Vansleb - Page 2 of 9

Consecration Of The Chrism

CONSECRATION OF THE CHRISM The infrequent occasions on which the preparation and consecration of the chrism is performed are events of considerable spiritual joy. After concocting the prerequisite ingredients of the chrism and also of the kallielaion (oil of the CATECHUMENS) that is usually consecrated on the same day but in a separate service, they …

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Cyprus

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

CYPRUS According to the traveler Iohann van Kootwyck, who visited Cyprus in 1598-1599, Copts, as well as other Oriental Christians, arrived there as fugitives after the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187. In 1342, the Spanish Dominican Alphonse Bonhome referred to an Arabic Life of St. Antony that he found at a Coptic monastery …

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Cantors Of The Coptic Music

Heritage / By Youssef Matta

Cantors, Their Role and Musical Training Because members of the clergy were not equally talented as singers, it became and has remained the tradition to entrust performance of the music to a professional cantor (Arabic: ‘arif, “one who knows,” or mu‘allim, “teacher”), who is employed and trained by the church to be responsible for the …

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Liturgy Of The Epiphany

Liturgy / By Armia FAYEZ

LITURGY OF THE EPIPHANY The Epiphany, in the Coptic Church as in the Eastern churches, commemorates the Baptism of Christ. It seems that it was introduced into the Church calendar by the fourth century. The canons of Athanasius and the festal letters mention it for the first time. By the end of the fourth century …

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Dayr Al-Barshah And Dayr Al-Nakhlah

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

DAYR AL-BARSHAH and DAYR AL-NAKHLAH [The first name is that of a village south of DAYR ABU HINNIS. It is a modern village, inhabited by Copts on the site of an old monastery, of which—apart from the old church—no parts worth mentioning have survived. The second is that of a village near the first, around …

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Dayr Al-Bisrah (Busrah) (Asyut)

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

DAYR AL-BISRAH (Busrah) (Asyut) History Dayr al-Bisrah is a small Coptic village on the right bank of the Nile, south of the extremity of the basin of Abnub, at the place where the mountains are very close to the Nile, opposite Shut b, the homeland of the father of Saint THEODORUS “the General” (stratelates) according …

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Dayr Al-Fakhuri

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

DAYR AL-FAKHURI History The “Monastery of the Potter” (it is not known whence this appellation comes) is situated on the edge of the desert, about 6 miles (9 km) north of Isna, near the ancient Asphynis (present-day Asfun al-Mata‘nah). The monastery also bears the name of “Matthew the Poor.” This personage, whose Life survives (or …

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Dayr Al-‘Azab (Fayyum)

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

DAYR AL-‘AZAB (Fayyum) History The monastery of Dayr al-‘Azab does not seem to have been mentioned, at least under this name, by any author before the traveler J. M. Vansleb in 1672, who placed it halfway between Madinat al-Fayyum and the DAYR AL-NAQLUN (1677, p. 274; 1678, p. 166). In fact, it is about 4 …

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Dayr Anba Palaemon

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

DAYR ANBA PALAEMON On the right bank of the Nile, to the north of the river, which at this point from Qena as far as Nag Hammadi flows from east to west, to the east of the town of Al-Qasr wa-al-Sayyad, is said to be the site of the ancient Sheneset (the Coptic name) or …

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Dayr Anba Samu’il Of Qalamun

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

DAYR ANBA SAMU’IL OF QALAMUN History The monastery is situated in the southwest of the Fayyum, in the northern part of the Wadi al-Muwaylih. One may reach it either from the valley, starting from al-Maghaghah, or from the south of the Fayyum from Gharaq al-Sultani. Because access is extremely difficult, it is still the most …

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