Christianity and Monasticism in Middle Egypt

Description

The legacies of the Coptic Christian presence in Middle Egypt from the fourth century to the present day
Christianity and monasticism have long flourished along the Nile in Middle Egypt, the region stretching from al-Bahnasa (Oxyrhynchus) to Dayr al-Ganadla. The contributors to this volume, international specialists in Coptology from around the world, examine various aspects of Coptic civilization in Middle Egypt over the past two millennia. The studies explore Coptic art and archaeology, architecture, language, and literature. The artistic heritage of monastic sites in the region is highlighted, attesting to their important legacies.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christianity
• Religion
• History

Informations

• Publié par: The American University in Cairo Press
• Date de parution: 20 novembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781617976407
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Christianity and Monasticism in Middle Egypt
Christianity and Monasticism in Middle Egypt
AL-MINYA AND ASYUT
Edited by Gawdat Gabra Hany N. Takla
A Saint Mark Foundation Book
The American University in Cairo Press
Cairo New York
Copyright © 2015 by
The American University in Cairo Press
113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt
420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
www.aucpress.com

First published in hardback in 2015

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.

ISBN 978 977 416 663 1
eISBN 978 1 61797 640 7

Version 1
This volume is dedicated to Peter Grossmann in acknowledgment of his great efforts during the past half century in excavating, documenting, studying, and publishing the heritage of Egypt s Christian architecture
Contents
List of Illustrations
Contributors
Maps
Foreword
Introduction
Language and Literature
1. The Monastery of Apa Thomas at Wadi Sarga: Points of Departure for a Relative Chronology
Renate Dekker
2. Intellectual Life in Middle Egypt: The Case of the Monastery of Bawit (Sixth–Eighth Centuries)
Alain Delattre
3. Christianity and Monasticism in al-Bahnasa according to Arabic Sources
Sherin Sadek El Gendi
4. Mesokemic or ‘Middle Egyptian’—the Coptic Dialect of Oxyrhynchos (?)
Frank Feder
5. The Monastery of Apollo at Bala’iza and Its Literary Texts
James E. Goehring
6. “Twenty Thousand Nuns”: The Domestic Virgins of Oxyrhynchos
AnneMarie Luijendijk
7. Anba Isaac, Bishop of the Fayoum, al-Bahnasa, and Giza, 1834–81
Bishop Martyros
8. The Monastery of the Holy Virgin Mary at al-Muharraq, Mount Qusqam: History and Heritage (Reflections of Its Monks)
Fr. Angelos al-Muharraqi and a group of the monastery s monks
9. John of Shmoun and Coptic Identity
Samuel Moawad
10. Christianity in Asyut in Modern History
Adel F. Sadek
11. The Place of Qusqam in the Textual Data on the Flight into Egypt
Ashraf Alexandre Sadek
12. John of Lykopolis
Mark Sheridan
13. Discerning the True Religion in Late Fourteenth-Century Egypt: Pages from the Dayr al-Muharraq Edition of al-Hawi by al-Makin Jirjis ibn al-‘Amid
Mark Swanson
14. Egyptian Gnosticism from Its Cradle in the Alexandrian Quarters of the Second Century to Its Jar Tomb in the Upper Egyptian Town of Nag‘ Hammadi
Hany N. Takla
15. Notes on the Arabic Life of Ibrahim al-Fani: A Coptic Saint of the Fourteenth Century
Asuka Tsuji
16. Snippets from the Past. Two Ancient Sites in the Asyut Region: Dayr al-Gabrawi and Dayr al-‘Izam
Jacques van der Vliet
17. Liturgy of the Monastery of al-Muharraq
Youhanna Nessim Youssef
18. L * as a Secret Language: Social Functions of Early Coptic
Ewa D. Zakrzewska
Art, Archaeology, and Material Culture
19. Bawit in the Twenty-first Century: Bibliography 1997–2014
Dominique Bénazeth
20. Children s Burials from Antinoopolis: Discoveries from Recent Excavations
Cäcilia Fluck
21. Recent Excavations at Bawit
Gisèle Hadji-Minaglou
22. Funerary Aspects in the Paintings from the Apollo Monastery at Bawit
Karel Innemée
23. The Cave of John of Lykopolis
Jochem Kahl
24. Al-Shaykh Sa‘id Revisited: A Reassessment of the Spatial Layout of a Monastic Community
Gertrud J.M. van Loon
25. Toward the Documentation of the Monastery of the Holy Virgin at al-Muharraq, Asyut
Howard Middleton-Jones
26. The Monastery of the Holy Virgin Mary at al-Muharraq, Mount Qusqam: Reflections of Its Monks Today
Fr. Philoxenos al-Muharraqi and a group of the monastery s monks
27. An Overview of Rock-cut Coptic Sites in Asyut
Ashraf Nageh and Mary Kupelian
28. Architectural Typology of Historic Coptic Churches from Oxyrhynchos to Dayr al-Ganadla
Sami Sabri Shaker

Abbreviations
Bibliography
Illustrations
1.1
The superiors invoked in the Coptic epitaphs
1.2
The superiors attested in the Coptic documents in chronological order
1.3
A relative chronology of the Monastery of Apa Thomas
4.1
Comparison of Mesokemic and Sahidic conjugations
4.2
The Psalter (al-Mudil Codex)
5.1
Number of texts from Bala’iza by subject and century: table
5.2
Number of texts from Bala’iza by subject and century: graph
5.3
The literary texts from Dayr al-Bala’iza and their dates
8.1
Qusqam, general view inside the monastery
8.2
Qusqam, part of the southern wall during the restoration
8.3
Qusqam, the ancient Church of the Holy Virgin Mary, southwestern side
8.4
Qusqam, the ancient keep
8.5
Qusqam, part of the ground floor of the ancient keep
8.6
Qusqam, the sanctuary of the ancient Church of the Holy Virgin Mary
11.1
Table of the sources and events concerning Qusqam
20.1
Dress with flared sides
20.2
Drawing of the three tunics of ‘Kind 2’
20.3
Shroud with cross motif
20.4
Child s tunic with blue stripes
20.5
A girl s veil
20.6
A child s hood
21.1
Topographical map of Kom Bawit
21.2
Bawit, plan of Building 1
21.3
Bawit, Building 1, the eastern wall of S7, seen from the west
21.4
Bawit, the main church, seen from the northeast
21.5
Bawit, plan of the main church
22.1
Bawit, a boy hunting a gazelle
22.2
A boy hunting a boar, detail from a tomb in Silistra (Bulgaria)
22.3
Bust of Christ in a clipeus, supported by angels, from Bawit
22.4
Roman sarcophagus with an imago clipeata of the deceased
22.5
Bawit, two peacocks flanking a cross, western wall of chapelle XIX
22.6
Theodosia between Saints Colluthos and Maria
23.1
Gebel Asyut al-Gharbi in the first millennium AD
23.2
The hermitage of St. John of Lykopolis (Asyut, Tombs II, III, and IV)
23.3
Asyut, Tombs III, IV, and V in 2007
23.4
Asyut, Tomb IV, passageway connecting Tomb IV and Tomb III, 2007
23.5
Asyut, Tomb III and Tomb IV in 1799
23.6
Asyut, Tomb IV, inner hall, ceiling painting, after restoration in 2012
24.1
View of the range of Old Kingdom tombs
24.2
Map of al-Shaykh Sa‘id
24.3
Map of the greater Dayr al-Barsha region
24.4
The wall at the foot of the tomb complex, al-Shaykh Sa‘id
24.5
The settlement pattern at al-Shaykh Sa‘id
24.6
Al-Shaykh Sa‘id, Tomb 39, with three niches holding beds
25.1
Qubbat al-Hawa corridor wall illustration, showing erosion and damage
25.2
New discovery of illustration of a priest, Qubbat al-Hawa
25.3
Dayr al-Muharraq, icon showing two monastery abbots
25.4
Dayr al-Muharraq, icon of Queen St. Mary the Virgin
25.5
Close-up of a section of fig. 25.4 showing enhanced detail
25.6
Dayr al-Muharraq, marble icon of St. Mark the Apostle
26.1
Qusqam, the archaeological area
26.2
Qusqam, two iconostases in the ancient Church of the Holy Virgin Mary
26.3
Qusqam, selected ornamental carvings on the outside walls of the keep
26.4
Qusqam, marble iconostasis of St. George Church
26.5
Anba Abram and St. Hegomen Mikhail al-Buhairi al-Muharraqi
26.6
Qusqam, selected collection of antiquities
27.1
Unquarried pillar to support the rock-cut church in Dayr al-Ganadla
27.2
Geological map of the studied monasteries in Asyut
27.3
Plans of rock-cut churches in Asyut
28.1
Mar Qulta (St. Colluthos) Church at Rifa
28.2
Al-Amir Tadros (St. Theodore) Church at Dayr Bisra
28.3
The church of Dayr al-‘Adra in Gebel al-Teir, Samalut
28.4
Dayr al-Ganadla, Abu Tig
28.5
Dayr al-Meshreki at Ezbet Doss, Dayrut
28.6
St. Mary Church at Bani Adi, Manfalut
28.7
Al-Malak (the Angel) Church, Bani Magd, Manfalut
28.8
Dayr Mar Mina near Sanabu
28.9
Dayr al-Sanquriya, Bani Mazar
28.10
Anba Athanasius Church, al-Qufur, Mataï
28.11
Anba Pigul Church, Tallah
28.12
Al-Malak (the Angel) Church at Buq, al-Qusiya
28.13
Al-Malak (the Angel) Church at Hur, Mallawi
28.14
Dayr al-Malak at al-Rayramun, Mallawi
28.15
Dayr Mar Boctor at Shu, Abnub
28.16
Dayr Anba Sarabamun at Dayrut al-Sherif
28.17
Abakir and Yuhanna Church at Manhari, Abu Qurqas
28.18
Anba Athanasius Church at Dayr al-Zawya
28.19
Dayr al-Muharraq, al-Qusiya
28.20
St. Mary Church at Delga, Dayr Muwas
28.21
The Church of Dayr al-Dik, Antinoë
28.22
The Church of Dayr Abu Hinnis, south of Antinoë
28.23
Al-Shahid Tawadros Church, Abu Qurqas
28.24
Anba Qustur Church, Bardanuha, Mataï
28.25
Mar Boctor Church, Musha
28.26
Dayr Anba Hermina at ‘Ezbet al-Aqbat, al-Badari
28.27
Dayr al-Bala’iza, west of Abu Tig
28.28
Dayr Anba Apollo at Bawit, Dayrut
28.29
The church of Dayr Abu Fana (St. Epiphanius), Mallawi
28.30
The basilica of Kom Namrud, west of Samalut
28.31
The church of Dayr al-‘Izam, Mount Durunka
28.32
The Great Basilica, Hermopolis Magna (al-Ashmunayn)
28.33
The ruined churches of Manqabad
Contributors
Dominique Bénazeth is curator in the Coptic section of the Egyptian department of the Louvre Museum. She led the Louvre-IFAO excavations in Bawit from 2002 to 2007.
Renate Dekker studied Egyptology and Coptology at Leiden University and wrote her MPhil thesis on the “Encomium on Bishop Pesynthios of Koptos.” She is currently working on her dissertation, on episcopal social networks of Theban bishops (Abraham of Hermonthis, Pesynthios of Koptos) in late antique Egypt, at Leiden University.
Alain Delattre is assistant professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, working in Greek and Coptic papyrology. His dissertation (2004) was on papyri from the monastery of Bawit (Middle Egypt).
Frank Feder is a research associate at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He holds a doctorate from the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, has taught at the Institut für Ägyptologie und Koptologie of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, and has worked on dict