Calendar - Page 10 of 12

Krestodolu II (D. 1679-1680)

KRESTODOLU II (d. 1679-1680) Successor of Abuna Mika’el IV, this metropolitan was the second to bear the name Krestodolu, which is the equivalent of the Ethiopian name Gabra Krestos (Servant of Christ). An Ethiopian source, the Annals of Addi Neammin, provides as the date of the metropolitan’s arrival in Ethiopia the year 1656 of the …

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Epiphany

Events / By Youssef Matta

Epiphany This is one of the most popular feasts celebrated by the Copts (on 11 Tubah), for whom it must have been a Christianized form of the ancient Egyptian festivities associated with the Nile as one of their principal dynastic gods. The Coptic Synaxarion states that the Messiah appeared on that day as the Son …

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Nativity

Events / By Youssef Matta

Nativity The feast of the Nativity of Christ is kept by the Coptic Church on 29 Kiyahk. The obligation to observe this feast was stipulated in the Apostolical Constitutions 5.13: “Brethren, observe the festival days; and first of all the birthday which you are to celebrate,” where it is described as a public holiday to …

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Feasts, Major

Events / By Armia FAYEZ

FEASTS, MAJOR There are seven major feasts celebrated by the Coptic church. Annunciation The Annunciation is one of the seven major feasts of the Coptic church; it commemorates the announcement of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she should conceive and give birth to Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. According to the Coptic …

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Paschal Controversy

Events / By Armia FAYEZ

PASCHAL CONTROVERSY Any controversy arising from differences in the way of establishing the date of Easter. By the second century, the practice of celebrating the major day of the Christian Pascha on the Sunday after the fourteenth day of the Jewish lunar month of Nisan, the date of the Jewish Passover, became the established practice …

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Paganism And Christianity In Egypt

History / By Armia FAYEZ

PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT During the Roman era, the religious life of Egypt was characterized by great diversity. First, there was the traditional religion inherited from the pharaonic age. The theology and the rituals of the past were preserved by the priests in a number of pharaonic-style temples, such as those in Dandarah, Isna, …

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Macarius II

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

MACARIUS II The sixty-ninth patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (1102-1128) (feast day: 4 Tut). Macarius, or Abba Maqarah according to the HISTORY OF THE PATRIARCHS, was a monk of Dayr Anba Maqar when his selection for the patriarchate was decided by the Cairene delegation of bishops and the clergy together with the Coptic …

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Melito Of Sardis

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

MELITO OF SARDIS (d. c. 177) EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA (Ecclesiastical History 5.24.2-6) has preserved for us a letter of about 190 of Polycrates of Ephesus, who praises the important Christians of Asia Minor who clung to the custom of celebrating Easter on the Jewish calendar day of 14 Nisan, rather than on the Sunday after …

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Martyrdom

Culture / By Armia FAYEZ

MARTYRDOM The voluntary submission to death for the sake of one’s faith. The term “martyr” originally signified one who possessed firsthand knowledge of a matter to which one witnessed in public. In this sense, it was first used to describe the apostles who bore witness for Christ and the Resurrection (Acts 1:8, 22). Later the …

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Martyrology

Culture / By Armia FAYEZ

MARTYROLOGY The Historia ecclesiastica of Eusebius contains important information on the persecutions of Christians in Egypt (which here always includes Alexandria) and on Egyptian martyrs. Special importance attaches to those passages in which he quotes from the writings of eyewitnesses or is himself giving a report as an eyewitness. In Book VI.41-42, Eusebius gives an …

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