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Mcoptic Migration

COPTIC MIGRATION The Copts as a community were sedentary by nature and upbringing. They loved the land of their birth and were averse to migration to other countries throughout their long history. The idea of moving from their ancestral home to a new milieu in search of better opportunities dawned upon them only recently, after …

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Mythological Subjects In Coptic Art

Heritage, Culture / By Armia FAYEZ

MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART The ancient civilizations of the Middle East abounded in myths, which expressed sacred truths in words. Mythological subjects were a fertile source of inspiration for artists. As one civilization succeeded another in the same area, the newer mythology gradually superseded the old, and the iconography changed accordingly. But elements of …

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Oriens Christianus

Theology / By Armia FAYEZ

ORIENS CHRISTIANUS The technical Latin term for the scholarly study of the Christian Orient. In its examination of the cultures of the Christian East this study encompasses seven languages: Georgian, Armenian, Syriac, Christian Arabic, Ethiopic, Coptic, and Old Nubian. Scholars in this discipline study works of literature originally composed in these languages as well as …

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Evagrius Ponticus

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

EVAGRIUS PONTICUS (345-399) monk and writer with Origenist views. The life of Evagrius is known from the chapter that PALLADIUS devoted to him in his Historia lausiaca (chap. 38). He was born about 345 at Ibora, in the province of Pontus. In his youth he was a disciple of the two Cappadocian fathers, BASIL OF …

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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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Isidorus Of Pelusium, Saint

Eminent / By Armia FAYEZ

ISIDORUS OF PELUSIUM, SAINT A fifth-century monk, priest, and scholar, who wrote a large number of letters on church affairs (PG 78). Trustworthy documents informing us of the life of Isidorus are relatively few. SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH, exiled to Egypt from 518 to 520, was led to inquire there as to the identity of the …

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Dikaion

History / By Youssef Matta

DIKAION A term of Greek origin, encountered from the sixth century on in many Greek and Coptic documents connected with the economic activity of monasteries or, more rarely, churches and philanthropic institutions. It is to be found predominantly in introductory formulas that describe the addressee or the institution issuing the document, for example, “the dikaion …

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Ahnas

Places / By Youssef Matta

AHNAS (Ihnas al Madinah, Ihnasyah al-Madinah, Byzantine Herakleopolis) Settlement on the site of pharaonic Nn-nswt, Ptolemaic, Roman, and Byzantine Herakleopolis. The Coptic and Arabic names go back to Egyptian Hwt-nn-nswt, Hnn-nswt, the Greek name comes from the identification of Hrj-š.f (Herishef, Greek Harsaphes), the town’s ram-headed local deity, with Heracles (Herishef was also identified with …

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Epigraphy

Culture / By Youssef Matta

EPIGRAPHY Definition and time span Epigraphy is the study of INSCRIPTIONS, texts that are destined for long-term visual display in public space, more rarely in the private sphere. As a discipline, it sits in between archaeology and philology. Coptic epigraphy is taken here in a broad sense to comprise the study of Christian inscriptions from …

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Abraxas (Abrasax, Abraxis)

Culture / By Youssef Matta

ABRAXAS (Abrasax, Abraxis) A word with the numerical value of 365 (a = 1, b = 2, r = 100, x = 60, s = 200), which corresponds to the number of the days in a year. The name Abraxas designates a god who in the Gnosis of Basilides is Lord of the supernatural world. …

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