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Shenoute’s Place in the History of Monasticism

Shenoute’s Place in the History of Monasticism A LITTLE MORE than 1,500 years ago, inside the massive church whose ruined hulk has come to be known as the White Monastery (Arabic Dayr al-Abyad), on an occasion near the middle of the fifth century when the monastery’s longtime leader Shenoute was about one hundred years old, […]

The Ancient Rules of Shenoute’s Monastic Federation

The Ancient Rules of Shenoute’s Monastic Federation WORK IS NOW well under way to produce a critical edition of Shenoute’s vast work entitled Canons. My own editorial task is volumes 4 and 5 of the Canons. Now, this title—Canons—is a bit odd. In Christian usage of the Greek language, ‘canons’—kanones—meant ‘rules’ or ‘laws,’ and so […]

“Twenty Thousand Nuns” The Domestic Virgins of Oxyrhynchos

“Twenty Thousand Nuns” The Domestic Virgins of Oxyrhynchos Historia Monachorum in Oxyrhynchos The Historia Monachorum in Aegypto contains a literary testimony of Christians in the city of Oxyrhynchos.[1] Its anonymous author, an eyewitness from Palestine writing at the turn of the fifth century, boasts that this city in Middle Egypt abounds with monasteries, both within […]

St. Mary In The Coptic Rite

ST. MARY IN THE COPTIC[1] RITE It is too difficult to give an account of the prominent place of St. Mary in the Coptic Church in this short treatise. For St. Mary is commemorated and invoked in every daily hymn and liturgy, and even in every canonical hour, day and night. Various Marian feasts are […]

Seth

SETH A eighth-century archimandrite of Apa Shenute. Both the HISTORY OF THE PATRIARCHS and the SYNAXARION of the Copts tell us very little about Seth. We know only that he was archimandrite of the White Monastery (DAYR ANBA SHINUDAH) at the beginning of the eighth century. The Synaxarion calls him “the greatest of the abbots […]

Mark

MARK The Apostle, evangelist, and saint. According to the Coptic tradition, St. Mark is the founder of the Coptic Church in Egypt. This tradition is supported by the testimony of Eusebius of Caesarea in his Church History. A Coptic manuscript preserved in Paris contains a detailed story of St. Mark. This manuscript was copied in […]

Lectionary

LECTIONARY In the Coptic Church, a lectionary is a book containing lessons to be read at the service of evening and morning offering of incense (namely a Psalm-Verside and a gospel, readings), and the Divine Liturgy for which there are readings from the Pauline Epistles, the Catholic Epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, a Psalm-Verside, […]

Theophilus

THEOPHILUS A Saint and patriarch. He was the 23rd Patriarch of Alexandria (385-412). He is commemorated on the 18th of Babeh. He was patriarch from 385 to 412 a.d. and played a significant role in increasing the prestige of the See of Alexandria. He was highly educated and an effective dean of the Catechetical School […]

Monastery Of St. Pshoi (Anba Bishay) At Sohag

MONASTERY OF ST. PSHOI (ANBA BISHAY) AT SOHAG Situated about three kilometers to the north of the Monastery of St. Shenute at Sohag. It is known as the Red Monastery owing to the color of its outer walls, which were built of red bricks. Al-Maqrizi (1364-1442) used the two names of the monastery: “Red Monastery […]

Sentences Of Sextus

SENTENCES OF SEXTUS About one-quarter of a Coptic version of the Sentences of Sextus, a collection of almost 500 wisdom sayings drawn largely from pagan sources and thinly Christianized by a second-century editor, appears in the scattered folios of Codex XII of the NAG HAMMADI LIBRARY (NHC XII, 1.15-16 and 27-34; Sextus 158-80 and 307-397). […]