The Early Coptic Papacy
281 pages
English

The Early Coptic Papacy , livre ebook

281 pages
English

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A new paperback edition of the definitive history of the early Alexandrian patriarchs

The Copts, adherents of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, today represent the largest Christian community in the Middle East, and their presiding bishops have been accorded the title of pope since the third century AD. This study analyzes the development of the Egyptian papacy from its origins to the rise of Islam. How did the papal office in Egypt evolve as a social and religious institution during the first six and a half centuries AD? How do the developments in the Alexandrian patriarchate reflect larger developments in the Egyptian church as a whole—in its structures of authority and lines of communication, as well as in its social and religious practices? In addressing such questions, Stephen J. Davis examines a wide range of evidence—letters, sermons, theological treatises, and church histories, as well as art, artifacts, and archaeological remains—to discover what the patriarchs did as leaders, how their leadership was represented in public discourses, and how those representations definitively shaped Egyptian Christian identity in late antiquity.
The Early Coptic Papacy is Volume 1 of The Popes of Egypt: A History of the Coptic Church and Its Patriarchs. Also available: Volume 2, The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt, 641–1517 (Mark N. Swanson) and Volume 3, The Emergence of the Modern Coptic Papacy (Magdi Girgis, Nelly van Doorn-Harder).


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Date de parution 12 septembre 2017
Nombre de lectures 0
EAN13 9781617979118
Langue English
Poids de l'ouvrage 96 Mo

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STEPHEN J. DAVIS
THE EARLY COPTIC PAPACY THE EGYPTIAN CHURCH AND ITS LEADERSHIP IN LATE ANTIQUITY
THE EARLY COPTIC PAPACY
The Popes of Egypt
A History of the Coptic Church and Its Patriarchs
from Saint Mark to Pope Shenouda III
Edited by Stephen J. Davis and Gawdat Gabra
Volume One The Early Coptic Papacy The Egyptian Church and Its Leadership in Late Antiquity
Stephen J. Davis
Volume Two The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt 641–1517 Mark N. Swanson
Volume Three
The Emergence of the Modern Coptic Papacy
Magdi Guirguis and Nelly van DoornHarder
THE EARLY COPTIC PAPACY THE EGYPTIAN CHURCH AND ITS LEADERSHIP IN LATE ANTIQUITY
STEPHEN J. DAVIS
A National Egyptian Heritage Revival Book The American University in Cairo Press Cairo New York
Copyright © 2004 by The American University in Cairo Press 113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt 420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018 www.aucpress.com
This paperback edition published in 2017 First published in hardback in 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Exclusive distribution outside Egypt and North America by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd., 6 Salem Road, London, W2 4BU
Dar el Kutub No. 23374/16 ISBN 978 977 416 834 5
Dar el Kutub CataloginginPublication Data Davis, Stephen J.  The Early Coptic Papacy: The Egyptian Church and Its Leadership in Late  Antiquity / Stephen J. Davis.—Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2017.  Vol. 1; cm.  ISBN: 978 977 416 834 5  1. Coptic Church—Egypt—History  2. Coptic Christian saints  3. Coptic fathers of the church  262.12172
1 2 3 4 5 21 20 19 18 17
Designed by Joanne Cunningham Printed in the United States of America
Illustrations Editors’ Introduction Author’s Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations
One
Two
Three
Contents
The Succession of St. Mark: Apostolic Traditions and the Origins of the Egyptian Church (Saint Mark to Demetrius) Traditions about Saint Mark and the Founding of the Church in Egypt The Earliest Successors of Saint Mark: Apostolic Lineage and Orthodox SelfDefinition
Bishops, Teachers, and Martyrs: The Shaping of Episcopal Authority in an Age of Persecution (Demetrius to Peter I) The Bishop of Alexandria and the Alexandrian Catechetical School The “Church of the Martyrs”: Episcopal Leadership in an Age of Persecution
Theological Controversy and the Cultivation of Monastic Support: The Alexandrian Patriarchate from 312 to 451 (Achillas to Dioscorus I) Alexander, Athanasius, and the Arian Controversy in Egypt
v
viii ix xiii xv xvii
1
2
14
21
22
28
43
47
vi
Four
Theophilus’ AntiPagan Campaign and the Battle over Origen’s Legacy Cyril, Dioscorus, and the Controversy over Christ
Contesting the Alexandrian Papacy: Ecclesiastical “Colonialism” and the Egyptian Church from 451 to the Rise of Islam (Dioscorus I to Benjamin I) The Politics of Resistance and Compromise: Early Conflicts with the “Imperial” (Chalcedonian) Church A Period of Internal and InterRegional Schism New Colonial Rivals and the End of Byzantine Rule in Egypt
Epilogue: The Making of the Coptic Papacy
Contents
Appendix 1: A List of Egyptian Popes up to the Rise of Islam
Appendix 2: The Election of Alexandrian Patriarchs in the Early Church
Appendix 3: The AntiChalcedonian Patriarchate of Alexandria (477–577)
Works Cited: Primary Sources and Collections Works Cited: Secondary Sources Notes Sources of Illustrations Index
63
70
85
88 98
112
129
133
135
138
141 155 181 239 245
Illustrations (following page 78)
1. Ivory relief depicting Saint Mark with thirtyfive successors as Patriarch of Alexandria, early seventh centuryA.D.; Musée du Louvre, Paris.
2. Five ivory reliefs with scenes from the life of Saint Mark, eighth century A.D.; Museo del Castello Sforzesco, Milan.
3. Wall painting of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, thirteenth centuryA.D.; Monastery of Saint Antony, Red Sea.
4. Wall painting of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, tenth centuryA.D.; Tebtunis, Fayûm.
5. Manuscript illuminations depicting Theophilus of Alexandria, early fifth centuryA.D.; W. Goleniscev Collection, Petersburg.
6. Wall painting of Dioscorus of Alexandria, thirteenth centuryA.D.; Monastery of the Syrians, Wadi alNatrun.
7. Wall painting of Dioscorus of Alexandria, thirteenth centuryA.D.; Monastery of Saint Antony, Red Sea.
8. Wall painting of Pope Damian (?), eighth centuryA.D.; Church of the Holy Virgin, Monastery of the Syrians, Wadi alNatrun.
9. Coptic inscription of Pope Damian’sSynodical Letter(A.D. 578), late sixth or early seventh centuryA.D.; Monastery of Epiphanius at Thebes.
10. Wall painting of Peter I of Alexandria,A.D. 1025–1030; Monastery of the Archangel Gabriel, Fayûm.
vii
Editors’ Introduction
he Copts, adherents of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, today T represent the largest Christian community in the Middle East. Over the course of its long history, the Coptic Church in Egypt has celebrated the lineage and leadership of Alexandrian bishops who have been accorded the title of Patriarch, or Pope. The term Pope itself originally derived from the Greek wordpapas, meaning “father.” By the middle of the third centuryA.D., however, the term “Pope”(papas) had become a formal honorific title of the Alexandrian archbishop, fifty years before the earliest solid evidence for the use of the term as a designation for the Roman archbishop. Over the course of the last two millennia—through the vicissitudes of Roman, Byzantine, Persian, Arab, Ottoman, French, British, and finally Egyptian rule—the Popes of Egypt have often been collectively represented as an emblem of historical continuity for the Coptic Orthodox Church. Such representations raise vital questions about the way that Coptic religious and cultural identity has been shaped in relation to church leadership. How has the history of the Popes of Egypt functioned, in effect, as a monument and marker of Christian identity in Egypt? In recent decades, there has been an upsurge of interest in the Coptic cultural heritage. Indeed, the second half of the twentieth century witnessed remarkable progress in the study of Egyptian Christianity. The discovery of the Nag Hammadi gnostic library, with its codices written in Coptic, encouraged many scholars to study the Coptic language and literature. The exhibitions of Coptic art in great cities such as Vienna, Paris, Munich, Geneva, and Zurich enhanced the interest of the general public in the material culture of Coptic Egypt. Furthermore, archaeological remains were discovered and carefully
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