Coptic CALENDAR - Page 2 of 4

Calendar, Seasons, And Coptic Liturgy

CALENDAR, SEASONS, AND COPTIC LITURGY The three seasons of the Coptic calendar, a survival from pharaonic Egypt and based on agricultural activities, are commemorated by special prayers incorporated into the divine liturgies. The seasons and prayers appropriate to each, as computed according to the Gregorian calendar of the twentieth century, are as follows. The Nile-flood …

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Saint Sophia

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

SAINT SOPHIA [A holy woman of the fourth century or later whose remains are interred in the Church of Santa Sophia (Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople (feast day: 5 Tut). There are several versions of her story.] The Jacobite Tradition The Jacobite-Arabic SYNAXARION, preserved in a seventeenth-century copy (restored in the nineteenth century) in the National …

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Gregory Of Nyssa (Ca. 335-Ca. 394)

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

GREGORY OF NYSSA (ca. 335-ca. 394) A Saint, theologian, and bishop. Gregory is commemorated in the Coptic calendar on the 17th of Babeh. He was the younger brother of Basil the Great. He was first an orator. However, under the influence of his friend Gregory of Nazianzus, he withdrew from the world. His brother consecrated …

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Psalis

Liturgy, System / By Armia FAYEZ

PSALIS The psalis are hymns recited before the Odes and the Theotokia. The psalis could be sung with the Adam tune or with the Batos tune. There are several types of psalis. The first and most ancient type is the psalis “My Lord Jesus Christ” that could date prior to the eighth century. Some of …

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Severus Of Antioch (Ca. 456-538)

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH (ca. 456-538) A Saint and patriarch. The sources for the life of Severus, anti-Chalcedonian patriarch of Antioch from 512 to 518 a.d., are many and varied; among these sources are his letters and his cathedral homilies, which number 125. His friend Zechariah Scholasticus wrote the first biography of Severus from his early …

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Apparition Of The Virgin Mary

History / By Armia FAYEZ

APPARITION OF THE VIRGIN MARY The Coptic Orthodox church in the Cairo suburb of Zaytun was named after the Holy Mother. On the evening of 2 April 1968, it became the scene of the first apparition of the Virgin Mary above its domes. It was witnessed by municipal garage employees across the road, and they …

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Feasts Of The Theotokos

Events / By Armia FAYEZ

FEASTS OF THE THEOTOKOS The high reverence for the Virgin Mary by the Copts is best expressed in the Coptic SYNAXARION where she is described as “the sovereign of the universe, the queen of all womanhood, through whom we have grace.” Thus the Copts celebrate seven feasts for her. Dates are here given according to …

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Saint Jirjis Al-Muzahim, Or Geroge

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

SAINT JIRJIS AL-MUZAHIM, or Geroge A”new martyr” of the eighth century (feast day: 19 Ba’unah). He was the son of a Muslim by the name of Jum‘ah al-‘Atwi, who had married a Christian from Damirah, a village in the Qalyuliyyah province. Muzahim used to go to church with his mother and very much wanted to …

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Lectionary

Books / By Armia FAYEZ

LECTIONARY A set of four books containing the readings for the various liturgies of the Coptic church. Different lectionaries existed according to different rites in Upper and in Lower Egypt; it was only with the coming of the printing press (see CYRIL IV) that a certain uniformity evolved among the Coptic churches in the whole …

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Copto-Arabic Literature

Heritage, History / By Armia FAYEZ

COPTO-ARABIC LITERATURE Coptic literature per se, a subject treated elsewhere, is confined to the writings in the Coptic language during the early centuries of medieval Egyptian history when that language was the spoken language of the people as well as their only written instrument. After the ARAB CONQUEST OF EGYPT in the seventh century, the …

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