Figurative - Coptic Wiki

ANCHOR (figurative)

ANCHOR (figurative)* In He 6:19 the writer describes the hope set before the Christian, to which he has just referred in the preceding verse, as ‘an anchor of the soul.’ The use of an anchor as a figure of hope was not new, for it is found in pre-Christian Greek and Latin authors, and an …

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ALTAR

Dictionaries / By Youssef Matta

ALTAR In the NT, as in the LXX, the usual term for ‘altar’ is θυσιαστήριον—a word otherwise confined to Philo, Josephus, and ecclesiastical writers—while βωμός, as contrasted with a Jewish place of sacrifice, is a heathen altar. The most striking example of the antithesis is found in 1 Mac 1:54–59. Antiochus Epiphanes erected a small …

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ABYSS

Dictionaries / By Youssef Matta

ABYSS This is the RV rendering of the word ἄβυσσος which occurs in Lk 8:31, Ro 10:7, Rev 9:1, 2, 11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1, 3. In Lk. and Rom. AV translates ‘deep’; in Rev., ‘bottomless pit’—no distinction, however, being made between τὸ φρέαρ τῆς ἀβύσσου in 9:1, 2 (RV ‘the pit of the abyss’) and …

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Trinity and Oneness and the Incarnation (20)

Spiritual Life / By Youssef Matta

Trinity and Oneness and the Incarnation Introduction Lord Jesus Christ, glory be to Him, told His disciples, “and you shall be witnesses to Me.” (Acts 1: 8) This witness is based on two main pillars: first, bearing witness to the true doctrine, and second, bearing witness through Christian behavior. It is not possible to …

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Coptic art in the Coptic museum

Culture, Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

Coptic art in the Coptic museum Coptic art began to emerge in Egypt around 300 A.D. In form, style, and content it was quite different from the art of Pharaonic Egypt. How’ did this come about? Broadly speaking, there were two causes. The first is that indigenous Egyptian art had been in contact with the …

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The Titles of Jesus

Theology / By Youssef Matta

The Titles of Jesus Jesus of Nazareth was given more titles than any other person in history. A brief sampling would include the following: Christ Lord Son of Man Savior Son of David Great High Priest Son of God Alpha & Omega Master Teacher Righteousness Prophet Rose of Sharon Lily of the Valley Advocate Lion …

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The Goodness of God

Theology / By Youssef Matta

The Goodness of God One of life’s amusing moments comes when we observe a puppy or a kitten chasing its own shadow. It tries in vain to catch it. When it moves, its shadow moves with it. Not so with God. James declares: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes …

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The Art of Coptic Churches

Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

The Art of Coptic Churches WE WENT TO THE CHURCH while the elders of the monastery went with us. There were pictures of monks on the wall of the place, representing our monastic fathers: Antony the Great and Apa Pachom and Apa Paule and Apa Makarios.21 These were on one side and the archbishops of …

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Toward an Understanding of the ‘Akhmim Style’ Icons and Ciboria: the Indigenous and the Foreign[1]

Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

Toward an Understanding of the ‘Akhmim Style’ Icons and Ciboria: the Indigenous and the Foreign[1] THE LATE FOURTEENTH-century painting by Gherardo Starnina, La Tebaide in Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, provides perhaps the last medieval visualized memory of the (ideal) Christian sacred landscape along the Nile in Upper Egypt, densely inhabited by hermits tending their …

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Iconostasis – Architectural Elements Of Churches

System / By Youssef Matta

Iconostasis An iconostasis is the screen or wall in a church that separates the sanctuary, presbytery, or bema, restricted to the clergy, from the naos, or area of the laity. It developed in the fourteenth century in Byzantine areas, earlier in Egypt. The Arab word for it is hijab, which literally means “curtains.” The spatial …

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