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Saturday

Culture, History, System / By Armia FAYEZ

SATURDAY The seventh day of the week, the day on which Christ’s body rested in the tomb. The early Christians of Jewish origin continued to observe Saturday as the Sabbath, a day of rest and prayer. But the fact that the Resurrection and descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles had taken place on …

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Sassanid Influences On Coptic Art

Heritage, History / By Armia FAYEZ

SASSANID INFLUENCES ON COPTIC ART In addition to the traditional influences mentioned as contributing to the formation of Coptic art—Hellenistic, ancient Egyptian, Roman, and Christian—some more distant influences must be explored. Indeed, it has been argued that the art of India, and even Central Asia, bore some relationship with Coptic art (Zaloscer, 1947). A no …

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Military Costume

History, System / By Arsanious Adel

MILITARY COSTUME Since the Copts lived under foreign occupation or domination, which reduced them to a tolerated community, one might think that military service would not be accessible to the Copts. Nevertheless, it is known that Saint PACHOMIUS served in the army for a time in the reign of Constantine, although he was soon discharged. …

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Cosmas Indicopleustes

Books, Eminent / By Arsanious Adel

COSMAS INDICOPLEUSTES The name given to an anonymous Nestorian author of the twelve-book Christian Topography, written a few years before the Second Council of CONSTANTINOPLE (553). Cosmas was an Egyptian merchant, probably from Alexandria, who plied his trade in Alexandria, the Red Sea port of Adulis (Sawakin), and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), calling at the island …

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Costume Of The Religious

Culture, System / By Arsanious Adel

COSTUME OF THE RELIGIOUS The dress of hermits, monks, and secular clergy. When Christianity appeared in Egypt, the earliest converts, for the most part from a Jewish milieu, did not dress differently from their coreligionists. Jesus did not modify the dress of his disciples. He gave them only the injunction reported in Matthew 10:9-10: “Take …

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Covenant Of ‘Umar

History / By Arsanious Adel

COVENANT OF ‘UMAR Ascribed to the second Orthodox caliph, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (634-644), and regarded as a document of primary importance in regulating the relations between the Muslim conquerors of the Middle East and their Dhimmi subjects, that is, the Jews and the Christians, including the Coptic nation in Egypt. The situation of the Copts …

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Cross-In-Square

Heritage / By Arsanious Adel

CROSS-IN-SQUARE Also called quincunx, the most important type of church building of the middle and late Byzantine periods of the Byzantine empire. It characteristically consists of an approximately square room, the naos, from which is cut out an internal cross-shaped unit by erecting four columns at the center and joining them by means of arches …

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Veneration Of The Cross

Culture / By Arsanious Adel

VENERATION OF THE CROSS Through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the cross, which had previously been a method of punishment, humiliation, and disgrace, became a symbol of glory, honor, and spiritual joy. Matthew (24:30) calls it the sign of the Son of Man. Hence the veneration that Christians came to feel toward it, using it …

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Cycle

Culture, Liturgy, System / By Arsanious Adel

CYCLE One of a group of works in Coptic literature dealing with episodes in the life of one or more specific characters, mostly saints and martyrs. There are two basic types of cycle: homiletic and hagiographical. The difference lies simply in the different literary forms used, with the homiletic cycles being made up of texts …

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Cyprian The Magician

Eminent / By Arsanious Adel

CYPRIAN THE MAGICIAN The legend of Cyprian the Magician (perhaps mid-fourth century with further development at a later period) tells how a young man in Antioch approaches Cyprian so that with magic he can win the love of the Christian virgin Justina. But all the magical arts are frustrated by prayer and by the sign …

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