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Mikha’il (Bishop Of Damietta)

MIKHA’IL (bishop of Damietta) The twelfth-century bishop of Damietta. The dates of the birth and death of this celebrated Coptic bishop are not known, only that he lived under the patriarchs MARK III (1167-1189) and JOHN VI (1189-1216), that he completed the first edition of his Nomocanon in 1188, as he says himself, and that …

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Monasteries In Cyprus

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

MONASTERIES IN CYPRUS The earliest mention of Copts in Cyprus comes from a traveler, Iohann van Kootwyck, who writes that they arrived following the capture of Jerusalem by Salah al-Din in 1187 (Burmester, 1942, pp. 11-12). A letter of benediction dated from Christmas A.M. 1225/A.D. 1508 from the ninety-fourth patriarch of Alexandria, JOHN XIII (1484-1524) …

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Mummification

History / By Armia FAYEZ

MUMMIFICATION There is evidence for mummification in Egypt from the beginning of historical times. Herodotus and Diodorus report on the different ways of mummifying. The practice arose from the idea that preservation of bodily integrity is the presupposition for life after death. This idea is evidently also the reason for statements in martyr legends of …

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Nicaea, Council Of

Events / By Armia FAYEZ

NICAEA, COUNCIL OF (325) During the third century, the Christian churches had evolved organizational structures parallel in many respects to those of the Roman empire. Episcopal authority over congregations paralleled in some ways imperial authority; episcopal courts adjudicated for Christians the same matters as civil courts did; city councils and provincial governments provided models for …

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Ethiopian Orthodox Church

History / By Armia FAYEZ

ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH The Ethiopian church was the only state church in the Orient that remained intact from early times into the late twentieth century, when it was separated from the secular state by a revolutionary decree of 1974. With a membership of at least 12 million, it is still the largest single autocephalous Christian …

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Eparchy

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

EPARCHY The equivalent of the Latin province from the time of republican Rome. Whereas most provinces of the empire were administered by senatorial governors at the beginning of the imperial period, the province of Egypt was the first to have at its head a governor of equestrian rank, the eparchos or praefectus Alexandreae et Aegypti. …

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Icons, Coptic

Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

ICONS, COPTIC Holy panel paintings of Christ, the Virgin Mary, saints, or subjects from the Old and New Testaments. The word icon is derived from the Greek word eikon, meaning “image” or “portrait.” Icons are symbols of the invisible presence of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints. They are the connection between the church …

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Demetrius I

Eminent / By Youssef Matta

DEMETRIUS I The twelfth patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (189-231). He succeeded JULIAN and was a contemporary of eight Roman emperors, from Commodus (180-192) to Alexander Severus (222-235), through the age of persecutions, which were particularly harsh in the reign of Septimius Severus (193-211). Until the time of Demetrius, the church had been …

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Abu Al-Mufaddal Ibn Amin Al-Mulk

Eminent / By Youssef Matta

ABU AL-MUFADDAL IBN AMIN AL-MULK ِA fourteenth-century priest known from the colophons of three Arabic manuscripts of the prophets transcribed between 1582 and 1586 in the Church of the Virgin at Harit Zuwaylah in Cairo. These manuscripts state that Abu al-Mufaddal Amin al-Mulk ibn Amin al- Mulk Lutfallah was a priest in the Church of …

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