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John, Hegumenos Of Scetis (C. 585-675)

JOHN, HEGUMENOS OF SCETIS (c. 585-675) Born at Jepromenesin (Shubra Mansina) in the nome of Arwat and a monk at the age of eighteen. It is not known when and why he came to Scetis (Wadi al-Natrun). He was three times made prisoner by the Maziques in the course of their raids in the area. …

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Coptic Influences In The British Isles

History / By Arsanious Adel

COPTIC INFLUENCES IN THE BRITISH ISLES In the early Middle Ages, the fifth to the ninth century, Ireland and England were open to monastic influences from Coptic Egypt; the Irish, and to a lesser extent the Anglo-Saxons, responded favorably. There is no proof that any individual Copt ever came into contact with any individual Anglo-Saxon …

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Athanasius I

Eminent / By Arsanious Adel

ATHANASIUS I The Apostolic Saint, twentieth patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (326-373). Athanasius’ life has been treated in detail by numerous authors. These sources can be categorized as follows: (1) the writings of Athanasius himself, which should be considered the most authentic of the sources. These include his historical tracts, encyclicals, an apology …

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Roman And Byzantine Rule In Egypt

History / By Arsanious Adel

ROMAN AND BYZANTINE RULE IN EGYPT The victory of Octavian (Augustus since 27 B.C.) over Cleopatra VII, the last sovereig of Ptolemaic Egypt,and her protector Mark Antony first in Actium (2 September 31 B.C.), then in Alexandria (1 August 30 B.C.) brought Egypt under Roman rule. This new epoch, conveniently subdivided into the Roman and …

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Daniel And Moses

Eminent / By Arsanious Adel

DANIEL AND MOSES Two hermits whose lives have come down to us in two versions of the Sahidic recension of the Copto- Arabic Synaxarion. One is a completed manuscript for the first half of the year, preserved at Luxor, the other a fragment of the same Synaxarion consisting of four leaves (Troupeau, 1974, Vol. 2, …

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Diocletian

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

DIOCLETIAN A Roman emperor (full name, Valerius Diocletianus; also called Diocles) from 20 November 284 to May 305. He was born in 245 of humble parents in the province of Dalmatia. He enlisted in the army and gained administrative experience in minor posts in Gaul under Aurelian (270-275), and in 282 became governor of Moesia …

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Justinian

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

JUSTINIAN (c. 482-565) The Byzantine emperor. Originally given the name Petrus Sabbatius, he took the name Justinian upon being adopted by his uncle Justin, whom he later succeeded as emperor (1 August 527). Justinian’s reign was marked by extensive legal reform, successful military incursions against the Vandals and the Goths, vast architectural undertakings, and an …

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Raphael

Culture, Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

RAPHAEL An archangel. The Hebrew word repha’el can mean “God has healed.” Latin authors such as Gregory the Great (Evangelia Homiliarum 34.9) interpreted the name as “medicine of God.” In a Coptic text (Kropp, 1930, Vol. 2, p. 165) it has the meaning of “cure.” The archangel Raphael appears for the first time in Tobit …

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Hagiography, Coptic

Theology / By Armia FAYEZ

HAGIOGRAPHY, COPTIC The writing about the saints of the Coptic church. Many religions venerate saints and so have produced a vast literature around them. Best known in the West is the monumental Acta Sanctorum (Lives of the Saints), compiled by the Society of Bollandists, a group of Jesuit scholars, beginning in the seventeenth century and …

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Economic Activities Of Monasteries

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES OF MONASTERIES Despite schisms, persecutions, occasional devastation by the barbarians, and the Persian and Arab conquests in 619 and 641, respectively, the history of the Egyptian monasteries from the fourth to the eighth centuries constitutes a whole. The period was one of expansion and material prosperity. Various categories of sources—literary, papyrological, and archaeological—indicate …

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