Kitab Tarikh wa-Jadawil Batarikat al- Iskandariyyah

Yuhanna The Deacon

YUHANNA THE DEACON Also known as Yuhanna ibn Moesis, the spiritual son and disciple of Anba Moesis, the saintly bishop of Awsim. He lived around the middle of the eighth century, during the rule of the Umayyad caliphate. He compiled a series of patriarchal biographies up to his own time, and his work was utilized …

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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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Dates And Succession Of Patriarchs

History / By Armia FAYEZ

DATES AND SUCCESSION OF PATRIARCHS Significant dates in the lives of notable persons from the past, particularly from the ancient past, are often a matter of conjecture. In some cases a paucity of historical source material makes it impossible to determine when particular events took place, and in other instances discrepancies in the sources that …

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Gabriel VI

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

GABRIEL VI The ninety-first patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (1466-1475).Gabriel was born at al-‘Arabah al-Madfunah and consequently was called al-‘Arabawi. He was surnamed Ibn Qatta‘ al-‘Usfur. He became a monk in the DAYR ANBA ANTUNIYUS and later was its superior. After MATTHEW II died Gabriel was chosen to be the pope of Alexandria …

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Mawhub Ibn Mansur Ibn Mufarrij Al-Iskandarani

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

MAWHUB IBN MANSUR IBN MUFARRIJ AL- ISKANDARANI (c. 1025-1100) A redactor and coauthor of the HISTORY OF THE PATRIARCHS, begun by SAWIRUS IBN AL- MUQAFFA‘. This important historical text actually owes its survival to Mawhub, who, with the assistance of others, collected the patriarchal lives written by earlier biographers and compiled them into one book, …

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Ibn Kabar

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

IBN KABAR (al-Shaykh al-Mu’taman Shams al-Riyasah ibn al-Shaykh al-As‘ad Abu al-Barakat ibn Kabar) Scholar born to a wealthy Coptic family toward the end of the thirteenth century; he lived to the early decades of the fourteenth. His parents’ palatial residence in Old Cairo was frequented by state dignitaries. Ibn Kabar received his early education in …

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Abu Jirjah, The Archdeacon

Eminent / By Youssef Matta

ABU JIRJAH, the archdeacon A noted seventh-century compiler of certain biographies of the Coptic patriarchs. He was a close friend and contemporary of SIMON I (689-701), forty-second in the line of succession to Saint Mark. He came originally from the town of Sakha. His list comprises the lives of CYRIL I (412-444) to ALEXANDER II …

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