Abraham - Page 3 of 17

The Justice of God

The Justice of God Justice is a word we hear every day. We use it in personal relationships, in social conventions, with respect to legislation, and to the verdicts rendered in court. As commonplace as the word is, it has perplexed philosophers who seek an adequate definition of it. Sometimes we link or equate justice …

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The Role of the Female Elder in Shenoute’s White Monastery

History / By Armia FAYEZ

The Role of the Female Elder in Shenoute’s White Monastery[1] THE WHITE MONASTERY in the fourth and fifth centuries consisted of different communities, or congregations. They were separated physically but united under one set of monastic rules and one main monastic leader, at least during the tenure of its third head, Shenoute. One of these …

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Pachomius and the White Monastery

Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

Pachomius and the White Monastery IN THE fiRST volume of the Oxford History of the Christian Church, entitled The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great and published in 2001, Henry Chadwick included the following brief paragraph on Shenoute in his chapter on “Monks: The Ascetic Life.” In the fifth century the …

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The Art of Coptic Churches

Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

The Art of Coptic Churches WE WENT TO THE CHURCH while the elders of the monastery went with us. There were pictures of monks on the wall of the place, representing our monastic fathers: Antony the Great and Apa Pachom and Apa Paule and Apa Makarios.21 These were on one side and the archbishops of …

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The Monastery of St. Antony (RED SEA)

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

The Monastery of St. Antony (RED SEA) SAINT ANTONY, THE FATHER OF MONKS, found his final place of refuge in a cave in Mount Colzim (Qulzum) in the Wadi al-‘Araba near the Red Sea. A spring at the foot of the mountain supplied water and he planted a small garden. After his death in 356, …

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The Monastery of Apa Thomas at Wadi Sarga: Points of Departure for a Relative Chronology

History, Places / By Armia FAYEZ

The Monastery of Apa Thomas at Wadi Sarga: Points of Departure for a Relative Chronology This chapter discusses the identification of the superiors of the Monastery of Apa Thomas at Wadi Sarga and presents some points of departure for reconstructing a relative chronology of this monastic community on the basis of Coptic epitaphs and documents.[1] …

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The Monastery of Apollo at Bala’iza and Its Literary Texts

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

The Monastery of Apollo at Bala’iza and Its Literary Texts Dayr al-Bala’iza, situated at the edge of the desert on the west bank of the Nile some eighteen to nineteen kilometers south of Asyut, gained initial recognition among Coptic scholars through the large cache of manuscripts, both literary and documentary, discovered at the site during …

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John of Shmoun and Coptic Identity

Eminent, Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

John of Shmoun and Coptic Identity After the Council of Chalcedon in ad 451 and in particular after the Arab conquest of Egypt in ad 641, the need to demonstrate Coptic self identification became more important than before.[1] Usually, there is the need to stress one’s identity and define or form its features when one …

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Discerning the True Religion in Late Fourteenth-Century Egypt

History / By Armia FAYEZ

Discerning the True Religion in Late Fourteenth-Century Egypt: Pages from the Dayr al-Muharraq Edition of al-Hawi by al-Makin Jirjis ibn al-‘Amid Introduction In recent years, Dayr al-Muharraq has shared some of its riches with the wider world through the publication of transcriptions of manuscripts from the monastery’s library. As examples, I can point to the …

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Egyptian Gnosticism from Its Cradle in the Alexandrian Quarters of the Second Century

History / By Armia FAYEZ

Egyptian Gnosticism from Its Cradle in the Alexandrian Quarters of the Second Century to Its Jar Tomb in the Upper Egyptian Town of Nag’ Hammadi Introduction The aim of this study is to try to interpret the fate of Gnosticism in Egypt through a simple investigation of places where texts were found and the historical …

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