of vicar general in the Weslem church. This depUll may be a priest, monk, or bishop, and is chosen by the patriarch 10 assist him in Ihe administration of his diocese. The Coptic patriar· chate has IWO deputies, one in Alexandria and an· OIher in Cairo, who deputize for thc Pope in these two cities. Both of Ihern are ex officio nlembers of the HOLY SYNOD. The post of patriarchal deputy is the highcst ce· clcsiaslical position a married priest can attain. YuAD MECAll.Y
PATRIARCHAL ELECTION. The Coptic Or. thodox church is an apostolic church, and its first patriarchs were selected from a limited number of priests of whom the first group of Iwclve werc appointed to help ANIANtJS (68-85), who .
1911
1928 with eleven bishops present, departed from the rulc of excommunication and opened the dool' fol' the elevalion of a bishop to the palriarehate. II was on this basis Ihat Pope JOHN XIX (1928-1942), fOl'merly bishop of Bcheirah province, was the fil'S1 to be c1cclcd patriarch, and this caused a greal prolest in Ihe Coplic eommunily. Jhjis Phlhithawus 'Awaq published II painful brochure under the lille "Pitfall of Ihe Coptic Chur<:h In the Twentieth Cen· 101')'." Othel'S such as Yassli 'Abd al·Masih, . Nazir . Jayyid (SHENOUDA ltl), and Wahlb 'Alallah (Bishop Gregorius) joined Ihe protesters, and the eminent jurist Albert BaniUm SaIAmah wrote in support of the old tradition. Nevertheless, Pope: John XIX was succeeded by the bishop of Asyli! as h1ACARlUS lit (1944-1945) and again y(lsAs It (1946-1956), bishop of JirjA. Aner the death of Pope CYIIIL VI (1959-1971), a former solital')' monk, the Coptic patriarchal SCat was claimed again by six bishops of whom three bore the title of bishops suffragan or general (otherwise bishops wilhout 11 fixed eparchy). This was a novelly to promOle their case without breach of Ihe eslablished tradition that a bishop could Dol leave the eparchy 10 which he is married for life. BUI this innov:uion \\'as criticized as conlrary to church us· age, for a bishop should always be idenlified with an eparchy, and the bishop wilhout one is like a head without a body. Nevertheless, Bishop Shenouda, as suffragan entrusted with the supernsion of theological education, was a candidate for the palri· al'chat scat 10 which he was elected as Shenouda III, the 117th patriarch. But the fact remains that the palriarch must Ie· gaily be selectcd from the community of monks. This was made explicitly clear during the tenure of Pope Cyril VI on the ocel:lsion of ~rantin~ Ihe Ethio· piun church the privilege of selecting its own patri· arch. This document laid down the condition that the Ethiopian clel'gy must select their candidate frum among their monastic community in unison with the established lradition of the mother church in Egypt. Since the AIUr.Il CONQUI!ST 01' I!OYPT (640), confir· mation of the election of the patriarch by the ruler has been a matter of official fol'mality. During the twentieth century, this confinnation was granted by virtue of a royal decree, and, after the 1952 revolu· tion, by virtue of a presideOlial decl'ee, pursuanl to the presidentlal aCI of 2 November 1957, which is curreOlly in force and also allows both orders of monks and bishops to be candidales in the patriar· chal declion.
•
1912
PATRIARCHAL RESIDENCES
Today the patri
from the altar). The nam..' S of three candidates are placed in a sealed box: by the patriarch's .-epn:$enl::Hi\,c. Before the Sunday liturgy following lhe choic.."5. the boll. is placed u.,.-.n the altar of the
patriarchal Church
(St.'C
PATRIARCHAL
RESIDENCES).
Following lhe liturgy and communion. the priest
selects a very young boy From the audience. He is blindfolded, the 00'" ili opened. anJ he picks one of the thn:c cards. The first name picked is that of the new patriarch. The other two llamC$ must also be shown 10 the congregation. The liturgy of consecrntions takes place one or tWO weeks later on II. Sunday (s.."co PATllIAIl.CII. CO~F..· CRAno,," OP).
BIBUOCRAPHY Ourm~ler,
O. U. E. The Rite of CousecrQliou of tire Po/riord, of A.{ulJlldrilJ. Arabic text Ir.mslated and annotated. Cairo, 1960. Jhjis PhlhltMwus 'Awal). BaM'iiriq al·f~14h, Kayfiyyal Illtikhilb al.Ba!rak. Cairo. 1920. ___ Saq!lJ/ al.Kat/isah al-Qi1?/iyyah hi- Wtlj,.J Ba· !riyork '.1•• kflm1 Chayr Qilm'"i. Cairo, 1930. Orti:L de Urbina, I. Nicl.e t't CUlls/lJmit/oplt'. Paris. 1963. MOUNI" SIIOUCRI
PATRIARCHAL RESIDENCES, From Ihe lime of Saint MARK. the firsl patriarch of the Egyp. lian church. the Coptic patrian.:hs r~idcd lit Aicil' andria, the cradle of Egyptian Christianily. This wa..~ the first patriarchal scat in Egypt, but thcre were also other'S, depending on historical circumstances. Eutychius (877-940), Melchitc patriarch of Alell' lIndria, in his master'Wor'k, the Amwles (PC 1 J 1, cols. 1068-70), placed the seal of lhe Coptic patr!· [H'ch lit [MYIl II.NIl" MII.O"Il. Certainly Evelyn,White (1932, I'll'. 236[.) gave no credl'nce to this isolaled leslimony. However', il would give a basis ror' Ihe medieval custom, otherwisc unwarranted, accord· ing to which palrian;;hs had 10 be enthroned nOI only at Alexandria or Cairo bUI also at DayI' Anba. Maq:lr, According to that custom, the patrh.rch h:.d 10 spend Lent, or at least the week preceding Ea.~. ler, at DayI' Anbll Maqiir, during which pcrio<.l he often solemnly conSt'CI'ated the chrism, slllTOunded by numerous bishops. Thesc fI:port:> allC5t Ihc num· ber and 10cali....lIIion of Ihese Egyptian bishops. This wall in all probability the second seal of Ihc Coptic p:ltriarch. For the decade 965-975, Ihe palriarchal :seal was
at the village of MaJ:1aJlat IXinytil in lhe diSlricl of ndah, probubly with some interludes al Alexandria. The village has now disappcar(:-d. and loday the dis· trict is known as Kafr al,Shaykh, ~ it is difficuh 10 specify the dates of the patriarch':> J;ojourn. A good judgc of the hislory of Ihe lIicissitudes of these patriarchal residence!,', Kamil ~Ii~ Nakhlah (I943, pp. g9ff,), lIaguely indicates these different re:sidcncC5; MINA II (956-974) rt'5ided In the Dclta and then at Mal};:lllal D3nyal. His successor, AIlIlAIiAM (975978), lived at the CHURCH OF AL-MtrALL\QAH in old Cairo, but his successor, Philolheus (979-1003), is said 10 have resided al Damni. Philotheus Wll5 persuaded 10 establish the .scat of Ihe patrian;;natc there by Macarius, set:retary of the :>ynod, who had a brother living there, Il!I was Menas, the bishop of Tanah. This patrian;;hal seat at Damlii began v.ith him and lasted until the de~ure fur Old Cairo around 1061. There were, howeller, exchanges v.ith al·Mu'aJlaqah of Mi1!r (Old Cairo), the first capital of Ihe Muslim occupation. The :>mall town of Damni in the Delta (about 10 miles nonh of al-Mal:
yeal'$. H, a..~ seems likely, thc patrian;;hs had left Iheir residence in Alexandria for different 10wn:> in thc Della because of a scllen: famine, they probably chose to establish themselves at Mi1!r to bc c10scr to the political heads of the country. One may consid· er Mi,r as a whQle, ellen if the patl'ian;;h resided now in al.Mu'allaqah, now in the Church of Abo Sayfayn (S:.int Mercurius), allhough one cannot SCi a term to such residence in each of them. The Church of Saint ScrgiU5 (AbO S...rjah), without being regarded as the residence of the patriarch, had the privilege of being the site of certain solemn cere· monies (such as palriarchal consecrations), which created animo.~ity between the clergy of al· Mu'allaqah and Abo Sarjah. Nakhlah conjectures that the residence at al.Mu'allaqah began umler Ihe patriurch l'uA'IL JJI (880-907), with sojourn.~ at the DayI' Anbll Mnq61' and In the Delta, But il was the patriarch CHRISTOOOULUS (1047 -1 077) who defini· tively lransferred the patriarchal resi"dcnce to Old Cairo. Despite the difficulty in Slating the limits of each p(llrian:hal residence in al-Mu'allaqah and Abu al'Sayfayn, Nakhlah dates the seal at al-Mu'allaqah from Christoooulos (about 1061) to Michael V (1145-1146), who III~o resided at Abu Sayfayn. His successor, 101111 V (1147-1167), is said to have l'e' sided at Abo Sayfayn, while his successor Mark III (1167-1189) once again chosc al·Mu'allaqah as the patrian:h's place of residence, which il remained down to TIteodosius II (1294-1300), who resided
PATRIARCHS, DATES AND SUCCESSION OF
first al al.Mu'ill1aqah, then at Abu Sayfayll, all hough al whal dme the transfer look place i5 uncertain. The followIng pallilll'ch, John VIII (1300~IJ20), moved the palri;u'chlll residence 10 I;tARIT ZUWAYLAH.
1913
MeinarduS, O. Cllri~'lia" Egypl, 2nd cd. Cairo, 1977. Mul.umlllliid RlUllzI. Al·QlJm/is at.Juglmifi IiI·Bi/ad al Mi~rf)l)lah. 2 \lOIs. Cairo, 1953-1963. RENE·GEORG£..'i COQUIN
In Grelller Cairo are ';Il'II'il Zuwaylah and ':Iaril a]·RUm. It appears Ihal the desire 10 be nearer 10 the civil power led 10 the muye 10 the new capital, Cairo, founded in A.D. 969 by Jawhar al·$iqilli. At lint Ihe residence was al !;tant Zuwaylah. adopted by the plllrlarch JOliN VIII (1300-1320) at a dale impossible 10 dclcnninc, a decision adhered to by his successors down 10 MATnll;'W IV (1660-1675), who began (al an unknown dale) 10 reside at !:Ian,
al·Rum. The n~sidencies in ~I~l.ril ZuwlIylah and I:Hiril al·Rum were brkny intcrroptcd by the s0journ of the pall;arch MAmll~W
lit
{1634-1b49} al
TOKH. of which he was a native. nu:~ Mur Cathedrnl :1.1 Anba Ruways in the quarters of Abbasiyyah in Cairo, This residence b on the 1Iite of the andent DAYR AI"'(IlANIIAO. which included scveral churches in thc Middle Ages. DIBLIOCRAPJlY
Brct.ldy, N, Das Allllalellll'uk des EUlycllio_~ von Ai· exalldriClI, CSCO 471-472. EvcJ)'n·White, U. G. The MOllas/eries of Ille Wadi '" Nalrm" pl. 2, 7'l,e flis/ory of Ihe MOIJI/Sleries of Ni/riu /lIlel of Sec/is. New Yurk, 1932. Kamil ~'1li~ Nakhltlh. Kilflb Tilrikh IVa Jadinl'i1 Bald· rikal al./skalldarlyyah al·Oib!. Tarikh al·Ummah tll·Qib!iyytlh 4. DayI' ai·Sury1i.n, 1943. No.
N.l.MI'.
Ytil\1lS
PATRIARCHS, DATES AND SUCCESSION OF. Significant dates in Ihe lives of nUlable persons from the past, particularly from the ancienl pa...., are oflen a malleI' of conjt:cture. In some ~ a paucity of hislorical source malerial makes it impossible to de:lemlim,: whc,:n pal1icular events look place, and in olher instances discrepancies in the sources that are Cxtanl make such a delCnnina· lion fruslT:llingly tenuous. Since lltlch uncertainly is a feature uf the btogn.phkal data available for many of the Coplic patriarchs, Ihe following list can give only the approximate dates for some of these leaden. For lhe period up to 1243 the table relies solely on the His/ory ollhe Palriarchs compiled by S:iwlrus ibn al-Muqaffa'. Supplemenlary sections of subs<..'
or
PROVENANCE
RULlllI.
YEARS
Gl'eco·Rom:.ln and BY1.arltlne f'eriod I.
Mar'k
2.
Anjl1nu.~
43-68 68-85
Alexandria Alexandria
Nero Nero Golba
olhu
3. Abiliu1l 4. Cerdon
5. Primus 6. JuslUS
85-98 98-109 109-122 122-130
Alexandria Alexandria unknown unknown
VilelHus Vespallian Titus l>omitillll Domilian Nerva Trojan Tmjan Hadrian
54-68 54-68 68-69 69 69 69~79
79-81 81-96 81-96 96-98 98~117
98-117 117-138
1914
PATRIARCHS, DATES AND SUCCESSION OF
No.
NAMF.
Y,,,,S
PII.OVllNANCE
7. Eumeniw;
lJO-142
unknown
8. Marclanus
unknown unknown unknown unknown
10.
Agrippinu.~
II.
Julian
143-154 157-167 1(,7-180 IRO-189
12.
Demetrius 1
IK9-231
unknown
13.
Heradas
231-247
unknown
14.
Dionysius
247-264
unknown
15.
Maxi,nus
264-282
unknown
16.
Theona.~
282-300
unknown
17. Peter 1
300-311
unknown
".
AchlllllS
Jll-J12
unknown
19.
Alexander I
312-326
unknown
20.
Allw!llISius I
326-373
unknown
21. I'ete,- II
373-380
unknown
22. Timothy I
380-385 385-412
unknown unknown
,.
Celadion
23. Theophilus
RULER
Hadrian Antonius Pius Antonius Pius Antonius Pius Marcus Aurelius Mal"CWi Aurclius Commodw; Commodus Peninax Didius Julianus Septimius Severus Caraealla Marcinus Heliogabalus Alexander Severus Alexander Severus MaximinUli Bulbinus and Pupienus Gort.lianus III Philippus Philippus Decius Gallus Valcrianus Cnllienus Cnllicnus Claudius II Aurelianus Tacitus Florianus Probus Caros Numcrianus Diodetian Dioclctian Galcrlus Galcrlus Licinius Lidnlus Constaillille I COnslanline I ConSlflll1ius II Juli(ln Jovian Valens Valens Gl'tItilln Valenlinilln II Theodosias Theodoslus Arcadius Theodosius II
Y"«s 117-138 138-161 138-161 138-161 161-180 161-180 180-192 180-192 193 193 193-211 211-217 217-218 218-222 222-235 222-235 235-238 238 238-244 244-249 244-249 249-251 251-253 253-260 260-268 260-268 268-270 270-275 275-276 276 276-282 282-283 283-284 284-305 284-305 305-310 J05-J10 J08-J24 308-324 306-337 306-337 337-361 361-363 363-364 364-378 364-378 375-383 375-392 379-395 379-395 395-408 408-450
PATRlARCHS, DATES AND SUCCESSION OF
No.
N~'
V"",
PROVENANCE
24. Cyril I 25. Dioscorus I
412-444 444-458
Anbii MlIq3.r unknown
26. Timothy Adurns II
458-480
unknown
"The Cal"
27. Peter III (Mongus)
RULER
Thcodosius II Thcodosius II Marcian Marcian Loa I
28. Athanasius II
480-488 488-494
unknown unknown
29. John I 30. John II 31. Dioscorus It
494-503 503-515 515-517
AnW Maqar a1-Zujaj (Enaton) unknown
32. Timothy III
517-535
unknown
33.
Theodosius I
535-567
34. 3S.
Peter IV Damian
567-569 569-605
al.Zujaj (Enaton) Tabur Abo Yu~annis
36. Anastasius
605-616
unknown
37. Andronicus
616-622
unknown
622-661
QibriyilS
Zeno leno Zeno Anastasius Anastasius Anastaslus Anastasius Justin I JU5lin I Justinian Justinian Justin II Justin II Justin II Tiberiu! II Maurice Phocas Phocas Hcradius Hcrndius
1915
V"", 408-450 408-450 450-457 450-457 457-474 474-491 474-491 474-491 491-518 491-518 491-518 491-518 518-527 518-527 527-565 527-565 565-578 565-578 565-578 578-582 582-602 602-610 602-610 610-634 610-634
Medieval Al'llb Period 38.
39. 40.
Benjamin I
Agathon John III
41. 42.
661-677 677-686
Aleltandria AnbA Maqar
Isaac Simon I 43. Alexander II
686-689 689-701 705-730
Anba Maqar al.Zujaj (Enaton) al·lujAj (Enalon)
44. 45.
Cosmas I Thcodorns
730-731 731-743
46.
Kha'lll
744-767
AnM Maqar Tllmnurah (Mareotis) Anba Mllq.ar
Heradius 'Umar 'Uthman 'All al-J:lasan b. 'All Mu'llwiyah I Mu'Awiyah I Yazld I MU'Qwiyah Il Marwan J 'Abd-al-Matik 'Abd·al·Malik .Abd al·Malik 'Abd al·Malik 1I1-WalJd ibn 'Abd aI-Malik Sulayman 'Umllr ibn 'Abd at·'AzT:l: YazTd II Hisham Hishdm Hisham al-WlIlld ibn Yazid Ymid III
610-634 634-644 644-656 656-661 661
661-681 661-681 680-683 683
684-685 685-705 685-705 685-705 685-705 705-715 715-717 717-720 720-724 724-743 724-743 724-743 743-744 744
1916
PATRIARCHS, DATES AND SUCCESSION OF
No.
NAME
YEAKS
PROVENANCE
RUI.PJt
Ilmlhim MfllWilll II tll-Safr:.l_l al-Man~tlr
47.
Mln~
1
767-774
Anba Maqiir
48. John IV
775-799
Anoo Maqar
49.
Mark IT
799-819
Anba Maqar
'0.
J~ob
819-X30
Simon II
830
Yu.~bf
830-849
Anb1 Maq;'ir AnM Maq:'!.r Anba Maqar
'I.52.
al-Man~ur
al·Mahdi al-Mahdi al·IUdl 1-llil'On aI-Rashid Hanin aI-RashId al-Amln al·Mu'mfm al·Ma'mun al-Ma'mOn al·Ma'mun al.Mu'l.a.~im
Sl. Kha'i111 '4. Cosmas 11 55.
Shellllle I
849-851 851-858 858-1180
Abo Yuhannis AnM Muql'ir AnM Maq:'!.r
al-Wlllhiq 1I1-MulllWJkkil al-Mulawakkil al-Mulaw3kkil al·Muluwakkil al-Muntn~ir
,•. 57.
SR. 59
Kh:'!.'il III
Cabriel J Cnsmas III Macarius I
.0. Thcophnno::s
.1. Mlnil 11
880-':107
Anba Maqal-
909-'120 920-932 932-952
Anba Mnqal' unknown Anba Maq:'ir
952-'156 956-'174
Anbli Maqilr AnbA MaqAr'
.2.
Abr-aham
975-978
Layman
.3.
Philothcu~
979-1003
Anro Maqa..
b4.
Zacharia~
1004-1032
unknown
31-Mustu'ln 31-Mu'I37.2. 1l1·Muhladl AI,lIn3d ibn Tuhin AI)mad ibn Tulun KhulTl:ir:lwayll Jaysh ibn Khum:irJwayh Hartln ibn Khumilrnwayb Shaylmn ibn A~mad al-Muktnfl ul·Muqllldir nl.Muqt:ldil' lll-Muqladll' al-Muht:ldt al·Radi al-Ikhshld Abo id-Qilsilll QnOjlirAbu nl-Qilsirn OnujOI' Abfl al-Qasim QnOjOI' Abli tll-l:J;ls,m 'All KMlir Abu al·Fawaris ihn 'All ul-Mu'i1.1. ul·Mu'tu 0.1·' A7.l1. al·' Al,ll, al·H.::ikim nl-l:J.::ikim al-Uhl..
YEAK$
744 744-750 750-754 754-775 754-775 775-785 775-785 785-786 786-809 786-809 809-813 813-833 813-833 813-833 813-833 833-842 842-847 847-861 847-861 847-861 847-861 861-862 862-866 866-869 869-870 870-884 870-884 884-896
".
896-904 904 904-908 908-932 908-932 908-932 932-934 935 936-946 946-960 946-960 946~960
960-966 966-968 968-969 972-975 972-975 975-996 975-996 996-1021 996-1021 102.1-1035
PATRIARCHS, DATES AND SUCCESSION OF
NO.
NoI.Mt\
65. Shenute II
YEAKS 1032-1046
PRoveNANce Anl)A Maqii,-
66. Christodoulus 67. Cyril II 68. Mlkha'illV
69. Macarius II 70. Gabrielli 71. Mtkh~11 V 72. John V
1047-1077 1078-1092 1092-1102
;.1-IX,rlilnus Anba Mllq1r Anba Maqtir Sinjar
1102-1128 1131-1145 1145-1146 1147-1167
Anba Maqar Layman Anbi\ MaqAr Abu Yu~annis
1167-1189
Cayma.
74. John VI
1189-121(,
Layman
75.
Cyril ibn Laql:lq III
1235-1243
unknown
76.
Athanasiu~
1250-1261
Anba Maqar
73.
Mark III
III
V""
RuU!1I. al-7~hir'
al-Muslan~ir Abo
Tamllll
al-MuSI!ln~ir al.Must::lIl~lr al-Mustan~ir
al·MuSlll·11 al·'Amir al-'Amir al-HMil. al-I.lMi?, al-I:liih? al-?..Alir al-Fa'i:t al-'A4id al-'A4id ~l:i.l) aI-Din ~I:i.I) aI-Din a[·'Al.b: 'Im;\(J al·Din al-Man~ur Mul.lamllla
77.
John VII
78.
Qlbrid III
79.
Thendo~iu~
I[
1262-126/\ 1271-1293 1268-1271
unknown unknown unknown
1294-1300
Abu Fanah
80.
John VIII
[300- [320
Shah I'M
81. 82. 8J.
John IX Benjamin II Peler V
1320-1327 1327-133\1 1304-1348
unknown Jabal TU!'
al.~hi.,
Baybal"ll
al.?..nhlr Bayha.~ IXuukah KhAn S:.lltlmish Qalawun ai-Ashraf KhaJII aJ-Ni1slr Mubammad al-'Adl[ Kith~gh:.\ ':lusnrn ai-Din U\jin a[.Nll~i!' Mut.mmllllld lll-N:l~ir Mul.llllllllllld 13llybH !'S-Jashan kll' al-N(\~jr Mul,mmmad al-Nil~i!' Mul.mmmad al.Nii~ir MU~llmmad
S:lyf (.I-OJn Abo Uakl' al-Ashn.f Kujuk al-N:J,~ir A~mad al-~Ii~ ISIll:'l't1
al·Knmil Sha'biin al.Mu~ffa.. l:Iaiii al·N:blr 1·1a..
1917
1021-1035 1035-1094 1035-1094 1035-1094 1035-1094 1094-1101 1101-1130 1101-1130 1130-1149 1130-1149 1130-1149 1149-1154 1154-1160 1160-1171 1160-1171 1171-1193 1171-1193 1193-1198 1198-1200 1200-1218 1218-1238 1238-1239 1239-1249 1250-1252 1252-1257 1257-1259 1259-1260 1260-1277 1260-1277 1260-1277 1277-1279 1279 [ 279-1290 [ 290-1293 [294 [294-[926 1296-1299 1299-1.~O9
1299-1309 1309-13[0 [310-1341 13[0-1341 1310-1341 1341 1342 1342 1342-1345 1346 1347 1347-1351
1918
No.
PATRIARCHS, DATES AND SUCCESSION OF
NAME
84. Mlirk IV
... as.
YEARS
1349-1363
R"""
PROVENANCE Shahn\n
John X Gabriel IV
1363-1369 1370-1378
a1·Mu~arraq
87. Mauhew 1
1378-14Q9
a1-MuJ:!arraq
unknown
Ill-N~ir f:I:lSan ~li~ ~Ili~ ai-Din al.N"lr I~asan
al·MansOr Mu~alllmad ai-Ashraf Sha'bln al·Ashraf Sha'ban 'Ala' ai-Din 'All al-Man~or al--sa.ll~ ai-Din
H.1jji
1427-1452
unknown
90. Mauhew II
1452-1465
al-Mul)arraq
.1. Gabriel VI
1466-1475
An!iiniyiis
'2. '3.
1476-1478 1479-1482
unknown al-Mul)arraq
Barquq Sal~ f:laiii BarqOq al.N~ir Faraj al-Ma~r 'Abd al-'A2Jz al-N~ir fardj al-N~lr Faraj al·'Adii Mlala'in al-Mu'awad Shaykh al.Mu~ffar Al)mad Sayf al·Dln Talar N~ir al·Din Mutmmmad al·Ashraf Banbay al·Ashraf Barsbay Jamal ai-Din YUSuf Jaqmaq Jaqmaq Fakhr ai-Din 'UlhmAn Say( al·Dfn Inal Shlhab ai-Din Ahmad Sayf ai-din Khushqadam Sayf ai-Din Khushqadam Sayf al·Oln Valbay Timurbugha O.1'llb.1y O.1'itb.1y Q.1'itb.1y
1484-1524
al-Mu~armq
QA'itbay
... ...
Gabriel V
John XI
Mlkh.1'II VI John XII
1409-1427
Oalamun
y""" 1347-1351 1351-1354 1354-1361 1361-1363 1363-1377 1363-1377 1377-1381 1377-1381 1382 1383-1389 1389-1390 1390-1398 1398-1405 1405 1406-1412 1406-1412 1412 1412-1421 1421 1421 1421-1422 1422-1438 1422-1438 1438 1438-1453 1438-1453 1453 1453-1460 1460 1460-1467 1460-1467 [467 1467 1468-1495 1468-1495 1468-1495
Modern Period (1500-1798) 94. Juhn XIII
al-Nd~ir Mul)ammad al-+.1hlr Oan~(Jh
'5.
... '7.
Gabriel VII
1525-1568
Suryan
John XIV
1570-1585
al-Banimils
Gabriel VIII
1586-1601
Bishoi
al-A5hraf Janhalli! Oan~Oh al·Ghari TOman-bay Sclfm I Sulaymlln 1 Sulaymdn I Scllm II Scllm II Munid III MurAd III Mu~ammad III
1468-1495 1495-1498 1498-1499 1499-1500 1500-1516 1516-1517 1512-1520 1520-1566 1522-1566 1566-1574 1566-1574 1574-1595 1574-1595 1595-1603
PATRIARCHS, DATES AND SUCCESSION OF
N""
No.
... ...
Mark V
John xv
YEARS
1602-161H
1619-1634
Rm."
PROVENANCE
Anba Maqar
An!liniytis
AJ;lInad 1 MWj!ltfa J 'UlhmAn II 'Ulhm1n II Mu~!af.\ I MIJ~d
100. Ma.nhew III 101.
Mark VI
1634-1649 1650-1660
al·BaramUS Anba Maqar Anruniyiis
IV
Murad IV IbrahIm J lbnihim I MU!;lammad IV
102. Matthew IV 103. John XVI
104. Peter VI 105. John XVII
106. Mark VII 107. John XVIII
1660-1675
al·Barirnus
1676-1718
An!uniytis
1718-1726 1726-1745
An!iiniy\iS Anulniyfis·
1745-1769
BulA An!uniyil.s
1769-1796
An!t1niyus
Mu~ammad
IV Mul;lammad IV SulaymAn It AJ.tmad II Mu"arl II Ahmad III Al;tmad JII ~mad III Ma.l:imUd J Mahmiid I
1919
y~~
1603-1617
1617-1618 1618-1620 1618-1620 1620-1623 1623-1640 1623-1640 1640-1648 1640-1648 1648-1687 1648-1687 1648-1687 1687-1691
1691-1695 1695-1703 1703-1730 1703-1730 1703-1730 1730-1754 1730-1754
'Uthmlin IU
'754-1757
M~!af.l m
'Abd al.l;famld J Salim III
1757-1774 1757-1774 1774-1789 1789-1805
Salim III Mul.lammad 'Ali Mul)ammad 'All Ibn1.hTm 'Abbas 1 'Abb~ I Sa'ld sa'id lsmA'1l IsmA'il TawOq 'AbbAs II l:Iusayn Ktlmil Found Pouad Farouk Farouk Farouk Mul;1anllnad Najlb Jamal 'Abd al.NO¥r JamAl 'Abd al.Ni.~er Anwar al-sadal Anwar al-sadAI l;fusnT Mubarak
1789-1805 1805-1848 1805-1848 1848 1848-1854 1848-1854 1854-1863 1854-1863 1863-1882 1863-1882 1882-1892 1892-1914 1914-1917 1917-1936 1917-1936 1936-1952 1936-1952 1936-1952 1952-1954 1954-1970 1954-1970 1970-1981 1970-1981 1981-
M~~f.\ III
Cc:mtemporary Period (1798 to the prescnl) 108.
Mark VIlI
1796-1809
An!uniyiis
109
Peler VII
1809-1852
An!uniyiis
1854-1861
An!uniyiis
110. Cyril IV Ill.
Demetrius II
1862-1870
Anba Maqar
112.
Cyril V
1874-1927
al-Barii.mus
113.
John XIX
1928-1942
al-Bar-J.mus
114. 115.
Macal'ius III Yl1sAb II
1944-1945 1946-1956
Bishoi An!ilniyiis
116.
Cyril VI
1959-1971
al-Ban\miis
1971-
Suoy.l"
117. Shenouda III
1920
PATRISTICS
ogmphie& of all patriarehli have been included in Ihe hody of our alphabetized telll, !>ave in the case of Ihe presenl patriarch, whose dales nrc l'ecol'ded bUI whose life crilique has to be ddenx-x1 until after the end of hili tenure for nn objective evalualion of his total work and service, OIBLIOGRAPIIY
K.3.mil salih Nakhlah, Kitub rurikl, lI'a,}aduwU Ba· llimal af.1ska"darin'ah. Caim, 1943. Thili work con· ~ins 10011 referenees 10 Ihe ancient oliginal li~1S of the palrlarchs and their dates compilL'd from older manuscripts by a number of writers, m.ainly medieval. These arc preserved in manuscripts in the Pa· tri3n;:hal Library and the Ubrary of the Coptic Mu· 5(.oum, Cairo. The main compilations used by Nakhlah include the wooo of al.~ ibn al·'AssaI, AbU ShAkir ibn al-RAhib, Abu al·Barakat ibn Kabar, S4wlrus ibn al·Muqaffa', and Yiisab, bishop of Fuw· WIlh, lIlI medieval (eleventh 10 fuurl<..,enth ccntur' ic,'s). All usc the Anno Martyri calendar, which is quoted hy Nakhlah, We have converted these dales 10 Ihe Anno Domini (Gregorian) calendar and based Our Own cOlupillltion on Ihe lIi$to')' 01 the Patriarchs by S4wtrus ibll al·Muqaffa' (ele""nth century). Modem dales huve also been adopted from later wrilers of the new sectiom. of the same history, Bacharach, Jere L It Middle East S/Ildies Handbook. Seattle and London, 1984, Gives Islamic history and chronology. Meinardus, O. F. A. Christiall 1:.gypt: Ancient and MQ(lern. Cairo, 1972. Sawlrus ibn al·Muqalfa', History 01 tire Putriarchs 01 11Ie Coptic Church 01 Alexmrdri", Vol. I. In PatI'O'logia Orlcntallli, 4 \'ols, Arabic telll edited with Engli.~h trnnsfation by 8. T. A. Evell.~. Paris 19041915. From 5.'lint Mark to Yusab I. Continuation of f1i~l()ry, published by the Society of Coptic AI" cheology, is :\s follows: Yassa 'Abd tll·Mas",! and 0, H, E. Bunncster, cds. Cairo, 1943, Kha'll 11 to Shcnute L Atiya, A. 5.; Ya~~a 'Abd al·Ma~l~; and O. H. E. Bur· meSler, cds, Clllr'O, 1948. Khli'li III to SIH~nute II. ...,._' Cairo, 1959. Christodoulos 10 Mich:u::1 IV. KI1ll1er, A.. and 0. H. E. Burmester. cds, Cairo, 1968. Macarlus II to John V, Cai1'O, 1970, Mark III to John VI. , Cail'O, 1970. Cyril II to Cyril V. . Cairo, 1974. Cyril III ibn Laqlaq, AZIZ S. ATIYA
::=' =
PATRISTICS, history of Christian literature that deals with the thc,.'ologiCOlI authors of Chrislian an· tiquity. The lille of father can be applied to the leadin8 church wrilers down to Ihe thirteenth cen·
tury (aner which the title of Sehuolman is us\--d), but it i~ u.~ually limited to Ihe falhers and dOClors of the church from the end of Ihe firsl cenlUry Ihrough lhe eighth century. The collection or study of Iheological wliling.~ began as early as EIJSEBtUS. whose Ecclesi"s/icu' History is an allcmpt to record the writers and writing.~ of his pl'edecl$.'lOl's in the faith. JeROMe wrolC a hislory of Christian theologi~ cal literature entitled De "iris illWllribJu in 392, and numerous others have followed in this tradition down 10 Ihe present time, In onler to bring a sense of order and manageability 10 wch a large corpus of material. many dif· ferent cawgorics "rc often imposed upon iI, None i:> entirely satisfaclory, and there Is often considerable overlap, but the reader is advised to become famil· iar with some of the designations to facilitate studying Christian church hi.~tory, Although Ihe subject compriscs both UrlhOOOll and heretical authors, overwhelming preference ill given in the collections to th~ whose wrllings repn.'scnt the traditional theology of the church. Below are some of the major calegories of pallis· tic writings.
Language The earlicsl falhc~ wrote in Greek and so are called the Greek fathers, among them POLYCARP, CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, and Eusebius. Later authors who wrote in ultin ;lTe thus called lhc Latin falhers, such a.~ Tertullian, JRROMI'_ 8A$II_ lind Ambrose, Those wriling in Syri:lc, Coptic, Elhiopic, and other Eastel'n languages arc called the Orienl:.l f:lthers,
Time The fathers who immedialely ~ucceeded the apo~· tIes (to the middle of tile ilecond centUly) and lhe New Testament era are called the apostolic falhers, including (:L(!M!JNT OF ROMI!, IGNATIUS, HI!RMAS, and Polyearp, They also fit into a larger category of those who preceded the Nicene Council and are clllled the Ilnte·Niccnc fathers, sueh as Clement of Alexandlia, ORIGEN. lind Dionysius of Rome; they are distinguished frum tho!iC who flourished during and after Nicaea, the Nicene and post·Nicene fa· thers, exemplified by Eusebius, Jerome, ATHANASIIJS, and Ausu~tine,
Purpose Wilhin the framework: of Ihe composition of theological treatises arc specialized types of writings, such a.~ that done by the apologists (e,g.. AristidCli,
PATROLOGY
JUSlin Mar1yr, Tntinn, TeI1ullian). rlllYol of whom lived in the second century nnd llOught 10 present a defense of their faith to the world. Anolhel' group, called hagiographers, desired to keep alive the memory of Chdstian llUll1yn; and saints by wl'iting collection~ of Ih'e5 of the saintS. Eus.::bius likely wrote one such collection of the acts of martyrs, as did Basil. Gregory of NYS5a, John Chrysostom. and othen;, Othcn; took upon thetllselves the task of allacking those who were secn as apostates and threats to Christianity; they are called hcresiologists (e.g., lrenaeus. Hippolytll5, Tenullian. Ef'IPHANJIJS. and Augustine).
1921
White MOllllStel)' (DAYR AND,!; SHINOOAIl); and lhe Coptic lectionary for Holy Week. C.'itical editions of the Holy Sc';ptUI'eS (Coptic Book of Job) and sotlle apocl)'Jlh:l, notably in Ethiopic and Coptic were publishoo. Menlion should also bc made of impor" lant book.~ of hIstory about the Coptic patri:lrchs of AlcllOandria and the pntl'iarchs of Anlinch. Works on lheolo&>" the hotllilies, :lnd the letters of the fin;t fathers of the Eastern chun::hes publishcd in lhe Pa!ro/ugiu OriellfaliJ permit a beller understanding of the heresies :lnci controversies of the pt'riod. From 1903 to 1984. some 191 fascicles were published. FRAStOtS
GRAFFIN.
S.J.
Geography There are a few instances of the fathers being arouped by geographic areas, such as the Cappadocian fathers (Basil, (jREliORY Ot' HAZIAJIl'lUS. and CREGORY Of NYSSA) or Alexnndrine fathers (Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and CYRIL). D1.BLIOGRAPHY
Quasten, J., nnd J. C. I'lumpe, ew;. A"dr"t Chri:;/iu/I Writers. New York. 1946-. Robens. A., and J. Donalw;on, ew;. The ""/e-Nice"e Fa/lien, 10 vol5. Buffalo. N.Y.. 1885-1896. $chaff, P., and H, Wace, L-dS. A SI!-Iecl Library 01 Ni<:elle alld PO.U-NicCIIC Fa/her:; ol/he Chri:;tiu/l Chl/n'h, 28 vols. Grand Rapids, Mich.• 1886-1899. Schopp, L, cd. The I"uther:; 01 the Clwrch. New York, 1947-. C. WIU'RlJD GRIGGS
PATROLOGIA ORIENTALIS. Beginning in 1886, Ren~ Gr:lmn (1858-1941), proressor al the
Instilut catholiquc in Paris, conceived the ide:l of adjoinIng to the /'a/rologiu La/illtl and llie Palrof0l:ia Graecil of J. P. Migne il collection comprising the texis or the ..: astern church f(llhers, whkh were 10 be printed in their origintllkulguages wilh a lransla· liOn on Ihe fnelng pnge in either Latin ur a mudern langu:lge. He began wilh the Palrofogiu Syriaca, fol· lowing a t.:hrunoiogiclli order. However. at the Ori· ent:lllst Congress of Paris in 1897, it wos decided to publish a Pfl/rulu~i(j Oricmalis consisting of texts not only in Syriac but also in Arabic, Armenian, Copt it.:, Ethiopic, Gl"lXlk, Georgian, :lnd Slavonic. At first. interest wa.~ conCentratL-d on IiturJ!ical books. especially those treating hagiography, such as syn· axalia and tllenologia in Arabic, EthiopiO:, Annenian, and Georgian; thc COptic £ucllo/oj:ioll of lhe
PATROLOGY, The tenn
pa/ro/ogia was first used by the Luthernn theologian Johannes Gebhard (d
16l7), and his work uncleI' thaI title appeared in 1653, Eventually "palrology" became synonymOll5 wilh the science of palriSlics, especially as it relates
to questioM of doctrine and dogma. Patrolog)' em· bracL'li all the church authol1ll of antiquity bcginnitlg with SainI JEROME, whose De viriJ j{Ju$lribis may be regardL-d as the first document in the field of patristics. Other nOl.3ble aUlhol1ll in antiquity are Gregory the Greal, Hilary. Ambrose, Augustine. GREGORY Of NA7_IANZUS, :Ill described in the sources as doclOre:; de/en.foresqlle ecclniae. These are c1a.~silied WeSIern and EaSlern. In most of lhe works on p
1922
PAUL
BlHLlOGRAPHY
Altaner, B. Pa/rO{Of,Y, trans. H. C. Graef. Edinburgh, 1959. Bardenhewer, O. Pafrologil!-. Freiburg im Breisgau, 189<1: English trans. T. J. Shahan. Freiburg im Brcisgau, 1908. _..,... GtS€hichtt der a{lChru/lichtn l,utrOfur, 5 vols. Freiburg im Breisgau and SI. Louis, 1902~ 1932. Harnack, A. Ge$chichte der ai/chris/lichen Litera/ur bis Eusl!-bilu, 2 vols. Leipzig. 1958; repro 1968. Quaslen, J. Patralog}', 3 vols. Utrechl ::r.nd Antwerp, 1950; repro 1975. AZlZ S. AnYA
the Middle Ages; for example, Abu al-Qasim al· lahn\wl of Cordoba (c. 950), 'All ibn al·'Abbas alMajlisl (c. 960), lhc great Avicenna (980-1037), al·Kuhln al-'AJ!Ar Ihe Jew (ill J 260). and Najm Klihln al·'AWlr Ihc Jew (in 1260). and Najm al·Din Mahmud al·Shlml (d. 1330). Six works have survived in Arabic under Ihe name of Paul of Aigina: al·Kunnilsh,. Tadbfr 0/HtJw~mil (Concerning the Correct Treatment of Pregnanl Womcn): TtJhl1l al·Sim~n (Slimming Cure for the ObI.'Se); '11M al·Null' (Concerning Women's Illnesses); Tadbrr al·~tJbl wa·';/lljuh (Conccrning the Correct Treatment and Care of Ihe Infant); and a manual of loxieology, extant in Hebrew. BIBLIOGRAPHY
PAUL, fooneenth<entury bW10p of &hnasa;. He is the author of a recital ion for the eon5eCration of Ihe LAOOAN (basin) for the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul, wrillen in Coptic and Arabic. The oldest manuscript is dated 1374.
Mu~ammad
ibn zabriyyt aI·Ran. AJ.Hiiwi (f a/.!ibb. n.p., n.d., repro Cairo, 1955. Ullmann. M. Die Mtditin im Is/tun, pp. 86-87 (with bibliography). leiden, 1970. KHAuI. S,u(Ut. SJ.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bunnesler, 0, H. E. "Two Services of the Coptic Church Allribuled 10 Peler, Bishop of Behnes!:' Lt Musion 45 (1932):235-54. VINCIlNT FRWERICK
PAUL OF AlCINA, famous physician of Alcllan· dria who lived in Ihe mid-seventh cenlUry. While he was still II student in 641, Alexandria was taken by the Arabs. He is known to the Arabs as BOlus, or FOIO~, al.AjAnll! or al-QawAbill (the obstetrician). His principal work is a large medical collection in seven books entitled M/!moirs that W'IS translated into Arabic by the famous Nestodan physician and transialor of Baghdad, l;Iunayn ibn Is~aq (d. 873) with thc thle al·Kuml~sh or KU""~$h a/-Thurayytl (collection of the Pleiades). In the eighth century another Nestorlan, JlbrIl ibn l3uk.htlshll' ibn Jlirjis, a physician of Baghdad, composed glosses (J,aw~shl) to the colleclion, which had not yel been trans· lated. This work had a considerable influence on Arab medicine, particularly ophthalmology. ~.Iunayn ibn Isl:IAq quotes it several times in his treatise on oph· thalmology. Mul:lammad ibn Zakariyy.l al·RAzf (865?925?), Ihe mOSl famous Muslim physicrun of his age, quoles il approximately one hundred limes in his medical encyclopaedia, lhc Con';nl!-ns of the Latins. II was subsequenlly employed by many others in
PAUL OF BENHADAB, SAINT, a monk and abbol who was a visionary (feasl day: 17 HatOr). He is commcmonllcd in lhc Coplo-Arabic SYNAXARION of Upper Egypt (Basset, p. 301; Forgel. ICXI, p. 299; lrans., p. 30). Paul was a nalive of a village calk-d Danfiq. which still exiSI$. His parenlS were peasanlS. and he learned lhe tl'1lde of carpenter. He became a monk on Ihe mountain of &nhaclab (weSI bank of the Nile, oppollile QIi~), making himself Ihe disciple of the elders who dwelled there. Later he was ehoscn as superior and ordained priest. He lived in the cave of Anb.a Peter the Elder, a person known to us only from a number of allusions, in particular in the nolice about Saint lJAoll<\ 01' IlI!NIIADAIl. Pllul was stricken by a disease of the leg bones and became lame. He appears to havc been a visionary: The angels showed him the tl'ees of Paradise adorned with good fruits. He died after exhorting the breth· rcn to keep the canons of the monastic life. He was buried in the prescnce of the bishop and the people at Oif'!, in the church of AnbA Peter the Elder. RENR-GEORCES COOUIN
PAUL THE BLACK, sixth·century Monophysite patriarch of Antioch. Paul Ihe Black was a Copt hom in Alexandria. He moved to Syria, where he look his monaslic vows in one of its monasteries.
PAUL OF TAMMA, SAINT
He was ultimlltely consecrated patriarch of Antioch by Bar Hebraeus, with whom he shared the Monophysile profession Ilgainst CttALCF.JXJN. His carrer WaJ; rather stormy and, being a Monophyslte, he was pursued by the BY18nllne authorities and had to take refuge from his persecutors at the coun of the Christian Ghassanid king al.':Ulrith ibn Jabalah and his successor. al·Mundhir. before the emergence of Mu~ammad and Islam. On otht'r occasions he ned to the Mareotis Desen southwe.~t of Alexandria in Egypt. To deceive his persecutOD, he apparently feigned conciliation toward Chalcedon and was wannly welcomed at lhc imperial cuun in Con· stantinople. where he spent a few yUl'!l and where he died after a checkered career of oscillation and schisms within his Amiochene church. lie was even accused of the here.~y of (ritheism. He was deposed by Pope PE'l'D. IV of Alexandria, and a new menace of a split between the twO sister churches loomed on the horizon. To mend this rift. lACO" HARADAEllS had to accept Paul's deposition and prepare a dele· gation of bishops to go to Egypt to reestablish the unity betwt.-en Antioch and Alexandria UIUI.IOCRAPHY
Atiya, A. S. A His/Dry of Eas/ern Christianity. london. 1967. Honigmann, H. Eviqlles d Ivichls monophysi/es d'Asie rmtbiellre all vr siecle. CSCO 127. Louv. ain, 195 I. Rustum, A. Tire Church of the City of God Grea/, Antioch, 3 vols. Beirut, 1966, Azrz S. ATIYA
PAUL THE SIMPLE, SAINT, a peasant who became a monk in old age and a disciple of Saint ANTONY, He is known from chapter 22 of the Hisferia Ir/ll)'illCCi of PAU.ADlUS. chapter 24 of the HISTORIA MONACHORUM IN AEGYPTO. chapler 31 ur lhe Lalin adaptatiun uf lhe lalte,. book by Rufinus, and from a long ajl'Othegm inc:Juded in the APOPHTHIlGMATA PAT· RUM. These various accounts present divergences thai have been e~amined by R. ReitzenSlein. The most impol1ant is the one that Palladius puIS in the mouth of Kronius as he relates his memories of the time when he lived close to Anlony. Paul was a simple and honest peasant who had a very be..utiful but unfaithful wife. One day. on reo tumina rrom Ihe fields. he found her with a lover. Far from being angry. hc rejoiced. and. leaving his wife and children 10 his rival, went off to become a
1923
monk, He made his way to Saint Antony's hermitage. Seeing that Paul wa.~ old. and thinking that he would be incapable of sustaining the rigors of ascet· icism. Amony at first refused to receive him and left him for several da)'$ Qulsidc his door. Having wit· ncsscd his endurance. however, he ended by welcoming him. He submitted Paul to the severest trials, imposing on him labors. fasts, and long prayers, which Paul bore without complaint. Then Anlony admitted him as a monk, and installed him in a hennitage some distance from his own. Through his aKeticism and extreme Simplicity (whence the surname that was given him) Paul ob· tained the grace to triumph over demons, to the point that Antony sent him lhe dcmoniacs he could not cure. While Palladius insists on Paul's asceti· cism and endurance, the HUforia monachorum in AeDplo praises his spirit of obedience, and the Apophthegmala palrum, the gift he received of read· ing consciences. BIBLIOGRAPHY
CoteUer, J. S .• cd. Apoph/hegmala patrum, pp. 38186. PG 65. Paris, 1864. Fcstugiere. A.-J. Hutoria mmtachorum ill Aegyplo. Edition critique dll fexte grec et lraduction allllolee, pp. 131-33. Brussels, 1971Reiuenstein, R. His/oria monQchorum IIlld Historia Lausiaca, pp. 12-23. GOllingen, 1916. ANTOINE GUIUJoUMONT
PAUL OF TAMMA, SAINT, fourth-century hermit. Paul W1Ui born at Tamma (wrillen Tammah in the inscriptions of B6wll) in the nome of Kocis (KynoputisJIlI-Qays) in lhe neighborhood of DahrU~, on the left bank of the Nile opposite Sharilnah. This villagc no longer exists, al least under this name. II should not be confused with Tamwayh, the location of DAYR AnO SAYl'AYN, south of Cail'() opposite 1~i1wil.n. Al the ngc of eighteen Paul withdrew liS 1I hermit to the mountain uf Touho (Theodosiopolisrrl'l~l'lal· A'mldah); there he was molded to the hermit life by a monk called Hyperichus. Fifty-four years later Ezekiel joined him-sent by the archangel MICHAEL rrom his native village of Tkoui Nerot, ncar Tamma -and was insln.lcted by Pau1. One Saturday three monks visited Paul: Isidon.ls, the priest of the church at scmts: Agalhonicus. from the mountain of Touji; and Victor, from the mountain of Thersa. Shortly after. the apostles Peler, Paul. and John appeared. raul shaved Ezekiel's head and gave him the monastic habit. then the apostles celebrated the
_L
1924
PAUL OF TAMMA. SAINT
euchal'lstlc ~ymllds, each of the neceSSlll)' e1em¢ntS -Iable, l:hlllicc. brclll.l, wine, incense-coming down from heaven at the prayer of the parlicipants, speakillg in lurn. Ea<;h part of the liturgy was per-
formed hy one of the apostles or the monks. Then they took a meal together, with bread miraculously
brought from heaven. The apostles disappeared, and the visilon-lsidon.Ls, Ag:uhllnicus. and VictOl' -Iefl Paul and El.ekid to return to Secus. The sequel in the life of Paul of Tamma is the Story of his wandering from Touho as far :u; the neighborhood of Shmi" (Panopolis/Akhmlm). during which he died si" liml."!i (5Cvcn in the Ambic lext) from the exees.~ of his ascetic practices, and each lime wus r"C5u:w,:il.:ltcd by Jesus. The first death o<:curred when he suspended himself head downward on a tamarisk; the second, when he buried himself in the sand; the third, after he had re· mllined immened in the water of a spring (the Synaxal'ion speaks of the Nile and of crocodiles); the founh, when he nung himself from the top of a cliff onll,l pgged rocks; the fifth, when he remained without stioing, his head between his feet. for forty days; the sixth, ..fter he had remained facc to the ground for eight da)'ll (this appears to be added in the Arolbic vel1l'ionll); and in the seventh. after he had Ihmwn himself on a SlOne sharp as a sword. At the same time, in the course of this journey to the south, Paul and E1.ekiel met ,\ number of her· mits more or It-ss known to us from other sources. They Included Pamull of the Many·hued Habit, who received Ihe Eucharist fTOm "John the Virgin"; Noc (CYl'Us in an Mabic version), who ned the world in disguM at the corruption of both clergy and laity; Apollo :lnu Papuhe, no doubt ,II BaWl!, for the text says simply "to the south or Daljah." At Ter6t As· hans, CO the soulh of Qu~ (Kolls5..'\i/al-Qu1!iyyah), they found Aphu, who lived all long the bubals (large llnldopes); al Pesheepohe, Phib, a native of Pereoush in the nome of Touho (:lnd hence dillerem rrolll Ihe friend of Apollo, born at Psinemolill in the nom\! or ShmOn). Once again they set off toward the south, 10 the mounlain of Mer"OCit, a place tuday unknown, where the demon set a tmp for &.ekiel during Pllul's ubsenee in the desen. He passcd himsclf off a.~ a seckel' of limestone In the desel1, where he had found P;Jul tied up by thieves, Paul, he said. askcd Ezekiel to find him. Ezekiel went with the demon, who wished to kill him, Ezekiel called upon his father, Paul. who immobilized the demon by a magic charm (a cin:le tmccd on Ihe ground), then
bound him lind scnt him 1'Qllin~ 10 the bottom of" valley, Paul of Tamma and his disciple next came to Siout (Lycopolis/AsyU!), bUI the text, curiously, does not spc:.k of the celebrated recluse JOIlN Ot' LYCOPOUS. who died shol1ly after 395. Pshoi of Jeremiah. that is. from the monaslcry of Jeremiah at Tkoou on the easte." bank, joined Paul. Togelher they reslored to life lOix hundred men and fifty-four women, whom Jesus himself then came tu baptize and give communion. Pshoi sepnrated from Paul opposite Sbeht (Apollinopolis PaIY
......:I
PAUL OF THEBES, SAINT
versions of the Life, in the COUI'Se of a prophecy made 10 I'aul, Jel>u.~ announces 10 him only Ihal his body will be transferreclto Atllinoopolis with Ihat of Pshoi of Jeremiah, but the cnd of the Life dOCli not speak of a tr.lnslation. Only the Arabic lire of Pshoi of Scelis speaks of his relalions with P3u[ of Tamma (Evelyn-While, 1926-1933, pp, 158-60). In addition 10 Ihe mlher brief nmice in Ihe Arabic SYNAXARION of Ihe COpIS, the life of Paul of Tamma is preserved in eleven Coptic leaves f!"Om the !OlIme manuscript of the library of the White Monash:ry (IlAYIt ANIJA SIUNOUAH). Some have been published by E. Amclincau (pp. 759-69, 835-36), as h:1\'c some papyrus fragmenls (Orlandi, 1974, pp. ISS-58). Fonun:nely some Arabic manuscripts (ten, to our knowledge) provide three versions of the Coptic life, sometimec
1925
Two manu~cripts preserve the Ruk's, or leiters, of Paul of TlImrnll (Orlandi, [988). Hi~ feast day is 7 Babah. D1BUOCRAI'IIY Am~lineau,
E. MOl/II11lell/s
servir Q f'''iMo;re tie /'EgyplC ch,biem/c, pp. 759-69, 8]5-8]6, Mem· oires publi~ ""... 1' II'S membres de la mission archcologique fran~aise au Caire. Paris, 1888. Evc!yn-White, H, G. The MQnal;/eries o/Ihe WaJI~" Namin, Pt. 2, The History o/Ihe MOl/as/cries 0/ Ni/ria tll/d Sec/Is. New York, 19]2, Graf. G. COltl/QgllC des /PIOIlUSCri/S orobes-chrhiclls cOIIst,,'b till Coirt. Studt I' Testi 6]. Vatican City, 1934. Orlandi, T, Papiri cupl; Ji CQ!llenulO ICO{r>g;C(}, Mit· teilungen aus del' Sammlung der PlIpyros F..n-her. ros Rainer, n.s., 9, Vicnna, 1974. Paolo di Tamltlll. Rome, \988, Troupeau, G. Call1/oglle des mamlScrilJ arabeJi. PI. I, MIHtIlJicrilS chr~/i#l"S, Vol. 2. Pans, 1974. REN~GEOIlGES COOUIN pOllr
=-__
PAUL OF THEBES, SA1NT, hennil known from the Li/e 0/ Saill/ PlIllllhe First Htm"il. a small work composed in Latin by Saint JEROME. pmlxtbly in ]75/]76, according to current opinion, Accord· ing to his biographer, Paul. II nalive of Ihe Lower Thebaid, withdrew into lhe Arabian dcsen at the time of Ihe pel"5eclltion by Dccius, about 250. I-te was then lifteen years old. He senled not far from the Red Sea at Ihe place, :u:t:ording 10 tradition, where the monastery that beal'S hi.~ name stand~ taday (DAYR ANBA auLA). There Paul is said to havc spent nlmost ninety yeal"~ in II cave that sen'cd as a hennitage, nol seeing ;1 Sinilic person llnd himself unknown to all. It wos only a little before his dcath, about ]40/34 I, that he was dist:ovcl'ed by Saint AN· TONY. Being miraculously informed of Paul's pres· ence in a hermitage quite ncar his own, Antony went to visil him, just in lime to provide for his bUI'in!. The imaginativl,! chnnlcter of this story, in which life in the desert is highly Idealized and adorned with marvelous features, such as twa lions tbnt eoml,! to help Antony dig Paul's grave, has long led to doubts of it~ hislOrical "alue, if not of the histo· ricity of Paul himself. In writing tbis work almost twenly years after Athana.~ius' Ufe of Antony, Je. rome intended 10 present his hero I'IS superior to Antony: as the true lnaugul'lltor of the anchorite
1926
PBOW
life, which Antony subsequently adorned. Retiring into the dClicrt much earlier. Paul lived there a longer time, evcn more solitary than Antony. who buried him, a rite normally perfonned by a disciple. Jerome's work is the only hilltorical document concerning Paul. Mention of him in other ancient authors (John Cassian Colla/iones XVIII.6; Sulpi. cius Severns Dialog; 1.17) is dependent on Jerome. A Life of Abba Paul, fht! 1101y Ancht'1rite. published by Eo. Amelineau, ha.'i been preserved in Coplic. Amelineau thought thaI Ihis Coptic Life was an original lexl Ihn! Jerome had simply adapted inlo ulin. In reality, it is dellf thaI the Coptic text, the
explicit of which bears the sIgnature of Jerome, is a free translation of the Latin ICI(t. Nevertheless, the noles in two recensions, which the Arabic-Jacobite SYNAXARJON devotes at 2 Amshlr to Paul of Thebes, present a few peculiarities. Paul is said not to be of Theban origin but a native of Alcltandria, and the circumstama:s of his conversion arc slightly different; but in substance this text appeal'S to be depen· dent on the Coptic version of Jerome's book. The attempt made by H. Delehayc to gh'e greater historical credit to Jerome's hero by identifying him with a Paul of Oxyrhynchus, known elsewhere, has scarcely witlwood the criticisms of .... Cavallera. In addition to the Latin and Coptic tcxt:>. thcre: are two Greek versions of the Ufe of Paul, edited by J. Bidez. f. Nau ("Le tellte original") thought that the older of them could be an original tl·ltt that Jerome had adapted into Utin. According 10 the same author ("l...e chapitre"), it is appropriate to see the source of the Ufc of Paul in the Egyptian stories that, like the Ufe of ONOPHRIUS and other tales reo poned in the APOPHTHECMATA PATtlUM. relate the journey of a monk into the desen in order to dis· cover the greaK"St anchorites. A summary of Jcrome's Vitll Plluli follows. Jerome illustrates the sufferings that Christians had to endure. At that time Paul and his married sister, both uf whom lived In the Thebaid, lost their parents. [n order to obtain Paul's inheritance, his brother·in·law sought 10 betray him 10 the persecu· tors. Paul ned into the desen and took up his abode in a cave that was shadt.'tI by a palm tree and furnished wilh a sprhlg. The palm afforded him food and clothing; the spring, fresh wate,-. Paul had reached the age of 113 years when it was revealed to Saint Antony, who was then 90 years old, that he ought to visit a monk more perfect than h~, who lived in the inner desen. Accord· ingly, he sel out on his jlxlm~y, a c~nlaur showing him the way. Another mytholOllcal beast, a satyr,
brought him food and spoke with him. Finally, following a she-wolf that disappeared into II cave, he arrived a.t Paul's abode and was welcomed by him. They convcrsed and were miraculously fed by a raven. After spending the night in vigil, Paul in· fanned Antony that he was about to die and that Antony should bury him. Anlony was to fetch the cloak that Athanasius had liven him to wrap Paul's body. So Antony retumed for the cloak, and once more undenook the arduous journey to Paul's cave. Even before reaching his destination, he had a vi· sion of Paul's ascension to heaven, and arrived to find his body in the attitude of prayer. Two lions alTiv~d to help dig the grave, and Antony buried Paul. Taking Paul's tunic, he returned to his hermitage. Jerume ends his stOI)' with an Encomium un Paul lind with exhortations to his readers 10 follow hi~ example. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Amelincau, E.. ed. Monuments pour suvir a I'his· loire de I'E1!Ypte ehrelienne. /lisloire des mono asteres de 10 Basse-E1!Ypte. Annaleg du Musee Gui~ met 25, pp. 1-14. Paris, 1894. Bida, J. DelU vusioru greeques inidite.s de la vie de Pa.d de Thebes. Ghent, 1900. Cavallera, f. "Paul de Thebes et Paul d'Oltymynque." Revue d'a5Cetique et de mystique 27 (1926):302-305. Delehaye, H. "La Personnalit~ hislOrique de Saint Paul de Thebes." Ana/eeto &llo"diono 44 (1926):64-69. Jerome. Vito S. Pauli primi eremitoe. PL 23, cols. 17-30. Paris, 1883. KOlik, I. S. The First Desert Hero. 51. Jerome's Vito POIlU. Mount Vernon. N.Y., 1969. Nau, F. "Le texte original de la vie de s. Paul de Th/lbcs." Ana/teta Bolland/ana 20 (1901): 121-57. _ _ . "Lc chapitre ntpl avaXlIJpT/TWV ayillJv et les sources de la vic de saint Paul de Thebes." Revue de l'Orient r;hretien 10 (1905):387 _417. ANTOIN!! GUlUAUMONT K. H. KUHN
PBOW. [This enlry r;onsisfJ 01 two articles: one on the history of Pbow, rmd one
011
its archoeolo1!Y.]
History Pbow is the Coptic name of the second and most imponant monastery of Saint PACHOMltJS. For cen-
PBOW: Archaeology
turies the superiur uf Ihe whule Pa(;homi"n eongre· galion re~ided 31 Pbow. The ~ite i~ now con~idered equivalenl 10 the town of rAw al·Qlbll (F.iw of lhe South, in COnlrast wilh the neighboring village F:i.w al·Bai}art, F:lw of the North). PACHOMIUS c.stablished II community Ihere:, his firsl foundation al TARI'.JIIN£Se $Ceming to him to have become 100 resuicted. He built a small chureh, llnd it was there that he died in 346. Ili~ successor was MrrRONIUS, who died somc months lalcr and was followed by HORSIESI05. Following a revolt against him, HOl'siesius had 10 give up the direction of Pbow and the Pachomian congreg;lltion 10 Theodorus in 351. l'Ie recovered control upon Theodorus' death in 368. and remllined superior ulltil aboul 380. of the other wcccssors of Pachomius we know only the nllmes: Bessarion, Vielor, Paphnutius, Jonas Pakerius (perhaps the upright), PACHOMIUS mE YOUNGI!R. Cornelius. Peshentbahse, Mart)"rius, and Abmham. Abraham, driven from Pbow because of his altachmenl to Monophysitc doclrines. founded his own community at FarshCi!, his birthplace. In Ihe fifth century a basilica dedicated 10 Saini Pachumius is said 10 have been begun by the ahbot ViclOr, and compleled and COn!lCCrntL-d by Martyrius, llCcordina 10 II sermon that conlains SOllle legendary aspects bUI withoul doubl has hislorical c1emenlS, according 10 van LanlSehool. (1934. pp. 1356). The further course of Ihe history of Pbow is IQ!;I in Ihe miSIS of t.lme. "00 $ALII:! mE "RAIENIAN in early thirteenth cenlury sillies thallhe gre..t basilica (il was, he ~ys, 150 cubits long) was demolished by al-J:l.:lkim, no doubt in the grcat persecution of the Christians of Egypl al the beginning of Ihe eleventh century. The Muslim historian Yaqut (d. 1229) menlions it, perhaps from hearsay. In the lifteenth cen· IUry, :l1.MaqrlzT spe:lks of:l church of P:lchomius :It Idfil, which he no doubt confuses with F;\w. 'All Mubll.ruk reproduces the information dr.lwn from al·Maql·il,l's book (sec lhe traoslation of t1w lalter in Sauneron, p. 56). Not until 1720 is il mentioned by a Eurupean lraveler, C. Sicard (1982, Vul. 2, pp. 146-47). At the beginning of the twenlieth ccnlUl1', M. JUi..JJI!N gllve an eXllct dell(;ription wilh a photograph (pp. 243-48). Lefort mentions it among the sites of Ihe firsl Pachomian munasleries (1959, pp. 387-93). The I'ecension of Ihe SYNAXARION of the COpL~ from Upper Egypt cites the monastery of Anba B,;lkhCim al Faw severnl times, but it pmbably is sumillarizing losl Coplic lexls. Its cvidenn: can be valid only for the documenl5 u.~ed by the redaClor:
1927
at 13 HAllir and 2:3 Tllbah. Mcinardus describes il (I965, pp. 305-306: 1977, 2nd cd., pp. 418-19). Since 1968, excavations hllVe mAde possible Ihe rediscovery bOlh of the small chureh of the fourth ccntury lll1d lhe greal basilica of Ihe fifth (Debono, 1971, pp. 191-220). BIBLIOGRAPHY Debono, P. "La basilique el Ie monastere de 5t Pach6me." /Jullelin de /'1/1$11/111 fr~"'';Qis J'Archeu/ugie uriell/ale 70 (1971):191-220. Jullien, M. "A la recherche dc Tabcnne et dc.s autfC5 monastl:rcs fonde,; par saint Pachome." Eludes 89 (1901):238-58. LantschOOl, A. van. "Alloculion de Timothee d'Alex· andrie, prononcee .It I'occasion de la dedicace de I'eglise de saint PachOme .It pboou." Le Ml/seem 47 (1934):13-56. Lea.sc, G. "111c Fourth Season of the N3g Hammadi Excavation." G(jttingen Mistell"/I 41 (1980):75-85. Ledant, J. "Fouiltes el travaux en Egyple el au Soudan." Orielfla/ia 47 (1978):266-320; 48 (1979):340-412: 51 (1982):49-122. Lefort, L T. "Les premicrs monasll:rcs pach6micn~. Explorution lopographlque." Le MU5eOll 52 (1959):379-407. Mein3rdus, o. Chrisli~n EVPI; Allcitnl alld Modem. Cairo, 1965; 2nd ed., 1977. Robinson, J. M. "From Cliff 10 Cairo: The Story of Ihe Discoverers and the Middleillen of Ihe Nag Hammadi Codice~:' In BibliollleqCle cople de Nag H~JIIm~Ji, sect. Eludc~. Vol. I, pp. 21-58. Que· bec, 1981. $auneron, S. Villu iiI leillmdu d'EIlYPIe. Cairo, 1974. Sicard, C. Oellvres, 3 vols. Bibliuthl:que u'ctude 8385. Cairo, t982. RENE·CEORCE.S COOUIN MAUll.ICe MARTIN, S.J.
Archaeology of the former major 1110na.~tery of the cenobites of Pachomius, unly II few remains of lhe chureh h3ve so far been brought to light by excavations. The church was built of stone and fired bricks, and its position was always clearly defined by the once tall granite columns Ih:ll were part of it and that now lie logelher on the ground. Mosl of the reo m3ining monaslery buildings were probably built of sun·dried mud bl'icks. Because Ihey were situated in wh:ll is loday fcrtile farming land, we may be almOSI certain Ihal they were plowed into Ihe
1928
PBQW: Archaeology
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Plan of thc rcmt\ins of Ihc church al Pbow, showing three ~uccessi\'c building stages. COIITle)' Pe.ler GrO$.muHHl.
ground ccntunl:s ago. However. farm(-!"S cultivating the neighboring fields occasionally find building remains of fired bricks and when a nt;W canal was dug in the nOl1hwest of the aClual village. ruins of brick buildings were exposed. Some of them are still visible today. In Ihe precincts of thc church. thn:c liUCCClioSi\"C
building phascli can be dislinKuished. Of the oldelll one. which is also the smallest. only a few liCetion5 of the nonhern and eastern walls could be made visible. Traces of stylolxit~ indicate that this church had ...cveral aisles. prooobly five. There was. however. no original apse at the eastern end. The existing al)llt; Is obviously a later addition and ....-as simply built of cmde bricks. On the bolsi... of pottery finds and its low position this church can be identified with the monastery of Paeholllh.ls (before A.D. 346). mentioned in the Coptic Lives of Paehomius. At the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth century a new church wa.~ built whose ground plan has been established as a five-aisled basilica. It has a remarkably narrow nave in relation to the inner side aisles. Another unusual feature Is the way in which the outer aisles and the return aisles at the eastern and western ends Conn a kind of ambul:nory surrounding the three inner aisles on four sides. The sanctuary consists of a slightly pointed scmicir· cular ;Ipse with rooms arranged on both sides. Again. after more than half a century the exiliting church was replaced by a much larger new build· ing. It has the same five·aisle ground plan. with an apse and !iC'vcral side chambers. The t;lll granite column shafts covering the ground belong 10 this church. They al'e remnants reused from Roman buildings of the third ilnd early fO\.n1h centulies. Only the capitals. of which two ellamples werc found In 1989. were newly manufactured for this. This chorch. like lhe preceding one. ha.~ only a relatively narrow nave and very narrow ouler aisles (orming on four sides a kind of ambulalOry around the three inner t1i~le.§. This panieu!ar layuut en· hances the eharnetcr of the church as a spectacular example of a great hall church supportin~ a large eumnmnity of monks. The sanCtuary is covered by modern houses. Only the two side chambcn; lu lhe north of the apse could be made visible through excavation. In front of the western entmnces to lhe church there was a mlrrow colonnaded pal'tiea. The lar~e church could have been built in the second half of the fifth century. The ceremonial dedicalion of a church on J I November 459 in lhe monastery of Pbow is referred to In a tcxt (cd. LantschOOI. 1934. pp. 13-56) knuwn as tl sermon of TIMOTllY II of AICJlandriu and with some justification may be connected with this building. Wilh lhe decline in lhe monastely·... importance from the sixth century onwl'lrd. the ~rcat church fell slowly into disrepair. III the frollt section o( the nonhern side aisle. $Cveral additional Structures have been found. which may point to Ihe loss of the roof. Based on a statement by ABO AL,MAKARIM. it is
PELAGIANISM
generally acccplcd Ihat al·~.h'lkim (996-1021) dc· stroyed the building. It is highly questionable. how· ever, lh:u the building remained in usc: fvr so long. If Ihere is a historical corc 10 this note, il i.~ more likely to be that al-l;Iakim plundered a building that was ah-eady in a I\lined litate. OIlJl.IOCRAftHY
E1deren, 8. van. ''The Nag Hammadi EJlu\'alion." Biblicul Arch'/.QJQgisf 42 (1979):229-31. EJdtren, 8. \1I.n. and J. M. Robin:;on. "The Stx:olld St.'3S0n of the Nag Hammadi EJlcavation." Ameri· can Research Celllcr in Egypl NelVslc/ll'r 99/100 (1977):36-54, GCO$Smann, 1'. "The Ba.~l1ica of Paehomius." Biblical Archeologis/ 42 (1979):232-36. ___ "Escmpi d'architettura paleoo.:risti;ma in 4' itlo dal V aJ VII secolo." Corsi Ral'r!rlrla 28 (1981):151-53. "Faw Oibll-1986 Excavation Repon.'" Arl_ mlfes d" Sef\lice du AUliq.. i/is de I'ligypte 72 (1982). Gl'USlimann, P., ;lnd G. Lca:>c. "Faw Qibli-1989 Ex· cav3tion Repon." In prcp3r.uion, Lantsehool, A. van. "Allocution de Timothce d'Alcx· 3ndrie Prononcee a !'oce35ion de la Di:dicace de l'Eglise de l'ach6me a Pboou." lAo M,u;'on 47 (1934):13-56. L.efon, L. T. t..e:s vie,s cop/es de Suinl Poc:hume. e/ de ses premicrs Sllccesseurs. LouY-din, 1943. Timm, S. Das clJr;sllich.kop/;sche Agyptcn in arahi· scher Zeit, pl. 2, PI'. 947-57. Wiesbaden, 1984. PHTER GRUSSM.... NN
PEETERS, PAUL (1870-1950), Jesuit ana Olien· tallst. He became a lJollandist in 1905, and in 1941 was madc chairman of the Socit:tt: des Bollandistcs. He produced numerous editions, comlllcntaries, and studies in the field of Oliental hagiography and ilS reh\liollShip 10 Uyt.anline hagiography as well us on the hi~tory of the BoJiandists. BIBLIOGRA.PHY
Devos, P. "Pnul Peelers." Al1alf1clu l,lollulIdiullu 69 (1951):1-59. MARTIN KRAUSE
PEIRESC. NICOLA.S CLA.UDE DE FABRI, SEIGNEUR DE (1580-1637), French humanist. p.11ron of the arts, and instigator of Cop' lic studies in Europe. He collected Coplic manu· scriptS now conserved at the N;ltional Ubrary, Pa-
1929
ris: the School of Medicine at Monlpellier; and llie Vnlican Ubrary. BIBLlOCR,4PIIY
Cahen-5alvador, G. Un Crillld hllfl/Qn;s/C. Peircsc:. Paris, 1951. Grnvil, F. W. "Pelresc et 16 etudes copte~ en France au XVlle sleele," 81l1le/it, de In Socib~ d'archeofol;,i~ cople 4 (1938):1-22. REN£.GEORCES CooUIN
PELACIANISM, Ihe first great purely Latin heresy. based on Ihe belief that man was capable, in theological terms, of taking the first essential steps tOW3rd salvation by correct U5C of his fn.'1: will. Socially it was a movement of protest and reform against abuses by aniculale m~mbe~ of the litemle classes in the western pan of the Roman empire. The t~aching wa.~ lim formulated in Rome by PdagiWi, possibly of British origin, who had scllied in Ih~ city by 390 (if nOI before) and had become chaplain 10 Ihe noble Christian house of the Anicii. In Ihe fir.;;1 years of Ihe fifth century Augusline's Cotlless;ones began to circulate in Rome, and PdagiWi read Ihe somewhal careless phrase used by Augustine (Con/~ssiol/es 10.33), "Give whal thou COlnmandesl and command whal thou will." This seemed 10 him a stark and fatalistic injunClion from a contempomry whose works h¢ oth¢rwise admired. For Pelagiu.~, in any moral action there were thrte distinct d¢llIents: first, one must b¢ able to do it; second, one musl be willing to do il: and third, Ihe action mu:;t be carried oul (Pclagius, cit· ed in Augustine, Df! gratia Christi 4.5). PeJagius taught lhat the first or lhese, the possibility (posse), was pal1 of man'~ natuml endowment derived from God: the second and Ihird, will (vel/e) and effect (es.!e i" ef!"eclu), were of llIan, the re~uh of hi~ free choice. Thus every pl.:rson's sin was his own, nol del'ived from Adam's filII but the result of his weak· ness and Jack of will. Moreover, God did nOi command the impossible. Pelagius wrOle 10 one noble correspondent, Demetrias, about 414, "No one knows beller the measure of our strength, and no one has betler understanding of the l'esources with, in our power (than Godj" (l.ef/~rs 10 D~me/rias 16). There was no '"&I'~at sin" (sexual activily) behind the misery of Ihe human condition. Adam's responsibility was confined 10 seuing humanilY a bad ex· ample. Outside Nonh Africa, most of the contempornrie~ of PclagiU5 would have agreed with him. Pd;lgius
1930
PELAGIANISM
was on tenus of friendship with Paulinus of Nola and other innuenlial south Italian bishops. His s0cial teaching that wealth and power were hindranc· es to the Christian life was accepted with enthusi· asm in Sicily, Gaul, and perhaps in Britain. To Augustine, Pelagius Wi\5 known as a "holy man" who had madc no small progress in the Christian life (De peccQ/orum meritis 3.1). Had it not been for the sack of Rome by Alaric and his Goths on 24 August 410, which forced Pelagius into exile, his tcaching might well havc c$C3pl.,,<1 condemnation. Pelagius and his immediate as.~ociat(.'S arrived as rdugees in Nonh Africa in the Ilutunm of 410. He had a brief conta<.:t with Augustine before pa~ing 011 to Palestine. His discipl<.: Cclestius stayed he· hind, and in 411 applied to the church in Canhagc for on.lination. Unf011unatcly his views, oUllined in lhe course of an examimltlon berore Bishop Aureli· us, proved unsatisfactol)' to his hearers: Adam was made monal and would have died In any event. Eve's sin affected only herself. Infants were born in exactly the same state a.~ Adam had b,'cn before he hll.d sinned Thl.'Y needed ooptism In OI-der 10 share in humanity's regeneration. but this had nothing to do with original sin trilnsmiued from Adam. Law and Gospel were of equal value as guides toward salvation. There were sinless persons hefore Christ. The rich, unless they gave their goods to lhe poor, could not obtain salvation. These beHe& seemed 10 deny the value of Chris!'s resurrection In revening the effects of Adam's sin, and the need for divine grace in el'ery moral act. Celestius was refu5ed or· dination and condemned. Augustine's De spirilll el lillera, \Vrillen for a friend, the tribune Marcellinus, answered lhe Pelagian assenion that it was possiblc, with grace, for men to live in a sinless SUHe, and that law and Gospel were of equal vlI.lue. He pointed out that the Holy Spiril of the Gospel gave life, while the Mosaic Luw, though staling whIH mun ought 10 do, had no flOwer of itself to do lhis. UllCI', on 27 June 413, he proclaimed in a serlllon (Senllo 294) preached al Carthage thaI inrnnts must be bapli~.ed as soon a.~ possible tu "fre<: them from the inkction of the allcient death drawn from their first birth" (Adam'll) and quoted Cyprian (Leller 64.5) In juslification. It was the arrival of Pdagius in I'alestine that stilTcd the Pelagian controversy. There he quarreled with Jerome, not on the question of grace but on whether individuals (e.g., monks following an ascetic life) could altain a state of stnlessness. By coincidence. at this moment, in 415, an emissary of Augustine, the Spanish presbyter Paulus Orosius, arrived in Palestine on a mission to Jerome. The
two allied against Pelagius, but the laller defended himself ably and was fonnally acquilled of charges of heresy at the Synod of Diospolis (Lydda) held by Bishop John of Jerusalcm on 20 [)c(:ember 415. It Wi\5 at this stage that the church in Egypt be· came involved. Aug~ine heard the news or Pelagi· us' acquittal on Paulus Orosius' return to North Africa in the summer of 416. He immediately wrote 10 Allicus, archbishop of Constantinople, and CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. These two lellen, discovered by Johannt-'S Dlvjak in the 1970s among thirty hilheno unrecognized lellers and memor~nda of Augustine, show that Augustine went 10 great pains to convince the leaders of the E.:iMern churches of the dangers of Pelagius' teaching. Augustine thereby revived lhe eontaclS bel ween Ctll'llmge and Alexandria that had existed in Cypri. lin's lime during lhe Baptismal Controversy of 255256 (sec Conybeare, 1910). While no reply from Cyril survives, it Is clear thai Augustine gll.ined al lellSt the benevolent neutrality of Alexandria in the struggle with Pelagius that developed. Pelagius was condemned by Pope Innocent I In January 417 and, afler considerable hesitation, by his succes.wr, Zosi· mus, in the summer of 418. His suppor1er.; in south Ilaly were deprived of their SI.'CS and were ailed.. In the East, Pelagianism was finally condemned at the Council of EPHESUS In 431. It may be that Augustine's invitation to thaI council was a result of the links he had been able to establish with lhe major Eastern sees, including Alexandria., fifteen years before. DIDUOCRAPIIY
Bonner, G. 5/. Auglls/ine of Hippo. Life and Controversies, 2nd ed. London, 1986. ___. AI/gustine and Modem Researdl QI1 Pdugia~lism. Villanova, Pa., 1972. Brown, P. R. L. "Patrons of Pelaglus: The Roman Aristncmey Betwccn East and West." Journal of Theuloi:ical SllIdies n. s., 21 (1\170):56-72. Conybellre. F. C. "Newly Discovered Lt:u<.:rs Qf Dlony· slus of Alexandrill 10 the Pope Stephcn and Xys· tus." English His/oricul Review 25 (1910): 111-14. EVllns, R. F. Pelagius: Inquiries and Re·appraisuls. New York, 1968. Ferguson, J. Pefagills: A/1 Hiswricul and 1'heologica/ Study. Cambridge, 1957. Plinval, G. de. Nlage, ses icrits, sa vie et sa rio fomlt. Lausanne, 1943. A fundamental study. Souter, A. 'The Charileter and History of Pelagius' Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul." Proceedings of the British Academy 7 (19151916):261-96. W. H. C. FII.END
PENALIZATION
PELLEGRINI, ASTORRE (1844-1908), Italian Egyptologist. He was educated at Pisa. and at Flor· ence, He publi.'ihed many short articles, chieOy in
B,ssonon" BIBLIOGRAPIIY
Dawson, W. R" and E. P. Uphill. Who W..s Who in
Eg)'pto!ogy. p, 224. London, 1972. Kammerer, W., compo A Coptic Bibliogr..phy. Ann Arbor, Mich.• 1950: repro New York, 1969. AzlZ S. ATIYA
PELUSIUM. S" FaramA, al·.
PEMOlE. See Bahnasl, al-.
1931
borders of Ubya and In the MareOlls had something like 2,000 monks at Ihb pcriod. The funher hislOI'Y of the !'empion is sparsely documenled. An anli-Nestorian imperial edict was read on 18 April 448 at the church of Ihe monks of the Eremika, along with the prefectoral decree promulgating il. The AlelCandrian monk Mark the Mad, who lived in Ihe reign of JUSTINIAN. had fQr, merly belonged to the Pempton, according to l... Clugnel (p. 61). In Ihe reign of lhe same emperor and while Empress THEDOORA (d. 548) was still alive, Anastasia, the palrician friend of Saint severus of Antioch. is said 10 have founded the 5O'"CaJled Patrician Monastery, according 10 the Greek ver· sions of her life. DUI hcr Syriac LHe locates this foundation at the I'JrIATOH. Our last attestation of the Pempton, from the end of the silCth or beginning of the seventh century, is given by John Moschus, but only indirectly and withoul any reference to ils religious communities, [Set QUO: Enaton, The.]
PEMPTON, monastic agglomeration located, as ils name indicatel>. near the fifth milcstone. 10 the Wel>t of Aleundria in all probabilily, and on the coastal strip separating Ihe sea from Lake Mtm..'Olis, where several othcr rdigious cstab[ishment$ were similarly located in the Later Empire. The rcgion of the Pemplon Wll!l also called the Eremika, mQre by way of allusion to the nature of Ihe landscape-", desert by thc sca"-than 10 it$ dedicatinn to the hermit'.'i life. AccOl'ding 10 John Moschus, it was an unprepossessing spol: the gallows Qf Ale~andria. Not fur from it was a ruined tcmplc of Kronos. The precise situation of the Pempton is hard to determine, but there is rcason to bdieve that it coincid· cd more or less with the present village of Dikbaylah (Dekheila), in Ihe neighborhood of which there were e~cav(lted at the heginning of the twentieth century and in 1966 some momlstic funerary stelae and the rem:lins of some religious buildings (von Wl:\ss, 1923, pp. 258-60). The Pemplon is attested for the fiNt timt' between 374 and 376 by Epiphanius who tells of a visionary ascetic: from a monastery of Ihe Eremika who took himself 10 he a bishop and acted accordingly. Mound 338, J'Au..Al)lU$. the author of Ihe Lau$iac His/ory, tried his hand there at the monastic life, under the direclioll of the Theban ascetic Dorntheus. This holy mtln had been living in a cave there for SiMy years, building with his own hands cells for the brethren and earning his livelihood, as many olher Egyptian monks did, by weaving palms. Stllomen and Xanthopolus l'U1te in this connection lhal the Eremika and Ihe olher monasteries on Ihe
DIDLIOCRAI"HY
elugnet, L. "Vic et rCcits de I'abbe Daniel de Scele, Revue de ('Ori,nt chr~lietl 5 (1900). JEAN GASCOU
PENALIZATION. As observed in Ihe AUDIf.N'TlA EPISCOPALlS, the bishop can punish in two ways, either by impo:sing a fine or a flogging, the execution of which falls to Ihe IllS/lime (lieloTS), or by inflict· ing an ecclesiastical punishment, which only he himself can lift. On lhe evidence of the Coptic sources, the ecclesiastical punishments consisted of EXCOMMUNICATION. lllli'ItOCKtNG 01' PItH!.!;T:>, and the imposing of an INTBRDtCT. To these punitive meaSllres we may add the punIshments mentioned In circular letters from bishops in various regions of Egypt after thc ninth century. In these lellers, various curses are called down upon the pcroons to be punished. For elCample. they may be saId to be "under the curse of the Law and the Prophets" or "of the 318 bishops who assem· bled in Nicaea." In a leller of John. bishop of Hcrmopolis, published by G. Stelndorlf (1892), such punishments were invoked againsl those who broke inlo a house in Hermopolis and slole provisions and utensils. In a lettcr from another bishop of Hermopolil', whose name has not survived, similar punishments were described for the thefl of various provisions !Tom a hou.~. This teltt was published by w. Eo Crum (1909, no. 267). Bishop Daniel of the
1932
PENANCE
fl,yyOm wr'l)lc Ii IcHef, e(liled by Y:lSsa 'AlxI al· Masih (1941). io which such cun;es an:: invoked
against those who pluck a pal1icuhu" plant of the Virgin 0'.1(11)' and Ap,a Paphnutius.
Fl"lIgmcnls of another leiter that ml'ntions penal· ties like these a,'e preserved in the British Museum (Or. 4720 (72), cat. nu. 633). Crum (1909, p. 126)
SIlUes Ihal pieces of additional such letters were in Ihe pO$sa~ion of de Ricci, and OIl k-asl one ili prescrved in Vienna (see Krall, 1892,33). K. Reinhardt has edited Arnbic-Coplic documents of a similar
nalure. BIHl.1OCRAf'HY
Crum, W. E. CA/a/ogll/!! ol/he Coptic MamlScripl5 i"
tile 8ritish MIlSi!!W',. London, 1905. -:-co Call1logrie of tire Coptic MlllllfR:ripls in the ColIUlioll of the Jolm Rylcmds l.ibmry. Millie/rester. Manchester, 1909. Krall, J. "Koptische Briefe." MiudJulIgerl ails det' Sllmm{,lIlg du PUpyrllS £,.ne,-.,pg Rainer 5 (1892):21-58.
Reinrordt. K. "Eine arnbiKh-koptische Kin;henbannurkunde:' In AegypfillcU. F"~/!iChrill liir Georg Ebers UI1I1 I. MQrz. 1897. Leipzig. 1897. Sieindorlf, G. "Eine koptische Bannbulle und andere Briefe." Zeiuchril' fUr iilD'pli_~che Spraclle u"d AI'tr'llmsJIIIIlJe 30 (1892):37 -4l. y~ 'Abd al-Masih. "Lcller from a Bishop of a.l Fayyum." BlIlleli" de III Sudile d'Archiolugie coplt 7 (1941):15-18. MARTIN KRAUSE
PENANCE, Ihe performance of specific expiatOl'Y act~ n.'i,~igned
by a pliesl. The severily of a penance is proportionlll 10 lhc gmvity of the sin committed. It Is given :u remedial discipline 10 tilt" penitent for Ihe purpose of he:\Jing his soul and helping him resist any relapse Into similar kinds of wrongdoing aI fI llller slage. Penance, folluwing sacramentlll confession, may take the form ofaddilional faslings, pmyers, genuflections, IIlmsgiving, or temporal)' ex· elusion from Communion, 10 generale wilhin the penitent a genuine 5ense of contrition, ~rrow, and deleslation fOI' his sin. The autholity to give ab.~olution from sin is part of the power of binding and lousing conferred by JI."SUS Chl'i...t on Hi... di.«:iples (MI. 16:19, 18:18; In. 20:23) lind passed 011, in sU(a;ession, 10 the priesthood. Vtllious eeclesia..~licaJ councils, such as those of Aneyru (314). Nicaca (J25), and Laodicea (343381) di1'Cu~c;ed the ways and means of administer· ing penances, lmd promulgaled n;leVtlnl canons, recorded by the early falhers.
During Ihe eady centurie... of Christianity, the church apparenlly adopled a rigorous penitential procedure by which penitents had 10 pass Ihrough four slagel! or stalions of penance befure they were readmilled to full membership hi the church: I. Mourners. Mouml."r-pcnitents were foru;d to Sland at Ihe porch in the open area in fn:ml of the church door and appeal 10 other members of Ihe congregation liS they entered. II is likely Ihat refer' ence is made to Ihese penitenLS in particular whl."n, toward Ihe end of the liturgy I:Ind jusl before Holy Communion is administered (0 Ihe fllilhful, the dellcon says, "PllIy for all Chrislians who have asked us to remember them in Ihe I-louse of the Lord." 2. USleners. These pcnitenlJl were allowL-U within the door in lhe nanhex of the church so that they I."ould listen to the Scriplures and the sermon, but wen:: obliged 10 depart before lite Divine Uturgy commenced. 3. KnceicTS. At this stage, penitents were allowed within the walls of the church in the pan below the pulpit (or AMBO), but had 10 km..· d down whik the congregation siood during prayers. Before going OUI, they had to prostrate lhemselves in obeisance to the bi...hop who would lay his hands on their heads. Togethcr wilh the CATIXIlUMENS, Ihey left before the commenceml."nt of Ihe Ulurgy of the Faith· ful. 4. CO~lIanders. This is Ihe most advanced elas..~ of penitents; they were allowed to attend the whole of the Divine Lilurgy, slanding with Ihe rest of the congregation, hearing Ihe prayers, but 1'101 allowed to panakl." of Holy Communion. Certain non·Orthodox churches appear to hold a different concept of pcmmcc lind inlerpret it as a form of reconciliation hetwCl."n Goo and one who has, through sin, offended divine justice and hence must appease the Creatol'. This Is contrary to the Ol'lhouoJll belief Ihal Chr'ist Jesu~ hll~ once lind fOt' all repaid Goo's ddlt through Hi... hlood, which He shed on thc cross to nmsolll humanity. Penance is an individual elfot't with a twofold effect: it heals the sinner's bruised soul, ltnd It m:,kes sin "ppe.,r all the mOl'e detestable in his eyes. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cummings, D.. cd. Th~ Rluld~r. Chicago, 1957. J:lablb Jirjis. Asrdr a/·Kaufsah al-Sab'alt (The Seven Chun;h Sacraments), 2nd cd. Cairo, 1950. Kelly, J. N. D. Early Clrrislian Doclrines. San Fr,mcisco, 1978. Mlkh;l'1I Shil.l;llah. Sirr al·Ta\llbah (The Sacraml."nt of Penitence). Cairo, 1925.
PENTA POLIS
Monimer, R. C. 'I1,e Orillill 01 Privllle Pellllllce ill file Wil'slem Church. Oxford, 1939. ~ft Ibn-al·'AssAl, al·. Kifilb ll/-QllWilllfll (Book of Canon Law). Repr. Cairo, 1927. W. s, Oiladah, Ki/flb al.Disqiili)'ah. Ta·ali.., (l1·Husul (The Oi
1933
BIBLIOGRAPHY
IJenazclh, D.
u"
siecle de 10Uillts Irant,Ques el1 J1r;yplc, 1880-1980, no. 356, p. 340. E:chibitioll catalog, Cairo, 1981. Stnygowski, J. "Koptische Kunst:' CQM/oglle Ct· "Iral dlls AIllil111i1a tg)pticnlles d,j M,utll du Caire, nos. 7247-7250. Vienna, 1904,
DoMINIOUE
BeNAlETH
ARClIlIlSIlOI' BASILIOS
PENTAPOUS. Thi.. area derives ils narTIe fmm PEN CASES. Coptic scribes QI'I'l'lIIKed thcir Ihkk call1.ml (pens), made from cut n~eds, In lealhe,' cases. Some have come down 10 us and are pre· ~rved In lhe Coplie Museum in Cuiro, the State Museum of Berlin, and in the Louvre, Paris; .~OIl1C come from lhe lombs of ANTINOOPOLIS, These pen cases, in the form of an eXlended triangle aboul 8 inches (20 em) long, are made from two pieces of leather, one of whidl is f1'lt and thc other cornlg.,ted from one end to the other. The two pieces are stitched together ill Ihe grooVL"S thus obtained and amund the edge. The numbel' of tubule; into which the calami were ~lippL-d ";lries from two to five. More M>phisticaled designs are resu;cted to elaool"4te cases, Some have, in addi· tion, tl small flap cut in the lellJher showing II...ces of se....lni. II served to fasll:n Ihe ob~t or to fix an inkwell to it. A specimen from lhe cairo MUS(.'\.lm slill shows lhis combination. The t'mgment of a case in the Loovre includes a bron:tC fl"4gmcnt ri"cll:d to Ihis flap, The finesl examples an.: decomtL-d with piclures and lexts. Some menlion lhe scribe's name, im'Oke a ~int, or quole obscure litanies. Thi~ work is cxe· cuted by incising the leather or else, as on the case of Theodol'OS in lhe State Museum uf Berlin, paint· ing on a wooden panel fixed to lhe case. Three dccorated ren cases arc preserved i/1 lhe Louvre, At the widest paJ1 of each case, a picture is irwised within fl lwpczium, Inscriptions emphasi7.e the upper edge and fiJI Ihe lower triallglc. On om: uf them, geometrical bordel1l decorate the sides and lICpartlle the "meIOpes" where Mmy is enlhroned between the archangels Michael and Gnbriel. while lowel' down an umnt's bust between two palm.. i.'i design.ued as &lint Thomas. On Ihe other two, a SIlint arllled wilh a po....erful lance fells a demon. Onc of these pictures is badly darnag..-d, but the second spedfics that it rcprcsenu Saint Philolheus; the monster he subdues has a serpent's body and a human head, [See also: Leatherwork, Coptic,}
the five Greek cities of Cyrenaica: Bcrenice·Eue..· perides/Bcngha7.i, Ar:o;lnoe·Tauchelra (Teuchcrla)/ Tukrah, 1'10Icmn'istrulmaylhah, Apollonia/Sowusal Mllrs§ sCls"h, tlnd Cyrenel'Ayn Sha~hA1. The hislOry of the J'enlapolis was dominated by three centeno; of
or
1934
PENTAPOLIS
%ices. Insecurity appears to prevail; the collapse of Greek city life and ejvilization scems to be imminent. But the notice of Ammianus is po."Sibly anach· ronlstic and the SLatements of Synesiw; may be overdrawn according to the roles of ,hetoric and for the sake of eliciting benefiu and relief from the imperial administration (Roqucs, 1987. pp. 27 -40). To judge from the archaeological and eplgraphl. cal evidence, political and mililary conditions seem 10 have improved afler the time of Synesius. The admlniSlrative and military headquartl.'rs of Ubya Pcntapolis were moved, perhaps between 440 and 450 (Roques, 1987, pp. 94£., 226), from Ptolem.iis to Apollonia, which meanwhile had rt',eeived the Christian name Smou~. It served henceforth as the metropolis of the province. Notwithstanding eco· nomic difficulties and disruptions caused by tribal raids, the fabric of city life and agricultural activity in the hinterland did not crumble. But the pressures were felt, making Ol:ces~ry the n.:storation of vital defenses and city installations hy JUSTtNIAN (Kraeling, 1962, pp. 27f.). The Arab conquest of Ihe Pcnlapolis in 642 by Ihe tcoops of 'Amr ibn al.'A~ inaugul'ated a new epoch. However. the Greek towns did not dis3ppcar suddenly. Ptulema'isfTulmaythah. for instance, conlin· ued to serle as pon for the highly produelive re· gion of nearby Barqah. But gradually the old stroctures fell apart and the Semen became predominant. Barqah, the urban center around which they were established, came to lend its name to the wholc region fonncrly styled as the Pcntapolis or Cyrenaica (Goodchild. 1967). That is a remarkable shift and a clear Indicalion Ihat the "IiVl' eitiC5" had lost their leading role. When, between 293 and 305, Cyrenaka became II separate province (Libya Superior, Lihya Pentapolis), a praesfS (governor) residing at Ptolcmai"s (3t least at the lime of Synesius) look cl,arge of the civil admini.~tration. Military authority l"y with the dux Aegypti el Thebuidos Il/raflill/qul< Libyafll/11 (Roques, 1987, pr. 123-213, 215-95). But toward the cnd of the fourth l:entury the Penl;ll'Olis, whose center was about 465 miles (745 km) li"Om Alexan' drla, was separated from thc Egyptian diocese and received a dux (general) of its own wht~ resided in Ptolema'ls and perhaps was responsible for Libya Inferior as well. In the middle of the fifth century. the Libyan provinces togelhcr formcd one military region, but now each had a dux. In any case, a dux Ptnlapoltos is auested in 472 (Codex Illstinirmus XII,59,1O); his post may have been crealed to check the incursions of the Ausuriani. An edict of the empcror Anastasius I (491-518)
provides detailt.-d infonnation on the office of the dux Ptrtlapoleos and Ihe military organizalion of his province (Sllpplementum epigrophicum Groeeum, Vol. 9 (1938J, no 356; for corrections d. Reynolds, 1978). We learn aboul IWO types of tcoop$: the Iuu· tresianoi (clUlrensillnl), stationed In camps (c4Slra) and defending the :lCCCH to Pcntapolis, lind the arilhmoi (numen), garrisoning the towns. Important reforms took place under Justinian (527-565). His edict XIII (538/539 or, ICSli probably, 553-554) is especially concerned wilh Egypl and Ihe LibYJ.n provinces. Unfortunately, the regulations for Libya Superior (the PenLapolis) are missing from the extant tcxt, but we can sunnise that, as elsewhere, supl'cme authority in the province passed to thc dux with a civil governor, a praeses, under his or· ders, The dux waS directly responsible to Constantinople, We know from Procopius (De uedifidis, VI.2) that Justinian not only r'eorganlzed the administration but al~o took practical steps by building or repairing city walls (at Teucheira, Berenice, Boreion) and erecting fortificalions (in the monasteries Agriolode and Dinanhison), According to the rules established by Ihc Council of NICAEA in 325. authority to conlinn newly elected bishops lay with the bishop of the metropolis of each province (canon 4). In cenain c~, howC1/er, older traditions prevailed. The Council of Nicaea thw; recognized a series of exceptions to the geneI" al arrangement and enacted in canon 6 that "the andenl practice should be prese.....ed in Egypl, libya, and the Pent.apolis. such that the Aiclandrian bishop may have control of all of Ihese, since this is also the custom for the bishop of Rome." This traditional authority of the Alellandrian bishop in ecclesiastical mailers of the PentapoHs Is put in evidence by the rulings of Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria (246-264), in the controversy with SA· DELUANISM, which wa.~ particularly strong in Cyre· naka, In the fourth century, the Christian commu· nities of that region were torn by the conflicts between OJ1hodollY and ARIANISM. According 10 the church histori3n Philostorgius (!.B.a; ed. J. Bidez, p. 9), fivc bishops of the Pcntapolis (of Boreion, Bere· nice. Teucheira, Barqah, and Pto[ema\'s) sided with Adus. Around 360, Arianism was still a dominant forec In thc Pentapolis, But toward the end of ATHA· NAStUS' life (r, 326-373) and under Ihe role of Ihe cmperor Theodosius (379-395), orthodollY, which was strongly defended bolh by the patriarch in Al· exandria and by the imperial court in Constantino· pIe, triumphed over Its "heretical" ad\'crsarics, and paganism, in decline since the beginning of the century, virtually disappeared.
PERSECUTIONS
Synesius, metropolitan since 412 (residing in Ptolem~Y5), draws a vivid picture of the strength of Christian life in contemporary Pentspoli". The flU' merous "village" bL~hoprics (besides those in the "fivc cities") attest the sprcad of Christian commu· nities in the hinlerland of Cyrenaica: Borcion, Iklrqah, Dyslhis, Erythron, Limnias, Olbia, Palaibiska, Theodorias (following the Iisl of Roque!;. 1987. p. 340), to which Tesila may be added. latcr on, monophyllitism prevailed in Egypl and seellls also to have been dominant in the Pentapolis. This dissent with Constantlnopolitan onhodoxy ought to have f.1f;:i1itated the conquest of the Pentapolis by the troups of 'Amr ibn lll-'k, in 642 (Goodchild, 1967). Teuchelratrukrnh was the last Byzantine strong· hold to suetumb when 'Amr launched a second attatk in 644-645 with the help of the naval commander Sanulius, an Egyptian Christian in the service of the Arab cause.
BtBLIOCRAPHY Barker, G.: J. Uoyd: and J. Reynolds, cds. Cyrenai. ca in Anliqtli/y. Soc:iety for Libyan Studies Occa· sionsl Papers 1. British Archaeological Reports International series 236. Oxford, 1985. Brea.man, J. Synesius of Cyrene, PhiloSQpJIf:r-8ishop. Berkeley, Los Angeles, lind London, 1982. Goodchild, R. G. Tabula imperii Romani. Map of Ihe ROll1il'! Empirr. Shrrl II. /.34 Cyren,,_ Oxford, 1954. ___. "Dy13ntines, Berbers and Arabs III Seventh· Century LibyJ.... Antiquity. A QIUHterly Review of Archaeology 41 (1967):114-24. ___. Libya'l Studiu. Select Papers of the Lale R. G. Goodchild, ed. J. Reynolds. London, 1976. Jones, A. H. M. The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces, 2nd cu., pp. 349-62. Oxford, 1971a. ___. "Frontier Defence in By....mtine Ubya." In Libya in History. Historical Conference 16-23 March 1968. Bcnghali, Libya, t 971 h. Kraellng, C. H. Ptolemais, City of the Lihyan PCll/apolis. University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publi· cations 90. Chicago, 1962. LacOlllbrade, C. Syntsio)' ele Cyrime, hellelle et (,l1r;'lieu. Paris, 1951. Reynolds, J. "The TnSCI;ptions of Apollonia." In ApollOllia, tlrl Port of Cyrene. Excavations by the Univer)'ity of Mi(,hi"tm /965-/967, cd. J. H. Hum· phrey, pp. 293-333. Supplements 10 Libya An,i· qua 4. Tripoli. 1978. Romanelli, P. La Cirenaica romana. Berlmnia, 1943. Roques, D. SYI/esios de Cyrelle et fa Cyreani"que du Bas.Empirr. Etudes d'AntiquitC1i Africaincs. Paris. 1987. HEINZ HEINEN
1935
PENTATEUCH. SCI' Old Testament, Arubic Vcr' sions of 'he.
PENTECOST, Srr Feasts, Major.
PEOPLE'S PARTY. See Political Panies. PERSECUTIONS. The persecution of Christians in Egypl has 10 he considered in connection with the religious policy and the ruler cull of the ROman emperors. Right from (he stan Ihe Christians, being the followers of what was tarsely perceived as a Jewish sectarian executed by order of a Roman government representative, looked suspicious to both Romans and onhodox Jews (Viuinghoff, 1984). NOlwithstanding their effons to present themselves as loyal subjects of the Roman !Hate, Chrislians had been occasionally perseculrd since the time of Nero (A.D. 64). But only in the third cenhJry did large·scale persecutions become a fea· ture of Roman religious policy. They generally aimed at destroying Chrisli;:an belief and church or· ganiz:llion ruther lhan Ihc Christians themselvcs (if Ihe latter could be avoided). State aUlhorities would Iry to bring Christians to apostasy and would spare their lives when the defendants sacrificed to the gods of the empire a.~ a gesture of respect to the person of the cmperor. State pressure to secure political loyally through applying the inslrumenl of lhe ruler cult was often successful, and thus created ror the chur'ch the problem of how 10 deal later on with those lapsi and apostates wishing to return to the community of the Christian church. The dissensions on disciplinary measures within the Chr'istlan communities led in some ca.~es to ~erious and long-lasting schisms such as lhe MUlTIAN SCHISM in Egypt, and tha' of the Donatists in the Latin-speaking provinces of nonhero Africa. On the other hl\lld, the cxtrtloruinary endurance or Chr'is· 'ian confessors facing tonUl'e and death made a deep impression not only on believcrs but also on the noncommitled and lhe persecutors. The literury genre of the ACla martyrwn and the Passio kept alive and enhanced the memory of the confrontation between Christian confessor and pagan judge. as ~II as the ordeals of the Christians sentenced, after tonure, 10 Ihe mines or to death (Frend, 1965; Musurillo, 1972). The tombs of the manyrs gave rise to memorial buildings and thurchcs outside the city walls, thereby Illaking a strong impact on the urban fealUreli of cltics like Rome, Alexandria
1936
PERSECUTIONS
(Boukolia), and Canhage, and even leading to the development of ncw celllers complcte wilh churches_ city dwellings, and accommodation~ for pil· grims, as was lhe case al Kann Abu ~kl1a (Krause, 1978).
Rule... Cult and Peneeutlons or Christians In Egyp' As lhe emperors pursued a policy of growing au· tOCl'ncy and religious exaltation of tht'ir majesty, Christianity in Egypt look root firM in Alexandria, home to a large Jewish cOmmunily, and laler in the Ejyptian chora (roral arca). There it made convens both in me Creek.speaking "towns" (e.s·, the nome capilals) and in the traditional Egyplian milieu. But the spread of lhe new belief mel with ~rowing resistance, because the Christians, being fiercely monotheistic: and rejecting any form of cumpromise wilh pagan polytheism, foecluded themselves from all public aCtivities involving saCriflCl' to pagan gods and Roman emperors. This must have been particularly resented in Alexandria, being as it were (and as Philo Legalio ad Gail/ttl 338 Slates) a real pal1ldigm of ruler cult. The Christians practiced a highly secretive religious life, which g;,ve rise to suspicions lhat Ihl.'Y were eulp..1ble of rilUal murder and incestuous relatlons. While there had already been sporodic actions against Christians in Rome amI the pro,-inccs (e.g., under Nero, Trojan, Marcus Aurelius), we leal'n for the first time of pcrset:utions in Egypt under the emperor Seplimius Severus in 202. Orij;en's father. Lconides, WllS one of the victims. The sojoulTl of Severus In the EaSt (200 in Etlypt) and his sped,11 veneration for St:rapis may havc contributed to this outhreak of anti·Chrislian feding, but "Ihe story in the Auguswn History that he issued an edict prohib· iling lhe Jews to prusclylize und Ihc Christi:lI1s to makc converts is a plece of fiction" (Bil'l,~y, 1971, p. 209, I'cfcrTing to Scrip{urt;~ hi~{uriue AlI!:uslae, vila Severl, 17.1). Still wiJer runKing llclions (lgllinst Christians followed under Deciu~ (249-251). First m,'asurcs had dri~en Dionysius, bishop or Alcxandria, into flighl and hiding. In 250, l>ecius issued u univt:rsal orJer 10 sacrifice 10 lhe goos, 10 pour a libalian, and to laMe saclilicial Illeal. The pellalty for refusal was imprisonmt:nt, torture, and death. Those who com· plied received cer1ilieales for lhe (It:cufTlplishmcnt of the sacrificl.'S (/ibelli. well known fmm Egypt, especially fl'Om the Fayyihn). In lhe fal:e of coercion, many capitulated, among them leaders of the
church. Ilul others wilhstoud and endured. The names of foeVCnteen Egyptian martyrs aloe on record (Frend, 1965, p. 411). After the short reign of Dc· clUS and a lXluse of a few yeal'S, persecmions l'eo wmed in 257 under Valerianus (253-260). Dionysiu5 and members of the Akx;mdrian c1t:rgy were deponed to Libya. Olhers, including Christian laymen, suffered worse falcs. DUI lhese aclions came to a halt in 260, when Valerianus was defeated and capturetl by the Sassanids uf Persia. His son and SUCCesliOr, Callienu.~, pennilled Christianity 10 sUI'Yive unmolested, a policy largely followed umil the end of the third century. During this period, the Egyptian national religion began 10 decline, the rural areas of the country tuming progressivdy to Christianity but also wit· nes.~ing Ihe advance of Manichaeism, especially in Upper Egypt. This WlI.5 also the period thaI .'laW Ihe ri~ of Coplic ;"nd the del;line of Creck in the choru. However, wilh Ihe sources at our disposal, we are not able to give a clear picture of me advance of Christianity in the Egyptian hinterlllnd. It has been argued in a forcdlll and brilliant manner that by 33{1 half of the Egyptian populalion had joined the Christian religion and that by me end of the fourth century, "the figure must have been lit lellst ninety perecnt" (Bagnall, 1982. p. 123). E. Wipszycka (1986), however, has challenged Ihat view with somc good argumenl5. BUI nobody ha.~ ever con· tested that at least a sm;lll percenj(lge of plIgans survived inlo the fiflh Century. In facl, we heal' or monks still fighting pag,anism in the c1lOrll in that centul)'. Things changcd again when Dioclctian (284-305) undertook the ideological ((n(l political reslructuring of the Roman empire. For the sakc of di~cipline lind the Strenglhening of Ihe majority, lhe emperor and his colleagues In the tetrarchy took mea.~ures againsl Manidmdsm (297) and aKuinsl somc recul· citrant Christians in the army. BUI the mar1yfdom thai Ihe sO·t:alled Theban Legion is said to have sulfered on Mllximilln's orders when aboul 10 begin operations against the Bagauds of Gaul, in 286 mO.~t probably is nOl hlslOriClll, since the specifics of lilc stury cannot confirm the participation of a legionIIry force from the Thebaid (van Berchem, 1956; Dupraz, 1961). The tradition regarding Saini Mena.~, a Roman soldier first, thell a hel'mit in Asill Minur, ulld finally a martyr there in Ihe time of lJioclelian, also is largely legendal)'. His body is believed to have been brought to Egypt and have come 10 l'ellt in what was Inler calk"C.I KlIrm Abo Mena. That plat:e be-
PERSECUTIONS
I
came a famous religious center for several ccntur· ies, until the remaios of $:lint Menas w~re ll'llOS' ferr('d to Cairo. The prelude 10 the C,oellt Pel'l',e<:ution hegan with the triumph of Cacsa,· Galerius over the Persians in 297. liis p~ure, more than :in)'lhing else, seems to have detennin('d Dioeletian to lake action, first on 23 February 303, the pagan fea.o.t of the Terminalia. In a crescendo of edict.~ from 24 February 303 to the fourth edict in January/Fcbn.lary 304, ever growing repression was applied 10 the Christians, Ic;aden ;and flock ;alike. In Egypt it was the prefect Clodius Cu1cianus (301-307) whn was reo sponsible for the application of the tetrnrchic edicl.s_ The perseculion lefl such a mark 00 Egyp. tioln Christians that in their lime reckoning the)' uSt.-u the Er,l of the 1.1an)'rs, sianing with Ihe accession of Diocletian to the throne in 284. The Acta of PhilcilS, biJIihop of Tmuis, and hiJIi Lellu refer 10 Cu1cianus' period of office, giving a vivid dcscripo lion of the sufferings of the man)'r:s at Alexandri3 (Musurillo, 1972, pp. :clvi_dviii. 320-511. Philea~ was executed probabl)' on 4 February 307. Neither the abdication of Dioclelian and Maxi· mian on 1 Ma)' 305 nor Galcrius' edict of IOlerntion on 30 April 311 broughl lasting ,'elief for the Chris· tians in Egypt. Maximinus Daia (caesar. 305-310; augustus, 310-313) continued the persecution until Constantine lind Udniu~ met at Milan in 313 and pronounced themselves in favor of Ihe toler,ltion and restomlion of the Christian church. Onl), with Ma:ciminu~' defeat at Ihe hands of Lkinius in 313 did the GrC;lt PcrSCl;ution finall)' come to a hall. In Egypt, Sos.~ianu.~ Hlemeles, prefect in 310/311 (Barnes, 1982, p. ISO) is on t'el;ord as a pal'ticulad)' llctive persecutor. During hi~ term of oflk~, PETER I. bishop uf AIc.::~;lI1drill. was e~ecuted (25 November 31 I), and In the Thehald, Christian eago:rness for martyrdom led to fict'ee llntagonism llnd persecu· tlon, of which the bishop ,lOd church historian Eusebius gives II chilling rcporl (/lis/uric ,'cclesiastica 8.9). We do nOI have an)' reliable dma on the number of victims. Frend (1965, p. 537) eSlim,Hcs Ihe number of mal1yn; In the entire East at between 2,500 and 3,000 in the period of the Grelll Persecution (l03-313). In 322-323, Uclnius, preparing for his strugglc with Constantine, resumed the persecution of Christians, Dut without much SUCCl."SS, since he was defeated b)' 324, Constantine's viClOry inau8-lIrnted for the whole Roman Empire a new epoch, the "Pcace of the church," onl)' b"ieny inte''fuplt'd by the countermea.. ure~ of JUUAN mE APOSTATE (361-363).
1937
nul peace f"om persecullon did not mean peace within the church. The pcr:sl.'Culions left a quilt varied heritage: on the one side, the memory of the nlllnyrs. on the other. a divitk-u community rife with disciplinary, doetl1nal, and IJoCI'l;Onai conmc!.... 81OLlOGRAPIIY
Bagnall, R. S. "Religious Conversion and Onomaslie eh'lOge in Earl)' B)'loantine Egypt." Buffeli" of the Americall Society of Papyr%gists 19 (1982): 105-123. 1l11l'flCS, T. D. The New Empirc of Dioc/ctiall alld COllstalltillC. cambridge, Mass., and London, 1982. Baumeister, T. Marl)'r IIIvkll/$. Ocr Milrt)'rer ul:s Sillllbild der Erlosllllg ill der Legende Illld irn KI-/II der friih~1l kOplische" Kirche. Forschungcn zur Volkskunde 46. MUnster, 1972. Berchem, D. van. Le MIJrlyrl? de /a ligirm thibailll? Essai sllr la fo""ariOFl d'wll? legcnde. So:;:hwei"l'er· ische Bcittiige wr Altenumswissenschaft 8. Dasel, 1956. _-,--_ ''Del soldats chrctierut dans III gllrdc imperiale. Observations ~ur texte de la Visioll de Dorothtos (Pap)'rus Uodmer XXIX)." St"di classice 24 (1986):155-63. Birley, A. SeptimillS Sevti-tIIs. TI,c Africa" Emperor. London, 1971. Deckers, J. G. "Die Wandmalerci im Kai5Cr· kultrnum von Luxor, mit cineOl Beitrag \'00 Reinhlln.l Ml.-yer-Gnlft." Jahrb",·h des f)elltselll,m IlrcJrjjologischell Illstitlits 94 (1979):600~652. Dupraz, L Les pIIssiollS de S. MIll/rice d·A.galllll'. Essai sur I'lJiMor/cite de fa IraditiO/l et cOlltribu· tiO/l II Nt"de lie l'amltie pri.dioclctjellllc (260186) el lies cu"ollisuriolls turtlives Ill! fa {ill du IVe sil!de. Sludin Fdbul'gensia, !l.S. 27. FI'iooUI'g, Swit~.erll\!ld, 1961. Frend, W. H. C. M/lrlyre/olll IWe/ Persecutiull In tire Early ClllIrch: It Stlllly of /I COl/flicl from Ihe. Mil,'· cllbees 10 OOI/IIII1S. Oxford. 1965, Horn, J. Swdiell VI del/ Milrryrcm de.~ 'liirdlicherl OberlJgyplell, I. MiJrtyrervCfelmmg WId Milrtyrer· legene/en ;171 Wuk des ScJ,emllll. 8eltruKe llir uKY· pl;schlm MiJrlyrcrllberlleferrmg. GUliinger Orient· forschungen, seT. 4, Vol. IS. Wiesbllden, 1986. Krause, M. "KarOl Abu Mcnn." In ReallexilwlI zur byvmtitlisclrel1 KIHISI, SlulIgal1, 1978. Mal1io, A. "L'E&lisc ct la khOra eg)'ptienne (lu IVe sicde." ReVile (Ies iitmll;lS UII/.:llstillielllles 25 (1979);3-26. Musurillu, H. The A.cts of Ihe CJlristiall Marlyrs. 111lrOOlictiO/I, Texts alld TrOlls/a/;olls. Oxford, 1972. I'ietersma, A. Tire Acts of Phileas. Bishop of TJmUli!; {Includillg "'ragme.rt.' of the Greek />salter. P. Chesler 8eall:; xv. Wilh a Nelli Edition of P. Bodmer
1938
PERSIANS IN EGYPT
XX Qnd /la/kin's utili Acta. Ediled with lnlroduc+ lion, Translation Qlld Commentary). CaMe", d'orienLalisme 7. Geneva, 1983. Redde, M. "La Chapelle aWl: enSf'ignes." In Camp ramalll de J.()uqwr (avec Wit hude des graffius grico-romains dll Mmple d'Amon), ed. M. el·Saghir Cl aI., pp. 27-31. M~moin.::s Publies par les Membres de l'!nsli!ut fran~is J'Archcologie orientale du Caire 83. Cairo, 1986. Important ror ruler cult under the tClrarchy. Sordi, M. "Dionigio di Alessandria '" Ie vicende della persecu:donc dl Valeriano in Egitlo." In ParadoJ.os po/ilt'ia. Smd! palris/ici in ollore di Giuseppe LOU/Hi, ed. R. Cantalamcssa and L F. Pinolalo. Milan, 1980. Vitlinghoff, f. "'Christianus sum'-Da~ 'Vcrbrcchcn' von Aussenseitern del' r6mischen (;e~ellschaft." His/oria 33 (1984):331-57. WipS7.YCkn. E. "La Vtlleur de l'onomllstique pour l'histoire de la chJisti:misation de !·Egypte. A propos d'une ~tude de R. S. Bagnall." Zei/schrift fiir Pflpyrologie ufld EpigrlJphik 62 (1986):173-81.
u
IlmNZ l-lalNaN
PERSIANS IN EGYPT (619-629). The last great clash between the Easlern Roman empire and the Sass3nid empire (603-628). begun by Chosroes II Parvl!z (590-628) agaimt Phocas (602-610) and continued agaimt Heraclius (610-641), at first brought brilliant sueeC$SCS to the S;,ssanids. The culmination was the conquest of Egypl with il5 Byzantine lIodministrative districtJ: Aegyptos, Augustam· nike, AI-kadia, and the Thebaid. Never before had the Sassanids, as heirs of Achacmenid rule, been so dose to emulating their great ancestor.~ in lerritorial expansion. But thrust was follo.....ed by countcl1hrust. After intensive military preparations. Heradius launched a cOltnteroITensive in 622 that the Sa.~sanids. weak· ened by years of offensivl,l l,Iamp'liglls, could nOI resist fur lung. The fall of ChOSl'oes II and a peace trealy dictated by the conqucrors brought the war to an end. The decisive event thaI had ensured the success of the Persians wa.~ the capture of Alexan' dria.. A Syrian chronicle I'ssigns it to June 619 (ChronicQ minQrQ, II. ed. Brooks, p. 146. 11. 25-27). This date agrees wilh the evidence of a Greek papy. rus document £rom Oxyrhynchus that, by the stalement of the Byzantine imperial year. points 10 5 July 619 as a terminus pusl quem for the arrival of the Persians there (Papyri lalldallae J.49). The can· quest of Alexandria or those of Alexandria and the
whole ehora are dated too early in the following .sources: ai-Tabar" Annales, ed. de Goeje. ser. l, p. 1002, II. 9-12; Theophanes, ChronOKrophia. ed. de Boor, Vol. J. p. 301, II. 8-11: Agapius, HislorilJ I4nivtrulis, cd Cheikho, p. 331. II. 16-17; Michael the Syrian, ed. Chabol. Vol. 4, p. 404, cenler col., II. 13-19; Barhebraeus. Chro"icOPl SyriQcl4m, ed. Bcdjan. p. 94, II. 25-27. The conquest of Alexandria was preceded by mili· tary ventures into Lower Egypt thai aimed at securing 8rCllS of strategic importance. Nikiou and Babylon were conquered (Theodorus of Paphos, cd. van den Ven, 1953, p. 81, II. 10-14; cf. p. 103 4 ) . The conquest also acted as a deterrent and served to acquire booty. The beginning of lhese actions should be placed probably in 619 or even 618. Already in Pclusiun (Ambic ad·Frm'; see Alll~Jineau, 1893. pp. 317-HI), the "key to Egypt," churches and monasleries had been destroyed by Ihe invad· ing Persians (Churches ... 1895, p. 71. l. 22-p. 72, I. 4). Not far from Alexandria, SasS/:lnid troops at· tackcd It group of prosperous monasteries, mur· dered the monks (save a few who could save Ihem· selves), carried off goods and chattels as spoil, and reduced Ihe monastic buildings to rubble and ashes. Othcr sites in the Delta region were laid wasle as the Persian conquerors plundered, destroyed, and murdered (5:iwirus, 2. 485-87). The "monastery of Caoopus" (Canopus is the conjecture of Evens) escaped only because of its spe<:iallocation. Alexandria was taken by treachery. A Christian Arab in the city who came from the Sassanid· controlled northeast cOOS/. of Arabia advised the Persians. who were encamped to the west, in front of the city, to resort to a ruse. The conqueron followed his advice. Dressed a.~ nalive fishermen, a few Pel'3ians made !hcir way at dawn from Ihe great harbor on the canal that flowed through the easlern sec!lon of the eity and so gained enlly. They disem· barked and hastened along the m.tin slreel, which lUn f1'om east to west, and took Ihe sentrles at the west gale of lhe city by surpri.~e. Thus the SaSS/:lnids became masters of the city. The booty was im· mense, particularly as great numbers of ships laden wilh treasure belonging to the church and to the city dignilarics had set off in night. only 10 be blQwn back by an unfavorable wind. Along with the keys of the city, the treasure was senl !O Yazdcn, the miniSler of finance responsible for such mat· ten, and Ihrough him 10 the king of kings. The Persian army commander (his name un· known) triumphantly erected a palace, which was
PERSIANS IN EGYPT
J
still standing in the time of SAWIRUS IBN "I~MUO"FF'" (the tenth cenlUry). The memory of ils origin was kept strikingly alive by the Alellandrians, who called it Oa.~r nrisl (Pcl'$ian Castlc), To secure whl'lt had been won, but even more 10 prevent at the outset any uprising by the Alellandrians, the army com· mander resorted 10 brutal methods. Under the proclamation of an allocation of money. he contrived to assemble in front of the eity 1'\'Cry man between the agCll of eighteen and fifty years, in order that their names might be reeord(.-d. When !h(."Y were all present, Ihey were surrounded by Per· sian soldiers and rna.'i..o;aered. Among the notable pcn>onalitics who managed to nee Alexandria were the two most important repre· sentativcs of the emperor: the praefeclus aug,utalis and dux. Nicelas, the civil and military ht'ad of the administrative district of Acgyptos, and Ihe acting p8lriar<:h of Ihe Cha1cedonian church of Egypt, John III Eleem6n, who had been in o(lice since 610. Both ncd by boat and arrived in Rhodes. From there John went to Cyprus and died in hili native city, Amathus. on 11 November 619. (u'Ondos of Neapolis, cd. Fcstu&i~re, p. 402, I. 22-p. 405, I. 14; ed. Gelur, p. 90, I. 2S-p. 103. I. 7; for the date of death $t:c Grumd, 1955, p. 443). After the capture of Alexandria the Sas-..anids ad· vanced farther into Ihe country. Egypt was l..ken pos,!lession of by the Persians as far as tht, soulhelTl border of the Thebaid. which separated Byzantine territory from the mosl northerly of the Ihree Nubi· an kingdoms. They llIay have gone beyond lhese boundAries. A terminus ante quem for Ihl' arrival of the Persian troops in the region or Ollyl'l>ynchus is provided by a Greek papyrus dtx:ument from thai site. Enlries on supplies "on account ot' the Per· si:ms" in March/April 621 indicate that al this time Persian n,le Call be considered established (The Oxyrhync1l11.f Papyri, Vol. 16. 1921). As the Persi.1fis advanced, lhe bloody actions that demonstraled lheil' pnWel' continued, p:\TIieularly against pl'o~perous monasteries. Utilizing informalion he had received in Nikiou lhat familimized him with cenain 10c:lJities, the :Irmy commander or· dered his Sass.mid troops 10 sur'round an eremite SCl1lcmcnt prote<:ted by fortified buildings and to murdcr all Ihe monks allaehed 10 il. The sorrow or a particular family is brought to light by a Greek papyrus. The father of a family who had lied before the Persialls to Arsino/:! (KrokodilOnpolis) in the Fayyiim wriles to his master that the Persians had abducted him from his home, subjected him to tor-
1939
lun: Ihal rendered him unconscious, and in his de· fenseless condition had robbed him of his children. He had escaped only by the skin of his teelh (Papyri nusischer urld georgisehu Sammlungtn, Vol. 4, pp. 99-105). The news of what the Sa.'i..o;anid anny wa:;; perpetrating sped ahead of it. Impressed by what he had heard, PISENTIUS. bishop of CoptO$, resolved not 10 await the arrival of lhe conquerors. With his disdpie (and biographer) John he abandoned hili bilihop's seal, sought refuse in Djcmc, and later joined the community of F..piphanius in western ThebC$. A Coptic paPYJUS letter from the monastery of Epiphanius in wcstern Thebes, which CJlpressly names the Persians, was written by a woman to a "revcrctl but unnamed personage." She asked for "instruc· tion in the mailer of the Persians, for rney will be comini south" (Crum in Winlock, 1926, Vol. 2, no. 433). The completed occupation of Thebes (N!) is pre· supposed in another Coptic letter written on a pol· sherd from the mona.~lery of Epiphanius (Crum in Winlock, no. 324). The writer of Ihis leller refel'$ to someone called "(the) Persian that is in Ne:' presumably "the chief official installed by the Persian.~ at Thl.-bes." One can read of the sorrow of a widow from the area of Djeme in a Coptic leller wrinen on a fragment of sandstone, which the widow had di· reeled to Pisenlius, hishop of Hermonlhis. The Per· sians had murdered her son; Ihey had robbed her of well·nigh all herliveslock. Now she is unable to pay her taxes, and as a result is in serious danger of being evicled from her home. She earnestly be· seeehe.~ the bishop to help her (Drescher, 1946). In a Copdc papyrus from the Hermopolile several villagers addressed their lord, whose name is obviously Persian, promising to deliver a fixed quanlity of flax after fourleen tlays and swearing to fulfill their promise "by God and the well·being of the king of kings." The date cor·r·espond.~ to 8 November 625. A Coptic leiter on a potsherd from Thebes shows thaI a man and his family were neeinQ berore lhe Persians. There aroe mOl'e witnesses of the same kind. A Greek P:lPYrus document from a laler pedod con· cerns the arrival of the Persians in Apollonopolis Magale, ldfil. The numerous Middle Persian papy· rus documents from Egypt, by Iheir language and SCripl, as well a.~ their use of the Zoro'lstrilln calen· dar, testify lU the pft.'SCnce of Persian occupying forces. One of Ihese Middle Pel'$ian tellls enumer· ates the places that had Persian milital)' installa·
1940
PERSIANS IN EGYPT
lions (and presumably were ami)' rco;n.litmtml cen· ters): Elephantine, "I!raklela, Oxyrhynchus, Kynon, Thcodosiopolis. Hcrmopolis, Anlinool'olis. KoSSOn, Lykos, Diospolis, lind Maximianopolis. It is not clear how lhe affairs of the Coplic church were conducted during the Persian incur-
sion and in the period of ocCllplllion. It is repol1ed of the Coptic patriarch Andl'Onicus thaI by the lime he died (626), he had experienced and witnessed great wlfcring as a n.:sult of the Per"ian invasion. His successor was Benjamin I, whose period of office lasted throughout the Persian occupation and extended well beyond il (S1wirus, 2. 486-487).
The conquerors evidently meddled in the admin· istrative affairs of the Coplic church. The vacant bishopric of Latopolis (boA) was taken over by the bishop of Hemlonthis on the order of the Coptic patriarch, bccau.o;e the Pcrsian5 did nut permit the ordination of new bishops. II appears thal after the initial p~ of the country'5 conqucst and p0ssession, which "'lIS characterize
Aml!lineau, E. Ln Geographie de {'Egyp/e a Npoque caple. Paris, 1893. Brchier, L. i.e Moude bytaulill. Paris, 1948. Budge, E. A. W., cd. llnd lr·ans. Coplic Apocrypha ill the Dia/ecl of Upper Egypl. London, 1913. Com. pare Gawdal, 1984, Bury, J. B. A Hislory of the Laler Roman Empire from Arcadius 10 Irene, Vol. 2. London, 1889. BUller, A. J. 71'e Arab Co"qrlest of /.:'gypl. Oxford, 1902. 2nd cd., rev. P. M. Fraser'. O"rord, 1978. Cauwenbergh, P, Elude sur les moil1l!.'i d'Egyplc de· pub. /e conci/e de Cha/~'idoill(, (45/) iusqu'a I'illlIasioll Arab, (640). Milon, 1973. Reprint of Paris and Louvoin, 1914. Christensen, A, f.'lrall sous Its Sassa"ides. Copenhagen, 1944.
Chrysos, E. K. "The Date of Papyrus S8 4483 and the Persian Occupation of Egypl." IJodQue 4 (1975}:342-48. Dtllger, p, Regesle" der Kaisemrkunden tle~' ost~iJ lIIischetl Reiclle~' IIU" 565-1453, pt. I. Munich and Berlin, 1924. Ore!M;her, J. "A Widow's Petilion." 8u/lelill de III Sociiti d'archi%gie caple 10 (1944):91-96. Frye, R. N. "The Polilical History of Lran under Ihe $asanlans." In The Cambridge History uf I~all, Vol. 3. London, 1983. Tile HiSlof)' 01 Alldotliliran. Munich. 1984. GObI, R. "Numismalica B)'7.antino·Persica." Jahr· buch der oSlerreichischell br,jlllli"ischotll Gtse//· Khafl 17(1968):165-78. Hahn, W. MOlleta imperii Byz.an/ini, Vol. 3. VO'lller· ac/ius bls uo 111. Itlleillregilmtllg 6/0-720. Vien· na, 1981. Hansen, 0., cd. Diot mittelpersist;lIell Papyri der PapyrassammlulltJ der Staatliche'l NfttSUIl W B...rlil1. Berlin, 1938. Hardy, E. R., Jr. "New Light on the Persian Occu· pation of Egypt." Jounral of the Society of Oriell,al Research 13 (1929):185-89. _-:-_. ChriSliatl Egypt-Church a'ld People, Christiallily alld NaliotlalislIl ill Ihe Patriarchale of Alexalldria. New York and Ollford, 1952. Justi, F. "~le~l'5Chafl del' S3s5niden." In Grulldri$$ du irullischen Phil%gie, Vol. 2, ed. W. Geiger and E. Kuhn. Strasbourg, 1896-1904. Repr. Berlin and New York, 1974. MacC/)ull, L S. B. Coptic Egypt Dllring the PersiQll OccupMioll, tile Papyrological Ellidellce. Studi Cla~ici e Orienlali 36. Pisn, 1986. Menasce, J. de. "Recherches de papyrologic pchlevic." JOl/mal fuialique 241 (1953):185~96. MOller, C. D. G. "Die koplische Kirche zwischen Chalkedon und dem Ambcrcinrnarsch." Zeit.~chrift filr Kirchellgeschichle 75 (1964):271-308. Ntlldeke, T, GC.~Cllichlc der Puser IIml Arf/her Zlir Ze.i! fler $IlSani(JI:Il. Leiden, 1973. Repr. of 11179 edition, Phillips, J. R, "The By~.ilrllirle Bronze Coins of Alcllandria in lhc Scvenlh Cenlury." NWlli.IIII/llic ChrOl1icle ser. 7, 2 (1962):225-41. Revillout, E. "Textes coptes extrnits de la r.:orres· pondonce de Sl. Pesunthlus, ev~que de Copto~ r.:l dc plusieul"li documents nnalogues (juridiques ou cconomiqucli)." Revue ~gYPloIQgiqu(' 9 (1900): 133-79; 10 (1902):34-47; 14 (1914):22-32. Slratos, A. N. 8yZ(JIltium ill Ihe Seventh Ce'1lllry, Vol. I, 601-634, ll'ans. Marc Ogilvie·Gr"dll1. Am· sterdam, 1968. Volkmann, H. ""gyplen unter romisehcr Hcrl" schar1." In Oriell/aUsd/f1 Geschicillc \'0/1 Kyros his Mohammad, cd, B. Spuler. ~llIndbuch der Oricntalistik 1.2,4.I.A. Lcidcn lind Cologne, 1971.
PERSONAL STATUS LAW
l r
Winlock, Herben Eustis. Tire Mfmas/ery uf Epipha,,· ius at '''elles, 2 'lois. Vol. I: "The An:h.
1941
tian legi"lation.
status was not affected. Thj~ official recognition was confirmed in 1980 when, in the course of amending Article 2 of the Egyptian Constilution on the stipulation that Islamic law should be Ihe principal source of legislation, a National As.<;embly commission stres...o;ed that in cerL:1in matters of personal status, non·Muslims should abide by the provisioOli of their own religious affiliation's jurilidiclion. However, the scope of personal status law suffered certain restriclions. Where:lS it had formerly embraced all issues rclt..'Vllnt to marriagc, divorce, sepal1ltion, alimony, inheritance, financial rights, guardianship, tutelage, and custody of children, it now became restricted to matters of belrothat, mar· riage, and the dissolution of marriage through divorce or separation. The pro\'isions of personal status law became applicablc only in C3.Sl.'S where the litigants werc of the same failh and denomination_ Thus, in the event of either spouse being COnVerll-d to Islam, ililamic law has 10 be enforced. This undermines Ihe principle of the sanctity of Christian marriage, which is of supreme importance to the Coptic church.
HISlorlcal Background
Personal Status Courts
The earliest official recognition by the state of the right of Christians to invoke the provisions of their faith wa<; in J 18, when Emperor Constantine promulgated a decree whereby Cillistians we...~ allowed to resort to ecclesia<;lical courts to scull' their pcrsonal disputes in accordance with callO'1 I;,w rathcr than Roman law. Following the ARAB CONQUEST 01' EGYPT ill 641, the judicial powers of Christinn lluthOlities nver their SUbJCCL<; were maintained in all perwnHI matters execpl th
The concept of the participation of laymen with the clergy in conducting church arfairs is based upon Ihe teachings of Ihe apO~'ilte!: "Wherefore, brethren, look ye OUI among you seven men of hon<..'St report. full of the 110ly Chmt and wisdom. whom we m.ay appoint over this busin<..'SS. But we will give oUnielves continually to prayer, and to Ihe ministry of the wOl'd" (AcL<; 6:3-4). The Imperial Decree recommended that "the t,dministnttion of community Interest.<; of Chri.<;tians and other non-Muslim subjects be referred 10 councils fonned or elected monks [I.e., clergy] and laymen." The said decree also provided th..l private suits, such as those relaling 10 Inheritancc, between ChriSlians and other non-Muslim subjects be referred to the patri"reh or prelllles and the councils if the parties concerned so desired. The first Coptic COMMUNITV COUNCIL was accordingly formed in Februal'Y 1874 by khedivial decree and authOl'i7.cd to eon~ider personal status cases. lis bylaws were amended in 1883 and in 1927. They were in force until Its legal jurisdiction was abolished by law number 462 of 1'J55 and transferred to the civil COUl'ts. The bylaws provided for the establishment of one or two (;OUriS formed of the president (in this ca<;e, the IXllriarch) or the vJc<.." president, and five members, no less than four of
RlIfH ALTHI'lMSTIEHL
PERSONAL STATUS COURTS. Sec Personal Statu... law.
PERSONAL STATUS LAW. The term "pcrsonaI status" was llOOpl...-d during the period of Egyplinn legal reform in the last quaner or the ninclecnth tcnlury, to clIlcgori:cC certain laws ~oveming the personal, not property, matters of individuals in accor
1942
PERSONAL STATUS LAW
whom were to be clcclt.,d. Each court had the appellate Julisdlction 10 decide divOI'ce cases previ-
ously considcn..-d by Ihc provincial laity councils. even if their judgments wer'e nOt appealed. validation by thc Community Council being essential £01' them to take force (Article 8 of the bylaws). The Imperial Decree stipulated Ihe e!itablishmeot of provincial communily councils in I.'very province, to be presided Over by the metropolitan and 10
consist of live members. The personal stalus couns were accordingly courts lhal issued judicial, nOI adminisnativc. deci· sions. Enforcement of their judgments was carried OUI. ll$ in thc casc of olher cuum, through official administralivc channels. As of January 1956, all personal statu~ cases. of Muslim1i and non-Muslims. were n:fcrred to civil courts: summary, firsl·inslancc, and appellate courts. The Coon or Cassation, also. has a division for pc~nal SL3.IWI C1JSeS. In view of the fact that such cases affet:t the very con: of 5OCicty, approval by the auorney general has been made optional for summary couru, bUI mandatory for higher courtS, before any judgment passel.! may lx::l:ome valid, Copllc Family Law The sources of Coptic family law are Ihe Old and New Tt'!'ltamems, Ihe writings of the church fathers, and the rCSQlutions agreed to by valious ecumeni· cal, regional, and local councils, The aulhorily of the church rests upon Christ's words to his apostles: "Vcrily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what· soever yc shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt. 18:18). Patriarch CYltlL IIJN LAOtAQ Jll (d. 1234) lrellled this verse as the bOlsis of Ihe laws he estahlished fOf the church. Hc abo cntmsted a Coptic scholar, al·.\iAFI IBN A...·ASsAL, with the task of complling a cornpenditlill of cllUl'ch I;,ws, tcxts, .md cdlcts. In 1896, in reply to an inquiry by the Egyptian Ministry of Justice, Hegumenos JIIUIS I'HILOTAwus 'AWAl) or the Church of Saint Mark in Cairo pm· duced Al-KlllIlfJ~all a/·QfJ'ICmiyyuh Ii ul.A~wiil al. Slluklr~iYYQIl (the Lcgnl Compendium of Personal Slatus). which was adopted by thc Community Council committee. In 1938 the Community Council approved n coditiclilion of personal status. When personal stalus courts wefe abolished in 1955. thc Communily Council and the Holy Synod appmved a draft law,
bUl it was not ofticially adopt cd. In 1962, Pope CYRIL Vt submiued to the minister of justice a memoran· dum incQl'pQr,lting the church vicWl'i on the subjeci. He demanded a stipulation in the personal status I;lw for Christian Egyptians that no Christian mar· riage shall be allested by the notary public without prior compliance wilh religious requirements. MOI'C recently Pope SIlENOUIM III published Slliln~ill ill,Zilw;ilh il/.Wal}Idilh (The Religious Law of Monogamy). The Calholic COptic Community follows the provisions of the encyclical issul..'d by Pope Pius XU in 1949 under the name The Milrriilge Sacrllmenl in
the
Church. A.~ to the Evangelical community. it applies the law of pc~nnl st:;tIWl approved in 1902. It unilied draft law for pe~nal status applying to all Chri.~tian Egypllaru has been approved by the council of each community. But it is still under consideration by the Egyplian authorities. EilstenJ
Marriage Article J of law number 629 of the year 1955 gives Coptic clergymen the oillcial capacity of mandatory nOlaries where the married people are of Ihe same faith and denomination (i.e., Coptic Orthodox). Otherwise, marriagt.'s must be registered al thc Public NOlary Office. A husbanl.! is required 10 provide a place of dwell· ing where he and his wifc can live togelher. Coptic canon law docs not allow :;t husband to force his wife to live with him. In Islamic marriages, too. a wife can no tonger be coerccd 10 live with her husband (law numbcr 44 of 1979). The marriage partners lire instructed to live to' gether' In love, tidelity, and mutual respect. A hu.~· band Is responsible rOI' thc maintenance and upkcep of his wife, nnd white financial independence of both husbnnd llnd wife of sufficient means is safcgU1lr(jed, u wife may be enjoined 10 mainlain an impovcrishcl.l husband if 5he can nfFol'd to do so. Marriage confers legal rights upon the offspring, even those born illegitimately but who become Ie· gitimate upon the marrirtJj;c of their parcnt5. Adop· tion, eontr:J.l)' 10 Islnmic legal practices, is Tt.'Cog· ni1:ed by Coplic canon law. According to the nineteenth.century personal sIll· tus compendium of Phllut6wu5 'Aw:u;l. a Coplic marringe can be dissolved for one of two reasons: adultery. and actual or virtual dealh. By virtual death was meam cOll\lersion to anothcr religion
PETER I
(nol to another denomination), exile for life, life imprisonment, a dealh sentence, or willful insubordimuion.
The 1938 and 1955 codes allowed the fullowing :is justification for diVQrcc: adultery. relinquishment of the Christian religion: unaccOI.lntabk five.year absence of either spouse; a sentence of n(, Jess than $Cven )'t-'3n" imprisonment or hard labor; a husband's impotcm:;c or a spouse's insanity; and a criminal :llIempt of either spouse.
The 1938 code adds inconigible bcm.\·ior of either spouse, incompatibility, II thrcc·ycar period of scp,ll'alion, and the embracing of monaSIit; vows by either spouse. In 1945, Pope MACARIW, III denounced this Hbcr.lJ attitude on the Pilrt of the Community Council in tl1l:illcrs of divorce, and then the Holy Synod resuicted divorce for uuuhcry only "In accot'd:lnce wilh the Gospcl~." This flHilUdc of lhe I:hurch wa.~ confirmed by Pope l:YRIL VI in 1962 :lnd by E'Ope Shcnuuda ilion 18 Novembet' 1')71, five dllys :lner his entlll'onemcnt, A month later he issued 1I papal decree prohibiling the remarriage of :I woman who had been divurced for aduhel)'. The Unified Omft Law of Egyptian Christil'ln Cummunities (Ar1icles 128- 130) adupted Ihis view. BIBLIOGRAPIIY
Fattal, A. I~ Slallll Iigal des ,rG/HHltsulma"s em pays de ('islam. Beirut, 1958. Frcig, E. S. Slarlll persullllel rl lllllQII(lmie des chriti. rlls rll Egypt/!. Jerusalem, 1974, l;Iilmi Bu!lU.';. ArykAm al.,4rywM al-Sllakh.~iyyah Jil. Mi~riy)'fll Gha)',. af·Muslimfn. Cairo, 1957. Jhjis Philutilwils 'Awa<J.. Al.Khll/6.~ah al·Qfmfmiyyah /, al-,4~lwfJ.l al.shakJl~;yyah Ji.Kurub a/·,4qfX"i1 ai-V,.· tlll/dill/hiyyill. Cairo, n.d. ___ Af·Ma;mri a/·Sa/awl. Cairo, 1908. Mcinardus, O. F. A. Chris/rIm Egypl, Faitlt alld Ufe. Cairo, 1970. Pope Shenouda Ill. Shar;tI( al.Zawiah al.lVlI'Jiduh, 3rd. ed. Cairo, 1978, Tllriq al·Dishri. AI·MlulimiJ./1 lila a/-Aqba! If llur til· /am{j'ah al·WarQlliyyah. Cairo, 1980. Zananiri, G. Ca{lwlici~'IIIf! or/ell/al. Pari,~, 1966. ISKANOAR GHATTAS
PETER I, seventeenth patriarch of the Sec of Saim Mark (]OO-311). Peler succeeded THEONAS (282]00) and, according to tradition, he was !l,e last or the "seal" of the mar1yl'$. The accounts of his lurhulent and tragic archiepiscopate eompl'iso.: a fasci·
I
1943
nating and imponant source for eady Church history. Peter not only defended the onhodox faith against schism but also opposed the edic!.s of the cmpc:ml"$ D1OCLF.T1AN and Maximin Daia proscribing Christian 5('rvlces, and further expoundt.-rl upon his theological positwn while in priJon awaitinll f!X«U' tion. MWTlUS. bishop of Lycopolis (As)'l1l), figures prominently in the many anclrnt references to Peter. M an advocate of leniency and tenns of pen· ance for those ChrilUians who paid homage to the pagan gods after Oiocletian's edict of 303 (the lapsi), Peter ran afoul of the more stringent Mclitius, who favored excluding them from com,nunion with the church. Peter wem into hiding 10 escape persecution, but finally came to trial and was executed on 25 NOl/ember 311, during the r-eign of Mllximin Daia. Almost nothing is known of Petcr's ellrly life, including his dale of binh, but it i~ prnbable thaI he was frum Alexandria. Peter's life, including the Ole· count of his incarcer.ltion and hl~ execulfon, a section known as the Passi(l, is the subject of an Encomiulll attributed to ALEXANDER (312-326). his second successor. The Encomium, highly hagiographical :lnd legendary in nature, survives in Sahi· die (Orlandi, 1970, pp. 247-62), in 80hairic (Hyver· nat. 1882; Vivian, 1988, pp. 78-84), and in a cOlUiidcrably different Arabi<;; v<;;rsion wrinen by the tenth-<:cntllry Coptic bishop of al·Ashmllnayn, SA· WIRtJS tBN AU,lUQAFI'A' (History o/the Putriurch$. Vol. 2). Various other lexts in several languages hal/e more detailed accounts of Ulr Passio (Telfer, 1952; Spanel, 1979-1982, pp. 97-99; Haile, 1980). The Dohairic version of the Encomium is the most informative. Severnl blatantly contrived state· mentS render its historical value suspe<:t; n(metht.~ less, it remains the sole source of Pete....s childhood and e;lrly career. It begins with Alexander's compali~on of Peter's vir1ues 10 those of John the B:lp· tisl, Aaron, lhe t,po~tles Peter and Paul, llnd olhen;, and goes on 10 praise Peter as "the one who closed lhe mouth of the het'elies" (Hyvernut, 1882, pp. 247 -48). Peter was allegedly the son of Theodosius, fint presbyter of Alexandria, and Sophia. Through the intervention of saints Peter and Paul, the infant Peter was born to the mu'rcn Sophill and was named after the first ap05tlc by the archbishop, who pn..-rlictcd that he would be a "lllighty foundation of the onhodox failh and a protcc;:tor for all Chris· tians," thus re<::alling the Lord's pun on the apostle Pete....s name (Mt. 16:18; In. 1:42). The narrative continues with the education of the young Peter in
1944
PETER I
Alexandria under the tutelage of the archbishop. His first important encounter ostensibly came when he was sent by the patriarch to repulse the heretic Sabellius. who, according to Alexander, was "a transgressor who coniine
schism. Melltius, bishop of Lycopotis, refused to aecept Peter's schedule for the readmission of the {ilpsi as promulgated In the Cilnonicill uttel' Issued in the third year and after the fourth Easter since Dioclellan's edict. This remarkable document, ex· tant in Greek (PG 18, pp. 467-508) and in two Syriae fragments (Schwartz, 1904, pp. 164-87; la· garde, 1856, pp. 46-54, 63-73, 99-117), is a splen· did witness to Peter's humanity. Peter sel the followinll terms for the various lypes of Christians who had deferred to Diodetian's order (Vivian, 1988, pp. 185-92): I, Those who lapsed after incarceration and torture ..llere given forty days' penance because
"they have not come to their present condition by choice, but because they were bclnllyed by weakness of the flesh, and ... some of them now show on their bodies the marb of Jesus," 2. Those: who lapsed after incarceration but were nOI lonured had to spend one more year in atonement. "This time of penance suffices be· cause, actually, lhey too gave themselves to be punished for the name of Christ, even if lhey did have in prison the greal benefit of aid and cnmfort from their brothers:' 3, Those who lapsed hut were neilher incarcerat· ed nor tonured and then repented also had to spend a year in penance; thereafter, readmission would be discmsed. 4. Those: who lapsed and had nOI repented were banished. "What is crooked cannot be adorned, and what is lacking cannot be numbered" s. Those: who lied or ignored services to escape persecution or scnt non-Christians to !Xly homage instead had to spend six monlhs in penance. 6, Those who were slaves and made 10 sacrifice had to spend II year in penance. 7, Those who wer-e free and forced Christian slaves to sacrifice in their place had to spend three more years in alonement under scrullny. 8. Those who lQ~ after arresl and lhen repent· cd and were tortured were to be received immediately. 9. Those: who neilher hid (nor confessed) were to enjoy immediate readmission. 10. Those: clergymen who lapsed and then repented were to be kept from the priesthood because they were the mOSI shameful of all, They had showc:d themselves to be "like the one who laid the foundation and was not able to finish il:' Nonetheless, they were to be readmiued 10 the
PETER I
II.
12. 13.
14.
15.
communion of the church so that they would hllve no excuse for "violent departure" nor rea· son "to slacken once more from the faith." Those who lapsed during incarceration or punishment for their sympathy with the martyrs were: to be readmitted, although no schedule was SCI. Those who avoided persecution by i»'yment ineUrTed no punishmenl. Those who "gave up everything for the safety of their lives and withdrew, even if others were detained because of them," also inwrrcd no punishmenl. Those who lapsed only after severe tonure "and no longer had the strength to speak or even to utter a sound or to make any movement of resistance" were to be rc:t:eived immediately. The founh and sixth days of the week ~rc set as timC!i of fasting.
Peter's charity is perhaps best illustrated by a statement in the elevemh canon: "we arc mindful of the many miseries and troublC!i they have undergone in Ihe name of Christ; not only Ilave they repentcd, but Ihey also mourn for what they did when Ihey were: beutlyed by the weakness and morlality of the nC!ih. Funhennore, they lestify that Ihey, as it were, have been disenfranchisell from the faith. Let us prny with Ihem and plead together for their reconciliation I:Ind for other proper things, through Him who is our Advocate with the Father." The CflIlQ/licfl/ ~/ler mises the qut::o;tion whether a penitential system such as that known to Saint Gre~ory Thaumatur~U5 and Saint Basil ('xisted in Alexandria in Peter's day (PG 10, p. 1048; Basil, Epistle 199). Although one can Irace the slow development of a pcnitenllal system in the letters of saims Cyprian and Dionysius and through the Cllnons of Ihe preNicene councils of Elvira nnd Aneyra, it is not clear that Peler knew of such a system. ORIGEN (Homily all Leviticu.~ and Numben) knew of sacerdotal ahso· lution and penance, which shows that the institution of penance at Alexandria goes back to the early second century. Peter, along with Cyprian and Dionysius, shows the bishops' insistence on episcopal authority. All thn-c insistt.-d that only the bishop (and nOI the "confessors," those who had <.:onfCSSt.-d the faith under persecution) had the right to forgive sins and to sel terms of penance. When Peter ned 10 escape persecution, Melitius went to AICJlandria and usurped his office. Upon his
1945
return. Peter excommunicated Melitius, who, none· theless, plllgued the Alexandrian church for years to come (Hyvernat, 1882, p. 260; Bell, 1924, pp. 3899; Stevenson, 1957, pp. 379-81, 385-86; Barnard, 1973). Shonly thereafter, Peler was apprehended and sentenced to death. The different versions of the Pass;o vary in their accounts of Peter's execution (Telfer, 1949). In the "shon" Latin version by F. Laurentius Surius. Peter is beheaded in his cell. In another "shon" version contained in the Arabic translation, Peter is decapitated in the Sireel outside the prison. The Arabic edition oflhe Pas.sio also contains the single elitant "long" version. in which Peter is taken from his cell, allowed to pray at Saint Mark's tomb, and thcn executed. One partially published colleclion of leiters in Sahidic (Orlandi, 1975) and IWO unpublished homilies in Sahidic and Bohairic have been attributed to Peter. Fragments of works perhaps written by Peter and others about him are numerous (Orlandi, 1970, pp. 155-56; Orlandi, 1975, p. 129). In addition to his Canonical Letter, Kvernl other elicerpts of Greek lranslations of works attribuled to Peter sur· vive (PG 18, pp. 509-522). Although the authentici· ty of these writings has been questioned, $Ome may be genuine, and Ille exislence of additional texts in Greek, Latin, Coptic, and other languages remains possible. It is probable that mOlIt of the fragments come from onc of two works by Peter, On the God· head and 011 the Soul (HId the Body. Most of these fragments were preserved by later anli·Origenists (among Ihem the emperor JUSTtNIAN), which has led most scholars to condude that Peter was also an anti-Origenist. This is difficult to prove. but at least Peter appears 10 have been correcting certain Ori, genist teachings, such as that of the pn:ellistencc of the soul. An the letters were written during Peter's archie· piscopate. The second lind third have special vlllue because lhey indicate II correspondence with Diodelian over the edicts. Unfonunately. these letters afe quite fragmentary. A broken passage in the Sa· hidi<: transilition of Alexander's Encomium on Peter may derive from these letters. Neither the authenticity nor the historicity of these letters has been established. One or Peter's unpublished homilies, preserved only in the Sahidic texi of the manuscript (Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, MS 61 I), concerns the baptism of Jesus, that is, it is an epiphany homily. The other, a long work in Sahidic and Dohaine editions and In several Sahidic fragments, is gener·
1946
PETER I
ally known IlS the Ellcom;WIl 011 tire Archallgel Mi. (;huel, al1houKh the passages pert••ining to the n:ame$llke arc not in a majority and may be intelpO' lalions. TIle homily is in all likelihood an adwoess on rich~, with the Mich:leJ m:lteri:l.1 m:lking up an Encomium that W'oIS added later. This homily ad· dret'1o.'ie1l threi! topics: teaching. resuITCetion, and the archangel. The work is well crnftcd; Peter moves smoothly from one subject to the neltt. It is not a mere norilegium of miscellaneous Sl'nnoneltcs. If the autobiographical material goes hack to Peter, the original homily was wrillen during his period of hiding. "I am hidden [on account of) rhe severity of Ihe persecution of the emperors who have [riSf'n] against the church" (19). This passage recalls the thirteenth canon, in which Pctcr sets no punish· ment for those who ned the perseculions. several other passaga in the homily cOlTobomtc the charitable spirit manifest in the C'monical I.l!/· /er. Peter tempers his stem admonitions with hopes for the welfare of his congregation. In the introduc· tion, he addI"C5$CS a theml: w:.ry much on his mind, the absolution of the sins of the lapsi: "Correct [the sinner], rebuke [him}, [that] he might be reproved in (the presenceJ of everyone and b" saved" (§J); "Comfort him [Ihe sinner who despairs of forgive. ness], saying, ....here is repentance.' SJ'Cak to him of the oath Ihal the Lon!. swore 10 Ezekiel !.he prophet, 'J have sworn ... : says the Lord Almighty. 'thai I do nOI wish the death of the sinner as [much as I wish] him to tum away from his evil way :Ind live'" (14). Afler rebuking wealthy persons rand encoul1lg· ing them toward charity. he writes, "I tell you these things [beCllU~] I want ... your sweet smell to travel fur on account of your good worb" (l47). Two fine stalements succinctly sum,narize Peter's humility and pnlgmalism: "there is II greater [rcsponslbililyj ror' the one who leaches lhan [forj lhe one who lellrns" (lI2) and "I will not teach anyone 'Hove mercy on lhe one who is in need' while forgelling myself ll..~ the one who is in need; nthel" wise, will 1 be able to exhort 'lOyone 'Love your fellow as your~elr while [ my.~elf am an enemy 10 my fellow and tu my brother?" (§71), The first pas· sage undel'SCol'es I'eler's disappoinllllent, eltpressed In the lCOlh canon. with Ihe lapsed dergy, who SCi blld eXlIlllples for their congregations. Peter's works show thai he was one of the great moderates of the church, like Cyprian and Dionysius before him, who, although living in limes of gl'eat IUl'lllOil and danger, nevertheless advocated forgiveness and leniency. He, as they, oPpoSf'd the rigorists in and out of the church wh... insisted toot Ihe fuilhful be perfect and unstained. A<; such, he
l'elle<:1S the sJ'lir'it of phi1:ul1hl'Opy (Canon II of Nt· CAEA) found among Ihe m:ajority of Ihe early f"thers of the church, JUHI.IOGtt""HV
Altaner, B., and A. Stuiber. P(I/ro/ogic: J..chl'n, Sclrrilltm unJ Lehre der Kirchen"il.ler. Freiburg, 1%6. Barnard, L W. "Athanasius and Ihe Melelian Schism in Egypt:' JOllmal of Egypliall Archaeo/o· &y 59 (1973):181-89. Barnes, T. D. Cons/arlli", and Euubill$. Cambridge, M1I5$.. 1981. Barns, J. W. B.. and H. Chadwick. "A leiter Ascribed 10 Peter of Alexandria:' JOllnral 01 71,eological Smdies 24 (1973):443-55. Bell, H. I. Jews atld Christia"s bl Egypl: The Jewish Trouble in Alvtalldn'u (lIId Ihe Alhana.sian Conlrt>vcrs,. London, 1924. Cnml, W. E. ''Te",1S Allributed to Peter of Ale"'andria:' Jourrrul 01 Theological Silidies 4 (1903): 387-97. ___ "Some Funher Meletian Documents." JOllr· nal 01 Egyptia" Archaeology 13 (1927):19-26. Delehaye, H. Review of C. Schmidt, Fragmeme ciner Sclrrilt des MiJrfyrerbijChrJ!s Pe!rII$ VQII Alexall' drien. Allalec/a Bolla/ldiatlQ 20 (1901): 101-103. --c "Les Manyrs d'Egypte:' Allalecla Bollatldia· 110 40 (1922):1-154, 299-364. Devos, P. "Une Passion grecque ini!dile de S. Pierre d'Aleltandrie et sa traduction JXlr Anastase Ic Bib· liothccaire." Allulecw Bo/ltmditwa 83 (1965): 15787. Frend, W. Ii. C. Mur/yrdOIll and Persecution in /lle Early Chlm:h. Gl1lnd Rapids, Mich., 1'.181. e:--' The Rise of Chrislitmi/y. Philadelphia, 1981. Gregg, R. C., and D. E. Groh. Early Arilm;SIIl. Philadelphia, 1981. Haile, G. "The M:artyrdom of St. Peter of Alexan· dria." A"alecla Bnlla,'diIlIlU 98 (1980):85-92. Hardy, E. R. Chris/;uII Egypl. New York, 1952. Harnack, A. Gesdr;drle der u!/drristlidrel1 Lilew/llr. Leipzig, 1958. Hawkins, J. B. H. "Peter of Alexandria." In Fathers of Ihe Third Cel/lury, Vol. 6. In The Awe·Nicer/e Father.f. l'ra/l,duliolls of the Wrilillgs of Ihe Fathers dowlI /0 A.D. 325, Re\!. A. C. Coxe. Repr. Grrand Rapids, Mich.. 1982. Hyvernal. H. Actes des marl)irs de !'Egypte. Paris, 1882. Kemp, E. W. "Bishops and l'resbylcl'S at Alclt:lll' dria." Jmmrul 01 Ecclesias/ical HislOry 6 (1955): 125_42. Kellter, F. "Ocr mclctinnische Streil in A&JPten." ZeilSchrilf lilr Nelles Tes/amellt Wissellscha/t 35 (1936):J55-93. Lagarde, P. RcJiqlliae iuris ecclesiaslie! amiqllissi· mae. Leipzig, 1856.
PETER III MONGUS
Orlandi, T. "LA versione COpl.o (saidica) dell'Encomio di Pielro alessandrino." Revis/a de~li S/lidi OrleN/aU 45 (1970): I 5 1-75. ___. "La r"oteeolta copta delle leHere allribuite a Pielm AI($,Qndrino." Analccta Bollaudialla 93 (1975): 127-32. Piu'll, J. D. Analtlc/a Sacra, Vol. 4. Pari~, 1883. Quasten, J. Pa/rolulO" Vol. 2, The All/e·Nice"e Li/er· awre a/ler JrellaellS, 4th ed. Utrechl and Anlwerp, 1975. Radford, L B. Three Teachers 01 Alexandria. Cambridge, 1908. Routh, M. J. Reliqlliar: Sacral'., Vol. 4, pp. 19-82. 2nd ed., Odord, 1846. Sauget, J. M. "Pielro. VCKOVO di Alcs.sandria. santo. mar1irc." In Bibliolheca Sanctorum 10, ed. Joseph Viuini. Rome, 1902-. Schwam:, E. Zljr Geu:hichte des A/Ilalla.,ius. GOuin· gen, 1904. Spanet. D. B. ''Twu Fl1I.gmenlary Sa'idie Coptic Te.'Cls Pertaining to Peter I, P:uriarch of Alexandria (Bibliolheque Nationale, P:uis. m"o;.~. coptes 129/14, foil, 109, 131)." Bullelin de 10 Socii-ti d'Arc},iologie COple 24 (I !n9-1982):85-101. Slevenson, J. A Nell' E..sr:bill~': [)Qclllnen/s JlllIs/rativ, 01 the IJi$lory ol/he Early CJwrch /0 A.D. 337. Lundon, 1957, Telfer, W. "51. Peter of Alexandria and Arius." Ano· feclQ Bol/al/dial/a 67 (1949);117_30. ___ "Episcopal Succession in Egypt:' lOllmal 01 EcclesiaSlical llislory 3 (1952): I-I 3. Vivian, T. 51. Peter of Alexandria, Bishop and Mar· tyro Philadelphia, 1988. DoNAl./) U. SI'ANF.I. TIM VIVIAN
PETER I
(archbl~hop of JelU.
[em, COptic See or.
PETER II, suint and twenty-firsT palrinl"ch of Ihe See of Saini Murk (373-380). Peler was de.
1947
tian JXlgan.
PETER III MONCUS, twenty·seventh patriarch of lhe See uf Saint Mark (480-488). Peter III, sur· named Mongus (,he Gl'eek lerm for Slammerer), was elected Monoph)'lllite head of the Coptic Church in succession to TIMOl"llY It AWJJKl/S, againsl rivllls who upheld the diophysite diclates of the Council of CHALCl!l)ON (451), notably Timolhy Salofaciolus, Ihc Chalcedonian patriarch. In his early years, Peter was made deacon by OIOSCOKUS I, whom he had followed 10 Ihe Latrocinium (or Robber Council), the second COUNCtL 01' C1'B1!SUS held in Augusl 449.
1948
PETER IV
There, Peter joined an attack on Flavian, Ute archbishop of Constantinople, which led to Flavian', deposition and his replacement by Proterius. Peter was one of Dioscorus' supporters at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 where Di05Corus W:l5 victimired and the Monophysite split occurred. Peter was also a supporter of monophysilism during the reign of Timothy Adurns. Subsequently, Peter was cnthroned in the Alexan· drian diocese. However, Emperor Zeno refuscd to ratify his election until he aeccpted ti,e IlENOTtOON. which was Zeno's formula, devised in 482, to bridge the gap between monophysidsm and the Onhodox profc55iun of Chalcedon. Peter's acceptance of Zeno's doctrine displeased the cxtn:mist monophy. sites amung the Coptic monks and clergy. Peter's attempt to placate both panics by interpreling the Henoticon 10 suit each side, irked Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople. Acacius erased Peter's mime from the Greek diptych as a preliminary mea· sure: 10 his deposition, a step avened only by Peter's death. AzIZ S. ATin.
for the vacant dioceses. In any case, Peter's vigorous aelion secured the episcopal succession. Theodorus was willing to retire to an Alexandrian monastery, although Longinus tried for some years to secure his r«ognition at Constantinople and elsewhere. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brehier, L "Les Successcurs de Juslinien et l'Eglise." In Hi~/oire de I'Eglise, ed. A. Fliche and V. Martin, Vol. 4, pp. 483-90, Paris, 1937. Brooks, E. W. "The Patriarch Paul of Antioch and Ihe Alexandrian Schism of 575." By~ntinische Zelt~'chrift 30 (1919-1930):468-76. Frend, W. H. C. The Rise of the MOllophysile Move· Itl/mt, p. 327. Cambridge, 1972. Hardy, E. R. Chris/ian Egypt, PI". 149-52. New York, 1952. Hunigmann, E. Evcques e/ Eve-cht), rno"ophysites. CSCO 127, subsidia 2, PI". 224-35. Louvain, 1951. Mnspero, J. His/oire des patriarcnes d'Alexandrie, chap. 7. Paris, 1923. Wigram, W. A. The Separa/io•• af the ManaphysilCs, pp. 175-79. London. 1923. E. R. HARDV
PETER IV, thirty-fourth patriarch of the See of Saint Mark. Although the IBS1'OIlY Of'TIiE PATllJA1lCHS gives the dates of 567-569 for Peter's palriarchy, some sources begin his term al 575 (see Maspero, 1923, p. 212). The death of the patriarch ntEODOSIUS t in 567 was followed by nine years of confusion, during which several claimants, including the Gai· anite Christopher and the tritheist Athanasius tried in vain to secure possession of the sec. The hierarchy was threatened with extinction. 111 response to an appeal from Alexandria, in 575 Bishop WNGINUS came down from Nubia to Mareotis. Assuming thal the choice was left to him, he 5eleCl~d one Theadorus, abbot of a desert monastery, and with two Syrian bishops consecrllted him. The Alexandrian clergy protested, and selected Peter, an old monk from the ENATON munastery near the capital. They recruited an Egyplian bishop of somewhat dubious SlalUs (John "of the Cells") and twO visitors for his consecration. Views still differ as 10 which choice was the more irregular, but the question was solved praclically by the general acceplance of Pelcr in Egypt. According to critics, he was a feeble old deacon who chose seventy bishops more quickly than one could have found seventy plowmen. But he seems in fact to have been of some Wstinctiondeacon in the huusehold of Theodosius at Constan· tinople and later pliest at Aluandriil-and there need have been no shonage of suilable candidales
PETER
V, eighty·third patriarch of Ihe See of Saint Man. (1340-1348). Peter (Bu!rus) ibn Dawtid was originally a monk of the Monastery of SainI Macarius (DAYR ANBA MAOAR): then he was chosen as abbot of DAVR SHAHRAN. He was unanimously nomi, nated for the patriarchate one year after Ute decease of BENJAMIN It, his predecessor. Nothing is known about his secular life before he joined Saini Macarius, bUI he distinguished himself in his monastic life with all the qualities that fitted him for this high ecclesiastical office. In 1340, therefore, his election and consecration at the ancient church of f.L\RAT ZUWAVL4.Il, which was the seat of the patriar· chate at the time, met with no oppOsition. He acceded 10 the throne of Saint Mark during the third tc:nure of the Mamluk suhan al-Na~ir Mu~hammad ibn QalawOn (1310-1341), when the earlier wave of Coptic perse<:utions had begun 10 subside. The lHSTORV OF THE PATRIARCHS brieny states thaI his timt:s were relatively peaceful and se<:urc; but the Islamic sources have a fair amount of infonnatian on details pc:naining to his patriarchalC. Peter was also a contemporary of Sayf al·Din Abu Bah (1341), al·Ashraf KUjuk (1342), a1.N~ir AJ:imad (I 342), al~lih Ismi'il (1342- 1345), al·Kamil Sha'hl.n (1346), al·Mu;affar HajjI (1347), and al· N~ir l;Iasan (1347-1350). The frequent succes.sion of sultans is indicative of the unsettled stale of the
PETER VI
governmelll in Egypt. AI-MAQRlzl. the eminent fifo teenth-eentury blamic chronicler, records that some Coptic churches in the capital were pillaged by the mob, while a number of Copts were arrested for unspecified crimes and crucified under the citadel, although some survived and WCr(! freed in the end. Another incident took place at the predominantly Coptic district known as Minyat al-5Irij. Thcre, a group of fanatic dervishes forbade the use of wine by Ihe Copts and auacked a member of their congregation before going to a mosque for the Friday prayers. The infuriated Copts w:.ited for the dervishes oul$ide the mosque and gave them a se· vere beating, which resulted in a serious fight between Muslims and Christians. The viceroy hastened to the scene and seiud a number of the troublemakers, among whom were fOllnd regular soldien whose wages were suspended. AI-M.aqrizi states that .wch ineklents became fn;quent and were prcvalent In Upper Egypt and the Sharqiyyah Province, where the marauding Ara~ from the Eastern Desen intensili~ the strife. The economic conditions of thc country also worsened the situa· tlon with the failure of agriculture and the doubling of Ihe pricc of cereals, In 1346, during the reign of al·Kl'iluil Sha'Wn, al·Maqrlzl again menlions the arrest and crucifixion of a group of culprits including a Coplic monk. I.n fact, the limes as a whole were marked by COrTUp' tlon and bribery, in addition to profligacy wilhin the sultan's coun, which led to the neglect of the serious business of governance, Matters both in the country and in the church were continuously slid· ing from bad to worse. The only hope of salvation for this confused administration rested with the lower classes or scribes and tax collectors, who had becn the Copts. But with their dismissal from the administration, ltlany of them apostatizcd to Islam in order to ret.o.ln their positions. The Coptic sources arc silent un this phase of their history, but the Islamic sOUl'ces provide us with a multitude of names of those Islamized COPL~, who consequently reached the highest posts in the administration. AJ.l;i3.hib AmIn aI-Din Amln al·Mulk T<\j al.RlyAsah ibn al-Ghanm\m was thrice a vizier under Sultan al·Ashraf and occupied high positions, not only in Cairo but also at Damascus and Tripoli. His illustrious career was ended by his execution, which was punishment for financial meddling. Another Copt, Abu al-Faraj ibn al.Kha!lr, married Ihe daughter of the famous al-Nushu' and became a Muslim under the name Sharaf al·Ofn .Abd al-Wa· hhib al·Nushu'. In limes of respite, the patrian;:h was ..ble to pre-
1949
pare the CHRISM at Ihe monastery of Saint Macarius in the presence of a dozen bishops and a number of clergy. After occupying the Ihrone of Saint Mark for six years, sht monlhs, and sill days. Peler died peacefully, and his body was interred in DAYR AI.· ~IA8ASH in Cairo, BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ibn J:lajal' al-'Asqalanl, AI·Durar al-Kiiminah, 6 \'Ols. Hydernbad, 1972-1976, Lane-Poole, S. History of Egypt In the Middle Ages. London, 1901. ___ The Mohtlmmtldtln DynlUties. Paris, 1925. StJ811l Y. USI8
PETER VI, 104lh patrian;:h of the See of Saint Mark (1718-1726). A native of AsyU!, Peter decided in his early youth to relire to the ancient monastery of Saint Paul (DAYR ANBA BCt.A.) in the Easlem Desert. There he took the monaslic vow and remained as an ascetic for some years, after which his predeCICMOI' made him a presbyter, and then elevated him to the rank of abbot of his monastery. At the death of JOHN XVI. the fame of his sanctity reached the valley where one an;:hon by the name or l.u!fallAIt, the husband of the late patriarch's niece, was instrumental in Ihe promotion of his cause for succession to Ihe throne of Saint Mark. Consequently, a delegalion from BOsh was commissioned to go 10 Saint Paul's mona.~tery 10 inform Peter VI of his selection as patrian;:h. Due to his reticence In accepting this honor, Peter was brought to Cairo in chains, where he was consecrated patriarch in the chun;:h of Saint Mel" curius (AnO SAYI'AYN), It was a year of plcnty owing to (he inundation of the Nile, and the community of Copls feasted on thc occasion, for it was a period of relative peace and security from the Mamluk lyranny that had prevailed in the valley. At the time, the patriarch appointed Athanasius I to the diocese of Jerusalcm, His predecessor, Christodoulos I, was nllmed lln;:hbishop of Ethiopia in responsc to arc· quest of the king of that country. In the meantime, Peter's plan to visit Alexandria wa.~ imerropted by fightlng between a govemor named lsma.'tl ibn Iwa.z and another named Mu~ammad (Bey) Jarkas. Peter retumed to his head· quaners in Cairo, which was under the govemorate of Rajab Pasha. Apparently Lu!faIlAh. an an;:hon of considersblc wealth, had clandestinely reconstrucled the delapidaled c:hun;:hes of Saint Michael and Saint Menas, without ellpress pennission from Ra· jab Pasha. This pr(!cipitated the governor's wrslh.
1950
PETER VII
However, frh:nds of Lu!fallih manag<;(1 10 appease the governor, llnd 'he good work was approved. LtJ!-fullilh was even able to add a number of cells these construclions for poor people. On the whole, we must assume that the reign of Peler VI was a period of relalive calm during which Ihe COpl'l enjoyed a fair measure of securily, in contr.lSt to the tempestuous and tyranllictll Mamluk rule of other patriarchal reigns. In thili atmosphere of peace, the pat.riarch was able 10 realize his visit to AleJtandria lind deposit a silver candelabra on the sanctuary of the Church of Saint Mark where he stayed for silny days of celebration. The patriarch could do many good deeds wilh the help and suppur1 of Coplic archons such as Jirjis Abu Shi!;latah, a weallhy immigrant from the city of Abnob in Upper Egypt. It is known that Petel' consecrated many presbytel'$ and deacon$ without interference from the aUlhQritics. He died in a pestilence, after occopylng the See of Saint Mark for more than eight yean. He Wll5 buried in the Church of Sail'll Mercurius in Cairo.
'0
BtULlOGRAPllY Butcher, E. L The Sfory of file C/UlrC'll of Egypf, 2 vols. London, 1897. Fuwler, M. Cllrisfian Egypt. London, 1901. AZIZ S. ATIYA
PETER VII, l09tll patriarch of the See of $aint Mark (1809-1852). He was born at al·Jawli, a small town ncar Manfalu! in lhe prOVhlCe of Asyu!. hence his cognomen al·J:lwll. He entered 5.'\int Antony's monastery (OAYR ANUA ANTVNIYUs) at "1'1 early age, and was later selected to hecome the metropolitan in Elhloph.l. For some re
iug miraculous episodes thaI have been accepled by the Coptic community of the faithful as true uccurrences in spite of their ostensibly legendary natun~. A few of these episodes are worthy of enumeraling 10 indicate the depth of the religious tenlperament of the Coplic faithful. I. The Nile nuud failed for olle year, and people asked the patriarch to pray for the resumplion uf the inundation. ConSI."qllcntly, after celebratillg Holy Communion, Peter washed the sacramental utensils and sprinkled that water into Ihe river, whereupon the Nile water speedily began to rise. A similar episode is rceurued in the eighth century during the reign of KI/A1L I (744-767). 2. During the reign of the finit khedive, MUI)AMMAO 'AU, his son Ibrahim Pasha was governor of Syria, and he is ~id to ha\'e summoned Peter to Jerusa· lem and challellgcd him ttl prove tha, a heavenly span: illuminates the Holy Sepulcher at Easler. After a thrce-day fast and prayer, the Coptic patriarch celebrated Holy Communion in the presence of Ibrahim Pasha and the Greek Or1hodoll patriarch, when a powerful lighl flooded the tomb of Christ. 3. An envoy from the Imperial Russian Cour1 paid Peler a visit for the purpose of offering the czar's protection to the Coptic community. With Peter's intuitive llcumell, he retor1ed that the Copts would ralher be pruteeted nut by an earthly power bill by lhe 111II11011al One. This episode brought him gl"f'a1 favor with the reigning khedive. 4. The HI~"TORV 01' TIm PATIl.IMI.CII$ relates the 510I)' of a daughler of Mu!;lammad 'All, Zuhmh H:lnim, who Wali married to A!;lmad Bcy the Defter·dar. She is snid to ha~e been possessed hy an unclean spirit and suffered from lit$ of convulsion thaI 'he physi· cians failed to treat. Finally, Mul.lammad '1\1i reSOr1· ed to Petcr, who summoned the saintly bishop of MinuroYYllh, Anba. SAr·apamon. The bishop went to lhe palace, prayed on a basin of water, sprinkled it on thc face of lhe sick lady while commanding the evil spirit in lh~ name of Jesus to depart frum her, and she "t once recovered. The khedive, in recogni· tion of that feat, offered the bishop a reward of 4,000 gold pieces, which thc bishop refuscd 10 ac· cept. When 'he khedive insisted, the bishop took only a fcw gold coins th(lt he distribU'cd 10 Ihe lIuards as he left. However, his request of reinstaTing Coptic state employees was grnntcd. Pc,er waS praised in Ihe His/ory of the Patriarchs: "he Wali a lover of studying in the Divine Books and assiduous in teaching Ihe people; nOi a lover of coveting things, long·suffering, self·abused. humhle, wise, a possessor of great sagichy and lofty intclli· gence and eminelll direction of hi:; nod."
PETRAEUS, THEODOR
1951
BIBUOGRAPIIV
BIBLIOGRAPIIY
Ktirnil ~Ii~ Nakhillh, and Farld Kalll.l. KJwldsal . Tarikh al·Ummah al·Qib!iyyah, Cairo, 1922.
Siein, E. lIis/oire flu BUIi-Empire, Vol. 2. Paris, 1949. RENll·GooKGE.S COQUIN
MOUNIR SHOUCIU
PETER. ACT OF. See Act of Peler, PETER MONGUS_ See Peler III Moogus. PETER THE PRESBYTER, SAINT, a holy man of Upper Egypt (rcast day: 5 Barnmhaf). He is known only rrom the ootice in the Coplo-Arabic,: SYHAXAMJON from Upper Egypt (Basset, II. 201; For· get, lexl, p. 10, Irons., p. 10), whkh gh'es no chronologkal or geogr.Jphical information. The notice is very c,:ommonplace, althoogh it appears 10 be ancient, for il spealu or hL-aling by W"dter and oil blessed specially for Ihis purpose. Perhaps the person in qUl!$lion is Peler the Elder, whose tomb iii at the church of Oifl and who was the initiator of Ihe hermit life in this region at an unknown period. RENll·GEORGES COQ\/IN
PETERSEN,
THEODORE
(1883-1966),
American scholar. He was assodale professor at Ihe Coatholic Univer1iity or America (1941-1948) and suo pcrvisl...d the formal cstablishment of the Inlitilute for Chrisllan Oriental Research at Ihe Catholic Uni· versity. He laught Hebrew, Arabic, and Coptic. At Saint Paol's College he laught philosophy (19191925) and scripture (1932-1936). After hili retire· ment, he published a number of Coptic studies, cs!>,-'Cially about Coptic manuscripts, among thcm 'The Paragrapb Mark in Coptic Illuminated Oma· ment" (SlIIdles Irl Art Ilrld Literalllre for Belle da CQSla Green, Princeton. 1954. pp. 295-330), "A Collection of Papyri, Egypllan, Greek, Coptic. Ara· bic, Showing Ihe Development of Handwriling Mainly from the Second Century B. C. to the Eighlh Century A.D." (Inlroduction to H. P. Kraus, Catalogue lOS, New York, 1964), and "An Early Coptic Manuscript of Acts: An Unreviscd VeDion of Ihe Ancient So-called Weslern Teltt" (ell/haUc 8iblical Quarterly 26, 1964, pp, 225-41).
PETER AL-SADAMANTI. SU Ou!nlS al-5id· BIDLIOGRAPHY
mantI.
MeEleney, N. J. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 28
PETER OF SCETlS, SAINT,
(1966):228-29. a si.nh·cenlUl)'
lax collectol' who bee.lIl1e a monk at Seetis (fe'lsl day: 25 Tubah). The notice in the Coptic SVNAXMI.ION docs not indie'lte Peter's place of origin, blll only bis funcllon u.~ a tax coliectOJ' and the hard, lIes.s of his char-,Icter, to the point thm he wali nicknamed "Without Pity," After a dream that showed God, he gave everything to the bim the judgment poor and fled to Scetis, where he became a monk
or
MARTIN
KJl.AIl.~E
PETRA, See Jabal Khushm al·Ou'ud. PETRAEUS, THEODOR (1624-1672), Danish Ol'ientalist. He studied Ol'ientallanguages in Lciden (1650) and vi~itcd Syria, Palestine, and Egypt (1656), where he eontinued hili linguistic studies, adding Coptic. FI'om Egypt he brought Coptic man· uscripts (among them seahle) to Europc, which arc now in lhe Prussian State L1bral)' in Oerlin. Pe· Ir,ieus published thc first Psalm in Coptic with Arabic and I..atin translation: Psalterillm DIlVidili in Lin· gila Coptica sell Acgyptiacll U"a cum Versionc Arabica mmc Primum I" LIlti"'",r VeNum eI in LII· cern Editmn a M. Theodoro Pctraeo (Leiden, 1663). BIBLIOCRAPIIY
Iverson, E. "Pelracus, Thcodorus (1624-1672)." Fwrd og Forskllitlg 9 (1962):79-113.
1952
PETRONlUS, SAINT
Qualrcmi:rc, E. Recherches critiques ef hislOriql~U sur III IlIl1gll/! et 1a lil/lrarllre de I'Egypte, pp. S8l. Paris, 1808. MARTIN KRAUSE.
PETRONI US, SAINT, fourth-<:cntul)' monk who Wll5 a disciple of and briefly the successor of Saint Pachomius as head of the koinonia, the mOo
PEYRON. AMEDEO
ANGELO MARIA
(1785-1870), Italian Coplologist and scholar. He studied at Ihe University of Turin and was ordained a priest about 1810. He became a member of Turin Academy (1816) and the Institut de France (1854). His m()$t important work is Luico/l Linguae Capricae (18]5). BIBLIOGRAPHY
naslic community (feast day; 27 Ablb). Pctronius
born of well-to-do parents in the city of PjOj. in the diocese of Di05polis Parva (Hiw). Movt"d by the Spirit of God, he withdrew from the wurld and built II monastery on the property of his parents. where he' gathered about him "anyone who wanted to live in Christo" The monastery. called lOOw, was situated on the west bank of the Nile, much farther north than Tmoushons, almost oppositc Shmin. He also convened hi, father, Pshenthb6, and his brother, Pshenapalhi. "with all their household:' 10 the mOo nasth;: life. When he learned of the holy J:oinoniCl, he asked Pachomius to receive the monks of lbow into it. Pachomiu5 came with his brothers and esIablished III lbow the roles of the other monaster· ies of the koinonia. Petroniu! was II man well qualified in every respect to lead a monastery. BeCiuse of his purity of hean, he was favored with revelations. When Pa· chomius founded a monastery in the area of Shmio, he transferred Petronius to that monastery, called Tesminc, lind gave him as well responsibility over the Olher two monasteries of the region. When Pachomius was on his deathbed, he appointed Petronlus as his successor. although he knew that Petronius also was ill. He died on 21 July ]46, only a few months after Pachomius, having named HORSIESIOS to follow him. Variou~ brief allusionS 10 Petronius in the Life of Pi.lchomius show that he was held in great csleem by HOI~iesios and Saint Theodoros of Ale~andria, a~ well IU by Pachomius himself. [See also: MonasticIsm, Pachomian; Paehomius, Saint.] ARMAND VIlIUJWX was
PETROS I. See
Ethiopian Prelates.
PETROS II. See Ethiopian Prelates.
PETROS
III. See Ethiopian Prelates.
PETROS IV. See
Ethiopian Prelales.
Dawson. W. R., and It P. Uphill. Who Was Who in Egyprology. p. 2]1. London, 1972. Kammerer, W., compo A Coptic Bibliography. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1950; repro Ncw York, 1969. AZII S. AnYA
PHARAN (FArln), oasis In the IO\Ith of thc Sinai Pcninsula, a Unle to the north of thc town of ai-TOr (J.AlTHou) and to the west of thc Greek monastcry of Saint Catherinc. Nctra or Nltira, a hermit in Sinal, becamc bishop of Pharan at the end of the foul1h century or the beginning of the fifth. According; to Ammonius (Tillemont, 17]2, Vol. 7, pp. 579-80), Moses. a nativc of Pharan, was among thc solitaries of Raithou. and convened the Arabs of the country: this Moses is celebrated by thc SYNAXARION of Constantinople at 27 November (Delehaye. 1902. p. 259). The region of Pharan also is mentioned in the Life of Saint Pidjimi, which indicau..'S that there were monaslic establishments there at the beginning of the fifth century (Maspero and Wiet, p. I]]). Macariu5 is mentioned 3S bishop of Pharan in a letter of Emperor Marcian (d. 457). Thconas, priesl and chancellor of the church of Pharan and the laura Raithou, subscribed to the acts of the Council of CONSTANTINOPLE in 5]6. The valley of Phi.lr3n is certainly designated in lhe tellt of Eutyehius, who cites the leller of Ihe monks "sclIliered in the valleys of Sinai, near to the bush from which God spoke to Moses," in a leiter ad· dressed to Justlninn (527-565) 10 ask him to con· struct n monastery where they would be protected from the raids of the Blcmmyel and the bedouin of the desert. We know from the narrative of John Moschus that at Easter 551 or 552 the bishop of Pharan was Photius. All Ihe monks of Sinal were subject to his see, and hc himself was dependent on the patriarch of Jero!lalcm. About 570 the anonymouS of Placentia, when he
or
PHIB, SAINT
passed thl'Ough Pharon, was saluted in Egyptian, and he noted Ihat troops kept watch over the security of the monasteries, which received their sup. plies from Egypt. This indicates both the origin of the anchorites and the close lies between Pharan and the valley of Ihe Nile. We also know of Theodoros monothelite bishop of Pharan, condemned by the Lateran Council in 649 and by the Sixth Council of Constantinople in 691-692. The bishopric of Pharan appears to have disappeared In the sevemh eenlul")', to the advantage of the momutel")' of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai. In 1512 Jean Thenaud noted the ruins of more than 2,000 cells on the mountain of Pnaran, as well as caves and a church in their midsL It is evidem that Pilaran was the Cl·n!cr of anchorite life of the Egyptian type. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chaine, M. Le Mrmuscn·1 de 10 vcrs/em copte en dio/ecte sahidiqlle des "Apophlhegmala patrum." BibliotMque d'l:tudcs coptcs 6. Cairo, 1960. Denzingcr, H. EIIChiridioll symbolorum l/efinitionum tt dedaraliollum, ed. A. SchonmelZcr. Ban::c1ona, 1965. Maspero, J., and G. Wiet. MotlrialU pour scrvir a 10 glogrophie de I'Evpte. Memoires de 1'lnsti!ut fran~ais d'Archeologie orienUlle 36. Cairo, 1919. Thenaud, J. Lt voyage d'omumer, ed. C. Schefer. Paris, 1884. Tillemont. L. S. Le Naill de. Memoires pour servir a this/oire ccc!ls;o.stiqIIC, 16 'loIs. Venice, 1732. Rl!Ne·GI!ORGES
COOUIN
PHERME. See Jabal Khashm al-Qu'ud. PHIS, SAINT, or Abih, II monk associated with Saint APOLLO 01' nAwlr and Papohe (feast day: 25 Bdbah). A Coptic Life of Phib i.~ presClVed in the Pierpont Morgan Libr..lry (Manuscript M 633, original pp. 47-68). The codex, which also conmins the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, has a colophon that givcs its date as 994 (van Lantschoot, fase. I, no. 114, and fu.o;c. 2, pp. 80-81). It was edited by T. Orlandi lind A. Campagnano (1975). A summary of this text, with several divergences, is given in the Coplo-Arabic SYNAXAR.I(,N. Papyrus fragments are in the A. C. Harris collection (British libraI")', Or. 7.561. pp. 135-48; cf. Gallier, 1906, pp. 88-91). An Arabic ver:o;ion made from a Coptic text differing from the one that has survived is in the
1953
National Library. Paris (Arab. 4787, fols. 126'1-158, and 4888, fols. 139-75: cf. Troupeau, 1972-1974, pp. 38-63, and, in libral")' of the Monastel")' of Saini Antony on the Red Sea. Hist. 67, 130 and 140). The Coptic life speaks of three persons, Apollo: his mend phib, who it stems died young: and Papabe, the steward. It appcan that they are to be identified with the three monks of the same names mentioned In several Coptic inscriptioru; discovered at the beginning of the twentieth centUI")' at BAwtr_ It is not known where Apollo and Papohl: wcre born or at what age the three became monks. In· deed. this ure of Phib leaches one more about Apollo than Phib. The problem is complex, because other sources, such as the HISfORlA MONACHORUM IN A£(;yP'TO. speak at Icngth of an Apollo, but the details are not the same. According to the Coptic Ufe, Phib was a native of Psinemoun in the nome of Shmun, probably Herro· opolis Magna in Middle Egypt, for this town was near BAwf!-- It appears that Apollo and Phib were for five years disciples of a certain Pelra (Peter) but then separated from him 10 set up residence in Titkoo~, which seems to be the village attested by papyri since the second centul")' under the name Titkois. In any clISe. the monastel")' of Titkoo~ could not have been founded by this Apollo. It appears lhal at first these three monks led the life of itinerant monks. such as are lestified to have existed by several documents from the fourth and firth centuries. The character of Phib is underlincd in this Ufe. He was a man who loved tranquillity, was pcacdul, and desired 5Olitude. One phrase reo mains enigmatic: "loving thc image of God, as a man alone." This kind of itinerant life is character· i:ted by the phrase "in all thc mountains, like wild animals," l\ formulation also applied to the life of Saint ONOPHRIUS. The role of Papohl! as the one who liberated Apollo and Phth from the material neces· sities of life tn his capacity as steward, is clearly delineated. According to a story placed on the lips of Phib, he had becn a shepherd on behalf of his parents in his youth. Phib died, apparently while still young, at Tilkoo~ on 25 Bl'bah. Thereafter, Apollo and Pa· polle continued to wander in the mounUliru; until thcy received a command from the Lord to return to Titkoo!;l and remain there. Apollo submitted to this order against his will. It is clear thai the monks sometimes lived at a distance from the monaslel")' and one anothcr, each maintaining his independence. Phib's resting place became the site of a
1954
PHILAE: Physical Characteristics
curious rite of penitence: anyone who prostrJted himself in faith on I'hib's tomb on the anniversary of his death woold n:cdve the remission of his sins. Proslraling oneself at Phib's lomb lhus became II "penance of salvation. " A church wa.~ buih over the 10mb, and religious offiees were cclebrntL'
Lanlschoot, A. van. Reclleil des co/oph<.ms lIes munlucrits chrbicns d'£ln'ple. DibliolhCque du Museon l. Louvain, 1929-; repro Milan, 1973. Ol'landi, '1'., and A. Campagnano, cds. Vile del Mati. uchi Phil e Longino. Tesli e documenti pel' 10 Sludio dell'antichitfl 51. Milan. 1975. Troupcau. G. Cutalogue des matllfscri/s arabes, Vol. I, Mtllluscriu cllrl/j(:IIS. Paris, 1972-1974. RENt-GEORGES COOUlN
PHILAE. (T1Iis elltry cOllsis/S 01 two articles: otle BIBLIOGRAPHY Coquin, R.·G. "Apollon de Tilkool.t ou/et Apollon de BAwt!'~" Orienlrl1iu 46 (1977):435-46. Gallier, E. "Coplica·arahica, Coptica." Bulle/in de {'{nstitut /rtmrtlis d'Archlologie orien/ale 5 (l9(6): 87-115.
0
~._--~ ~
~
I~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~O
h ~
Plan of the lemple of Isis al Philae. Courtesy Peter GrosS/llaml.
Otl /he physical characteristics, atld olle cism on /he isllllld 01 Phitae.]
Otl
monasti·
Physical Characteristics The island of Philae, often called the Pearl of Egypt hccause of its lovely 5Ctting, was one of lhe innumerable iranile outcrops thai foOll the First Cataract of lhe Nile, just south of "-SWAN. In late pharaonic times the place became the I:enler of a local colt of Isis, and as her cult grew in popularity in Ptolemaic alld Roman limes, so did the importance of Philae. Eventually half a dozen large and small telllpies were built on Ihe tiny island. The adjoining nonhem pan of NUBIA. called in Ptolemaic and Roman times the Dodekaschocnus, was treated a.~ an estale of the I~i~ cuh, and iL~ revenues were dediealed 10 lhe upkeep of the Philae lemples. In the time of 1IIOCl.P:TIAN lhe Roman legions were withdrawn from Nubia, and lhe imperial fronlier WilS established al Philae. The Nubian inhllbilants of the Dodekasehocnu~nevenhclcs.~ continued to worship al I'hilne, and Nubian rulers made gifls 10 lhe temples. As a concession to them, lhe Philae tern· pIes were e~cmpted from Ihe Ediel of TheV<.losius, which resulted in the closing of mo~t other pagan temples In Egypt in 39U. It was nor unlil lhe reign of JUSTINtAN. when the Nubians were convened to Christianily, tb"t the euh of Isis was finally sup' pressed al rhUoe. The importance of phil'll.' as a cult eenler did nOI end with the coming of Christianity, fOf the place became an episcopal scat. At least five of the tern· pies on the island were converted into churches, and two churches were built ex tlOIIO. The newly built Church of $Rinl Mary was e~ceptiollally large, and in all probability served as the cathedral. Comparatively lillIe is known aboul Ihe hislOry of Philae in lhe later Middle Agcs. The 1a.~1 known reference 10 a bishop is in 989. ABO St\Ul;I THE ARMENIAN mentions two chun::h~ at Philae at the end of
•
PHILAE: Momtslicism
1955
the twelfth eentUI)', bUI he docs not single thelll out for special notice among Ihe \'arlous Christian es· tablishmenL~ In and around Aswan, Evidently by this time Asw.m had supplanted Philae as the main commercial lind mililill)' center on Ihe Nubian fronlier, and the island had beeome somel.hillg of a baekwaler. Shortly afterward the most northerly part of Nubia fell under Ihe conh'Ol of the pred!iSlllann, P," "Obel'legungen ZUlli Gnmdriss der OstkircllC von Phil:u;:." h./,rbm:h /lir A"tike IHld Christel1lllm 13 (1970):20-4l. Monneret de Vill.ml, U. La Nl
MonasticIsm A manuscript dating /Tom 992 (Briti~h Uh,'ary Or. 7029; published by Uudge, 1915, pp. 432-502) relates the life of Ihe first monk·bishops of Philae (fOUl1h cenlul)'). The account, in Ihe fonn of a historia lIIollachorllm, is allribUled to a certain Pa· phnulius. This SIOI)' is withoul doubl somewh
Plan uf a small church :It Phitae. Courtesy Peter Grossmann.
Philae. This may have been the domicile of a monk· bishup whu afler his ordination us bishop continued to lead the hermit lire he had furmerly espoused. Examples of this Sl:tte of :tffairs are numerous in Egypt, and there uc proofs for it down tu the sevenlh centul)'. It Ihu.~ remains Jl'Ossible that there was in Philae a bilihop retaining his hennitage quite laIc, but we cannot date this fact more precisely. An epitaph, now preserved in the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria (no. 11.8(0), mentions iI Pousei who was "bishop of Philae and first fathel" of this mona.slery" (80urianl, 1884, p. 69; Mallon, col. 288). Mallon dates the stela 10 Ihe eighlh or ninth century. This docs nOI prove that Ihe said monas-
1956
PHILEMON, SAINT
tery was shuated on the island of Philae, but it is plausible. These evidences for monasticism at Philae arc certainly meager, but they are sufficient to attest Ihal il was not absent £Tom the Pearl of Egypl. BIBLlOGRAPIIY
Booriant, U. "Notice des monuments eoplcs du musee de Boulaq." Recueil de IravalfX relati/!; ilia phifologi~ el 0 l'archi%gie Igyptienne et assyritn· ne 5 (1884):60-70. Budge, E. A. T. W. Miscellaneous Coptic Tun in the Difl/ul of Upper Egypl. London, 1915. Mallon. A. "Copte (Epigraphic):' Diction/lflire d'flrchio/OKie chrilielllle el de liturgic. Vol. 3. cols. 2819-2886. Paris. 1914. RENt-GEORGES COQUIN ....tAURICli MARTIN. SJ.
PHILEMON, SAINT. 5u Apollonius and Phile-
marriage of Joseph and Mary, and tells of thc binh of Jesus. The conlent and style of this encomium indicate that it could be assigned 10 the homilelic production of the seventh to eighlh centuries. As to Ihe origin of the auribution, lwo hypolheses are proposed. (I) If Ihe seclion fTOm the Coptic History 01 the Church is aUlhentic in the sense that il belongs to the redaction of the fifth century, the author of the homily appropriated Philip's name for undelermined reasons. (2) If Ihis pal1icular section from Ihe history Is an Interpolation made in the sevenlh century, as is reasonable to believe because of the mention of Damascus, then both the history extract and the homily could possibly be the work of the same editor. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Orlandi, T. 510n'4 della China de Ale.mmdrill, Vol. 2, pp. 16-18,63-64,106-107. Milan, 1970. TOO OIlLANDl
mon, Sainls.
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA PHILIP OF ANATOLIA. The Coptic History 01 the Church COntains Ihe following slory of Philip of Aml.lolia, a bishop (cd. Orlandi, 1970, Vol. 2, pp. 16-17). He observed Ihal Ihe soldieni in the com· mand headquaneB 611 Damascus were pagans and heretics, and that whenever they leveled taxes against the Christians, Ihey persccuted the Christians unjustly. Therefore, he wrote to emperOB Valens and Valentinianus to bring the matter to their attention and further explained that Christians could not become ~oldiers because of the apostles' commandments. As !l result, the emperors took steps to alleviate the ~ituation. Philip of Anatolia is named nowhere else, neither in Coptic nor in Greek traditions. However, attributed to him is an EllcomiWl1 of Ihl!- Virgin Mary that has survived in two manuscripts, both fragmentary and unedited. A ninth-century manuscript comes from the White Monastery (DAYR ANSA SHINl'JDAH). llnd an eleventh·century manuscript is conscrved in Dublin at the Chester Beally Library (MS 819). In these fragmenu, which apparently form Ihe begin. ning of Ihe work, Ihe author has composed a prologue of laudations to Mary, after which he explains the significance of each leller in her name. He then narrates the binh of Mary, describes the rivers of Paradise, trac~ the lineage of Joseph, recounts the
(c. 20 D.C-A.D. 50),
Alexandrian Jewish statesman and philosopher. He was of priestly desccnl, but otherwise little is known of his career, except thai he look part in the Ale1tandrian Jewish embassy 10 the emperor CaJigu· la in A.D. 39-40. following the anli-Jewish riots in Alexandria in 38. Philo's nalive language was Greek, and he probably knew little Hebrew. Despite his acceptance of current Platonic and Stoic philosophy as the medium through which he Interpreted the scriptures, he was completely loyal to Judaism and, when opportunity arose, was a fervent missionary for his faith. Some of the inner charactcristics of Philo come 10 the surface in his lJl!- l.egaliOlle fld Gaium (Embassy 10 Gaius) written immcdiately after the abortive Jewish embassy to that emperor. He regarded thc Jews as representatives of the human rnce and as suppliants to God for the remainder of humanity. The Jews "saw God" lind hence were of particular value to humanity as a whole. With this high view of the Jewish people, he warned the emperor that Jews would go cheerfully to mal1yn.lom rather than sec their temple desecrated. "A glorious death met in the defense of Ihe Law is a kind of life:' he urgt.-d. Far from being "barbaric," the Jews of Palesline were "mentally couragt.'Ous, and prefer 10 die for Iheir lraditions in a spirit which some of their traducers would call barbaric bUI which in actual
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA
fact
i~
fn.:e and noble." In these and otller similar Slatement.~ Philo showed himself a Jew, in every way as patriotic and :Issured of the vlllue of his people as Josephus and the author of the fourth book of Maccabecs, his ncar contempor.uies. He combined this underlying dedication to the cause of his people with an equally intense concern to interpret that cause in a way intelligible to his Alexandrian eomempornrles-name1y, through CUI'rent philosophy. Hc was, however, a mystic as well as a philosopher and interpreter of scriplure, de· scribing his soul as being "on fire:' aud his language al limes vibrates with emotion. He saw the relation belween Hellenism and Judai~m as one of progress from an obscured appreciation to a clear appreciation of the truth. Like Jewish and Christian apoloaists, he believed that Plato had bo'TQwed his besl ideas from Moses, and refleded that in his won., De opifjcio mundi, On the Creation of the World. He felt similarly regan::ling Zeno. as expressed in Quod omrris probus fiber sit (Every Good Man Is Free). Philo's conversion to Judaism was therefore a step tOWllnl a better way of life and a deeper understanding of the mystery of God, as indicaled in De specialibus legibus, On Special Laws; De praemiis el poemis, On Reward.. and Punishments. He compares unfavol1lbly Greek interpretations of the ascetic ideal with the practical asceti· cism and social concern of the EMenes. philo's understanding of God. howeve,·, was not thc tribal Jehovah of many of his Jewish conlemporaries. God was "the prime Good, and Beautiful and Happy and Bles.~d," Cod described in Platonic tcrm.s, yet liS Philo im,licales, beyond description. God was the creator of the universe, its fou;hioner oul of nonbeing, ordering formless and chaotic matter and Imposing upon it the pattern of order and rationalily, His Logos. God was bOlh Fashioner (Dem/ol/rgos) and Creator (Klistes) of the world, a unique creation created and dependent un its Cre· ator. Philo also understood the Logos in Platonic terms as "the Idea of Ideas"-lhal is, the ab~olute of truth, beauty, and goodness on which rational exis· tence depended. He was the father and mediator of creation to iu creatures, in fact, a "sec()nd God," lhe heavenly Adam llnd arehetype of mankind holding together the essential hierarchy of the created order. Philo concentrated his thought and intcrprc!.ation of M:ripture on Ihe Pentateuch, in particular on Genesis. The commentary is allegorical, always portraying the soul as pilgrim and sojourner in this world. Just as Abraham migrated from Ur 10 the
1957
Promiscd Land, so the human soul would move IowaI'd perfection. The body held lhe soul in bondage. preventing it from achieving freedom from earthly passions. He saw Moses as the supreme example of the Logos dwelling in a person, nol only a great leader but the recipient of the gift of dei6cution and one with whom the Loios Himself conceived. Even so, Philo was also loyal to the Roman emperor, accepting that the emperor had the capacity 10 rule lIS godly monarch, imitating the Divine L0gos. He saw his ideal ful611ed by Auguslus who had given peace 10 the war-tom peoples of the world and cstablished the empire. "His every virtue outshone human nature:' and his valor and the greatneu of his imperial Nle bestowed on him the title of Augustus. This concept of the "godly monarch:' derived from Stoicism, was to have a long history in Christian IhO\lght, especially in the East, inspiring alike Juslin Manyr, IolEUTO OF $ARDIS, ORICEN', and, above all, I!USEBIUS OF CAESARI!A. In facl, Philo's importance lies less with Judaism Ihan with Eastem, and especially Alexandrian, Christianity_ In his hostility to the body and his contrast of Ihe "vision of reason" with bodily "dnlOkenness and glullony:' the hallmarks of "the greatcsi cvil of all, namely ignorance," he anticipated some of the ideas of the Alexandrian Gnostics. In other respects he "looks like a blueprint for PIOlinu$, Gregory of Nyssa lind Dionysius the Areopagite" (Chadwick, 1967. p. 154). A century and a half after Philo's death, CUMEHT OF ALl!XANDRlA was greatly indebted to him. In Origen above all, one linds a Christian eounlerpart, one who, though penetrated through and through with Platonic philosophy, remained fundamentally a Christian. Philo's influence on his Jewish COntClnporaries was, however, Clll short by lhe oulbreak of the Jewish war with Rome of 66-74. Out of that, rabbinic, not philosophic, Jud3i~m emerged as the guide and interpreter of Jehovah to the Jewish people. It is indicative, rather, of the towering influence of the philosophical schools of Alexllndrill that an Alexandrian Jew, Philo, should have become, despite himself, the founder of Christian philosophy. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chadwick, H. "Philo and the Beginnings of Christian Thought." In Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philorophy, ed. A. M. Armslrong. Cambridge, 1967. Goodenough, E. R_ Politics of Philo Judael4$_ New Haven, Conn., 1938.
'958
PHILOSOPHY
___ An Imrod,ICfiotl /0 Philo Judu,'u$. New Haven, Conn., 1940. Philo. De vila cOIl/flmp/afiva, cd. F. C. Conybcarc.
O)([ord, 189S. _-.,_. I)e sa,"uUs, trans. F. H. Colson. Loeb Classi·
cal Library 5. London and Cambridge. Mass., 1935: repro 1939.
De vila Masis, lrans. F. H. Colson. Loeb Classical Library 6. London and Cambridge. Ma....~., 1935; repro 1950. ___ De opi!ido IIIl11ldi, 1"1onS. F. H. Colson and G. H. Whilllker. Loeb Classical Library l. London /lind Cambridge. Mass., 1937; repro 1950.
- - c Dt: spedalibll$ Iflgibus. trans. F. H. Colson. Loeb Classical Library 7. London ami Cambridge. Mass., 1937; repro 1950. ___ Phi/ollis A./ualldrini in Flllccum, ed and trans, H. Box. London, New York, and Oxford, 1939. --COt: It:Kflliv"fI ad Cuium, trans. F. H. Colson. locb Classical Library 10. London and Cambridse. M:us., 1962. ___ Q,llJUlionu til sowliorl/i1S in CI'P1esim. trans. F. ~I. Colson. Loeb Classical LibraI)' II, London and Cambrid&~, Mass., 1962. Schriver. E, The Hislory oflhe Jewish People iPl Ihe Time of Jesus Christ. Vol. 3, pt. 2, pp. 809-890. Rev. and cd, by G. Vennes, F. Millar, and M. Goodman. Edinburgh, 1986. Woloon, H. A. Philo, 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1947. W, I-I. C. FREND
PHILOSOPHY, There arc no philosophical writings in indigenous Coplie literalure. The philosophi· cal saying.~ and fablc~ that have survived in Coptic literature are, it would appeal', of Greek odgin. In some CMe~ they arc attributcd to Greek philoso-phers-for' eJmmple, Anachar'Sis and Diogenesand their Greek ~ources arc well known. In others lhey (lrc Illtribuicu 10 anonymous philosophers and their' Greek nr'll!in can only be assumed. Only some of the m(lterilll is edited; some is lisll,d in various cnlnlol!ues of Coptic manuscripts. The content of the material is not epistemological, but mther has nflinities whh lhe wisdom literature of the Bible and the Apocrypha. It teaches virtues .md castigates vices. Somelimes a fable is told and irs message is explicitly .~Iated in the interpretation that follows the fable, One and the sallie collection Illay contain sayings attlibuted to philosophers and relatcd malCdOll. Thus, for instance, lhe Vienna collection of philOMlphical 113ying.~ (ed, TlIJ, 1934-1937) also conlains the par'~ble of the three friends (rom the Story of O[.ll'lil;lm ilnd Josnphat, whil... in another
manuscripl (John Rylonds Library, Monchester, 80), a liaying auribulcd to an anonymous philosopher occurs in a collection of ilphorisms tllken from biblical and apocryphal wisdom writings. Hardly IIny GrLock patristic writings that howe il philOMlphical content have a..~ yet come to light in Coptic lranslation. Special mention may therefore be made of the fr.::Igmen13l')' Coptic ve""ion of GREGORY Of NYSSA's De anima et resllrreclirme, which is philosophical In characler and refers 10 philosophi, cal schools Ilnd 10 philosophcl"!i such liS Plalo anc.l 10 his dialogue Phlltdrns, It is perhaps also note· wonhy that the monk Saint SHENttrE refcrs in his writings to the leaching of Plato. Finally, reference must be made 10 Ihe Coptic translation of 3n excerpl from Plato's Republic, which is to be found among the Gnostic writings from Ihe NAG HAM.'dADI UBRAJtY; it should be noted that this is not a straightforward translation, but rather the work of an editor who reinterpreted Platu's thought in cunformity with Gnostic thinking. PllU.IOCR"I'HY Ameline::lu, E. Oeuvru de Scllcllo"di, Vol. I, p. 15, Paris 1907-1909. (:oquin, R.-G., alld E.. I.ucchesi. "Une version copte du De u/limu el reSllrreCliotie ('Macrinia') de Gregoire de Nysse." Oriel/lulia wvu/lietlsiu PeriIXlicu 12 (1981):161-201. Cmm, W. E. Cala/ogw! of the Coptic Malll/scripts ill the British MusewII, no. 217. London, 1905. -:-C~ CUlalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts ill the Co/lection oflhe Johll Ryl,wds Librury, Munchesler, no. 80. Manchester and London, 1909. Lnntschoot, A, van. "Deux paraooles syriaques (Roman de Bal"laam et Josaphatj." Lc Mllscml 79 (1966)'133-54. Orlandi, T. "La lrnduzione cOpla di I'latone, Rc.~ pllblic(/, IX, 588b-589b: Problemi cri1ici ed esc· gctid." Accademia NClzicm(//e de! Lincei RendiCOil/i della Classe iii SciCIIZC 1II0f(/U, storiche e Iil%gie/w, SCI'. 8, vol. 32, fa..~c~. 1-2 (1977),4562. Till, W. "Griechlsche Pbilosophen btl! den Kopten." Memoires (Ie /'bl~lillit fnm~·(/i~· d'(/rchitc;/o/iie orienlale 67 (1934-1937):165-75, _-.,_. "Bemerkungen zu koptischcn Tex101usgubcn." Orienll/lia 7 (1938),101-03. K. H. KUHN
PHILOSTORGIUS. ecclt."Siastical historian, oom aooul 368 in Cappadocia. He lived in Constantinople, where he wrote twelve books of ecclesiastical histol)' caveling I.he period aoolll 300-425 (the
PHILOTHEUS
death of the u.~urping emperor John), pllJbably be· twt:en 425 ami 433. l'hilostOl'gius was a supponer of the ~emi·A!·ian leader Eunomius of CYJ:icus, and wrote hi.~ history from that point or view. lillie of the original has survived, but an epitome was presenled in the Ii· bnll'Y of Photius. From the point of view of Egyptian Christianity, phi]ostorgius WllS, not unexpectedly, hostile to ATIIA· NASIUS (Epi/ome 2.11), whose election as bishop of Alcx:lI1dria in 328 he regarded as fraudulent. He i5 interesting, in addition. tX:CilUSC of the :lpparemly accurate infonnalion he preserves concerning the mwion of Thcophilus the Indian, down the Red Sea from Alexandria to southern Arabia and the kingdom of Altum in Ethiopia. philostorgiu$ describes how Theophilu.~ was sent on his mission by Emperor Constantiuli II (337361). He went first tu the Homeritae (Himyarites) in soulhern Arabia. and after visiting the trading cen· tel' of Adana (Aden), went on to Axum (Epi/ome 3.5-6). Altum had already received Christian preaching from Frumentius, a captive trader who had scttled there and prO!lpered. He was. however. loyal to Athanasius, :lnd about 355 had n:turned 10 Alcxllndria 10 seek consccnllion as bishop (Rufinus His/orill ecclesilu/icu 1.9). Theophilus was anti· Niecne and had the confidence or the emperor. PhiloMorgius claims that "he came 10 the Axumite kingllom and hllving ordered all thing.o; correctly there, heg:m to return to the territory of the Romans" (Epilume 3.6). Constrlntius loaded him with honors. One of Ihe surviving fragmenls uf Philoslorgius' His/ory adds th:lt Cl,)nstantius gnve Theophilus the title of bishop but without a spccific sec, probably In prepanuion for beslowlng on him geneml oversight of the ChriMi:ms in Axum and ill suulhern Arabia. Meanwhile, Const:mlius wrOle .~ha!'flly 10 the princes of Axum to dissuade them from accept· ing Frumcntlus as bishop and from showing any support for Alhanllsius (Athana~ius, Apologia ad in!' per(J/orem COIulan/iw/I 31). Elsewhere (Epitume 3.10), l'hiloSlOl'gius shows some knowledge of the Nile cataracts soulh of the Egyptian border, His source on Egyplian Christianity must have been good, and the loss of 50 much uf his work Is regrettablc.
OIBLIOGRAJ"HY
Edition and lexi of Phil05torgius' writing:> by J. Bidez in Oil.' J.:ricchi.fc1Il!ll ehris/liehe'/ Sehrilts/efler del' ers/cn drei Jahrhllndu/t', Vol. 21 (Ber· lin. 1913): also trollS. E. Walford (London, 1855).
1959
SI.'C also G. Fritz, "Philostorge," in D;el;QllIlairt' de tlre%xie f:(l/ltoliqut', Vol. 12, pt. 2 (Paris, 1935); and W. Milligan, "PhiiostorglUli," In A. Die· /ionllry of Chris/hili Biogruplry, cd. W. Smith and H. Wace, Vol. 4 (repr. New York, 1914). W. H. C. FRENO
PHlLQTHEUS, Sixty·lhlrd palriarch or Ihe Sec of Saint Mark (919-1003). Philotheus was a monk of the Monastery of Saint Mncarius (DAYR ANBA MAOAR) and a dl'iCiple to an older saintly monk by the name of Yu~anna.. Arter the de:toth of Pope Abraham ibn Zar'ah, there waa an intern.llnum of six months, during which the blshop.~ together with thc c1c~ and the archons of the city of Mi~r (Cairo) delibe.... atcd on the subject of a new candidate for the patriarchate. They were informed about the suitability of a monk by the name of YuJ.tanna and con· SC
1960
PHILOTHEUS OF ANTIOCH. SAINT
burned lind inlact. Having witnessed this miracle, he decided 10 become a Christian. His later baptism is woven into a lengthy episode of mi''llculous oc, currences. Ultimately, Ibn Raj!' bel:amc a monk by the name of Paul (Bulus) in Seetis. Ibn Rajll' was acquainted wilh SAWIRUS IBN AL-MUQ"'FJ'A", bishop of
al.Ashmiinayn. whose ' ....<enly works afC mentioned in lhe His/ory of/he Patriarchs. II is staled that Thn Raja' himself wrote two books: onc on confession, the olher a commentary entitled "Rare Episodes of Exegetes." But neither of them has been identified In the manuscript reposilories.. The palri:m;:hatc of Philothcus occurred during the reigns of aJ.'A7.lz and al·",u::.lM Ill-AMII AWl! (996102l). Perhaps the most important inlemational event during his papacy was the appointment of Daniy.il, a monk of the monastery of SoIint Macarius, as archbishop for the diocese of Ethiopia. The archdeacon of Alexandria, SUliif ibn JirjA, relates a story that the patriarch's tongue was benumbed during a liturgy owing to a vision which left him sp«chless. Anw, Murqus, bishop of Bahna· sA, had to take his place while he ~ transponed to the house of AbO Mali~ ibn QU!in, an archon of Alellsndria, where he died on 12 HAtur. This was after a reign of twenty· four yean and eight months, durina which he seems to have amas:;ed immense wealth, which wa..~ divided among his four brothers, contrary to church tradition, BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lane·Poole, S, Hi$/Of)' London, 1901.
of
El;Ypl in the Middle
Age~,
The MaJrmnmedal1 Dynasties, Paris, 1925, SUBlll Y. LABIB
PHILOTHEUS OF ANTIOCH, SAINT,
a
boy whl) is manyred under OIOCll,IAN (feltSI day: 16 TObah), Few Passions other than that of PhiiOlheus beller personify the fate of pagans who turned Christian in a time of perseculion. According to legend, PhiJotheus, whose name means "he who loves God," is lhe ten-year-old son of the pagan priest Valentinlanus and his wife, Theodotia, in An· tioch, The couple hx:p a gross·eating calf, called Smaragdos in Coptic, which they worship. The boy, however, cannot bring himself to believe that this animal is the creatol' of heaven and eanh. So he qUc:itions the sun, who replies that h~· is not God either but a creature of God. The sun promises him fuller revelations, In fact, the boy, lovillg God, then
ha~
Ihe VISIOn of the Markabalr, the chariot of Christ, bome by the cherubim, SlltTounded by all the heavenly h05lS. Jesus announc~ 10 him that he will undergo manyrdom under Diocletian. The child begins to fast and pl1ly on account of his misled parents. The calf gores the parents. who die and are buried. Three days later, Philotheus obtains their resurrection and baptizes them in church, The boy is then denounced to Diocletian by the demons, and he is summoned before the emperor, To the first arguments against Christ, philotheus replies with unshakable faith. The idols broughl by Diodetian arc ovcrthrown and destroyed when the boy prays. Then the emperor resorts to lonure, The three soldicn who had fetched PhiJotheos are convened and also undergo manyrdom. Philotheus is cut in piCi;:cs but is healed. Finally, Diodctian orders him to be finished off wllh spear and fire, and the boy finally dies, not without a long prayt:r addressed to Ihe Lord, The legend jUlit summarized is the one preserved in Georgian and published in 1960 by K. Kekelidze. Ihen uanshued into French by M. van Esbroeek (1976, pp, 107-1]5). This account, relatively :sober in Georgian, belongs to a series of tellL'I lost among the Palestinian Greek originals. The Coptic form of the legend is much longer. It seems difficult 10 maintain that the shon lext pre$Crved in Georgian is dependent on a Greek model supposedly based on the Coptic venion. Hence we have aiven the analysis of the Georgian Life first. The Coptic legend, preserved in its entirety in the Pierpont Morgan Library (vol. 4i of the photo· graphic edition, pr. 149-204), is attested by four other fragmentary codices. Some of thcOl are also in the PIerpont Morgan collection but had previously been published by W. E. Crum in i913. Olhers form pan of the Munich Coptic Codex no, 3, A fragment in Vicnnu was published by W, Till in 1935. Finally, a Fayyumlc fragment of a more con· densed tellt wa.~ published in 1916 by H. Munier antl in 1923 by L. Saint-Paul Gil1lrd. The references are given by J. Vel'gote (1935, pp. 281-82). The Coptic Passion, still unpublished in the Pier· pont Morgan codex, Is l'e1ated to the CYCl.ES of ClAUDIUS OF ANTtOCH and BASIUDES. It stresses to the utmost the epic features already in the Georgian version. The complete title of this Passion is "The Passion of the most holy Apa Phi10theus, the holy martyr of Christ, who achieved his holy manyrdom on the sillteenth day of Tobah and of all [hose who were manyred with him, and who number live thousand, three hundred and Ihiny·nine men in Ihe
PHILQXENUS OF MABBUG
pea<:e of God. Amen." The child is only nine years old. The calf receives three meals a day. The vision of Christ is strongly emphasb:ed: The anhangcl MI· CHAEL comes down according to the sun's promise. Christ makn two spccehes. The scene in which the child's parents foree him 10 worship the ealf is more dramatic. When the parents have been gored, Philotheus himself carves up Ihe calf anti burns it. The parents, once Ihey are resuscitated alter three days, give the account of whal they liaW down in Amente, where they had gone. The devils disguise themselves as angels 10 persuade the child, who resisls. The three soldiers who <:OIllC and look for PhilOlhcus to take him to Dloc[ellan become three generals, Christopher, Makcllas, and Kallopios. They are accompanied by nine hundred men. Dio· clelian llccuses the child of magic. The martyr re· fuses to sacrifice to Apollo. Once PhiioLheus pre· tends to accept in order to confound Dioclctlan, The magus Pelementas calls up Ihe angel of Tanar· us and hell. The eanh opens, and Ihe abyss speaks. The tonnent follows. AI Ihe moment of Ihe lbgellalion, Philotheus. instead of saying "Son of the dev· i1" (Georgian version) s.ays "Oh drdgon in the
aby5.s!" This is illustrated very early in the imal:ery of the persecution: a jCWt:1 from the third to the founh <:entury, on ""hich the saint is on hOl1iCback and tran.~fixn the dragon, which bears Diocletian's head; in a Roman fibula of the foonh to the fifth cenltJry, where the spear ends in a cross; and in an Akhmimic Coplic fabric of the founh <:cntury where the saim sland~ above a dragon (van Es· broe<:k, 1976, p. 121). A pen case, found in the <:cmelery at Antinoopoli.o;, a town destroyed in 642, has a drawing of Saint Philotheus. He is standing and thrusting the spear into a drdgon whose crowned head represents Diocletilln. This scribe, Pamio, vcry probably transcribed the Pa~ion in the fifth or sixth century (Omont, 1898, pp. 330-32). However, RAPHAEl.. comes down from heaven to heal Philolheus' wounds. The three generals and the nine hundred soldiers undergo manyrdom on 28 Kiyahk. Then Philotheus again pretends to accept, and Diodetian organizes a huge assemhly in the theater at Antioch, summoning Ihc othtT 69 idols and Iheir 138 serving prieslS. BUI lhe idols kill Iheir scrvllnts and are then swallowed up in the earth, which opens at lheir feci. ~ing this, Ihe audience, numbering 936 people, are convened and executed in the manyrdom of 2 TObah. Then Philotheus is <:ut up inlO small piecu and burned, his ashes being scatlered over the sea. But ChriSI on the Marka·
1961
bah recalls him 10 life. The tyranl lhen makes a lasl attempl by offering lhe child the luxury and ehanns of palace life with his favorites Armus and Andronicus. The saint resists and Ihis lime is execuled wilh spear and fire on 16 !Ubah. The theme of the seventy idols is found again in Ihe Coplic Passions of VICTOR, TMEOOORUS. ARI EPIMA. AHUB, BASIUOES. and ClAUDIus. It seems to be inspired by a passage in the /listoria Allgl4.s1a about Diodetian. There e",ists in Coplic a panegyric on Saint Philo· Iheus attributed 10 Demelrianus, bishop of Antioch, of whi<:h only the first two columns have been preserved (published by J. Vergotc, 1935, p. 288). All' olher panegyric, under the name of SF.VF.RUS OF ANTIOCH. is preserved only in Arabic (MS 153, Clavis Patrum Graecorum 7055). Whalevcr lhe symbolic character of the account lllay be, it had great success and the SIOry certainly spread fairly early in Coptic literature. Georgian tradition has kept a whole kotl/akiOIl (IituflI,ical hymn) In memory of Saint Philotheus, on 11 Janu· ary, in a conte",t where the saint is confused with Philolheus of Samosata (van Esbroeck, 1976. pp. 125-30). BIBUQGRAPHY
erum, W. Eo Tlw>logieal Tuts from Coptic Papyri. Oxford, 1913. Esbroeck, M. van. "Saint Phllotheus d'Anlioche." Atlaleeta Bollllndiana 94 (1976):101-135. Girard, L. S. "Un Fragment fayoumique du martyre de s.aint philothee." Bllllelin d~ f'1n.stitul franfais d'An:h~o/o8ie orientole 22 (1973):106-8. Munier, H. "Un Passage nouveau du manyre de saint Philothee." Annales du Service.s des allliq· l4il~.s 16 (1916):247-52. Omont, H. BIII/elin de [a Societe IlatiOllule des antiqlwires de France (1898):330-32. Till, W, Kop!ische Heiligen- lind Miirtyrerlege~rden. Rome, 1935. VergoLe, J. "Le Texte sous·jllecnl du plllhnpseste Berlin, no. 9755." Le MlueOIl 48 (1935):281-91. MICHEL VAN EsUROECK
PHILOXENUS OF MABBUG
(Hicrapolis) (c. 440-c. 523), a greal writer of Syriac prose and a <:hampion of Monophysite doctrine. He was bom of Aramean parents at Tahal in the Persian provin<:e of Bcth-Gannai, east of the Tigris, in about 440. He had a brother named Addai, who may have been a tea<:her at the school of the Persians at Edessa, and he had a sister. He was educated at Edessa. while
1962
PHILOTHAwus IBRAHIM AI·BAGHDAD!
IbllS was bishop the,'c. AI that time the school of Edc~ had two factions, one supporting the tmdi· lioll of Thcodol'Us aod the other the tradition oreY· RIL OF AlEXASDRIA. Philoxcnus sided with the Cyril· [ians bUI rcad the worKs of Cyril's opponen!S. tie became a MnnophysilC spokesman. He then went to Antioch. Calandio, patriarch of Antioch, c~pellcd him from lhe city for his Monophysite teachings and his !iUpport of the HElIo'OTICON. In 485 he was made bishop of Ilierapolis, which at lhal lime was a center for the cult of the fertility goddess Alargatis. Peter the Fuller, lhe Monophysite patriarch of Anti· och, con5Ccr:l.lcd him. By 486. PhiloJlcnus had succeeded in deposing many of his orthodox enemies from th,' neighbor. ing se-cs. He persuaded his friend the emperor Ana· slasius I to ~ F1avian and have Scver= appoinled in his stead. Philu~enus may have had a hand in th~ closing of th~ Persian school of Edessa in 489 for doctrinal n'aSOns. Sinc~ he opposed the dOClrine of the Council of CHALCEOON. h~ W35 humiliated at the Council of Sidon in 511, but later he wall responsihle for hav, ing many of his enemk-s dcpos..x1. When. somelime between 513 and 51.5. the Synod of Tyre took place (it is likely Ihat il "'as actually held al Antioch). il was presided over joillily by Philoxenus and Sever· 1.1.<;. The council decrc..-d thai the Henoticon was in contr..I(lietioli 10 Ihe d..'Crees of the Coullcil of Chal· c~don. and Chalc~don wa<; anathcmatb:...d. In 519. after Justin bee:llTlc emperor ,IOd Sc\'crus went InlO his exile In Egypt, Philoxenus wa.<; cap· tured and taken inlo exile first in Gungr" in Paph!;\gonia and Ihell in I>hilippopolis in Thracc, where he died of suffocation, probably in 523. PhiloJl.enus had been an ardelll supporler not only of Ihl' Monophysite cause but :llsv of Syriac krnguage ;lIId culture. lie wrote exclusively in Syriae. Among his eighty IImjor exegetkal. dogmalic. homiletical, and ascetic writings, thiJ1c<:n orations on the Christinn life, five tmets on Ihe Inc"rnation and lhe Trinity, ll1ld II collection of his leuers have been edited. He D.lso commissioned a Syriae version or the scriplures lhul WIIS in use by Monophysites in the sixth ceotut)'. This version of the scriptures was made at his direction by lhe l:horcpiS<.,opus Polycarp nround 505. It seems to hD.ve heen a revi~ion of Ihe Pcshilla
duee :luthentic !t·c11l1iclll theologiclll langunge into lhe $yriM tl'adltlon. He perceIved that he must cle· velop Syriac ali a language in which lheological inquiry eould b~ conducted, (1.<; It wa.<; in Grcl·k. D10LlOCRAI'HY
Baumslark, A. G~chich/e del' S)'l'isc/u!n lAura/ur. PI'>. 141-44. Bonn. 1922. Chestnut. R. Tliree lIfollopliysite Chl'i.uologies. london, 1976. Duval, A. Lillel'alllre syriuque. Paris, 1907. Hallcux, A. de. Pltifo1:elle de Mabbog: Sa Vie. ses rerits, sa tlirotogie. Louvain, 1963. Lemoine, E., ed. and trans. Philo1:ene de MabJxmg: Jlomilies. Sources chretienncs 44. Paris. 1956. Stein. E. Jlis/oire du Bas Empire, trans. J.-R. Pal..n· que. Paris. 1959. UNlJA KN&.f.VICH
PHIL"OTHAWUS
DADI
IBRAHIM
AL-BAGH·
(1837-1904), Egyptian clergyman. He was born in Tan!a, capital of the Gharbiyyah Province in the Della, and rcccivl..-d his early education in Coptic schools. lie then worked as a clerk while leD.ming ItaliD.n, which W35 then the Iaoguage of commerce. ~Ic joined public service for two yeal'S in the province of Raw(,lat al-Ba~rayn. which comprised at that lime the Gharbiyyah and MhlOfiyyah provinces. In 1855 he decid~d to mov~ 10 Cairo, where Pope CYRIL IV recruil..x1 him fvr the study or Coplic Ian· guage and Iheology wllhln Ihe patriarchate. Subsl..~ quent to graduation, Philcllh1'lwus headed a Coptic school in al.Mlln~Ol'nh, where he taught Coptic until it WD.S closed (Iftel' the de:lth of the pope. Consequenlly he retUl'ned to Cairo to leach Coplic in Ihe school of f:liirit al.Saqqllyln while llssisting 'III.Y;'N JIll.· JIS MWI'A!). who also tllught in the Coptic College, rounded by Cyril IV. Shortly llrtenvard, he decided 10 join the Coptic prieSthood and returned to offici· D.te in his native Tan!{\, in 1863. Here he W:IS clev"l' ed 10 lhe mnk vf HEGUMllNOS in 11165. III 11174 he was selected 10 preach in the Coptic cathedral in Cairo, where he ultimalely beeame its chief priesl. In the meantime, he taught both Coptic and Cop· lic theology io the newly established CLERICAL COLLEG£. while fearlessly SUPpol1ing the reform movc· ment and the constitution of the Coptic COMMUNITY COUN<:II~ even at the I~sk of Incuning papD.1 displea.~ ure. Owing to his cxtl"3.ordinD.ry eloquence as a preacher, he was solicited to e~tend his visit 10 Upper Egypt 10 combat the proselytizing movc· ments or lhe Protestnlll missionnlies.
PHOlBAMMON OF PREI-IT, MARTYR
1n the matter of refotm, he oppo~ lhe Holy Synod In the erroneous uecision that the Community Council Wa5 conlrary 10 lhe 11lle of faith and stood fast in the defense of all movements of re· form. "'is Illenll'y rroduellvhy in (he fields of Iheol· 08)', the defense of Coplic trndilions, the personal SUIIUS laws, Illld many other disciplines arc well known. He was n:.-spe<:ted by Copls and Muslims alike. ;md the aUlhorilie1l, with Ihe approval of the khe· dive. d,.:-col1l1ed him with two OUoman ordc(1;. The emperor of Ethiopia In 1902 decorated him with the Sial' of Ethiopia. BIBLIOGRAPHY Riya4 SuryAl. A/-Muj/um,,' ul-Qib(f fl al·Ou", a/·Tasr
'Ashar. Cairo, 1984. MOUSER SIIOUCRE
PHIS, SAINT,
hennit on thc cast bank of the Nile. The Ufe of Phi... is contained in several Arabic manU!iCripL". in particular in the libra!)' of the church of E,lARAT ZUWAYLAH. Since Ihe SOUI'Ces have not been publisht.-d. we are nOI very well informt..-d aboul Phis. He was a hermit south of Q.IW. Hc is known as a disciple of AI'A 1I0R of the Column. It is nOlable thai the lown of Minya wa.s for a time di!ilingui.~hed from othel'S- of the .same name by the cognomen of Abo Phis. 11
D1BLlOCRAPHY
Muysel', J. "l3rmLte p(:rcgrinant el pelerin inCali· gable." Billie/in tie la Soc/cto! d'archeolo/;ii' cople 9 (1943):159-236.
PHOEBA.MMON,
S/Je Phoibammon of Preht,
Martyr,
PHOIBAMMON OF PREHT, MARTYR, A Christian sentry (tl!rns) stationed at the c.:amp of Preht in the Thcb..id during the prefecture of CuJcianus (303-307/8), l'hoibammon disobeyetl DlOCLf>. TIM,j'S edict n....q uiring homage to the pagan god~ and was put to death aI AsyO! on I Da'unah (26 May; see Forget, 1926, Vol. 2, p. 147). He i10 hest known for hi10 complete Sahidie martyrology and related fnl.gmenlS, his connt..'Ction wilh lOevernl fel· low lOOldier.marty1'5, his confusion with another,
1963
identically named martyr, and his possible rule as the tutelary saint of two Thehan mona.~teries. Marlyrdom An intllc.:t martyrology survives in an unpublilihcd Coplic manu10cript in the Piel'JlOnl Morgan libraI)' (582; eodex 46; sec Hyvcmat, 1922), which was copied by the scribe Colluthus (fol. 301'., 9-12). AI k-asl Ihree Coplic fragmenllO belong to other copies of this hagiogl'aphical aCcOunt (British Library. Or. 6012, cd. CNm, 1905, p. 414, no. 999; British U· brary, Or. 7561, fol. 67-69, cd. emm, 1926, p. 205: Bavarian Stale Ubrary. Munich, Handschrift kopti!iCh 3, fol. 52-58, s« Crum, 1905, p. 414, n. I on no. 999 [missing since 1970». An unpublished Ara· bic version of the martyrology is in the Coptic Mu· seum, Cairo (manuscrlpl Hisl. 275; s« Khater and Bunncster. 1981, p. 13). Very lillie is known of Phoioommon's early life. In the miracu/o at the end of Morgan 582, Touho in Middle Egypt is said to have been Phoihammon's birthplace (£01. 21r., 39-45). Touho is the modern Ta~j al·A'midah (Kessler, 1981, p. 42). l'hoibam· mon was thirty al lhe time of his execution (fol. 2v.• 45-46) :lnd had heen a Christian for four years (fol. 7r.. 45-49). His Greek mother was named Sarah (fol. 211.. 46-49). 1·lis fathcrs name is unknown. CUllian05 [sic] W35 hypalos (highe1ll official. fol. 11'., 13-15); Solerichus was tJ/Xlrc1IOS (prefect of the city, fol. Ir., 15-17); Romanus was s/NJlefa/ts (gen· eral of the palace, fo1. 11'., 17-19); Phillip was sti. choll!/iko., (leader of the I'egiment at Preh!, fol. II'" 20-22); Maximinian was the comls (count) or dux (duke) of the Thelmid (fol. 811., 50-52; Ilr., 33-35, 53); and Flavianus WllS praeposims (commander of the camp of Prcht, fol. Iv., 51-52). The chronology and list of officials is mther garbled. Although I'holhammon WIlS allegedly martyred in Diocletian's first year (foJ. 11',,22-24), thc emperor, who had come (0 thc tlll'one in 284, did nOI issue his c.:dict proscribing Christian selviees unlil 303. Even dlen the penalties were uimc.:d III church leaders, not al laypcl'lOOllS such lIS Phoibammon. The fourth edict, promulgated in 304, applied to all Christians. The pellalty was death. That Phoiballlmon's martyrdom probably occurred not in Diode· lian'1O first year but sometime between 304 and J08 is indicatcd by the reference to "Cullian05," surely Clodiu1O Culcianus, who WllS prefect during lhc (:<11'· lier p.."lrt of Diaclclian's great persecutions. An early.foulth-centul'Y date is also supported by his father's qut..'Stioning Ihe logic of wo(1;hiping a poerson
1964
PHOIBAMMON OF PREHT, MARTYR
(Christ) who had died three hundred years earlier (fol. 7v., 9-11). The idelllity of the other officials is uncertain. They may be entirely fictitious charncters or. in fact, genuine historical figures hut not contCUllJOrnl)' with Culcianus. The exact location of Preht is also unknown. It w:u in Middle Ea,ypt, north of both ASYOT and AtmN()' OI'QUS (modem Shaykh Ab3.dah). phoibammon and his captors sailed south from Preht and stopped fin;t at Antinoopolis, then AsyO!, in which he was executed (fol. 9r.. 36-37, fol. lOr., 43-45, 53-58; sec also Amellneau, 1893, p. 12; erum, 1926, p. 109).
The martyrology contains the standard repertoire of hideous tortures. Phoibammon met his death by decapitation. To the martyrology is appended an account of the miracles penonned by ['hoibammon and recorded by one Colluthw; (fob•. 21r-30r). These miracles began eighty years later in the reign of Thcodosius I (379-395) at Phoibammon's shrine in Touho, which was known to the Greeks as The· odosioupolis (Kessler. 1981, pp. 42-47). Colluthw; calls Theodo$ius the "exceedingly pious ruler" (fol. 21r., 26-29). The enlperor WiI$ the beneficiary of Pholbammon's first miracle, whereby he was reo stored to his throne (fol. 21v., 18-24, 63~66). This incident no doubt refers to Thcodosius' struggle with Magnus Mallimus, who had depo~ed the emperor in 383 and was killed upon the laller's return in 388.
Relation to Other Soldler.Martyrs Perhaps the most interesting pari of Ihe martyrol, ogy is Ihe vignette about five other soldier-martyrs incarcerated and executed at AsyO!: Ischudon and Orsenuphls of Snl! (Isnli) and 8elphius, Origen, and Peler of Souan (Aswan: fol. IOv., 14-2<,1). The mar· lyrdonl of Isehurlon and his colleagues is describetl bl'icfly in the Synaxarion under the enlry for 7 Ba'unah (June I) (Forget. 1926, Vol. 2, pp. 153-54). Several churches in modcm Egypt lire dedicaled to an Isehurion (Timm. 1979, p. 154). The~e may have been built in honor of Phoihammon's colleague or another Ischurion, said by Eusebiu:> (t:cclesiaslical His/ory 6.42.1) to have been executed during the reign of D«:ius. Orscnuphis is known from a fmg, mentary Coptic text In the 8ritish LiblOIry (Or. 7561, fols. 52-53; sec Crum, 1926, p. 204). Phoib· ammon'S lnartyrology may have spawned a larger cycle of hagioglOlphieal texts or was il~elf part of a series.
Confusion with Another Martyr Pholbammon Al least four martyrs answered to the name of Phoibammon (Khater and Bumlester. 1981, p. II, n. I). In an unpublished Arabie teJtt (Vatican library, Arabic manuscript 172) Phoibammon of Preht is connatcd with an identically named person, who was born of a noble family in Awslm (Letopo· lis, in the Mcmphite n:g:ion) and martyred near Qau on 27 Tubah (Janual)' 22) and buried n¢8r GiUt (Forget, 1912, Vol. 1, PI'. 419-30; Crum, 1926, pp. 109-110; Amelineau, 1890, p. 54-63). Several Cop· til;: fragments in the ChCl;Il,:r Beatty Library, Dublin, llI"e similar 10, but are not exactly like, passages in Morgan 582 and therefore represent either different editions or perhaps an otherwi$C unaltcsted martyr· ology of the patrician. One fragment (2029), for example, has Phoibammon beholding the Lord "sitting on the chariot of the cherobim." In Morgan 582 (fol. 9r., 52-54) Phoibammon sings hymns to Jesus "who sits upon the chariots of the chcrobim." The splendidly clad Phoibammon in a B.4.wtr Fresco (Cledat, 1904/1916, pl. 53) b probably the nobleman (Crnm. 1926, p. 109).
Possible Role 81 Tutelary Saint of the Monutery of Pholhammon at Thebes Two mona..~teries at Thelx.-s were dedicated to a martyr Phoibamllloli. One lay about 5 miles (8 km) from the WC!lt bank between Madlnat HAbu and Armant; the other was erected on the uppcnnost telTace of Hatshepsut's temple at Dayr al·Bahn (Timm, 1979, PI'. 1378-94; Krau$C, 1985). 80th arc now in ruins. To which, if either, of these martyrs the two monasteries were dedicated is uncertain. A Theban text (Crnm, 1902, pp. 41-42, n. 455) in· c1udes "the day of Apa Pholbammon" in a list of festivals In vel)' close proximity to the Ascension and Pentecost, both of which are celebrated shortly befon:: 26 May, which was Phoihammon of Prehl'S day of ma11yrdom. This Is the only evidence for Hnklng him with eilher monastery (Crum, 1926, p. 110). The patriclan Phoibammon rates sevelOIl pages in the Theban re<:ension of the Synaxarion under 27 T0bah (Forget, Vol. I, pp. 4l9-30), but the soldier Phoibammon receives only one sentence (Vol. 2, p. 147). The prominence accorded the nobleman in the Theban version strongly suggests lhat he wa.~ the more important at Thebes, and hence, he may have been the tutelary saint of the Theban monastery (but cf. Crnm, 1926, p. 110).
PHYSIOLOGOS
Unfortunately, the many Gn.:ek and Coplk ostraca mentioning a Phoioommnn (Remondon et aI., 1965, pp. 5-95; Timm, 1985, p. 1389, n. 2) do not solve the problem. One of these two martyrs may be lhe Phoibammon !linked with 5.:lints Victor, Menas, George, and others on two slelae in the Brilish Museum, possibly from IMwl! (Hall, 1905, pp. 14344, nos. 673. 676). If Wwl! is indeed the provenance. lhe Phoibammon fresco from Bawl! may in· dicate lhal thc patrician is the saint in qucstion.
Remondon, R., el al. Le Monastere de. Phoibammon dans Ie. Th~bai'de., vol. 2. Inscriptiolls et ostraca. Cairo, 1965. Timm, S., Christliclte Sllllten in Agypten. Ik:ihefte zum Tiibinger Atla.s des Vorderen Orients, Rcihc B. Geisteswissenschaften 36. Wiedladen, 1979. Das chrisllich.lcoptische. Agypte.n in arab. ~hu leit. Belherte 7.um Tilbinger Atlas des VOl'deren Orients, Reihe B. GeiStcswissenschalten, 41/3, Teil 3. G-L Wiesbaden, 1985. Vandersleycn, C. Chronologie des Prifets d'Egypte. Collection Latomus. Vol. 55. Brussels, 1962.
BIBLIOCRAPHY Amtlineau, E. us Actes des mllrtyrs d(' riglise copte. ElUde critique. Paris. 11190. -,:-c LD Giographic de l'Egypte iI I'ipoqlle copte. Paris. 1893. Bachatly, C., el al. ''Thebes. Le Monastere de Phoibammon." Chronique d'Egypte 25 (1950):167-69. Boutros-GhaIi, M. Note sur la dicouverte du monQstire de Phoilulmmon dans IQ montQgne thibQine. Cairo. 1948. CI~dal, J. u monast,ft tt fa nicropo/e d., Baollit. Cairo, 1904/1916. Crolll, W. E. Cop/ic Ostruca from the Collections of the Egypt uplQrQtiQn Fund, The C/liro Museum Qnd Olhers. London, 1902. -,:-c CatQloglle of the Coptic },fQrluscripts irl the British Mlucwn. London. 1905. --ce' ''The Literary Material." In The Monastery of Epiphunius at Thebes, I, ed. H. E. Winlock and W. E. Crolll. New York, 1926. Godlewski. W. Deir eI·BQhari V: Le monustim~ de St. PhoibQmmQ". Warsaw. 1986. Hall, H. R. Coptic alld Greek Texts of the Christiall Period from a.uraca, Stelae, Etc. in the British MuSeWtl. London, 1905. Hyvernlll, H. Bibliothecac Pierpont Morgan.' Codices Coplici, PhollJgrap!lice Expressi, Tomus XLV/_ Codex M582: P(,/)'sio 5. PhlJebummonis, Miracula u Deo per eli/IIi/em Patrtltll 511hidice (9th c"llury). Rome, 1922, Kessler, D. Historische Topographie der Re"ion ,wi· schen Mallawj I,md Samall/t. Bcihcftc zum Tub· inger AtlllS des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B. Ceisteswissensehaftcn, 30. Wiesbllden, 1981. Khater, A., and O. H. E. Burmester. Le Mnnastere de Phoibammon darrs la Thebai'de, vol. l. l.'Archi· olo!:ie. dll site. Cairo, 1981. Krause, M. "Zwei Phoibammon·K)Oster in Theben' West." Milleilunge.n des Dcutschen.ArcJliio!ogis. chen Instituts, Abteilung Kuiro 37 (1981): 261-66. "Die Bezichungen zwischen den beiden PhoiOOmmon·Klijstem auf dem lhebanischen WcslUrer." Bulletin de la Sociite d'Arc;hio/ogie Coptt 27 (1985):31-44.
1965
DoNALD B. SI'ANEL
PHONOLOGY. Su Appendix.
PHONOLOGY OF THE GREEK OF EGYPT, INFLUENCE OF COPTIC ON THE. See ApIUndix.
PHYLOXENITE, See Bahij.
PHYSIOLOGOS. This Greek text was begun around 200 8.C. by Paul of Mendes (AuguStamnika 1). who confused the sclemific study of nature with magical traditions. Othcrs continued the WQrk after 200 !J.C" although Ihe remote origin of Ihe Physio/o. gos could probably be placed before lhat date. II is composed of forty·eiahl short 1I1ol'ies, relating to real a.~ well as (o legendary animnb., such as the unicorn and the siren, and 10 trees and 10 stones. The slories contain clemenls of reality, lradilion. and superstition, SCI in different clime~ reaching as far as India. Each story ends with an edifying moral. TIle stl'Ucture llnd contenl of the work popularized the /lhy.iiologos for all time, making it a widely translated book, from which the medieval cathe· drals of Europe drew ideas for Iheir sculpture. Coplic and olher Orienta) Chrislian literature drew upon the Physiologos, especially since it was composed in Egypt. Ahhough no complcte manuscript of the Coptic Physiologos ellists, there are citations and allusions to it in contemporary writings. Though originally wrillen in GI'eek in Egypt, the Coptic version or the Physlologos reccived a thorough study by A. van .....wrscItOOT. a slUdy that was begun by Adolf Erman (1895). Lantschoot as-
1966
PIANKOFF, ALEXANDRE
sembled eighteen refel'ences to it, len unpublished up to Ihal lime. The COI)15 llgl'eed with the premise that Solomon was the author of Ih~ PI,ysio{ogos-even crediting him with the Jewish tradition thai appeared in the fi~1
ccnlUry before and aflcr ChriS! in pseudo-Solo-
monic style. In the questions-and-answers literature (uoIQpokris~;s) of
the prolxibly fictilious Presbyter
Thcoc.lonJs and the palliarch JOHN III (677-686), Salomon is called the PhysiofogQS and cited on the stories about the pig (question 9) and !.he bee (question 15), the wolf. the serpent, and the peridcxion In:.;: (question 19).
The stories about the bee, the .:agle, the allotbird, the amethyst. the impure animal, the han, the charadrivs (0. type of plover), lhe rowen, the hyena. the lion, the wolf, the peridcxion tree, the pearl and
tho! emerald and Lhe agate·slone, the phoenix, the pig, the snake, the sycamore, and the turtledove can be found in a variety of Coptic texis. In addi· tion to these nineteen stories, SHENlrrE the Greal of Atrlb probably used Ihe PhysiQ/ogos when speaking about the f1ie1i. At prcscnt it is impossible to make a survey of the history of the Coptic Phy.fio{ogoj. What we do know indieatcs that it W;l5 popular among the Copts. Several recensions of il probably existed in Egypt. OIBUOGRAPHY
Erman, A. "B11JehstUcke des kopti,;chen Physiologus." Zeiw:llrifl {Ilr iJgyptische jprat"he und Aller· IW'l$kllude 33 (1895):51-57. Lantschoot. A. van. "A propos du Physiologus." Coplie Slljdies ill HOllor o{ Walt..., Ewillg CrwII. Bulletin of the Byutntine Institute 2, pp. 339-63. BoMon, 1950. ___ . I.e.~ "QlIest/OIlS de "'h~odorc." Studi e Tcsli 192. Voticnn Chy, 1957. MOller, C. D. G, "Van Lantschoot, Am: L.es 'Ques· tions de Theodores.'" In Oriel1wliIt{Ic!ze Lilera· flIl7.cillmg S4 (1959):136-41. Seel, O. "Physiologos." Kine/lUI; Lileralljr Lexikol1, cd. WolrgallK von Einsiedel. Vol. 5, colg. 202123. Zurich, 1965. Treu, U. "Amos VlI, 14, Schenute und del' Physiolo· gus." Novllrll restamell/WIl 10 (1969):234-40. C. DI,;,.WF G. MOtLE.R
PIANKOFF,
ALEXANDRE
(l897-1966), EgyplOlogist of Russian origin. He studied Egyptian philology under A. Erma,\ and K. II. Sethe (1920) and continucd his classical studiC5 at the Soroonne
(1927). He beeame allachcd to the Byutntine Insti· tute a.~ II specialist in Arabic and Coptic (19281939). Later, he lived in Cairo, where he worked for the Institut franc;ais d'Arch~logie orientale and published a large number of aniclcs and books on Egyptian religion. l1e also published works in the Coptic Iield, a list of which is available in A Coptic Bibliography (K."lmmcrcr, 1950, 1969). BIDLIOGRAPIIY
DaW$On, W. R.. ant.l E. P. Uphill. Who was Who ill Egyptology, pp. 231-32. London. 1972. Kammerer, W., compo A Coptic Bibliography. Ann Arbor. Mich., 1950; repr. New York. 1969. AZlZ S. ATiVA
PIDJll\tI. SAINT, a fifth.century ascetic and reo c1use who was visited by Saint SHENlITE (feasl day: II Kiyahk). The only complete aCCOonl of his life is a shon notice in Ihe Coplo-Arabie SYNAXARTON. Fl'llgments in Coptic allow a more ClIaet idea of the losl Lire. A series or live leaves &om the s.:lme man· uscript was put together again by H. G. EvelynWhile in 1926: two fragments from Cairo, IWO &om Leipzig, and one from the John Rylanc.ls Library, Manchester, that had been published by E. Ameli· neau in 1888 and by J. Leipoldt in 1906. The following account comes from Ihe Syn:nar· ion. Pit.ljimi was a shepherd in the vill;lgc of Flshah in the dioeet'l" of Ma~lI or Mallj. When he was twelve, an angel took him away from his nock so that he could praCtice asceticism in Lhe desel1 of Seetis. There hc stayed until he wa.~ twenty·four. Demons attacked him in many animal forms, but he annihilated them through the power of God. Then he found 0. valley LO which he withdrew for Ihree years, living on dates and a little water each week, saying 2,400 praycrs a day and as many al night, and fasting rot fnl'tY and even eighty days. After twenty.four ye;lI1i, thc Lord sent an angel to ask him to I'etum to his own counny, where he remained a recluse, consulted by the people. Then the angel took him to Pllllran on the Red Sea (lhe Arabic wrongly ha~ Euphrates), where the people had left the straight Plliit. One Jay when he was carrying baskcts of produce 10 sell in the country, he be· cAme so weary that an angel carried him, The great SainI SHENUTE one day saw a column of precious stones appear hefore him, while a voice Jedllrcd. ''This ili the prophet Anbii Pidjimi." In the vision
PIETRO DELLE VALLE
Pidjimi asked Shenute 10 fetch water so Ih
1967
OIBLIOCRAPIIY
Amclineau, E. Motlwtle/llS pour servir a I'his/oire de l'Egyple cllrt/iemle. P:lris, 1888. Esbrocdt, M. van. "Les Apophtegmes dans les vcr· sions oricntaICll." A.nalecta Bollandiu"o 93 ( 1975):381-89. Evelyn.White, H. G. Nell' Coplic Tex/s lrom the MOI/' as/cry 01 50;'1/ MOCOrillS. Ncw York, 1926. Kammerer, W., et at A Coptic Bibliography. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1950; repr.. New York, 1969. Lcipolt.h, J. Sinuthii archim/mdrifae vila eI opera om"ia. CSCO, series Coplica 2, 2, Pl'. 77-78. MICHI!1. VAN EsOROECK
PIEHL, KARL FREDRIK (1853-1904), Swedish Egyptologist. He siudied Egyptology privately llnd worlted in various continental museums before joining J. Maspcro in Paris in 1878. He was appoint· ed professor of Egyplology lit Uppsa1a in 1893; in 1889 he h:ld founded thcre a museum of Egyptian antiquitieo, which from 1895 bore the name Victoria Museum. Piehl also founded the journal Sphinx in 1896. In the field of Coplic studiC5, he left behind several brief studies. He died at Sigtuna, near Uppsala. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kammerer, W., compo A Coptic Bibliogrtlplly. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1950; repro New York, 1969. AZIZ S. ATIYA
PIER. Sec Architectural Element... of Churchu: Pil· lar.
PIETRO DELLE VALLE (1586-1652), Italian ll1lveler. He joul'lleycd in Egypt and collected antiq· llitie~, including Cuptie manuscripts. Among the lex IS lhnl he ncqulred wer'e grnmmatical works and Bohail'ic dictlomll'ies, which were later' or great use to A. Kircher in his wOI'k on the Coptic language. In 1718 four of the manuscripts thaI had been pur· chased by Pietro Iltlhe elld of 1615, were acquired by lhe Vatican Library (Cod. Vat. 6, I 1,71,72). BIBLIOGRAPJlY
Hebbelynck, A., and A. van i..olntschool. Codices Cop/ici Va/icani 8arberin/alll Borgiatl/ Rossiani, Vol. I, Codices Cop/iei Vaticalli. Vatican City,
1937. MAII.TIN KRAUSE
1968
PILGRIMAGES
PILGRIMAGES. Then: are more thlln sixty cen· ters of Coptic pilgrimage in Egypt, of which the main ones are those of the Virgin Mary at Muslurnd. Saini Menas at Maryii!. Saint George (Mar Jiljis) of Mil Damsls, Sill Dimyan"h ncar Bilq.:ls, and AnM Shinudah at Dayr al.Aby:i4, near SuhAj.
For the Copts, pilgrimage is a religious acl of public worship of high spiritual and wcial value, conslsling of an act of veneration offered directly to God and his saints, or (0 God through his saints. In conll'aSI to abstinence, (asling, and almsgiving, which are simple acts of cOlpOral a.'iCctidsm or Charily, pilgrimage is a compleJI event. It implies, in effect, bodily fatigue. asceticism, and orten a yow, with an offering being made and the poor r«eiving their share of alms. In shon. pilgrimage is a religious act, perfect and complete, and if made with pure and righteous intent, it is a means of sanctification and glorification of God and his saints. While Ihe priw.te and public Woefulness and the sanctity of pilgrimage are evident. yet at all times and in all countries. iI has becn abused. Such abus· es hnve been denounced by responsible spiritual people. like the monk SHENlITE. who. in the fifth century. accused the pilgrimages of bei"g commercial fairs and sites of fun and leisure.
The Length and Dates of the Pilgrimages MOM pilgrimages la~t seven days, unkss they co· incide with a liturgical season, such as the feast of Ascension or the Fast of the Virgin. The last day of the pilgrimage. that of the saint's feastd;ly, is particul:lrly celebrnted. The l:lst night, that of the vigil, is called "the Grellt Night," and on this night, no one sleeps :lnd the pilgrim~ rem:lin in the church where thc ceremonies unfold or visit thc many public tent~ erected around the church on the occasion for various activities. Certain very popular pilgrimages arc not held on the saint's liturgical feastday, as is the case with Saint eeorge of M!t Dams!s 01' the numerous pil· grimages concurrent with the Ascension.
The Seven Specific Aspects of a Pilgrimage seven specific activities manifest the religious as· pect of the Coptic pilgrimage: special prayer, bal" lisms, vows. olTcrings, and gatherings of the poor, the sick, and the possessed. I. Special prayer. During the pilgrimage, many pilgrims present themselves before the icon of the
Virgin or before the tomb, rclics, or icon of the venerated saint, where they ]"Ielfonn a tamjtd, or song of praise, accompanied by the rhythmic danging of cymbals. 2. Baptisms. There is great activity around thc baptistry of the church during the pilgrimage. for many of the faithful have vowed to have their children baptized in this or that place in honor of a panicular sainL Baptized and then confinned, the children are carried in procession 10 the church. where they receive Holy Communion. 3. Vows. People often go on a pilgrimage as the result of a vow made dUring a sickness or other ordeal or 10 give thanks for a favor granted during the year. 4. Offerin,. 11 is often as a result of a vow that the faithful take offerings to the church that is the 0bject of their pilgrimage: money, candles. oil, in· eense. icons, chandeliers, veils for the altar or the doors of Ihe lconosUSI$, nilS, or the like. The most typical offering. however, is II. sheep, which is slain near the church and divided into Ihree pans-a", for the church, one for the poor. and one for the family. 5. Galhering 01 the poor. Numerous poor people crowd into the centers of pilgrimage. where they receive pan of the offerings of the slain sheep and alnlS. Among these poor. there are groups from o'l'hanages Ihal animate the activities by their boislerousness. 6. Galhering 01 the sick. Many of those who are sick or possessed by dcmons go to the centers of pilgrimage, hoping 10 be delivered from their sufferings. They spend the night in the church awaiting the appadtion of the salnl. who will cure them. 7. Gathering oj/he possessed. Within the church itself, or in a room specially reserved for Ihis pur· pose, exorcisms take place in certain centers of pilgrimage. Here many curious, mysterious, and impl'essive events have been verified.
The Secular Aspect of the Pilgrimage II is the secular aspect of the Coptic pilgrimage that is often the most striking. During the day, and panicularly at night, crowds fill restaurants, cafes, and theaters that have all been erected for the occa· sion under immense tents of motley color and de· sign around the church or monastery of pilgrimage. In the evening, this village of tents is illuminated by gas lamps. and here the pilgrim can find everything -bakers, grocers. sugarcane vendors, and peddlers
PILGRIMAGES
of religious objects and ~ints' images, wilh all kinds of aJ,jibahs (singular J,ijfJb, a protectivc talisman). Some specialists do lanClOS, while other shopkeepers scll hummus and J,dldwah (confcctions and sweetmeats), and cooks offer boob Of" fllSfkh, a small fennented fish lhat is one of the specialties of the pilgrimage. The pilgrimage occupies an imponant place in Ihe religious and social life of the Christians in E&ypt. Places of pilgrimage are like oases of prayer and joy in thc daily life of the Copu;.
Famoull Pilgrimages 24 Jamlary (16 fi.bah): AI·AmJr Tadn,s (saint
Theodorus) of Madlnat Hllbu, Luxor. The pilgrim' llge takes place in a church dedicated tu the martyr Tadru~ al-MuQarib, the suldh:r. 29 Jr.muury (21 filhah): The mother uf lhe Savior al JABAL AL-TAYR. Rising over lhe eastern bank of the river Nile Opposite the village of al.BayahO in the neighborhood of the town of SamAh}!, Jabal al'Tayr is associated with the night of the Holy Family into Egypt, and the Virgin Milry is highly venerated in a ehurch panly hewn in the mountainsidc. An inscription Inside the ehurch dated A.D. 328 eonfinns the fact that the church was constn.lcled by oroer of Saint Helena, mothcr of Emperor CONSTANTINE l. In bygone days, a monastery of Our Lady stood on that mountain, lind its monks welcomed the pilgrims who came to venerate the Virain Mal)'. Il~ church was restored in 1938. Though the monastery is desened at present, al-Maqrf:d wrote that in the fifo teenth ccntury the monastery W35 still flourishing, with numerous monks residing therein. lie called the mountain Jabal al·teahf (Mountain of the Cavern). Vansleb visited that monastery in February 1673 ;lnd called it Dair iI Bacc:ar (probably a cor· ruption of buqfr, a migrating bird mentioned by :a1.MaqrTzl, which went to this mountain once every YCllr). Jabal :a['1:ayr h:as anolher church built in 1889, one dedicated to Saint MACAR1US the EGYPTIAN, Pilgrims used to visil the mountain every year to venerate the mother of the: Savior on the day of the anniversary of her death, according to Coptic tradi· tion. The greater pilgrimage, however, was fUled for 16 Mi~r.J, (22 August), when all persons possessed by evil spirits there soughl delivel1lnce through in· tercesslon of the Virgin Mary. 2 April: The Virgin Mary at layton, Cairo (see VIR· (aN, A!'!'AllmoN OF ml!). 20 May (12 8a.shalls): Sin Dimylnah, near BilqAs,
1969
in the MOflaStel)' of al-Bartlrf is located in Za'far.ln, a few milC$ from BilqAs in Daqahliyyah Province in the Delta. Her father, a governor of za'far.ln, built a convent for her in the aua. She was followed there by fony other virgins (see DAYR SITT t>IMVA.."lAH). She and her forty companions were martyred under Ol(). CLETIAN. Her pilgrimage is one: of the most imporlant for the Copt5. JO MIlY (2J 8Il'llnah): Apa Nob of Samannud. Apa Nob came from Nahisah in the Daqahllyyah Provo ince. He embraced Christianity early and became a manyr under Diodelian in the town of Samannild. Two celebrations take place in his honor, a pilgl·im. age on 30 May and a commemoration on 31 July. 19 lime (/2 8a'(mah): AI·MaIAk MIka.'ll of Sibir· b:ly. This pilgrimage is dediCated to the archangel Michael. It occurs in a lillie village called 5ibil'bdy, east of Tanta In the Della. 22 lillie: (/5 Oa'imah): M.a.r Mintl, Maryat. A martyr under Diodetian, Saint Menas was miraculously buried at Marya! (see AOO MINA). The site has Ix:en famous since the third century. Pilgrims flock there to collect water from its source. The water is believed to have curative powers. In the fifth century a large basilica and a large pilgrimage center was buill at Mary\1l 28 lime (21 Ba'llnah); The Virain Mary at IMYR AL-MUlJARMO. Jabal {)usq:im is the ancient Apollinopolis Pan-a, silUaled about 8 miles (13 km) wesl of the lown of al-OU~lyyah, the final slalion in the progress of the Holy Family into Upper E&YPt. This is the site of Dayr Jabal ()usq!m, beller k.nown as Dayr al.Mu~arraq, established in honor of the Virgin Mary and in commemoration of the flight of the Holy Family. It is said that Ihe mOnaSlel)' was founded by Saint PACIlQMIUS (d. 348) or one of his disciples. The Church of Our Lady within its prec:incts is presumably the earliest known Christian church in Egypt. It is said thai in 390 lhe twenty· third patriarch of Alexandria, TflEOPHtlUS (385412), went to this monastery to consecrate the church himself; the anniversary of that consecra' tion iM llnnulll1y celebrated in the Coptic Iilurgy on 6 Hatur (15 Novembcr). 14 luly (7 Abfb): Saint SHENUTE. founder of the monastel)' bearing his name. DAYR ANnA SIIINODAH, also known as the White Monastel)', lies ncar the city of Soh1ij on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Althmlm. Anbs. Shintldah, who was born around 348, is said to have lived 118 years. He was a con· tempol1lry of Saint Paul the Theban, Saint Anlony, saint Pachomius, and many other famous men. He lived to see seven patriarchs, from ATHANASIUS the
1970
PILGRIMAGES
Apostolic (326-373) 10 TIM01'IlY II (458-480), His pilgrimllge is one of the mOSI popular in Upper Egypl. J5 Jllly (8 Abib): Anba Bishoi al Wadi al·Nall'Un. Many pilgrims return tu I)odyr Anb:i. Bishoi tu venl..'rate the great ascetic of the desert of scms. Anb<'l Bishoi was born around 320 perhaps at the village of SIlANASIlA. lie became a lIIonk in 340 and died in Ihe desen at ANTINOOPOUS in 417, at the age of ninelY-$Cven. He was buried lit Ihe monaslery that bean his name. 7-22 AUg'lSI (/-16 Misra): The Virgin Mary at Mus!urud. Mus!urud is a village situated nonh of Cairo on Ihe rood 10 ismailia or Mil ~urad. II is known to have been on the mute of the flight of the Holy Family 10 Egypt, and from very \oarly times, it had a church dedicated to Our Lady. Among its fl..'COrded features Is a well with miraculous healing WIlher and an ancient icon on groo.elJ<, hide repre· senting the entry of the Holy Family in Egypt. The Dominican u1IVeler and pilgrim J. M. VANSUOB visited it on 16 July 1671 and mentioned among its spiritual treasures a miraculous icon of Ihe Holy Virgin. The church of Mus!urud has a crypt similar to that of saint Sergius (see DAl:lVWN), where the Holy Family took refuge during its Ilight. Annual pilgrimages 10 Ihis ehureh are periormed on 7-8 &'o.nah/14-15 June. After spending the night in prayer at that <:hurch and cekbrnting the eucharistic liturgy in the morning, pilgrims proceed to the old sycamore tree at fo.b!ariyyah (sec below), where the ~Ioly Family rested to complete their pilgrimage cyde. The date of 8 Ba'(mah was se' lected fur the feslive oceilsiun beciluM:, accurdinlj; to the Coptic Synaxarion, the church was con_~e· cmtcd on thllt date in A.M, !lOI/A.D, 1185 by MARK Ill. seventy-third patriarch of Alexandria, As a rule, the pillj;rimllge to the Mus!urml t:hurt:h takes place dur· Ing the fast of Our I..:l.dy (1_16 MisrA/7 -22 August) before the ft:(lst of the Assumption of Ihe Virgin. 7-22 AII~lIsl (/-16 Misrll): the Virgin Mary at PAVR DURUNKAH, a centcr of concentrated religious activi· ty for the Coplie comlllunily, situated i,bout 6 miles (10 km) southwest of the city of AsyU!. It is beller known fOI' the monaStery bearing that name. DayI' Durunkah is the residence of the Coptic archbishop of A5Yl11. This is a highly frequented religious cen· tel', especially during the fifteen·day period of the Virgin's fast preceding the celebration of her feast on 16 Misr.i (22 Augu5t). The Catholic Copts have construcled II spc<:i(ll church of their own honoring Our I..:l.dy for their own pilgrims. AI·MAQRlzl. Ihe liftcenth-eenlury Arab hiSlorian of
the Copts, enumerated $Cveral monasteries in the region of Adrunkah, as he called it. He descrihed it lIS Ihe mOSI ChriSlian areil in Upper Egypl. He llbo noted that the population of that dislrict still use
PILGRIMAGES
was depoliitcd in the sanctuary of Ihe new church.
It was conSlrocted by order of Saint Helt·na. molh· er of Emperor ConSlantine. about the year 320. Un· Iii Ihe end of Ihe lwelfth century. Mit Damsls WOolS known to have been the $Cat of a bishop, and ac· cording 10 the chronicle of JOHN OF NIKIOU. lhat village pla)~ a di.,tinctive role in Ihe opposition to the ARAB CONQUe.T OF I'J3YI"T in 642. The modem church is known to date frum 1880. A.~ the INCENSE fills the church in the evening.'1 during festivities. Ihe image of Saint George on horseback is said 10 appear in the cupola. At lhat lime. buth Christian and Mu.'1Hm pilgrims Ihrong Ihe church ~eeking the curing of dil;enscs and especial· Iy the c~orcism of evil ~pirits from possl's:\cd persons by prayers said by lueal priests. 23-29 Au/{usl (f7-25 Misril): Sill Rifqah at SUN· nA'r, a small village ~ituated on the west b"nk of Ihe Damiclla branch of the Nile Delta, north of the lawn of Zifta, facing Mil DamsIs in Gharbiyyah Province. It hal; an aneienl church containing the relics of a Coptic woman saint by the name of Sill Rifqah and Ihose of her five childn~n. originally natives of ~ in Upper Egypt, who were martyred at Shubr3., ncar Alexandria. Afterward. Iheir relics were transported to SunM.!, where Ihey were depasiled in ils church. Ty.'O other sainlS are also venell1ted at Sunba!, IWO hrothers by Ihe names of Piroou and Alborn (see MARTYRS), whu, afler eollecling the ",lics of another saim and manyr called Anua, priest of Xois (the modem Sakhfi), and depositing them in the same church at SunM!, went themsc[vL'S IU Alexandria in pursuit of the crown of mlu1yrdOlll. Usually pilgrinls to Daqadlis and Mit Damsls Crosli the Nite 10 Sunbii.! 10 p..'ly humage 10 Sill Rifqah and uther saints. Other Pilgrimages. A.ccordlng 10 Slles Churches, Saints, and Martyrs
or
A/mil/). An imporlant city in the midst uf agl'ieul-
tuml tern,jn in the volley of lhe Nile in Uppel' Egypt, it is silualed wilhin Smiles (8 km) of a Coptic monastery detliealed 10 SAtNT 8UQTtJR (Viclor) Shu. This saint was a Roman legional)' and was man)'rcd in the pel"Se<:ulion of OIOCt..BTIAN. His pil. grimage lakes place on 8-9 Bashans/16-17 MilY. Ab,j nj. One of Ihe nuled Cuplic dl'llricL~ in Upper Egypt, Abu TIj has a very ancient church dedi· cated to Saint Macarius the Ejotptian buill in the midst of the city n~mpolis. Ii aUraets Ilumcrous pilgrims to venerate the great sainI on his feast day,
1971
27 &ramhiit/S April. The cily appeared in Ihe lists of episcopal dioceses of Upper Egypt and is lllill Ihe seat of a bishop. Vansleb .....ent there in the M."Ventcenth century and visited Ihe ruins of the andent city near the bank of the Nile. AI-BadiJri. This is a city in the province of Asyu! in whose neighborhood a monaslery existed by the name of DAVK AVAWANAH. dedicalL"d to Saint George. II auraclS a great many pilgrims seeking the mirnde of his intercession. AI·'Awanah ilself is a village lhat in ancient limes had a populalion of Coplic origin. At prL'Sent. il is a lotally Muslim cum· munity. AnOlher Paehomian monastel)', deSel1ed for centuries, existed allhe village ofT:\stl (sec DAVK rAsA). It is situated 3 miles (S km) nor1h of :1.[. Baddr1. In the flfteenlh centUl)' in his Cuplic history. al· Maqrl1.1 stated tbat on th(: (lOniverStll)' of the Virgin M:l.ry, a dove descended on the church sanctuary and then disappeared. only 10 reappear at the ful· lowing annual festival. Bunl Mllrr. A village situat(:d on the ea(1 bank of Ihe Nile in Ihe region of ..he Abnub district in Upper !!gypl. &nl Murr has a church Ihat is dedicated 10 Saint George and is a locnowned center for exorcism. Sick pilgrims frequent it for Iheir delivernnce on the dale of its anniversary. 23 Barnmudah/l May. In bygone days a monastery also dedicated to Saint George stood within the precinct.s of an adjacenl village called a1.Mu'a~irah, now called al.Ma'~ll1h. This monastery is now complelcly deserted, and In Ihe fifteemh ccnlury the historian al.MaqrtzT ineludl:d il in his list and added that it WOolS ;llrendy depleted of monks. Bani Murr has been made famous in 1Il0dern limes as Ihe native village of Prl.'sident Gnmalllbdcl Nallser. A!-8ull1l1(w. A small village situliled lO the nonh· east of Shibln al·Kom, cnpital of MinOfiyyah Provo inee, it has 0. church dedicated to Saint SnmonmCII1 built in 1897 and frequented by pilgl'i11ls on 28 Halllr/7 December. The saint was bishop uf Nikiou in the foul1h century and eamed the crown of martyrdom. From al·8atAntin came the fifty-fiflh patri· arch, Anb:1 Sanutius I (SHENUTI! l. 858-880). Ba)'at! a/.Nu:fiJrll. This is a small place situated on the easlem bank of the Nile in Upper Egypl facing the lown of Bani Suef. II has a monaslcry dL-dicllled to Ihe Virgin Mary, and its modem church was consecrated in 1963. Pilgrims frequent it during Ihe fifteen.day fast of the Virgin Mary, 1-16 M1Sr:1o/7-22 August.
1972
PILGRIMAGES
Duyaill'. A church dedicated to Saint Iskhiron ill the village of Bayahll became the ohject of annual pilgrimages 10 vcncntlc one of the most famous Coptic saints and nU1I1yrs. Saini Iskhiron came originally from the city of QAlLlN in the lower Delta, nOI far from Alexandria; hence, he is called in the Arabic ann:lls Abiskhanin al-Oaltini. Churches dedi-
cated to him include a founeenlh-.cenlury one in the Dayr "nhl Maqlr and Dayr AnM Bishoi bolh in WAdi al-Na!riin. Apparently he was a legionary ill a Roman banallon stationed al Anlinoopolis (the Arabic An$inA) in Middle E8YP1, but he is said to have been manyred at AsyU!. His manyrdom is recounted by 1WS1l81U$ 01' CAI!SARJ;A ill his His/oria ecduiasticQ (set' Bk. 6. chap. 42). He w:lS lOnured by having his belly pierced with a sharp stake and then being decapitated. The Coptic church com memoI":IICS his martyrdom on 7 Ba'11nah/14 June, and the consecreation of his church at Bayahll is celebrated on 10 Bal":lmhat/19 March. Dimiqrd!. This is a village located between Luxor and Ismt. On the western side of it, there is DAYR MAR JIRJIS. which is lTequented by pilgrims for a week every year, 1-7 ~Iat"r/I 0-16 November. I,/iidl.'lh. This village is situated to the southeast of 00,. In ilS neighborhood there is a monastery known lIS DAVk AnO $AYFAYN, dedicated to Saint Mercurius. According to local tl":ldition, the church in· side that monastery waIi cslablished by Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine. Pilgrims frequenl this mona:llery annually on 25 Abib/1 Au· gust to venerate $aint Mercurius. ls~lJq a/·HllrlnI, Saint. Few specific facts are known about Ihis saint, who, according to the cita· tion in the Coptic Synaltarion, was born at a village called HOrlll. Aflllr taking the monal;tic vow, he is said to have become a disciple of a cenain Anbn lliyyl1. Aftcrwl\rd he went to the mountain of Barnl1j on the edge of the Nlttian valley, and there he UeCfU11ll the disciple of a certain Allba Zacharias. When he died, his body was placed on a camel and carried to a spot between Hulin, his birthplace, and anothel' by the nallle of Nashrat. As the camel reo fused to budge from that spot, the s.aint's body was removed and buried there. Over his tomb was erected tl church that bectlme a place of pilgrimage for the natives. He is also associated with DAYR AL-NAQLON in the Fayy\1m. Islmln a/·Nu:jlJr(J. This is a village situated in the region of the district of MagMgha in Minya Provo incl.'. The Holy Family passed inlo this region on ilS flight into Egypt. About 5 miles (8 km) west of
Ishnln or Ashnln, DAVR AI.-JAIINOS was built in honor of the Virgin Mary, whom people came to venerate on Z4 Bashans/I June every year. AI·Maqrfzl men· tioned the name of a monastery of bus, which he identified as tbe Monastery of "rgenus (probably a corruplion of al·)tl''I'II15). He recorded mat (here was in that place a W1;l1l whose cover was lifted at Ihe sblb hour (i.e., at midday) to observe the rising water within it, which indicaled the height of the fulure fluod of tbe Nile. On June I, pilgrims mrong al·Jamu.s Monastery with their children for the purpose of blessing them with immunity against me sting of a scorpion or a snakebite. /snd. An impoT1ant city In Oinl Province io UpPer Egypt, 1his waIi known as Latopolis in the Coptic period. It is said thaI as early as Ihe reign of Patri· arch I'ETU. I (302-311), SainI Ammonius was creat· cd bishop of Ihe cily by him. Tradition has it 1hat as bishop, Saint Ammonlus established the church of Ihe martyrs of tsNA witb me aid of Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, in whal was known as DAYR oU,SHUHADA' situated a couple of miles south of 1501. Pilgrims frequent it on 14 Kiyahk/Z3 December. This monaslery was visited in 1668 by a Capuchin named Father Portais, who reiterated the role of Saint Helena in the founding of the monastery. '/zbiiwfyyllh. This church of Our Lady and some of ils adjacent buildings located in Cairo belong to DAVR AL-SURYAN in W:ldi al.Nalrnn, in Cairo. The church itself was built In the nineteenth century on the site of a well at which the Holy Family is sup' posed to have stopped on its flight into Egypt. This is in the hear1 of the Azbakiyyah area, within reach of the old Cathedral of Saint Mark. Visitors throng that church every day to venerate an ancient icon of the Virgin Mary, presumably painted by Saini Luke the EVllnl!lcllst. J. Muysel' suggested that this may be an eighteenth-century copy of an original preserved in Dayr al-Surydn; it may be the work of 11 cer1ain Luke who was bishop of the Thcbaid in the fourth century. Muyser stated thnt Luke left a treatise in which he I'efel'fed to his icons of the Virgin Mary. KatT Ayylib. This is a village in the neighborhood of Miny:'!. al·OamQ in Sharqiyyah Province. lis church was established in 1900 and dedicated to Saint George, whose annual celebrations last a whole week every year, 18-25 July (Viaud, 1979, p. 74). KalT a/.Dayr. This is a village in the neighborhood of the district of Minyd al·OamQ in Sharqiyyah Prov-
P[LGRIMAGES
ince. II has one of Ihe oldcsi churches surviving in Lower Egypl. lis iconoslasis Is dOlled.u.L 1247!A.D. 1531. II is dedicated 10 Saini Michael, and its annual pilgrimage is fixed on 12 Ba'unah/19 June. Though ancient and built in Byzantine·Oriental style, its belfry was construcled in 1935 on the model of the ehurch existing in Jaffa.. Ma'ddl. Ma'adi, a suburb south of Cairo on the Nile, has a church of Our Lady on the right bank of the river at the spot where tradition 5a)'ll that the Holy Family crossed to the olher bank in its prog· ress into Upper Egypt. This picturesque church, with Its lhrce granary·shaped cupolas, is an eighteenth·century structurc on the site of a much older church, Usually pilgrims frequent it during the firleen.day mst of the Virgin Mal)' before the feast of the Assumption on 16 Misl'd!22 August cv· ery yellr. Manyal Shlitah. This place is situated southweSI of Giza on the western bank of thc Nile. Here, IIccording 10 the Coptic Synuarlon, IWO saints by the name of a>sMAS AND DAMIAN, presumably of Syri· an origin, we~ martyred, together wllh five brothel"ll and their mother during the persecutions of Dioclelian. Those two saints are among Ihe most popular onC5 Ihroughoul ChriSlendom. The Copts celebrate their anniversary on three different datC5 of the Coptic calendar. The first date is 22 HOltur!1 December, which Is supposed to be that of their martyrdom, The second. 22 Ba'unah!29 May, and the third, 30 Halur/9 December, arc thou~t to be the dates of the founding and the dedication of their church. The pilgrimage of Manyal ShiI.Jah is usually given as 20-22 Ba'unah/27-29 May, when visilOI'5 throng the church with Iheir sick. seeking miraculous healing, mainly of epilepsy allIl nervOIL~ disorders, Both saints were physicians who treated pntlcnts with those conditions. According to al· MaqrJ~', a monastery known liS DayI' Oamwah at Glr.a WllS described as "dayr La!If" (fine munastery). MO(lIriyyllh. This suburb northClist of Cair'O is per· haps the most celcbrnted station In the story of the night or Ihe Holy Family Into Egypt. Here slands the sycamore trec which is supposed to have ~hcltercd the Holy Family. It is said that a well cxisted in Ihal regiOll from which Ihe Virgin drew wllter. Also the records indicate that II church slood on that sile, bUI il disappeared in one of Ihe recurrent popular upheavals against Christians and was replaced by a simple hall with an altar consisting of a Slone table standing in ITont of a niche. In 1597 it became the property of the Franciscan friars, who reslOreel the
[973
chapel, but in 1660 it was lransfonned InlO a mosque. VANSU!B indicated lnat when he visited Ma!ariyyah on 12 July 1672, the oralOry was no longer readily accessible to the Christians. In 1724, Paul Lucas offered witness that the oratory slill ex· isted. In Ihe nineteenth century Ihe building disappeared altogether and pilgrimagC5 ceased 10 take place. A small chapel owned by the Jesuit f:uhel'5 wa.~ consecratcd in the adjoining garden on 6 Decemhcr 1904. and the Catholics of Egypt organb.e a pilgrimll progress 10 il every year on 8 December. a{·Mimhdh. This is the modcm name of the older village known in the Coptic period as Ptolemais· Hcnniou. It Is situated about 12 miles (19 km) south of the city of Suhllj. Its fame l'eslS on ilS association with Anbd Bisadah, its bishop, lind the monastery that carried his name. Tradition sa)'ll Ihat in hi~ youth, Saint Bisaddh was a shepherd of a flock of gOllts with a certain Agrlppides, who turned out laler to be the emperor of Rome under the name of Dioclelian. However, Anba. U1sAdah was martyred by his old companion, Emperor Dioclctjan, and his relics were deposiled in a small side chapel by Ihe sanctuary of his church. He is commemorated three limes annually. and each time allracts pilgrims to his church. The c1a1C5 arc 27 Kiyahk/5 January. 24 Tubah!1 February, and 27 Ablb/] Augulll. MillY" (J{.Q(JI/1~. A church dedicated to Saint George was built at Miny;1 al.Qaml) In 1916. PiI· grimage to it was started as late as 1968, but the natiV<:$ claim numerous miracles pcrfonned by Ihe intercession of Saint George. especially in exor· cism, through the prayers of one of its deacons. Qllmu{ah. This is a village Silualed south of the cily of OO:j. Melnardus placed Dayr Abu Sayfayn in it, and Muyser stated that it had an ancient church dedicated to Saint Michael. Q,W al·Sayyll4· This village is situo.ted on the eastern bank of the Nile between Nag Hammadi &Od raw or Pbow. The MonaSIery of Anba Balamun, or f'A!.AIlMON, is [ocaled in this arca and is also known as the Monastery of Abu Sayfayn. II contains live churches, dedicated to Slllnt Mercurius, to Ihc Virgin Mary, to 5111 Dimyanllh, to saint Michael, and 10 Anha Balamun. The lasl was constructed in 1925. Anbd Balamun was (he spiritual father of Saint f'ACHQMlllS. In 323, PachomiWi establishcd his firsl cenobitic monastery of Tabennbe in Chenoboskion, which may be identilied as Ihc modcm ~r al-Sayy.il;l. Later his monasteries multiplied In that
1974
PILGRlMAGES
area. A Pachomian cathedral In l'UI"s Is bcinK exr.(lvaled by :In American expedilion at the present time, and a i>Carch is being conducted for the exact silt' of the discovery of the Gnostic p;,pyri of the Nag Hammadi library, Pilgrimages are made annually by the faithful to the Monastery of Anba Balamun on 30 Tobah/7 February and 25 Ablb/I August to \'enerate the founder of cenobitic life. Sudomonl, This lawn is now known as $adamant al·Jabal. It ili liituated about 17 mik-s (27 km) Mlulh of Madlnal al·FayyOm within the frontier of Ihe province of Bani Suef. II eonlained an ancient mOnaslery. Dayr Mar Jirjls, It wa... well known in the thlneemh century, and its name W;IS immona· Ji1.ed by the farnou.s th..: vlogian BUlllUS Al-SI~tAlnl. whO!ie ""'ork was published around 1260. In the fifteenth century, al·MaqJi71 said that it ....'lIS almost desened. However, it was ,"",-stored in 1914 and monastic life w:lS rene~d there. Ill.safil,minl. This is a village situated nonh of Ihe beller-known village of al'J:!awAwlsh in the districi of Akhmtm. It had in its neighborhood a monaslery dedic::ued to the archangel Michael, DAYR AL-MALAK MIKHA·!1.. which appeared in al·Maqrizi's history in the fifteenth century as DayI' l?abrnh, a word derivcd from an Arab tribe called BanI *,brah Ihal senled in this region. nl<~ church of lhat ancient monaslery, which still exisLS, is Ihe site of lwo pilgrimages, on 12 Halul/21 November and 12 Ba'Qnah/19 June. The Ilatives usually cungrcgate in Ihe chun;h fur tendering wishes from the saint. al,S(JIlqilriyyah. This villagc is siluatl,d approxi· mately 14 mile~ (22 km) wUlh of the to,vn of BMI Mal.5.r In Asyu! I'rovince. It has a munOlstery, OAYR Al.So\NOQRJYYAH, dedicated to Saint TheodOl'US, or Tawadl'llS, beller known as 1I1·A.mir Tadros or Tlldrus al-Shu!bl from his native village (,I' Shu!bl in the neighborhood of lhe city of AsyO\. He was mar· lyred :11 Alcxandria sometime in the eal'ly year'S of the four1h cenlul)', and his budy was c:lrricd hack to his native village. The anniversary of his marlyI" dom is celebmled annulllly on 20 Ablb/27 July and the translation of his reli!:s tu Shutbi on 5 Hatiir/14 November. SmviJdah. '111is is a village ~ituatcd al the foot of a muuntain about a couple of miles to Ill<: south up· posite al-Miny! on the e.lstem bank of the Nile. Iiere will be found the vestiges of a monastery known as I>ayr 5awlldllh ur DAYR APA HORAJXI HoI' was born in Siry.5.qQ.~, 11 village nell" the town of Shibfn al·Oantlljr in OlllyObiyy:Jh Province in Lower Egypt. lie is s.aid 10 hav(' gone to
Pelulilum (al·Flll'llllll\) in lhe Sinai Peninsula 10 can· fess his faith before the autholities, who tranSP'OI1ed him to Antinoopolis, where he was tortured and uhimlltely decapitated. AI·Mllqrlz! mentioned this monastery in the fifteenth century and contended that it I'eCeived the name StlwJl,dah from an Arab tribe that became established in Ihal area and ended by dcstroying it. Pilgrims usl,:d 10 visit that monastery 10 venerale Apa Hal' on 12 Abfb/19 July. ShQqolqil. Situated on the side of Ihe mountain easl of Ihe Nile, opposite UllIm 1:l1-Qu~ur, in Ihe neighborhood of Ihe town of Manfalu! in Upper Egypt, Shaqalql1 became Ihe sile of a monastery dedicated to Saim Menas. ILS ancient church is partly hewn Into the mOUn lain rock. Vansleb, the 5Cventcenth"'i:enlury traveler, noted the existence of that monastery, bul failed to identify it. Earlier, in the lift('enth century, al.Maqrf1J re<:orded il as Ihe Monastery of the GrollO of ShaqlllqTI (Dayr Mag· h:iral Shaqalqll) and described it as a charming site on Ihe flank of the mountain and hewn into Ihe rock. It is inaccessible by nomlal fOOl IrJ.vcl; visitors can reach it only by SC
PILGRIMS AND TRAVELERS IN CHRISTIAN EGYPT
in the lalcr Middle AgC5, it had a monastery dedicated 10 an early Coplic sainI and martyr by the name of Apa Hor. The sanctuary of the church that ~ !lurvived from thai vanished monal;tic institution has long been a place of pilgrimal;e for the natives of the region. As a rule, pilgrims thronged 10 his sanctuary for the saint's heaHng power over
the disease known as scrofula.
r..kh
I
QI-Nt1~~rlJ.
A small lown in the neighborhood of Shibln al-Knm, capilal of Mir111liyyah ProvInce. II has three churches. one of which is dedicated 10 Saint GEORGE. constructed in 770. or the remaining tWO, the older church of Our lady is known 10 h;ave uisted in 726; it was restored in 1872. The olher church. also dedicated 10 the Vir' gin Mary and dating from 1876, is die seal of the superior of Dayr al-&nIImu5 in Wadi al-Na.!-n::m, which owns propcny in this area. Two palriarchs of Alexandria came from this town, MATTIfEW lII, also known M Man! al·TOkhl, and JOliN XVI. 'fu1o:/r 'fGnbishii. A village in the neighborhood of Ihe lown of Quisnl in Minufiyyah Province, Tukh TanbishA has a church dedicaled to the archangel Michael. which is frequenled by pilgrims on 12 Ba'· unah/19 June.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The abolle compilation of pilgrimage siles and shrines has been b~d on the noles compiled by ~legumenOll Jacob MUYSI!R during his residence of some thiny yean among the Copts in "gypt. His 10111' and esteem for the ancient Coptic church wa~ coupled with a tremendous knowledge of its tradi· tion~, liturgies, hagiography, and literature. He was familiar with its dlUrchcs, both ancient and mod· el'n, logether wllh their patron saint.~, to whom the pious COpts rendered pilgrimages. After the death of falher Muyser on 16 April 1956, Ger;,rd Viaud collected his unfinished nOtes, organized them, and edited lhem in a French treatise (Viaud, 1979). Am~lineau,
E. C. /.,/1 Geogr/lphie de I'Egypte iI. /'e, poqlle cople. Paris, 1893. Ayroul, H. H. Le Pelerinage d'e! 'Adm. Cahier~ d'histuire cgyptienne 9. Cairo, 1957. Bassill, W. F. Tire Fliglu inlo Egypt. Cairo, 1968. Burmester, O. H. E. "111e Translation of 51. Iskhiron Oillin." I.e Museu" 43 (19J4) and 47 (1935). ___. Cldde 10 lire ~lIcietll Cuplic CJmrcnes of CllirQ. Cairo, 1955. Curron. R. Visits 10 tlte MOIl"slerics ill tl.e LeVllllt. London, 1847. Gaycl, A. CalifS iguoris d'Egypte. Paris, 1905.
or
1975
lullien, M. L'Arbre de fa V/erge a Malar/yen pres dll Caire, SOlllleu/r.~ de /ll Sa/rIle Fam/lle. Beil1Jl, 1886; repr., Cairo, 1904. Kamil ~Ii~ Nakhlah. "Hayl'it AnbA Ruways." In Mn;allnt Sllhyfm. Cairo, 1952. Khater, A, NOllvenux Fragmeflls du SynaxGlre arab/'. Collcctanea 10. Cairo, 1965. Monneret de Villard, U. O/'yr I'i.Muharraqah. Milan, 1928. Munier, H. "La Geographic de I' Egypte u' apr~ 11'5 lisles coptes-arabcs." Bul/elin de la Soclile d'nr· cheologie capte 5 (1929). _-,-_ "Les Monuments coptes d'apres les exploration du Pere Michel Jullien:' Bul/etin de /a Socil_ ti d'archlo/ogit COplt 6 (1940). Murqus Jirjis. A!·Qowl al-/brlll iii- '~1I4moh al· Maqrlll. CAiro, 1898. Norden, F, L Trove1s in EVpl and Nubia. London, 1757.
Vansleb (Wansleben), J. M. Nouvtl/e Rel41ion en fonnt de journal d'lln voyage loil en Egyple en 1672. Paris, 1677. Viaud, G. Les Pelerinages copl~ en Egypte. From the nOICli of Jacob MU)'5er. 1nslitut fran~ais d'Ar· cheologie orientale. Cairo, 1979. GeRARD V/AUO
PILGRIMS AND TRAVELERS IN CHRISTIAN EGYPT. Beginning in lIery early times, Ihe holy places of the E.~st attraclt.-d many pilgrims from abroad at the cost of a lengthy journey. They sought out lhose placcs whcrc the history of llallla· tion unfolded. The Egypt of Joseph and M~, the land that later welcomed the Holy Family, appears rather as n complement 10 Palestine, visited only by those who had the de..ire or the leisure to see everything. Beyond that, Christian piety also IIcncrated those other founders of the church and first witnesses of the failh, the martyTll (Ind their succI's· SOTll, the holy monk~. Egypt, lnnd of lhe martyrs and bir'lhplace of monasticism, posscsses some shrines of International r-epulalion, and still more, lhe deserts that border the valley have attl'llcted a stream of foreign visitor'S. These pilgrimages, inlerrupted by the Persian occupation (618) and more or less restored at lhe beginnings of the ARAB CON· OUEST OP EGYI'T. were to become gradually more rare with lhe progress of Islam in the: East. In the time of the Crusades the proximity of the Frankish kingdom and the resumption of the practice of trav· el in the East brought a certain rellillal of pilgrimage to Egypt, but under an entirely new form of piety. This was soon replaced by another molh'a-
1976
PILGRIMS AND TRAVELERS IN CHRISTIAN EGYPT
tion, one IntroduClld by the Eurup<:an Rllnaiss:mec, the curiusity of Ihe travelcr who was p:.rty 10 the discovery of ancient Egypt, who wished to know and identify its monuments but only ot:casionally encountered Christian Egypt. Biblical Egypt included first of all the itinernry of the Exodus to Sinai. generally reached f!'Om Jerusalem a.., ~tar1ing point, and then in the Nile Valley some luc:tlilies fmm the life of Joseph and of Mo· ses, In Sinai itself the memory and lhe preM'nce of holy monks, them~lvcs pilgl'ims who hlld settled on the sit~, at RAITIIOU, at PHARAN. and especially al Jabal MI1s3. are a n.mher mOtive for pilgrimage, It was the monks who constructed, or for whom were construcled. churche5 or chapels and then monas· teries, for apart from the sites named, no monu· ment elsewhere rccalls the evCntS nf the Exodus except for two small chapels al Ct.YSMA ll13r'king Ihe entrance and the e.tit of the crossing of the Red Sea. In the Nile Valll.')', Ihe hou-~ of POlipllar and of Aseneth, ....-ife of Joseph, were shown :1.\ Hcliop<>lis. the grnnaries of Joseph at the Pyr,lmids. his prison at Memphis, the plain where Ihe ~Iebrews manufactured bricks, and finally the "thrones of Moscs and Aaron," TIlese were simply sites visited, wilhoul the presence of any places of worship, In Ihe sixth cenlury a village nen!' Memphis claimed 10 have given shelter 10 Ihe Holy Family on ibi FUGIIT IJIm) EGYPT. and I lemple ll'8nsformcd into a church conlains a linen cloth on which is imprinted Ihe face of Jesus, Al Hermopolis (al·Ash, mOnayn), from Ihe end of the fourlh l:entury, :111 overthrown lemple hn... been s,,'1id to bell!' wilness 10 the passing of the child Jesus. and a sYI"amore that sheltered him is reputed to possess healing properties, All the other places consecrntcd in lradition by the pa..o;sing of the Holy Family are much later and scarcdy appear in local piety before the twelfth century. The most frequented martyrs' shrines arc in Alexandria and its surroundings, such as lhnse of Saint Mflrk and of John the Baptist, allested from Ihe end of the fourth century, at Menouthis (Abl1qlr): that of Ihe saints Cyrus and John, whose cult in the fifth century drove oul that of Isis: and. above all. the sanclutlr'ies of SainI Mena.., (AbU MinD), with Ihe famous WOlters, ampullae of which are found even in Ihe north of Europe, Other regional eapitab also have their shrines, such as Ihose of SainI Ptolemy at Hermopolis: Colluthus at (Anlinoopoll<:): Psote al Ptolemais: and, in the region of Lyeopolis (Asyli!). the mounted saints llnd Syrian martyrs whose cull took mot in Egypt at the lime or the sojourn ofSEVJ\R·
us 01' ANTIOCH. These sllrine.~ arc normally served by monks. The gl'<:at monastic sites of lhe desert allr,lcled eminent personages. and some settk-d Ihere as monks, including ARSENlllS and EVA(;RI\lS PO~CUS. These trnvelers were les.~ eager for the marvelous. for mirncles or healings. Ihan for counsel and spirilual training, In which the destiny of a father of Ihe church mighl find il~ source, as with JEROME, RUF· INUS. lInu CoI.SStAN. From the end of Ihe fourth centu· ry. people resorled 10 the ENATON. which was soon to sheller the veneraled relia; of Severus of Anli· och; then Ihcy buried themselves deep in the desert on the track that linkl.-d Nitria to Sectls by way of Kellia. More mrely they Went up the valley. and it was then monks above all who devoted Ihemsclves 10 a vClilable quesl, eager to see and hear every· thing about Ihelr great anceStors and 10 pre1"Cl've it and hand it on. A hall \\I3S made at Saqqarn. where Ihe tomb of Jeremiah was venernted, and another in the community of Antony at Pispir on the bank of the Nile before reaching his inner mountain near lhe cave of Saint Paul. People also visiled the laur,l of oI.POllO al Bllwl!, the laura of JOHN OF LYCOI'OI.lS in the mountain of AsyCl!, and finally the P:,eh· omilltls of TAUUNNEsP_ From the HISTORIA MONA(;l1· ORUM IN oI.lfuYI'TO at end or the fourth cenlury down to the Pralllllf Spirifua/t! of John Mosehu5 al the beginning or Ihe seventh century. a whole lilerature with the navor not only of a geographical guide but also of a spirilual quest prcserves Ihe sayings and the exploits of the fathel'S of the deser't of E.gypt. In Ihe ninth and tenlh centuries, the cult of Saint Catherine or Alexandria was born and developed in Nomlllndy. Flanders, and the Rhineland, where monks from Sinal came 10 beg for {hcir mona..~lery. soon bringing relics of the saint. From the thirtC('nlh century. the exlraordinary popularity of Calhel'ine added 10 Ihe traditional visit to the places of Ihe Exodus a pilgrimage to the MOUNT SINAI MONAS· TERY OF SMNT CoI.THUf!INF., Ihe more SO when an ordel' of chi\"3lry was estabIUihl..x1 there in the fifteenth cenlury. complementary to that of Ihe Holy Sepul· cher, Since a dependency of the monaslery had been established from the fifteenlh century in Cai· roo it wa.., from Ihere 1'tIlher than from Jerusalem Ihat the pilgrims "~et oUI, These pilgrims included knights, diplom:lls on missions, the faithful, !lnd even merchants. Here arc clled only the names of those who. having passed through cairo. Alexan· dri:l, or the monasteries or Saint Antony (DAVR oI.NBA AN']1lNIVOS) and Saint Paul (DAVR oI.NBA BOLA). brought back useful infQmlation: Thomas de Swln·
PIMANDJOILl
burne (1392), Barn" d'Anglur'C (1395, ;t\ S"int Anto· ny 3nd Saint Paul as well as 3t DAVK AI.-MAVIol(IN), Ghilleb('n de Lanoy (1421), Brc)·ucnbach and Fabri (1485), Langhenmu (1486), Jean Thenaud (1512), and Greffin Affagal' (1534). A change in the limes anu in oullook is evidenced by the visit of Belon du Man.~ (1548), who devoled himself plimarily to a botanical colleclion. and by the sojourn of Carlier du Pinon (1579), who came equipped with Strnbo's Geograpl/1 and wilh map.s for his itiner"al)'_ Evidenlly people reached Ihe point of seeking in Alexandria itself Saint Catherine's palace, hel' prison, and the column on which she "~dS Ix:hcaded. (This column was transported 10 the Greek monas-lery of Saint Sa~) Such seckers indudl,d Simon Simeionis (1323), roggibomii (1345), and Frescoba,ldi {I 384). In Cairo, since it w;u then out of the question 10 go further up the- Nile, Western piety, henceforth markC'd by Francis..:lIn devotion to Ihe- humanity of Jesus, led Ihe pJlgl'im to lhe crypt of the Church of Abii Sarjah in Old Cairo, whel'e, a<;:<;:onling to a locallradilion begun only in the thineenth <;:entury, the Holy Family lodgL'
1977
(1731). arc of liule interest on this poinl when they are nOI purely and simply cupying theil' predeces. sors. In contraSt, the Descripliorr de I'Egyple by the scholars who accumpanicd Napoleon is replele wilh information about Ihe Illonuments uf Chrislian Egypt lmd lhe life of Ihe Coplic village COlllmuni· lies.
BI8L1OCRAPIIY Coquin, C. I.es Edifices cllri/iens dll VicltX Caire, Vol. I. Cairo, 1976, Delehaye, H, "Lcs Manyres d'Egyplc." Analecla Bo/· landiana 40 (1922):1-154, 299-364, Evelyn·White, H. G. The Monasteries of lire W"di 'II Nalrim, P1. 2. New York. 1932. Fedden, H, R. "A Study of lhe Mona.5tcry of Saint Anlony In lhe Eastem Desert." Bullc/in of fhe Foerllty of Arts of Ilrt: University of EVPI 5 (1937):1-60. Joman!, E. F., cd. Dt:scripliou dt: l'Egyple. 0". Re· eucil dn oosenJalimr$ e/ des recherches qlli Ollt IIi faju$ en EKYpie peudaul l'exprdition de I'ormet: fraufuise pilblii. par les ordrn dc Sa Mfl;e$ti l'tmptrellr Napolion Ie Grorrd, 19 vol!!, in 23. Par· is, 1809-1828. Jullien, M. L'Egypte, sollvellirs bibUqw!s et cllre/;ellS. Ulle, 1889, Labib, M. PtderirlS c/ VO)'agellrs all MOrlt Sjuui. Cairo. 1961. Maraval, P. LietlJl Sflinu III pideriuuses li'Orien'; His· Mire et geugrflphie des origiflfS il la co,/quCte orobe. Paris, 1985. Martin, M. "NOlI.' sur la commun:llute cople enlre 1650 el 1850:' All/lO/lIS islomu{ogi(/lItis 18 (1982): 193-215, Pococke, R. A Dest'riplioll of Ihe East fIlld Some Other CUlmlr;es, 2 vols. London, 1743-1745. MAIJRrCF. MARTIN, S.J.
PILLAR. &e Al'chileclural
PIMANDJOILI.
ElemcnL~ of Churches.
city named in the mnlil'val Jist of Egyptian bishoprics as the seat of a bishvjl (Mun· icr, 1943, pp. 49, 55), The list gives Xcncdochou a.~ lhe Greek name of the cily lind suggests, by the order of presenlalion, lhal lhe city was localed in the nonhellstern P3rt of the Egyptilln Delta. Howev· er, no sclliemeni wilh the name Pimandjoili or Xent.:dochou is 10 be found in the area today, nor can any lown confidently claim 10 be Ihe suece....<,()r of Ihe andent cily. II
1978
PISENTIUS, SAINT
BIBLlQCRAPHY
Munier, I-I. ReclIcil des /iSles episcopale,.- de I'eglise cople.. Cairo. 1943. Timm, S. Dos christlich·koplische Agyp/('// in arabischer Zeil. Wicsbadcn. 1988. RANDAU. STEWART
PISENTIUS,
SAlNT,
founh-to-fifth
cemury
bishop of Hcrmonlhis. The life of Saini Piscntius is preserved In one Arabic manuscript. "OW in the Coptic Museum, Cairo. Piscntius was born to pagan parents in l"lermonthis (Arman!), wher<: he learned carpentry_ Having witnessed a miracle, he wenl to the church and was baptized. Pisemius then went 10 the mountain of Hemlonthis to be a monk. There he Jived with a brother named Severus, who was the first monk of that "$acTed" mounlain and became the first bishop of thai district. Piscolius heard a voice commanding that he build a church. After its constmcliol'l, he appoil'lted a priest und two dcacol'ls to serve lhere. An angel showed him the place on which he was to establish [\ monaster)' where as many as fifty-three monks wuuld live. In addition, he built a convent for nuns. According to the surviving Arabic tcxt, Pisentius played a great role in the final Christianization of Uennonthis. n,e life of Pisentills also I"':cords that Patriarch TItEOJ>HILUS (385-412) consecrated John, the younger brother of Pisentius, bishop of the dio· cese of Hermonthis. Further, it is known that HOR· 511$100, one of the disciples of PACIlOMIUS OF TA, BF-NNts~ and a contemporary of Palliarch Theophil. us, visited Pi~ntius in Hennonthis.
sut.:t.:essor to his uncle. On the death of the bishop of Armant, the people OIgreed on a monk from the mountain of Jeme, but the p:llriardl refused this selet.:tion, The t.:hoice of the people then fell on Pisentius, and be was announced to the governor of Tad, who acquiesced. Tbis choice had then to be confinned by two bishops, one of them the patri· arch's vicar for the South, ShcnutC', bishop of Anti· noopolis. The ordination by the palrian::h could not take plpce if thCliic two bishops had not given Iheir agreement, Once he wa~ ordained with two bishops a~ wit· ne8.-.es, Saint I'JSF.NTIUS of Qif! and lhe bishop of Hiw, Pisentius returned to Armant from Alellandria. where the ceremony had taken place. The text mentions the occupation of Egypt by Ihe Persians (619629), which gives us an approximate date. Since the bisbop of IsnA was deceased, and the occupying power did not wish new ordinalions of bishops, thc patriart.:h asked Piscnlius 10 ensure the administra· tion of the bishopric of [sna, We know that this palliarch was ANDRONICUS (616-622), The text Slales that this tilling of lhe vacancy lasted for ~ven years. The notice ends witb the death of Pisemius. in his monastery of Ttld. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cmm, W. Eo, and H, E. Winlock. TI,e MOl/as/ery of Epiphauill$ at Thebes, 2 vols. Metropolitan Muse· urn of Arl, Egyptian Expedition Publicity 3 and 4. New York, 1926. RENe·GEORGES COOUIN
BmLIOC:::RAPHY
PlSENTIUS. SAINT. 5Cvenlh-cenlury bishop of
Gabra, Gawdal Abdel Sayyed. "Zu einem arabischen Bericht UbeT Pcsyntheus, einem I-Ieiligen aus Hermonthis im 4,~5, Jh," Bulletin d~ fa Socio!/~ d'archeologill coplc 25 (1983):53-60.
Qir! who was nOled as a preacher, letter writer, administr,ltor, and servant of the poor (feasl day; 13 AbIb). 1·le is among the most outstanding pel'Sonali· ties of lhe Coptic church,
GAWllAT GADRA
Sources
PISENTIUS, SAINT, seventh-ecntury monk and bishop of Annanl (fe:ut day: 20 Kiy:thk). Pisenlills was the nephew of the superior of the monaslery of "fud, probably the present DArK ANBA ABSHAv (Crum and Winlock, 1926). His birth was l11iraculously achieved through the prayers of his unde. The monks of "'fud taught hhn Holy ScriplUI'C', and hc de\'otC'd himself to tbe craft of COpyiSI and to the tradc of carpenter. His affability quickly made him popular, so mut.:b SO that tbc monks chose him as
Texu written aboul Pisentius dale from Ihc seventh to the eighteentb centuries. They include three sahidic Coptic tCJl;IS of Ihe seventh (Crum, 1926; Abdd Sayed, 1984), ninth (Till, 1934; Abdcl sayed, 1984), and elevcnth centuries (Budge, 1913: Abdd Saycd, 1984), Anothcr dOl:umenl in Bohairic is dat· cd in the tenth century (Amelineau, 1889). The old· est Arabic texl on Piscntius is included in the CoplO·Arabic SYNAXARION (Meinardus, 1963-1964). We also possess three Arabic versions of the lire of the saint. The shortC5t Arabic version is from Ihe
PISENTtUS. SAINT
fourteenlh century (Simaykah and 'Abtl al·Maliii:J, 1939-1942, Vol. 2: Abdel Sayed, 1984). Copies &-om the eighleenth century preserve a longer recension. which goes back to an earlier medicval tradition (e.g., MS History 26, fols. 94-36r, of the Coptic Patriarchate [Simaykah and 'Abd al.Ma.~il.l, 19391942, Vol. 2), and MS Arabic 4794, £015. 122v-163v [Graf, 1944]). The longest text on the life of Pisentius was copied f01" E. C. Amclineliu from an un· known source in Ihe National Ubl'Qt)', P:,r!s (amhc 4785, fols. 97r-215r; see O'Leary, 1930). The Arabic LHe of Pisentius has ils origin pal11y in Coptic texts (Abdel Sayed, 1984). Allhough the correspondence of Piscntius is Kat· tered in various museums, the majorilY of il is preserved in the louvre, Paris. E. Revillout published these Coptic lellers (1900, 19(2), bUI Ihey should be republished. The life and correspondence of pisen· tius are importanl for the Iighl they throw on the background and activities of a bishop of the Sill!h and seventh ecnluries (Crum, 1926; Abdcl Sayed, 1984).
Lire Pisentius was born in 569 in the district of Her· monthis (Armanl) 10 a prosperous family. At Ihe age of seven he entered DAYR APA PIlOllUMMQN. where he slayed for sixteen years. during which time he became well versed in various disciplines. Pisentius spent most of his monastic life at the Gebel al·~, north of Thebes on the weslern bank of the Nile, opposile the dislrict of CoptDS. He also was al the monastery of Epipllaniu... ill western Thebes (Luxor). When he was Ihirty years old, he was consecrated bishop of COplOS by SaiJll OAMIAN. patriarch of Alexandria. He died in July 632, after thirty-three years of episcopal activity. II is probable thaI Pisentius mel BENJAMIN I, a Itller p:Hriarch of Alexandria, when Ihe lalter fled from Alex:mdria 10 UppCI' Egypt (Abdel Sayed, 1984). We know rrum his Life thaI Pisentius lIlcmorized the Psalms, lhe Minor Prophets, and the Gospd according to John. Further, iI was his habit to med· itate on the books of Jeremiah and &.ekiel. Some lelllS speak of his "knowledge and wisdom:' It can also be deduced from accounlS about Pi~ntius thaI he knew the canons of the church. In Ihis connection. his correspondence shows that he had to deal with judicial affairs. All of the Coplic IOnd Arabic versions of his Life describe support and help 10 Ihe poor ali an impor· tanl part of the aClivities of Pisentius. As bishop, he also scnt letters to the communities of his diocese
1979
exhorting Ihem to repent. He inspected the churches of his diocese and fulfilled the desires of [he people during his tours of inspection-for ell:&mple, he blessed the cow of a peasant. Also in hb episcopal role, PisC-nlius observed the clergy celebrating the liturgy, and him~lf cclebrutcd the commemora· lion of SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH. Many sick people came to the bishop 10 be healed. He also had Ihe reputa· lion of being able to release people from demons. PisCnlius was obliged 10 deal with social problems, such as whelher to anow II young man 10 marry the girl who had become pregnant by him. A certain Locianus scnl a letter to the bishop asking him 10 scnd a nDlary 10 sign COnll'DCI$. A clergyman named Antonius referred to Ihe bishop in his leiter to a woman whom he had forbidden 10 receive communion. As an administrulor ami a man of good judgment, Pisenlius organized his clergymen effectively. Together wilh all Other Christian virtues and practic. es, he encournged solemn observance of rasling periods throughout his diocese. From time to time, Pisenlius conlinuc:d tu prac· tice the monaSlic way uf his order by retit;ng 10 a secret place, whel'e, as a recluse, he sought slrength and guidance from God. Al such times only his pupils knew his whereabouts. Pisentius was famous as a preacher (Abdel Sayed, 1984). An Encomium or Saint ONOPHRIUS (London, British Ubrury. MS Orienlal 6800) has been alisigned to him (Crum, 1916). Because a church ded· icated to Onophrius stood nOI far from Oil!, Pisen· !ius wrote this homily for the celebrution of his fealit. In it he urges the emulalion of the exemplary way or life of $ainl Onophrius as the protolype for evcry Christian. This homily is considered one of the bes;1 of its kind, not only in Coptic lellcrs bUI in the whole range of Christian literature. A papyrus £'ragmenl (London, Brilish Ubrary, MS Oriental 7561, no. 60) contains the beginning of a homily attributed to Pisenlius (Crum, 1926). A pseudepigraphic Arabic pastoral Jettet· also has been assigned to him (Graf, 1944; Abdel Sayed, 1984). In addition 10 hb literary efforts. Pisentius was a prolific lcltcr wriler. Much of his correspondence slill exists, although in fragments. In il he discusses the prnctical problems of his times. He relatcs diffi· culties encountered by the Egyptians during the Penian invasion of 619 to 629. He deals with the ageless problems of matrimony, inheritances, rapc, and dealh. The leiters also reveal Ihe concern of the believers ror their bishop. It is recorded thaI a certain Gennadius offered Ihe bishop a plant pur·
1980
PISENTIUS OF QIFf, PSEUDO-
rOl1ed \0 aid him in I,lvcn;oming hi~ difflculty wilh urination. Many pieces of evidence lcslify 10 the strength of Piscnliuli in popular memory (Crum, 1926; Alxlcl
tional-bibJiolhck in Wlen, n.s., Vol. 2, Vienna, 1934. C. DlrnD' G. MOLLER GAWDAT GADRA
Sayed. 1984). At one time mon:lslelies in the distncts of Hcnnonlhis. Jelllc, and Gebel al·Oa.'ia5 bore his name. In I:hljir Naq5dah mere is still a monas-
IeI)' of Anbi Bislnt:'i'uli. On a wooden cross from bctwl-cO the seve-nlh and nimh centuries, the name
PISENTIUS OF QIFT.
PSEUDO·. See
Pseudo-Pisentius of Oir!.
of Pisenliu.~ Is invoked din:c1ly afler Ihal of PachomiU5 :md Shcnllic. Lamps inscribed wilh the name
of Pisentius, probably dating 10 Ihe ninlh century. have been fuunu in Upper Egypt and al Faras in Nubia. In the HUla,., althe Palriarchs of Ale"flllldrio the name uf PU;..;:nlius is mentioned in the context
of lhe "Priesthood of Christ" (St..-ybold. 19(4). Moreover, the Synaxarion and lhe Difnar, which are used in the current liturgy of the Coptic chu~h, both commemoratc him. It is nu wunder that Pisentius came 10 be COnsidered a saint. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abdcl Say<.-d, G'lbm Gawdal. UnterslKhllngen UI den Tl.'xtl.'n IIbcf Pesylllhells, BiIKhol VOll Kop/o$ (569632). Bonn, 1984. AOitlinc:au, E. e. "Un ~veque de Kl'fl au VII" sie. de:' Mitllf)iru de I'JlIslillll d'Egypl<' 2 (1889):261424.
Budge, E. II. W, Coplie ApVl:ryphu ill Ihe IJiQ/ecl 01 Upper Egypt, london, 1913, ClIuwenbcrgh, r. van. "La Vic ella currespund.mee de Piscntios de Kefl." Ph.D. dl~s. Louvain, 1914. erum, W. E. "The Liteml)' Materia!." In H. E. Win· lock, TJw Monastcry 01 Epiplumius /.II Thebe_~, pl. \. New York, 1926. Melnardu~, O. "1\ Compar.ltive Study on the $ourc· es of lhe Synaxarium of the Coptk church." [JII!· leli'l de la Sod':I': (/'archcologic COplC 17 (19631964):317 -4117.
MUller. e. D. G. "Die koptische KirchI.' zwischen Chulkedon und Jelll Arabereinmarsch." Zeit· schrifl fllr KlrchclIgcl;chidl/e 75 (I '164):271-308. O'Lelll'Y, De 1.., ed, lind tr•.ms. The Arabic I..ife of S. Pll;tll1lill)', Al:cordi"g /0 Ihe Texl of Ihe Two MUI1I4' scripls PI/ris 8ib, Nal, Arab.. 4785 and Arabe 4794. PO 22.3, P'lris, 1930, RevilJout, E. "Tcxtcs l:Optcs cxtrails de la corresJ'lOndnnce de SI. Pl:sunthiUli, cv~qllc Jc Coptos." Revue ~gyfllologiqlle 9 (1900):133-77; 10 (1902):34-47. ScybolJ, C, F., cd. /lis/oria fla/riarc/lQrum Alexandri· II"mm, cseo 52, SCfiplort.~ Arabici, Vol. 8; 59.
Scrip/ores Arabici Vol. 9, TUI, W. KoptiJelte
Pergumellle.llte.ol~ischell /Jlltaf/$.
Mitteilungen aus del' Papymssannnlung del' Na-
PISURA, SAINT. manyr under Diodelian (fcasl day: 9 TOt). TIle leXI of his Passion is prcscnooo in Boh:r.iric (Vatican Library, Coptic 60, roL~. 1-85, cd. H)'\'i:mal, 18M-1887), which is mutilated at the beginning. The beginning, however, can be reconSiructed from the SUlllmal'Y found in the CoptO' Arabic SYNAXARION:. According to the Synaxarion, Pisura wali bishop of Ma!!II. Aboul to face martyrdum, he galhers hl~ people for :I fan:well discourse. The Coptic texl begins al this point. The people an: grieved al Ihe news, and bursl into tears. Pisul1a pronouneCl'i a 13:>1 prayer, gives a bleulng, and takes his leave. He joins three other bishup$, who go 10 Ihe regional capital to confess Iheir faith 10 Ihe lribun:ll of the governor Culcianus. An interesling altel'cation with Ihe govemor follows, involving some philosophical issues. bill the lext is from Ihe P'lssion of IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH. This is followed by Ihe CI1SlOmary scenes uf turture, .some miracles wurked in prison, and last, after a pmyer, Ihe beheading of Pisura and the other thre\) bishops. The texi is certainly " Illte compilation of Ihe period of the CYCl.f,S (sec HAGIOGRAPHY and liTERA· ,'UItP., COPTIC), but docs Mt really b
B:mllleiSler, T. MM/yr lllviellls. Der MI/rlynr als SimlbUd de.r Erlih"HfJ<: i'l der Lege'!de 'md irn Kull del' fr/ll!1~n koptisdum Kin'he, MUnster. 1972. Hyvefllal, H, I..es Acle.S de murlyrs de I'Egypte lires des "IQllIIscriIS copIes de hi fjibliOllr~q(je Valielllle el dll Musee Borgia. Paris, 1886-1887. Schwartz, J. "OuclquCl; aspeCIS du paganismc d'ap~s des texles coptes." Bul/elill tIe fa SOCiele d'Arc1leo{ogie COll/e 16 (1961-1962):271-83, TITO ORlANDI
PLOTINUS
PJOL. the brolher of Shcnutc'!I mother, a hemlit on Ihe mounta;,l of Alr'lb. When Shenulc was a young boy, his falher entrusled him 10 Pjol fOl' his education. We do not know at what age Pjol died, or when Apa Shenute !lueeeeded him, bUI it is ea...y to see lhat Shenute leamed much from him. Pjol is not known in the SYNAXARION (If the Copts in Ihe sense Ihal he has no special notkc. bUI he is named l1l the day of I.he feast of Pshoi (5 Amshtr). A Sllhidic pancgyric (perhaps) has been published by E. AMI'JJNUU (pp. 229-36). A eulogy of Pjul lh;!l WlIIi 10 be read on the day of his I'casl is Leipold!'s edition of lhe works of Shcnule (pp. ')6-98). He docs not seem 10 have a Life in Arabic. BIBLIOGRAPUY Amclineau, E. MOlllmllmlS pour sen'ir a I'llls/oire dt /'Egypte chretit,lIle. Mi!moires publiCs par les memb~ de la Missto" ArcheologiqlJ<' Fr..nl;aUlc du caire 4. Parill, 1888. Leipoldl, I., cd. Simu},U archinulIIdritat "ila el op· era onmia, Vol. 3. CSCO 42. Pam and Leipzig, 1908. RF.NE·GEORG',s COOUtN
PLATES AND DISHES. See Ccr..miCli. Coptic; Metalwork, Coptic.
PLATO'S REPUBLIC. The only piece of its kind in the NAG HAMMADI UDRARY. this shm1 excerpl from Plato's eOt'PUS (588-589B[CGVI,501) cncompasses bllrcly more than lhree pages of text (48.16SL23). The Coptic t,-anslation eJOihibits inaccuracies, which may be due pal11y to tendendes found among ilPQcry[)hnl works: imitalion and vulgarizing thaI frequently result in a IIterilry product infelior to the originol. The mutives suggeSled for this text's lranslation :lnd inclusion val)' :lnd remain beyond unqualified proof, However, its highly moralistic flavor. including concel'll fol' both righteousness ood its upposite, plus the effects gcncratd lherehy, could cer1ilinly appeal to Gnusth:s. Inlen;st in the "image[s] of the lion," presumably the baser human Illolives, finds j')U1'llllci in the Guspel uf TI,u/n' as, logion 7. BlBLIOCRAPHY Robinson, J. M., ed. The Nag Hall/Jlladi Libra'}' in English, pp. 290f. San Frandsco. 1977.
1981
Scholer, D. M. Nai: Urm,mtll!i Bibliugraphy 19481969. Nag Hammlldl StudiCll I. Lciden, 1971. Updated !InnUlllly thereafter in Novwll Tcs/omc"tllm. S. KF.NT BROWN
PLOTINUS (205-270), philosophcr and founder of Neoplatonism in Egypt. At the age of lwenty-
eight he beClimc a pupil of Ammonius Saccas in AICJl:andria. In 242-243 he was a member of lhe emperor Gordianus Ill's expedition to lhe EasL From 245 umH his final illness, he lauglll philosophy in Rome, where his circle of influence included intellectuals and men of affairs. His writings were essays that grew OUI of his classes or discu...... ion.~ and that were colle<:ted and arranged by his pupil Porphyry in six groups of nine. They were therefore called Ell/leads (from Greek ellllea, nine) and dealt, respectively, wllh the topi<:lI ethks and aesthdic;s, physics (lnd cosmology, psychology, m<:taph)'iic!i, logic, and epiStemology. Plotinus links his metaphysics with Plato's Par_ me"iJes, putting forth the con<:c:pts of a One that iii nothing but one and is beyond all language and logic, a One lhat is all things and to which no limit may be fixed, and a One that is also many. These three <:onceplS point 10 the hypostases of thc One. F101lS (mind), and !lout It is considered by many thaI lhis interprelallon of Plalo, while useful in un· del'lllanding Neoplatonism, cannot be an ;.ecurate ac<:ount of Plalo's meaning. Plato wa... concerned with selling out logical distinctiorl!l and puzzles Ihat arc auached to Ihe <:on<:ept of unity. He was not describing metaphysiCltl enlilies. The problems of the ultimate One nnd man's way to il nre elucidaled in eJOitended discourse. How can th<: One produce what it does nOI contain? How can the One bc described positively? It has no common lel'lll with anything beyond itself (Enneads, 5.5.13). It Cllll have no limiting condition (5.5.6 and 6.8.11). This means that it cannot be part of a hier· arehy or a series. Yet lhe One II1U5t produce plur"lity because plurality is inferior 10 it (5.3.15). The One is all things in a transccnd,mllll mode, (lnd analogies can Ihere· fore be drawn. '111e Ont is "all things lind none of them" (5.2.1 and 6.7.32). It is the power of all thing... (3.11.1 0, 5.1.7, 5.3.15). The account of IWIIS is morc slr.lightforward than lhat of the One. Plollnus. like the middle pl(llonisls, distinguished between dis<:ursivc lhought, which he placed within the soul, and intuitive lhought, which he pla<:ed wilhin the mind. DL~cun;ive thought is
1982
PLOTINUS
what moves from premise to conclusion or fTom one object to another; intuitive thought sees all things at once and is the special prerogative of nous, which shares the shnultaneousnl'SS that is in the One (1.8.2). While soul moves (5.1.4) and di· vides the life of Nous, Nous itself is a unity lhal embraces all. Soul cannot achieve unity, but PIOUS ~ unily of subject and object (3.11.8, 5.3.2). Soul deals with images and words (4.3.30), while nous deals wilh form.~. These may be dl~linguished but ncver separated (5.9.6; 3.9.2). Now; is alive and contains individuals, intelligences, nod forms withIn its unily. Plotinus identified "ous wilh the perfect living creature of Plal.O's Timaeus JOC (5.9.9, 6.2.21, 6.6.1, 6.1.8). The forms are Ihemselves living, conscious, intelligences (5.1.4. 5.9.8, 6.1.9). The intelligible world is "brimming over with its own vitality" (5.5.12). In the mind, subject and object are not separute, but Ihe eontenlS of vision al'e slill plural. and therefore nous may be separate fl'Olll the One (5.3.13). The One may have a self.apprehension, an awakening, or' a superior kind of thoughl (6.7.38), but it remains a pure concept prior 10 Ihe emer· gence of subject and objeci (6.1.37, 6.9.6). For Plotinu:>, a mystic experience of nous is possible, jusl as such an ellperience is possible .....ith the One (5.8.10, 6.7.15). There is a way to the One through "ouS (6.9.3) and the highesl level of flOUS is united to the One (6.7.35). This is described as "nous in love" or ""0145 drunk wllh nectar" (6.1.35). The soul ami "0145 are easily joined, since every soul contains the inlelligible world, Spiritual entl· lies are not cut off from one anal her'. Just as the highest level of soul remains in union with nous, so the highest level of "ous remains in contact with the One (6.7.35). For Plotlnus, the uni9n of the in(lividual soul with the One is the final goal of man. By turning from the world of senSe, man comes 10 know himself and the One that is his source (6.9.1). This is, in the fmal exhortation of Plotinus, lhe flight of lhe alone to the alone through the stripping away of all things-that is, removing the multiplicity that is foreign to the One (6.9.8). The soul moves through the nous and beyond the fonos. The division of subject and objeet is removed, and the soul reaches that high level of nOl4S that is nOI distinguishable from the One. Here Ihe $oul waits calmly until the One appears (5.5.7, 6.1.34, 6.1.36). Conlacl with the One is made through the center of' man's soul (2.2.2, 5.1.11). TIle One is the transcendent source of man's innermost self, and to this transcendent source man is joined from within. This experience
takes man beyond knowing, because knowing in· volves plurality (6.9.3f). Although il is a union of the alone with the alone, it is also a joining in a chorus at the end of man's journey (6.9). While in Ihe Cappadocian fathers there are Plotinian echoes, there is no inl1uence on Iheir presentation of the trinitarian trudition Ihat stemmed from Nicaca. The Crull mlhers Justin, Athenagoras, and Clement of A1ell8ndria were already influenced by Platonic lhought before the lime of Plolinus. The influence of Neoplatonism on Augusline is openly acknowledged in hi~ Confessiotu. Two concepts were crucial to his rejection of materialism and dualism. The nOlion of spiritual being freed Augus· tine from the material deity of Manichaeism. The private theory of evil removed any ground for doal· ism, since evil was merely the absencc of good. Four factors have strengthened the affinity of plotinus with Christian thought. First. he may be seen as a monist, bringing the three hypostases togelher, so th:!t all are one ultimale first principle. Later Platonism, as in I:!mbliehus, developed mote elabo· rate hierarchies on the false "round~ th:!l many rungs on a ladder make the summit more transcendent and more accessible. second, Plotinus al' tacked lhe GnostiC$ vigorously for their denigration of the material world (2.9). Third, Plotima gave less place to magic than did many of his successors, and insisted on the imponance of reason and argument; he has been respected as a thinker who Jived in a world where many had forgotten how to think. Founh, the mysticl~m of Plotinus is finally directed to lhe One, not to the self, and is theistic. The unity of Ihe soul with the One is more like the unity of lovcn lhan the fulfillment of a self. Because of Plotinus and his fol1owen, monism, TC$peet for cre· ation, rationality, and union with God have become elernents of the Christian intcllt.'Clual herilage. BIBLIOGRAPHY Arm.~lrong,
A. 1-1. The ArchiltCWre of {he U"iv~rse itl Ihe Philosophy of Plotinu$. Carnbridge, 1940. -::-7 The Cambridge History of La/in, Greek, and Early Medieval Philosophy, pp. 195-271. Cambridge, 1967. Arnou, R. Le Duir de Dieu dIms la philosophie de Pia/in. Paris, 1921. Brthier, E. La Philosophic de Plotin. Pari$, 1961. Hadot, P. Notin. Paris, 1963. Inge, W. R. The Philosophy 01 Plo/illus, 2 vols, London, 1939, Rist, J. M. Ploti'llu: The Road /0 Reality. Cambridge, 1961. EJuc FRANCIS OsBORN
POEMEN, SAINT
POCOCKE, RICHARD (1704-1765). English clergyman and traveler. He wa.~ born in Southampton and studied at Corpus Christi College. Oxford. He visited Egypt in 1737-1738. ascendil1g the Nile a.s far as Philae. Later he publishcd an account of his eastern travels, A DtJCription of thr. EllSl and Some Other Countries (2 vols., London, 1743_ 1745). This is a most imponant work as it gives detailed and comprehensive descriptions of many sites and places as they existed long before the later visitors made lheir full recordings of the monu· ments both Egyptian and Coptic, A manuscript journal of these: travels still e:dsts (British Museum Ad· ditions MSS 22995, 22997-8). Pococke was a member of the fiT'!it Egyptian Soci· ety and iL~ secretary from 1742 to 1743. He died in Ireland and was buried in Christ Church, Oxford. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Greener, L The Discavery af EllYPI. l..onlion, 1966. Hllmy, I. The [iuraturl: of /::I:YPI and Ihe Soudan: A Bibliography. 2 vols. London. 1886-1887. Honigmann. E. Trois me.maires paslJmmes de J'lIistoirt el dt III giagraphit dt /'OrieJlt chrelitn, No.3, "Lc Thrunos Alexandrinos." Brossels, 1961. M. L UtERBRlEJt
1983
Pior, and rAMBO. The other, who I;:ame to SCETIS 10 become a monk there with his sl_ broth· eB In the last quarter of the fourth century. became mUl;:h more famous. Thus all the texts mentioning Poemen would have been attributed to him. Enticing though this hypothesis of IWO Pocmcns may be, it docs raise problems. $Q that it is prefera· ble to maintain thaI we lind one and the same Poemen everywhere in the collections of apothegms. SOme data that seem irreconcilable are not alwaY$' those with the best verification. and the diffi· culties they offer may be explained by the hw.ards of le_tual lransmission. Certainly if Poemen was still alive when ARSEN1US died, shortly before 450 (Arscnius 41; PC 65, col. 105), it would have been har'd for him to have conversed with Saint Antony (d. after 356); however, the apolhegm in which the hiller is reputed to have spoken to Poemen (Antony 4; PC 65, col. 76) can very well be underslood as being a saying passed on indirectly, IIceording to anofher version of the same apothegm (Poemen 125, PC 65, col. 354). It may also be "otet! Ihat generally in the apothegms, homonyms are dislin· guished by a surname. especially in the case of such very well·known fathers as Macarius and Paphnutius. But we never find a qualifier Ilttached to the name of Poemcn. AMMONAS,
LIre or Poemeo
POElttEN, SAINT, or Pamln or DlmIn, an andIorite of the founh and fifth centuries who was noted for his spiritual counsel to other monks (fe;ast day: 4 Nasi).
The Sources Ara Poemen occupies by far the mOSl imponant place in the APONITlIECMATA PATRUM. since roughly three hundred items rcpon his words or mentiun him. II seems that the first collections of (\pothegms were compiled by hi.~ disciples. l'oeml,n himself must have played a great part in pa~sing on many apolhegms, to judge from the frequency of lhe formula "Abba Poemcn said that Abba so'flnd-so had said...." In the collections as a whole appear some fifty names of fathers whom he knew dirccdy or indirectly. It is not easy to reconcile all the data in these documents, especially in lerms of chronology. For lhis reason D. J. Chitty, follOWing Tillelllonl. propo5Cd to distinguish at leasl two men named Poe· men. One, the elder. whom Rufinus met in 370 at Pispir, had contacts with Saints ANTONY OF EGYPT.
The date and place or Pucmen's birth are not known, but there is some knowledge or his family: his mother (Poemen 76, PC 65, cols. 339-42), his sister and his nephew (Poemen 5, PC 65, col. 319). and especially his six brothers. who came to Scetis to become mon" along with him. The eldest was called ANUB; the youngest, Pesius. On the occa~ion of the first destruction of Scetis by the Ma:,dces in 407, the seven brothers withdrew to Terenouthis (Anub I, PC 65, col. 130). Apparently at that lime Anub was still leader of the group; thus Poemen acquirtd hIs r'eputation only subsequently. At Seeds he proved himself an exemplary disciple of the "grand old men" and was zealous in revealing hill thoughts to them and receiving their advice. It is hard to know which of the fathers contributed most to hill training. Among them were Isidoros (Poemen 44, PC 65, col. 331: Isidore 5-6, PG 65, cols. 21922), Pambo (Poemen ISO, PC 65, col. 359), Joseph of Penepho (Joseph 2-3. PG 65, cols. 227-30), Moses (Moses 12-18. PC 65. cols. 286-90). AMMON (Col/tctlo >tlonastica 14,39; CSCO 238, p. 119), and Saint MACARIUS (Collt'ctio >tlonastica 13, 72: CSCO
1984
POEMEN. SAINT
238. p. 101). The Coptic collcction of lh~ Vinue.s of 5aillt Macon'Wi q~es several answers given by Mao.:llrius 10 questions :lSkcd by foemen. One of them 5uggesLs thaI the Jailer did nOI enjoy an unehallcngl.-d aUlhorliy: "My F:uhcr, how is it lhal you want me 10 be wilh the brothers. for I speak in vain to lhcm and they do not listen?" (AIII<:lim::au. 1894, p. (27). Poemen Jocs nul appeal' to have returned lu Seclis ufter his tlight to Tcrcnouthis. An arolhegm reo cOl'd~ thai he P(ISSCU tl'rough the region of OIOUWS
in the company of Anuh (Poemen 72. I'G 65, col. 339). The Copll)oArabic SYNAXARION mentions him
and gives the names of his six brothers, but in this list we find neither Anub nor Pesius. though lht:y are well known rrom the apothegms.
The Spiritual Ma5ler We know Iiule of Poemen's person,,1 behavior
and spiritual life. for "the old man's practice W3.~ 10 do everything in sccrel" (Poemen 138, PC 65. cut. 355). When he was young, he somelimes spent three or four duys, and even nn entire week, with· oul eming, but later hl' thought it prefer;,ble to take a lillie food each dlly (Poemen 31, PC 65, col. 330). This is almost the only confidence Ihe saint reo vealI'd n>garding his iluSlerilies. One other gives in· sight into his mystical life: One day he was carried in the sphit to Calvary, beside Mal)' al the fOOl of the cross (Poemen 144, PC 65, col. 358). As for miracles perfonncd by Poemen. the aJX'lhegms rc· count only one-the cure of a child whose face was lumed backward (Poemen 7, PG 65, col. 322). Thus neither :L5';ctic achievements nor visionll nor prudigies gave I'oemen his reputation; roth"r, was the extraordinary gifls he had received 1T0m God so Ihal he could be the guide and "JXlSIOr" of his brOlher.;, as Ihe meaning of hill name implies (Poemen I, PC 65, col. 318). or the several hundt'ed apothegms altributed 10 Poemen, ncady all reveal him excrcisitog Ihis role of coun!lelnr and spiritultl falhet·. The advice he givcs assu....,dly rclJecl$ his own experience, for he was nOI in the habit of supposing thnt a ma.~ter should teach wllat he did not him:o;clf practice (Poemen 25). Thos Poemen's teachings lIIake it pos· sible for us to discover ceT1ain salienl fealures of his spiritual countenance. Three trilogies lisl points of special impoT1ance. For Poemen the three prime concerns ;Ire "to fetlr the Lord, to pray, and to do good 10 one'l neighbor" (Poemen 160, PC 65, col. 362). "W"tchfulness,
allention to oneself, and discernment are the soul's guides" (poemen 35, PC 65, col. 331). 'To fling om:sclf before God, not to esteem oneself highly, and 10 set aside one's own will are the tools of the soul" (Poemen 36, PG 65, col. 331). From his predect'SSOD Poemen had leal7led how to recognize and dismiss evil thoughts. In his tu!'n, he laught his disciples lhal spiritual strategy in which prayer lind the Eucharist occupy an essenlial place (Poemen 146, PC 65, col. 358; Pocmen 30, PC 65, col. 330). The compunction of "llloul7ling" (pell/hu5) and the shedding of teaD arc also l'1'<:ommended (Poemen 26, PG 65. col. 327; 39, 331; SO, 334; 122, 354) as "the traditional way taught by Scripture and the FalheD" (Poemen 119, PC 65. col. 354). The concept of "being dead to one's neighbor" doubtless comes from Ammonas (Poemen 2, PC 65, col. 313), Moses (Moses 12, 14-18), and Anub (Anub 1). In no way is this indif. ference toward other.;; r.lther, it is the condition for not judging one's brothers and for exercising chari· Iy (cllr;/u5) toward all (Colfee/io mOl/us/i,'1l 13, 45, 48-49; CSCO 238, Pl'. 95-96). Poemen himlclf thus somelimes played "dead" (d. Pocmen 3, PC 65, col. 313) at the risk of shocking othen. But custom' arily he showcd himself to be kindly, gentle, and extremely gmcious. Numcrous apothegml can be ciled to lhis effecl, for example, "As for me, when I see a brotheT dozing during the Office, I put his head on my knees and let him take his rest" (Poe· men 92, PG 65). Always tending to accuse himself and to take upon himself lhe shortcomings of olhers, Poemen showcd himself to be indulgent and merciful toward sinners. 1·11' never I"t'proached his neighbor who liW!d with a concubinc, and when the woman gave biT1h to a child, he had .. jug of wine scnt to her. Al once the neighbor repelued and became a disciple of the old man, who "lit up for him the palh that lead~ 10 God" (Pllul Evergetinns. Vol. 3, chap. 2, B, no. 22, p. 46). BIBLIOGRA.PHY Am~lineau,
E., cd...nd tmns. "Vertus de Saint MaCllire." In l/islO;re d~ mO/las/ens dt la oosst' Egyple. Annales du Mu~ Guimct 25. Paris, 1894. Apophlht'gmala Pa/rlllll, ed. J. B. Cott'licr. PC 65,
cols. 317-368, Paris, 1864. ArTaS, V., cd. Collectio m()ntJstu-tJ. CSCO 238, Scriptores Aelhiopic 45; tl1lns. Vol. 46. B;use-Egypte. Chilly, D. J. The D~ert tJ Cily. Oxford, 1966. Paul Evergctinos. Sl.lllilgoge, Vol. 3. Athens, 1964. LUCJEN REoNAULT
POETRY
POETRY, Cop,ic poetry is essen'ially religious poell)'. lis sellinI' is the lire of the Coplic church. Poelry enriches Coplic li,urgy and pla)'l' a part at religious festivals, edifying, teaching, and exhoning the people. The poetry preserved for us in the man· USl:ripts of the ninth and tenth centurib has been studied with great thoroughness. Ils fornl has been analYled find its content examined. The results are !\Ummari7.ed in this article. Cc>ptic poetry knows no rhyme: the only exception to this n.lle will be discussed below. Il" arrangement is strictly speaking not ml'trical but rhythmical. Each line of poetry has a certain number of accented syllables. Only the nun,ber of ac· cented syllables is fixed, while the number of unac· cented syllables \'aril'S. There arc geOl:rally four lines to a strophe, but theN: are also slrophcs of three and five 11116. A strophe is otten followed by an antistrophe that balances form and content, thus compleling a stan7.a. For instance, a symhool may be cxpressed in the strophe, while the amistrophc provides the il\terpreuuion. Similarly, a gent"ral proposition may be followed by a specific reference. Compari!OOn!'i, contrasts, and quesliomi and answen; may ~ ~t out in this way. Coptic poetry Wll-'i nOI spoken but !'iung or chant· cd. Thus any unevenness of rhythm due to the vary' ing number of unaccemed syllables within the lines of a strophe <:ould r<:adily be a<:<:ommooated. No actual It.l!les have come down to us, but in anum' ber of cast'S the melody to which a poem was 10 be sung is indieated by lhe Initial words of the tune quoted at the heginning of the poem. About fifty SUdl lunes lire quoted in the surviving t;orpus of Coptic poetl)', and in a few cases the model that gave the lune Its name has also been preserved. Some of the poems composed in the tenth centul)' are selllldnul1(lli<; t;ompositions. nol unlike ornloriO!'i In Chul'actel'. The Ilarrative paz'l of the _~tOl)' may have been t:lkt;n (IS rt;dwtlvc, dirt;ct speerh by solo· ists, and il refrain by the people. Sometimes such a composition was pl'eceded hy an Introduction. But the pll1"\.S were nOl Olways allotted In lhe same way, and, as far as can be !'ieen from the surviving t·xam· pies, lhe!'!! was much freedom in the general ar· rangement of such work.~. Although the eonten, of the material surveyed here is unlfomlly religious, there is mUl:h variety. UibllcllI themes, both from the Old anll the New Testament, abound. Often :a blbliCilI stOI)' iI( pal":l' phrnsed in poetic form: sometimes it is c1aboratt.'d and glO!'i.'iCd. But it is not only lhe slOlies about
1985
f:amous biblical characters that altmctcd the poels' allent;Oll; they also pal'llphrased sayings frOlll the Psalter and panicularly from the Wisdom Litera· ture, a IItel'lll)' genre that had already attained I)OP' ularity in ancient Egypt. There is also a poem that has for its subject mailer verses from the Song of Songs with a Chri!'itlan interpretation. Similarly, many themcs are laken from the New Tcstament, for instance, John the Baptist, the wedding fea."t in Cana of Galilee, and the arehimgc1 Gabrid's message to the Virgin MOl),. There are poems on the passion of JCSU5 Christ and Easter hymns.. In addi· lion to poems on biblical characten;, there are also poems on Ihe saints and manyn; of the early church, including ATtiANASIUS and SHENUT:E. The scmidramatic compositions havc for their subjl..'<:ts King Solomon, the two workmen Theodosius and DtONYStUS. who end up in the pusitiuns of emperor and archbishop, respectively, and ARCHElUDES and his mother. This last piece is perhaps panicularly impres.~ive and dramatically effective. Arehellides was scnt by his mothcr to study abroad, but instead he entered the mona."tery of Apa Romanos without telling his mother. She heard of his whereabou\.S and went to visit him. He refused to see her in spite of all her entrcatieli. fur he hOld vowed never agtlin to look at a woman's fuce. In the end, he died mther th;lIl see his gricf·strkk<:n mother, who then mourned his dellth. The way in which the drama unfolds raises the question whether it ....'as ac<:om· panied by some mimic action, for it contains only the !'ipceehes of the main characlcl"S. Altcrnatively. it must be "ssumcd thnt the plot of 'he drama wos !OO well known that the tl!'itener~ were ahle to fill in the g:lps. A Coptic prose vel1iiun of lhe story of Archellides is also preserved. All lhe malerial discussed so far is writtcn In the Sahidk dialect, hut with many grammatleal irregularilics, simlllLr 10 thOse found In nonlilcl'aIY lexts. It I.~, of coursc, impos.~lhlc to !'iay whether these irregularilies were present in the original poclic wod.;s, 01' whether lhey were intl'Oduced by later generations of scribes. There is no doubl lhat Uy7.llntine hymnography had some innuence on Coptic poetry. This is shown by lhe rcferen<:cs In some headings 10 the modes of the Okloecho.~ of Saint John of Dama!ICUS, an eight· week <:ycle of hymns performcd in eight diffcrent mode!'i. But although Greek models ~re. no doubt. litudied. Byamtinc hymnogr,lphy was only the foun· dation on which the Coptic poets built: they created their o.....n poetry, whkh diffcred substantially in fonn
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POLITICAL PARTIES
llnd treatment of content from B}"l.antine hymnody. Some hitherto unpublished material of considerable impor1ance f(lf the subject of Coptic poetry is containl,." of twenty· four strophes; Ihey are acrostic" each Mmphe be· ginning with the WCCC$5ivc twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet. In onC' case the lellers are ar· ranged in reverse order. The language of these hymns is 5:lhidic with some Fayyumic admixture. It should be noted that the later Bohairic Pnl1i, or hymns, wen: composed in the same way. They. too, are alphabetic acr'Ol'ltic~. The majority are ba'led on the twenty·four lcUeni or the Greek alphabet. the minority on the thltty-one (or in the ease when the symbol ror the numerol six is included, on the thirty·two) letters or the Coptic alphabet. II has been conjc:elured with some cogency Ihat the earlier Sa· hidic hymns have p~rved the original fonn on whieh the Bohairic P5ll/i arc modded. M 575 contains the earlie~ Sahidic antiphonary. It includes hymns on Christ, the Virgin Mary. martyI"li. saints. and famous llionks. Some of the material has paral· lels in the later Bohairie Difnar (a1/tiphonarium) and in the 60hairic Theo/okiu. The later Bohairic collections of hymns, already mentioned incidentally, may be briefly enumernted. The Dilnar contains hymns on the saints and is desIgned for liturgIcal use. There are two hymns for each day or the ecclesiastical year, sO/lletimes in honor of one and the same saint, sometimes in honor of two dilTcrent saints commemor;:.ted on the same day. Only twO melndy types, known a.~ Adam and Balas, arc used, for which the model is the text of the The%kia for the second and the fifth days, respectively. The Tlreowkia contains hymns and paruphrases in honor of the Virgin Mill)'. They arc arranged for the seven days of the week and were mostly used in the month Kiyahk, that is, in the season of Advellt and Christmas. Again the two tunes mentioned above were used. There is also a collection of dally hymns in Bohalric, the so-called Psali, and there arc other liturgical books containing poetic material. Finally. mention must be made of a poem wrillen In $ahldic In 1322, the so-called Triadon. It is a highly artificial product and WlL'Ii composcd at a
time when Amblc had become the language of the people and Coptic had fallen into disuse. There were originally 732 nUlnbered strophes, each of four lines, of which 428 have survived. The poem's name is descriptive of ilS structure. liere. ahnost cenainly under Arabie influence, we encounter for the finot time the consistent usc of rhyme. The finot three lines end In the same rhyme, while the final line ends invariably in -on, -Qt!, or -at!. In ordcr to achieve this unnatural unifonnity, the poet did not shrink from distoning lhe endings of words. The lines have sometimes three, four, or five accented syllabln. The Coptic text is accompanied by an Arabic lranslation. It is clearly the poe!'s intention 10 ellaI! the Coptic language and the Coptic heritage. Biblical characters, saints, manyrs, and ascetics are lauded, orthodoxy is recommended, and ffiOr.t1 cx· hortations are ofTered. The Triado71 is often consid· ered to be the swansong of Coptic poelry. (See abo: Music. Coptic.] BIBUOGRAPHY
CramJ.:r. M. Kop/ische Hymllologie in delltschu Obersetvltlg. Wiesbaden, 1969. JunkJ.:r, H. Koplische Poesie des 10. Jahrhunderls, Vol. I, Berlin, 1908; Vol. 2, 1911, repro Hilde:;heim, 1977. ___ "Alte koptische Poesie:' Bulle/in de I'Associ· alhm des amis de tart cop/e 2 (1936):25-37. Krause, M. "Koptlsche Llterotur." Luikoll der Agyplologie 3 (1979):717. Lelpoldt, J. Geschich/e der koptischen LiteralUr. pp. 162-70, and pp. 174-77. Geschichte del' christlichcn Uttcnltul'Cn des Orients. Leipzig, 1907. Lemm, O. von. Das Triadoll, eilr salridisclres Cediclr/ mit urabischer Oberst/wng. SI. PetJ.:I'liburg, 1903. Nagel, P. Dils Trilldon. Ein sahidisches Lelrrgediclrl des 14. JlllzrJumderts. Halle, 1983. O'Leary, De L The Coplic Thea/okla. London, 1923. ____ . Tlrl;! Difm,lr (All/iphmwrlu"l) of Ihe Coptic Clrurch. London, 1926-30. _ _ . "The Coptic TheolOkla." Coptic Sllidi/ls ill HOllar of Waller EWi'lg Crum, pp. 417-20. Bos· ton, 1950. Ouccke, 1-1. U'I/ersucluinge" ~lIm koplischell Slim· dl'l7lgebe{. Publications de l'lnstitut orientaliste 3. Louvaln, 1970. K. Ii. KUtlN
POLITICAL PARTIES_ (This e,rtry is a brief chronological survey of Ihe Egyplian political par· lies, wilh the view of assessing Ihe extenl 01 Coplic parlicipalio" in them, ra/her than giving a detailed
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POLITICAL PARTIES: Nationalist Party
/JIlI/lys;s of Ille e.,olltl;oll and dellelopmell/ 0/ parUa. memary lile i" modeMf Eiypl.]
Republican Party The Republican pat'y was founded in 1907 by ;I group of intellectuals influenced by French culture, as was apparent from their adopting the slogan of the French Revolution, "Libene. Fralernite. Egali. "~." ::md in sharinl with the French community their cdcbnuionl' of 14 July. They belie\·ed that Ihe progress of Ihe nalion must undergo three stages. The fin! st3ge wa.~ the development of 'Ioe constitution. Full independence Wil5 the second stage, although republicans differed over the nalure of independence, which they defined as freedom from dominatio'l whether British or OUoman. The third slage was for the nationalist movement I" reach full maturity and declare a republic. which to the party members was the ~upreme demand and the d(:arcsl of nalional aspirations. The republicans openly opposed Ihe rule of the Mu~ammnd 'All dynasty. They never h<.--sil.:lled 10 make violent :uucb against it at a time when all other parties look care to keep their difference.'; with the khedive under conlrol. The Republican party had no clearly delined plan. Only four or five of its members l:amc 10 be known, and those were unable 10 organize the struclure it required. In any case, thc situalion was natural for a party with such progressive views, which could nmterialize only half a centu!)' later under different ci.'Cumstances. BIBL.lOGRAPHY
YJ1m'l.n Lablb Ri7.q. al.AI.lljlb rat 1952. Cairo, 1977.
al-Mi~riYY(jh
(Jobl Thaw-
YONAN uBla RIZQ
NaHan's Party (1:Ilzb AI-Ummah) On 20 September 1907 H~n 'Abd al-RAziq Pasha annuunced lhe cswblishmcnt of the al,Vl/lltlah party. MarymJ1d SulaYIlll'in Pasha was elected president; J;lllsun Abd al.RJ.z:iq Pasha and 'Ali Sha'raw'l Pasha vice'presidents, and Arymad t..u!fi al-5ayyid penna' nent s<.-'Crclary, The appearance of Ihe QI·Ummah party was coupled wilh the emergence of a moderultl trend in Egyplian politics. The k'8del'5 felt that indepen.
1987
dence should have priority over the development of a constitution. A./.JQrlaah, edited by Al;lmad t..u!1l a!·Sayyid, w,,"s the organ of the pany. II played an important role in educating Egyptian public opinion by publishing lranslations of major European works such as pans of Herben Spencer's book on education, and several articles on socialism and olher ideologies that were spreading all over the world at (hal time. It also dealt with social issues sueh as Ihe emaneipa~ tion of women. Copts responded to the af·Ummah party more Ihan 10 any of the olhe~ CJtcepl Ihe Egyplian party. Without doubt (his response was due 10 the purely Egyptian character of the rd·Ummah pany as 0pposed to the Islamic trend of some of the other panies.. BIBUOCRAPIIY
Al;lmad lakariyyi al-Shiliq. Ifitb af·Ummah WQ·DQw· ruhu If Ql.Siyllsah al.Mqriyyah. Cairo, 1979. Alexandcr, J. Th~ Truth about Etypt. London, 1911. Hl;lSllyn FawzI IlI,Na.ij:'l.r. A~mQd (.ulfi a/·Sayyia, USllldh a/.JIl. Cairo, 1956. Uoyd, George. Egypt SiPice Cromer, Vol. I. London, 1933. Yum\n U\blb Rizq. A/·lfaylJl a{'/fiwiYYQh // Mi~r /1 'A.ha Q/./~tillJ.l a/-Br/iani. Cairo, 1970. YON"'" ......818 Rlzo
Nationalist Party (1:Ilzb a).Watani) The Nationalist p
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POLITICAL PARTIES: Reform Party on Constitutional Principles
selves as Arabs. His altitude lowilrd the Christians was one of soliiliuity lind equality mIke... than mere tolel'llnce. Allhaugh he tried to lind new Conns of Mlliwnty wilh the Copts, MUlHaf.. K•• mil did not gain the support of the Copts. Only a few of them joined the Natlonalist pany. one of them being WISSA WAssrnr. Wissa Wasser was the lirst Corl to be convinced thai il is po:o;..c;ible to join a nationalist movemenl. bast.'t! on an Islamic I:ultund id~·ntily. though being a COpl. As member of the administrative <:ommille<' of the Nationalist pany he strongly opposed the Coptic political atlilUde. thai of r~iSlance against the nadanaHsl movement, whit'h led a Cop" tic paper to call him "Judas IscariOI." Arter MU~!ar4 K:\mjJ's detllh in 1908 the Nationalist party look the direclion of Pan·lslamism and Pan-Otlomanism, and lhis increa.o;ed the gap between Mu.~lim.~ and Copts. A joumalistic: war ~Iwun the Chrisrian and Mus· Jim pl"l:UC5 blew up, and the relations between CoplS and Muslims were at lheir \....Or"$l for many centurieli. This led the Copts 10 hold the COPTIC co~· GRI!SS Of' ASVfTt' in 1911. followed by the EGYl'"nAl'l CONFERENCE Of HELlOPOUS in May of the .same year. The Nationalist party refused to support the Egyptian Congress. as it had refuted the Coptic Congress bdore, with the argument Ihal lhis connict could only help British intc~ts. It was only with the evolution of Egyptian libcrnl nationalism under lhe leadership or AI.llllad Lu!fi al.Sayyid lhal Coptic nationalism IItartl·d to crystallize. By lhe lime the Wuld party arose ill 1919, tile Copl~ were fully Inlegrated inlO lhe Egyptian na· liom.1 movement.
formal ion of lhe Par,y of Reform according 10 Can' slitulional Principles. under tile leadership of $haykh 'All YiiSuf, I.he propl'ielor and edilor in chid of the paper. II is possible to undel"$tand the cin:umstances that led to the foundation of this party and inspired its aims by folluwing t.he political eareel' of Ihe roler of Egypt at that time. Khcdh'e 'Abba:s l;Iilmi Il presided over lhe secret society founded in 1894 from which the Ntllionalist party emanaled. He had also patronized Mu~!ara KArnil and the group of nationalists that gathered around him. The khedive imagined he could Ihus aereue 50me 5011 of mandale over the party. However, relations between the khedive and Mu.~af1 K!mil grew weaker during 1907 when thc pages of ~1·M./~yyo.d were full of charges against Mu~!af.t Kamil, accusing him of r.tShncss and conceit. In lhe light of these eventS, 'All YUsuf formed the Reform party. The party laid down seven principles, forem~ of which was to uphold the authorilY of the khedive, which revealed tbe policy of the party. The Copts abstllim:d from joining il because of iu. Islamic orientation. The party's Islamic bent became apparent when It placed news of the Isltlnlic world and the Ottoman Slale in the newspaper section reserved for local events. There is no doubt that the Islamic current was one reason why the Coptli abslained from joining the party of 'All Yilsuf. There is no evidence of their playing any role worth consider· ing as members of the party, or of laking part in any of its aClivities. HlOLlOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
'AI.xI nl.Rnl.lmAn nl·R1I.fi'i. M111.l(lllllllad Parld Ralll;' f11.lkhl()~' II'lJ-III.TII4-1.n'yllh, 21ld ed. Cairo, 1948. HOllr:.lni. Albert. Arabic Thuughl ;n Ih(' Libem! A.I:{1 /798-1939. Oxfunt, London, lind NelV York 1962. Ibr1hTm 'Abduh. Ta!awlliur al'$a~iilah al.M;~riyyah 1798-1951, 2nd ed. Cairo, 1951. Sleppa!. Fri1;o:. "Nfllionalisrnus und Isla,n bei MuSla· fa Kamil." Die We/I de~ Islam 4 (1956).
Ma~mlld
Mitwalli. Mi~r wa.a/'f!ayilt a/'lfizhiyyah wa·a!.Niyllbiyyah Qah! Sa"a/ 1952. Cairo, 1980, YOndn Ulhlb Ri1.q. a!.A~;.ub u/.Mi.Jriyyah Qabl Thaw. rul 1952. Cairo, 1977. YONAN LAlllu RI"I:O
Egyptian Party (Al.J:llzb Al.Mi!?rl).
DoRIS BEHRENS.ABOUSEIF
Reform Party on Constitutional Principles (J:llzb AI-Jl!IAJ:t 'Ala AI-Mabadi' AJ.Dustruriyyah) On 9 De<:ember 1901 al-Mu'ayyatl. a leading newspaper in Qliro at that time, announced Ihe
On 2 Scplember 1908 Akhmlkh Fanus issued a program for fOUllding what he called the Egyptian pany. The party was to be primarily an e:'tprcssion of the Coplic OUllook. The COptS felt unea.~y a.~ a result of the sharp Islamic tendencies of Ihe N:diomalist party, particulllrly after the dealh of MU-'!-!3la ~mil, when 'Abd al-AzIz JawIsh otTended the Copts by describing lhclll as possessing "black skin." The CopL~ were disappoinled thai the a/·Umlllait party.
POLITICAL PARTIES: Wafd Pal1y
aner it hau shuwn promise of being truly more "Egypti::m" than any of the larger panics. fllibJ lu support them against J~wlsh's altacb. Consequently the COplS wilhdrew from the Nationalist party in August 1908, and Akhukh Fanus announced the fol'> mation of the EaYptian party in the following month. The founders imagint.oJ that by emphasizing basic Egyptian \'::llues they would olfset Ihe Isbmie bias Ihat the NationaliSI pany had adopted. Objeclives of the pany wel'e Ihe independence of Egypl amI Ihe welfare anu prosperity of all Ihe Egyptian people. This nationalislic allilude was coupled wilh a sec· ular one, in the hope Ihal it would counler the stark religious bias of the Natwnalist party. Article 3 of thc program stipulated complete separation of religion from politics, and guaranteed full equality in common righL~ to all inhabitants of Egypt, and equalily in eivi<: righl.5 to all nationals without dis· crimination on the grounds of race or religion. The Egyptian party was noted for ilS moderate auilutk with regard to foreiKn occupalion. Article 5 urged Ihe conclusion of a treaty between England and Egypt which would. on the one hand, guarant(."e Ihe freedom of Brilish trade in Egypt, and, on Ihe olher, facilitate its communication wilh India in peace and war within the Egyplian boundaries, in return for which Britain would promise III prolect Egyptian independence and oppose foreign aggn:'Sl>ion. Despite the par1y's progralll, it lacked a proper frnmework, and it did not ClUJ)' OUI any program by which one could judge its prindples. The two Cop' tic newspapers at that time, Mi~r and ul-Wu!lm. cleo c1ined to become the urgan uf the party. BIBLIOGRAPHY
YL1nlln Lablb Ri~.q. ul-i/(/ylll ul'//iwiyyuh If Mi~r Ii 'Alit! 111.1I,1li1I11 /1/-8ri((hl( 1882-/914. Cairo. 1970, _:-'-' a/.A1.lzuh al.Mi,Jriyyah QI/bl Thaw"ClI 1952. Cairo, 1977. YONAN l.Afllll RIZO
Egyptian Democratic Party (Al-l:J:lzb Al.DlnlliqrAU A)-Mlsrl) This par1y came inlo being on 10 Jallu:,ry 1919. The pany's ten principles covered a number of al'> eas: political, sodal, and economic. In Ihe polilieal area, the pliny called for Egypt's inlemal and external independence, the cl'Clllion of II repfCscnlalive body deputized by the people, and Ihe maintenance
1989
or iXIulility between all Egyptian!> and assuring pub· lie liberties. In the social al'ea, the p.'\rty advocated free and compulsory primary education. and Ihe beuerment of Ihe working classes. As to Ihe economic area, Ihe party dedicaled itself to the growth or Ihe counlry's wealth. Severnl of the polilical parlies fonned in the aflerml:nh of the 1919 l'evolution absorbed members of Ihe Egyptian Democratic Party and speeded up Its liquidalion; some joined the Wald party, olhers thc Yekenis. The last of il.5 meelings was held on 4 May 1923. BIBLIOGRAPHY Ahmad
Zakariyy~
al·Shillq. I./iw o.l.A/JrlJr QI-DuSIUri)'yill. Caim, 1982. 'AI' ai-Din HilAI. Q{·SiylJsuh WQ·Q/·HII1cm II Mifr. Cairo, 1977. Fatry' al-Ramll. QllW' 'Qlll Q/.TQ;llrib Q/./fitlriYYQh Ii Mi~r. Cairo, 1978. MuJ:mmmad l;Iusayn Hllykal. Ml/dhaH:irlll If ul-Siyllsah a/.M~riYYQh, vol. I. cairo. 1951. YONAN LABIB RlzQ
Ward Parly The WQld party wa... Ihe most impol1ant political pany in Egypt in modem timL'S. Its importance lay nOI 1lO much in its si1.e when compared 10 olher p..... nics but in Ihe sweeping majority it managed 10 win eve!)' lime free elections were held, while all olher parties combined logelher won only a limited number uf ~eats. The party also remained a large and integrated one despite various internal splits and external alWeks to which it was subjected. In Ihe twenty.five year period (1927 -1952) of Mus!af~ III-Nal;1ryils's lelldefllhip he presided over ~even eabi· neL~, an achievement no other leauer was able to malch.
Because of the Wale/'s wide popular base the Brit· ish were forced to concede, more than once, Ihot it was the only genuine representative of the people. They refused, for instance, to conclude a treaty wilh any uther p....l1y as in thl: negotiations of 1930 and 1936. The Waldisl organization wa~ not inlended 10 be a political pal1y at lhe start, but events maue il develop into one. II would thus be u"Ue to say that Ihe Wald as an organi'llttion sparked off Ihe uprising of 1919, and that Ihe Wald as a party was born of that uprising. Since the Wald 0l'gani7.alion was originally fonnL-d with Ihe 3im or cnding Ihe British pl'Otec-
•
1990
POLITICAL PARTIES: Wafd Party
toru.te and gammg independence, it was natural that the main objective of the Wald, all through its existence, should be 10 work for that independence according to the evolution of that concept. Throughout Ihal period the national cause had centered on two issues: military evacuation and union wilh the Sudan, or the "Unity of the Nile Valley."
The Wold led the greatest popular uprising against the Brillsh presence in Egypt, Ihe 1919 revolution. II forced Brili$h polilicians to abandon the policy of
keeping E&YPI a British proteclor.lle. In 1920 the Wafd took the lead in campaigning for the boycott of lord Milner's commi<;$ion of inquiry, which arrived in Cairo in December 1919 and proposed a treaty of alliance in which Egypt contracted certain obligations in return for the rec· ognition of ils indl:pendence. This showed the Bri,· ish the extent of the Wald's power, which in the end forced Lord Milne~ to accept negotiation with the Wald alone. The British declar':ltion of 28 February 1922 recognized Egypt as an independent sov· e~ign state, subject IQ ccrtain reservations. This pe~iod also saw sharp c1nshC5 between the Wald and the British forces of occup.'ltion, espe<:illlIy when the British used or threatcned to use forcc. The best known incident was the ultimatum sent 10 Sa'd Zaghlul upon Ihe aSClsshmlion of Sir Lee Slack, govemo~ of the Sudan and commander of Ihe Egyptian army, which broughl the government down In 1924. The firsl cabinet formed by Ihe Wald was thai of SA'D ZAGHt()L called the people's cabinet, in 1924. For the first lime in Ihe hislory of EK)'ptfan cabinets it w:r..~ made up of ten minislen of whom two were Copts, Murqu~ l;Ianna and WA~if ~u!rus Ghalt. Sa'll Zaghlol had InsIsted on their appointment despite Kinlj: Fou;ld's uhjeetion thai il was tr:'ditional to appoint only one, and that the people might take objection to deviating from this trndition. Sa'd replied thot he did 110t discriminate between Muslim and Copt and that he was pCflionally rcsponsible for how Egyptians would feci. The "people's cabinet" was brought down by a British ultimatum when Sir Lee Staek WIIS assllssinatcd in 1924. A.~ a result of Britain's insistence nut to allow Sa'd l
and finance, r\..'Spcclivcly. This cabinel lasted only six months. In May 1936 Ihe Wald fonned ils third cabinet. It was reshuffled in August of Ihe following year when King Farouk took ovcr his constitutional powers. Coplic repTeS(:ntalion continued in both cabinets through the same two minislel'$. The Wafd reo maincd in powcr unlil Ihe king dismissed il on 30 December 1937. On 4 February 1942 the Wald rclUmcd 10 power during World War II as a result of the British ultimatum to the king. It lasted unlil 26 May when Ihe quarrel between MU~lafA. nl·Na~~as nnd Makram Ebcid took a critical tum nnd thc latter was expelled. The Wnld shared in l:Iusayn Sini's cabinet fonned on 26 July 1949, which prepared the way for the return of the Wold for the last of its cabinets fonned on 12 January 1950, ....here Coptic representation was reduced to one ministe~ out of eight Thi!> cabinet laslcd until 27 January ....hcn King Fa· rouk dismissed it following the great fi~e of Cairn the day before. This was thc lasl of the Wafd gov· emments in EeJpt. A great number of ncwspapers and periodicals were affiliated with the Wald belween the 1919 rev, olution until the pany system came to an cnd in 1953. AI·Akhbllr was issued by AmTn al·Rafi'l. and strongly supponed $:l'd through the first few months of the rcvolution. Wadi al·NiI was issued in Alexandria nnd remained one of the Wald's princi· pal newspapers therc for a considerablc length of time. A1·Nj~lJm, issued by Sayyid 'AIt, a journalist of the old Nationali.~t pany, became the leading paper of Ihe Wald in 1921. AI-AlllJlr, which was issued by 'Abd al·OAdir l:Iamzah, turned Waldisf around the end of 1921. aided by al·Mb/bar, ediled by AI,unad J:lllfi?- 'Awalj.. After al·Ahd/l stopped, al Ball/gh came out in 1923, edited also by 'Abd al·Qadir l;{amzah. It remained the chief newspaper of the Wafd until the end of the 19JOs when it tu~ncd against the parly. It retumed 10 lhe l'llnks of lhe Wold however, in the early 1940s after pari of Its shnres were bought by a rich member of the Wold. At Ihe same lime olher Waldisl papers appeared. Kawkab al-Sharq came out in 1924; it was edited by AJ:!mad l;Iali; 'AwlI~ after al·Minbor ceased publication. Al-JihlJd, edited by Tawfiq Diydb, and al.Wafd al.Mi~ri were issued in 1938. The longesl 10 survive was al.M4ri, which came out in 1936. M~mud Abu al.FatJ:! beeame sole proprieto~ a shorl lime afle~ it appeared. It continued even after the party system was abolished but had 10 SlOp in 1954 under Ihe political pressures E£ypl suffered Ihnl year.
•
POLITICAL PARTIES: Libenll Constitutional Party
In addition there were a number of weeklies, the most famous of which were Rose uJ·YQII$Srf that was begun in 1925 and ,(klTir Sll'ah in 1934. pub-
lishl.-d by Fa!nmh al·Youssef and Muhammad al· Tab", respectively. For a quaner of a century (1953-1978) the activi-
ties of the Wa/d wen: suspt;ndcd as a resull of the abolition of all political parties by the leaders of the 1952 revolution. During Ihal time it lost many of its leaders, particularly Musla.r, al-NaI:JI:lAs. who died in 1965. Lalcr. various political. social, and economic de\'elopments led 10 Ihe restoration of the pan)' ~)'S tem in Novemhcr 1976. President Anwar al·Sadat's intention was 10 have Ihe pany $)'Stem emanate
I
from the single cdsting org:..nization which was the Socialist Union. II began by the formation of platforms from within that organization. Gradually they took definite inclinations: the Right W3.\ reprCllentcd by the Uberal Socialisls Center, and the left was represented by the Unionist Progrnsive Pany. The only pany capable of anracting a number of deputies from the People·s Assembly and qualified to fonn a party without being affiliated to the Socialisl Union wa!i the New Ward in 1978. This pany was in fact a conlinuation of lhe old Wafd party, FU'dd Siraj ai-Din, who was its last secretal)' before its dissolution, became its leader. Leaders of the New Wa!d were careful to indude COplS in its leadership. IbrAhTm Faraj was appoint· ed secrelary, and lhe Supreme Council included a number uf Copts, In view of the New Wafd's successful achievements, President Sad"t adupted measures that aimed at limiting its activities, the most serious of which was his attempt lU deprive lis lcad,,,"Ship f!'Om exercising its political activities on the pretext lhat the members were stlll subject to the political isolation law Issued In the 19605. This induced thc paJ1y to suspend Its activities in November 1978. In September 1981, Ihe par'ly sulfel'ed f!'Om the cUI1ai!· ment of its libel1ies in the course of a campaign of arrests waged o.gainst V:lrious clements of the opposition. After S3dat's a.~sassination in October 1981 and the attempt at n:ltiuOll1 conciliation initiated hy his successor, P"csldent l~usnT Mub:lrak, hopes that the New Wafd would return to the political arena were revived. But the laws Is.~ued under Sawt stood in their way. The ease was laken to coun and they \\'On the right to I'eform the party and to resume polilical activity, Four monlhs Inter the pany entered the elecliomi and won fifty-eight scaLS in the Natiunal Assembly
1991
and consequently come next in imponance to the government pany headed by the president hinlself, lhe National Democratic Pal1y, It al~ became the main representalive of the opposition as it was the only pany to succC(.'(/ throUll;h elections wherea.~ all eITons by the three other opposition panics
[)eeb, Marius. Party PoUlk! in Egypt: TI,e Ward And /fS Rivals /919-/939. London, 1979. Jal:\1 ya/:tya. and Khtilld Na'lm. lJ/ Wafd a/.M4rl. AI· exandria, 1984. Terry, Janice J. TI,c Wafd /9/9-/951. London, 1982. YONAN LAsls RtZQ
Liberal Constllutlonal Party (J:llzb al-Al,trar al-DuslOrlyyIn) This pal1y came into existence rollowing the first split in the ranJu; of lhe Wafll Pm'ty, which occurred during lhe talks between 'AdlT Yeken and Lord MilneI' in lhe summer of 1920. The core of the dispute lay in the fact tlmt SlI'd planned to reject the project and return to Egypt to continue the struggle, while Yeken, around whom old members of the l1itb al-/JlIllllah had rallied, believed that the nation could nu longer continue the struggle, WIshing to counter the "radical" Sa'd ZaghlOI, and to restrain the king's ambition for power, the moderates set out to form the Liberal Constitutional pany on 29 October 1922. The party catTle to include a number of outstanding Egyptians, the m3jority of whom wcre tTletTlbel"S of the old filth III,UlIllllah, 01' their sons, who were joined by a group of liberal intellt:cluals. Coplic membcn; in the Liberal Constitutional party included the Dos,\ bl'others, Tawffq, Wahlb, ~nd I:fabib (the Doss Khillah family were big landownen; in Asyu! and Miny.i). There was also :?allb saml who belonged to one Qr the most respectable Coptic families, lind beeame a member of lhe Council
•
•
1992
POLITICAL PARTIES: Union Pal1y
in 1926. Yel nQnc of them remained for long. No leading COpl wns to be found in lhe ranks of the liberal Constitutionals after 1930. l>CSpite lhe .,any's insistence on implementing Egyptian independence, upholding the conlilitution, lind derending individual freedom, it l11el wilh great resentment from the public at large. In the end the
party remained lhal of the elile of lanllowners and inlellectuals, which was the cause of II good deal of wr.tngling that lasted as long as the pany lasted. The mOSt conspicuous reason was its inconsistent policies. Until.he end of World War II the Liheral Consti· tUlional pany rcmainL-d the largest afwr the Wald. BIBLIOGRAPHY
AI,! mad Z. al-Sh il iq.If;;,b rd.A~'ii' a/.DUslUrini". / 9221953. Cairo, 1982. Ma!:lmOd Mhwalli. Mi~, wCHI.1'1!ayiit aU!iunyyah wa.al.Nlydbiyya/r Qabl Sanat /952. Cairo, 1980, YunAn Lablb Rb.q. fll-A~UJb ul'Mifriyyah QQbl ThQ_ rat 1952. Cairo. 1917.
YONAN LAala Rno
Union Party (l;Iizb AI IUiI.,ad) The ullim:ltum issued in November 1924 by Lord AlJenhy to Sa'd wghl .... I's cabinet led 10 ilS resigna· lion. This gave King Fouad a free harl!1 to foml a new cabinel and 10 tllkl: the neccSSllry steps 10 weaken the Wald, the large, nationalist party, A new royalist p;.lrty came inlo being ill 1925. The Union patty believed that internal rcfonn was the means by which to gain total independence for Egypt and the Sudan. FrOIll Ihe old Nalionalist par· Iy they look the notion of campaigning abroad 10 convince Olher' nlltions or the justice of the EgypJian l.:IIUSC by cJuiming total independence Fo!' Egypl and the SUdllll, They bcJicvcd the nalional cause was Mill an international one. The COptic rcprcscn· till ion in Ihe Union Palty was very weak. The !'Cant popularity of Ihe par'ly was manif<::stcu in the elections held in May 1925, It remained mal" ginlll in parliamentary affairs, It conlinued to de· cline until it di!>llppeal'cd altogether in the 1940$. BIBLIOGRAPHY
YOnan Lablb Rizq. a/.Al.ltdb ,al /952. Cairo, 1917,
al.Mi~riyya1r
Qab/ Thaw·
YONAN l-""alB RlzQ
People's Party
(H~zb
AI Sha'b)
On 17 November, 1930, Isma'il ~idql Pasha. after laying down the conslitution that bol-e his name and which gave the king widespread power, announced the founding of the People's pany under his leadership. ~idqi turned to rich Muslims and Copts rrom rural areas and succeeded in aUracting llIany of Ihem. The pany's progr.:lm consisled of generalilies. In 1933. ~idql resigned from the premiership. Thai was followed by his dismissal from the pre:>i· dency of the party: lhl: new prime minister, 'Abd al.''-ano1J:! ¥a~y;!, as.~ullled lhal posilion. With the fall of ~idql came the end of lhe People'S pany. AI· lhough the party entered the elec:tioll5 of 1936, it only got 10 scats out of 232, which drove it 10 merge, two yelll'S later, with the Union pany. BIBLIOGRAPHV
'Abd aJ:A?-lm Rllma411n. Tau:lll/wur al_~/a,akah al. Wa!a"iyyah Ii Mj~, /918-/936 Cairo. n.d. Abu al.FaQI, M. The Sitfqr Rel:ime in Egypl, 1930/935, Ph.D. dili$., School of Orienlal and African StudiC1i. London, 1975. ¥unoin Labib Rizq. al.A~I:fib al,Mi~riyyah Qabl Thaw_ rat 1952. Cairo, 1977.
YONAN I..ABIB RI7.Q
Sa'dlsl Parly (J:llzb AI.Hay'ah al·Sa'D1yyah) The appearance of the Sa'dists at the beginnint: of 1938 is closely linked with the break from the Wald pany al the end of 1937 of two of its main figures, AJ:lmad Mo:hir and MIlJ:lmud Fahml al.Nuqr,i.~ht. After King Farouk assumcd his constitutional powers on 29 July 1937 the Wald cabinet, which was thcn in power, WllS required, according 10 the constitution, 10 be fOl'lned again. Nahhns Pasha sei7.ed the oPP01tunity to get rid of a number of ministers rrom his prcvious cabinel, particularly Mahmud F3hmT IlI.Nuqro:~hl, mini.~tel· of communications, an act which eventually led 10 the founding of Ihe Sa'dist Party. A~ a 1l'3dition:l1 enemy of the Wafd, the Palace seized the oppvrlunity to widen lhe rift within the party. The matter ended when Nuqr.1shl made a "political u(.odaration" on 7 September 1937 an' noundng his wilhdrawill from Ihe Wald. The declaration was sirongly critical of Nal,II,IAs's policy. I.n reply to this declarallon, Ihe Wald officially dis·
POLITICAL THOUGHT IN MODERN EGYPT
mi.~~d
Nuqr.bhi on 13 September. Following his dismiS!;al, Nuqrtlshl began 10 negOtiale wilh memo be..., of the Wald who suppol1ed him, with a view to foon the Sa'disl party. The Sa'dist party came inlo being at Ihe begin· ning of 1938 and consisted of a number of WafdislS who h;.d broken wilh N:.~~;ls. Tht.-'Y chose Dr. A~· mad Mfahir a.~ leader. Unfortunately. the party did not lay down any specific pl'Ogram. The reas(ln was clear; lite break was Ihe outcome of a personal feud. not an ideolog' ical one. Nc\'cnhelcss, Ihe Sa'disls bL'Camc the largest of the minorily parties. They took care to iudude a few Copts to T('prcscnt them in their cabinets. The best·known were SAbA I;labashl and Najlb bkandar. 8lBLIOGRAPIIY
Yum\n
Lahlb Ri:tq. u/·A.I,rlub al.M4riyyuh Qabl ThQlI'rUI /952, Cairo, 1977. YONAN ullill RJzo
Wafdlst Block (i\I-Kutlah AI.Wafdiyyah) This ptU'ly diswciated itself from the Wald and was led by the Coptic party secretary, Makram Ebeid. The Klil/ph came inlO being in 1944 a.~ a re:ent the Copt~ fur two reasons: lhe ll()liliclll sittliltion did nol pennit lhe rise of a SCelalian pany, and Makmm's striving 10 hecome pl'ime minister was inconsiSIClll with giving the party a SL.'Clarian charaeler. D1BLlOCRAPIlY
'Abd al"~Im Rumadan, Tu!awwur al·lfarakah al. Wa!alli".al/ /I Mi~r. Vol. Il: /937-/948. BeilUl. 1973.
1993
Ma~mud
Mitwalli. Mi.fr \I!a.al.~/ay'" a/.I.lizbiyyuh wu.a/.Niyllbiyya1l Qubl Sana' 1951. Cairo, 1980. Yl1m'in Lablb Ri1.q. U/·A.~/lilb ul.Mi~'riY}'alt Qabl Thuwnil /951, Cairo, 1977, YONAN UOIO RIZQ
POLITICAL THOUGHT IN MODERN EGYPT. The bascs of Egyptian thought had remained fundamentally Arab·lslamic until ilS roots cxtended themsclvt'S into Ihe modem soil of European culture Ihroughout the nineteenth centul)'. Eventually Egyplian political thought crystallizcd into modern coneeplS and tenns. However, other influence:; also played an important role. Most sources llgree that the Freucl! invasion of Egypt (1798-1801) opened the eyes of the Egyptian intelli· gentsia to poliliCilI concepts tltey had never known, Even though the Egyplians did nOI ~nelil immediately or dirttlly. thc French factor markt-d the beginnings of the modemi1.lng of society in MUI.lAMMAD 'AU'S reign (1805-1848). Mu/:Lammad All's educational missions to Europe were a potent factor in the development of Egyptian political thougltt and hridged some gaps between Egypt and Ihe West. European academickms and experts brought into Egypt new ideas and principles. They also extended Ihe wide and aeth'c translation movement, which had lr3nSplilnled into Egypt, among other things, many new polilical idea~. The press WilS also (Ill imponant factor in promoting political consciousness, an inlluence of the Frenelt, During Mu~ammad 'Ali's reign, the Bulaq printing press WllS buill (1821) and the a{.Waqil't al.Mi~riyyait was issued (1828). Pope CYRtL IV gave or'ders fOl' the pur'chase of a press to be established in 1860, This wa~ followed by II gre:u joul'nalistic revival, and pllper'S like A/.Wa(fUl, edhed by ·Ab· dallah Abu al·Su'ud (1866), lInd A/.Wa!all, edited by Mlkho\'ll 'Abd nl·Sayyid (1877), werc issued. The newspapers helped forlll public opinion "nd c.~tab· li~hed a ba~e of rClldcrs with di~linet political inter· eSL~. The second ho.lf of the nineteenth century wit· ncssed thc growth of euhural institulions, scientific societies, and literal)' salons where political ideas were cxchanged, There appeared, for instance, the Knowledge Society (1868), Ihe Gcogrophie Society (1875), the Islamic Benevolent Society (1878). the mgher Institule for Arabic nnd Islamic Studies (1872), and Ihe National Library (1870). During Ihe first hAlf of the nineleenllt cenlury there were allempL~ to modemil.e some seCIOrs of Egyptiftn society, notably Ihe army and govemmen·
1994
POLITICAL THOUGHT IN MODERN EGYPT
lal adminislr.uion, by utilizing European expel1ise. This began a Oood or European ideas into Egypt that put the traditional political and social structure in jeopardy. Repercussions occurred in the second hair or the nineteenth century, with European polit· leal ideas being absortM.:d into lhe Arab·lslamic traditil;m along with Coptic reronnlsm. Although some rejected the European intellectual influence and hcld to lheir traditional culture, othel'll l"nthWiiasti· cally adopted Westem ideas. From thi:> varicty or l\uitudes emerged political thought based on cenain sJX:citic altiludes. the most OU15landing or which were the liberal nend, lhc demo.:I-nlic trend, the religious'political lrel1d, and the :>ociaJist lrcnd,
The National Liberal Trend This represents a response, though limited at the beginning, 10 the flow of European though' into F..gypt after the French invasion. Among the firM Egyptians to accept this thInking was Shaykh l;Iasan al,'A!~r (1766-1835), who greatly influenced Ri· rl\'ah al·Taht<1wT (ISOI-1873), who Wll$ considered the real initiator or the modem renaissance. In his boob Hasan recorded his observations in Fnmce and made v:lluable comments on the stat~, the con· stltution, the rulcr's jurisdiction, and the citizens' righu. II was from such works that Egyptian liberals drew many of their ideas. In his books al'TaJ:l!AwT presented thc ideas of the French Enlightenment, including those of Voltaire, Com.lillac, Rousseau, and Montesquleu. AI-T~!awi's new ideas inspired the next generation tllrough hi!l pupils, who cstablished thek liberal idl.'a:> in the P"es.~ and in their literary works, panicularly in the sccund half of the nineteenth century. This movement was folluwcd by the lihel-nl idea!l of JamAl al·Din al.At'llhdnl (1838-1897). Shaykh ,:!U!layn al.Mafliaf'i's Episrle Ull Ihe Bight Modes of Speech (l1l81) also inlroduced new concepts of na· ,ionalism, politic!l, and social justice. MlkM'll 'Abd al.Sayyid, a Copt, also es'abllshed (1877) his daily newspaper AI-Waran where he refll.'Cted the natio, nalistic altitude before the British occupation (1882) lind arter. Adlb 1!lI.ldq, a Syrian onhodox Christian living in Egypt (I882), issued the first or· gan named Mi~r, which dealt with nation;llistic principles and adyoeatL-d fR.'COOm or thought. Writing in a simple, popular style, 'Abdalli\h al-NadIm (18451896) came fonh with a campaign againji,t autocra· cy and foreign interference, calling Cor national uni· Iy and the Egyptianization of new ideas. 'Abdallah
fikr1 combined the idea of Egyplian pat.rioti.~m with educalional mther than political reform. The generation that emcrged after the Briti.~h oe· cup:uion included such names as AJ:tmad Luln al· Sayyid (1872-1963), who advocated polItical de· mocracy and a SoL~ular state based on national roth· er lhan religious laws (Sharrah). He influenced a whole generation through his newspaper Al·laridah (1907). After World War I, his followcn preached his Ideas in varying fonns and degrees. Qa."im Amin, however, was preoccupied with the problem of modernizing soeiety by reviving it Intellectually and scientifically, He was a reader of RO\ISSCaU, Herbert Spencer, John Stuan Mill, and Olhers. Ulti· mately his studies led him to advocate a change in lhe Silltus of women and in their freedom in !lode· ty. His Tall"r a/·Mur'uh (liberation of Women; 1899) and AI·Mur'ah al.Jadldah (The New Woman: 1900) expre!l!l his philosophy. Another contemporary wa." AJ:tmad FatJ:tT l.'llolhllll, who espou.'!.ed Ihe causc of tntnSpllln,ing European culture to Egypt in cenain fields and advoeated political democracy, new methods of aovemment, a free econolllY, and secularism in legislation. He me· ticulously translated sonle of the works of Jeremy Benlham, such as An Inlrodllction to the Principles 0/ Marois and Legislation (1892), part of Camille Desmoulins' Oellvrts (1900), and at least two of the treatises of Andre Lebon, Including Modem f'rtutu (Story of the Nfltiolls) (1913). Most of the Egyptian writcn of this generation belongcd '0 al-Ummah pany, whose member.:; enriched Egyptian political thought wilh liberal patrioti!lm. Thcs.c writers were also contemporaries of such leadel'll and political thinkers as MUSTAFA KANtL (1874-1908) and Muhammad Farld (1868-1919), who were not so much thcorlsts as practical politicians. They patriotically played their roles in combaling the Britl~h presence in Egypt. They stood for Islamic unlly, in spite of the concept uf seculur patriotism detectable In their writings as members of the National party (csttlbllshed in 1907). SA'O ZA· GHLOL emcrged as a political leader after World War' I. He led the 1919 revolution on a national basis-actually a continuation of the practical politics expounded by the National pany. Arter the 1919 revolution, the political unity of the country was fragmented into panics such as the WAJ'JJ and the wnslitutional Liberals, as well as the National party. From the 19205 to the 19405 exponents of the liberal national trend dominated the scene. Some thinkCTli advocated the abolition of religious courts,
POLITICAL THOUGHT IN MODERN EGYPT
the modification of marital laws. and the dismantling of cenai" social institutions. They also championed the UM! of Western techniques in the field of literature, as expounded in Taha I;fusayn's Af-Shrr a/·lDhUI on pre.lslamic poetry (1926). Thl' writings of Tawfrq nl'!;Iaktm and TaM.l:lm.ayn, the .sculptural works of Ma~mod MukhtAr, the novels of N3Jlb MaJ:1~ and Ma~mOd Taymur, and the wrilings of SalAmA Mosa (a COpl), Louis 'Awac.J (another Copt), Mal.lOlIld 'A1.ml. and others called for the f:.gyptianiUllion of foreign ideas in all areas. In the 1930s some of those writers turned their thoughts to Orienlal Islamic topics, 115 in the Islamic writings of Tah! ,:!usayn and Mut.w-mmad I~usa)'n Haykal.
I
The Democratic Trend II might be an ovcrstlilcmcnt to say that Egypt W3S acqu:llnled with democratic thought hefore aiTal;l!AwT. It was not until the reign of Ism:i'jl (18631879) that a parliamentary cooncil, the ShOra al· Nuwwtb, was established :lS the fil"5l representative body in Egypt. Shar1f Pasha's cabinet was made up of thOl;(: loyal to Ihc 1879 constitution. Re~.-ognizing the supremacy of the people, Ihe cabinet lried to issue It basic code for the council and another for elections. Durina the same period, another revolution in Ihought occurred, promoting mon: freedom and more constitutional rights, in the writings of Adib Is~aq, a COpl who advocated the e!'>tablish· ment of a senatc house that would be a link beIween the ShOrti al-Nuww:\b and the government, while Mlkhft'll 'Abd al'&lyyid, anotht'r Copt, launched a campaign to open the council members' eyes to m,l!lers of rule and politics. The 'UrtlbT revolution (1881-1882) marked a new staJj;e in ElO'Ptian demucratic thought. Jam'illll·Din al.Afgh:'!.nl had played hi!'> pari in paving the way fOI" its advent through the old National party (sec POUTt· CAL PART1F..5): 'Ahdnillih al-Nadlm played a distin· guished rolt: in this period. He made a soci,11 analysis of the nalure of l'epn::serllatjvc councils and advocated thM their member.~hip should represent all social dasses. He often reilerated that democra· cy is a practice in which the people should be IT'IIined. later on, Muhammad 'Abduh (1849-1905) emphasized his claim that the representative·coun· cil manifesto should mention its part in helping the government lllld In sharlng the mle of ,he country by su,x::rvising its activities and work. After the British occupation. A~mad Lu!ff al· Sayyid emerged as one of lhe politicallhin.ers who linked Ihe claim for independence to that of mle by
1995
the peoplc Ihrough their representatives. He bor· rowed his idea.~ of political democroey from Rous· seau, Locke, and Hobbes. Togethcr wilh his disci· pies in the Ummah pany. he succeeded in bringing about a democratic trend on a wide scale. This trend was manifest when Egypt obtained a limited degree of independence after the February 1922 declarotion. Al that lime, a comminec was sct up to write the 1923 const!lullon, which marked the stan of a constilulionlll monal"Chy in Egypt. That constilulion played a pan in creating parliamentary life from 1924, lhus lening thc common people panicipate In roHng the counlry. On that occasion a number of lhinken tried to deepen the dcmocr.llic concepts and fight autocracy. Outstanding among those were MuJ:!ammad I;Iusayn Hayka.l, MaJ:!mud 'AunT, and Salami MUsl.
The Religious Political Trend In spite of the rise of religious refonn movements such as Wahhabism, Semlsism, and Mahdi'ism prior to the twentielh century, their supponers in Egypt never constituted a majority. Pemaps religious refonn had a revolutionary political impfC5Sion thai was precipitated by Jamal ai-Din ai-Afghani (18391897). His emergence represents a tumina point in Ihe history of religious refonn. His disdples were acquainted with European political and administra· tive institutions, economic syslems, and thought. Some of them advocatcd a compromise between Ihe essence of the Islamic faith, on the one hand. and the sciences and Western concepts and institu· tions, on the other. Such views represented the Is· lamic reaction to Weslcrn heJj;cllIony. Though relig' ion was a fundamental element In Afgh:'i.nl's system, it treated the secular and religious e!l;:lIlenlS equally. He wa.~ also known for his advocacy of PanIslam ism. Mu~ammad 'Ahdllh clal'ifled and analyzed his leacher's ideas and lhen developed them furthcl'. He called for a relum to authentic Islam and to the freedom of religious thought from the shackles of tradilion and conservatism. He Illunehed an onslaught on the al·Azhar, the oldest blamic university in Cairo, lind he advOcllled an undcl1ltantling of the religious guidelines expressed by the earliest Muslims before sc:<:tarian differences developed. He claimed Ihal the spirit of modem civilization and Islam are nOt conlflldiclory: indeed, one of his ba· sic objectives was 10 prove the possibility of a com· promise between Islam and modern thought. How· ever, he did not deal with Ihe relationship belween
1996
POUTlCAL THOUGHT IN MODERN EGYPT
religion and lhe stale a~ much a~ wa~ lato:r done by a number of his disciples, Whereas a1·Afghtini \Ya~ a....'IOCiated wilh Ih" PanIslamic movem"nl, Mu~ammad 'Abduh ('onCenlnll· ed on lhe Islamic polilical ,'evival and moderniza· tion of ilS legal theories, Some of his disciples assumed a secularizing :Iltitude. Among them were Lulfi al.$ayyid, Tah,; I:lusayn, and 'Ali 'Abd al-Raziq, Othen, led by Mul)ammad RashId Ri\lot (18651935) :md his Mantir school. interpreted his ,'iews on the ba~i~ of early blamic lhoughl. R:lShld Ri\ll\ agrcl.-d wilh his mentors al.Argh:anl and Mul,lammad 'Abduh that hlam could constilule a WOJ1hy national enlily capable of OPl"05ing the ~ular tendencies of modem European thought. Immediately afler his arrival in Egypt in 1898, in his ankles in A/-Manar, his mOnthly jnum:II, Ri4a issued a prodamalion c:lUing for lhe constitUlion of a Pan·lslami<: society under the Olloman caliph's flag. His main objedive "';1.~ the unification of all Muslims under one legal system based on Shurr/th, the code den\'oo directly from the Our'lln under the leadcr.;hip of the caliphate. as against the Western concept of nationalism promoted by Kemal AL::Itijrk after his suppression of the Olloman caliphate in 1924. This wa.~ followed in 1925 by 'AII Abd al-~iq's (1888-1961) famous work Islam and tlte Principles 01 CotJemmetll, in which he denied thaI the caliphate ....'as a basic insti· tution of Islam. He "Ialle it clear thaI t1w Prophet's leadership \Ya~ "eligious and lIlat il end('d with his death, when his authority W:IS taken o\'er by lay political power, Con~ervative thinkers objel:led to his iul.'aS, (Ind a re:ll:lionury l'cligious lllovement flared up, ending with lhe ri~e of lhe Mu~lim Brelhren. whose \lllimale objceli~e was lhe reeonSlruction of society on the b(l.~is of a modern Pan-Islamic frollt derived from lhe Qur'iln llgainSI secular European lI'end~.
The Socialist Tt'cnd Cullured EgYPI illllS had rend nnd heard ahnut ~o' cLnlism from the middle of lhe nineteenlh cenlury in organ~ such as AI.Mllqlll!ul magar.inc. In fuct, socialism did not come from a vacuum but WliS the outcome of !lOcial, economic, and euhUl~d develop· menlS nmnifest in the developmenl of Egyptian society during the reign of Mul,lammad 'Ali. The fint group of socialist advocates was inspired by SaintSimon, whom Mul;wmmad 'All inviled to Egypt. Shibl' Shumayyil (1860-1917), a Christian Syrian who went to Egypt in 1885. engaged himself in writing liletlll)' commem3ries instead of prncticing medicine, and socialism was one of his chief topics.
He was followed by another Syrian Christian. Nicola 1:laddi'l.d, who wa.~ a prolific author in mrlllY fields, including socifllism. In the meantime, an Egyptian tcacher by lhe name of MU5!af:l l:Iasanayn al.Man~urr contl'ibuted a valuable study of socialism in his own writing or in translations from EurofX:an litcrnlurc. Together with the aforementio,led writers. he aimed at carrying his theories inlo praclice by the cstablishmenl of a socialist pany in 1909. The pl'Oject was doomed to failure unlil it W:lli a.~o;umed by the real pioneer of socialism in Egypl, SAlAMA-II MOSA (1887-1958), who had studied in England and France and hall become acquainled with Britain'S Labour pany. A prolific writer, he fell under the influence of social· isl Ihinkers weh as George Bernard Shaw, and hL.. book on socialism may be considered the fir.;t consistent work on the subject to be published in the Arab world. Generally, socialist thought was regarded as a European idca lhal had infiltrated inlo Egypl on a wide scale since Ihe middle of Ihe nineteenth ccnIUry. Wilh Ihe outbreak of the Russian revolution of 1917 and Ihe Third International in 1919, which marked the beginning of RUSSia's intel"el'l in the East, cultured Egyptian,; became acquainted with Ihe new socialist trend, Joseph Roselllhal, ::1Il Egyptian Jew, called for lhe eSlablishment of an Egyptian socialist pa'1y thai would speak for workers' unions, instead of being ''eStricted to a membenhip l:onsisting mainly of foreigners living in Alexandria. Rosenthal induced ;I group of progre~~ive Egyplians 10 join him, Sa· IlIm(lh Mos.'\, 'All al·'[ntin!, Mul.lammad 'Abdallah "nAn, and Ma~l1lild !;Iusnl al·'Amhi being lhe ouL· 5t(lnding figures in lhat group. They signed a mani· festo establishing Ihe Socialist p(lrty in 1921. AI· though successive gOvernmentS tl'ied to suppress lhe pliny, it carded on its activities :Il1U al1mcled hundred~ of worken, who were very often eneour· :lged 10 go on slrike. On lhe pOlilical I'l"0nt, 'A7.Iz Mirhom led lhe labo!' movement for some timc. However, Ihe pal1y ultimately splinlered because of diSllgrcements about Ideological principlcs. In 1922 onc of it~ factions that joincd lhe Cominlel'll called itself the Egyplian Communist p1l11y. It penistcd through the 19305 lind 19405 when Man;ist circles bec(lme active ill many secret ways, until the July 1952 revolution. BIBLIOGRAPHV
'Abd al·'Adm Rlimadnn. T'!Ul>lIlVllr aJ.f!arakaIJ alWa!alliyyah II Mifr, Vol, I, /9/8-/936. Cairo, 1968.
POLYCARP, SAINT: leiters of Polycarp
Mahmud Milwlll1l, Mi.fr II'U ul-1.{rJYul (JI-Hiwryyuh '1'(( ul-NiyllbiyyuJr 'Iubl Smlfll 1952. Cairo, 1980. nriq al·BishrT. A/'JfurakQII al-SiyiisiYYQJr Tr Mi.fr: 1945-1952. Cairo, 1972. AI.IIoIM) ZAKAklYYA "l.-SItIL.lO
POLYCARP. SAINT
1997
mlu1yrs is made in the oook of Revelil\ion: "I know thy WOl-k.~ and tribulation, and l)Oveny (but thou ai' rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are JeWll and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none or thosc things which thou shalt suffer ... be thou faithful untO death, and I will givc thee a crown of Iifc" (Rev. 2:9-10).
(c. 69-c. 156). hishop of
Smyrna who was manyn:d (fcasl day; 29 Amshir). ThiJi enny consislS of IWO articles: Life of I'olyea'l' and Lettcrs of Polycarp.
OIBLIOCRAPJlV
O'leary, Dc L Tile Saill/s 01 Egypt. London and Ncw York, 1937. BISHOP GKEGOKIUS
Life of Polycarp Polycarp was bishop ()/" Smyrna (mode'li Izrnir, Turkey) and defender of orthodox belief. According to Saint Ircnaeus (c. 130-2(0), he was closely ass0ciated wilh Saini John. one of the twelve ,Iisclples, by whom he was consecrated bishop. HI: iJi thcrefore a vilal link belween the aposlOlic age and Ihe generation of gn:al Chrislian wrilers who Jlourished IOward the end of the second cenlUry. When Igf1lltius. bishop of Antioch, "''as on his way 10 Rome, where he was martyred by ordel' of Em· peror Trojan, he visited Polyearp in Smym:l and, in chains, greeted and ellcoul-aged this staunch pillar of Ihe lroe f'lilh. Also, on n:aching Troas, Ignatius dispatched letters 10 Polycarp, which the l"lIer preserved and, wilh hiJi own addilionll, made inlo an imponant documenl on orthQ(lolly. He wa.~ also held In great eSleem oUL~ide his own diOCese, and other churches valued his te3,hings at a lime of acure theological controversies Iltat trou· bled the Christian church. At the age of dghty he traveled to Rome to panicipate in senling the dis· pute between E.'\stern and Western ehurehl's on the question of the dale of &ISler. Though IlU visible agreement could be reached on Ihis topic. Bishop Anicelus of ROllle requested lhlll he celebr'lltc the Or1hodo" Eucharist in his church a.~ a mark of hon· or anti esleem, On hi.~ return tn Smyrna. l'olycal'P was arrested by Romun .lulhoriliCl; during II pagan festival. On trial he l'efused to recant his Chtistian f:Jith, and consequently he was burned [0 death, while the gleeful mob shouted: "Let him be burned, he is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, and the destroyer of our gods." Ills mal1yrdom louk place on Holy Saturday, the eve of Easter, probably in the year 156 or shOl11y afterward. I-Ie died happily, con· fesslng Jesus Christ. Polycarp is r<:garded as the '·angel of till' Church in Smyrna," and a special reference to Smyrna's
Leiters of Polycarp Ignatius sent a letter from TTOM to Polycarp, who was bishop of Smyrna, after he had .sp<:nt quite a time prevloU.'ily in Smyrna on hL~ prison journey. According to Irenat.'Us (in Eusebius. His/oriQ Eccl~· illStica 5.20.8), Polycarp wrote leiters to neighbo... ing congrcg'ltions and to individual bn:thren. The leller to Ihe Philippians has survived, and is probably composed of two different epistles sent to Philippi (1951, pp. 203-223). Philippiuns 13.2 shows that Polycarp is as yel unaware of the martyTdom of Ignatius, who was also In Philippi 011 his prison journey (or perhaps he cannot be aware of it becau.se it has not yct tllkell pl:lee). '7dl mc "Iso anything more reliable that you can discover about Ignatius himselr and about those who arc with him." However, according to PhihiJpians 9, Ignati· us, together with otheT5 .lOti with the Apostle~, i~ in the place that Is appropriate for them with the Lord, with whom they too hllve ~urrered. Herc thc martyrdom is presupposed. PllilippiUlu 13 (probably wilhout chllptcr 14) is thc shorl eoverin~ leller fur the transrni.~slon of the lellers of [gnaliu.~, which were desircd by Philippi direelly (lfter IgnUlius's stay there. PhilippitHlS 1-12 and 14 would therl be a later leller (chapter 14 is more appropriate as the conclusion to.l rcllllivcJy long lettcr). The comlJO.~ite letter ha~ come down In Greek and only panly in latin. Coptic c!emenl.s an: to be found in lhe "Roman Manyrdom" of Ignatius, Irl Lefort (1952), pp. 102-103 (Sahidic and Bohairic): pp. 97-98 (French tl'llnslfllion). Durin~ a pel"5ecUlion of Christians in Smyrna, Polycar'P died as a manyr on 23 February of uncer, tain year, al Ihe age of 86. P. Brind'Amour (1980, PI"· 456-62) argues for the year 167. Shortly after Polycarp·s dC
1998
POPE IN THE COPTIC CHURCH
in Smyrna 10 lhat of "hilomelium. Discussion of it over the last few years has shown lhal it iii basil:ally authentic:. The Coptic: version has been published by I. Halestri and H. Hyvcmat (195]), from the Vatican Library, Coptic CodClI 58. fols. 79r-89v (latin translation by Hyvemal in Balestri and Hyvernal. 1950, pp. 43-50; S.VIII rderence to the previous edilinn by E. Amelineau). Here, however, we are dc..'1lling nOI with a translation of the whole texi of the Martyrium but with nIle account rrom Eusebius' His/oria Ecc/es;astica, which has been worked over particularly at the beginning lind at Ihc end (sec DchandschulIcr, 1979). BIBLIOGRAPHY
Altaner, 8., and A. Stuiber. PatrolQgie. IlIh ed., pp. SO-52 and 552. Freiburg. Basel. and Vienna. 1978. Amelincau, E. C. "1.1;:$ aCIC$ copu's du manyre de St. Polycarpc." Soci~ty of Biblical Arcl!U1logy Procudings 10 (1887-1888):391-417. &lesll1, I., Dnd II. II}'\Iemat. Acta martyr..m, Vol. 2. CSCO 86, Scrip/ort.S Coptici, Vol. 6, pp. 62-72. louvain, 1953. CSCO 125, Scriptures Cuplici, set. 3, Vol. 2, pp. 43-50. Louvain, 1950. Baumeister, T. "Oie AnP.inge der Th~'ologie des Manyriums." Mjjnst~risclle Beilrilge v.lr Thealogie 45 (1980):289-306. Bihlmeyer, K., lind W. Schneemelcher. "Die Apost· olischen Vlher I." Sommillng "lfsg~",ilh!ler kir· chen· und dogmengeschicllllicher Quellenschrifterl 2, I, I, pp. 38-45, 114-32. TObingen, 1970. Brind'Amour, P. "La Date du manyre d~' sainI Polycarpe." Analecta BollandiallQ 98 (1980). Camelot, T., ed. Ignatius of Antioch and Palycarp of Smyrna. Le.llre,t. Martyre de Polycar!!/!, 3rd ed., Pll· 183-275. Soul'ces chretiennes 10. I'aris, 1953. [)ehllndschutler, B. Murtyrilllll PQlycurpi. E.ill lite.ruIjrkrili~chl:i S/lIdil:i. I3ibliothcca EphcmeriJum Thcolull:icarum Luvanicnsium 52. Louvain, 1979. Fischer, J. A. Die apaslalische'l VIi/cr, 8th ed., pp. 227-65. Darmstadt, 1981. KrUger, G., lind C. Ruhbach. AlIsgl:iwlihlle Murlyr/!rakten. Sarnllllung ausgcwtihltcr kirchen· und dugmengcschichtlichcr Qucllenschriften NF 3, pp. 1-8. Tiibingcn, 1965. Lefort, LT., cd. l.es Peres aposlolique.~ m Caple. CSCO 135. Scrip/ore.t COT)/ica, Vol. 17. Louvain, 1952. CSCO 136, Scrip/Qres Copliea, V~ll. 18. Lou· vain, 1952. Musurillo, H., tl1IOS. Tire Ac/s uf the Chris/ian MarIyrs. Oxford. 1972. Naulin. P. DiVO/lar/o POlrislico e di Anlkhita Cristi· ane 2 (1984):2867-68. O'leary, De L The Saims of Egypl. lnndon and New York, 1937.
Polyc.llrpe de Smyme. "Lcttre aux PhiJippicns." In Ignace d'Anlio<::he, I'olycarpe de Smyre". LeI/res, 2nd ed., ed. P. T. Came.lo•. Paris, 1951. Quasten, J. Palro!ogy I. Vol. I, pp. 76-82. UIre<:llI and Brussels, 1950. Saxer, V. "l'Aulhenticile du 'Martyrc de Polycarpc.' Bilan de 25 ans de critique." Melanges de I'Eco/e frOllfo;se de Rome. Arl/iquilt 94 (1982):979-1001. Vidhauer, P. GeschichlC der IIrchrisllichen Lit~ralur, pp. 552-66. Berlin and New York, 1975. TltroFRIED BAUMEISTER
POPE IN THE COPTIC CHURCH.
from the
latin papa and the Creek pappas, diminutive for "father": the Coptic apa Is from the Aramaic abba (hence the Arabic babl1 after the Arab conquCl'it). In medieval Arabic literalure, the lenn also Dppears as al-Bab. The .itle "pope" has been in use in the Egyplian church from the beginning of the third cenlury (Neale, Vol. I, p. 113) for me highest Easl' em prelates and patriarchs, suggcsting their spiritual p.uemity. In Rome its use began in the second half of the founh cenwry. From the siJuh century, it was resel'\led in the Wesl for Ihe bishop of Rome. Today it designatCll an ordinary priest among the Greeks (pappas). Remnants of it have been presel'\led among the Slavs (pop, pip). In Alexandria and among Ihe Copts, "pope" designates Ihe head of the Coptic church; the full lide is "pope and patriarch of the great city of Alellan· drill Dnd of all Egypt, the Penw.poJis and Pelousia, Nubia, the Sudan, Jerusalem, Libya, Ethiopia and all Africa, and all countries of the preaching of Saint Mark, archbishop of Cairo and Fus!3!." From ancient times the Coplic church hll5 been organized as a quasi.monarchical institution. Therefore the Council of NICAl!.A (325) Slated: "Let the ancient custom prevail that WIIS in vogue in Egypt aJld Lib· ya and the PenlapoJis, 10 allow the bishop of Alexandria to have authority ovel' all thcse parts, since this is also the lretltmenl usually accorded to the bishop of Rnme" (CDnon VI). Traditionally the popes of Alellandria were cho· sen from among the monks or the Coptic monaster· ies by a council composed of the chiefs of the clergy and the ARCllON$ (chlers of the Coptic laity). The eleclion was then confinned by a synod of bishops, and their choice was ralified by Ihe civil authority. Immediately after Ihe deam of a ponlilf, news of his decCllliC was circulated by letters from Alexandria 10 all bishops. lIbbots, and archons, It called for an
POPE IN THE COPTIC CHURCH
iI$.~mbly, first
for the appoinlment of:l senior archbishop to serve as patriarch after securing sancdon from the temporal sovereign of the country. Subsequcntly the faithful prepart;d for the election by praying. fasting, and holding Vigils. Habitually in olden times the problem was solved by the will and testament of thc dece:l5ed pontiff. who recommend· cd a specific person 10 follow him. In case of disagreement among the living, a prOlracled method of selection and elimination was pursued until a final decision was reached. The nominee was requin.:d to fulfill cemin condi· tions. He had to be a person of free binh. thl' son of a "crowned" mother, lhal is, of a woman in her first marriage (widows remllrrying were never crowned al a second ceremony). He also had 10 be of sound body and mind, unmllrrh.:d, over fifty years of agc, never tarnished by bloodshed, a man of learning Wilh II blameless life and pure dOClrine, a dweller in the desert, but no bishop, This last limitalion was enfol'!:;ed with unwavering rigor f!'Om Ihe beginning until the reign of the seventy-fifth paui. arch, CYRtt. III, in 1235. II is said that under Muhammadan rule in the elevenlh century, a vizier recommended that the COptS Wie the Nestorian custom of elimination from a hundred candidatcs until they arrived al II list of three names that were inscribed on three slips of paper. These were to be placed with a founh, bearIng the name of Jesus Christ, in an envelope on the a1Lar. After the celebration of the liturgical offices, an innoccni child was asked to draw the winning name. If it happened to be Jcsus, all three candidates wcre rejected as unwonhy, and the procedure was repeated until a name was found. This "lethod ""~..s first adopted by the Copts in the <:Iection of the shuy.lifth patriarch, Samlliu5 or $HI!Nl1TE 11 (10321046), and afterward was used only occasionally in doubtful cases until the election of the presenl pope, SHENOUDA Ill, in 1971. The only difference fmm Ihe Neslol'ian system was thaI the COplS placed the names under rather than on the altar. Subsequently the acting archbi~hop proclaimed the selected name in church, lind the congregation con· firmed the selection by acclamation, shouling a,ios, agiO$ (holy. holy). At a later date, the rule insiSling on a simple monastic recluse from the desert was waived, on the premise that such a candidate was not equipped with sufficient knowledge of the outside w..rld to govern the church in times of great peril when secular diplomacy was inevitable. Occasionally in the past, laymen had been promoted for that high
1999
dignity. In 616, ANDRONICUS, a deacon of Alexandria, wa.~ elevated to Ihe patriarchate as Ihe thinyseventh in the line of succession from Saint Mark. Similarly, othen who were celibate but nOt regular monks were selected, and mOll! of them proved to be excellent choiccs, Most prominent among them wcre ACAniON (661-677), the thiny-nlnth patriarch and the second under Arab rule, and Ephraim or ABRAHAM (975-978), the sixty-second patriarch. More laymen were elected through Ihe Middle Ages, bul this practicc has been avoided in the modcm period, With the reestablishment of the monastic rule, onl:e a monk was selected, a deputation of bishops and archons went to his mon:l5tery and brought thc candidate back from the desert in chains. The cus· tom of ch'lining their choice must have sttlrted in remote anliquity, for pious monh were prone to refuse this prefennent and often fled from the deputation, hiding from their pursuers. Perhaps the first example wa.~ the twelfth pope, DEMETRIUS t (189231), who WlIS no monk but an Illiterate rnstic in charge of a vineyard-and was married. His predecessor, Bishop JUUAN, the eleventh patriarch (180189), had a vision while on his deathbed of a man bringing him a bunl:h of early grapes, and this man was marked by the angel of the Lord 10 succeed him. The following morning. when Demetrius came to the patrUrch with a bunch of grapes, Julian told his companions that Demetrius was his successor. Demetrius protested in vain, citing hb illiteracy and marricd state, bot Julian's deacons enchained him and took him for enthronement. ~Ie proved 10 be one of the ablest patriarchs. Thc same SlOry has recurred in the Middle Ages and modem times of monks who tried to escapc prefennent to the ponlificate as a sign of humility, perhaps also for fCllf of the dangers besetting Ihat position in ages of perse· cUlion. A~ a ~imple monk, thc l:hosen candidate had to go Ihrough the nece~~ary preferments in successive days from priest to hii:h priest (qummu~), bw not bishop, before hi~ final enthronement on a Sunday. In the case of a celibate layman, the candidate had first 10 take the monastic vow before going through the same procedure. The ceremony of papal investiture was originally held in the Cathedral of Saint Mark in Alexandria, where the traditional seat of the papacy remained unlil it was moved 10 Cairo by Pope CHRIST'OOOULUS (1047-1077) in the eleventh century, 50 it would bl: within reach of the reigning Muhammadan authority. First, the pope rCi!iidcd at al·Mu'allaqah Church
2000
PORCH
in Old Cairo. Utter he moved to the Church of the Virgin 31 I;lARIT AL-ROM. In the nineteenth century
CYRIL IV (1854-1861) constructed $ainl Mark'~ Ca· thedral in the A1.hakiyyah district, and buill a new IXltriarchal residence and his school in the same area. During the pontificate of CYRil VI (19591971), the new and majestic Calhedml Qf SainI Mark, logethe,· with the patriarchal palace and the various theological institutions, were established a\ ANIJA Rl,lWAVS. which was originally a Coptic cemetery. (The authorities moved the ccmcll''Y outside the city 10 the Red MO\.Inlsi" region, al·Jabal al· Ahmar.)
The des<:riplion of the ceremony of cnn,sel,:ration of the pope has been preserved by Alfred J. Butler in his Ancielll Coptic Churcnts (If Egypt (Vol. 2, pp. 309-3 II). On the eve of his enthronement, the com· didale. in chains, kept vigil by the 10mb of Saint Mark; after the body of the evangelist wa~ stolen, the vigil wa.~ by the remains of the candidate's pn:dL~essor. The following morning, after Ihe matins $c!..... ice wa, Mlng, the solemn liturgical service was officiated by tbe senior bishop: After the reading of the lesson~, the chaill$ are loosed: and when the passage from the Acts is finished, a procession is foroled to the ahar. First come the deacons bearing upliflL-d crosses, burning lapers, and Ilabella; then a priClit swinging a thurible, And behind him another pril'st bearing the silver or ~oldcn gospel; next the archdeacon: the ~nior bishop followed by the oth,;r prelates walking two by two; the patriarch elL-ct, vested in dalmatlc and am ice, and moving with bowed head between twO pries!.s; and lastly all the other priests in due order. Thus they advane'l with mu· sic and Ch;lOts to the Iwykfl/, where all salute the altar. After the first gospel lhe senior bishop sits on the throne, and all the bishops on lhe bench of the tl'ibune beside him, facing weslward; but the plltr'lnr'Ch .~tands below between the altar and th.:: lhl'one, llnd faces easlward, a pril'st holding him on either side: lind atl the prics1.~ and dea· cons sit on the lower steps bdow Ih.:: prelates. Then the senior hishop gives the deerel= or inslnlment of elel;:tioo to a deal;:on, who tah,s it to the ambo, and reads it aloud. All the bishops suhscribe lheir consenl: af1.::r which three priesl~ and three deacons of Alexandria, and either the abbot of Dayr AnM Maq:ir, or the ruler of Akxandria or Babylon, i.l;:. Cairo. sign the document. After Ihis hnpl'essille function, the bishops malic toward the :lllar while hymns arc sun~ and the scniol' bishop I;:onducts prayers with incense, then
in silence lays his right hand on the patriarch's head as the lIrchdeacon n::iterates lhe proclamation. The other bishops lay hands on the pope with their eyl'S lifled 1oW',l.rd heaven. Then the senior bishop signs the patriarch with the cross, declares him "archbishop in Ihe holy Church of God of Ihe greal Cily of Alexandda," and vests him with Ihe I'pilraclJl'liQlI and chasuble. Long prayers follow while the inslrument of ordination i~ read by a deal;:on from the ambo. The bishop tben proclaims tbe patriarch. and the conarcgation rcspond~ wilh the \\.'Ord~ agios, agios (holy, holy). The Gospel is placc..-d on the palriarch's head and, after he reI;:eives lhe pallium, the cape, the crown, lind lhe staff, he is led to Ihe Ihrone, as the bisbops standing below doff lhelr mlte~. Finally, the patriarch I;:ondul;:ts the full liturgy, and afterwan! he is led in a similar, impressive procession to his cell or residence, when: homage i5 rcndered to him by the clergy and the laity. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Atiya, A. S. A 1/isWry of Eastem C/uUtiallity. Lon· don, 1967. Burmester, O. H. E. Tlte Egypliall Dr Coptic Chjjrch. Cairo, 1967. Fj·M!lSl'i, Iris Ii. The Slory of lhe Coplie Church. Cairo, 1978. Guellcc, R.-F, The Papflcy: liS IIistoric Refali(m,~ with tJlt Easlem Clwrches. New York, 1866. Macaire, C. Hls/cire de I'I!glise d'AfcxQlldrie. Cairo. 1894. Maspero, J. II/SWire fles p(l/riarchts d'AI/!xandrie. Paris, 1923. Mcinardus, O. F. A. Chris/ian Egyp/: Ancienl fllld Modern, 2nd rev, ed. Cairo, 1977. Neale, J. M. A Hislory of tile HoI)' Eastern Cllllrt"ll: General III/mdt/CliO/I, 2 vols. London, 1850. Riedel, W. Die KirclrCllrccll/sqllcllcl1 des Pain'· Ilrchfl'~' A!t"xflndrietl. Lelp7.ig, 1900. ROnCtllllill, M. P. Hisloire de l'Cgli.~e caple, 7 vnk Beirut, 1966-1973; reprint.::d B.::iI'UI, 1985-. Vel'ghese, P. Kopllsclres Chrisle.~I'ltm-Die orlhodoxen Kirchell Agyp/lm.1 und ),·,hlopicns. Stuttgart, 1973. PETRO BlI..-\NlVlC
PORCH, See Architectunll Elements of ChuRhes. PORCHER, Coptologist.
ERNEST (1855-1939), He was professor at
Frendl the College
•
PORTRAITURE, COPTIC: Porlr3ilurc of the Thinl
~ccond...;'"
:11 Ang~'''''' Main~""·I·Loirc, and tl1l'n
aI
I'am. lie "":l.~ an edilor or Coplie lc'\!' (I'all'ologi... Oricnlalill) ami calalop (National Ubr:lI)'. Pans). BI8L1OGIlAI'UY
K.""'n>crcr. W" compo A Copric B,b1rovaplry. Ann Arbor, Mich,. 1950: repr. t-,cw Yon. 1969. !rX.Nn-el'.OIlGeS
COOl1IS
PORTRAITURE. COPTIC. /The (radilit"" 0/
'''Itt
pun(allll"" de,'c/o/lln) in "!wn,,,";c licy/'( ami i" Hvm" co"li""",1 i" Copl;c E/:}'pl IWIO"11 ""III)' VII.a clemCIIIS of /,Iw(oon;c amI c/oss;c,,1 ""'. 1'(Hlmils "'ere (;frlll,,<1 i" srm,c, in lexliI"s, oml cspcc!(lII" i" IlIIim-OI, ",,,od I"",d" 0" I"bri", Imd u" "",lis. Mos( uf 1I,,'se ,,,ere as,weialcd ,dill fmICI'(II)' '"I. 'I'M.! ellll')' ,",HI,i,/s of (11'0 "rlide,', OIl(' (III 11,1' /1111""")' portrailS of II,,' prolo·Coplic pedo,1 (11Ii1'il 10 (;(lfl)' fill" e,,"wries) "",} 01'" "" Co"I;,,: port",i" ;11 "(lr;o", ",,,til,, (111/<1 (ifIII /() IlIIc sC"eli/l, c'·lIwn.:sJ.]
2001
IhC')' bc<;:lIl1C m:l.keU by" cert:.in sliITm:ss. Sirungly ellpn.-ss;'·e physiOlnomies oceu.. more and more rarely as In a po.1t;lit by a leading mastc.. Pi,in1"'tJ abou. 300 I10W in WilrAmrg (Drerop, 1933, p. 62. no. 26, pl. 16; I'ar[-..... 1980. p. H. no. 497. pI. 121. I), fobny pcmnolls are of modest quali.y wilh no individual eh:,r"cICr. From .m, l'nd of lhe lhird eenlury lhe unqU<$lionable expressiveness of many pvn",ilS i~ all .. in~-d more and mol"<' lhrough nl'W !'lyIL
"I""
I'ortralture of the Third and Fourth Centuries Thc dl)' c1im:lle or !'.g)·pl p..eser....'(1 IIn'SIl" work in pcrillhablc mal.,rials such as ..... ood and telllilcs. Thu.~ a number of portraits on wood and, tOlh rcm;l;n from 1m, laiC Roman and pmto-Cop(lc I""ri· ods. ·n....')' belong almOSt c~c1"s;vd)' to f.mer.."" an. since they ""ere altached 10 IllUmmic'$. M"m,nies plVvid,:d portnoi.s ""cre diKovercd prim:uily in .he Fa)'}":;m and its em'imns and more '1>"ely in Aruinoopolis. Many of Ihese "murmuy po.1l';';IS" were pai"'ing>< done in teml""rn or ellc:,u.~1k on woodell I,anels or on a linen sh .....ud. Au ex.ensi,·c c:l1eg(1)' consis1s of masks, carved or molded. d,,·id· ed Imo groul>S according '0 rna,eril,1 :Ull.! IYI'0loll)' (Grimlll, 1974). These l)()t"tmits werc plaecd "vcr the faec of the mumm), in such :t way dUll the d~..:cascd "I'lleared 10 he alive nlul lookinll 01'1 uf" window. This impression ",as ~'nhanecd by lhc eu..· lOin of s<:lIi"lll1,c nllurnnics upright :",d p"c~e"li"ij lhem for a long lime in the house, perhaps in a kind ,)f nnc,,'S.o,' "00111. F"cquenl1y budal look ph.ce many )'cars lalcr. In Ih<: lirSI and ~eol1u ecnlud~-s Ihese Rorn:u'oEgypl;;,n ponr:>.;ls. some showing jusl :l bus,. :
,re3'
wi'"
'"The lady 'rom I'II)')UI":' ROl1lano-Eg)'ptian. ComU· s)'
IAIII'r<4 M"s..",,,, P"ris.
2002
PORTRAITURE, COPTIC: Portraiture of Ihc Third and Fmmh CClllurics
94ft·, pI. 111. 4) nnd ;l shroud wilh ;l molded mask from Day" :.I·6;.hri in the 1)05tOll Muscum of Fine ArLo: (Crimm, 1974. pp. 95ft', pl. 112. 2). Three (of a projecled four) volull1Cl1 of all known mUlIIlIly par· trails lind f''llgmems have hcen published (l'lIrlasca, 1969, 1977. 1980). The rorcn.mners of alllhcsc mummy po".,.i,s a'"C Ihe anlhropold collins and shrourls of pha.;}<)nic and Ptolemaic times, which wert: connl.-'ClOO wilh lhe """''l;hip of Osiris. l3t;)'plians belie\oed lha' e\'<::1)' dc:ld man hceame .he murtkrcd Osiris. god of lhe umJcrworld, and by virtue of lhal idemily panici· pated in Osiris' resurreclion. It was e\oidcntly still "'"o"'n :.1 Ihe 11""$hold of Ihe CoI.lic l>eriod Illal mummies equipped wilh painted ponr.>i1S or mash W1:1'e e(),mecll.-'tI Wilh Ihis papn belief in resurrec· lion (Parlasca, 1966, pp. W6lf). II is certainly no
accident thaI Ihere lire no Christian port".;, mum· mies. (The port ...... i1 of A"'Il1oniOli in Ihe Louvre Is no longer thooglll 10 be Chl'islian.) There was no nalU.....1 eonlinuily of 11ll.-'Se pllglln beliefs inlo the Clll'istian·IJy7.llntine period, which is e",lIoo Coptic. BUI these Romano-Egyplian ponr.>it5 can be called proto-Copllc Ix:cause Ihey already show Ihe unrealistic, e~prnsi"e style of Coptic Christian an. In this prow-Coptic period. Ihere arc only a few "ad"pled" Chri$ti:1Il day eoUins. l'O!i.o:ibly these ex· eeplions al"()l;C even bdorc lhe linal prohibilion of pagan culls, al the end of Ihe foonh eentul)'. (Par·
R0ll111no-Egypliall 1>O"'"il (t'..gyl'linn Iype). Thi,·d· (oUl,h cenlul)'. COllrh')'y IAJ'll're Mil)·"""', I'aris.
POl1nit of a "sickly woman." Romano·Eg}'J>lian. M". s.:",,, of Berli".
PORTRAITURE, COPTIC: Porll,lilurc or the Third and Fourth Centuries
lascll, 1966, Pl'. 210, 291). Only in l'"<.'Ccnl lim"" 11IIS a so fur uniqu~ ~x.amplc of a Chrislian p;linll-d ""reOl,h.'1l!us beo.:ono'" known. 11,,,, J, Paul Gelly Musc· urn in Malibu. California, oblained pans of" simple wooc.lcn sarcoph.'1Sus. on one long side of whkl, Ihe deceased-a six·y.-ar-<>Id boy named Ammonios-is rcpn:sc:nled l)"inS on :> couch. On both "idcs appc:>r four c1,iWlike pages. Tbe complele ab!;cnce of pa. pn symbols (..'<>Oden coffins in Ihe imperial lX:riod always bear I1tolifs from lhe wo..ld of Ihe E&YI'li;>n cull of Ihe deoo) .1 the boy belonged 10 :> Chrisli:tn family. nle upper 1)311 of Ihe deatl hoy's
2003
body stands nUl c1carly againsl Ihe background. The field Ide open in Ihe nmllrcss·palh:nl h,.s ehe clfeel of " rccl.angular nimbus. The sl)'le of Ihe painling. especially Ihe 51ylW;-d portr.lil. suggc:lts a laic fourth-ccnlury dale. II rnay hoe roughly com",mporary wilh lhe 100Ie mummy portrails. II111LlOCRAPIfY
Coche de la Fert~. E. l.es Ponroils romQllo-i1JJ'p/i~lls d" (.0",.,.". Pntis. 1952. l)rerup, II. me /J",i"r""g du ,u,m,icIlponriJu. P:ld· crOOm, 19)); Ncudruck, New Vork and London, 1968, Grimm, G. Di" ro",iscll"" Mumie""",~kt'" {illS Agypleu. Wk'Sbndcn, 1974. l'arla"'a. K. M,m,icl1l1or,riilS w,d ,'"m'""dlc DellI;· "';;/<11', Wicsunilcrl, 1966. ReJleriuriu d'/lr/e di'f/'E~i/l(J grecQ·ro",allrl. cd, A, Adri~Uli, SCl"ic~ B: Rirralli iii ""m""ie, Vvls. 1-3. J'alcrmo, 1969: Rome 1977, 1980, Thompson. lJ. L MIlIllmy I'ol'/rails ill /I'e J. "11101 Gelly M"scmll, Mnlib'" Calif., 1982. K~lIS
I'O\R'.I\S("A
•
1
~
• I'on..ail or an aide .. woman_ Komano·Egyplian. Cour' I~y Tile Mt'lrup<J!iwlI Muse"", of An, New York.
Ponrait of "Ammonios," Painling on wood. Co,."rs." Lm",re ,I/,tS"",u. "oris.
2004
PORTRAITURE, COPTIC: POIiraiture of the Fifth to Ninth Ccnlul'ics
Portraiture or the Fifth to Ninth Cenlurles
(optic Clll'iSlinn I',m'"ils, likc U)'7":lIlli"c pormlits, show.:d Ihe busl in a fronlal posilion, which distinguishe,l lhem f,um 1(0m::U'o·~pli:". por· t,.alts, alnlOSI alwa)'li 5hown in Ihrt.'t:"lu:lncrs I,jew. P~vple all:'ch~'tJ 10 lhe'n Ihe "nluc of a """,,,nee of Ihe deceased, but they "'e"e nOI icons 10 be ,'enerol· ~-d '" channels 10 lhe spiril",,11 worlJ. 0"", of tl .... b<J is lhat of an :m:hangcl, somelimes thought to be a woman (C«h", de la I'c'1(" 1'161, p. 26), in Ihe e:.bin<:1 des M&billcs. P:uis. Accordinl: to W..itzmann (1979, flf'. 533-39), the basts for Ihe idenlilication of the personage :t!I an an:hang..1 is. in addiliOf' 10 Ihe ",Hilary C<)SlullIe. the jewel placc<J on Ihe /ilkl in lhe hair wilh rihbons falling 10 the b:>ck Rnd Ihe ge:slUrc of bcnc<.licliol1 oflhe h:md in front of the chnl. Generally dal~-d to the si"th century by ~n of ils simple and ,"cry hannon~ lin.cs, il 5e<"ms rother 10 belong 10 the beginnin£ of Ih", liflh century. the CUlIIr..lSl "'ith the following pon",ils i:5 strikinS· Anolher ponroit in the Cahinet de. .... Cdaillcs is inSClibt.-d "Our f:,lhe,' ....:...k lhe Evangelisl." n,e absence of bolh n hnlo and the saint's lide argue llK:linsl Ihe SUJl,J:c:.lion thai the person ponr..)·l.-.f is Sninl Mark th... EvangeliSI. According 10 his inscribed tille. he is more likely 10 b\.' Ihe ~uperior of a nlO1t:LUery, undoubledly :l bishol' because of his spl.ocHie l'eSlnH;IIl, and probnhly :l (onner monk. Tile head is round, h:onlly clollK"led (which is eOIllilion in Eg,)'pl), with ~t ...ighl hair. amI he has a ~hol'l heanllhal reaclll.'S f"utll one e'lI" tu the ulher. The o,.dinary d;.,linll (Weitzmann. 1979. I), 553. no. 498) 10 Ihe eml of II,e si~lh cemul'Y o.Ioo·s 1Iut l<1ke "eeOI1l11 of this "'!al;I'e1y "ealislic aspect of the face, or of Ihe fo"''' of Ihe eye sudel 111,,1. will,oul bciug elongated, is somewhat reminiscent of I'hnraonic eOlI,·enliuns. These wUlIle.l indie:lle anolher daling, namely, Ihe flrsl Imlt' of Ih\! si"th cenl"ry. A Illird porln';1 is idetllifled by Ihe inscriplion "I he lIoly ahbOI Ab,':\h;llll. bishop." The I;,ce is b"ardcd: Ihe lOp of Ihe head is .~url'O'"ldcd by a halo: Ihe ann hulds ,. Gospel uf Uy~'"l1iJ\e deeora· lion of lhe si~th 01' se\'enlh cenlul)', The eyes are SlrikinG because of Ihe;,- slmpc ,,,,,I il"pI'Cs.si\'cly majcslic gaze, This llIay he Ihe elfecl 01' a realistic slyle Ih"I, ;n el1ll'hasizi"G ee'1,.ill fc"lurn. helps lu d:l1C lhis po'1'';lil to Ihe ~i~lh 01' sc,'enth century.
111is W:lS conf"'lI\ed by "'hr!ln Kl'au.'iC (1971) 10 be 590-600, with Illl' place b.,.·ing Arm""I, wher'e AIm,· Imlll "'uslic showiug chrisl and Sai", Menas in full IcnGth. Co-nscn'cd in Ihe l..ou"....... il likely came from Oa)T Apo Apollo. It is :> unique Clla",ple of
Slylized 1>0"'':1;1 of a boy. I'a;ming on wood. /'ri,·tlle Cul/ulio". EdwIg",", C(Jtlrl"'~y I'i"",,,, lilt lJo"f/SUr.I.
PORTRAITURE, COPTIC: Portraiture or the Firth to Ninth CClllur'ics
2005
Painled sarcophagus. Founh ",emury. Wood ca,'cred \\ilh paililed linen: approx, lenglh: 160 em. CamUS! J. "",,, G"II)' Muse"m. Af,"ib", Calif..m"'(l.
Ibm slyle. The IWO l~rsonages, full·face I'ml "ide by side, have a Illo"l p<'ndffiling gale. BUI the allillJd,~> which is vel)' Coplic ill ddyi,,!: Ihe laws of Ihe realistic Slyle, links tl1<'rn doscly IOllelher. nmgiSle· rillily making good Ihe abscm;e of Jeplh, This is ;",:!,:on,plishcd by Chris!'s geslure as h<J encircles Menas' .
B"SI of a woman. Paimcd pla~lcr. "'Ia,k t)r" 1lI111I11I1Y. I'ounh ",emury. Comtc_
of a Il\<.lunlain Dclwccn thcm and closely auached to Ihem_ l'gainsl whi<.:h Ihe halos surruundinll el".:h head hlaze wilh lighl. 'l'he costllme of each and Ih.: decul":,lioll of (he book (h,,( Christ holds would in· cline sollle 10 sec Ihis 1}t)r1fail as n IIp_111line work. bUl nOlhing could be funher from the lruth. The for'ms nro sho"1 nnd Ihicksel; each or Ihe hends is disproponionalcly I,\I-ge in rdalion 10 Ih,' body: ond Chri.,t'., h..,od is mo,'e imporl''''1 110,,,, 110", of Men.'S. The long Ilmk ond p:lllium Ihal each wem"l! do 1101
8WH;I1 ... r.." ,ne of inlcrlacing.~.-rnJ>CSlO),. Nil1lh cenlU' ry. CUllrle5Y wm'"'' AlIl.~""''', Puris.
2006
PORTRAITURE, COPTIC; Porlr<.tihu-c orthc Fiflh to Ninth Ccnlurics
Chrisl and AnM Min.5. (S;"nt Men",,). P:ainling in dish:mpcr on wood. WWil. SC....,nth cenlury. Hdghl; 57 c,u: wiulh, 57 cm: Ihickness: 2 cm. C(mfl~syl.m",rtlMilS"""" Pilns.
loa...., 6ymnlinc d~nce; "or oJu Ih,'Y dh
is ("'Iable 10 ,he :oeycmh cenllllY (Weitzmann, 1979, p. 553, no, 449), Half-k'nglh po,',mils can be found in 1;1I"C81')', One fifth·centul)' work in the l..ouv'-e represenls Ihe SCilSOUS (du Bourguel. 1964. no. B 25); anothcl' fiflh.century piece in Ihc Lou"re shows "erl-ids (tlu 1l01l11:1Iet, 1964, no. C 77), A "iuth'centul)' I'''Jll'c, semation of ;m evangclisl i.~ found in die Delroit InSlilUlC of AI'1S (dll !Jourguel, t968,]1. 164), 1JI1l1.loeRM'IIY 1301ll'gllcI, P. du, C"I"lv~"e des eloll'c,! cOf,kS, VoL 1. Musec Nallo",,1 till Louvre, I'oris, 1\/64, _ _ . I:Arl CQllle, Collcctlon I'D,", dal's Ie Il\onde, POlis, t \/68, J;;IJrly Chris"'"" Arl, London. 1972. Chnssinat, [J, Fo",'lIc,~ " 11"0,,11, C..iro, 1911. CI~..J"I. J, L" mMW)'ler" ", iiI "ccropolc de /J,U)"lr. Vol. 1. issucd I" 1"'0 pa"~, Mcmoires publiCs P;1r Ie. rncmlm::s de I'/nstilllt rran~!lis d·al'l.:hcologie orienlale It" C:.ire. 12 !Inti 39. Cairo. 1904-1916,
=-_'
PREFECT
Coche de 101 Ferte, E. "Du portmit
a I'ieone." L'Oeil
77 (1961), Kmuse, M. "Zur l..okalisierung und Datierung kop'
tischer Denkmlifer, l)as Tafelbild des Bischoffs Abr"ham," Zeil!,chrifl ller AJ:Yp/i$clrct! Sprm;he 97 (1971);106-111. Ouibell. J, E. Excava/iolls al Saqqara (/905-1910), 611015, Cairo, 1901-1913, _ Weiumann, K., ed, Age of Spiri/llality, New York. 1919. PIERRE vu BoURGUln, SJ.
TIle initillie asks God for healing of the body as well as of the soul: "give he:lling for my body ... and redeem my eternal lighHoul and my spirit." This feature is al$O found in the Manichaean Psal· tel', where Jesus is the hellvenly physician who cares for body and spirit (cf. index. AUberry. 1938), This pmyer, Gnostic in character, must be read in the light of the Jewish and Hennetlc prayers and liturgics, Moreover, the {onnal stmcture uf this text follows an exaCI schema, which is that of the prayers in the magic literature of Egypt between the second and third eenU..IIies A.D.
POTSTANDS. See Ceramics, Coptic.
POTTERY.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
See Ceramics, Coplic.
PRAYER OF ABSOLUTION.
See AbsolUlion.
PRAYER OF THE APOSTLE PAUL.
This
prayer forms pari of the Jung Codex (Codex I of the NAG HAMMADI UBRARY). to which it probably is an addition. II begins with a series of fOUl' allributes referring 10 the Redl~mcr, to whom the initiate applies 10 obtain cer1ain graces; "you are my milld , , ,you are my hOUlle ... you are my fullness ... yuu lire my repose." Sub:K.'Quently the initiate in· vokes God through the mediation of Christ. The divinity is addressed ns the one who is and prl'Cxisl· ed. This firsl pOlrt of Ihe Prayer is worthy of \Compt,r· ison with the firM Stele of the Three Stcles (/f Seth (NIIC VII,S) wilh which it sllllrcs many f"atures. The exprenion "my Redeemer, redeem me for I am yours" recalls Ihe first Siele 1111.32, "fur I llm thine [own) Son," for "you arc my mind" (cr. first Stele 119; "you tHe my mind, my "mher'''). The tilles given to God in the Prayer are found in p:1I1 in the first Siele: "I invoke you, Ihe One whu is ami preexisted" recalls the fir'St Stele 119.25, "you are he who is," and the second Stele 124.5: "Ihe first preexistent One," The evocation of the treasure house, on the other hand, recalls the heavenly tl'easure and the stol'ehouse of Ihe soul in Ihe Au· /Illm/i!cos Logos (NHC VI. 2): "her enemies watch her a.~ she ,'ises towlll"dS heaven, in her treasure, where her IIOIU is, llnd In safety In her storehouse" (28.22-21), The theme of treasure is also found in the Manidmean Psalms (d. index to AUberry, 1938).
2007
AUberry, C. R. C. A MOllichoellll Psalm·/kJok, PI 2. Stutlgart, 1938, Mueller, 0, "The Prayer of the Ap05tle Paul," lrans. D. Mueller. In The Nill HIl",mlldi Library it! Elf' gluh, ed. J. M. Robin!oOn. San Francisco. 1977. MADELF.JNP. ScoI'F.110
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING. This text fits IImong the Hennelic work.~ of Codex VI of the NA(; HAMMADI lIRRAR .... Known in Gn:ck and Latin vcr· sions, it preserves a prayer of thanhgiving for "mind. speech, knowlcdgc" (64.9f.). The recitlltion itself preceded a (ritual) embrnee and a communal Ineal consisting of Oesh which, as in Jewish CllStom, had bcen drained of blood (65.2-1). Following Ihis short pet ilion in the codex there appears a scribal note Slating that the copyisl htld al hand several olher tractates that were not included (65.8-14). BIDLIOGRAPIIY Nock, A. D.. cd. Carpus Hermct!culIl, 4 volll. Paris, 1945-1954, Rubinson, J. M., cd. The Nag Nalllmodi !-ibrary ill Ellgli.~h, pp. 298_99, San Fl'llneisco, 1977. S, KENT BROWN
PREFECT
(pra(lf(l~'/lls Ael;.Jp/i, epurc!I(J)' Aigyp/oll).
After Diacletian's reforms, Egypt was divided into three provinces (c. A.n. 297), and the SllPl-erllC COlll' mand over the enlal'Scd army forces in the country was conCentnllOO in the hands of a single dux, o'genel'lll" (in 308/309 at the latClOt). Consequently. Ihe posilion of the prefect as a viceroy (rltcilUS AllIlalu, 2.59,1) wns reduced to thaI of a civil gov·
2008
PREFECT
crnaT of a fraction of Egypt-the province AegypIUs-whereas the Thcbaid and Ubya were both gov. erned by a prQUts (superintendent). Since Aegyptus included A1ClCandria, and thus the responsibility to forward the annual grnin tribute to Rome (and later (0 Constantinople), the prefect may have retained certain prerogatives over the praeside:>, but the evidence is not unambiguous (d. Lallemand, 1964. pp. 49-51; Hubner, 1952, pp. 2-3). The prefect was directly responsible to the pra4ectus prac/orio and 10 the emperor, who controlled his activities directly or through officials attached 10 lhe prdectul'lll bureau (officium, taxis). The office of Ihe prefect disappeared from January 314/Dcccmbcr 315 until after the defeat of Lj. dnlus in September 324. In Ihis decllue, ACgyptu5 was divided into two provinces, each g<werned by a pratses: Aegyptus Hcrculia, Middle Egypt and a large portion of the Eastern Della; and Aegyptus lovia, the Western Delta with Alexandria. When the provinces were reunited. the prefect apparently attained a higher ronk. From 326 on, he is addressed as ~pareh (no longer as haR~m"n), even by private persons. About 335 his ronk oroer was raised from pr"'rctwimus (mOSt excellent; Greek, tiiasamotatos) to clarissimus (most glorious; Greek, lamprouuos). With the crealion of the diocese of Egypt about 381, the prefect definitely assumed the epithet spec· labiIis (admirable: Greek, perih/eptos) and the title (prae/eetus) augusta/is, as an expression of his su· periority over the praesides. He virtually replaced the vicarius as intennediary between the prarsides and the central authority. The area under direct control of the prefect was further reduced when Middle Egypt was detached from Augustamnica, which was created in 341 and probably covered the former Hereulia, to become thr separate province Arcadia in 386. Justinian's refonns, laid down in Edict XIII (538/ 539 or, less probably, 533/534), emphasized com· pllrtmcntalization within the diocese of Egypt, con' solidating the authority In each divl$ion. The gover· nors of the provinces were invested with military power. Accordingly, the prefect strrngthened his poISition in Aegyptus, where he combined his office with that of dux and henceforth ruled a~ dux augus· la/is, but he lost his vicarial status (the supervision over the prarsides) in favor of the prae/cetus pradario. This step toward decentralization presumably facilitated the eonqu~t of Egypt by the Arabs be· tween 639 and 641, after which the prefect became the Arab governor of a fraction of the caliphate.
Qualifications. Appolnlment. and Term of Office The prefect was appointed by lhe emperor from among persons of equestrian, later of senatorial, rank. Most of the prefects came from the eastern part of the empire. Several of them were familiar with the peculiarities of £iypt through origin (e.g., Johannes I...imI.rion (542» or prior service (e.g., flavius Eutolmius Tatianus [fonner proeses of the Thebaid, prefect in 367-370 and 375-376)). These antecedents, especially the prefect's relations with local notables, promoted corruption. From lhe fifth century on, magnates and derical leaders exerted an increasing influence on the civil government of Egypt, installing their candidates as prefects. From lhe sources available for the fourth century (especially the festal letters of Patriarch ATHANASTUS I. mentioning the prefects from 328 to 373), it seems that the prefect usually held the office for one year. Yet the tenn of office could arbitrarily be shortened or prolonged by the emperor. Second terms almasl never occurred. The (wo second terms of office attesled so far (Flavius Philagrius [335-337 and] 338-339: Flavius Eulolmius Tatianus (see above» are probably special cases involving eeclesiastical politics.
Powen of the Prefect Before the creation of Ihe dux as supreme military commander for the whole country (res;ponsible to a mOKister mj(j/um (commander of the soldiers]), each governor seems to have commanded the troops in his own province. The reunification of c;ivil and military powers on a provincial level was occasionally used as a means to cope with foreign pressure; for instance, about 440 the dl/x of the Thebaid was given s\lpervision of the civil admini· stl'lltion-at least in the Upper Thebaid, affected by raids of Blemmyes and Nobadac-and was definite· ly reestablished by Justinian in Edict XIII. The pre· fect was thus dl.-prived of military powers from about 308/309 until 538/539 (or 553/554), Exccpt for those duties directly connected with the financial administration of lhe country, the civil authority of the prefect was limited to his o'''n province, Aegyptu!. This appears from the fact that most of the edicts issued by the prefect were of a financial nature. The prefect and the members of Ihe financial depanment (Krinium) were responsible for the tax-
PREFECT es to be raised annu/l.lly in Egypt according to the assessment of the central government. This involved the distribution of lhe lotal amount of taxC5 prescribed in the emperor's delegatio over the provo inces (that is. as far as Acgyptus is concerned. over the various communities): the supervision of the financial activities of the prllcsidf!S and the !aX col· lectors: and especially the organization of the annona civicll, thc collection of grain taxes for the support of Ale.andria and the concentration at the port of the aisia embolt, the "happy" (grain) shipment for ConsUintinopie. Edict XIII charged the prefect and his staff with the autonomou.~ administration of the Dnllona militllris. The prefect's responsibility for the publication and enforcement of imperial edicts and for the preservation of the public order, which involved criminal justiCe and ocC85ional inspection triJl'l, also had a financial goal. The same was troe of his supervision of public works, especially of those improving the irrigation of arable land, and his conlrol of the municipal administration, mainly ConCel11ed with the appointment of liturgists. Another branch of the officil/m, comprising the scrinil/Itl of the cOmmen/llriensis (for criminal jus. lice) and that of the ab actu (for civil alfuirs), assist· ed Ihe prefect in his judicial functions. Relatively few petilions submitted to the prefect seem to have resulted in a hearing before his coun, where he was assisted by legal advisers (assessores). Mo.st civ· il and administrative cases were disposed of with a notation appended to the petition (subscriptio; Greek, hypograpJrI). This reply settled the maller on the basis of judicial precedents or refe.Ted it to local officials (e.g., the Slrlliegos or the defensor eivilll/is), to a lower coun (e.g., the iudicf!s pedallei (petty judges)), or to a representative of the prefect (e.g., the iudiells). The agencies that did not have (01' had not obtained by delegtltion of the prefect) the competence to pa~.~ judgments returned the case to the prefectural court with the results of their investigation. Though the pn.:fcct n.:tained full powen to admin· ister civil and criminal justice, his judicial activities were gradually affected by the development of rival couns. His coun (conv~mIIlS) was abolished when Diocletian conferred jurisdiction upon the praesides in their own provinces. Until the creation of the diocese of Egypt, the jurisdiction of the pratsides and that of Ihe prefect were equivalent and mutual· ly independent. After 381, the tribunal of the pre· fect (elevated to fudex ex/raordinarius) mainly func·
2009
tioned as a court of appeal against judgments made by the praesides (iudices ordinllrilJ. The prefect's jurisdiction was funher limited by the coon of the dux, which arrogaled the right to conduct civil pmcudings, as well as by the ecclesiastical tribunals, fonnally recognited in 325 and gradually extending their competences. Theoretically the prefect's right of decree (ius ed· iccndi) involved the right to issue edicu, the validi· ty of which extended beyond the boundaries of his province, a privilegc recalling his fanner viceregal position. In actual practice, this seems to have been an accessol')' task of his financial administration of Egypt (e.g., the prefect's edicts about the apPOrtionnlent of the taxes according to the order sent to him by the praefeclus praclorio). The majority of the "prefectural" edicts consisted of imperial de· crees, which the prefect had to publish and enforce. such as edicts dealing with religious affairs. The prefect played an active role in the ecclCliwtieal politics of the emperorL Clodius CuJcianus (301-307) and Sossianus Hierocles (307) persecut· ed the Christians; Flavius Philagrius enforced the deposition of Bishop Athanasius (339); Ecdicius Olympus supponed Ihe pagan policy of Julian (362363); Flavius Eutolmius Tatianus executed the anti· onhodox measures ordered by Valens (375-376); Evagrius enforced Theodosius' edict prohibiting pa. gan cults (391): florus supported the installation of the Monophysite patriarch Proterius (452). In spite of the literal')' SOUrl:C5 alleging thai Cyrus was prefl:ct and patriarch at the same time (631640), lhe assumption that both Offil:C5 l:ould be combined remains doubtful.
BIBLIOGRAPIIY
BaStianin!, G. "Lista dei prefelti d'Egitto dal 30a al 299p." Zei/scJrrifl flJr Papyro!ogic und Epigraphik 17 (1975):263-328. -''---' "Lista del prefelti d'Egillo dal 300. 0.1 299p. Aggiunte e correllonl." Zeilsehrift fur Pllpyro!ogie und Epigraphik 38 (1980):75-89. Cantarelli, L. La serie dei preferti d'Egirto. ll. Dil Diodezillno alfll morle di Teodosio ! (A..D. 284395). Memorie della Reale Accademia dei Uncei, Claue di Scienle Morali, Sloriche e Filologiche, ser. 5, Vol. 14, fase. 6. Rome, 1911. Hardy, E. R. "The Egyptian Policy of Justinian." Dwnoorton Dales Pilpers 22 (1968):23-41. Hubner, H. Der Praefeetus A.egypti von DiokIe/ian bis [.Urn Ende der r/jm/schen lIerrsehaf/. MunichPasing, 1952.
2010
PRESBYTERY
Lal1emand, J. "Lcs Prefels d'Egypte pendant la per· S«lltion de Diocli:tien." In M~I'lIIgr,\' Henri Gre· goire, Vol. 3. Annuaire de I'lnslilul .Ie philolugie et I'histoirc orientales et slaves 1 I. Bru55Cls, 1951. I. 'AdminiSlra/iQ// civile de I'Egyp/t.' de l'llvimemelll (Ie DiQCltJliell il fa cr~aliol/ du diQC~se (284-382). COlllribmioll a /'~Iude des rapports 1m· Ire l'Egypte ct /'Empire a la {hI 1111 lilt' el (//1 dtbul 1111 IVe ,{Ieele. Academic ROY(lk de Belgique, Cla~~e de~ Lellr-es, M,,;moire~, Vol. 57, fa~c, 2. Brussels, 1964. Lewis, N. "The Prefect's Convemu!(: Proceedings and Prucedures." Bullelill of the Americu/l Sociely 01 PupyrologislS 18 (1981):119-28. Reinmuth, O. W. The l're/ecI QI Egypllrom AlIgllS/IIS to Diocletilln. Leipr.ig, 1935. "Praefectus Aegypti." In ReQI"m:ydopiidie dtr c/ossisdum AltefUll/lswiurfluha/l, Vol. 44. Stullgart, 1954. "Praefecu.l.~ Aegypli." In Real'.'IIcyelopiidie der cfQssischell Aiterlllmswisse"schu/l, Supp., Vol. 8, cob. 525-39. Stullgart, 1956, Remondon, R. "L'Edit XJJI de Justinien a·t·il etl! p.'/)mulgu~ en 539?" Cltrmriqllc ,/'Egyple 30 (1955):112-21. Vandersleycn, C. CJm)llologie des prt/dS d'Egyple de 284 Il 395. Collection UllornliS 55. Brussels, 1962. Winkelmann, F. "Al!:YP1en uml Byamz ,"or der am· bischen Erohenmg.'· Bywtlfi"oslav;c'l 40 (1979): 161-82.
PRESBYTERY, See Architeclural Elements of Churches.
PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN IN THE TEMPLE, FEAST OF THE, See Theo· tokos, FenSI of the.
PRESS, COPTIC. [T1li.s e.tl'Y COll.s;SI$ of 111'0 Qrl;cJe.~.
olle
Oil
Major Organs, Ihe Olltcr Qn Minor
Orgaru.)
Major Organs COplS began publishing n~lIglous. intdk,ctual, and political periodicals in the seeond half of the
nineteenth century. Some journals and ne....'Spapen; were wrillen to appeal (0 Muslims as well as Christians, while O1hel'5 focused more narrowly on communal and church nITain;. The heyday or su..:h publications was the seventy·five y(''af5 between Ihe rounding of thc neWJ;papel' (ll't there was for thc occupation, il came to suppon the cause of independence. It became a newspaper more concerned with nalional than communal affaln but relained a conservative color. It opposed the 7.aghlulistli and promoted coopera· tion wilh the Brilish as the quickcst route 10 inde· pendence. It also opposed the boycou of the Milner mission. The newsPDper had a tendency to support whatever ministry was In power and was fcn,ently
PRESS, COPTIC: Major Organs
loyal 10 the Illl'(lne, two sen.~ible positions for a minOlity paper, With ol,Wolml'~ sale, tl'e newspilpCI' began suppc)l'ling t.he Wold pnny, but its conversion in 1924 came tou l'lle. The Wil/el P."1l1y had no t'Cal need to SllPflOrt twO COptic newspapcl1i, and Afi.~r had a prior and stronger claim [0 a nationalist rcadenhip. AI,WII!u/I'S error althis point Olay have been to look too much like its rival. Mifr. with similar views on church a,ld national mailers. II began to aprea" sporadically in 1927 and disappeared in 1930. Mifr WllS Ihc pn:emincnt Coptic organ in the period of the constitutional monarchy. Thmughout its life. it claimed 10 spc:lk for the Copts, .. !though it al.c;o selVepaper wa.~ velY influential in promoting church I'eform. and its support for thc COMMUNITY COUNCIL probably afforded that body .c;ol1le protection from government interference. Mifr beg;1I1 publicatiun as a staunch defender of the Blitish Occupation. It opposed the pan·Islamic nallon"liSIIl of M~l"AI'A KAMIL and defended the Coptic community :lg:lin.~t the allacks "f a!·f.j,,,jJ' and a/.MII'(IY)/(Id in 1908-1909. Mj~r aiM) supported the COl-riC CONGIlt.:SS O~' I\SvOT in 1911, It was in this troubled period a slrunger adVOCtlte of Coptic rights than at allY other time until the late 1940.~. As nl.Manq'lb,ldl noted, there was no surer way to linanclal ruin in E.gypt than 10 start a newspaper. In J'} I7, Mi~r disllppearcd for :J short period owing to the owner's 'inunclal lroubles. Whcn it reapPcilJ'cd in 1918, it did so as n convel1 to the nationalist cnusc. By thc lill'c of ll,e 1919 r'cvoluliorl, Misr was supporting the Wafd pal1y and was "chemcntly anli-13rilish, It cven scrvcd for a short period as the chief zaghlulist organ. For the mOSl parI, the news· p:Jper continucd to back the Wald, ahhough its en· thuslasm for the p,Il1y sometimes waven~.1. Mif~ was also a very strong supporter of the Wald during the contl'Oversial 1938 election, but thereafter it was very subdued in its criticism of the victoliou.~ Mahmud gove",lment. Alie"the Coptic politician MAKkAM EBEtO left the W(lfd in the 19405, Mi~r's support fo ..
20 II
the pany ended. Following World War II, Mi~r assumed a Illore cOllllllunal chllnlcter lInd largely Withdrew from the national political arena. It was clcllr in expressing its disappointment in the politi· cal system. Undcr AAt..AMAU MOAA. the newspaper intensified ilS defense of Coptic interests, Accusing the newspaper of religious fanaticism. the !?idqi government ceased publishing announcements in its pages. AI-MQlIlJroh aJ.Mi~riyyah was founded in 1928 b)· Ihe rndical priest and rlUJlO\lS Onltor, the qummll.~ Murqus MalalT SAlUIYos' Sarjiylls was a popular figure among Muslims and COpts and was an influen· tial advocate of church reform. FOT most of his working life, he was thc bane of the patriarchate. Ill.' expressed hIs views with so tittle tact in his journal that he was excommunicatctl twice. When his friend Anb;\ MAC"AMIl/S III was electcd patriarch on a reform platform in 1944, Sarji)'l1s found himself, for the first time, backing the patri· archate. lIe became Ihe ~triarch's waklJ (vicar guard) and surprisingly, in a complele reve~l, continued to support him, even when the lauer railed to enact his promiscd reforms. &u:iiy(ili alro scrved as ...akll for Macariuli' 5uccessor, YOSAs II. The latter also renegcd on promises of reform and plunged the community into conliiderable chaos. By 1952, Sarjiylls was lluacking the IX1lriurch, and was excomlllunicated as a rcsuh of these allacks, but wa.~ later ''Cinstaled. AI-MalllJ.rall was primarily intercstcd in internal mailers, but il did deal with the wider area of Coptic·Muslim ,'elations. It wa.~ not affilinted Wilh nny party, bllt did oppose the Wold owing to its proprietor's brcak with thal p:U1y in the 19205. Sal" jiyus was inclined to :.duress all subjects only in tefmS of how they wnuld affect the Coptic commu· nity, AI·Mtmllmh W;lS diligent in reponing incidents of violence against Copts and complained ahout governmenl intel'fcl'cnce in eOllllllunily llffail1i, The journnl was more tcmperalc when SaljiyOs scrved as waHl. The weekly newspaper WalCHlI is the 11I0SI important Coplic organ to appear in the post-1952 period, In early 1958, a group of Coptic nOlables (ledded thai the cOllllllunity needed a vehicle lO express il~ views and inlel'l:.o;L~. After acquiring a governmcnt permit, Ihe newspapcl' began to appeal' under lhe editorship of 'Azb. Miroi, a former chief editor of al-A.hrlJlII. The neWSpaper encountered serious fi· nancial difficulties. owing principally to the lack of advertising brought aboul by the 1961 nationaJiT.3· tions. bUI it has cominued 10 publish. Wa!a'" n.~
2012
PRESS, COPTIC: Minor Organs
ports on Orthodox church concerns and also dis· cusses the affairs of other Egyptian Christian sects. The newspap.!r also publishC$ articles 011 mllllers of general national concern. In 1981, Wa!Dnr was su.spended for publishing articles lhat Ihe governlnenl declared were inflammatory. These articlC$ dealt with the Christian· Muslim violence that broke OUI in the district of al.ZJ,wiyah al·l;lamrt'. WQ!~n' prolesled lhe susp.!n· sion and look its case to court. In June 1983, the COl.iI1 upheld WD!anl's position. Nonelheless, the suspension continued unt.il December 1984. The newspaper continues 10 write on matters of specific concern 10 the Coptic community and t:onsciously tries to promote good relations between Muslims and Copts. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Caner, B. L 1986.
Th~
Copts in Egyptian PoliJu:s. London, B. L CARTER
Minor Organs The following is an attempt at the compilation of as comprehensive a list of the Arabic Coptic organs, both periodicals and daily newspapen. A!·'A'i/flh fl/.Qib!iYYflh. published monthly by Jam· 'iyal al·'ui~o\d al.Qibliyyah al-Khayriyyah at Alexan· dria in 1909 and 1910. 'Ayn.Sha/l1S, published by Claudius Labib in 1900 and cea!ICd publication three years later; mainly for Coptic languagc and history. AI·Anw"r, founded by Rev. O;1.wud aJ·Maqati in 1946, with the collaboration of AnluniyOs Mlkhli'il. Ceased publication 1968. Mainly for Coptic Ian· guage and lheological studies. AI·Falah al·Oiblr, published monthly by the Cen· tral al·lmlln Benevolent Society at Cairo (rom 1905 to 1910. AI·flidn, published weekly, started by Mus'ad sadiq in 1952. It was mAinly interested in preserv· ing national unity in an atmosphere of seculariza· tion. It was Slopped by military decree in January 1953. It rC$umed publication in 1958. A/·Fir'rin, published bimonthly at Cairo by Tawllq l;Iabrb from 1909 \0 1920. AI./faqq, published monthly by Yusuf Manqariyus, direclor of the Cl£klCAL COu.EGE. in 1907 for II peri· od of about five years. It reappeared under the he-
gumenos Yasuf al·l)ayrT in 1947 and stopped again in 1950. It was mainly devoted to news of the diocese of Oalyfibiyyah. AI·/"'~tI, published monthly, founded by the Coptic Benevolent Sociely, wilh thc collaboration of Ihe hegumellOS Jirjis BUln.ls and preacher GhaHas Bish:1.rah, mainly for rcligioU5 subject.'l. It ceased publication in 1965. Al-Kalimah, published by laMb Kusah in 1930; il ceased publicalion in 1933. lis main fOCU5 was reli· gious subjects. AJ·Krlrmah, published in 1915 by l;IABIB JIRJlS, direClor of lhe Clcrical College, for biblical studies. II ceased publlcallon in 1930. AI·Kir"lJlh, a weekly founded by AnhA Shenouda (later Pope SHtHOIJDA til) in January 1965 when he was bishop for education; It ceased publication in December 1966. It was started again by the patriarch in Oclober 1974. It ceased publication again by on:ler of Ihe authorities in September 1981 but resumed in 1988. AI.MQitdlah QI·JadrdQh, founded by Saltimah Musa in 1929 as a SoCienlific and cultural journal. It also published articles on Coptic questions. It ceased publication In 1941. A!·Ma;Qllah QI-Qib!iyyah, monlhly published by Jirjis Phllultulwus 'Awa4 from 1907 10 1930. Mainly devoted 10 Coptic hislory and 10 the call for deries 10 concentrate their energy on spirilual maners. AI·Mall~rah rI/.MurqllsiYY
PRIEST, ORDINATION OF
published bimonthly at AsyU~ by George Kha)')'au from 1886 to 1890. Af.'Utpmtl', publish..-d monthly al Cairo by MlkhA'U BishArnh DjWlld from 1915 to 1925. Shahtlda/ llf'J!aqq, published bimonthly at Cairo by Christoforos Jabbarah from 189510 1899. AJ.Rtlbi!ah af.MasIlJlyYah, published monthly by Faraj JiJjis for Jam'iyyal al·Rflhhah a1.Masi~iyyah al Cairo in 1907 and 1908. AI·Sha'b al-Qib(r, published weekly al Alexandria by Maximlis from 1908 to 1910. AI·SiMq, published weekly by TawRq '.Iablb from 193810 1940. AI-Shu'fah. published weekly at Cairo by Tawftq Habib from 1938 to 1940. Af·ShuhadlJ. published weekly at Cairo by 'Azlz Ghall from 1935 to 1941. Tariq rll'J!ayiJl, monthly Coptic magazinc published in Alexandria in 1930 by the htgullltrlOS Youssef Megally. Religious periodical il1tendcd to satisfy the needs of Ihe Coplic family covering 10pics on theology, history, literalure. and .social affairs. PubIicalion ceased In 1942, as a result of World War II. AI.Taw{Iq, monlhly founded by the al-Tawfiq Benevolenl Society. II ceased publicalioll in 1910, Ihen was sianed again in 1938, wilh Tawfik J:fabib as editor and with the collaboration of Mus'ad ~diq, but it only lasted one year before finally ceasing publication. AI. Wa{aniyYah, published by Ayyijb !?ahri in 1911 and ceased publication in 1953. Af·Yaq;llh, published in 1924 at Cairo by the hegwnelZO! Ibn\hlm Ulqa with Mus'ad Sadl·k as editor and FAyiz Riy4Q as director. A!)'u! WeekI)', published. by Amin Khayr al-AsyOti from 1930 to 1954. Aw/ddI, monthly, published at Man~urah by Mad· 4ris al-Tarbiyyah IlI.KllnAsiYYllh al the Sodety of the Friend.s of the Bible in 1968 and. still being pub· Iished. Bashlr al-Tnlfl, published monthly, first in the Fay· yOm by Gh:lli Ibr:lhlm from 1936 to 1938, then under the name of Kanlsal al·Ni'mah at Cairo from 1960 onward. 8{lq af·Tnil/, published monthly by the General Association of Churches in 1920, then moved to Cairo and still being published. Bilq al·OadlJsah, mOnlhly, firsl published at Asyiit in 1902, lhen moved 10 Cairo. Still being published. Ma;allal MadlJrLf aJ.A~ad. published by Ihe Sunday School Association since 1947 for religious studies. AI·NU1flllh,
2013
Mllr lirlis, published by the hegumfmos Fu'4d
Baslll since 1949. mainly for ed.iling the tel(lS of predications. MIRIUT BoUTROS GIl ...U
PRIEST, ORDINATION OF. When a person is chosen as a candidate for the priesthood, a docu~ ment testifying to the candidate's aptitude and good charaeler is drawn up by the clergy. deacons, and people of the church to be presented to the bishop. If he is not I.1ready a deacon, he must be ordained reader and deacon before the day of ordination. The service of ordination of priests takes place during the Sunday celebration of the Divine Utur· gy, immediately after the Prayer of Reconciliation, before the beginning of the anaphora. The candi· date, wearing the vestmenu of the d.iaconate, is presented to the ordaining bishop, metropolitan. or palliarch before the altar. in the presence of the assembly of the faithful. The bishop first ascertains from the congregation that no one has any objeClion to the candidatc's being ordained a priest. Then he proceeds with the prayer of morning Incense and, facing the altar, Sllys: Lord, God of hosu, who has brought US unto the lot of this ministry, who searches all hearts and reins, listen to us according to Thy tendcr mercies, cleanse us of all sins of body and soul. Scalier like smoke the mist of our transgressions and fill us with Thy divine power, the grnce of Thy only.begollen Son, and the efficacy of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may become worthy of this ministry which is unto the new covenant, to carT)' Thy Holy Name, to stand and minister to Thy divine mysteries. Suffer us not to be partakers of other men's sins, but bioI our own sins, and grunt us, 0 heavenly King, not to stray from the right path. Endow us with the true knowledge to say what is proper and to approach Thy sacred lable. Accept the priesthood of Thy servant [name], who is here kneeling before Thee, awaiting Thy heavenly gifts. For Thou are righteous, full of compassion towards those who call upon Thee, and mighty is Thy dominion, together with Thy Son and the Holy Spirit, now and. forever, Amen. The deacons respond by saying the Kyrie ekiso" three times. The archdeacon im)'!l: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which perfeclS our shoneoming5 through the good pleasure of God Ihe Father and. Ihe Holy Spiril.
2014
PRIEST, ORDINATION OF
descend upon [name] who has corne 10 the sa· ered altar wilh fellr Ilnd trembling, knceling and liMing the eyes of his hea.11 to Thce. who dwellest in heaven, awailing Thy heavenly gifls, to pa.<;.<;; from the order of lhe diaconate to the ,..nk of Ihe presbytery in the Church of (name) and its pure ahar. Pr:IY that the gift of the Holy Spirit may descend upon him. Amen. The deacons say Kyrie dei.wll tluice. Facing east, the bishap prays, "Yc.<;;, Lord, make him worthy of the calling of Ihe presbytery. that he may he wor1hy of Thy Ualy Name, worshiping Thee and serving Thy holy ahar, and may lind mercy in fronl of Thee, for mcrcy and compa.o;sion are only from Thee, 0 God, Father, Son, lind Holy Spiril, now and forever, Amen," The deacons say Kyrie deisO'I thrice, Facing wcst, the bishop lays his right I,and upon the candidate's head and recites a pmyer similar in content to the following original prayer stipulated by the Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (1951. pp. 491-92): o Lord Almighty. our God, who hast created all thines by Christ, and dost in like manner Ulke care of the: whole world by Him: for ~Ic who had powe:r to make different creatures, has also power to take care of them, according to their different natores; on which account. 0 God. Thou takest care of immortal beings by bare pn'Serv:t· tion. but of thase that arc monal by succession_ of the soul by Ihe provision of laws, of the body by Ihe supply of its wanl:<;, Do Thou therefore now also look down upon Thy Holy Chu ....: h. and in· c,'ease the same, and multiply thoS\; Ihat preside in It, and granl thcm power, lhat they may labor both in w()I'd Ilnd work for the edlficallon of Thy peoplc, Do Thuu nuw also look dnwn upon Thy sel"' v.ml, who 1:<; put into the presbylery by lhe vule and determinalion of lhe:: whole cler~y; :md do Thou replenish hlnl wilh llu.: Spiril of gmee and counsel. 10 assist .Hld govern Thy people with a pun:: heart. in lhe same manner as Thou didst luuk duwn upon Thy chosen pCQple. and didst command Mose.~ to choose eldel'S, whum Thou did:<;t fill with Thy Spirit. Do Thou also now, 0 Lord. gmnt this. and preserve in us the Spirit of Thy groee. that this pef'$On. being filled with the gifts of healing and the word of teaehill~, may in mc..'Ckness instruct Thy people, and sincerely S\;rve Thc..'C with a pure mind and a willing soul, and may fully dischal'ge the holy ministl'ltions for Thy people through Thy Christ, with a pure mind and a willing soul, ilnd may fully discharge the
holy tnll'\lstl"lltions for Thy people, through Thy Chl'ist, with Whom glory. honor. and worship be to Thee. lind to the Holy GhOSl, forever, Amen. The bishop signs the candidate's forehead with his thumb, :<;;lying, "We ordain thee for the Haly Church of God. Amen," Here the archdeacon an· nounces the eecleslastical name of the candidale. and the bishop says, "We ordain thee (name] priest for the holy ahar of Ihe Orthodox, in the Name of the Father and of Ihe Son and of the Holy Spirit, Anlen," and makes lhn"<: signs of Ihe cross on hi:<; forehead in Ihe name of lhe l-Io1y Trinity. Clothing Ihe new priClit with his vestment, the bishop says. "Clory and honor unto the AIl.haly Trinity, the Father, the Son lind the Holy Spirit, Peace and edification unlO the Holy Church of God. Amell." Here the deacons chant the hymn of the descent of the lIoly Spirit. beginning. "The Comforting Spirit who descended upon the Aposlles on Ihe PentecoSI. when they spoke with many tongues," Then the bishop (or a prkost) reads Ihe catcchesis, which is an exhortation giving emphasis (0 the essential features of the pric..ostly vocation: Brother, it behoves you ta realize Ihe importance of the calling which you have merited, namely, pricsthood, the great mysteries of the New TClitamcnt entrusted to thee. and edification. It is neces..'I.::lry Ihat you should teach by means of good cxample more than by pn.'Cepl, Remember Ihe words of Peler the Apaslle [I PI. 5:1-4]: "The elder$ which arc among you I exhon, who am also an dder. and a witne:<;.~ of the sufferings of Christ. and also a pal1akcI' of the glOI)' lhill shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among ynu, taking the ovcrsight lhereof, nol by conMraint, but willingly, nOl for filthy lucre. but of a I'cady mind; neil her as being Lords ovcI' God's herilage. but being examples to the flock, And when the chief Shepherd shall appeal', ye shall receivc a crown of glory that fadelh not away?" Thel'efore lurn 10 good use lhe talent en· trusted to thee, lhal you ITHly repuy it multiplied and deserve lhe rewllrd of the wi.~c. honest sleward (M!. 24:45; Lk. 12:42]. 1'1 10ken of obedience. lhe newly ordained Pl'ie.~t kisses the hook (If Ihe ol'dinntion service and the cross in the hand of thc bishop. He then enters into the sanetual'}', ki:<;.<;;es the altar. and stands at the fight hand of the bishop, who proceeds wilh the edebmtion of the Divine UturaY. Thc bishop invitc..os him to take active part in the fraction of the Holy
PRJESTI·IOOD
2015
11011)' :",.1 tu n'l'eat afle!' him Ihe WQ.~ls (If Ihe con· fc,;sion. At Ihe ellIJ uf the 11(1)' CQ"IIOI"nion, the hishor insu/l1atc~ the newl), orJainelJ, s:l}'ing, "Ren·;\·" Ih" Hoi)' Slli,il," tu which h" responds, "I OJlCI".-..I m)' mouth and Il.'lnled, for I longed fo!' '11\)' command· tllents." Th... bishop also la~'S his h'mIJ on hi.. head. sa)'inl: tlxiQS (woI1h)') three limes, 10 which Ihe deacons and the congr.. g:llion r~.,;pond, "A.~i
AbU al·B:m.kllol ibn K:.bar, M/llnl/' "f·?"I",,," If 14M! "l·KJ,id"'QI,. pp. 435-36 Repr. in p;m. C.iro, 1971. Bum\cster, O. II. E. Tlu~ Ef:)pfi'lII 0.- Cop/•• CI"'rcil. pp. 164-66. Calm, 1967. A1tC1mlS11Of' l.IAS'UOS
PRJESTHOOD. Christ. as
~ad ofthc chuo:h and
therefore the One un wholll the whole body of Ihe church depends (Eph. 4:15: Cor. 1:14) and a~ "high priest of the good things Ihm h:l'·c "om,," (lleb. 9:11), chose II numbl.-r of men and namcd thcm "posIIQl (Lk. 6:13: Jll. 15:16). By .he full "who";ly tht W:l5 commilwd to Him, ~I" eommandcd Ihcm to go roo1h :",d b;,pti~.e people e"et)'"I><:", ::1I.d teach them to obscn'e HL\ eommandmenL' (MI. 28:18-20). These men were Ihus solemnly ""I apan. in\'CSled wilh ""en"in aUlhu,-it)', lIuJ cntnlst..-..I with the I..sk or spreading the r.ospcl or Jcsus Christ and pl'eaeh· ing tI,.. kingdom or God (Mt, 10:1-7), Th...,. :tlone werc gi,·en the I>owcr of forgiving sins Or wilhhold· ing forgiwnc",; pn. 20:21-23). Ful' tI'e 1',.... ,>1:,. fullillonenl of Ilis lask throughoullhc :lgcs. thc.w apos' tles :lppointed bishops "nd pril'SIS in Ihe SoI""c mann"r, aeeonli'lg 10 Ihe "'1"'..... n"'nl in~lilulCd hy our Lurd, and they, in tum, werl' ~uccee.led by uthen; ill :011 the "I>osiolic d'ur-..:hcs of CI"iSlc"dom. "dhcrcnt~ of S
A Cop' ic priesl, COlll1t!sy Auz S. Afiytl cullu/io".
Ihem.\Clycs h:ld dcp:lo1ed Ihis lifc. Thus, the ....postles Crc-..I..-d bishups, prc:.byl'·O'S, .."d dcacuns in lIll Ih e churchcs lhat Ihey cst:lhlished. At Jerus:llcm lhey appoinl"d .seven d~",con, by p...)'ing lind laying Iheir hands on Ihem (AcIS 6,3-6); J'aul and lJ.. rn;>. bas appoinl..-d pR'SbYI""" lind conunill..-..I Ihem IU Ihc l..ord (ACls 14:23); "nul tiCl up TimOlhy as bish· 01' at Ephesus. exhot1ing hi", '101 10 neglccl the spiri!",,1 gifl Ih:1I he was given tlwJer Ihe guid:lIlee of prophecy, through 'he laying·on of h"nd~ of the p.-.",byle,y (I 'I'm. 4:14). (Illd l"vmplelJ hi", 10 confide his OWn 'caching i",o Ihe h;lIlds of olhel' eompewnl and tnlb!\\'0'1h)' men, Likewise. 1I:",1"g mImed "l"il".\ hishojl in Cr;::tc, I'(\ul illsll1,clccl him (0 C:HTy oUi hib imenlion in bO doing, thai i~, to set up presbyle,'s in each town (1'1, 1:5), The threefold _structure of the pri.-sthoud is :tmlloguns to, and rdlCCIs Ih:'1 of. (he :lngellc bOSI, ead also having ils own Ihrce subdivisions, The lallCr consiSIS or (I) tloc CIII!Il.UIlIM (EJc, 10:18), Ihe scm· I'him (Is. 1,;2), nncl Ihe Ihl'Olles (Col. 1:16): (2) do· minions, prineip:llities. Hlul :l\lIhorilies (Col. 1:16): and (3) powers (I 1'1. 3,22). Mt(:IlMWPJ~~, and ANGELS (Rom. 8:38: I Thcs. 4:(6). TIle cccicsi:.slie:.1 hicm,~ eh)' it1clud~'"!i (I) l'ol>C 0'· patriarch, metropolilan, :I01d bishop: (2) CIIOIU,,"ISCOI'US, pruIOprCbb)'ler (Ite·
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gumenos), and presbyter; and (3) Deawn, subdea· con, and reader. Perhap~ the first lind carlit.'St of the t.'arly fathcrs to dwell upon this IInalogy was Ct..eMENT OF Al.EXAN· DRtA (c. ISO-215): "In the Church the gradations of bishops, presbyters, and deacons happen to be imitations, in my opinion, of the angelic glory and of thai arrangement which, the Scriptures say, awaits th
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carrinaton, P. The Earl, Christian Church, Vol. I. Cambridge, 1957. Cummings, D. The Ruddu. Chicago, 1957.
I;!ablb Jirjis. Asr/lr IlI-Kllnrsah 1l/·Sab'llh (The Seven Sacraments of the Church), 2nd cd. Cairo, 1950. Mikha'il MInl'i. '11m aJ.l.6hUf (The Study of Theolo· gy), Vol. 2. Cairo, 1936. Shaff, Philip. His/ory ol/he Chris/ian Church, Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1955. ARCHDLSHOP BASIUOS
PRIMUS. fifth patriarch (109-122) of the See of Saint MARX.. His name was occasionally corrupted at a later dale to Abrimus, Obrimius, and Bannius. Sometimes it was even erroneously confused with Ephl'3em. According to sAwlllUS IBN A....MUQAFFA·. bishop of al·AshmQnayn, he "was among the Orthodox people of Christ," that b, a layman "who was chasle as the angels, and piously performed many good works." Thus he was chosen as patriarch and held the office for twcl~ years, one month, and Iwelye days during the reign of Emperor Trajan. The major event known to have occurred in Aleltandria during his reign was a Jewish rebellion, during which the Jewish population of the city was massa· cred by the Roman authorities. This was different from the persecution! of Christians that continued during the period on a personal rather than ana· tional basis. On his death, Primus was laid to rest on 3 Misli near the remains of Saint Mark in Ihe Church of Bucalis at Alexandria. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aliya, A. S. History 01 N.Y., 1980.
EU1Cfl1
Christian/)'. Millwood, All:/. S. ATIVA
PROCLUS, SAINT, patriarch of Constantinople (434-446), who was a preacher and writer (feast day: 20 November in lhe East, 24 October in the West). According to the hlstorinn Socrates, Proclus wa~ very young when he assumed Ihe !ector's robe. From 407, when he was eighteen, to 425, he served Atticus, patriarch of Constantinople, as secretary. In 425, still according 10 Socrates, Proc1us, along with Philip of Side, was already a candidate for the archiepiscopal throne at Constantinople. However, Sissinius, who held the see from 426 to 427, was elected. He immediately nominated Proclu.~ to the see of Cp.:icus. The inhabitants of Cy,t:icus, however, conlested the nomination, so Proc1us remained al
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PROCLUS, SAINT
Constantinople. In 427, Theodosius II, in order to aVQid heightening the rivalry between the panisans of Philip of Side and those of Proclus, paned them. NESTORIUS of Antioch wa.'l called to Consunlinople and consecrated bishop of Cy.dcus. On the occasion of the festival of the Virgin shortly before ChriJilmas 430, Pradus delivered the fa· mous sennon on the nlliOTOKOS. which Neslorius had forbidden (Clavis Patrum Gl1lecorum 5800). On 25 December of the same year he no doubt gave another homily (Clavis Patrum Graecorum 5823), and on 28 february or I March he delivered the homily on the dogma of the Incarnation (Clavis Palrum Graccorum 5822). The preciseness of this date is provided by the heading of the Coptic version (M. Richard, 1927, Vol. 2, art. 42, p. 47). In this homily Proclus affinned that the economy of salvation unites the two natures in one hyposta:sis. Arter the deposition of Nestorius on II July because of the canonical objection to the passing from one bishopric (Cyzicus) 10 another, Mbimius ....< '$ elecl· ed bishop of Cyzicu.'l. Finally in 434, in order the better to subdue the partisal15 of Nestorius, Theooosius II forced the synod to elect Proch.L!i as patriarch. This event is recorded in the registcrs of lhe acts of the patriarchatC', which are elttracts from the synodalleucr of enthronement senl to Joh" of Anli· och (Clavis Patrum Graecorum 5907) and Maximius (PG 5908). On 3 August 4J5 Proclus Obtained condemnation of the works of Ncstorius (Codex Th"odosia1/ 16.5.16). On 6 January 437, on Ihe initiative of Melania lhe Younger, he succeeded in converting Vo· lusianus, the cll·pl'tfect of the town, and baptized him on his deathbed. According to Theophanes the Chronicler (1982), In Seplember of the .same year, fullowing earthquakes, a vision appeared to him through the medium of a man carried up into the air. He is said to Imve revealed the liturgic.,l prayer of Ihe Trlsnglon (see MUSIC, COPTIC), which was then introduced by Produs inlo the celebration of the Eucharist. On 27 January 438, he obtained from the emperor the solemn removal of the relics of JOHN CHRYSOS1"OM from Comana 10 Constantinople. In the domain of the inlluence of the see of Constantino· pic, Proclus after his election sent the Tome, his exposition of the dOClrine of the one Chrisl in two natures, to the Armenians, inviting them to keep their distance from Ihe friends of Nestorius, TliEO· OORE OF MOPSUESTIA and Diodore of Tanu5. In 439 Proclus intervened in lhe election to the see of Cacsarea in Cappadocia. laid hands on Thalassius, prefect of lIlyricum, and participatcd in or ap-
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proved the election of bishops at Smyrna, Ephesus, and Gangra. In 435 he had built al Zeugma near Constantinople the fint Church of COSMAS AND DAMI· AN. no doubl in opposition to lhe Nestorian assem· bly held al Pheremma, homeland of Ihe A1/argyroi. Proelus died in 446. Proclus was early trained in rhetoric. Apostle and preacher, he left :ill great many homilies and some fragments of correspondence (Clavis Patrum Grae· corum 5893-5915). Already totaling twenty-five in Migne (1864, pp. 651-852). the collection of homi· lies was increased by ninely items by B. Man in 1940. f. Leroy reduced this number in 1967 by publishing eight homilies and reevaluating the idenlifications of MaD. Coptic tradition has traces of silt homilies, some of which are mutilated.
Coptic Tradition Accessible only in its mutilated Inciplt (Paris, National Ubrary, Coptic manuscript Ilii. fol. 26), MQrUllI Homily 1 is the most famous and most frequenlly tlllnslaled of the homilies of Proclus (Clavis Patrum Craecorum 5800, cd. E. Lucchesi, 1981). Today, only the Arabic version is missing. This dis-eoune, a jewel of Marian dogma, shows at once the signs of consummate rhelorical art and a detailed knowledge of the Bible. At the time of Zeno, the Greek tellt received doctrinal retouching, which is reflected in the latin and Georgian venions. Unfortunately it is impossible to verify here any retouching in Coptic. The second Coptic homily, on Ihe Nativity (Clavis Palrum Graecorum 5822), is taken from the codell in the British Museum (Or. 5001. published by E. A. Wallis Budge, In 1910), "the homily which Proklus, Bishop of Cyzicus, pronounced in the Great Church of Constantinople when Nestorius the heretic was present, concerning his contemptible dogma, on the Sunday which preceded the holy fony days" (p. 241). Since then, one Christological passage in par· ticular has orten been quoted: "If God's blessing is to have much work and demands from every side through man's whole life, I am quite blessed by
God." The third Coptic homily, on Easter (Clavis Patrum Graecorum 5812), presents a chronological precision in the title: "Ukewise a homily pro· nounced by Proclos Bishop of Cyzicus in the Church of Anthimus of Constantinople, on the Sunday before Easter, where hc was installed in the archiepiscopal seat, and NestOriU5 the Heretic was prescnt" (Budge, 1910, p. 235).
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PROCLUS, SAINT
The Chun:h of 50lint AnthimU5 wa.~ situated to the nonh of the Golden Hom in the distrit:t of Ta Pik· l'idiou, Bishop Anthimus was the mm1yr of NicomOOia, executed in 302, The theoI"Ctical date of the tille would be 12 April 431, if given in till' presence of Nestolius and lit the time when Proclus did not have the authority to deliver il_ flut it is quite likely that Ihere is a lil.:tional demcnI in the title; lhe personality of Anlhimus l-escmbles that of the firsl bishop in lhe legend of John Chr}'lioslom. The founh Coptic homily is a discourse on Ihe Nalivity, of which lhcre remain only Ihe lhle and the incipil. II has been impossible to find in another language (CI:tvLs htrum Groccorum 5876). tt is en· titled: "Exege,;is made by [Produs] Bishop of Cyzicus in the Church of Constantinople on lhe day of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ the 29th of the month Khoi3k, and the offering of Mary, IIIe Virgin who gave binh to GOO" (Russi, 1893, pi, p. 42). The bt.-ginning of thi.~ mOtilaled text corresponds exaclly to the exordium of a homily thai says: "Behold, loday also I rejoice and exult with you. 0 well beloved, for I sec the whole creation celebraling, for God has sem us a word full of joy. And so today we wish to caress your eal'5 wilh Ihe words of our mouth, words filled wilh benefit and happiness for YOUI' souls, 0 friends of the Logos, who desire al· ways the bC!it." The tide of this text rnak,,g cxplidl the term The%kos, a ll'rm forbidden by NcslOriuS. In Ihe absence of Nestolius, then, its date would be 25 Dcl:l:mber 431. We can neither alli.'nl "01' in\':lli· date lhe aUlhenticity of this fmglllen!. The formal attrihution of the discourse, in the fifth Co!"tic homily, on John the Baptist ((;Iavi~ Pat· mm Gmccorum 5877) to 1'.'Oc1us prcvt:nls one from enlirely chllllcntling the following text: "The logos pronOllnCl:d hy Saint I'roclus, Bishop of Cy.£icus, on the day when John W:lS beheaded which is the first day of 1hoth, lhe rt1or'ning of tht: second day. He gllve it on the sl:cond day which included the cdcbration of the blnh of Herod" (Rossi, 1893. p. 101, n. I), The Coptic manuscript 61 in the Vati· can contains the title on pilge 44, In 1887 Rossi had considcrl:d it lin interpolation; H. Devis reinstated it in 1922. The nal'1lltive c1ramcter of thl: whole homily contrasts with the style of l'rQClus in The olher homilies, Thl: sixth Coptic homily (Clavis Patrull. GraC<.:lI 5892) already afQuscd 811Ul:r'S I.:uousity in 1919 after W, Eo. Crum's catalogue of 1905 (pp. 139, n. 2, and p. 407, n. I). The homily was published by A. Maresca and introduced by". Odandi (1977, pp, 40, SO-54, and 60-82). II is entitled "Eulngy given
by the holy fathl:r Procluli, Bishop of C)7.ieus, pre· senting the commemoration of the XXIV old men on thl: 24 Hathol'," In the opinion of the editors, the homily should be allributed 10 Pseudo-Proclus. II claim5, for cxample, to consider as uni\'el'Sal the cult of twenty-four ciders, known only to the Copts. It will be noted, however, that Proclus is celebrated on 20 November, ahead of Maximus, Anatolius, and Gennadiu.~, bishops of Constantinople, The com· plele ll:xl is in lhe Pierponl Morgan Ubrary (codex 591, dated 861). A folio containing this homily (British Muscum, Or. 358l) ....'as al50 described by Crum in 1905. The homily could be the result of a fusion of two indL-pcndent sourccs. onc on the el· ders, the other on the life of John Chrysostom. Orlandi has fC'dSSCmbled the fragments (al tbe beginning of Ollallro ameli#! cop/e, 1977, pp. 11-44). A shan 5ummary of the details follows. Proch.ls speaks in the first pcrStJn as he presents himself already on the throne of John Chrysostom. Follow· ing an iIInl"SS, he: gocs to Tripoli to be cured by Saint Leontius. Leaving Cyzicus, he passes through Patmos and Hieropolis, A Iiule to the SOUlh of Pat· mus, "al Ariforo, a town in Thrace," he meets an old man, Festus, who lells him of lhe conversion of Thrace during the exile of John Chrysostom. Arter Chrysostom has preached and prayed. Saint Peter and Saint John appear to him and reveal to him heavenly things, notably the twenly-four elders. Thi.~ milltUl'e ha.~ lIS laws of transposition in thl.: legend of John Chry~lolII, In lhe His/ory ol/Ile Churclt ill AlexQlulria, the vision is known, as well as lhe convl:rsion on the island of Thrace. Other transpositions from history, geography, scnnons, 3nd legends arc made in this homily. "Chalkedon" was menlioned, of course, at the t:ounciJ of 45l. Ariforo is pl:lced ncal' a river Ammotion in the eulogy of Claudius of AnliOl:h by CONSTANTINE of Asyil!, E, Pereira ha~ l'ecognl1.ed lhe Argyropotarnos of which John MlIlalus spl::lks in connection with Dioclctian's campaign against the Per'sians, who havl: bl:t:omc Thl1ll:ians and Armenians with the bishop of ASylJ!. CnJm indklllCS other possibilities; for example, the island or G:ll:nia, bl:coml:s Atrike, of which Anthimu.~ is the first bishop, according to the legend of Chrysostom, Alrl:ady in P~udo·Codinus. I'I'Ocius is thc disciple of Ch.ysostom. Pn:x:lus cl:nainly hOld rea.'i<}llS for showing his sympathy for the Allliochenes in promoting the cuh of Chrysostom. Howevcr, the leg· end has gone well pa.~t his discourse in finding in his person the mOSt nmuml justifications for the Monophysite church, which created the era of thl:
PROCOPlUS
martyrs. Anlhimus (martyred in 302) and Chl)'1lOS' tom (died a century litter) ;U'C opposed on the same front; a' Nlcomedla. in Thmce, and in Annenia they are .hreatened by the emperor.
Amblc Trudilion There are live elttan. Ambic homilies of Prudus. Artlbic /loll/if)' /: On Christmas (Cltll'is I'D/rUIn GraeCOrllll/. 5823), in the homiliary of Ihe Am·
brosian Llb,'nry of Milan. in Ihe scvemh ~i tion (Cf. &luget, 1970. p. 427). The manuscript was Wrille'l in .he len.h cemury in Sinai. This is the only Arolbic homily .hat coincid.'S wilh one of Ihe Coptic: leXl... Arabic Homily Z: On Good Friday, prcser....:d in a Sbalh manuscript. (according to the Fihris 262. corresponding to Clovis Palrllm Grat'corllm. 5809). ArQbic IIM/,iI)' J: On Saint Slephen (CtQ"is I'tI/rum Graeconml, 5816): this is also preserved in the homiliary of Ihe Ambrosian Ubrnry (cr. Sa.uge., 1970. p. 428. in pQSit;vn 9; also in Ihe P;1.r;~ manu.'>Crip. 151 (fourtecnth ccnlury], no. 5). Arabic Humily 4: 011 the ApQSlle Thomas (Clavis PmrlllPl Graeconml. 5832), in Paris manU5Cript 143, 12 (fourtl,.-cn.h century) under the ,1:1I1ie of Chrysostolll. Arahic: Hamil)' 5: The homily un Good F"iday (Clavis Palrllll/ Gra~cumm, 5829). which ha... survived ollly in Amble and Syriac. II h01s been translated by R. Lavemmt in II. Leroy (1967, pp. 217-23). The rllilnuscripl which was m,,-'d as a ba... ls is in Strasbollrg (eodell: 4426, of which the colophon is dated 885), but It also ell:ists in the Ambrosi;1n homiliary (no. 58, folios 149-55; cr. Sauget, 1970, p. 456). Finally, there (Il'C two Anlbic dOgmlllie nodlegia, the Predul4I; Pellrl, composed about 995 apparently by SAwTI't1s ibn aJ-MuqalTa', and the CO!lfe~'~iulls of tire Fatlrers. composed aboul 1078 by an unknown member' of lhe enloumge of the patriarchak. Both have been unaJy,wd by G. Graf (1!:I37, pp. 75 and 375-76); there he collected live quotations from I'l'Oclu.~ in th" fil"St collection, ;lnd cleven in the second. IUUllOGKAPHV
lAAuer. F. X. Prok/O.f von KOIUlall/inopl'1. Munich, 1919. Budge, E. A. w. Cup/if: I/ullli/ies ill Ihe Dialect of Upper Egypt. London. 1910.
2019
Campagnano, A.: A. Mare~ca: and T. Orlandi. Quatlro omclie cop'e. Tcs.i e docurnenti per 10 ~tudio dell 'Antichita, serie Copla 60. Milan. 1977. Crum, W. E. Catalogue of lite Coptic MUlIIl5cripu in lire Brilish M,lsewll. London. 1905. Devis. 1·1. Homilies (;Qples d« Iu Vutieulle. Copenhagen. 1922. Grolr. G...Z...."Ci dogmatische Florik-gien del" Kopten." Oriell/alia Christiatra Pcriodica 3 (1937):4977. 345-402. Leroy. F. L'Homilitiqlle de Procills de COIISltlll/illapie. Studi c Tcsti 247. Vatican Cily. 1967. Lucchesi. E. Ripertoire des mUlllu:crits copies ($uhidiqllu) pl/blies de III bibliot"eqll~ IIalionul~ de Paris. Gene,'a, 1981. Man. B. Procfialla. MUnster. 1940. Migne, J. P., ed. S. P. N. Proc:/i. PC 65. Paris, 1864.
Richard, M. "L'lntroduclion du mot 'h)'p05ta.'iC' dans la thl:ologie de I'incarnation." Mi/tlnges d~ Science reJigieme 2 (1945);5-32. 243-270. Reprinted in Opera Minora. Vol. 2. Turnhout. 1977. Rossi. F. I papiri copti del Museo egivo di Turino. Vol. I, Turin. 1887; Vol. 2, 1892. Un nuova cOOice COplO del Museo egizio di Torino. R. Accademiu Iludol/Qte dei Lincei Alli, 5CriCS 5, 1 (1893);3-136. Sauget. J.·M. "L'homcliaire ambc dt: la bibliolhcquc vaticane (X 198 sup) SICS lIIembra disiecla." Ana_ lee/a Bollutldiallu 88 (1970):391-474. Thcophanes. Tile Chrollic/I!! of n,eO/lhutll!!.f, cd. ~1. Turtledove. Philadelphia. 1982. MICH£1. VAN EsIIROECK
PROCLUS OF CYZICUS. See Pl'Oclus, SaiIH. PROCOPIUS, slxth.century B)7.anlinc historian of the reign of JU~'TJNIAN. Procoplus Is the author of lhree works: the War.t (3 hislory of Justinian's mili· tary policies up to 553/554); lhe $(/"nl "'i$loT)! (AlIccdolll; litemlly "Unpublished Things"). ;Ill "al· ternative" version of the early parI of the Wurs, combined with n vilriollc altack on Justinian and THEODORA, written in 550/551; and the Brlildill/p', a p;lllegyrictll record of Justinian's building activity, wriHen in 554/555 or about 560. A native of Caesarca in Palestine, Procopius was trained as it lawyer. He becllme the !lCeretary 10 the general Bclisarius while the Jailer was in Ihe East in 527. He accompanied him to Amca in 533, to Italy in 535, and aflcr 540 back 10 ConSllllllinople, where he witnessed the g''e31 plague of 542. He may havc becn briefly in the East and/or in Italy after this, or he lIlay have stayed in Con.~tantinople
2020
PRQCQPIUS
to write his history. books 1-7, which were finished in 550/55 I, and the final book in 553/554. It is not vcry likely that he should be idenli6ed with the Procopius who was prefect of Ihe city in 562, since the best sources (e.g., Agathias) refer to him simply as "Pnx:OpiUll the melor." The dale of composition of the Buildings is uncenain. It may. however, be
dated to 559/560 by the menHon of the work on the Sangarios bridge (V. 3.10; cr. Thcophancs, AM 6052), but since it makes no mention of the col·
lapse of the dome of Saint Sophia in 558, nor of other significant events around that time, 554/555 seems more proooble. If so. it is vcI)' possible thaI Procopius died soon 'afterward, leaving the cnd of Ihe Gothic War 10 be recounte
this apan from the works thelIl$tlves. In fact, there is much in the later pan of the Wars, especially Btllo GothiC(} 3 and 4, Ihat connects them with the critique of the Secret Hislory. ProcopiWl had become increasingly critical of Ihe war policy and of BeIi511rius; and Ihe tone of the final book of the Wars (Bello Gothlco 4), written in 553/554, is far sadder and gives far more credit to the derealed Goths than would have bcen possible in the patriot· ic days oC the victory in Nonh Africa. Procopius SCI OUI 10 write a record of Byumtinc victory. By the time he reached thc end, he saw whal Ihe reconquest had cost. On the other hand, he had not lost his conceplion of what the Byzantine Empire ought to be, and this is what is expressed in the Blli/din,s -lhe theory, and perhaps less of the actuality, of Justinian's achievement than is usually supposed. Many internal thematic and slylistic correspondences IUggcst that the three works appeared close 10gethcr in time. (We do not know the cireumstanees thai led Procopius to tum from criticism to panegyric.) The strongly personal quality of Procopius' work is certainly a failing in the case of the Wars. He saw history in terms of personalities and judged issues in black and white. Thus criticism of the regime can only take the form of abuse of Ihe emperor and empress, and the surprisingly explicit excesses of the Secrel Hislory are merely the reverse of Ihe panegyrical lone of the Bui/din~. Procopius lived in a socicty in which free expression was limited, and this, too, made the Secret His/ory necessary, for though the Wars is crilical in the lalter pan, it could be so only obliquely. BUI it was also Procopius' own panisan views that caused him to write in so e:rt.reme a fashion. All three of Procopius' works arc wrilten in a lucid and direct e1assical Greek. They were designed for readers of discernment and education. Procopius knew earlier historians well enough to copy thcm-Thucydides, Diodorus, Arrian, Priscus -and Agalhias says he had read nearly all of them. He also employs a strici and idiosyncratic rhythmi· cal prase, evidcnce of his high literary ambition. He was regarded as a standard author by EVAGRtUS (late sb:th century) and Theophanes (early ninth centu· ry), bUI lhe Secrel Hislory was proOObly not aeneralIy known until the tenth century. It was not rediscovered until the seventeenth century and came as a shock to those who had taken the works of Pt-oco· pius as evidence of the excellence of the rule of Justinian.
,
•
PROSOPOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPIlY
Cameron, A, Procopil.ls. London, 1985, Evans, J, A, S, Procopil.ls. New York, 1972, Rubin, B, Prokopios "On Koisoreio, Stuttgart, 1954. Stein, E. Hijtoir~ du BQj.Empir~, ed, J.·R. Palanque, Vol. 2, pp. 709-723. Amsterdam, 1949. AVERIL CAMERON
PROESTOS, perfect participle of Greek proistimi, meaning "being at lh~ head." In Chrisli:m texts datinll: from the second and third centuries, it could be used to denote a church leader or bishop. In late Greek and Coptic texts it described a superior of a monastic community. This was Ihe most widely used of the terms to denole the superior, abba, father, HEGUMENOS, ARCHIMANDafTE. and nob nr()m~. In the oldest (3J4) Greek document in which prwstos occurs in a monastic conto.t (P. Lond. 1913; Sf:C Bell), it is used nOI in Its later meaning but describes a gtoup of monks of a Me!iti:tn monastery wilh whom IheliUperiOr, called "father,·' comes 10 an arrangement concerning his deputy and establishes the laller's prerogalives. This gl"(ll.tp dear· Iy cOl'\Sisted of the '·e1ders" of the community, who perhaps fulfilled certain functions in the monastery (similar, for instance, 10 the chiefs of the huuses in the Pachomian congregation). II is possible, howev. er, that they were simply brothers who enjoyed higher authority. In texts from thc second half of the fourth cenlUry, prwstos has tin established technical signifi· canee. In large communities that were composed of a number of smaller units, such as ENATON or APA JEREMtAH at 5:1qq:lra, protstos referred, as :I rule, to the lower.ranking superior whcn the prior of the entire community was de5lgnated by anmher title, usually archimandrite. In the Pachomian congregation, the ~uperior of a single monastery wa~ called proeSIOs. In communities of a looser structure, that title could have been used by more than olle monk at the same time. Usually the prOtS/OS was an ordained presbyter; more rarely, a deacon, At times he was al50 given the higher thle of hegll1neno~·, which was identical with Qrchr'prcsbyteros. The way in which thtl praeslOS was Ilominated varied not only according to the si~e and type of the community but also according to local traditions, He could be nominated by his dying predecC5."Or: or he could be elected by the brothers, who sometimes entcred into a fonnal agreemem that defined his obligations and those of
2021
his subordinatcs. The range of the activities of the praes/us and the degree to which his powers were limited by the convention of all the monks or thc council of the "elders" varied. It is not dear whelher the local bishop could inlluence the nomination of til proestos and his work, since the sources contain no Indicalions. One could say with great caution lhat the absence of information in Ihe extremely copious documenta· tion concerning the churches and monasteries in Egypt provides eyldence for a considerable inde· pendence of lhe IDQl1ll5tic groups. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barison, P. "Ricerche sui monaster; dell'Egitto bizRIltino ed arabo secondo i documenti dei papiri greei." Atgyptus 18 (1938):36-38. Bell, H. I. Jews and ChrisliQn.$ in ECfpt. London, 1924. Crum, W. E., and G. $teindorff, eds. and trans. Kop· tische Rechlsurkunden des ocht~n Johrhunderts QUS Djbnc (Thcban). Lcipz.ig, 1912-, Schiller, A. A., cd Tcn Coptic LClol Texts, nos. 1,2, and 5. Nl'W York, 1932, Sleinwenter, A. "Neue koptische Rechlsul"kunden." ACCfPfuS 13 (1933):315-16. EWA WtPSZYCKA
PROJECT 1801. See Ya'qob, General. PROPYLON,
See Architectural Churches: Prothyron.
Elements
of
PROSOPOGRAPHY, collection of biographical sketches. A prosopoKraphy of the persons named in the documenl5 of Egypt, both Greek and Coptic, with Information-so far as known-about their parenlS and their vocation, is II desideratum for various disciplines in the study of antiquity. It would serve for the dating and localizing of the texts so far as their origin is not known, and for the reconstroction of archives, which thereafter can be evaluated for the solution of m:lny questions, in· c1uding historical ones. A prosopogrnphy of Egypt from Ptolemaic times down to the Arab period, planned by F. Bilabel and other $chola15, was not realized. In ilS stead there is The ProsopogrQph)' of Ihe Later RomQn Empire A.D. 260-640, planned by A. M. H. JonC$ and olhers in three \/Olumes, the first tWO "Olumel of which appeared in 1971 and
2022
PROTHESIS
1980. II should be supplemented by the Pr{)~'{)p, O[:faplrie chretiellll(l du Bas-Empire prepared by H. I. Mnrrou and others, of which the fir:;t volume, edited by A. ManJouzc, appeared in 1982. Howe\'er, it includ~ only Christi!ln NOl1h Africa. In addition 10 thC$C large work.~ there are prosopogmphies of individual places. Older works. like the 1938 pmsopog...~phy of Aphrodilopoli.~ by V. A. Girgis, based on the Greek documents. arc supc~d('d by the editions of IX'pyri thai have appeared sin<:e then. Of more recent d:lle is the Prosopographia Arsil1QiliCQ of J. M. Diclh,lI1 (1980), which likewise is based on the Greek ducumcnls of the sixth 10
eighth centuries. or the prosopography of thl,: Coptli prclX'red by G. Heuser, only the fi~t fascicle has appeared, e:tlend·
MaeCouJl, L S, B. "Additions to the J'rosopogrnphy of Aphrodito from Ihe Coptic IlocumenlS." BuUe· lill de /a Soc/be d'arclre%gie Caple 25 (1983): 91-94. Mandouze. A. ProSlJpographie de fAlrique ehrbiemle (303-513), Vol. I of Prosopograpllie chrtlierme du Bas·Empire, cd. H. I. MalTOu. Paris. 1982. Slefanski, E., and M. Uchlheim. Coptic Ostraca from Medillel 1I0bll. University of Chicago Oriental Instilute Publications 71. Chi<:ago. 1952. Till, W. D(J/il/"m~ ll/fd Prosopographie der koptischI''' Urklllldell aIlS Thebe". Osterreichis<:he Akademie der WiS5Cnschaftcn, Philosophisch·hislorische Klassc, SilZUng.sberichle 240, I. Vienna. 1962.
,
I
MARTIN KRAUSE
ing to the beginning of the leuer epsilon. In 1962 W. Till provided a pl'OSQp(lgrnphy for the Copli<: docum<:nts from Thebes. which unlonunateIy is not complele, since he did nOI eV"..luatc lhe documenls dug up at Madlnal HlIbti and edited by E. Stefanski :and M. Lichlheim. Many funhcr discov· cries of document.~ have become known since Ihen (KI'ause, 191:12. pp. 22rt). 10 whi<:h must be added 1,400 ostrnca in the monaslel)' ('If SainI Mark "t Ourn:al Mllr'l, <:ll(;3V".Jled by the French Archaeologi· cal hUlitute. In consequence some 3,000 documenlS f('lund in 11tebcs must be workLod inlO a new edition. For olher places in which many Coptic docu· ment~ W0l1hy or mention have been found (e.~., Hermopolis. Her..kleopolis, and the Fayyiim), thel-e arc no prosopographical works. for the Copli<: doc· umenls from AphrodilOpolls II beginning has been made by l~ S. B. MlLcCoul1. DlOlIOGRAPHV
Dieth:m, }. M. PmsoJ/ographia Ar.lillOilica. Miueil· ungen aus del' Papyrussammlung del' OSlCrreiehi· sehen NatiollaJbibliolhek, n.S. 12. Vienna, 1980. Girgis, V. A. Pru)'upugru(ill e Aphrudilupulis. Berlin, 1938. Heuser, G, Ole Kopll!ll. Quellen und Studien WI' Geschichte und Kullul' des Altertums und des Mitlelllllel'S, SCI' C. Hilrsbileher Vol. 2. Heidel· berg. 1938. Jones, A, M. H,;}, R. Manindale; and}, Morris, The Prosopograpll)' of lire Llllcr RamaH Empire, Vol. 1, A.D. 260-195. C:ambridge, 1971; Vol. 2, hy ManindaJe, A.D. 395-527. Cambridge, 1980; Vol. 3. A.D. 527-640 (in pl·eparnlion). KrdllSC. M. "Da.~ christliche Theben: Netlere AI" bcitcn und Funde." 811l1eti" de /n Socie.le d'Qr' chi%gie cople 24 (19g2):21-33.
PROTHESIS. See Archileclul"dl E1cmenlS of Churchc:s: Cancelli.
PROTHYRON. See Al'chilectural E!<:m<:nts of Chureh<:s.
,
PROTODIALECT. See Appelldu.
PROVINCIAL ORGANIZATION OF EGYPT. The crisis Ihal affected the Roman em· pire in the second half of th<: third century did not spare Egypl, and it led to compl'Chensive rdonns by Emperor OJQ(;LtlTlAN in the fields of government, economy, and ideology. Among other measures. lhe provinces were divided und thdr number thus con· siderahly enlarged. Thesc measures, llceomp:mieJ by the sepHnltion of civil :1Od military authority in lhe individual pl'Ovlnees. were taken 10 lessen Ihe danger of usurpations, which had been a l'eCUlTent feature or the preceding declldes. At thc samc timc, the fragmentation of the pl'Ovlnees aimed al closer control and grealer dliciel1ey of financial adminislration and tallation, every province being placed under the civil authority of the provincial governor jpr(u.~es. illdex). These general principles applied also 10 the former province of Egypl, which was now subdividcd inlO sevel711 provhlccs. The exact date of Dioclcllan's provincial reform is still delXlled: 297/298 or. as sugwc:sled by Barnes, as e:arly as 293 (1982. pp. 224£.). There is no ancielll souree giving I.he dale and details of Ihis reform.
,
,
PROVINCIAL ORGANIZATION OF EGYPT
The fuets have to be reconstructed from !lUt;r lists (see Eatlie. 1967) and from isolated mCniions in lilcrlu:y texts, inscriptions. and papyri. The number,
designation, and area of the newly created provinces In Egypt underwent several changes in the course of the fouIth century. These cannot be deah with here in detail; only the main features will be mentioned. Thcbais, corresponding 10 Upper Egypt, became a separate provim:e. The olher provinces of Egypt derived their names from the IUieimy deilies of lhe Tell'8rchy: Aegyplus lovia (with AJcx.andria) lind AcgypluS Hcrculia,
,
I
,
encompa.~~ing Middle
Egypt
and lhe easlem Della. The existence of a province Nell Arabia in Egypt is disputed (cr. The O~'yrhy~t c1uu PaT/yri, Vol. SO. no. 3574, with the commentary of J. R Rca). In 341, Acgyptus Hcrculia (perhaps al some lime [p
2023
of Constantinople (381) confinned the jurisdiction of the Alexandrian bishop over all bishops in the civil dioeC!'le of Egypt. The unity of Egypt on both the political and the ecclesiastical level was an im· portant element in the evolution of Christian Egypt and in its troubled reiations wilh ConStantinople. The firth cenlury, unfonunaldy, is marked by a serious paucity of papyri concerning the public adminiSU'3tion. This period mUSI have witnessed profound chl'Oper, exacerbaled by the pressure of till\:ltion lmd by reli· gious conflicts. Constantinnple suppol1ed lhe Mel· chile patdarchs ill Alexandria, whereas the majority of the Egyptian population had defended monophysitism since the Council of Chalcedon (451). With Edict XIII (538/539 or, less probably, 553/ 554; cr. Rtmondon, 1955), Justinian intended to put an cnd to the 3dministrative chaos in the Aegypli· aea diQecesis, above all 10 secure the tax income and the grain supply from Egypt to Constantinople. In order to slrengthcn the efficiency of the administration, the duces were now invested with both civil and military lIuthority, the praesides becoming their civil deputies. The Egyplian diocese was placed un· del' lhe Cl:nlml authority of the pruefec/lls pruelorio in Conslantinople and dividct.l inlo a plurality of ducal terrilories (chora,), corresponding more or less to the old province!>; Aegyptu!>, Augustamniea, An;adia, Thebais, Libya. The dIU augus/alis of Ae· gyptuS, residing in Alexandria, was endowed with higher authority, since he was responsible for lhe ll1lnspon of Il:r"in from Egypt to Constantinnple. The ducill lel'1'hodes of Egypl sotlletimeS compre· hended scveru] epurchiae (sce EPARCHY), each with Do praeses al its head: these were subdivided into pugarch/ac ttdmini!>tered by pagarehs (see ",,"GARCH).
BIOUOGRAPIlY
Barnes, T. D. The New Empire of Dioc{e/iall alld COtl$/untine, PI" 21 If.. 224£. Cotmbridge, Ma.o;s., and London, 1982. Bowman, A. K. Egypt afler Ihe Pharaohs: JJ2 8.(;.A.D. 642. From Afuandu /0 Ihe Arab Conquest. London, 1986. See p. 79, fig. 4, for a lable showing the divisions of Egypl for the period 295-560.
2024
PROVOST
Eadie, J. W. The Bre",iarium of F~'us: A en'tical Edition with His/orical Commentary, pp. 154~71. London, 1967. Contains the provincia.! lists. Jones, A. H. M. The Laler Roman Empire, 284-602.
A Social. Economic, and Adminislro/i"e Survey. pp. 1451-61. Cambridge. 1964. Discusses the dioceses and provinces. Jones, A. H. M.: J. R. Martindale; and J. Moms. The Prosopography a/the
UJtt!r
Roman Empire, 2 vols.
Cambridge. 1971-1980. The provincial govemors and Egypt are treate
siide, pp. 41-57. Brussels, 1964. Papyri from Ponopolis &l the Chutu Beatty Library Dublin, ed. T. C. Skeat. Dublin. 1964. See pp.
xv-xxi for the division of Egypt. Rtmondon, R. "L'Edit XliI de Justinien a+il Cll~ promulgu~ in S19?" Clrrrmiqutl d'Egyplt' 10 {19SS):JJ2-21. Rouillard, G. L'~dmi"islr~tion civile de n,gyple byz~"li"e, 2nd ed. Paris. 1928. Salvo, L de. "La data d'istituzione delle provincie d'Aegyptus lovla e d'Aegyptus Herculia:' Aegyptus 44 (1%4):34-46. Cf. Oxyrlrynehus Papyri, Vol. SI, no. 3619 (London, 1984) for the 6rst contemporary evidence of the existence of Acgyptus lovia. "Anchora sull'istitullone della dioecesis Aegyptl." Rivisl~ sloriea dtl/'~ntichi/il 9 (1979): 69-74. Thomas, J. D. "Sabinianus, prae5t!S of Aegyptus Mercuriana?" Buf[tli" of Ihtl American Society of Pllpyro{ogists 21 (1984):22S-34. HEINZ HEINEN
PROVOST, senior monk in charge of the material need~
of his fellow monks in a monastery. In earlier times it was the lleCUMENOS, or head of the man· astery, who a~~umed re~ponsibility for the spiritual and material well·being of his flock. Later, however, it became necessary for every nlOnaSllc community to have a provost who would relieve the abbot of such mundane obligations. Thus, lhe provost became the second In <.:ommand in a monaslery. Besides the day·to-day running of the monaslery, he would collect his brethren's weekly output of handicrafts, make a record of it, and then hand it over to caravan merchants, from whom he would purchase the necessities required by each monk. On Sunday, after Holy Communion, they would all partake of a cooked meal, usually
vegetables, prepared under his supervision. On this occasion, he would also distribule any gifts or donations rec~ived by Ihe monaslel')', seeing to it lhal anchoriles, who lived in secluded cells, and other monks who could nOI atlend because of illness got Iheir share of the meal and of fresh fruit given to the monastery. John Co\SSIAN (d. 433), who made a close study of monastic oraanizalion in the Egyptian desert, rclated this incident: "When someone had broughl 10 John, the steward in the desert of Seete ... who had the ffial1a8ement of the church in the days of the blessed Presbyter Paphnutius, ... some figs from Mareolis, he al onee sent them by the hands of two lads to an old man who was laid up in ill health in the further part of the desert, and who lived about eighteen miles from the church." Unfortunately, the SIOI')' has an unhappy ending. for the two lads met their deaths in a sudden sandstorm. Provosts of various monasteries still carry out these duties. ARCHBISHOP BAsIUOS
PSAU,
See Music, Coptic: Description of Ihe Cor-
•
pus and Present Musical Practice.
PSALMODJA, "singing to Ihe harp" or "psalmsinging," an ecclesiastical term used in two senses: a special choral service, and the choirbook containing the hymns therefor. The service of P!i8lmodia is part of the little synaxis, which consists of the reeltal or the Psalms of the canonical hours and the singing of hymns in preparation ror the great synaxis, that Is, the Divine Liturgy. The Psalmodia is usually sung antiphonally, but the responsorlal style-wherein the chant is performed alternately by the soloist and the congregation-is sometimes used. Originally the Psalmodla consisted only of the recllation of Psalms, but various hymns were later Incorporat~d into the service. The order of singing Ihe psalms and hymns 15 the same throughout the year, wilh there being cenain modifications for Lent and the major feasts (a synopsis of this service is given in Burmester, The Egyptian or Coptic Church, 1967, pp. 108ff.; see MUSIC, DI!SCRIP'TION OF THE COIU'US).
Although technically speaking, the Psalmodia is a daily service, only in Ihe monasteries is il performed every day. E.1sewhere it is sung only when the Divine Uturgy Is 10 be celebrated.
•
PSEUD<>-CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA
BIBLIOGRAPHY Davies, J. G. "Psalmody." In A DictioNary of l.iturgy al1d Worship. London, 1972. Kitllb af.Ab'fafmudiy)'llt al-MuqaddaslJl al-SaNQwry. yah, PsalmoditJ for the whole year, in Coplic and
Arabic, with a phonelic transcription of the Coptic text in Latin lettcrs (with tape cassette reo cords), Vol. I, cd. by Emile Maher Ishaq. Cairo, 1978. O'Leary, Dc L The Coptic Theotokia. l,gndon, 1923. Y:L'lS! 'Abd al.Masll). "Ooxologies in the Coptic Church." Bulle/iN de la Societe d'arch.!ologie COple 4(1938): 97-113; 5(1939):175-91; 6(1940): 19-76; 8(1942):31-61. EMILE MAHER ISHAQ
PSALMODIA, HYMNS OF THE OFFICE OF, See Music, Coptic: Description of the Corpus and Prescnt Musical Practice.
PSEUDO·ATHANASIUS, CANONS OF, See Canons of pseudo·Athanasius.
PSEUDO·CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, title of
•
a homily wrillen in Arabic and first published in the twentieth century. This homily appears to he un· known in Coptic. In the Arabic tradition, it is found only among the Copts, and it is given for 16 Misn\. The lext was published in the KiJiJb Ma)'llrnir wa· 'Ajll'ib lI1-SiJyyidah al·'Adhril' Maryam in two pans; publication of the first pan (pp. 169-76, Cairo, A.M. 1619/,\.0. 19(2) was subsidized by Jirjis !:Iunayn of al.lag4ziq; publication of the second pan (pp. 24860; Cairo, 1927) was subsidi:red by 'Abd al·Masl!:l Sulaym:in. In the printed edition as wellllS in content, the homily follows lhe homily on the Dormition attributed to the same saini. In Ihe following detailed analysis, page and line references for each section are taken from the firsl edition. Apart from the Introduction and the epilogue, the homily fulls into two pans; the first concerns the aposlle Thomas; the Sf:cond concentrales on the Virgin'S heavenly vision. Introduction (p. 169, I. 5, 10 p. 170, I. Il). The prologue in mymed prose (p. 169, ll. 5-14) in Ara· bic varies from manuscript to manuscript. In the second part of Ihe introduction, Cyril of Aleundria invitcs his hearel'll to listen 10 Ihe accounl of the apostle John conceming the assumption (~u'ijd) of Ihe body of the Virgin. This occurred on 16 Misra,
2025
after which her body was discovered benealh the Tree of Ufe, which started 10 bloom at the order of the Holy Trinity (p. 169, I. 15, to p. 170, I. 2; concerning the locale of the Tree of Uk in Para· dise, sec Ricciotti, 1932. p. 102). The introduclion ends by recalling the Dormhion. The Virgin Mary had died on 21 Tllbah, at lhc third hour of the day, as a unique perfume exuded from her body, and a heavenly voice pronounccd, "Blessed are you, 0 full of grace, the Lord is with you!" The apostles had then buried her at Gethscmane in the field of YoshaliJ.!, or Josaphal, as the Holy Spiril had ordered. They wenl from lime 10 time to pray before the door of the grollo, until 26 Misra. On that day, a great light appeared before the door of the arollo, and they heard angelic songs. They did not know that the Lord had required the body of His mother to be carried away upon the wings of the angels (p. 170, II. 3-13). History of the Apostle Thomas (p. 170, I. 14, to p. 172, 1. 9). On the day of the Dormition, Thomas was in India, and was not with the other apostles in Jerusalem. Sending a cloud to carry him, God told ThomllS to go 10 Gethsemane 10 the field of )osa· phlu. While he was upon lhe cloud, Thomas saw a vision of the angels bearing the body of the Virgin Mary. They explained to him that Christ had ordered them to bear the body of the Virgin as fur as the Paradise of Felicity, and Thomas rejoiced greatly because of this (p. 170, J. 14; p. 171. I. 2; concerning the locale of the Paradise of Felicity be· tween "heaven" and "earth," Sf:e Ricciotti, Pl'. 961£.). Thomas continued his voyage to Gethsemane. When Ihe Olher apostles reproached him for being absent from the Dormition of the Virgin, he explained to them that at the time he was busy baptizing Claudia, the daughter of the king of India (p. 171, II. 2-6). However in the Transitus Mariae (Cop' tic Arabic) and in a manuscript in the Vatican (Arabic 698, Egypt. 1371, fols. 5Ib-84b) Thomas baptizes Phllodes, the child of the king's sister (d. Wilmart, 1933, p. 359). Thomas c:xprc!iSed his desire to see the Virgin's body, nOI revealing his vision. The apostles opened the tomb with great effon and found no body. All were astonished. Thomas then recounted to them his meeting with the angels, and infonned them that the body was in the Paradise of Felicity (p. 171, II. 6-19). The apostles were all amazed and wcnt to the Mount of Olives where they prayed to the Lord to show them the place where His mother's body was to be found. A cloud appeared, and bore the apostles off to the Paradise of Felicity, where they
2026
PSEUDO·CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA
fuund Christ surroundl.'d by the angels and the Virgin (p. 171, I. 20, to p, 172, I. 9). Th~ Virgill's hcove,,'y visioll (p. 172, I. 9, to p. 174, I. 12), ChriSI invilcd the Virgin to contemplate the eternal Kingdom of Heaven. She saw Enoch, Elijah. and Moses, the patriarehs, the prophets and the n]lOStles, lhe jU.~1 nud lhe manyrs. Christ then led her to sec the first three heavens {po 172, II. 9-19}. The Virglll beheld twelve doors, bearing lhe naml."5 of lhe twe/ve apostles, and a Inrge door bearing the nDlIle of the palriarchs frum AJam on. She then passed through each of lhe twelve doors, where she encountered Ihe angels who entrusted her with the thrice-holy hymn; the cherubim; the seraphim; the muhiludes; the thunder and lightning; the lire; thc rain and dew; the archangels Michael and Gabriel; thl'lights; the saints; and finally, the heavenly Jeru.ulem (p. 172, l. 19, to p. 173, I. 13). Chri~l then showed her lhe hidden mysteries and all lhe things of the church. She looked upon the JUSt in joy lind the sinners In suffering (p. 173, I. 13, to p. 174. I. 3). Chrbt led the Virgin back to Para· dise and pUI her down benealh lhe Tree of Life. which at once began to bloom. He then sealed the place with lhe seal of His cross, until the day of the Resurrection, He then kissed His mother's body, to everyone's SUIluise, lind addressed a hymn to it: "Peace to you, 0 body in which I dwell for nine months, until 1 renewed m;1II a second time. Peace to you, 0 body, more than henven and canh, for you are my tomb IIi/bUll] in which I dwdt, until 1 sa\"cd Adam. Resl now, in the virgin land, bene:'lth the Tree of Ufe, until the day of the ReSUITeetion!" (p. 174, II. 3-12). EpiluKlie (p. 174, l. I], to p. 176. l. 21). PseudoCyril close.~ the homily in the voice of one of the 9posllcs: "After this, the Lord spoke to me, John the beloved, who am witness of all Lhis. lie ki_~setl each of Ihe Iwdve, :md we :\dured Him, The Holy Spirit then bore each of the Iwelve 10 his place of mission, ~ncl I, John, retumed to Ephesus, where I wl'Ote Ihis /lll dOwn [p, 174, I. [3, to p. 175, I. I). We then left for the place where Thomas had seen the body of the Virgin borne upon the wings of the angels, and there we built II monastery and It church, This is the Dayr al·'Ayn [Monastcry of the Source] beside Akhmlm, in the Eastern mountain, whel'e lllfllly mimclcs take place" (p. 175. JI. 1-15), The homily concludes with a tine theulOkiuli in honor of Mary, reminiscent of those sung today in the Coptic church. It hegins "Rejoice, u full of gl1lee, Ihe Lord is with you! Peace to you, 0 Virgin,
for you are to be pl·efel...ed above all [beings] in he:lVen [lnJ on colrlh, for you bore Christ, the Savior who is with youl" (p. 175, J. 6, to p. 176, l. 21). Technical infol'lllalion about this homily is providt.'d by three Arabic manuJOCripts of Coptic origin and from Ihe text of the edition based on a manuscripl that differed considerably £rom the lhree known manuscripts. onc in the Coptic Museum, Caim (Hislory 477, fols. 145a-154b; Egypl, 1686; Graf, no. 720; Shnaykah, no. 105; indpit in Graf, p. 281), and tWO In Ihe National Ubr:ary, Pari~ (Arabc: ISS. fols. 64a-72b; Egypt, 1486; incipil in Tmupeau, p_ 130; and Arabe 26], fols. 9Ia-102b; Egypt, tifteenth ecntury; incipit in Troupcau. p. 229). Judging from the indpits, there arc at least two recensions. The prologue in rhymed prose, or no. I in the analysis, is misslna in the Cairo manus<:ript. The other documents give two different prologues. The two 1"''''ris manuscripts give: "A1·maid li·AIJah QllQdh! (ohhQrQflQ bi.md' Q(.mQ'mfldiYYQh . .." (praised be God who puritied us with b.'1ptism), while the tirsl edilion givC5: "AI·mQld /i·Mldh dlrI aJ-mllnflQh IVQ-Ql. i~siJfI, IVQ-al'ni'muh IVU-QUn/liml,," (glory 10 God of kindness, benevolence, groce, and grotitude). Cyril's introduction, or no. 2 in the analysis. comes in two very dislinct forms. The lirst edition reads: "Amm,} M'd, fa·orilikllll1 y6 ikhIVQ/1 QJ.o~libbil'
I
''''kil,1I ddhdllQII ~tlg1liYQh bi-qlll,-.bjn lV,fiytlh ..." (now then, I beg you my beloved
QII
brothers to listen 10 me c1ll'efully with open heans), while in the three manuscriptll we find texl.~ that al'e totally different from the edition but similar to one another. The Cail'o manullcript reads: "Ta'lJ./aIV i1'lyyU u/-ytlwmu, ytJ (l~ibbil'l ul-IIWSI!.liyyfll "I·mll· ~ll'bhjll al.i/llh wa'II1I1J,u'lJhf'l al·lu'IfIll" (cnme to me Loday, my beloved Christians who lu\"e God and learning); the Paris Arabe ISS reads: "Ta'lllaw al· il'lII, I/yYljhtJ "I·ikhw"h Ij/-Il~ibbll ... " (eume now, beloved bl'Others), lind the Paris Arabe 263 reads: "Ta'lJ.law al·ana. aYYl/lla al.al.rihbll' mu/liirak [sic] al·Rubb" (come now, my beloved. blessed be God (al-Rabb). Finally, the actual introtluctiun, or nu. 3 in the analysis, is similar in the two Paris mlinuscriplS and in the edition (Gr"f gives no information ror the Caim manuscript): """'Qlm, IQmmii kolna ha'd lIiyiil!{or lliya~lIlf] uJ-S(lyyid(lh af.Adhril . .. " (then, lifter the death of the Virgin Mal)'). A serious study of this text would require a t:ritical edition and translation from lhe Arabic a~ necessary preliminaries.
,
PSEUDO-MACARI US, HOMIUES OF
BIBLIOGRAPUY
GreC, G. CQIQ/oglle de mQmfscripls QrQ~.{ cllrt'/iens COnSf!-MS QU CQire. Vatican City. 1934. Lanuchoot, A. van. "L'Assomplion dc la lklintc vlerge ch~ les Copt~." Gregorianllm 27 (1946):493-526, especially pp. 511-12 (no. 14). Mc.:inardU5, O. F. A. Christian Egypt. Cairo, 1977. Ricciolli, G. J.'QpQCQlisse di Paolo siritlC:a, Vol. 2, LtJ ctntnologia dellQ Bibbia e la trasmissiolle fino a Dall/e. Brescia. 1932.
Troupcau, G. CQM/aglle des ",allllscrits Qrabe., [de /a 8ibliol1leqlle Nationale de Puri~"J, Vol. I, I'aris, 1972; Vol. 2, Paris, 1974. Wilmart, A. A'Iulec{u Rel:illlmsiu. Studl e Test; 59. Vatican City, 1933. KHALIl. SAMIK. S.].
PSEUDO-MACARIUS, HOMILIES OF,
a
number of spiritual writings that had a great vogue under the name of Saint MACAKIUS nUl EGyrTlAN. One should examine the author, the writing.~, the doctrine, and the collections that e",ist both in Coptic and in Arabic, since it conccrns Egypt. During the whole of the Middle Ages, llnd indeed, as Syria<: manuscripts indicate, from as early as 534. S('\'eral collections of works were allributl-d 10 Ma<:arius the Egyptian, which reassured their numerous readers. But it has been known sincl' the beginning of the twentieth cemul)' that this all,ibution Is false and that the author is unknown. These writings speak frequently of the wars between Persians and Romans, which shows thai the write.' lived on the frontier belween Ihe twO empires. He speaks only of a single river, the Euphrates, never of 'he Nile, which would be ilStonishing fo.· an Egyptian. And finally, the significant traces of a Mes!i<.Jian tendency detected in these works indio cates a Mesopotamian, rather th.m an Egyptian. au· thor. H'lVlng rulcd out Macarius the Egyplian as Ihe author, onc cannot allribute the authorship to any other wrtter mo,'e or less famous. The nmnusl'ript Irndition altrihutcs thc homilies (the greater pat't of these writings) to one Sylllcon. It is customary to describe these homilies under the nnllle Mncal"ius/ Symeon. Thc works of Pseudo·Macarius include (I) a treatise called the Great Lellcr; (2) two letters: (3) ~me twcnty pit.-cell in Ihe form of quesiiollll and answers (a well·known litcmry fonn); and (4) some fifty homilies and some thlny shon pieces or collections of Jagla. It is appropriatc to remark thnt the precise litcr.11)' genre of eaeh work is difficult to dctcm,ine,
2027
for each of the pieces is transmiltcd diffcrently in the different manU5cripts, which are generally of latc date (eleventh or Iwelfth century). With regard to thc versions in Greek, which seems to be the language of the original, the works dividc into four collections. Collection one gives sixty.four lotia, the first logion being thc Great letter (Benhold, 1973, p. 694). Colleclion two contains fifty spiritual homilies; this is the most widely diffused of the four collections (Dt,irrics, Klostcrmann, and Kroeger, 1964). Collection three gives forty·three logia: it supplies Iwenty-cight piccl'S that are wanting in the preceding colleclion (Kloster· mann and Be11hold, 1961-). Fin:llly, collection four supplies twenty-six Jogia, but ha.~ not been published; all the same, its variants arc given In ediliuns of collection one. Two tl1llnUscl'ipls contain in appendices seven pieces that were edited by Marriott (1918). As noted, a hint of Me:;salianism ha.~ been detect· ed in these writings, llnd that indced very carly, since thcy were condemned in pan at the Council of EPHESUS in 431 and Ihen indirectly, along with the doctrine of the Mcssalian movement, al lhe 5yn· ods of Sidon in 380-393 and CONSTANTINOPLE in 426.
Four points need to be emphasized. Fint, the writings of Pseudo-Macariw are delivered within a mona.~tic framework. This is important for one must take account of the fact that the author ad· dressed himself to monks, not 10 simple ChriSlians. If this aUlhor did not give concrete details, it is known that he spoke to cenobites, not to hermits or scmihermiL'. Macarius the Egyplian IIvcd a true eremelic life, unlikc the cenobitic one observed by PACHOMtllS, Second. he put the accent on spiritual conflict a.~ a means of llttaining r>erfe<:tion. This gave him ocCllSiun to underlinc thc role of human freedoOl, to which he allributerlthe evil comrnillcd by hUII1:1lls. The author gave a list of vh1UC5 aod vices, in con· fOrtuity with those of the works of his time. Third, 51nee he has been judged to be largely innuenced by the tendencies of the Mcssallan 5CCt, the mQSt efficacious mellns for him in this spiritual conflict is naturally prayer, which, according to him, is the first of the virtues. Fourth, his spiritual theology is perhaps defined by the idea that grace, like human effort, must work for thc salvation of each human being. For him, there 15 a ball:lnce between the innuence of gruee and the participation of each individual. He adopt. ed the Mcssalian thesis that baptism does not totally
2028
PSEUDO-PISENTIUS OF OIFT
rool out the evil in the human heart-hence, the necell5ity for conStant slIugglc to auain perfection and the indispensability of the action of the Holy Spirit.
Villecourt, L "Homi!lies spil'huelles de Macaire en arube sous [e nom de Simeon slylite." Revue de 1'0rie"' chrttien 21 (I918-1919l:]]7-44. REN~.cEORGF.s COOUIN
There mUll' have been a Coptic version of these various writings but there survive only sparse leaves of il (Geerard. 1974-1987, Vol. 2, no.s. 2415, 2422), from which il is impossible to know what the
Coplic version represented. II is quite othcrwiS<' with the Arabic collection, of which we have two recensions: the Melehill: (of
which nothing need be said here) and the Coptic. The number of Coplil: texts variC$ according to the I'lUnuscripl$: often thirty-six discourses (maqll/llt) are counted. a pari of which is found in me G~k colludons: then forty-one questions and answers,
the content of which blends wh:lt is transmitted by thc Gr«It; and, finally, len or twenty words (lIqwllfl, of which II part is lost in Grl'ek. It will be noted thai the collection, the content of which variC$, is placcd under the name of Simeon the Stylite, as it was by IBN KADAR. The oldest manu· scripts IIrc of the thirteenth century. All analysis of one of these manuscripts (Val. Arab. 80) will be found in L.. Villecoun (I918-1919; it also analyzes Vat. Arab. 84, the Melchite recension). BIOLIOGRAPHY
Abu al·&raklit ibn Kabar. Mjsbtl~ Cl/-?lIlmClh. Cairo,
1971. Berthold, H. MClkClri05/Symeon, Reden und Briefe: Die SClmmlung I des Va/icanu! Gr/lecllS 694 (B), 2 vols. Oil' griechisch.chrisdichen Schrirtsteller der ersten drel Jahl'hundelte 45. Leipz.ig, 197]. Despl'ez, v.: M. Cani!vet; and M.·C. Rouleau. "Ma· cail'e (Pseudo·Macail'e: Macaire·Syrnl:on)." In lJiclimlllaire de spirituatile, Vol. 10, cols. 20-44. Paris, 1977. D~rrie9, H.; E. Klustcrmann: and M. Kroeger. Sy· "leon VO~I Mesopotllmiell, PI'. ]]7-]77.410-15, 471ff. (Arabic vel'Sion), Texte und Unter· suchungen 55. Leip7.ig, 1941. _::-_. Die 50 I:eistlichen Humiliell dl.'$ MClkCln'O$, Patristlsche Texle und Studien 4. Berlin, 1964, Klostermann, E., and H. Berthold. cds. Neue Homi· lien de.l Makarius/SYllleon. Texte ulld Unlersu· chungen 7.UI· Gcschichte del' altchriSIJichen Lileratur 72. Bel'lin, 1961-. Manion, G. L, cd. Mucarjj lmecdola: Seven Unpublished Homilies of MacllrirlS. Cambridge, Mass., 1918. Strolhmann, W. Die arabischen MakariOslrodi/ion: Ein Beitrag tIIr Geschichte des MIJnchtums. COu· ingen, 1934.
PSEUDO-PlSENTlUS OF QIFf. An apocalypse falsely auributed to Piscntius was circulated as being the pasloral leiter of a bishop caring for his nock and near death. One part admonishes his flock to be sleadwt in Ihe railh and live a lire worthy of a Christian. The other part givCli prophecies of a future moral decline and the holTOrs to follow. The misfortune of having foreign rule is. given in great delan. The transmitted lext is a lranslation of a Coptic original dadng from after the ARAB CONQUEST 01' !!GYPT but before the tenth century. In the historical pan, the leader of the enemy of the Egyptians is Mumadamus, announced by Ihe apocalyptic number 666 (Rev, 13:18). The new Babylon (Old Cairo) is occupied, and the land is plun. dered mercilessly. "Turks" come from the cast and rule from ,,"0 and Yemen 10 Ihe limits of Ab)'Minia. God sends help 10 Ihe Christians in the form of a king of the Romans, Constanline, and he makes the reconquered &bylon.Egypt his residence. But he himself is a "Chalcedonian," believing in the two natures of Chrisl, so the king and patriarch of Abyssinia anempt 10 convert him. This comes about through a miracle when, durina a joint celebration by the patriarchs and Roman dignitaries, the Holy Spirit itself appears al Ihe El'tCl£SIS at the altar of the Eastern patriarchs, showing the correct faith. The Romans convert and bum the Cha[cedonian books. Ten Roman emperors succeed, and the tenth, the last legltimllte king un earth, goes to Jerusalem with his army 10 worship the cross. The eleventh is the precursor of the Anti-Christ. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Stmaykah, M., and Y. 'Abd al·Masth. Catalogue 01 the Coptic and Arabic Mutruscripls ... , Vol. 2. Cairo, 1947. Pl:rier, A. "Lcnre de Pisuntios, ev~que de Qeft, a scs fideles." Revue de {'Or/ent chretien 19 (1914):7982, ]02-]], 445f. VINCENT FREDERICK
PSHOI, SAINT, or Bishoi or Peter of Akhmlm, a monk who rounded a monastery (reast day: 5 Amshir). Pshoi was a native of ~unah, a village in the district of Akhmllll. He was II shepherd, but left this
I
PSHOI OF SCETIS
vocation to JOin Apa Pjol, maternal uncle of Apa Shenute. on the mountain of Atrlb (called Pwou in the Ure or Shenute) to the west of the present town of SuhAj. Apa. Pjol clothed him in the monastic habit at the same time i\$ his nephew Shenutc:. then aged J,even years. They constructed three cells and a church to which they gave the name of al.Rag. hAmah. which appears to mean "of the mountain." All three went to Asyu! to visit JOHN COLODO!' and heard a heavenly voice say. "Today I have chosen you. Shenute. i\$ head and leader of all the monks." 11lis prophecy was an anachronism. ror John Colobm did not go to AsyO!, and JOHN OF LYCOPOUS had long been dead Apa Pshol was buried by Apa Shenute, and his body is in the monastery (no doubl OAYR ANUA mSHOI. Suhaj, or the Red Monastery) he had founded. Pshoi was celebrated at Dayr' Anb4 Shinudall (the White Monastery), as the typika attest (Leiden, In· singer 38"";; Vienna, State Library K9731; Vl'nice, Biblloteca Naniana, Nani XIX). The 5YNAXARION of the COplS in its recension from Upper Egypt devotcs a fairly long notice 10 him. BIBLIOGRAPHY
E. Mo,lUmtn/s pour $~rvir a l'his/oire de l'Egyptt ch,ltumnc. M~moire5 de b Mission arch!ologique fran~ise du Caire 4. Paris, 18861888. Leipoldl, I. Silillthii archimandritae vi/a et IIpera omnia. CSCO 41 (text), Paris, 1906; 129 (Irnnsl.), Paris, 195 I. Pleyte, W., and P. A. A. Oocscr, cds. Manll.~cri/S
Am~lineau,
COpIes du Musec d'antiquilis des Pays.Bus il LeWe. [.eiden, 1897. RENE-GEORGF.s CooIUN
PSHOI OF SCETIS, fourth-fifth·century monk (feast day: 8 Abih). Pshoi was born at Shansha, In the provin"e of al-Daqahliyyah. There is another town of this name in the province of Bchcira, and there thus remains some doubt on the precise location of his hirth· place. His parents had seven children; an,1 before his binh his mother had a drcam in which an angel announced Pshoi's vocation to her. She prolested, pleading that Pshoi was the most sick.ly of all her children, but the angel told her that such was the divine decision. Pshoi embraced the monastic life at scms at an age that Is not precisely staled, plac· ing himself under Ihe dirc1;:lion of an "elder"
2029
named Arnoi. He bound himself in spiritual friend· ship 10 JOliN COWDOS (the Greek Ufe calls his mas· IeI' Parnbo: the Arabic calls him (A)pa Amol, trans· muted into Barnuyah). Sometime after Amoi', death, Pshoi and John Colobos decided to separate. John Colobos remained at Seeds, and Pshoi established himself two miles to the nonh, in a rock ClIve. The fame of his miracles spread, and anum· ber of disciples galhered around him, no doubt forming the nucleus of the first I>AYR ANBA 815HOI; but, lIS with Antony and Macarius. we must not imagine that Pshoi (or, to speak in modem terms, Anb1 Blshol) was a superior as Ihat term is under· slood today. Pshoi's authorily, more spiritual than temporal, was compatible with mOl'e 01' less lengthy sojourns in the remotest pans of the desen. This life included, we arc told, visions of Jesus, Conslantine, and others. Then came the first sack of Seeds by the Ma:dqucs (407) and the dispersion of thc monks. John Colohos fled to CLYSMA (al'Oulzum), where he died sometime later. Pshoi look refuge in the mountain of Anllnoopolis. According to Ihe Arabic life (neilher the Creek nor the Syriae life says Ihis), Pshoi's body, with lhat of his friend PAUL OF TAM.Wr.. was transferred from the area of Antinoopolis to the monastery of Sishoi, in the present Wk!1 al·Natn"in. The date of this tnrnslatlon is not given, but we know from a list of the rcliC5 venerated in Egypt, drawn up by the dea· con MAWItOU, aulhor of a pan of the HlSTORY OF ntE PAllUARCHS OF THE EGynlAN CIIUROI. Ihat these bodies were preserved In the Wadi al·Natn"in at the end of the eleventh century. Since Pshoi was a younger contemporary or John Colobos, we may deduce that he lived mainly In the fourth century and, with Evelyn·White, fix his death in the first decodes of the fifth century. (1932, pp. 159-160). A Life is preserved in Greek under the name of Paisius. It is published without translation by Pomjalovski (pp. 1-61). Other Greek texts are listed in BibliOlhcca Hagiographica Gmeca, 1402-1403d. Their relation to the Life preser.red In Arabic have not yet been determined. (Evelyn.While, pp. Ii 112). A Life is transmitted in Syriac by Bedjan (vol. 3, pp. 572-620; sec Bibliotheca hugiographica Graeca nos. 181-82). A third Life, in Arabic, is unpublished (Paris, Bibliolheque NaJio"al~, Aroln 4796, fols. 119r-169v; see Troupeau. vol. 2. p. 47). Evelyn.White says he has used it, thanks to an un· published translation by Evetts (p. III, n. 4). A r~ume of the Arabie Ufe is given in the recension of the 5YNAXARlON of Ihe Copts from Lower EsYPI at
,
2030
P$HOI OF TOO, SAINT
8 Ablb: reference may be made 10 the t.x1ilions of Ibssel (pp. 630-34) or Forget (text, p. 210, Ilnd Irons., pp. 206-08). The ETHIOI'IAN SYNAXARION gives Il perceptibly Identical version III 8 H:lmle (Guidi, pp. 270-76). One may also refer to the English lranshllion by Budge (Vol. 4, PI" 1083-87), al· though this Is nOI Il criticlil edition. There is an E1hiopian 1CJl,1 that is without doubt a version of the Arabic life. II has nOI yel been ediled. bUI Beylo! gi1lcs Il detailed analysis (pp. 172-79). The pas..~e from the Elhiopian Synaxarion is pem:.ps a summaI')' of Ihis life. BIBUOCRAPIlY
Amclincau, £. 1.A Geographic de I'Egypu- Q l'ipoqIU. cupit. Paris, 1893. Bedjan. P. Ac/a lPlanyrlllll ef j/mcfQf'llm. 7 vols. Pari~ and Leip1.ig, 1890-1897. Beylol, P. "La version ~Ihiopienne de 'l'hisloire de Peso)':" RIlVlIft de I'hiS/Q;re des rc:ligions 20] (1986): 169-84. Budge. E. A. W. The Book of the Saims of th~ Ethiopiatl Chl/rch, 4 vols. Cambridge. 1928. Evclyn·Whiu:, H. G. Tilt Afomwerits of {he Wad;'" Nalr.i". Pl. 2. Tilt lIis/ory of the M"nasteries of Ni/ria and SCdis. New York, 19]2. Mul.lomlnad RamzI. At-Q/I/mis a/-J/lgllrilfi IiI·Bi/iid at Mi~riyyoh, 2 vullO. in 5 pis. Cairo, 195]-1963. Troupeau. G. CaM/agile des matlllScrits arabes. Pari~, 1972-1974. Rl'.N~GroRGES (OOUIN
PSHOI OF rOO, SAINT, ascetk of Upper Egypl (feaM day: 25 KIyahk). He Is known only from a bdef notice in the recension of Ihe SYNAXAR. ION from Upper Egypl. The notice describes P...hoi as :m nscetic who distinguished hlmsdf by ::m ,"ssid· llUUS reading of the book of the prophet Jeremiah, to the point lhal Jeremiah revealed hilllsdf tu him. This revelation MIS repeated for other authors of (holy) books, whum lhe Synm"arion dues not name. Pshoi attracted notice through his prayel'S and his vigils, so mu,,;h so that his death was regarded as that of 11 SIlin\. Pshoi was buried in a church-we are not told which one-llnlt was then endowed wilh a mirolcle. Whoever washed with the water from its well was healed of sickness, espl,cially tho:;c who suffered from tenian fevel' (a form of malaria). In linolher noli<:e. <:(,lnceming Saint I'ISENTIUS. bishop of ArmalU, Ihere is reference LO a monastery
"to the ea.~t of the COS/film (cllmp) of rud." This monastery mayor may not be the one still in exis· tence, (OAVRI ANRA ARSHAV of Tild. We cannot say, for we do nol know where thi.!; cos/mill was located. The present monaslery has on ils south side all enclosure, adjacenllo Ihe monastery fence, where a monk's tomb is siluPled: Ihis COuld be Ihe lomb of Plihoi. The text of the Synax:u;on says only Ihat he died "at Ihe ford" (or at Ihe crossroads, or at Ihe walering place) of Tild. If the nOlice of 20 Ki)'ilhk (Pisc:nliuli of Armanl) mentions lhe monastery built in his honor, Pshni must have lived before the sev· enlh cenlury (since Piscnlius livt.-d at the lime of the Persian invasion). RENt-GWRCES COOUIN
pso'i, the Coptic
name of the town thai was known in Greek as Plolemais Hermiou (so named by the pharaoh Ptolemy I) and calk-d al·Minshah today. The town ls localed on the west bank of the Nile in Upper Egypt some 7 miles (II km) south of Akhmlm. In the Roman and the Byzanline periods, Ihis lown grew rapidly, and its bishop seems 10 have played an imponant role, if we may judge from the Slory of Ihe martyrdom, preserved in Latin and in Coplic, of one of its bishops named PSOTE. He died urllier Ihe emperor DIOClEt'IAN. His tomb, induded in a monastery on Ihe bank opposite the lown, is slill an important pilgrimage site: this is DAVR ANoA BISAlJAII. The writings of Saint ATIMNAsrus in the fourth century testify to the Importance of Ptole· mais/PsoY as no episcopal scat. Ptolemais was the most populous town lIfter Alexandria and after 450 became the residence of the dux (general) of the Thcbaid. It should be noted thllt Pachom ius' disciple and successur Theudorus (c. 307-368) is said to have founded Il monllstet')' there, acconling (0 (he In· mOllS "Leiter of Ammon" (Hal kin and Festugil!re, 1982, pp. 110, 160). The text spc,,;ifies "ncar the town," but does nOt give the name of the monastery. Unfortunately It is difficult tu trace the histol'Y of the Chri§\ian community in Psoi' ~cause of a lack of do<:umenIS. It appears lhlll lhe episcop
I
PSOTE OF PSOl, SAINT
a sevenleenlh-cenllJry manuscript Ihal mUSI be a copy of a Ihinccnlh-cenlury manuscripi (Vatican Library, Coplic manuscript 45; Municr, 1943, p, 64). 11 docs sccm lhal on the ecclesiastical level, which follows the civil evolution wilh somc delay, the town gradually lost its importance, and htnce at an uncenain date ils bishopric was suppressed to the benefit of Jilja, which became the metropolis of the province. It is only some 12.5 mile... (20 knl) 10 the nonh, al50 on the lerl b'lnk. In fact, the lI1J.veler J. VANSUiD. who 5Ojourncd in Egypt in 1672 lind 1673, make... no mention of "Ab~y" in the list of "actual bishoprics" he drew up, although he does mention it In hi... register of ancien! episcopal sees. He names "Girgah" as the pl'e~m bishopr'ic (1677, pp. 22 and 27; he calls il "Ibs'li"). The Jc.~uit C. SleARO, whu stayed in Egypl from 1712 10 1726, speaks of il as a small Christian community, bUI not a.~ the seat of a bishop (1982, Vol. 3, p. 232). S. CLARKE. reproducina the ollicial patriarchate list of the churches auaching 10 Ihis or that bishopric, links Ihe churches of "al·Minshaal" with the bishopric of Jirja (1912, pp. 213-14). O. Meinardus. who give... the list of the presenl bishopric... (Ihal of 1964 in his firsl edition. thai of 1971 in Ihe second). indicate; a bishop of Jirja and not of PliOY. The name is not even coupled with lhal of Jilja, proof that the title of Psoi/Ptolel11ais has long disappeared. At all events, thoU of Jirji is joined 10 lhe bishoPlic of Naa Hammadi. Ukewise O. H. E. Bunnester, III his buok The Egyptioll or Coptic Church (1967), in giving an ac· count of tbe dioceses of the patriarchalc of Alexan' dria, mentions the dioccsc of Jirj<1, which includes thut of Nag Hammadi. and nOI thl: ancient diocCliC of Psor. BlBlIOGKAt>HY
Burmestcr, o. H. E. The EgyfJtilHl or COfJtiC CJmrch. C.!iro, 1967. Clarke, S. Christiun Antiquities /'1 the Nile Valley. Oxford, 1912. Halkln, F., and A.·J. Feslugi~re. I.e Corpus IIthblien de Jillilf/ Pachomc. Cahiel'S d'Orientalisme 2. Ge· neva, 1982. Meinardus, O. Christiall Egypl, Atlcicfll atld Modem. 1st cd., Cairo, 1965; 2nd cd.• Cairo, 1977. Municr. H. Recl/eil des /isles ~pfscopa/es d.· /'ig/ise cop/e. Cairo. 1943. Muyser. J. "Contribution a I'elude des listet; i:piscopales de I'cglisl' copte." Bill/eli" de III Sociire d'archeologie copu 10 (1944):115-76.
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Sicard, C. Oem'res, 3 'lois., I'd. S. Sauneron and M. Manln. Bibliotheque d'eludes 83-85. Cairo, 1982. Vanslcb, J. M. Hisloire de Nglise d'Alexal/drle. Pa· ris, 1677. R£.NE..(JEORGI:S COOUIN
PSOTE OF PSOI, SAINT, or Psate or Siddall, rnal1yr under DtOCLETIAN, abolll 305 (feast day: 27 Kiyahk). Illfonnalion about him can be gleaned only from Ihe account of his Passion, for which the Greek lext, wrillen perhaps ncar the end of the fourth cenlul)', is now losl. However, then: is a Coplic translaljun, In a Sahidic codex from Hamuli, dating from the lenth century (Pierpont Morgan Libr1lry 11.1583, fols. 17-23, cd. Orlandi, 1978), as well ns a Latin (Dc1ehaye, 1922) .tnlJ an Ethiopie tnlnslatlon (Budge, 19[5). Accor'ding to this work, the messenger of Diode· tilln comes to Psoi (Ptolemals) while IJishop Psote is in the midst of celebraling Saturday night lier· vices. Aftcr begging to be allowed 10 complete the services, Psote Ihen discourses to Ihe fulthful, giv. ing them his Ia.·u recommendations and evcn prediclina his own dealh. Next morning thc met;..<;('nger leads him before AKIANUS, the prerect, who vainly trie5 to persuadc Psote to make pagan sacriflC6. Upon failing in his effons, Arianus locks Psote in a walled eell for several days, expecllng him to die. When he finds his viClim still alive, Ariaou.s has Psole decapitated. TIle text of this particular Passion slra)'5 ralher far from the llsual epic passions (sec HAGtOGRAPHY) and is quite unlike other reliable account5 of trials. It appears 10 be not only very ancicnl blll also based on 5Omeone's faclual memory of the events al Psoi. Some of lhe circumstances herein arc also verified in the Passion of PETER I, pauiarch of Alexandlia, and it is probable lhal bolh texts were pro· duced in Ihe same milieu. However, we cnnnot de· tel'mine which one served as :1 model for the other. Psote doc ... enjoy great fume In the Coptic tradi· lion, and mnny other texts of diverse origin, chronology,
2032
PTOLEMAIS HERMIOU
was called Agrippid:J.-and reared u a shepherd by Psotc's parents, A PflCI with .he devil is supposed 10 have eamed him 10 the highest "burdens," thai is, the highest positions in the empire. Another work. enlarging upon this Psole tradi· tion, is lhe Encomium uf Be'!;,,",in, by ....GAllION OF ALEXANDRIA (661-677), which relates Ih.:U Benjamin
reprimanded a l:IiIw4n builder-a man who had disgraced himself by murdering anOlher whose parents had cared for lIIc builder as an orphaned child -as follows: "Truly thou hasl behaved as did Diodelian wilh Bishop PSOIC. His parents [psotc's) only did good unlO him [Dioclelian], and he [Dioclct!an), after becoming king, killed him (Psotc)" (Am~[ineau, 1888, p. 376). The slary of Psotc's relation to Diodclian·Agri~ pida is also narrated in a late Encomium of TheodOfUS Analolius. auributed to the fictitious Theodorull of Antioch. Thill work bclongll to the legendary Cycle of Theodore, Claudius, and Victor. Still another (ext adding to the Psote tmdition is a late Passion concerning PANINE AND PANEU. in which these two holy men encounter Psote in the desert, where he has fled 10 escape persecution. Psote predicu to them future events. among which are hill own martyrdom, that uf Panine and P:.meu, and Iikcwise, that of Arianu.~. From a much e3r1ier em, we also have an Oralio auributed to Psote, but it is connected only indirectly to the rcst of the Psote tmdition. IlS author seems to hllve known nothing other than the brief text of the 6nt P:l....~ion mentioned above. However, this prayer clln be related to lin analogous Drlllia ante morl~m, alll'ibuted to ATHANASIUS I. The text has survived in a Sahidic cooex from rdfl1 (Briti:>h Library, Or. 7597, fols. 1-8, cd. Budge, 1915, and Odandi, 1978), and it, like the Passion, t:ontllins a long !lerie!l of recommendations and predictions by Psote of his own deilth. In the Arabic tmdltion, the Ambie SYNAXARION StunnlltriZi:s the extended Passion (Forget, 1905, pp. 282-85). Also, in the commemoration of Abadion, it is told that Abadion revealed to Arianus the story of Dioc1etian-Agrippida, lind that PSOle confirmed it. BIBLIOGRAPHY Am~lineau,
Eo C. "Fragments COplCS pour servir fI I'histoire de III conquele de l'Egypte IXlr Ics Ar· abes," Journal Asialique, ser. 8, 12 (1888):376. Budge, E. A. W. A-1iscellQtleous Coptic TtJCls. pp. 147-55: 1141-57. London, 1915. Delehaye, H. "Les Martyrs d'Egypte." AtlaleetQ 80/latldiQtlQ 40 (1922):5-154, 299-364.
Orlandi, T. II Dossier coplo del mar/ire Psole. Milan, 1978. TlTO ORLANDI
PTOLEMAIS HERMIOU, See Psoi.
PUBLIC LAW. See Law, Coptic.
PUECH, HENRI·CHARLES (1902-1986), born at Montpellier (Herault), France, chairman of the history of the early church and patristics in the section of religious sciences at the Ecole Prntiquc des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne) for {orty·two years (1930-19721, and for twenty yean (1952-1972) that of the hislOry of religions at the College de France. Puech's contribution to Coptic studies relates essentially to Manichaeanillm and grlosis, domains in which he was the undisputed master in his generation. His book Le maniehiisme, son fotlda/eur, sa doctrine (Paris, 1949), remains a fundamental work. In it. in addition to the classical sources and the documents discovered in Central Asia. he used the Coptic Manichaean te)[1.5 discovered about 1930 in the Fayyiim. When it became known that a library of Coptic Gno.stic writings had been disc::overed nClOr Nag Hammadi in the winter of 1945-1946, Puech imme·
PULCHERIA
Schneemclchcr, of E. Hcnncckc's Newes/amentliehe APQkryphl!rI (Vol. I, TUbingen, 1959; English ed., ed. R. MeL Wilson, New Teslalrlerl/ Apocrypha, 1963): the i'ieCtion "Gnostic Gospels and Relaled Document$" was drnwn up by him (pp. 158-271; English ed., pp. 231 ~362). Puech's principal anicles relating to triaSU and Manichaeanism are collected in three volumes: En· qutte de la triose (2 vols.) and Sur Ie IIlQlliehtisme et Qutres essllis (Paris, 1978 and 1979). AN1'OINI!
GUlIJ.AUMONT
PULCHERIA (399-453) (AeHa Pulcheria), Augusta, ddest daughler of Emperor Arcadius (383-40fl). She showed such a precocious abililY thut on 4 July 414 ~he was given the title of Augu~ta and became the rellent for her brother, Theodosius II. Her strong, if self·willed, perwnality acted ilS a foil to the morc sensitive yet not unstatesmanlike qualities of her brOlher. Deeply religious by nature, PIIIcheria, who ~Ived to remain II virgin, wa.
20ll
ccpting her assurnnce of opposition to Ephesus 11 (Lelur 60), and in July told her that he would recogn~ Ihc choice of Dioscorus as patriarch of wnstantinople if Anatolius would accept Cyril's second letter to Nestorius and Leo's Tome (Letter 70). Thc outcome of these proposals was never tested, for Thcodosius died suddenly, after a hunting accident, on 28 July 450, before the popc's delegates could reach Constantinople. Pulchcria immcdiately resumed the power she had been losina to Chrysaphius. The laller found himself arrcslt:d and was subsequently eJlecuted. An elderly, distinguished Thracian soldier, Marcian, was chosen as emperor, and Pulcheria married him to become his conSOr1 (24 August 450). During the next months she worked toward, first, the undoing of the decisions of Ephesus II, and second, for a new ecumenical council that would seUle the Christologicl\l issue along the lines of the Tome of Leo and Cyril'll doctrine as accepted in the formula of reunion of 433. The council, delayed first by the threat from the Huns, and then by changc of location from Nicaca to Chakedon, met on 10 October 451. Pulcheria accompanied her husband for the fonnal promulgation of the Christological definition on 2S October. After the council Pukhcria reccived leiters from Pope Leo thanking her for her steadfastness in the faith but also as5er1ing his opposition to Canon 28 (Letters 105 and 106): howevcr, there is no rcason to think that she accepted the papal viewpoint reo gardlng the ecclesiastical status of Constantinoplc. On thc olher hand, her commitment to the twonature Christology made her a targct for abu.o;e from the anti·Chalcedonians. To John Rufus in his PluophOriflt (early sixth ccntury), Pulchcria was 3 "false virgin:' and her husband was denounced as "the new Assyrian:' She died in 453, leaving her goods to the poor. Like hel' kinswomlln Galla Placidia, Pulcheria was extremely able, and shared responsibility fOI' polio cies that enabled lhe eastern Roman provlnce~ to survive practlclilly unscathed the disasters thilt be· fell the West. Her Influence over her brother's edu· cation and religion is nOI doubted. Her letters preserved in Pope Leo's COlTeSpondence suggest that she may have been more propapal than most other latin-spcaking anistQCrnlS in Coru;tantinople. Pul· cheria was one of lhe principal architects of the Council of Chalcedon, and the results cotTe5ponded with her consistently held views. Not unnaturally, the anti-ehalccdonians regarded her as an opponent, while to the Latins she was a saint.
2034
PULPIT
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ensslin, W. "Pulchcria." In R~af.l~ncydupiJdie. Vol. 2). Slullsa", 1959, Goubcrt, P. "Saini Pulcherie et Chrysaphaios." In Das KOII"if VOll Chtllcedoll. ed. A. Grillmeicr and H. Bacht. Vol. I. Wiirwurg, 1951. Kirsch, J. P. "Pulchcria." In The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 12, New York, 1913.
Schwartz, Eo "Die Klliserin l'ulcheria auf der Synodc von Chllfccdvn." In FIISI~ubfl liir A. 11/lieher. Tubingcn, 1927. Sellers, R. V. The COllUcil of ellll/eedol/. Londol1, 1961. W, 1·1. C, FRI'JIID
PULPIT. See Ambo.